I had to admit, my current Zombie aggro burn list sucks. A few of my creature choices are somewhat a mistake. Highborn Ghouls just dies to Tragic Slip, Cemetery reaper is just very vulnerable, and Falkenrath Aristocrat can’t even go past Spirit Tokens and is horrible against Nexuses. Even with Sword-support, which not all the time are there, I think I should cut them from the list and recreate the whole deck.

Here is my list for reference:

13 Swamp
1 Mountain
4 Dragonskull Summit
4 Blackcleave Cliffs

4 Gravecrawler
4 Diregraf Ghoul
4 Geralf’s Messenger
4 Highborn Ghoul
2 Cemetery Reaper
2 Falkenrath Aristocrat
2 Phyrexian Obliterator
2 Stormblood Berserker

1 Arc Trail
3 Brimstone Volley
1 Geth’s Verdict
3 Incinerate
2 Sword of War and Peace
2 Go for the Throat
2 Liliana of the Veil

The aggressive approach is good, if your opponent does not do anything. *end of sarcasm* The current meta is now popularized by Blue Black Control (which antis Wolf Run Ramp), and which the deck has difficulty dealing with. Curse of Death’s Hold just devastates our board and we have no way of dealing with enchantments (which got me to consider using Witchbane Orb). Plus, Celestial Purge is getting popular so we know the drill on what happens when used against us.

Abandoning the aggro plan, I’ve looked on a few references on Black Red lists from PT Dark Ascension and from recent SCG Open tourneys.

Here is a good list I’ve found.

BR Zombies
By Toshiyuki Kadooka

Maindeck
4 Diregraf Ghoul
3 Falkenrath Aristocrat
4 Geralf’s Messenger
4 Gravecrawler

2 Arc Trail
4 Distress
3 Liliana of the Veil
2 Mortarpod
1 Ratchet Bomb
4 Smallpox
2 Sword of War and Peace
3 Tragic Slip

4 Blackcleave Cliffs
4 Dragonskull Summit
16 Swamp

The discard approach here is important as we set up early aggro while disrupting the opponent’s hand. The only card I’m not convinced to use here is Smallpox. I might just limit it to three or two, and maybe up the Liliana to four.

Here is my suggested list:

BR Discard Zombies
By Mark Ian Alloso

Maindeck
2 Black Cat
4 Diregraf Ghoul
4 Geralf’s Messenger
4 Gravecrawler
3 Phyrexian Obliterator

2 Arc Trail
2 Brimstone Volley
4 Distress
1 Go for the Throat
4 Liliana of the Veil
2 Mortarpod
3 Smallpox
2 Tragic Slip

4 Blackcleave Cliffs
4 Dragonskull Summit
15 Swamp

Black Cat – works well with Smallpox & since your early critters mostly gets killed, you profit on the additional discard.

Phyrexian Obliterator – your important four-drop and game finisher. At most, the early discards and aggro left this guy open to finish the job.

Brimstone Volley – additional reach & bonus Morbid damage.

Go for the Throat – I only include one in cases of unanswered fatties & random threats.

I am considering to built-in one Sword of War and Peace as the best equipment to counter the current meta but checking on the rise of Blue Black Zombies, I might as well prepare for the mirror match.

I will be playtesting this list within the week to see the flaws & what sideboard cards the deck can use.

Until next post.