Welcome back to the next instalment of Deck of the Week where I hand-pick a deck to take a more detailed look at. This deck could be the winning deck from a recent major event, a sweet brew that has enjoyed recent popularity or a deck that has been recommended by you!

This week’s deck comes from Pro Tour Eldritch Moon and, had it not been for the Emerge strategies, would have been the breakout deck of the tournament. Of course I’m talking about U/B Zombies:

U/B Zombies – 13th Place at Pro Tour Eldritch Moon

Ondrej Strasky

For the purposes of this article I have chosen the version that finished with the most points (24 match points) in the constructed rounds of the Pro Tour.

The Creatures

The best creature in the deck, and the one that makes the whole thing possible, is Prized Amalgam. Prized Amalgam has been making an impact on the modern format over the last couple of months, playing an important role in the resurgence of Modern Dredge, and has now decided to try it ghouly hands at Standard. Utility creatures like Cryptbreaker, allowing you to discard the amalgam, and Haunted Dead, which forms an additional discard outlet and helps to reanimate the amalgam back to the battlefield, form a pretty stellar line-up in this deck.

Jace, Vryn’s Prodigy and Relentless Dead are additional utility creatures in this deck and helps the deck make the most of its available mana on every turn. Voldaren Pariah acts as a finisher and, when needed, a pseudo one-sided boardwipe (after all, your creatures are zombies and always likely to return). Once transformed her 6/5 flying body provides a fast clock that is relatively difficult for your opponent to deal with.

The Spells

Liliana had her best showing at the PT and I would expect to see her popping up in a multitude of decks during her stay in Standard. Her place in this deck is one of utility and you will often sequence her to use the -2 ability, +1 ability and finally her -2 ability, of course if you are ahead on the board you can build towards her ultimate which will quickly overwhelm your opponent’s resources.

Ruinous Path and Grasp of Darkness are included as straightforward ways to give you time to assemble your graveyard shenanigans and then remove any troublesome blockers when you decide to attack. Occasionally you may find yourself sinking mana into path to Awaken a land and get in some additional damage or create a blocker.

Collective Brutality is a flexible one-of spell that I like, it has three pretty solid modes and this deck does not mind discarding its’ cards to the graveyard to ‘buy-back’ later. Dark Salvation is a spell that synergises pretty well with the deck and can sometimes be a one-mana removal spell (note the zombies do not have to have been produced by the spell) and other times it will create an insurmountable swing in your favour!

The Sideboard

As you would expect, the sideboard has the usual cards to fight whatever axis your opponent may be playing on. The additional copy of Liliana, alongside Duress and Transgress the Mind, allows you to become an even grindier deck and out-value your opponent by using hand disruption to protect your spells and interrupt their game plan.

Languish and Kalitas team up to make sure your Bant Company opponent starts to have a bad time, flipping a Voldaren Pariah with Kalitas on your side is pretty darn delightful! Distended Mindbended and Dragonlord Silumgar prove useful against the various Emerge decks and the B/W control lists, allowing you to take control or simply discard their best threat.

All of the sideboard cards are pretty flexible and useful in a wide variety of matches.

The Future

I certainly expect Zombies to be a major player over the next couple of months and it is certainly a deck that makes the most of a field full of Bant Company players, in part, thanks to its explosive draws and late game inevitability.

It’s not often that I see a decklist and think there aren’t changes to be made but this list is pretty streamlined without much room for manoeuvrability. Where you will be able to make changes is the sideboard, a card that I expect to see an uptick in play is Summary Dismissal, a card that cleanly takes care of Emrakul, the Promised End.

That’s all from me this week, I’ll be with my Weekend Review early next week but feel free to comment below if there’s a deck that you would like to see featured on Deck of the Week.