What if .....? by ronin_H20

Format: Commander

Commander: Varina, Lich Queen

Bracket: 3

DeckCheck Threat Index: 34

Deck overview

This deck is an Esper Zombie tribal strategy commanded by Varina, Lich Queen that bridges wide combat aggro with extensive graveyard recursion. In the early turns, the deck deploys low-cost Zombie creatures and utility permanents to establish board presence. Casting Varina on Turn 4 unlocks aggressive card filtering, converting every attacking Zombie into looted cards, life gain, and graveyard fodder. The deck leverages this filled graveyard to generate massive mana and card advantages through cost-reducers like Undead Warchief and Rooftop Storm, or by resolving catastrophic mass reanimation spells such as Zombie Apocalypse and Bloodline Bidding. Opponents face layered pressure from scaling tribal lords (Death Baron, Temmet, Naktamun's Will), asymmetric board clears (Raise the Palisade, Noxious Ghoul), and lethal life drain from Wayward Servant, Corpse Knight, and Gray Merchant of Asphodel.

Decklist (100 cards)

  • 1 Adarkar Wastes
  • 1 An Offer You Can't Refuse
  • 1 Arcane Signet
  • 1 Binding Mummy
  • 1 Black Market Connections
  • 1 Bloodline Bidding
  • 1 Bontu's Monument
  • 1 Carrion Feeder
  • 1 Caves of Koilos
  • 1 Cemetery Reaper
  • 1 Champion of the Perished
  • 1 City of Brass
  • 1 Command Tower
  • 1 Corpse Knight
  • 1 Cursecloth Wrappings
  • 1 Death Baron
  • 1 Deserted Beach
  • 1 Diregraf Colossus
  • 1 Drowned Catacomb
  • 1 Endless Ranks of the Dead
  • 1 Enlightened Tutor
  • 1 Eternal Skylord
  • 1 Fell the Profane // Fell Mire
  • 1 Fleshbag Marauder
  • 1 Flooded Strand
  • 1 Forgotten Creation
  • 1 Ghostly Prison
  • 1 Glacial Fortress
  • 1 Gleaming Overseer
  • 1 God-Eternal Bontu
  • 1 God-Eternal Oketra
  • 1 Godless Shrine
  • 1 Gorex, the Tombshell
  • 1 Graveborn Muse
  • 1 Gravecrawler
  • 1 Gray Merchant of Asphodel
  • 1 Hashaton, Scarab's Fist
  • 3 Island
  • 1 Isolated Chapel
  • 1 Kindred Discovery
  • 1 Kindred Dominance
  • 1 Liliana's Mastery
  • 1 Lord of the Accursed
  • 1 Lord of the Undead
  • 1 Lost Monarch of Ifnir
  • 1 Mana Confluence
  • 1 Meticulous Archive
  • 1 Mystical Tutor
  • 1 Noxious Ghoul
  • 1 On Wings of Gold
  • 1 Orcrist, Goblin-cleaver
  • 1 Overcharged Amalgam
  • 1 Path of Ancestry
  • 1 Plague Belcher
  • 3 Plains
  • 1 Prairie Stream
  • 1 Propaganda
  • 1 Prophet of the Scarab
  • 1 Raise the Palisade
  • 1 Reliquary Tower
  • 1 Renewed Solidarity
  • 1 Rhystic Study
  • 1 Rooftop Storm
  • 1 Rot Hulk
  • 1 Secluded Courtyard
  • 1 Shipwreck Marsh
  • 1 Silence
  • 1 Singularity Rupture
  • 1 Sink into Stupor // Soporific Springs
  • 1 Sol Ring
  • 6 Swamp
  • 1 Temmet, Naktamun's Will
  • 1 Toxic Deluge
  • 1 Turbulent Moor
  • 1 Turbulent Shore
  • 1 Turbulent Wetlands
  • 1 Undead Warchief
  • 1 Undercity Sewers
  • 1 Underground River
  • 1 Unstoppable Slasher
  • 1 Urza's Incubator
  • 1 Varina, Lich Queen
  • 1 Vogar, Necropolis Tyrant
  • 1 Watery Grave
  • 1 Wayward Servant
  • 1 Wilhelt, the Rotcleaver
  • 1 Winnowing
  • 1 Wizened Mentor
  • 1 Zombie Apocalypse
  • 1 Zombie Master
  • 1 Zul Ashur, Lich Lord