NecroZombies in Middle School

 I recently played in the Romancing the Stones Home School Middle School League. I went 1-5 with NecroZombies and finished in not-last place. Here are some thoughts about my deck.

The Deck

4 Carnophage

4 Sarcomancy

3 Carrion Feeder

4 Withered Wretch

2 Rotlung Reanimator

4 Lord of the Undead

1 Plaguebearer

4 Cabal Therapy

4 Hymn to Tourach

3 Bad Moon

1 Contagion

4 Necropotence

18 Swamp

4 Lotus Petal

Sideboard

3 Duress

1 Plague Bearer

4 Mishra's Factory

2 Engineered Plague

1 Diabolic Edict

2 Rotlung Reanimator

1 Vicious Hunger

1 Planar Void

The idea behind the deck is pretty straightforward. Aggro with disruption and Necropotence to refuel. Unfortunately, the aggro clock is just too slow in the current iteration to clock the opponents fast enough. I played Necropotence on 18+ life vs no board from opponent six times and lost five of those games. The 3cc threats were not great given my opponents. I was heavily skewed towards trying to beat Landstill, which ended up with three copies in the top eight anyway, so maybe this would have done better with better pairings. 

The best draws were playing three one-drops in first two turns followed by Bad Moon or Lord. I think that is the direction to take zombies and play Shepherd of Rot. You can't play Shepherd and Necropotence at the same time. If you wanted to try Necropotence again, I would consider playing some amount of Zombie Infestation. This can be a much faster clock and lets you leverage dead discard spells in the mid to late game. 

Plaguebearer was a good find, it kills Mishra's Factory. I think more removal like Diabolic Edict would be good but I'm not sure it is good enough. Factory was good in the sideboard for when I was cutting Lotus Petals. There was probably still too much mana in general but Necropotence really wants you to hit the third mana on time (or early) I think. 

A third option is to splash red to add Lightning Bolt and Terminate to the Shepherd of Rot build. You get about 12 dual lands with Tainted Peak. 

The Games

R1 vs RectorPattern

I got early necro and him empty handed, but I drew a bunch of lands and my clock wasn't fast enough to force him to block with his mana birds (plus he had Wall of Blossoms). He drew Symbiotic Wurm with enough mana to cast and I couldn't overpower it and was Necro locked. Game two I win with early Hymn and pressure. Game three he has turn three Akroma after he takes my discard spell with Therapy on turn two.

0-1

R2 vs StifleNaught

I win game one with multiple Hymns and he can't assemble a combo. Game two he has turn two Dreadnaught Stifle with Unmask protection. Game three he draws a Stifle the turn after I take one with Therapy and I then Unmasks my edict.

0-2

R3 vs Tinker

I get destroyed by Masticore and Upheaval. Stroke of Genius let him recover from Hymn.

0-3

R4 vs Sneak Attack

Split first two games, game three he draws Gamble last turn with one card in hand and I lose the coinflip. 

0-4

R5 vs 5 color Zombie Infestation Squee

Game one I cast necro on 18 and when I was down to 5 life, he hard cast gush into gush island to firestorm me for 5 from 2 cards in hand. Game two I flood out and don't find Necro.

0-5

R6 vs Sneak Attack

Game one I double Hymn him and take both Sneak Attack and he can't find another. Game two he mulligans to five and plays Petal Petal Land Spirit Guide Sylvan Library turn one turning off all my discard. He finds a Sneak Attack shortly and hits me with Nicol Bolas then Dragon Tyrant. Game three I play Sarcomancy Carnophage Carnophage Bad Moon, and he is one mana short of Sneak Attack + Havok Demon so I finally win a match.

1-5