The Latest Zombie Kindred Lord Offers an Aggressive Good Time!
Hello, my friends, and welcome to another Commander Spotlight! This regular column will feature one legendary creature, usually from the most recent Commander precons or Jumpstart products, and provide you with a deep dive into ideas that should help get you started brewing your own Commander deck.
This week I'm shining a spotlight on the face commander from the Aetherdrift Commander deck Eternal Might, which is an Esper Zombie kindred with all sorts of goodies for Zombie fans. I think we can officially put Zombies right up there with Goblins and Elves as a creature type with an overabundance of riches from which to choose from, including lots of legendary options to lead the way.
It's interesting that Temmet, Naktamun's Will is basically an upgraded Varina, Lich Queen. Varina can let you churn through more cards the more Zombies you attack with, but there's no real benefit other than sifting through your deck looking for particular cards while populating your graveyard. Varina isn't doing anything specifically to help your shuffling horde of Zombies.
Temmet on the other hand boosts all Zombies by +1/+1 each time you draw a card, and since you've got both blue and black in your color identity, there's a lot of mass card draw available to boost even a modest army to lethal levels really quickly. Temmet even gives a final pip of card draw when your horde goes to attack. Plus, once Temmet attacks he can boost himself, and starting as a 4/4 with vigilance and menace he can really put on the pressure.
Okay, let's see what sort of goodies we can unearth that will work awesome in a Temmet deck!
Zombie Kindred Support
Zombies have had kindred support for decades now, but since the new Commander deck is a Zombie deck, we've got brand new cards to work with. On Wings of Gold is an awesome new enchantment that gives all your Zombies flying, and evasion is a powerful effect for a deck that wants to smash in with combat damage. Since Zombies are notorious for crawling back out of your graveyard, its second ability to create even more Zombies as token creatures will really pay off.
Prophet of the Scarab supports the card-draw side of Temmet's theme, and the more Zombies you have on the battlefield, the more you'll draw and the bigger Temmet will make them. But even more awesome, if you have more Zombies in the bin than on the battlefield, the Prophet can draw cards equal to the number of Zombie cards in your graveyard!
Giving all your Zombies afflict 3 is another way to force through damage with your attackers, so Lost Monarch of Ifnir is very welcome indeed. Plus, if you're able to deal combat damage to a player, you can retrieve the best creature card from the graveyard to your hand.
I love these lands that do something cool for a host of related creatures, so I'm excited for Accursed Duneyard not only for our Zombie decks, but it will do work for your Shade, Skeleton, Specter, Spirit, Vampire, or Wraith decks! Unholy Grotto is a land that Zombie decks have played since way back in Onslaught, and while it's gotten pricey over the years, since its reprint in Aetherdrift Commander, it's become very, very affordable!
Lord of the Accursed boosts all your other Zombies, and its tap ability makes your Zombie hard more difficult to block, which is perfect.
Go Wide With Zombies
Ghoulcaller Gisa and Geralf, Visionary Stitcher aren't Zombies, but they love and support Zombies, so I'd strongly consider adding them to the deck. Gisa can sacrifice a large Zombie to make a bunch of 2/2 Zombie tokens, creating a swarm of them in a hurry. Geralf can sacrifice a Zombie that otherwise might die and helps you keep parity on the battlefield; and oh, yeah, he gives all your Zombies flying! And both Gisa and Geralf get even better when Temmet makes your Zombies bigger.
Then there's Endless Ranks of the Dead, an enchantment that gets better and better the more Zombie creatures you have, cranking out extra Zombies during your upkeep.
Necroduality is an excellent way to build your battlefield, copying Zombie cards that enter, while God-Eternal Oketra makes you a sizeable 4/4 Zombie Warrior token whenever you cast a creature spell. Oketra's double strike gets absolutely bonkers with the size boost from Temmet, and if you can also give it some evasion it can be player removal.
Zombie Apocalypse is always great in a Zombie deck, bringing all your Zombies back from the dead and, oh yeah, just happens to destroy all Humans that happen to be on the battlefield. Sorry, Gisa and Geralf, but thanks for your service to the undead!
Card Draw - Zombies
There are a lot of actual Zombie cards that have card draw attached to them. Cryptbreaker and Undead Augur spring to mind, but there's also the infrequently seen Forgotten Creation, which is going to be bonkers if you have Temmet on the battlefield, giving your team a huge bonus on your turn, though I doubt the skulk is going to play a role here!
Varina, Lich Queen may have been outclassed by Temmet, but she's still fabulous in the 99, drawing cards, gaining life, and occasionally tapping into your graveyard to make Zombie tokens. Midnight Reaper and Graveborn Muse give you that classic "life for cards" that black is so well known for, though with the Muse make sure you're offsetting that life loss or finishing the game before it kills you.
Other Card Draw
It's wild that the instants Pull from Tomorrow and Keep Watch can be devastating combat tricks after blocks are declared. While Distant Melody can be cast in your precombat main phase for an Overrun-style effect.
Pact of the Serpent is a cheaper Distant Melody, but with life loss attached that you can also point at an opponent who is also playing a go-wide kindred deck and is at low enough life. Kindred Discovery is incredibly powerful in any kindred deck, but with Temmet on the battlefield the buff to your attacking Zombies is going to be life-total-crushing.
Windfall is cheap to cast, and if you've got a bunch of lands in your hand that's not doing much, swap them out for fresh gas and boost your team with Temmet. It can also disrupt your opponents' plans if they want to keep an important card in their hand.
Discard Triggers
Bone Miser, it's your time to shine! In conjunction with Temmet and at least a few Zombies to attack with, you can make a Zombie token, or get two black mana to cast an instant spell or activate an ability, or draw another card for another boost. You can have a ton of fun with Hashaton, Scarab's Fist: discard a creature, and you can pay to make a tapped token copy of it, except it's a 4/4 black Zombie. A fine way to get Gisa and Geralf to join the ranks of your undead! Cryptcaller Chariot lets you turn discarded cards into more Zombie tokens, and if you need to beat down with a 5/5 with menace, it's easy to crew.
Monument to Endurance is a powerful new engine for discard strategies, so if you have one you might throw it in your deck. Given how much damage this deck could dish out, that mode where each opponent loses three life could seal a game. Lazotep Chancellor's amass 2 ability can either give you easy sacrificial fodder or let you build a large Zombie Army token if you need a large creature to attack or block with (or sacrifice to Gisa or Geralf).
Containment Construct is another non-Zombie creature that we might consider running for its value, letting you play a card you discard that turn.
Graveyard Synergies
Black decks in general and Zombie decks in particular have a ton of graveyard synergies, so many it could easily take up an article all on its own, but I wanted to make note of a few Zombies that play well in a deck where Zombie cards can end up in the graveyard from the battlefield or from discarding. Zul Ashur, Lich Lord is a powerful new Zombie that taps to let you cast target Zombie creature card from your graveyard this turn.
Diregraf Colossus enters with +1/+1 counters equal to the number of Zombie cards in your graveyard, which scales quite nicely as the game progresses, and if you draw it early, it can help with your go wide plan by making a Zombie token each time you cast a Zombie spell. Of course, there's also Gravecrawler, which makes excellent sacrificial fodder that can be played from the graveyard if you control a Zombie, an easy requirement to meet in this deck.
Be Aggressive
To push Temmet's aggressive stance even harder, we'll want cards that make your attackers harder to block, such as Hordewing Skaab and Death Baron. Then there's Raise the Palisade which will return all non-Zombie creatures to their controllers' hands, hopefully giving your horde free reign in the red zone.
Knowledge Is Power is an enchantment that boosts your creatures for each card you've draw this turn. Reconnaissance is an excellent way to still attack into complicated blocker situations, getting that Temmet trigger and pulling back any creature of yours that got blocked in an unfavorable way. It's been reprinted a few times recently, so if you haven't picked one up because of its cost, now's a good time to snag it!
If you're worried about a counterattack punching you after you all-out attack someone, cards like Aetherspouts can protect you from that quite well.
Protect Your Battlefield
With access to blue, it's tempting to rely too heavily on counterspells to protect your battlefield position... but what about something like Supreme Verdict? I like the phasing option from cards like Teferi's Protection and Clever Concealment since they leave your army intact while destroying your opponents' creatures.
Perch Protection is a wild one, saving your team from disaster while giving an opponent an extra turn, which can be crucial for dismantling another opponent who's gotten too close to winning the game.
What other sorts of cards are you going to play in your Temmet, Naktamun's Will deck? What new legends from Aetherdrift Commander are you most excited to build decks around?
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