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Much Abrew About Nothing: Emerging Zombies (Standard)


Hello, everyone! Welcome to the new and improved Much Abrew About Nothing. Emerging Zombies came out as the clear winner during our Instant Deck Tech voting last week, so this week, we're heading to Eldritch Moon Standard to try out one of the most hyped tribes from the new set: Zombies! First, a quick reminder. If you enjoy the Much Abrew About Nothing series and the other video content on MTGGoldfish, make sure to subscribe to the MTGGoldfish YouTube Channel to keep up on all the latest and greatest.

Emerging Zombies: Instant Deck Tech

Emerging Zombies vs. GB Delirium

Emerging Zombies vs. Mono-Red Burn

Emerging Zombies vs. UR Visions

Emerging Zombies vs. Four-Color Rites

Emerging Zombies vs. UW Spirits

Emerging Zombies Wrap Up

Discussion

  • First off, our record wasn't very good—we only managed to win two out of our five matches. This is probably unsurprising, since at Pro Tour Eldritch Moon this weekend, UB Zombies was one of the most played and worst-performing decks. 
  • Part of the problem is our deck matches up really poorly with Liliana, the Last Hope, which is on the rise in Standard. Cryptbreaker is one of our best and most important cards, but it's almost unplayable in a format where Liliana, the Last Hope is one of the best cards, because it dies for free to her +1. 
  • One of the reasons we struggled is that, while UB Zombies is really good at building up a board, it's really bad at pushing through board stalls. One of the solutions to this problem at Pro Tour Eldrich Moon was playing a bunch of Voldaren Pariahs in the main deck. 
  • The numbers on Distended Mindbender and Elder Deep-Fiend feel off. If I play the deck again, I plan on going with four copies of Elder Deep-Fiend and maybe one Distended Mindbender.
  • Another thing that should probably be changed is the sideboard, since playing Dead Weight and Flaying Tendrils instead of less conditional removal like Ultimate Price or Grasp of Darkness was problematic. Another possibility for the Dead Weight slot is Murderous Compulsion, which is a good answer to Emrakul, the Promised End with the help of a discard outlet, since it's technically a sorcery. Meanwhile, Flaying Tendrils would likely be better as Languish, which not only kills Spell Queller, Sylvan Advocate, and Reflector Mage, but also avoids the anti-synergy with Relentless Dead, since it just kill creatures, rather than exiling them.
  • All in all, I can't really recommend the deck at the moment. While the synergy between Haunted Dead and Prized Amalgam is strong, as a whole, the deck just isn't in a great place in the meta. That said, there might be a sweet budget build out there, so perhaps we'll revisit Zombies in the future. 

Conclusion

Anyway, that's all for today. Don't forget to vote for next week's deck by liking, commenting, and subscribing to Instant Deck Tech videos! As always, leave your thoughts, ideas, opinions, and suggestions in the comments, and you can reach me @SaffronOlive on Twitter, or at SaffronOlive@MTGGoldfish.com.



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