If you like to create a massive army of Zombies and unleash a Zombie Apocalypse, then Esper Zombie Tribal is the right deck for you. Let’s see how we can flood the graves and unleash the eternal might of the dead upon the living!
I love tribal decks because they combine synergy and flavor and of course power. On top of that you can find many unique cards that support a tribe and can be great budget options as those cards work only on a specific tribal deck and are bad to unplayable to any other deck. That’s why I will try building and presenting a series of decks for all those who share the love for tribal decks.
Zombie is a creature type describing animated corpses. Zombie is a characteristic race for the color black, though through various blocks they have also featured in all other colors. Zombies are normally simply animated and have little to no connection with the soul of the deceased, though some especially powerful necromancers know how to bind the dead to their bodies to create smart zombies (source: MtG Wiki)
Along with the release of Aetherdrift, came Eternal Might, an Esper (
) Colored commander deck focused on Zombies. It features some great Zombies and Zombie Tribal support cards. It is a great starting point for building Zombie tribal. Although you can call it a precon upgrade, my build is more a precon remake than an upgrade so you can start from zero and buy singles. The optimal building option depends on the price and availability of the cards.
Temmet, Naktamun’s Will is the face commander of the precon and a great commander for Esper Zombie Tribal. He has Vigilance and Menace which make him ideal for attacking, while at the same time, on attack trigger, he let us draw a card and discard a card. In addition whenever we draw a card, Zombies we control get +1/+1 until end of turn, which is way more powerful than it seems. In short, he becomes a draw engine, he fills our graveyard (which is great for our Esper Zombie Tribal), and by attacking on its own he buffs our Zombies with +2/+2 (normal card draw on upkeep + his card draw on attack trigger). A great option for Esper Zombie Tribal!
Although there are some other cool options for the commander of Esper Zombie Tribal, like Hashaton, Scarab’s Fist (focusing more on reanimation) and Varina, Lich Queen (a very strong alternative), Temmet, Naktamun’s Will seems like the optimal choice if build properly and there are a few ways to do that. In our Esper Zombie Tribal, apart from the obvious Zombie Tribal synergy, we will focus on drawing many cards through wheel and looting effects, so that we will take advantage of Temmet’s last ability and achieve a huge buff for our Zombies, making Temmet, Naktamun’s Will an amazing finisher. Wheel effects are particulary strong with our build as we get a huge buff, we draw many cards, we fill our graveyard and getting optimal synergy.
P.S.: If you like Zombies, you can also check my Zombie Tribal deck
Synergy Diagram
Let’s analyze the main goals of the deck:
- Add the best Zombies. Our priority is to add the ones that have synergy with graveyard recursion, synergy with card draw/wheel/loot and Zombie Tribal synergy.
- Add Zombie Tribal support. Cards that support Zombie Tribal seem a great choice for our build.
- Add cards that produce Zombie tokens. Since we are trying to build a great Zombie army, cards that produce Zombie tokens are great for our build.
- Add cards that have wheel/looting effects. With Temmet, Naktamun’s Will we can turn the extreme draw into an extreme buff for our Zombies, while at the same time discard can fill our graveyard.
- Add graveyard recursion cards and cards with graveyard synergy. Zombies are a tribe with strong graveyard synergy so we can choose cards that synergize both with our Zombie Tribal theme and our Graveyard recursion strategy.
- Add cards that synergize with our strategies. To make the best out of our strategies, we can further amplify them by adding cards that support many of our strategies.
For the sake of flavor some of the choices are not optimal, but are (usually budget friendly) alternatives that fit greatly the Esper Zombie Tribal theme.
The deck:
Esper Zombie Tribal
Comparative Analysis
Let’s see how the deck compares to the general ratios of my deckbuilding guide.
35 Lands
11 Ramp: Sol Ring , Arcane Signet , Patchwork Banner , Dimir Signet , Orzhov Signet , Rooftop Storm, Undead Warchief, Bontu’s Monument, Talisman of Dominance , Talisman of Hierarchy, Crowded Crypt
9 Target Removal: Flip the Switch , Feed the Swarm , Overcharged Amalgam , Grimgrin, Corpse-Born , Invasion of New Capenna , Murderous Rider , Kabira Takedown , Hagra Mauling, Jwari Disruption
4 Board Wipes: Nevinyrral, Urborg Tyrant , Noxious Ghoul , Archfiend of Ifnir, Zombie Apocalypse (Humans only)
12 Graveyard Recursion: Cursecloth Wrappings , Zul Ashur, Lich Lord, Zombie Apocalypse, Lost Monarch of Ifnir, The Scarab God, Rot Hulk, Liliana, Death’s Majesty, Unholy Grotto (to top of library), Murderous Rider (self-recursion), Rise of the Dark Realms, God-Eternal Oketra (self-recursion), Sidisi, Regent of the Mire
4 Graveyard Hate: Necromancer’s Covenant, Bojuka Bog, The Scarab God, Cemetery Reaper
1 Tutor: Waterlogged Teachings
10 Protection: Raffine, Scheming Seer (Ward), Zul Ashur, Lich Lord (Ward), Zombie Master , Gleaming Overseer, Ratadrabik of Urborg (Ward), Nevinyrral, Urborg Tyrant (self-protection), Accursed Duneyard , Jwari Disruption , Overcharged Amalgam, Flip the Switch
16 Card Draw: Temmet, Naktamun’s Will , Raffine, Scheming Seer, Graveborn Muse, Hordewing Skaab , Windfall , Brainstorm , Frantic Search , Flux , Tolarian Winds , Undead Augur, Prophet of the Scarab, Cryptbreaker, Forgotten Creation,Whispering Madness, Spymaster’s Vault, Varina, Lich Queen
6 Finishers/ Surprise /Alternate win conditions: Temmet, Naktamun’s Will , The Scarab God , Rise of the Dark Realms Zombie Apocalypse, Grimgrin, Corpse-Born, Acererak the Archlich
As we see form the comparative analysis, the rates per category are very good. There is no score below the optimal low average and we see 5 categories that are above the optimal max average. Card draw at 16, Protection at 10 and Graveyard Recursion at 12 are the highlights of our deck.
Deck Highlights, synergy and flavor options:
Ramp
Rooftop Storm is just insane in Zombie Tribal. Paying 
for Zombies we cast, is just overpowered. Combined with our wheel strategy, we can build a whole army our of nowhere. It is also a combo material. A must-have card for our Esper Zombie Tribal.
Undead Warchief is another insane card for Zombie Tribal. It is both a mana cost reducer (by 
) for Zombies and a Zombie Lord, buffing them with +2/+1. A top pick for our build.
Bontu’s Monument reduce the cost of black creatures by . Moreover, whenever we cast a creature spell, it drains our opponents while at the same time it nets us life. Esper Zombie Tribal is primarily black and creature-heavy, so it has great synergy with our build.
Crowded Crypt is a mana rock with potential to become a great Zombie Token producer. It needs some setup, but the payoff is worth it.
Patchwork Banner is one of the best cards for Tribal builds as it combines ramp and tribal support. Being both a mana rock and a Tribal Anthem gives us amazing value for its mana cost. Of course it is a top pick for our Esper Zombie Tribal!
Target Removal
Flip the Switch is a counterspell with Zombie Tribal synergy. It counters target spell unless its controller pays 
and it creates a 2/2 black Zombie creature token with decayed. Overcharged Amalgam is a counterspell stick on a 3/3 Zombie Horror creature with the downside that we need to Exploit a creature and the upside that it can target a spell, an activated ability, or a triggered ability. Jwari Disruption counters target spell unless its controller pays , but it can be used as a Land too, so its flexibility makes it a nice inclusion (given the fact that we needed more target removal options).
Grimgrin, Corpse-Born is a target removal engine, as long as we have enough creatures to feed it. In our Esper Zombie Tribal, that should not be a problem, as our build is both creature-heavy and token-heavy. A great pick for Zombie Tribal and also a flavorful one.
Feed the Swarm is a new staple and fits our deck since it has low mana value and can hit both creatures and enchantments.
Invasion of New Capenna // Holy Frazzle-Cannon is a nice flexible removal and has the potential to become a great tribal support card as the Holy Frazzle-Cannon has “Whenever equipped creature attacks, put a +1/+1 counter on that creature and each other creature you control that shares a creature type with it.”
Murderous Rider // Swift End is a great card since it is a Zombie, it combines target removal at instant speed for and self-recursion at library, so it has the potential to be used more than once.
Board Wipes
Noxious Ghoul has “Whenever this creature or another Zombie enters, all non-Zombie creatures get -1/-1 until end of turn”. In our Esper Zombie Tribal, it can become a repeatable one-sided wipe as we can easily generate Zombie tokens and trigger its ability multiple times in our turn. A top inclusion for any Zombie Tribal.
Archfiend of Ifnir is a great board wipe for cycle and discard builds, since whenever we cycle or discard another card, we put a -1/-1 counter on each creature our opponents control. In our Esper Zombie Tribal we have multiple wheel/looting effects so it has the potential to be a repeatable and strong one-sided wipe. Another top inclusion for our build.
Nevinyrral, Urborg Tyrant is a card that can fill many roles in our build. It has strong build-in protection, it can be an excellent Zombie Token producer if played after a combat where many creatures died and last but not least, on death trigger and by paying we can destroy all artifacts, creatures, and enchantments. A great utility card for Esper Zombie Tribal.
Zombie Apocalypse apart from being a great mass recursion card, is a Human board wipe. Although too specific, Humans are one of the most prevalent species in Magic, so that can’t be ignored.
Graveyard Recursion
Cursecloth Wrappings is both a Zombie Anthem buffing Zombies with +1/+1 and a graveyard recursion engine. On 
, it gives target creature card in our graveyard embalm until end of turn. The embalm cost is equal to its mana cost. A great card for our Esper Zombie Tribal.
Zul Ashur, Lich Lord on , let us cast target Zombie creature card from our graveyard. A great recursion engine with build-in protection (Ward-Pay 2 life) which is kinda weak in commander, but still a nice extra.
Zombie Apocalypse is a huge card for our Esper Zombie Tribal. It is a mass graveyard recursion card, returning all Zombie creature cards from our graveyard to the battlefield tapped. A must-have card for our build that has extra synergy with our wheel/loot strategy that can quickly flood our graveyard.
Rise of the Dark Realms is another huge card for our Esper Zombie Tribal. It is a mass graveyard recursion card that returns all creature cards from all graveyards onto the battlefield under our control. Of course it also counts as a finisher and greatly fits our deck theme.
Lost Monarch of Ifnir is a great inclusion for our Esper Zombie Tribal. It has Afflict 3 and gives other Zombies Afflict 3 which punish players that block our Zombies by loosing 3 life for each blocked creature, something that may be a hidden finisher if we have a big Zombie army. Moreover, it is another repeatable recursion engine as it has: “At the beginning of your second main phase, if a player was dealt combat damage by a Zombie this turn, mill three cards, then you may return a creature card from your graveyard to your hand”.
Rot Hulk is a card that gets stronger the more opponents we have, as when it enters, we return up to X target Zombie cards from our graveyard to the battlefield, where X is the number of opponents we have. In a 4-player commander game it may return 4 Zombies which is huge. A great pick for our Esper Zombie Tribal.
The Scarab God is a powerful card that greatly fits our Esper Zombie Tribal. Among others, by paying 
at instant speed it let us exile target creature card from a graveyard and create a token that’s a copy of it, except it’s a 4/4 black Zombie. Note that it can also steal a card from our opponents’ graveards, so it can also be used as graveyard hate. A top pick for our build.
Liliana, Death’s Majesty is a Planeswalker that greatly fits our Esper Zombie Tribal. At +1 she becomes a Zombie token producer and let us mill two cards. At -3 she let us return target creature card from our graveyard to the battlefield. Last but not least, her ultimate is an one-sided wipe, destroying all non-Zombie creatures. Great synergy with our build.
Unholy Grotto is a Land that let us pay , to put target Zombie card from our graveyard on top of our library. A great utility Land for our Esper Zombie Tribal!
Sidisi, Regent of the Mire by and sacrificing a creature we control with mana value X other than Sidisi, let us return target creature card with mana value X plus 1 from our graveyard to the battlefield at sorcery speed. It is a kind of Birthing Pod for graveyard decks and it has no mana cost for activating its ability, so we can get amazing value in decks that play with graveyard strategies, like our Esper Zombie Tribal. A top card for our build.
Graveyard Hate
Necromancer’s Covenant costs a lot, but it is not just a graveyard hate card. When it enters, we exile all creature cards from target player’s graveyard, then create a 2/2 black Zombie creature token for each card exiled this way. Combined with our mass wheel effects, it has great potential to become a hidden finisher. In addition, it gives Zombies we control Lifelink, which is very welcome and can prove crucial. A great pick for our Esper Zombie Tribal.
Bojuka Bog is a staple for graveyard hate.
Tutors
Waterlogged Teachings is a nice instant tutor that give us easy access to our cheap draw and removal spells. Being a MDFC means it can also be played as a color fixing land. A great pick for Esper Zombie Tribal!
Protection
Zombie Master is a great protection card for our Zombies, as it provides them with “: Regenerate this permanent” and Swampwalk. Swampwalk can prove extra deadly against black decks as our Zombies become unblockable which makes it a hidden finisher. A must-have for our Esper Zombie Tribal.
Gleaming Overseer provides Zombie Tokens we control with Hexproof and Menace. Great for protection but also for offense. The fact that it also produces a Zombie Army creature token is a nice extra.
All our counterspells also act as protection spells too if needed and that is very important since with our build focusing on both Zombie Tokens and Zombie creatures we should have a strong board presence.
Accursed Duneyard is a great addition for Shade, Skeleton, Specter, Spirit, Vampire, Wraith, and Zombie Tribal builds. By paying at instant speed it let us regenerate target Zombie. A great protection option for our Esper Zombie Tribal!
Card Draw
Temmet, Naktamun’s Will is our commander and helps us with card draw, even if his ability is bound on attack trigger. Looting helps both drawing and filling our graveyard, so we get optimal value. Having Vigilance and Menace is crucial for being able to attack with no remorse.
Varina, Lich Queen is a wheel engine on attack trigger and works wonders with our Esper Zombie Tribal. She has amazing synergy with our build and our commander Temmet, Naktamun’s Will . Moreover, by paying and exiling two cards from our graveyard at instant speed, she becomes a Zombie Token creator. A must-have card for our build.
Raffine, Scheming Seer gives us amazing and repeatable value, providing target attacking creature with Connive X, where X is the number of attacking creatures. Connive is another looting effect and combined with our creature-heavy Esper Zombie Tribal build it can become explosive with Temmet, Naktamun’s Will . It’s a pity it’s not a Zombie, but at least it has build-in protection (Ward). A top utility card for our build.
Graveborn Muse is another card that can easily become explosive with Temmet, Naktamun’s Will . It provides us at the beginning of our upkeep, with draw X cards, where X is the number of Zombies we control (with the downside of also losing X life). In our Esper Zombie Tribal that draw can become a huge buff and it is repeatable! A must-have card for our build.
Hordewing Skaab is a must-have card for our Esper Zombie Tribal as it gives Zombies we control Flying, while at the same time it has: “Whenever one or more Zombies you control deal combat damage to one or more of your opponents, you may draw cards equal to the number of opponents dealt damage this way. If you do, discard that many cards”. A powerful looting effect that is made much easier with Flying.
Windfall, Tolarian Winds , Whispering Madness and Flux are providing us with powerful wheel effects which translates into massive draw and massive buff to our Zombies with Temmet, Naktamun’s Will . Whispering Madness has Cipher, so it has the potential to become repeatable. Amazing value for our Esper Zombie Tribal.
Frantic Search provides a smaller scale instant looting/wheel effect, but it is essentially a free cast (providing we have the mana to cast it), as it refunds its own mana cost by untapping up to three Lands. So it can potentially buff our Zombies for free with an additional +2/+2 until end of turn with the help of our commander. (consider that the total buff is +4/+4 with draw step and Temmet, Naktamun’s Will attacking)
Undead Augur works wonders in Zombie Tribal as it turns all our Zombie deaths into card draw. A top addition to our build.
Prophet of the Scarab has a powerful ETB, that almost always will net us a big amount of cards as when it enters we draw cards equal to the number of Zombies we control or the number of Zombie cards in our graveyard, whichever is greater. A top pick for our Esper Zombie Tribal.
Cryptbreaker is another repeatable draw source, as by tapping three untapped Zombies we control, we draw a card and lose 1 life. In addition, by paying , and discarding a card, it becomes a Zombie token creator. A great addition to our build.
Forgotten Creation works wonders with our Esper Zombie Tribal as it provides us with a repeatable wheel effect at the beginning of our upkeep. A must-have card for our build.
Spymaster’s Vault has: “Pay ,: Target creature you control connives X, where X is the number of creatures that died this turn”. It has high potential and synergizes well with Temmet, Naktamun’s Will as Connive is another looting effect.
Finishers/ Surprise /Alternate win conditions
Temmet, Naktamun’s Will is the ultimate finisher for our Esper Zombie Tribal as our wheel/looting strategies are build to amplify our card draw and his ability to buff our Zombies. With a single wheel effect, we can get a ridiculous buff that may prove a finishing move.
The Scarab God can become a finisher as long as we have many Zombies, as it has: “At the beginning of your upkeep, each opponent loses X life and you scry X, where X is the number of Zombies you control.” A powerful effect that can quickly drain our opponents.
Rise of the Dark Realms costs a lot of mana, but its effect is so powerful that can even win us the game out of nowhere. We put all creature cards from all graveyards onto the battlefield under our control. It has great synergy with our Esper Zombie Tribal as our build runs mass wheel effects so we can fill all graveyards and then reanimate all creatures to fight by our side. Even looting effects help filling our own graveyard, so we get optimal synergy. An amazing finisher that also greatly fits the flavor of our deck.
Zombie Apocalypse is also a mass graveyard recursion spell that sets up a potential finishing move on the next turn.
Infinite Combo
Gravecrawler keeps coming back from the grave to haunt our opponents. It works as a great sacrifice target and is a combo material. A great pick for our Esper Zombie Tribal!
Gravecrawler + Rooftop Storm + Grimgrin, Corpse-Born results in infinite +1/+1 counters on Grimgrin, infinite ETB, infinite LTB, infinite sacrifice triggers and infinite storm count. The combo can be explained in detail here (EDHREC).
Acererak the Archlich + Rooftop Storm results in infinite card draw, infinite draw triggers, near-infinite +1/+1 counters, near-infinite colored mana, near-infinite creature tokens, near-infinite ETB, near-infinite lifegain, near-infinite lifegain triggers, near-infinite lifeloss, near-infinite LTB, near-infinite storm count, near-infinite Treasure tokens, near-infinite ventures into the dungeon. The combo can be explained in detail here (EDHREC). A great 2-card combo finisher!
Other synergy pieces
Great Zombies
Ratadrabik of Urborg apart from granting our Zombies Vigilance, has a powerful ability: “Whenever another legendary creature you control dies, create a token that’s a copy of that creature, except it’s not legendary and it’s a 2/2 black Zombie in addition to its other colors and types.” That makes our build much more durable and give us the chance to recur the original and keep both, flooding in value. Add to that its build-in protection and we have a top pick for our Esper Zombie Tribal.
Other
Geralf, the Fleshwright is one of the few creatures in our deck that is not a Zombie, but has great Zombie synergy. His second ability is the most important one, as in a build that multiple Zombies can enter on a turn, the buff he provides can really add up to a point where it can become very powerful.
Cryptcaller Chariot has amazing synergy with our wheel/looting strategy as whenever we discard one or more cards, we create that many tapped 2/2 black Zombie Tokens. It can easily get out of hand in our Esper Zombie Tribal.
Renewed Solidarity is a great Tribal Enchantment that acts both as an Anthem, buffing our Zombies with +1/+0 and as a Token dublicator for Tokens that entered this turn. An amazing pick for our build.
Endless Ranks of the Dead is a great Zombie Token producer that at the beginning of our upkeep, creates X 2/2 black Zombie creature tokens, where X is half the number of Zombies we control, rounded down. It can easily get out of hand in our Esper Zombie Tribal.
Necroduality on nontoken Zombie ETB, creates a token that’s a copy of that creature, so it doubles our nontoken Zombies which is insane for a Zombie Tribal deck. A top pick for our Esper Zombie Tribal.
On Wings of Gold grants our Zombies +1/+1 and Flying, but also synergizes with our graveyard recursion strategy and becomes a Zombie Token engine as whenever one or more cards leave our graveyard, we create a 1/1 white Zombie creature Token. A great addition to our build.
Token Creators : 20 cards
Cryptbreaker, Hashaton, Scarab’s Fist, Wizened Mentor, Cemetery Reaper, Diregraf Colossus, Geralf, the Fleshwright, Headless Rider, Ratadrabik of Urborg, Varina, Lich Queen, God-Eternal Oketra, The Scarab God, Liliana, Death’s Majesty, Flip the Switch, Crowded Crypt, Cryptcaller Chariot, Renewed Solidarity, Endless Ranks of the Dead, Necroduality, On Wings of Gold, Necromancer’s Covenant
It is worthy to be mentioned, that Hashaton, Scarab’s Fist synergizes greatly with discard and creates powerful copies that are 4/4 black Zombie Tokens, but does not exiles the original cards from the graveyard, so we can recur them and have both in play. Diregraf Colossus apart from being a great Zombie token creator, it has a powerful ETB, as it gets +1/+1 for each Zombie card in our graveyard. God-Eternal Oketra creates powerful 4/4 black Zombie Warrior creature Tokens with Vigilance, The Scarab God create powerful 4/4 black Zombie Tokens that are copies of other creatures, Nevinyrral, Urborg Tyrant on ETB creates a tapped 2/2 black Zombie creature Token for each creature that died this turn, Cryptcaller Chariot as we have analized before, can be an unstoppable token engine, Renewed Solidarity doubles the Tokens we create, Necroduality double the nontoken Zombies and On Wings of Gold synergizes with graveyard recursion.
Zombie Tribal Lord effects / buffs: 15 cards
Lord of the Accursed by paying , also gives all Zombies Menace until end of turn, Death Baron also grants Deathtouch, Gleaming Overseer is a Zombie token Lord granting Hexproof and Menace, Zombie Master grants our Zombies with “: Regenerate this permanent” and Swampwalk, Lost Monarch of Ifnir grants Afflict 3, Ratadrabik of Urborg grants Vigilance, Undead Warchief grants +2/+1 and reduces the casting cost of Zombie spells by , Hordewing Skaab grants Flying, On Wings of Gold grants +1/+1 and Flying, and Necromancer’s Covenant grants Lifelink.
Let’s see some more statistics about our deck. Some important info to care about is the mana curve and the card type distribution, as it can help us understand better our deck and may indicate where there is space for improving it.
Mana Curve
The mana curve is not too far from average with the exception of 1 mana drops where we see a lower number and a small spike in position 3. In general the mana curve is slightly more mid-ranged (more drops in 3-5 positions).
Card Type Distribution
The Esper Zombie Tribal Card Type Distribution shows the dominant tribal creature-heavy theme with 36 creatures. All other categories have a smaller presence with Enchantments at 6, Artifacts at 11, Instants at 8, Sorceries at 6, Planeswalkers at 1 and Battles at 1.
Of course statistics and comparative analysis are great tools but they don’t always tell the whole truth, since many factors like synergy and combo pieces are hard to be measured numerically. For example in this deck, with Temmet, Naktamun’s Will, all our Wheel/Looting cards can give our Zombies a tremendous boost and we can finish the game consistently with an unstoppable Zombie horde.
Update v1 (Tarkir: Dragonstorm)
Now you can buy the whole deck list with a click of a button!
Great news! Now you can buy the best custom Zombie tokens made by Mystic Tokens to accompany your Esper Zombie Tribal deck! Buy now on Cardmarket!
If you liked the deck, don’t forget to revisit the article after every major new release as I will try to keep my decks updated and examine any potential upgrades. If you want to keep being updated, you can follow mtgbudgetcommander.com on social media (facebook, twitter, instagram, pinterest, linkedin, reddit, tumblr, medium).
If you like my tribal series, you can check my other tribal decks.
