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While Shadows over Innistrad and Amonkhet were in Standard together, Zombies was a powerful and Pro Tour-winning archetype. With Cryptbreaker and other supporting cards rotating out with Shadows, Zombies as a tribe has largely fallen by the wayside, but the new Core Set might change all of that. FriendRudy has an early take on the archetype:
Black-White Zombies - Dominaria Standard | FriendRudy, 5-0 Standard League
- Creatures (24)
- 4 Death Baron
- 4 Diregraf Ghoul
- 4 Dread Wanderer
- 4 Graveyard Marshal
- 4 Lord of the Accursed
- 4 Wayward Servant
- Planeswalkers (2)
- 2 Liliana, Untouched by Death
- Spells (9)
- 1 Vraska's Contempt
- 2 Cast Down
- 2 Fatal Push
- 4 Liliana's Mastery
- Lands (25)
- 2 Plains
- 8 Swamp
- 3 Ifnir Deadlands
- 4 Concealed Courtyard
- 4 Isolated Chapel
- 4 Unclaimed Territory
The lords aren't the only attractive part of this tribe though. Diregraf Ghoul gives you more consistent aggressive starts and there's a lot of resiliency built into this archetype to back it up. Dread Wanderer and Graveyard Marshal let you grind things out against more controlling decks, and Liliana, Untouched by Death gives you an incredible late game engine that can trump even the most hardcore control decks if you can force it through.
One of the most interesting cards is Wayward Servant. This might seem like a weak card to splash for, but the ability to drain your opponent for just a couple points of damage over the course of a game can absolutely make a difference in a format that is as polarized as this one. A slightly bigger buffer against aggro decks or an extra point or two of reach against control can be absolutely huge.
Despite the tribal themes in Ixalan, we haven't seen much in the way of Tribal decks in this Standard format. It's always a blast to see a tribal deck putting up results in Standard, so this Zombie deck may be one to keep an eye on.
