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Zombie Strategy Guide - Massdrop East/West: Article #28

Aug 3, 20171129 VIEWS

Jon Stern here from Massdrop East. After winning my last five rounds at Pro Tour: Hour of Devastation, I’m a freshly minted Gold pro for another season. I played Zombies at the Pro Tour and think it's a great choice for anyone looking to beat up on other popular decks like Ramunap Red, Black Green Constrictor, and Mardu Vehicles. I consider those all to be positive matchups and would not be surprised if Zombies quickly rises to deck-to-beat status. While there are some notable differences between my list and the one that made Top 8 in the hands of Yusuke Sasabe, I was happy with my version and would recommend something similar going forward.
Here is the list I played:
Zombies - Jon Stern
4 Dread Wanderer
4 Cryptbreaker
4 Metallic Mimic
4 Relentless Dead
4 Diregraf Colossus
4 Lord of the Accursed
2 Fatal Push
2 Grasp of Darkness
4 Liliana's Mastery
4 Dark Salvation
18 Swamp
2 Scavenger Grounds
4 Ifnir Deadlands

Sideboard
2 Fatal Push
1 Grasp of Darkness
4 Transgress the Mind
1 Liliana, the Last Hope
3 Gifted Aetherborn
2 Doomfall
2 Gonti, Lord of Luxury

vs Ramunap Red
In Game 1, you need to get on the board as quickly as possible to block their swarm of cheap creatures. Don't be afraid to tap out for Relentless Dead or trade a two drop for their one drop. They have a lot of haste creatures so you want to really make sure you have control of the game before you start attacking. The game will start to turn once you land a 4/4 Diregraf Colossus that they can't kill and start cranking out Zombies. Liliana's Mastery will often sound their death knell.
Post-sideboard games are very different as they morph into more of a midrange deck with cards like Glorybringer and Chandra, Torch of Defiance, as well as more spot removal like Magma Spray. While you still want to protect your life total, more priority needs to be given to keeping creatures in play heading into their turn four. The easiest way for them to win is to play Chandra on an empty board. This is why I'm not a big fan of Kalitas. While it's great in Game 1, it's too slow and expensive after sideboard, and matches up poorly with their gamebreaking sideboard cards.
Sideboarding on the Play:
+1 Grasp of Darkness, +3 Gifted Aetherborn
-4 Metallic Mimic
Sideboarding on the Draw:
+1 Grasp of Darkness, +3 Gifted Aetherborn, +2 Fatal Push
-4 Metallic Mimic, -2 Dark Salvation

vs Black Green Constrictor
This matchup hinges on their ability to stick a Winding Constrictor or build up unanswerable threats before your zombie hoard can take over. With less spot removal than Sasabe's version, I'm not quite as advantaged in Game 1 and sometimes have to let a Longtusk Cub hit me a couple times so I don't lose to Constrictor shenanigans. Post-sideboard, the plan is to kill all their threats while deploying cheap zombies when I have time. Don't be afraid to take a turn off to kill a creature, and be wary of Yahenni's Expertise. That's the main way to lose if you aren't careful.
Sideboarding:
+1 Grasp of Darkness, +2 Fatal Push, +2 Gonti, Lord of Luxury
-4 Metallic Mimic, -1 Relentless Dead

vs Mardu Vehicles
This is another matchup that changes a lot after sideboarding. Aggressive decks just aren't well positioned against your board presence, and are forced to transition into more of a control deck. The more control elements they have like Fumigate and Nahiri, the worst it gets. Oath of Liliana is a particular problem as you can usually still win a fair attrition war. There are times when you should avoid attacking with Relentless Dead or Diregraf Colossus in order to protect yourself from Nahiri's exile effect. You'll win most games by clearing the way with Transgress the Mind and drawing cards with Cryptbreaker.
It's worth noting that Mardu players may implement very different sideboard plans against you. Some will board out all their early aggression for planeswalkers and Wraths, while others will keep in their Toolcrafts and Heart of Kirans to try to win a race. My preference is to sideboard for the control plan in the dark, but to adjust if I see that they're keeping in Toolcrafts. If you aren't sure, you can hedge by bringing in some Transgress, but I think you need them all to beat the control plan and are still fine if leave in their aggressive creatures.
Sideboarding in the dark:
+1 Grasp of Darkness, +4 Transgress the Mind, +2 Gonti, Lord of Luxury, +3 Gifted Aetherborn
-4 Metallic Mimic, -2 Fatal Push, -4 Dark Salvation
Sideboarding if they keep in Toolcraft:
+1 Grasp of Darkness, +2 Gonti, Lord of Luxury, +3 Gifted Aetherborn
-4 Metallic Mimic, -2 Fatal Push

vs Zombies
If there's a deficiency in my build, it's that I wasn't concerned enough about the mirror. Liliana is the best card, but I didn't want to play multiple copies because it's not really good in any other matchup. That said, there aren't really a lot of other options. Kalitas is good but it dies to Grasp of Darkness and Dark Salvation. Skysovereign would also do some work, but I'm already playing a lot of five drops. Compared to Sasabe's version, my main deck has a full set of Liliana's Masteries, so I don't even feel like an underdog there.
Sideboarding:
+1 Grasp of Darkness, +1 Liliana, the Last Hope
-2 Fatal Push

vs Blue Red Control
While the top decks might be good matchups for Zombies, it's not all butterflies and rainbows. Once you get to the next tier of decks, there are some real problems like Blue Red Control. Fortunately, the popularity of these decks will tend to be kept in check by Ramunap Red. As long as that remains a frontrunner, responsible players simply can't pick up an archetype like Blue Red or Ramp.
Against Blue Red, the plan is to play around their sweepers as much as possible and hope that their answers don't match up well against your draw. Unfortunately, there's not much you can do when that doesn't work. Cards like Scrapheap Scrounger improve your changes, but not enough to make the matchup particularly close.
Sideboarding:
+4 Transgress the Mind, +1 Grasp of Darkness, +2 Doomfall, +1 Liliana, the Last Hope
-4 Dark Salvation, -2 Fatal Push, -2 Lord of the Accursed

vs Red Green Ramp
If Blue Red was bad, Ramp is a true nightmare. They have enough sweepers that it doesn't matter if their draw lines up, and when they turn the corner with Eldrazi, there's aren't many reasons to keep playing. Post-sideboard games are closer as you can sometimes strip their ramp spell or force them into topdeck mode. Basically, you're just hoping to get lucky.
Sideboarding:
+4 Transgress the Mind, +2 Doomfall
-4 Dark Salvation, -2 Fatal Push

vs Blue White Gift
I chose not to go overboard for this matchup with multiple Dispossess as I felt the sideboard slots were too valuable and, while you are certainly behind in the matchup, it's not nearly as bad as it looks on paper. They can't disrupt your game plan very easily and rely heavily on Cataclysmic Gearhulk. You probably can't stop them from getting a Gift in play, but a timely Grasp of Darkness can stop them from drawing cards with Champion of Wits, or kill an eternalized creature to give you just enough time to close the game out. Still a pairing you would like to avoid.
Sideboarding:
+4 Transgress the Mind
-2 Fatal Push, -2 Diregraf Colossus

vs Blue White Monument
Their best draw will be tough to beat, but anything less is usually a cakewalk. They really need an early Monument and a steady stream of creatures. In a lot of games, the only thing you need to do is avoid walking into a devastating Dusk // Dawn. A 2/2 Diregraf Colossus is your best weapon, and Cryptbreaker provides fuel for wave after wave of attack.
Post-sideboard, you often have to be willing to take a turn off to prevent a turn three Monument. You'll win most games with careful play if they don't have one, so it's worth slowing down your development to prevent that.
Sideboarding:
+4 Transgress the Mind, +1 Grasp of Darkness, +1 Gifted Aetherborn
-4 Metallic Mimic, -2 Fatal Push

vs Black Red Aggro and Black Red Control
I didn't have a specific sideboard plan for Black Red Aggro going into the tournament, but I played against it twice and feel reasonably good about my chances. I started off boarding like I would against a Black Red Control deck, but adjusted by shaving some discard for more proactive cards. Just like against Ramunap Red, you want to make sure you have board presence before they play Chandra, Torch of Defiance. Ammit Eternal is a card to be concerned about, but you have answers.
Sideboarding vs Black/Red Aggro:
+1 Grasp of Darkness, +2 Transgress the Mind, +3 Gifted Aetherborn
-4 Metallic Mimic, -2 Fatal Push
Sideboarding vs Black/Red Control:
+1 Grasp of Darkness, +4 Transgress the Mind, +2 Doomfall, +2 Gonti, Lord of Luxury, +1 Liliana, the Last Hope
-4 Metallic Mimic, -4 Dark Salvation, -2 Fatal Push

vs Temur Energy
There are really two different versions of this deck. One plays Chandra, Torch of Defiance and the other relies on Elder Deep-Fiend to lock up games. Against the Chandra version, early board presence is more important so I like two drops. Against Deep-Fiend, especially if they also have Kozilek's Return, I think you want some number of Transgress. Both versions should be reasonably good matchups if you are careful to play around sweepers like Radiant Flames.
Sideboarding vs Temur Energy - Chandra version:
+1 Grasp of Darkness, +3 Gifted Aetherborn
-1 Liliana's Mastery, -1 Dark Salvation, -2 Fatal Push
Sideboarding vs Temur Energy - Deep-Fiend version:
+1 Grasp of Darkness, +2 Transgress the Mind, +2 Gifted Aetherborn
-1 Liliana's Mastery, -2 Dark Salvation, -2 Fatal Push

vs Red Green Pummeler
Deathtouch creatures are great and Doomfall gives you outs to cards like Bristling Hydra. This is still a fairly close matchup because they can ignore a lot of what you're doing and kill you out of nowhere. Overall, it should be slightly in your favor. Like other decks with access to these cards, they may bring in Chandra and Glorybringer to try to win with an attrition war, but you are well-equipped to adjust.
Sideboarding:
+1 Grasp of Darkness, +2 Gonti, Lord of Luxury, +2 Doomfall, +3 Gifted Aetherborn
-4 Metallic Mimic, -4 Dark Salvation

vs Other Decks
Although they showed up in fewer number, there are other decks worth having a game plan for. The two most obvious are probably Blue Red Emerge and Red Black Eldrazi. Emerge decks with access to Kozilek's Return are a problem, but you should be well-positioned against Eldrazi. Here are some sideboard plans you can use as a starting point, even if you aren't going to prepare specifically for these opponents.
Sideboarding vs Blue Red Emerge:
+1 Grasp of Darkness, +4 Transgress the Mind, +2 Doomfall
-1 Metallic Mimic, -4 Dark Salvation, -2 Fatal Push
Sideboarding vs Black Red Eldrazi:
+1 Grasp of Darkness, +4 Transgress the Mind, +2 Gonti, Lord of Luxury, +2 Doomfall
-4 Metallic Mimic, -3 Dark Salvation, -2 Fatal Push

Evolving the Deck
As you probably noticed, Metallic Mimic gets sideboarded out in a lot of matchups. That may give the false impression that it's always bad. If you look more closely, however, you'll notice that almost every deck becomes more controlling after sideboard. Mimic is a proactive card that plays well into aggro/midrange decks without these elements. As long as Ramunap Red forces players to leave Glorybringer and Chandra, Torch of Defiance in the sideboard, I think it's a reasonable option for your main deck since you really want additional two drops, though I could see playing less than the full set.
Grasp of Darkness is a card that continues to overperform, and you may want access to four of them. Unlike Fatal Push, they get better after sideboard since they can kill things like Hazoret, Glorybringer, Kalitas and Avacyn. Playing the extra one main would also be reasonable.
The only card I was unhappy with was Liliana, the Last Hope, though I didn't play a mirror. While Liliana looks like a versatile card that would be good against a lot of different styles of deck, it just doesn't matchup well against current strategies. I'm not sure you can cut it though, as I expect more people to gravitate to Zombies and you don't want to be underprepared for the mirror. You may even have to play a second one to keep pace.
As usual, your exact build should depend on the expected metagame. Cutting Metallic Mimics may be necessary if people start preparing for Zombies and moving Chandras and other cards like that to their main deck. Walking Ballista is also a problem for the deck, and for Mimics in particular. Regardless of your exact 75, I do think Zombies is well-positioned to take Grand Prix Minneapolis by storm, though I'd caution against continuing to play the deck if Ramunap Red starts to fall out of favor. Decks like Blue Red Control and Red Green Ramp that have trouble with aggressive red strategies are natural predators.
Thanks for reading, and please post any questions or feedback below!
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If you are curious about our team, check out our intro: https://www.massdrop.com/talk/1117/announcing-team-massdrop-east-west or, read our previous weekly articles:
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2. Approaching New Magic Drafts by Ari Lax (https://www.massdrop.com/talk/1193/approaching-new-magic-drafts)
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4. Breaking into Eternal Formats - Case Study: GP Louisville by Jon Stern (https://www.massdrop.com/talk/1240/breaking-into-eternal-formats-case-study-gp-louisville-massdrop-east-west-article-4)
5. In Good Company - Top 8 at GP Vancouver by Eric Severson (https://www.massdrop.com/talk/1285/in-good-company-top-8-at-gp-vancouver)
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