Everyone ignores poor old Grimgrin these days. But he's still just as beastly as ever, and BU Zombies are still plenty potent. With just a splash of RtR and GTC additions, they're better than ever!
All your BU Zombie staples are here: Gravecrawler, Messenger, Captain, Artist (the only non-Zombie in the deck), and of course the big beast himself: Grimgrin. The strategy remains mostly the same: get Grimgrin out, and sac Crawlers (then bring them back) or Messengers (and get them to return from undying) to set him off, then grind the opponent to dust.
If it ever even gets that far. Like most Zombie decks, this one can hit hard and fast without ol' Grinny ever hitting the field. The newer additions help:
- Slitherhead can plink for a little extra damage, but it's REALLY good as a sac outlet and then adding a little extra strength to a better attacker from beyond the grave.
- Corpse Blockade is like Grimgrin for defense, able to sac to become a deadly blocker. And like Grimgrin, you can combine it with Blood Artist/Captain and a Gravecrawler to sac, replay, sac again, over and over, and suck away gobs of life from your opponent each turn.
- And last but far from least, Rapid Hybridization can turn a lowly Gravecrawler or Slitherhead or Messenger into a nifty 3/3 blocker and/or attacker...at instant speed! Flexible enough to be a great defensive combat trick, a good way to get in extra aggro attacks, or to take down a particularly fearsome threat that your other kill spells can't deal with.
Add a little card draw from Altar's Reap, a little direct kill spells with Victim/Price, and an often-lethal Tragic Slip (which you can easily trigger yourself with all your sacrificing), and the only one left grinning will be you!
Sideboard has some additional kill (including the flexible Dimir Charm, which can be handy in other ways, too), Vile Rebirth and Crypt for combating other graveyard-based decks, Sewer Shambler and Mikaeus for hate against certain colors and/or midrange, and some more expensive cards for longer, more drawn out games to close things out.
This has done great in playtesting and at FNM; only way it really misfires is when I have mana problems. Trying to get more Watery Graves to help combat that....
Any other tips/tricks/suggestions and likes greatly appreciated!