“Fear not… I will make use of your corpse.”
Art:Liliana's Devotee
by Colin Boyer
Table of Contents
Today’s Featured Commander Is:
Liliana’s Devotee is a very cool commander and a perfect leader for a zombie deck! For three mana, we get an anthem effect and token production. Our deck is full of zombies that produce tokens and care about what’s in graveyards, and we even have some big sac outlets to allow us to get huge damage in. We also have a ton of ways to recur our zombies, and unless you exile them, they are likely coming back. Just like zombies should! I enjoyed this deck an absolute ton and even enjoyed it more than some of the other zombie decks we built just because we get so much value out of the command zone. This may be the one for you if you are looking for a fun zombie deck. Without further adieu, let’s get it!
The Deck:
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Liliana's Devotee Zombies!
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Why Liliana’s Devotee?
Liliana’s Devotee is a huge part of our deck. Not only are they an anthem effect that makes our deck better they also can be a strong piece of token production for the deck. The best thing is that if any creature dies on any given turn, and while it only triggers once if we are rich with mana, we can make three additional tokens on our opponent’s turn, which can be great for having blockers or strong attackers since they also get buffed by Liliana’s Devotee! Liliana’s Devotee is a huge part of our deck and a card we pretty much always want on turn three.
Deck Overview:
This section contains information about cards in the deck and how they function within the deck! I also highlighted some of my favorite cards in the deck!
Creatures:
To start out, we have two sac outlets in Carrion Feeder
and Viscera Seer
which are two extremely strong cards for the deck. This should come as no surprise, but we have a ton of awesome zombies like Diregraf Horde
, Hobbling Zombie
, and Infectious Horror
, which are three of my personal favorites in the deck. Gray Merchant of Asphodel
, Shepherd of Rot
, and Gempalm Polluter
are three of the biggest damage dealers in our deck and can be very effective ways to end the game or at the very least do a huge chunk of damage to our opponents. Vengeful Dead
is another amazing zombie that can deal a ton of damage to opponents over only a couple of turns and is another strong and effective damage dealer for the deck. We also have some pretty big attackers like Wight of Precinct Six
and Writhing Necromass
which can be great attackers and blockers.
Instants:
We have some removal that can be a great way to take out opponent’s threats, and some of my favorites include Murder
, Snuff Out
, and Cast Down
which are all cheap and sometimes free removal spells that can be a great way to take out threats. Speaking of cheap Village Rites
is an amazing card that allows us to kill an opponent’s creature and guarantee a trigger from Liliana’s Devotee. The same is true for Corrupted Conviction
which is a strong piece of card draw. Raise the Draugr
is an amazing card that allows us to recur two creatures for only two mana.
Sorceries:
Dirge of Dread
is a card that I often use to end the game since it makes our creatures quite evasive. We also have some additional card draw in Night's Whisper
, Sign in Blood
, and Read the Bones
, which in my opinion are the big three for Pauper EDH card draw in mono-black. We also have a ton of recursion at sorcery speed like Ghoulcaller's Chant
, Return from Extinction
, and Crawl from the Cellar
which are all cheap and strong ways to get our creatures back.
Artifacts:
We are a mono-colored deck, so we don’t have a ton of mana rocks, only Charcoal Diamond
and Bonder's Ornament
, which are more than sufficient. Cloak of the Bat
can make some of our bigger ground attackers more evasive, which can be a great way to get some damage in. Ashnod's Altar
is a strong sac outlet for the deck and is an amazing way to get ahead on mana. Trailblazer
is a little bit of expensive equipment but can be a very effective way to get the trigger from Liliana’s Devotee.
Enchantments:
As we do with many decks that have black, we had to include Oubliette
, which is an amazing and cheap removal spell. We also have Kaya's Ghostform
, which I love in the deck since it is cheap and the perfect way to protect Liliana’s Devotee. Death Watch
is a very cool card that doesn’t get a ton of play in Pauper EDH, and I’m surprised since it can be an effective way to damage an opponent and give us some life, I have enjoyed this card in the deck and found it to be quite strong. Shade's Form
and Endless Scream
are two very strong aura’s that can put a ton of pressure on our opponents and make a zombie quite a formidable attacker.
Land Base:
Being in mono-black, we don’t have a ton of options, but we do have some strong non-basic lands. Two of my favorites are Witch's Cottage
and Mortuary Mire
since they allow us to recur a creature which can be quite strong throughout the game in addition to our other recursion effects. The Dross Pits
and Polluted Mire
are strong pieces of supplemental card draw for the deck. We also have Evolving Wilds
and Terramorphic Expanse
, which are strong “fetches” for the deck, our land base is quite simple since we are mono-colored, but I have found it be effective and strong.
Strengths of the Deck:
- Our commander is a token producer and anthem effect, which makes our deck better in every way for only three mana
- We have many ways to recur, zombies, which can be very strong if we can recur creatures that create tokens
- There are a decent amount of zombies like Silumgar Scavenger
and Carrion Feeder, which get bigger and better when creatures die, and they can be great ways to deal huge damage to opponents
Weaknesses of the Deck:
- Our commander draws a lot of removal. While this is no doubt a weakness, one of the ways we can fight back is to let it go to the graveyard and cheaply recur it. While it isn’t a zombie some of our spells may not hit it, but it is an option. We can also let it go to the command zone a couple of times because five and seven casting costs are decently manageable.
- We are quite weak to graveyard hate since we like to recur creatures, and we have some payoffs for cards in the graveyard. We are quite afraid of a Bojuka Bog
- We can be a little slow-going in the early game. While we may have a lot of tokens, are best attackers/blockers are a little more expensive
Deck Stats:
Sample Hands:
Main Win Conditions:
There are no infinite combos or loops within the deck. We win the game through combat, Liliana’s Devotee is a huge help with that since they provide an anthem effect for our zombies, and there are quite a few zombies that are naturally evasive, like Silumgar Scavenger
and Blighted Bat
. We also have some strong sac outlets that can get out of hand with relative ease, like Carrion Feeder and Voracious Null
, which, after only a few turns, can be pretty huge.
Conclusion:
Liliana’s Devotee is an amazing commander for a zombie deck, and zombies are a classic creature type in magic. This deck has an old-school magic feel since it focuses on zombies and attacking. I have had a ton of fun with this one in my playgroup. This is a deck that we typically pass around, and many players want to get at least a couple of games in, fun and flavorful and even a little strong, which makes this deck an absolute blast to pilot. Thanks for reading to the end and for all of your support!