Editor’s note: Written prior to the Pro Tour, we present to you André Mateus’s latest brew in Modern, featuring [card]Lotleth Troll[/card]!
BG Zombies, by André Mateus
Creatures (24)
4 [card]Dark Confidant[/card]
4 [card]Diregraf Ghoul[/card]
4 [card]Gravecrawler[/card]
4 [card]Kitchen Finks[/card]
4 [card]Lotleth Troll[/card]
4 [card]Vengevine[/card]
Spells (12)
3 [card]Abrupt Decay[/card]
1 [card]Life from the Loam[/card]
3 [card]Liliana of the Veil[/card]
1 [card]Putrefy[/card]
4 [card]Thoughtseize[/card]
Lands (24)
1 [card]Dryad Arbor[/card]
1 [card]Forest[/card]
1 [card]Marsh Flats[/card]
1 [card]Misty Rainforest[/card]
1 [card]Oran-Rief, the Vastwood[/card]
3 [card]Overgrown Tomb[/card]
3 [card]Swamp[/card]
2 [card]Tectonic Edge[/card]
4 [card]Treetop Village[/card]
2 [card]Twilight Mire[/card]
1 [card]Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth[/card]
4 [card]Verdant Catacombs[/card]
Sideboard (15)
1 [card]Darkblast[/card]
2 [card]Duress[/card]
1 [card]Extirpate[/card]
1 [card]Life from the Loam[/card]
1 [card]Memoricide[/card]
2 [card]Obstinate Baloth[/card]
1 [card]Putrefy[/card]
3 [card]Stillmoon Cavalier[/card]
1 [card]Tectonic Edge[/card]
2 [card]Withered Wretch[/card]
[card]Lotleth Troll[/card] is a beast (actually a zombie, but that’s besides the point) and an uncharted format in which [card]Vengevine[/card] is legal has to be the perfect place for it to prey on. Let’s break it down!
4 [card]Dark Confidant[/card]: The human wizard provides card advantage and a constant flow of creatures to either grow [card]Lotleth Troll[/card] or return [card]Vengevine[/card] to play. Discarding extra [card]Dark Confidant[/card]s to the Troll is something that does come up.
4 [card]Diregraf Ghoul[/card]: A cheap aggressive creature, quite helpful in returning [card]Gravecrawler[/card] and [card]Vengevine[/card] to play from the graveyard.
4 [card]Gravecrawler[/card]: An aggressive recurring one-drop that interacts perfectly with both [card]Lotleth Troll[/card] and [card]Vengevine[/card], as well as [card]Liliana of the Veil[/card].
4 [card]Kitchen Finks[/card]: Great in the aggro and midrange match-ups, since the lifegain is very relevant to offset the damage dealt by your fetchlands, [card]Dark Confidant[/card]s and [card]Thoughtseize[/card]s. It also has a great interaction with [card]Oran-Rief, the Vastwood[/card], giving you never-ending 3/2 persist creatures that gain you two life.
4 [card]Lotleth Troll[/card]: THE deck. A hard to remove threat that uses and abuses Gravecrawler’s and Vengevine’s abilities.
4 [card]Vengevine[/card]: A hasty 4/3 for four mana that keeps and keeps on coming? Sign me up! Great with [card]Lotleth Troll[/card] and [card]Gravecrawler[/card] and also another creature that interacts really well with Oran-Rief, particularly if you are returning multiples to play from the graveyard in the same turn.
0 [card]Fauna Shaman[/card] and 0 [card]Bloodghast[/card]: [card]Fauna Shaman[/card] would provide another interesting discard outlet for the deck, but it would also reduce the zombie count and make it slower and less focused, something that I don’t feel like it really benefits this kind of strategy, while [card]Bloodghast[/card], even tough it interacts quite well with [card]Lotleth Troll[/card] and [card]Life from the Loam[/card], doesn’t trigger Vengevine’s coming into play ability and, along with [card]Gravecrawler[/card], would mean a total of eight unable to block creatures, which I could see becoming too much of a liability.
3 [card]Abrupt Decay[/card]: A no-brainer by now and a strong candidate to the title of “best removal spell in the format”. I would probably run the full four if not for cards like [card]Restoration Angel[/card] and [card]Birthing Pod[/card] seeing plenty of play.
1 [card]Life from the Loam[/card]: Not only a great way to ensure you don’t miss your land drops, but also great at returning [card]Treetop Village[/card]s that were lost in combat, recurring your [card]Tectonic Edge[/card]s and, with a [card]Lotleth Troll[/card] in play and a [card]Dryad Arbor[/card] in the graveyard, you can keep on dredging Loam and discard the Arbor to the Troll, increasing the zombie’s power by one every turn. There’s only one copy of the green sorcery because there are very few match-ups in which you either want or can afford to draw multiples.
3 [card]Liliana of the Veil[/card]: Plays really well with the “discard creatures that come back” theme and with the card advantage provided by [card]Dark Confidant[/card]. It can also deal with hexproof threats such as [card]Geist of Saint Traft[/card] and supplements [card]Thoughtseize[/card] with the discard plan against the combo and control decks.
1 [card]Putrefy[/card]: Just another versatile removal spell that is able to deal with everything that [card]Abrupt Decay[/card] can not, such as the aforementioned [card]Restoration Angel[/card], [card]Birthing Pod[/card] and also manlands.
4 [card]Thoughtseize[/card]: The best card against the combo and control decks, able to strip away a key card from their hand for only one mana. Toughtseize gets the nod over [card]Inquisition of Kozilek[/card] because you already have a great way to deal with lower casting cost permanents in [card]Abrupt Decay[/card] and being able to discard a [card]Scapeshift[/card] from your opponent’s hand is definetely worth paying the two life.
Sideboard
[card]Darkblast[/card] comes in against pretty much any deck that tries to grind you out with creatures. It kills [card]Steppe Lynx[/card], unflipped [card]Delver of Secrets[/card], [card]Dark Confidant[/card] and any green one-drop accelerator.
The second copy of Putrefy also comes in handy against the aggro decks, not only as yet another removal spell, but also as a way to deal with graveyard hate such as [card]Grafdigger’s Cage[/card], [card]Relic of Progenitus[/card] or [card]Tormod’s Crypt[/card].
The two copies of [card]Duress[/card] are pretty much [card]Thoughtseize[/card]s five and six for the slower and combo match-ups, while [card]Extirpate[/card] and [card]Memoricide[/card] are a way to permanently deal with your opponent’s combo, but you never want to draw a second copy after one of them resolves.
The additional copies of both [card]Life from the Loam[/card] and [card]Tectonic Edge[/card] are a package for the more grinding match-ups and [card]Scapeshift[/card], while [card]Withered Wretch[/card] is your graveyard hate on (zombie) legs. [card]Obstinate Baloth[/card] does a lot of work against Jund and other Liliana decks, as well as more aggressive fringe decks such as Monored or Boros. [card]Stillmoon Cavalier[/card] is your plan for UW [card]Restoration Angel[/card] and actually, most of the decks that are running [card]Path to Exile[/card].
Try it out. The deck is the real deal and it might actually be a serious contender.
As always,
Thanks for reading,
André Mateus
André Mateus is Constructed specialist who was a finalist in the SCG Talent Search.
