So I went to GP Providence on Saturday, and it was an absolutely miserable experience. I had been up drinking until 1 or 2 the night before and had to get up at 7 to drive down. I wasn’t hungover, as I have never been hungover ever, but I apparently still was not playing anywhere near my best. I was going to write the saddest tournament report ever in which I get terrible pairings, come SO close, and fail to win any matches. But that’s not what happened.

You see, my official result was 0-3, but that does not accurately reflect the results of the tournament. My first two rounds were against Merfolk, one of my worst matchups, and the reality of the situation is that I actually won both of those matches. I was describing to my brother how the tournament had gone, and as I described how my first opponent had the perfect hand to beat me game 3 and I STILL almost won, my jaw dropped. I explained the board position and what I thought I needed to topdeck to win, and at that moment I realized what sleep-deprived, dehydrated Jeebus had not: Necromancy cannot be targetted by Cursecatcher. As if that didn’t make me mad enough, I then remembered that’s the exact same reason I lost game 3 of the next round as well. It was a little more complicated and he did have a Force of Will in hand, but I had the win that game as well. (Round 3 was a really good matchup for me, but after keeping marginal hands I drew nothing in either game except the cards that you never want to draw with this deck ever).

So aside from putting me on tilt for 18 hours and counting right now what does that tell me? Well considering what a bad matchup Merfolk should be and the fact that I beat two of them, it’s telling me that this deck is indeed real. My poor performance aside, this deck absolutely has what it takes to be competitive (Although it does need to make room for 2 more Mental Missteps in the maindeck). And now that you’re all done scrolling down and ignoring this, here’s the deck:

Zombie Hulk
Search:
3x Ponder
4x Brainstorm

Enablers:
4x Careful Study
4x Entomb

Counters:
3x Pact of Negation
3x Force of Will
2x Mental Misstep

Combo:
4x Necromancy
4x Footsteps of the Goryo
4x Protean Hulk
1x Reveillark
1x Body Double
1x Mogg Fanatic
1x Carrion Feeder
1x Body Snatcher

Mana:
3x Chrome Mox
4x Underground Sea
1x Volcanic Island
1x Badlands
2x Island
1x Swamp
4x Polluted Delta
2x Scalding Tarn
2x Bloodstained Mire

Sideboard:
2x Mental Misstep
3x Chain of Vapor
2x Pithing Needle
2x Red Elemental Blast
3x Pyroclasm
3x Energy Flux

About the deck:
The core is pretty much a reanimator deck. I like reanimator, but the problem with those decks are that even after you “combo off”, you still need a couple turns to win. This deck casts a reanimate spell and wins that turn, which is ideally turn 2 or 3, but now that Mental Misstep exists, it appears to be 3 or 4. The deck definitely needs 2 more Missteps main and a better sideboard (I just copied the list from a reanimator deck that placed well at a tournament recently as I had no time to test, and someone else insisted I put Pithing Needle in which is VERY important for Relic of Progenitus).

And there it is, the deck that should have won me a ton of money. Go forth and play it in your legacy events. Just be sure to tell anyone who asks where the deck came from that Jeebus sent you.

UPDATE:
It has been brought to my attention that not everyone knows how the combo works. I assumed everyone did, so let me explain:
1. Get Protean Hulk into your graveyard
2. Cast Footsteps of the Goryo or Necromancy (NOT during main phase)
3. EOT or during Cleanup, Hulk goes to the graveyard. Fetch Carrion Feeder and Body Double. Body double copies Protean Hulk.
4. Sac Body Double to Carrion Feeder. Fetch Mogg Fanatic and Reveillark.
5. Sac Mogg Fanatic to deal 1 damage. Sac Reveillark to Carrion Feeder. Return Mogg Fanatic and Body Double copying Reveillark.
6. Sac Mogg Fanatic to deal 1 damage. Sac Body Double to Carrion Feeder, returning Body Double and Mogg Fanatic. Repeat ad infinitum.
7. IF Revillark or Body Double is in your hand (Always shove the combo creatures back into your deck with Brainstorm), instead fetch Body Snatcher at that step. “Imprint” the card in your hand on Body Snatcher, then sac the Body Snatcher to Carrion Feeder.

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