MTG Burgeoning Episode 1144: Building Around Varina, Lich Queen: Zombie Tribal EDH Deck

[@TheRezignator]

Varina's been one of my favorite commanders for years and every so often I like to look and see what other people are doing with it. As much as I like Varina it should be noted that her biggest flaw is keeping enough cards in your hand. Because she wants you to go wide and be aggressive to capitalize on her card selection ability you can find yourself with an empty hand very quickly. Windfall and Whispering Madness are the best options for refilling an empty hand immediately and can be gotten back by Repository Skaab (one of the best cards in the deck). On the topic of card draw though I also need to bring up a 15 cent zombie card that may as well have been custom made for a Varina deck. Silversmote Ghoul does everything you want and more turning on and enabling a lot of synergies. You can attack with it and 2 other zombies triggering Varina to gain 3 life then if it's gonna get blocked sac it for 2 mana to draw a card triggering any of your Headless Rider type effect. then he just comes back on his own at the end step triggering Tormod if he's out. The second big flaw Varina has is that zombies are generally small and weak, and while lords can pump them up a bit good attacks are sometimes hard to find so evasion is a must. You mentioned a few good options but a few of the best are Wonder, since you can discard it to Varina's ability before blockers are declared giving you surprise flying. Then Reconnaissance costing only 1 mana and basically giving all your zombies vigilance by letting you untap any of the unblocked ones at the end of combat step. Since again we're going to be a go wide deck protection is important. Recursion lets us rebuild faster for sure but a Tefari's Protection or Clever Concealment would never hurt, with an honorable mention to Your temple is Under Attack for both being cheap and potential card draw if needed. Instants in general like the various counter spells are easy to hold up mana for since Varina can just use any unspent mana to build the army at the end of the last opponents turn. One other card I want to mention is Vat of Rebirth, a card that I find massively outperform in almost any commander deck I put it in. It doesn't care if the cards are tokens to generate oil counters and seeing how prevalent treasure tokens are in commander you'll have no problem getting at least 4 oil almost every turn to bring something back for the low cost of 3 mana.

[@TheJojotyp]

I pretty much agree with all you said, except for the part about Windfall and Whispering Madness. Now bear in mind that I never tested those 2 cards in my Varina deck but I don't like the fact that I am most likely giving 2 other opponents a full hand. When I am ahead this might lead to them drawing removal. Instead I would rather go with cards like Teferi's Ageless Insight, Alhammarret's Archive, Kindred Discovery and maybe Reconnaissance Mission (or similar). Sure, the mana value on some of those is a little bit higher but my build is pretty low to the ground creature wise anyways since I play many 1 and 2 drop Zombies.

[@TheRezignator]

@@TheJojotyp While I also use Alhammeret's and Teferi's Insight as I think every Varina deck should they require some kind of a board presence to start paying off and are mostly hinging on your commander also being on board. They're good at keeping you ahead but if your behind with no safe attacks they start to lose value. It's also very meta dependent on what types of people you play against most often. The people I normally play with don't give me time to slowly build up a board of zombies over 3-4 turns so I need to make my plays as impactful as they can be on the turn I play them. A wheel is a great catchup card. They can usually refill your hand, and if you've already dumped out 5 or 6 zombies from your hand and wheel sure you give other people full grips as well but you've also just made your opponents discard the cards they'd been saving in their hands. Board wipes, expensive win cons, whatever. By choosing when you wheel you get to decide when its most beneficial for you and detrimental to your opponents. Even if you have a full grip because you want to dig for something specific you really don't lose much since in esper you can get anything you need back from the graveyard. They're defiantly worth giving a try.

[@mtgburgeoning3205]

These are some great recommendations for Varina! 100% FULL DISCLOSURE: When putting together a list to build around Varina, I was, and STILL AM, very tempted to convert my Wilhelt Zombie deck into a Varina Zombie build. As you said, card-draw should be prioritized, especially in a go-wide token/tribal build like this one. This also allows greater card selectivity when triggering Varina's attack ability, of course. One part of deck-building with which I struggle is tempering the Vorthos in me, i.e. adding the non-Zombie creature Wonder into a Zombie tribal build. It would make the overall theme of the deck stronger, but dilutes the Zombie creature pool slightly. We'll have to have some inner dialogues about that hahaha. The cards you mentioned are great additions for sure, especially Silversmote Ghoul. SG provides A LOT of versatility here, so much so that I plan to include it in my Edgar Markov deck. Thank you for that! I look forward to play-testing Vat of Rebirth. I agree with you that that card may be a lot stronger during the game than reading its stats during the deck-building process. Great suggestions all around!!

[@mtgburgeoning3205]

I like that assessment. One rule of deck-building that I almost always follow is to NOT include any cards that could help my opponents win the game, i.e. Windfall. Although opponents' hands could get ripped apart by casting Windfall, they also could draw something that helps them overcome our board state. Risk/reward for sure!

[@mtgburgeoning3205]

Very sound explanation. Considering the meta game and the color identity of the deck help to make wheels a more attractive inclusion. Nicely said!

[@Keebark69]

Excited for the secret lair thanks for the great information

[@mtgburgeoning3205]

My pleasure! Varina is so good that I'm thinking hard about converting my Wilhelt build into a Varina deck...

[@AG-fc5tg]

Do it, it’s way better. @mtgburgeoning3205

[@slyfox9834]

You sir have gotten a new subscriber, love your energy and way you explain cards and combos.

[@mtgburgeoning3205]

Thank you so much! I really appreciate your kind words. You made my night! Welcome to MTG Burgeoning!

[@slyfox9834]

No need man but thanks for the warm welcome. Glad to have stumbled with your channel thanks to looking at options for my Varina deck. Looking forward to what's next.

[@mtgburgeoning3205]

@@slyfox9834 Excellent! Stay tuned!!

[@jshing8387]

1.03k already! Keep grinding

[@mtgburgeoning3205]

Thanks! Will do!

[@Nixajax]

I know I’m late but what’s the opinion on adding God Eternal Bontu, and God Eternal Oketra? They seem good for drawing cards and making tokens which is what the deck wants

[@mtgburgeoning3205]

EXCELLENT suggestions! They're on-theme, strengthen the flavor AND provide enhancements to resources and board state. Awesome calls!!

[@nicomilord]

My oloro deck consist of varina and zombies haha looks like I'll be changing commanders haha.

[@mtgburgeoning3205]

Excellent! It's funny. I have a Wilhelt deck, and I am SO TEMPTED to swap-in Varina as the Commander and go Esper Zombies.

[@herrenturnen]

Good stuff! Currently changing my Wilhelt deck into a Varina deck for a more combat based approach, now I gotta find out how to incorporate a white mana base. What do you think about Feast of the Victorious Dead for this deck?

[@mtgburgeoning3205]

Thank you! I appreciate the kind words. I L O V E Feast of the Victorious deck in a build like this, especially with the life-gain ability of Varina in addition to a more well-supported life-gain sub-theme. I have a Willy deck too, and actually thought about making the conversion over to Varina because of her strength. If I were to incorporate a white mana base, I would most likely do so through dual lands like the appropriate two-color shocks, fans, pains, slows, etc., with W/U and W/B as the definite focus. There does not seem to be a need to slant to white in an Esper Zombie build, so this may be the most efficient way to do so. Happy brewing!!

[@herrenturnen]

@@mtgburgeoning3205 Wow thanks for your input! Time to order some singles!

[@mtgburgeoning3205]

@@herrenturnen Awesome! I would LOVE a deck list once you make the switch!! I'm really tempted to do the same.

[@tedhr392]

oh ya 2nd

[@mtgburgeoning3205]

#2!

[@KrisPSouls9258]

I don't know if I have the commander deck with that commander in it.

[@mtgburgeoning3205]

She is surprisingly strong! She's making me re-think the validity of Wilhelt....

[@DiiMoptop]

Hello. Have list Deck?

[@mtgburgeoning3205]

Unfortunately no. In Building Around Series videos like this one, we sculpt the thematic core of an EDH deck around a Commander, and then leave the ramp, removal, disruption and land base in the hands of the individual. Happy brewing!

[@ericr4677]

Crazy zombies

[@mtgburgeoning3205]

You love them! You know it's true!

[@ericr4677]

@@mtgburgeoning3205 I do I have a Kenrith king of the undead 🧟‍♀️ deck

[@mtgburgeoning3205]

@@ericr4677 Kenny leads all!

[@teamcosmicseeds]

@@ericr4677 mine is ran by...gisa she's more fun with illusionist's bracers & sculpting steel 😂

[@ericr4677]

@@teamcosmicseeds wow that sounds like a good time … 😃

[@thenephalemrift]

Triskelion for Mike and Trike combo win-con?

[@mtgburgeoning3205]

Definitely! If you can manage the Vorthos in you and include a non-Zombie creature in a Zombie tribal build, then go for it!!

[@zeffyr5135]

Thoughts on having Liliana, Dreadhorde General part of the 99?

[@mtgburgeoning3205]

I did consider Lilly, but I was a bit hesitant of her static ability since it is a force-draw and there is such a high propensity to have a battlefield filled with Zombies.

[@anttown4ever]

One can add psychosis crawler as a win con 😉

[@mtgburgeoning3205]

@@anttown4ever Great suggestion! That card definitely synergizes with Varina's looting theme, AS LONG AS the Vorthos in you allows a non-Zombie creature to enter into a Zombie tribal build!

[@anttown4ever]

@@mtgburgeoning3205 well.... it sure is not a Gravecrawler but it is a crawler 😅😅

[@mtgburgeoning3205]

@@anttown4ever Hahaha! I like that. Perhaps one day a Crawler build could happen...

[@anttown4ever]

Trying build a Varina right now. To many cards fit in.....

[@mtgburgeoning3205]

After publishing this video, I am very tempted to take my Wilhelt Zombie deck and replace Willy with Varina and go Esper Zombies.

[@anttown4ever]

@@mtgburgeoning3205 I've had Varina since Double masters 2 and has bought a lot of zombies over the years but never commited. After this video I am more inspired and bought 40 cards only to realize I have over 250 cards at home which goes in Varina....

[@teamcosmicseeds]

1st!

[@teamcosmicseeds]

And I was listening to the hasbro conference call 😂 🎉❤😊😮😢😅

[@mtgburgeoning3205]

#1!

[@mtgburgeoning3205]

Hope it's been enjoyable hahaha!

[@teamcosmicseeds]

@@mtgburgeoning3205 they are blaming the major profit loss on the "entertainment" side of hasbro 😂

[@mtgburgeoning3205]

@@teamcosmicseeds I wonder what encompasses "entertainment" under Hasbro....