The Commander
, Guide
Gameplan
Build a wide Zombie army, then swing with as many Zombies as possible to draw, loot, and gain life equal to your attacker count, fueling the graveyard for value. Use Varina's activated ability and recursion to grind out card advantage while your tribal payoffs and anthems push lethal combat damage. You win through overwhelming board presence, an alpha strike, or a graveyard-fueled aristocrats engine.
Strengths
- Massive built-in card advantage and selection from attacking with Zombies
- Lifegain offsets aggressive play and stabilizes against burn/aggro
- Fills the graveyard for reanimation and recursion synergies
- Esper colors give access to the best removal, tutors, and counterspells
- Token generation makes the deck resilient to wraths
Weaknesses
- Card draw is tied to attacking, so board wipes and removal slow you down
- Self-mill can deck you out if attacks get too large unchecked
- Reliant on having Zombies stick to trigger the engine
- Vulnerable to graveyard hate that shuts off recursion and Varina's ability
- Can be mana-hungry juggling activated abilities and tribal payoffs
Key Cards
- Gravecrawler — Recurs endlessly from the graveyard to keep attacker counts high and fuel sacrifice loops.
- Diregraf Captain — Anthem and drain payoff that punishes opponents every time a Zombie dies.
- Death Baron — Gives your whole Zombie army deathtouch and +1/+1, turning chump-attackers into threats.
- Wonder — Discarded to the graveyard via Varina's loot, it grants your team flying for unblockable alpha strikes.
- Zombie Master — Swampwalk plus regeneration protects your board and enables evasive attacks.
- Liliana, Dreadhorde General — Generates Zombies and draws cards while serving as removal and a closing threat.
- Cabal Coffers — Powers the heavy black mana costs needed to spam Varina's token ability.
Upgrade Path
Add fast mana and Zombie payoffs like Gisa and Geralf, Endless Ranks of the Dead, and Cemetery Reaper to accelerate the engine. Tighten the combo finish with Gravecrawler plus a sac outlet and Diregraf Captain for infinite drain, and add tutors like Demonic Tutor and Vampiric Tutor to find pieces. Protect Varina with Swiftfoot Boots and counterspells so your draw engine stays online.
Core Cards
The most-played cards for this commander, built from aggregated deck data (the Mythic Graph). Build public decks to seed it.
Win Conditions
- ▸Wide alpha strike with anthems and evasion (Wonder, Death Baron)
- ▸Aristocrats drain via Diregraf Captain, Blood Artist, and sacrifice loops
- ▸Reanimating a large threat to overwhelm the board
- ▸Grinding opponents out with relentless card advantage and recursion
Archetypes
- Zombie Tribal — Varina rewards going wide with Zombies via card advantage, lifegain, and combat triggers.
- Aristocrats — Recursive Zombies like Gravecrawler plus death payoffs let you sacrifice for value and drain.
- Reanimator — The loot and self-mill stock your graveyard, enabling cheap reanimation of bombs.
- Tokens — Varina's activated ability and Zombie token makers flood the board for an alpha strike.
Combos
No combos found for this commander on Commander Spellbook.
Related Commanders
Same color identity (BUW), by popularity.
