Hi folks. Welcome to the Weekly Sale Column. This column will show you some cards on sale that might spice up your lists or inspire something completely new. These lists will usually be Commander lists in Bracket 3, so you'll be able to play these in any Bracket 3 (or higher) pods.

If you want to play in lower pods, just swap out the Game Changers for other choices; if you want to compete with Bracket 4 and 5 pods, add more along with some other competitive combos.

Keep in mind that the Game Changers in your deck aren't the only thing that moves you up and down a bracket. Your intent with your deck; inclusions of other interactions, engines, and combos; and overall playgroup should all be factors in your bracket!

Remember that the weekly sale ends on Sunday night at 11:59 PM EST, so you have until then to get your cards ordered.

The Night of the Living Dead

It has been a while since we've looked at a solid Zombies list. The Memorial Day sale highlights some of the best Zombies out there. There are so many variants on Zombie lists, ranging from Dimir Zombies with Wilhelt, the Rotcleaver and Grimgrin, Corpse-Born or even Orzhov Zombies with Ratadrabik of Urborg or Zahur, Glory's Past.

We're not doing that. We're going back to our roots. The ones underground, in our Mono-Black Graveyard. Meet Zul Ashur, Lich Lord.

Zul Ashur is a two-mana 2/2 with Ward - Pay 2 life and a nifty activated ability that lets us cast a Zombie Creature card from our graveyard this turn. While it's easy to get rid of, it's also easy to cast and comes down quickly. Zombie decks want to overwhelm the board as fast as possible with mindless zombies, and Zul Ashur will help us do that right away. Let's get into our choices.

Lords and Lord-esque Cards

A strong Zombies list is going to need lords. For those unaware, a lord is typically part of a typal strategy, where one Creature buffs all of your other Creatures, usually in Power, Toughness, and sometimes another ability.

Starting off on the low end, we've got Cemetery Reaper to help fuel the army while controlling opponent's graveyards, Hancock, Ghoulish Mayor, which will start as a regular Zombie and then come back as a lord, and Death Baron who will not only pump our Creatures, but also give them Deathtouch.

Going off the proper name of lord, we have Lord of the Accursed giving our Zombies Menace and Lord of the Undead giving us more ways to recur our fallen Zombies. Risen Executioner will be the lord that doesn't stop lord-ing and Tomb Tyrant will regularly bring us back a Zombie, provided our Graveyard is full of them.

Finally, our best lord is Undead Warchief, since it buffs our Zombies with +2/+1 and also makes our future Zombies cheaper to cast. We've also included Patchwork Banner, a typal player's dream mana rock, and Liliana's Mastery, an Enchantment lord that also brings a couple Zombies with it.

The (Undead) Meat

If the lords were the potatoes, then our utility Zombies will no doubt be the meat to this ghoulish meal that we're calling a Commander list.

In the early game, we're hoping to stick an early Cryptbreaker or Champion of the Perished to put pressure on our opponents and build the army. Creatures like Accursed Marauder and Fleshbag Marauder will fuel our Graveyard while also keeping our opponents in check which is helpful early on.

Once we're really pushing cards though, we'll want Creatures like Diregraf Colossus, Headless Rider, and Tormod the Desecrator to create the army. Generally, if a Zombie creates a large number of 2/2 tokens, it's perfect for this list.

We'll use Creatures like Plague Belcher, Lost Monarch of Ifnir, and Gray Merchant of Asphodel to whittle our opponent's life totals down, and then really drive it home with our top end, featuring Rot Hulk, Persistent Constrictor, and Ravenous Rotbelly.

It's important to have some things that help us too, not just things to shut our opponents down. Sidisi, Undead Vizier and Corpse Harvester will act as our tutors in this list, letting us sacrifice our Creatures (which we'll replay with Zul Ashur, Lich Lord later on) to search for something more useful.

Cards like Buried Alive and Vile Entomber are essentially extra tutors when we pair them with our Commander, letting us use our Graveyard as essentially more hand space. Cards like Ripples of Undeath and Liliana, Dreadhorde General give us some regular card draw and we wouldn't be a Mono-Black deck without removal spells like Fell the Profane or Flare of Malice.

Zombies Don't Change the Game, They Eat It

The astute of you will notice that we have zero Game Changers in this list. The beauty of a snarling army of Zombies is that we don't really need Game Changers. Don't get me wrong, though. Your deck will be even stronger with them.

Cards like Vampiric Tutor and Demonic Tutor go a long way at making your deck more consistent. Tergrid, God of Fright lost her chance at a spot only because she's not a Zombie herself, but she fits so well in this list. Even Field of the Dead could find its way in here. It literally makes Zombies.

I wanted to make a list today that could thrive in lower Bracket tables while still competing in Bracket 3 as well. If you wanna play this in 2, go for it! If you want to beef it up with some Game Changers and Combos, I'd say run 'em. Magic is all about doing what makes you happy in the game, so it's up to you.

Speaking of Combos, though, there are two cards I've specifically excluded that are quite strong. Mikaeus the Unhallowed and Warren Soultrader lead to many combos used in Zombie lists. We already play many of the other pieces to other combos, such as Gravecrawler, Plague Belcher, and Bontu's Monument.

In the spirit of keeping this in lower brackets, I've excluded those as well, but feel free to include if you're wanting them.

Decklist

Here's the list.

• Commander (1)
• 1 Zul Ashur, Lich Lord

• Creatures (42)
• 1 Accursed Marauder
• 1 Apprentice Necromancer
• 1 Carrion Feeder
• 1 Cemetery Reaper
• 1 Champion of the Perished
• 1 Corpse Harvester
• 1 Cryptbreaker
• 1 Death Baron
• 1 Diregraf Colossus
• 1 Feral Ghoul
• 1 Fleshbag Marauder
• 1 Gravecrawler
• 1 Graveyard Marshal
• 1 Gray Merchant of Asphodel
• 1 Hancock, Ghoulish Mayor
• 1 Headless Rider
• 1 Lord of the Accursed
• 1 Lord of the Undead
• 1 Lost Monarch of Ifnir
• 1 Midnight Reaper
• 1 Murderous Rider
• 1 Noxious Ghoul
• 1 Persistent Constrictor
• 1 Phyrexian Delver
• 1 Plague Belcher
• 1 Ravenous Rotbelly
• 1 Relentless Dead
• 1 Risen Executioner
• 1 Rot Hulk
• 1 Shepherd of Rot
• 1 Sidisi, Undead Vizier
• 1 Soulless One
• 1 Stronghold Assassin
• 1 The Ghoul, Gunslinger
• 1 Tomb Tyrant
• 1 Tormod, the Desecrator
• 1 Undead Augur
• 1 Undead Warchief
• 1 Unstoppable Slasher
• 1 Vile Entomber
• 1 Vindictive Lich
• 1 Zombie Master

• Planeswalkers (1)
• 1 Liliana, Dreadhorde General

• Instants (5)
• 1 Deadly Dispute
• 1 Fell the Profane
• 1 Flare of Malice
• 1 Malakir Rebirth
• 1 Village Rites

• Sorceries (4)
• 1 Agadeem's Awakening
• 1 Buried Alive
• 1 Dread Return
• 1 Zombie Apocalypse

• Enchantments (4)
• 1 Endless Ranks of the Dead
• 1 Funeral Room / Awakening Hall
• 1 Liliana's Mastery
• 1 Ripples of Undeath

• Artifacts (8)
• 1 Arcane Signet
• 1 Bontu's Monument
• 1 Crowded Crypt
• 1 Jet Medallion
• 1 Lightning Greaves
• 1 Patchwork Banner
• 1 Skullclamp
• 1 Sol Ring

• Lands (35)
• 19 Swamp
• 1 Bloodstained Mire
• 1 Bojuka Bog
• 1 Cavern of Souls
• 1 Demolition Field
• 1 Fabled Passage
• 1 Marsh Flats
• 1 Myriad Landscape
• 1 Phyrexian Tower
• 1 Polluted Delta
• 1 Prismatic Vista
• 1 Spymaster's Vault
• 1 Takenuma, Abandoned Mire
• 1 Three Tree City
• 1 Unholy Grotto
• 1 Verdant Catacombs
• 1 War Room

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Final Thoughts

There's nothing like being the player at the table that everyone is scared of. Zombie decks can definitely do that, especially with a turn two Commander like Zul Ashur, Lich Lord. I hope your opponents crumble under the might of your Zombie Army.

Until next time!