Varina by user1615960

Format: Commander

Commander: Varina, Lich Queen

Bracket: 4

DeckCheck Threat Index: 38

Deck overview

This Esper Zombie deck blends aggressive tribal token swarms, aristocrat drain engines, and explosive mass reanimation under Varina, Lich Queen. The primary operational plan deploys early Zombies, casts Varina to aggressively filter cards into the graveyard, and creates Zombie tokens. Once the graveyard is loaded, the deck executes a decisive win via mass reanimation spells like Living Death and Zombie Apocalypse, or through aristocrat drain loops featuring Gravecrawler, Warren Soultrader, and Wayward Servant. Asymmetric board control pieces like Archfiend of Ifnir and Noxious Ghoul repeatedly wipe opposing creature boards as Zombies enter and cards are discarded. While the deck boasts rapid recovery from board wipes via graveyard recursion, its heavy reliance on the graveyard creates vulnerability to exile effects, and the complete absence of countermagic leaves stack-based opposing combo lines uncontested.

Decklist (100 cards)

  • 1 Accursed Duneyard
  • 1 Adarkar Wastes
  • 1 Arcane Sanctum
  • 1 Arcane Signet
  • 1 Archfiend of Ifnir
  • 1 Ash Barrens
  • 1 Bitter Triumph
  • 1 Bone Miser
  • 1 Bontu's Monument
  • 1 Buried Alive
  • 1 Caves of Koilos
  • 1 Command Tower
  • 1 Corpse Augur
  • 1 Corpse Knight
  • 1 Cryptcaller Chariot
  • 1 Dark Ritual
  • 1 Death Baron
  • 1 Destined Confrontation
  • 1 Dimir Signet
  • 1 Diregraf Colossus
  • 1 Drowned Catacomb
  • 1 Duty Beyond Death
  • 1 Evolving Wilds
  • 1 Feed the Swarm
  • 1 Fetid Pools
  • 1 Fracture
  • 1 Glacial Fortress
  • 1 God-Eternal Oketra
  • 1 Grave Titan
  • 1 Graveborn Muse
  • 1 Gravecrawler
  • 1 Gray Merchant of Asphodel
  • 1 Hashaton, Scarab's Fist
  • 1 Headless Rider
  • 1 Helping Hand
  • 1 Irrigated Farmland
  • 5 Island
  • 1 Isolated Chapel
  • 1 Liliana, Dreadhorde General
  • 1 Liliana, Heretical Healer // Liliana, Defiant Necromancer
  • 1 Living Death
  • 1 Lord of the Accursed
  • 1 Lost Monarch of Ifnir
  • 1 Midnight Reaper
  • 1 Mikaeus, the Unhallowed
  • 1 Military Intelligence
  • 1 Necroduality
  • 1 Noxious Ghoul
  • 1 On Wings of Gold
  • 1 Orzhov Basilica
  • 1 Orzhov Signet
  • 1 Path of Ancestry
  • 1 Pitiless Plunderer
  • 1 Plague Belcher
  • 6 Plains
  • 1 Prairie Stream
  • 1 Prophet of the Scarab
  • 1 Raffine, Scheming Seer
  • 1 Ratadrabik of Urborg
  • 1 Rise of the Dark Realms
  • 1 Rooftop Storm
  • 1 Sol Ring
  • 1 Sunken Hollow
  • 6 Swamp
  • 1 Swords to Plowshares
  • 1 Talisman of Dominance
  • 1 Teferi's Ageless Insight
  • 1 Temmet, Naktamun's Will
  • 1 Temple of Deceit
  • 1 Temple of Silence
  • 1 Terramorphic Expanse
  • 1 The Scarab God
  • 1 Toxic Deluge
  • 1 Undead Augur
  • 1 Undead Warchief
  • 1 Underground River
  • 1 Unholy Grotto
  • 1 Varina, Lich Queen
  • 1 Wand of Orcus
  • 1 Warren Soultrader
  • 1 Wayward Servant
  • 1 Wilhelt, the Rotcleaver
  • 1 Worthy Cost
  • 1 Zombie Apocalypse
  • 1 Zombie Master
  • 1 Zul Ashur, Lich Lord