Dead Deck Wins [ Edited ]

[puntwothree]

I’m a long-time MtG player, wherein one of the oldest, simplest, and most popular strategies is called Red Deck Wins.

There are five colors in MtG. Red Deck Wins plays... Red. Its average cost is low. Its creatures have haste (in PvZ, ALL plants and zombies have “haste”). And it uses direct damage, which doubles as removal.

The popular Valkyrie builds of seasons past approached the Red Deck Wins formula with disposable zombies, Plumbers, tempo plays (Regifting), and Final Missions.

Perhaps an even better fit is... Berries, in which the damage dorks remove on the side (Current/Strawberrian), and Berry Blasts remove blockers or threats... or do face damage.

So you know this is a formula that works.

Enter my version: Dead Deck Wins. I started with a concept (above) and a mission: prove Zombot’s Wrath has serious value. The next step was choosing a Hero. Brainstorm is the only guy that really works for Valkyrie (if you’re hoping to flash her in or double her damage), but I don’t own Valkyrie and wasn’t looking to recreate a tried meta. So, Z-Mech.

Z-Mech has access to two cards that make Dead Deck Wins pop and sizzle with potential. Bellow I’ve included decks that highlight both of them. First, Zombology Teacher lets you empty a hand of burn basically when convinient. Second is.... Gargologist. Because Zombot’s Wrath is a Gargantuar trick, and Gargologist at worst draws removal. Gargologist is therefore a damage dork that doubles as removal (Wrath) while cheapening possible finishing cards (Gargantuars), perfect for the formula.

Possible Qs you may have:

Your average rarity is high, and I don’t own Quasar Wizards. Do I need them?

A: No. In fact, if you don’t have Teachers, the Wizards make a lot less sense anyway. I like them... which is why they’re here. But the second decklist contains 0xTeacher and 2 fewer Wizards to show they’re a luxury you can replace with different dorks or tricks like Final Mission... (which I think is a decent card I probably don’t play as much as I should.)

Should I include Valkyrie if I have her?

A: Err... maybe? I think Quasar is actually a better fit because so many of the Zombie superpowers are removal. Valkyrie seems like an overkill card in these decks based on my experience playing them.

How does this deck preform?

A: Well. Its win rate should be high enough to satisfy, though I’m not going to make any absurd claims about it. My best match-ups in playtesting have tended to be Smarty and Mega-Grow, with Green Shadow being almost an auto-win. It preforms very well against Cyclecap via its 1-drop environments (just don’t drop those environments turn 1... use them as removal) and damage spells, and has gone comfortably over 50% in the Berry match-up for me. You’re probably weakest v. Wall-Knight heal (which is kind of ironic, b/c the Ultimate deck I posted in the general forum tends to wreak in the Wall-Knight match-up... it is also the reason why I broke from my formula a little for 2x Knockout).

Do I need Dancing Stars?

A: Need, need? You want them. Trust me.

[puntwothree]

I’ve made a few alterations to “Dead Deck Wins.” I found I was too hesitant with my Genetic Experiments and too often empty-handed in longer battles. Then berries beat me when we were both in top-deck mode by top-decking High Voltage Current on two consecutive turns. I thought, ‘enough is enough.’

-4x Genetic Experiment (too many tricks, too few zombies to justify these and the Wizards, and the Wizards are better and more expendable)

-2x Healthy Treat

-1x Zombology Teacher

+4x Zombie Middle Manager

+1x Terrify

+1x Going Viral

+1x QDCM (recently crafted)

You have to be careful how you use the Managers. You don’t really want to beat face with them b/c of the measely 1 damage (and you’re often going to be trying to win by triggering super-block as little as possible). However, they are great for throwing under busses, make the deck a little more well-rounded overall, and terrific top-deck zombies when you don’t got nothin’.

I don’t keep stats on my win percentage, as stated previously. But at a rough estimate I would say these changes make the deck just a tad better/more reliable, especially v. Berries and experienced plant players, who will just nuke the zombies surrounding a Genetic Experiment and leave it as a vanilla 2/1.