Since Modern Horizons 3 released, the Modern format has become incredibly combo focused. Bant Nadu is obviously garnering a lot of attention, but it isn’t the only major combo deck out there. Ruby Storm, despite its poor Pro Tour performance, is still a highly played deck. Living End and Through the Breach shells have also been putting up consistent results.
One synergistic deck that just recently had a breakout performance is Rakdos Zombies. This archetype isn’t exactly a typal creature deck, but instead features a potent combo thanks to the printing of an MH3 Zombie. This new card has flown under the radar thus far, and it definitely deserves some recognition. This is especially true after the deck just recently won a Magic Online Modern Challenge, which is a big accomplishment. Let’s kick things off by discussing how this combo actually works.
Warren Soultrader Leads the Way
The main synergy this deck utilizes revolves around Warren Soultrader and Gravecrawler. Warren Soultrader is a sweet MH3 card that got a decent amount of hype during spoiler season. Being able to repeatedly sacrifice other creatures and actually generate mana in the process is quite powerful. Until now, though, the card had yet to find a home.
After all, Warren Soultrader does very little on its own. You need ways to make use of the mana production and a reserve of sacrifice fodder, which isn’t always easy. This is where Gravecrawler comes into play. Because Warren Soultrader is a Zombie, you can bring back Gravecrawler from your graveyard to play at will.
This means that you can sacrifice Gravecrawler to Warren Soultrader, make a Treasure, and use that Treasure to bring back Gravecrawler. You can repeat this step over and over. Of course, you do have to pay one life each time, and this action alone doesn’t accomplish anything.
Luckily, Marionette Apprentice serves as a strong third piece of the puzzle. Each time you sacrifice a Treasure or sacrifice Gravecrawler with Marionette Apprentice on the battlefield, the opponent ends up losing one life. So, as you repeatedly pay one life to sacrifice Gravecrawler, then recur it by sacrificing the Treasure token, the opponent ends up losing two life in each exchange. Even if this combo isn’t truly infinite or guaranteed, in most cases, winning the game is trivial from here.
Notably, the presence of Spymaster’s Vault can make it beneficial to sacrifice Gravecrawler a bunch of times when you don’t have access to Marionette Apprentice. Getting to sculpt your hand and put counters on your Warren Soultrader to get a big attack in can certainly be worth it. Just be careful about how much life you end up paying with Warren Soultraders, which should vary from game to game.
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Chthonian Nightmare Package
While it may seem a bit difficult to ensure that the three-card combo described above sticks, this deck has a lot of ways to return any creature that gets removed. Obviously, returning Gravecrawler to play is easy, as you only need a single Zombie on the battlefield to do so. When it comes to Marionette Apprentice and Warren Soultrader, the main ways to bring them back to play are with Chthonian Nightmare and Unearth.
Chthonian Nightmare has proven to be a powerful engine in Modern. A little while ago, we discussed its role alongside Lightning Skelemental in a sweet Rakdos brew. Here, Warren Soultrader acts as the premier three-drop to return to play with your recursive elements. Bringing back copies of Marionette Apprentice and Orcish Bowmasters can also be very powerful. Both cards leave behind creature tokens to sacrifice to Chthonian Nightmare, too.
Similar to the Lightning Skelemental decklist, a full playset of Flare of Malice makes an appearance in this archetype as well. Flare is exceptionally strong with Gravecrawler given how easy it is to replay it. Sacrificing Orcish Bowmasters or Marionette Apprentice doesn’t feel too bad either, considering how easy it is to bring them back. Flare is essential in ensuring you can interact with Bant Nadu while still progressing your gameplan.
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Combo Vs. Combo
Overall, this deck has a lot of similarities with the Lightning Skelemental deck we talked about previously in the way it approaches the combo matchups. The importance of Flare of Malice cannot be overstated. Chthonian Nightmare and Unearth enable you to return creatures you sacrifice, so you don’t have to worry too much about sacrificing board presence. Killing Nadu, Winged Wisdom is obviously very important, but so is nabbing an Ocelot Pride or Slickshot Show-Off before they get out of control.
Thoughtseize is also a highly impactful piece of interaction. It can both disrupt your opponent’s combo or help you push through your own. This deck is capable of quick kills, too. What’s nice, though, is that this deck can play grindy games when necessary. Chthonian Nightmare is the star of the show in that department. When your Orcish Bowmasters and Marionette Apprentices die to Galvanic Discharge and the like, you can always sacrifice the tokens created to Chthonian Nightmare and bring them right back to play.
Against graveyard-centric decks like Living End, being able to cast or reanimate Boggart Trawler is a big deal. Boggart Trawler can function just like a land and provides you with a way to mess with opposing graveyards at low opportunity cost. You can even pitch it to Force of Despair out of the sideboard.
Unsurprisingly, where this deck’s biggest weakness lies is when facing down graveyard hate. Cards like Rest in Peace completely shut down the combo. Chthonian Nightmare shenanigans are off the table as well. The good news is that graveyard hate isn’t overly prevalent in the format right now. On top of that, artifacts like Unlicensed Hearse have been more common as of late than enchantments like Rest in Peace, and Rakdos Charm can clean up artifacts just fine in games two and three.
If you can dodge specific dedicated hate pieces, you have game against many of the top decks in the format. Having access to a quick combo kill is a huge boon in Modern’s current state. If playing Nadu mirrors isn’t interesting to you, definitely think about breaking out this unique Zombies deck at your next FNM.
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