Varina, Lich Queen - Esper Zombie Midrange

[pokken]

Yeah it's really all about being a knight. I think it was @Artaud who originally suggested it but I feel like it's a core synergy in most Varina builds for me. Being able to intuition for Haakon, corpse knight and any of the 1 cmc changelings is just incredibly strong. Once you have an altar this package is more compact than sevinnes plus gravecrawler plus corpse knight/servant and more resilient.

The package is so resilient and inevitable when combined with a sac outlet.

Minimal Haakon package with both altars is foulmire, automaton, corpse knight, lsb and Haakon. Very compact, all things that you can cast before Varina or discard with her.

Varina bringing the ability to chuck Haakon and basically get an extra card is the absolute icing.

[Arebennian]

Yeah it's really all about being a knight. I think it was @Artaud who originally suggested it but I feel like it's a core synergy in most Varina builds for me. Being able to intuition for Haakon, corpse knight and any of the 1 cmc changelings is just incredibly strong.

Do I mean NOTHING to you!
http://nxs.wf/np173301

[pokken]

Yeah it's really all about being a knight. I think it was @Artaud who originally suggested it but I feel like it's a core synergy in most Varina builds for me. Being able to intuition for Haakon, corpse knight and any of the 1 cmc changelings is just incredibly strong.

Do I mean NOTHING to you!
http://nxs.wf/np173301

I am so sorry! I knew it started with an A and forgot . All the credit to you. Haakon is easily one of the best cards in Varina.

Great thinking!

[Arebennian]

You're excused!

Just kidding.

You're one of the great minds on the boards. I'm very appreciative to piggyback all your philosophy, play testing, deck building and card analysis.

[pokken]

On todays episode of stupid Haakon, Stromgald Scourge tricks that win games; in much the same way Gravecrawler works with clamp, the three 1 cmc knights (automaton outcast and foulmire) all die to Skullclamp so you can pay 2:draw 2 cards with one of them, clamp and Haakon.

Maybe more of a psa for skullclamp really but I have won multiple games with that trick.

[toctheyounger]

%$#%$#%, have I missed a lot of banter alright. Life's been full on. I'm gonna try and pick up my MH3 stuff today, so I should have some updates for my own list shortly.

There's not much for me, got myself a foil etched Grim, foil Soultrader, the one drop Transmogrant, Spymaster's, Chthonian and for this list I think that's about it. I did also get a OTJ Geralf because it's a good card, but I don't think it'll really get into the list here, unless I can work out some good lines with it.

Honestly, I think the card I'm most psyched for is Spymaster's. For such a free card in a land slot I think it'll absolutely wreck face.

[pokken]

card I'm most psyched for is Spymaster's

this card is...$1

I guess I know what my spec this set is.

my $1.38 (x20 or so) Case of the Locked Hothouses are doing quite well for themselves. :D

[toctheyounger]

card I'm most psyched for is Spymaster's

this card is...$1

I guess I know what my spec this set is.

my $1.38 (x20 or so) Case of the Locked Hothouses are doing quite well for themselves. :D

Yeah, idk if this is THE spec. At least in commander it's specific enough that there's not a ton of decks that'll want it. Even of that cycle of lands, it's certainly not the strongest (Shifting Woodland). Generally I think the set has a fair few great pieces, but there's nothing that seems really strong everywhere.

That said, I think if there's a cheap card to invest in that could rise in price, hit up Static Prison. It's a lot stronger than it looks.

[Reya]

Leaked card:

"Three Tree City"

Legendary Land

As Three Tree City enters, choose a creature type.

Tap: add one colorless.

2, Tap: Choose a color. Add an amount of mana of that color equal to the numbers of creatures you control of the chosen type.

If the leak is real, it's a very good inclusion for our low to the ground strategy. Probably above Nykthos.

[toctheyounger]

Yeah I saw this too; if legitimate, it's a windmill slam into the deck. My guess is probably in place of Cabal Coffers.

[Reya]

I already removed Coffers months ago. This one is easy to slot :D

[pokken]

It seems to enter untapped which is ridiculous. It's good enough to get me back on Expedition Map lol.

[pzbw7z]

To be honest, I'm thinking the land I need to cut is Unholy Grotto. I probably won't, but I don't seem to ever use its ability and I often rue its inability to produce colored mana.

[Reya]

I think you can easily cut Unholy Grotto. I sold it months ago. I never felt the lack of it.

[toctheyounger]

That's pretty fair to be honest, Grotto is relatively mid. I can't remember ever having used the ability.

Has anyone considered or playtested Lively Dirge? It's a little bit of a weird card, a little more expensive than I'd like, but I wonder if it gives us a few easier avenues for combo lines. It'll get you Warren Soultrader and Gravecrawler from library to play and ready to go off, as well as Haakon, Stromgald Scourge and Universal Automaton or what have you. What do you guys think?

[Reya]

You will have better results with cards like Reanimate, Animate Dead, Dread Return or Sevinne Reclamation.

[pzbw7z]

Has anyone considered or playtested Lively Dirge? It's a little bit of a weird card, a little more expensive than I'd like, but I wonder if it gives us a few easier avenues for combo lines. It'll get you Warren Soultrader and Gravecrawler from library to play and ready to go off, as well as Haakon, Stromgald Scourge and Universal Automaton or what have you. What do you guys think?

If it actually got both cards from the library it might be worth it, but it gets only one from the library; you'd need the other already in the yard. The individual effects are too pricey for me, but, like so very many cards, it'd work a treat sometimes, but I don't feel it, personally.

[Rframpt]

I don't I am going to take Unholy Grotto out of my deck any time soon. Love the card to bits as it can demoralize opponents when every one of my turns just becomes to Nevinyrral, Urborg Tyrant scam show. At some point they will have to concrete was they can't keep their nonland permanent on the field.
Besides if Wizards ever make kindred spells again that are Zombies then you can also recur them with grotto & Lord of the Undead

[pokken]

I have used the synergy of grotto and varina to win so many games I doubt I'd ever cut it but who knows. :D It's really nice to be able to grotto a Corpse Knight on top of your deck and then kill the table after attack.

[Rframpt]

The cost of inclusion is so low with Grotto that it really needs to be an exceptional land for me to cut it from my list.

[Reya]

Colorless land are not really a free inclusion cost. And we often run a few tapped lands. I understand the choice of include it but, from my point of view, it's not a must have.

[pokken]

Yeah the colorless land slots in a 3 color deck come at a premium. For sure. I don't think grotto is a sacred piece because it is very slow. But I do like the option to add that inevitability so I would be hesitant to cut it personally

[Reya]

Is there someone else actually testing Songs of the damned and/or Cabal Ritual ? Did you have good results with them ? I feel that Songs of the damned will always be the better option. Easily giving you a bonus of 2-3 mana. Sometimes giving absurd amount of mana… but usually a burst of 2-3 mana is enough for accelerating a mass reanimation. For Cabal, not sure… at best a burst of 3 mana, which is not spectacular and without threshold… argh.

[pzbw7z]

Is there someone else actually testing Songs of the damned and/or Cabal Ritual ? Did you have good results with them ? I feel that Songs of the damned will always be the better option. Easily giving you a bonus of 2-3 mana. Sometimes giving absurd amount of mana… but usually a burst of 2-3 mana is enough for accelerating a mass reanimation. For Cabal, not sure… at best a burst of 3 mana, which is not spectacular and without threshold… argh.

I've been running Songs of the Damned for months now; it's not let me down yet and I've hit eleven black with it; it can power absurd turns. I played Cabal Ritual in Prosper for years; it's moderately pricey and impossible to find in local stores, so I haven't given it a go yet in Varina. Now that Prosper has retired, I've been thinking about it but I'm not entirely sure I want a fourth ritual and something would have to be cut.

[pokken]

Culling the weak is likely the most reliable. Followed by songs and cabal in that order I think. YMMV.

I think all three and also dark ritual are likely correct.