Necromancer's Stockpile is extremely powerful. For some reason, no one else seems to have realized this yet, and the card is a dollar rare. Throw a bunch of Zombies in the deck, and you have an engine that turns every creature in your hand into a Runeclaw Bear—a Runeclaw Bear that says “draw a card.” That’s some mean card advantage.

The only downside to this card is that you can only play four, so you can’t guarantee you’ll have one every game. That puts you in a somewhat awkward position, where your games of being a token-making powerhouse are occasionally interrupted by you playing a rather lackluster tribal deck. However, the card still be powerful enough to be worth pursuing, especially since a deck can be built around it on a fairly tight budget. Here’s the list I put together.

Zombie Stockpile ? Magic 2015 Standard | Mike Cannon

• Creatures (25)
• 3 Liliana's Reaver
• 4 Dreg Mangler
• 4 Lifebane Zombie
• 4 Lotleth Troll
• 4 Sewer Shambler
• 4 Slitherhead
• 2 Jarad, Golgari Lich Lord

• Spells (12)
• 4 Hero's Downfall
• 4 Necromancer's Stockpile
• 4 Obelisk of Urd

• Lands (23)
• 6 Forest
• 9 Swamp
• 4 Golgari Guildgate
• 4 Llanowar Wastes

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The Zombies

Slitherhead is an obvious choice here. With a scavenge cost of , it effectively makes a 3/3 Zombie when discarded to Necromancer's Stockpile instead of a 2/2. More likely, you can scavenge it to add a free +1/+1 counter to Lotleth Troll, which can better take advantage of the extra power.

Lotleth Troll’s trample and regeneration ability make it a prime target for scavenging creatures onto. It’s among the few creatures in the deck you’ll often want to cast instead of discarding to make a 2/2 and draw a card.

Lifebane Zombie is a major player in Standard right now, and it can give you some extra game against the big green decks that are likely to become more common with the release of Nissa, Worldwaker. Intimidate makes it another great target for scavenging, and the two-for-one you create by casting it against a deck with green and white creatures can often outweigh the card you’ll draw from Necromancer's Stockpile. When playing against other decks, you can discard it and still gain card advantage.

Dreg Mangler saw some Standard play when it first entered the format, but it has since fallen out of favor. A 3/3 with haste for 3 mana isn’t bad when you don’t have the Stockpile, and when you do, the scavenge ability can pack some serious power onto one of your creatures.

Liliana's Reaver is another card that can sometimes be better cast than discarded, depending on how likely you think your opponent is to have removal. If it pushes through for damage even once, it gives you a huge amount of card advantage. Thanks to deathtouch, it also gives you a way to more easily take out larger creatures.

Jarad, Golgari Lich Lord seems to be a great card for this deck. Although most of your creatures will be 2/2 Zombies, the scavenge in the deck gives you a chance to make a large creature to sacrifice. Although scavenge will also remove some of the creatures in your graveyard, the other Zombies you discard to Necromancer's Stockpile should ensure Jarad is still quite large. If you want to discard Jarad to make a Zombie and draw a card, you can return him later by sacrificing excess lands, either to cast or to discard a second time.

The Support

Hero's Downfall can kill flying creatures that the deck doesn’t otherwise have a way to deal with, and it can also deal with Planeswalkers such as Elspeth, Sun's Champion that could provide a similar level of card advantage to Necromancer's Stockpile.

Playtesting

Mono-Black Devotion — Game 1

He cast Pack Rat, and I cast Necromancer's Stockpile before ending my turn.

He attacked with a Rat and discarded a card to make another one, hitting me for 2. I discarded Slitherhead to make a token and draw a card, and I used scavenge to put a counter on my Zombie.

My opponent cast Devour Flesh to make me sacrifice a Zombie, and he then cast a Pack Rat from hand and attacked for 6. He passed the turn. I made a Zombie, played a land, and passed the turn.

My opponent attacked with three Rats, and I made another Zombie. I double-blocked one, and my opponent discarded a card to make another copy. My Zombies and a Rat died, and I dropped to 7 life. I cast Lotleth Troll and passed the turn.

My opponent attacked with three Rats, and I blocked one with my Troll. He discarded a card to make another Rat, and I cast Hero's Downfall on one of the attackers. I discarded a Sewer Shambler to put a counter on Lotleth Troll, and it traded with another Rat. I dropped to 4, and my opponent passed the turn. I discarded a Zombie to make a token and then repeated the process. I played a land and passed the turn.

My opponent played a Mutavault and attacked with his two Rats. I double-blocked one, and I put the third Zombie on the other. My opponent discarded a card to make a Rat and activated Mutavault to make them 4/4s. He passed the turn. I discarded a card to make a Zombie, cast Jarad, Golgari Lich Lord, and passed the turn.

My opponent cast Hero's Downfall on Jarad, activated Mutavault, and attacked with everything. Liliana's Reaver traded with a Rat, Zombies blocked two others, and I dropped to 2 from Mutavault. I made three Zombies and scavenged a Slitherhead to pump up one of them.

My opponent attacked with two Rats. I blocked one with the two smaller Zombies and another with the larger one. He made another Pack Rat, and all the creatures in combat died. I discarded a creature to Necromancer's Stockpile, sacrificed two lands to bring back Jarad, and cast him. I passed the turn.

My opponent cast Underworld Connections on a land and used it to draw a card before passing back. I cast Obelisk of Urd and ended my turn.

My opponent cast Hero's Downfall on Jarad, activated Mutavault, and attacked for just enough to finish me off.

Game 2

I attacked for 2 and passed the turn. My opponent cast Desecration Demon, and I made two more Zombies when he ended his turn.

I cast Hero's Downfall on the Demon and attacked for 6. I cast Lotleth Troll and passed the turn. My opponent cast Hero's Downfall on the Troll, cast a Pack Rat, and ended his turn.

I cast Obelisk of Urd, scavenged a Slitherhead onto a token, and attacked for 13. My opponent took the damage, dropping to 1, and I ended my turn. He cast Devour Flesh to kill a token and passed the turn.

I cast a second Obelisk of Urd and attacked. My opponent cast Hero's Downfall on the larger Zombie and blocked the other with Pack Rat. I ended my turn. My opponent cast Devour Flesh to get rid of the last Zombie and ended his turn.

I played a land and passed back. My opponent cast Gray Merchant of Asphodel, draining me for 2.

I discarded a card to make a Zombie, cast the Dreg Mangler I drew, and attacked. My opponent was forced to block with Gray Merchant. I passed the turn, and he drew his card and conceded.

Game 3

He made a Rat and attacked for 2, and I discarded Slitherhead to make a Zombie, using scavenge to put a counter on it.

My opponent played Mutavault and attacked with the Rats. I chose not to block, and I took 4 damage. He cast Desecration Demon and passed the turn. I discarded a card to make a Zombie, scavenged a Slitherhead onto the 3/3, and passed the turn.

My opponent killed the 4/4 with Ultimate Price and attacked with everything. I made a Zombie, double-blocked a Rat, and took 8, dropping to 6. He passed the turn, and I played a land and passed back.

My opponent attacked with everything again, and I cast Hero's Downfall on the Demon. I made another Zombie token and blocked Pack Rat with both. My opponent discarded a card to make a new Pack Rat before it died. I attacked for 2, and my opponent took the damage. I made three more Zombies and scavenged a Slitherhead onto one of them before ending my turn.

My opponent passed back with no play. I made another Zombie and then tapped it for convoke to cast Obelisk of Urd. I attacked for 17, and my opponent cast two copies of Devour Flesh. I sacrificed the not-attacking token and one of the attackers. My opponent took 13, dropping to 5. I passed the turn, and my opponent passed back with no play.

I made another Zombie and cast another Obelisk of Urd. I attacked for 19, and my opponent conceded.

Wrap-Up

This deck can be a bit slow to get off the ground, but you can easily bury your opponent in card advantage once you get going. The card-draw from Necromancer's Stockpile makes almost certain you’ll hit every land drop, and you can use those lands to cast expensive spells like Obelisk of Urd or simply continue making more and more Zombies. Jarad can even serve as a backup if you run out of creature cards.

This deck can have a bit of trouble with Pack Rat if backed up by removal, since although Stockpile is usually more effective in the long run, Pack Rat scales more quickly. The addition of Bile Blight in the sideboard could help combat that. The deck could also have trouble with aggro decks, although those built with creatures that can’t survive combat with a 2/2 should have more trouble dealing with the Stockpile.

Overall, Necromancer's Stockpile seems to be an extremely powerful tool for fighting decks that seek to win in the long game. If your local Standard environment is heavy on control, or if you just want to try out a weird, alternative strategy, give this deck a shot.