MTG Cardsmith Community Forums
The Ultimate Undead! (Results Posted)
As my username perhaps suggests, my favourite creature type is zombies. I have a (moderately) powerful casual zombie deck which, thanks to core 2019, got some sweet new additions.
There are still some missing pieces though. That's why I created this competition! The requirements are demanding, so prepare yourselves.
You need to create a Zombie creature card. It must be Dimir (blue/black) colours and be powerful without being broken. It must also solve one of my following problems. It can solve more than one, but you won't get bonus points for solving more than one. If you can solve all of them in a single card I will be impressed, but you still won't get bonus points.
Problem one: I need another powerful and aggressive two drop to go alongside my Graveyard Marshals.
Problem two: I need a way of protecting my powerful zombies and my lords from removal.
Problem three: I need an (in colour) way of dealing with pesky enchantments, even if it is only temporarily.
Problem four: I need a way of generating a lot of black mana in one turn to cast a kicked Josu Vess.
Problem five: I need a way of getting a lot of cards in my graveyard quickly so I can start casting my Dread Wanderers and other similar creatures from the 'yard.
As I mentioned above this has to be a zombie CREATURE. Why? Because I want to maximise the power of my lords, so as many of the cards in my deck as possible have to be able to benefit from them. The one exception that I will permit is an instant or sorcery that also creates zombie tokens.
As if that wasn't hard enough, the card must be flavourful. What's the point of playing a zombie deck if they don't feel like zombies?
Each entrant may submit up to five cards, potentially solving each problem with one of their cards (though you can make multiple entries for the same problem). The competition closes on August the twelfth. Prizes are as follows:
1st place: 5 favourites of your choice, a follow and a spot in the hall of fame!
2nd place: 4 favourites of your choice and a spot in the hall of fame!
3rd place: 3 favourites of your choice.
All cards I like (which will likely be all of them) will be favourited and these favourites don't count towards your prizes.
Good luck! Make me some amazing zombies!
There are still some missing pieces though. That's why I created this competition! The requirements are demanding, so prepare yourselves.
You need to create a Zombie creature card. It must be Dimir (blue/black) colours and be powerful without being broken. It must also solve one of my following problems. It can solve more than one, but you won't get bonus points for solving more than one. If you can solve all of them in a single card I will be impressed, but you still won't get bonus points.
Problem one: I need another powerful and aggressive two drop to go alongside my Graveyard Marshals.
Problem two: I need a way of protecting my powerful zombies and my lords from removal.
Problem three: I need an (in colour) way of dealing with pesky enchantments, even if it is only temporarily.
Problem four: I need a way of generating a lot of black mana in one turn to cast a kicked Josu Vess.
Problem five: I need a way of getting a lot of cards in my graveyard quickly so I can start casting my Dread Wanderers and other similar creatures from the 'yard.
As I mentioned above this has to be a zombie CREATURE. Why? Because I want to maximise the power of my lords, so as many of the cards in my deck as possible have to be able to benefit from them. The one exception that I will permit is an instant or sorcery that also creates zombie tokens.
As if that wasn't hard enough, the card must be flavourful. What's the point of playing a zombie deck if they don't feel like zombies?
Each entrant may submit up to five cards, potentially solving each problem with one of their cards (though you can make multiple entries for the same problem). The competition closes on August the twelfth. Prizes are as follows:
1st place: 5 favourites of your choice, a follow and a spot in the hall of fame!
2nd place: 4 favourites of your choice and a spot in the hall of fame!
3rd place: 3 favourites of your choice.
All cards I like (which will likely be all of them) will be favourited and these favourites don't count towards your prizes.
Good luck! Make me some amazing zombies!
This discussion has been closed.
Comments
Serious question though: how come we cant go white? There are white zombies.
I will SO be dropping entries.
Urg... Arg...
I managed to get a single copy of the Scarab God really cheaply before the price spiked. He is the best card of the deck and my favourite legendary creature EVER. I don't care if it's not really built to maximize his potential, he is just amazing.
@fiskerton
I had always considered adding a white splash to my deck, but I'd like to see whether you can build into my Dimir restrictions for this challenge.
Josu is probably the wrong card to put in the deck, but he's a cool legendary zombie and good finisher if the game goes long, so I'm playing him. I run both islands and swamps to allow me to play the Scarab God (my mana base is VERY budget.) which means I don't think cabal stronghold would function as well as it could in a mono-black build
Did someone say... Zombies?
Heck to the yes finally! And dimir as well! Expect a skaab or two from me, cause my first love was skaabs, and my second token zombies. Even though gissa is the best zombi-fier... :P
I may need to re-balance this but... it's problem #2. Protect one of your creatures and, depending on the spell, get a 3/3 on the field.
And here's problem 5. Should allow a faster path to getting creatures in the grave.
You can cast a kicked Josu Vess if you also have the Swamp and Dark Ritual at turn 1 if you want. But only in EDH because you have more life else you would just kill yourself lol.
Also a previously-made card, this will help protect your "real" lords against red and green removal particularly and probably pull some of the white/black hate before the ones with effects and abilities you care more about show up...
I've got a pretty clear opinion that part of what defines zombies is their tendency to aggregate to bigger nastiness, so...
Not entries, because they don't meet specific criteria, but things you might enjoy;
I'll probably be back with new things if I get time...
I think I got something Dimir zombly that answered the question on my second take.
Problem #5 now you just need zombies!!! Oh and draw power to combo with this enchantment.
Third Place: https://mtgcardsmith.com/view/underpalace-seneschal by @Temurzoa !
This card is pretty unique and very interesting. Foregoing a draw to get some extra cards in the graveyard is certainly an interesting idea, especially since with zombie cards like Gravecrawler and Skaab Ruinator putting the card in the graveyard is the same as drawing it. While I'd have to edit my deck composition slightly, I feel like this could well slot in and be a fun and interesting two drop.
Second Place: https://mtgcardsmith.com/view/reaper-of-the-damned-2?list=user by @bnew07 !
I like this card a lot because it's very elegant. All the different sections of the card come together to create something powerful that's greater than the sum of its parts. The lose 1 life when a Zombie dies ability, similar to that of Diregraf Captain and Plague Belcher, provides great value even without the sacrifice ability.
First Place: https://mtgcardsmith.com/view/undead-necromancer by @DeepSky !
Lifelink and evasion together are really powerful (my most hated card is Vampire Cutthroat. Really annoying once it gets going), and this necromancer feels like a pretty strong two-drop. Late game it also serves as a source of recursion. The reanimation ability here feels pretty balanced. The flavour of the card is spot on and the idea is really cool. While it was a tough choice, this card just about squeaked ahead to first place.
Well done to the winners. This was the toughest competition to judge yet, so I'm also awarding a favorite of their choice to two Honourable mentions: https://mtgcardsmith.com/view/horror-of-the-stitchers-mind by @Shadow29870
and https://mtgcardsmith.com/view/bloodfeeder by @Sorinjace
Well done to all those who participated, your entries were all great. Winners, please name your prizes.