Black and blue are my favorite colors, but for the longest time, I’ve had trouble finding commanders from that combination. Sure, there’s 24 previous ones, but most of them just don’t feel like good commanders. Well, fun commanders. The last of Bolas’s secret weapons, [card]The Scarab God[/card], just might work.

I guess the two basic ways of approaching this is a) a zombie tribal and b) a full-on control deck where this is the win condition. My head says the latter is better, but my heart says zombies, and this is the format to follow your heart, if there is one. Well, at least it should be.

So, zombies. First, how do we get a horde of them?

[draft]Army of the Damned
Cryptbreaker
Dark Salvation
Diregraf Colossus
Empty the Pits
Endless Ranks of the Dead
From Under the Floorboards
Ghoulcaller Gisa
Graf Harvest
Grave Betrayal
Grave Titan
Havengul Runebinder
Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet
Lich Lord of Unx
Liliana, Death’s Majesty
Midnight Ritual
Necromaster Dragon
Overseer of the Damned
Rise from the Tides
Stitcher Geralf
Syphon Flesh
Waste Not
Lim-Dul the Necromancer
Zombie Apocalypse[/draft]

Next, we have lords:

[draft]Liliana’s Mastery
Lord of the Accursed
Cemetery Reaper
Death Baron
Diregraf Captain
Lord of the Undead
Risen Executioner
Undead Warchief
Zombie Master
Gisa and Geralf
Plague Belcher
Vengeful Dead[/draft]

… and we need a bunch of efficient zombies as well.

[draft]Ghoulraiser
Gravecrawler
Gravedigger
Liliana’s Reaver
Relentless Dead
Vile Rebirth
Soulless One
Blood Scrivener
Bone Dancer
Coffin Queen
Corpse Augur
Diregraf Ghoul
Dread Wanderer
Fleshbag Marauder
Forgotten Creation
Infectious Horror
Plaguebearer
Prized Amalgam
Servant of Tymaret
Sibsig Icebreakers
Siren of the Silent Song
Skinrender
Wight of Precinct Six
Withered Wretch
Zombie Trailblazer[/draft]

That’s already too many cards and there’s a problem with the curve. Also, we need cards besides the zombies in the deck. What can we cut? [card]Rise from the Tides[/card] isn’t going to do much in this deck which has only 8 other spells, so that’s out. Some I can cut because they aren’t just powerful enough for the format, some I can cut for cost.

I decided to go with the following list, although I would have liked to cut a few more cards for a few more removal spells and some more utility cards, but I guess this will have to do.

[deck]
[commander]
The Scarab God
[/commander]
[creatures]
Blood Scrivener
Bone Dancer
Cemetery Reaper
Coffin Queen
Corpse Augur
Cryptbreaker
Death Baron
Diregraf Captain
Diregraf Colossus
Dread Wanderer
Fleshbag Marauder
Forgotten Creation
Ghoulcaller Gisa
Ghoulraiser
Gisa and Geralf
Grave Titan
Gravecrawler
Gravedigger
Havengul Runebinder
Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet
Lich Lord of Unx
Liliana’s Reaver
Lim-Dul the Necromancer
Lord of the Accursed
Lord of the Undead
Plague Belcher
Plaguebearer
Prized Amalgam
Relentless Dead
Risen Executioner
Servant of Tymaret
Siren of the Silent Song
Skinrender
Soulless One
Stitcher Geralf
Undead Warchief
Vengeful Dead
Wight of Precinct Six
Withered Wretch
Zombie Master
[/creatures]
[spells]
Liliana, Death’s Majesty
Endless Ranks of the Dead
Graf Harvest
Grave Betrayal
Liliana’s Mastery
Army of the Damned
Dark Salvation
From Under the Floorboards
Midnight Ritual
Syphon Flesh
Zombie Apocalypse
Armillary Sphere
Dimir Cluestone
Dimir Signet
Talisman of Dominance
Wayfarer’s Bauble
Empty the Pits
Go for the Throat
Hero’s Downfall
Vile Rebirth
[/spells]
[lands]
Bojuka Bog
Choked Estuary
Command Tower
Darkslick Shores
Darkwater Catacombs
Dimir Aqueduct
Dreadship Reef
Drowned Catacomb
8 Island
Myriad Landscape
Polluted Delta
River of Tears
Sunken Hollow
Sunken Ruins
12 Swamp
Tainted Isle
Temple of Deceit
Thawing Glaciers
Underground River
Volrath’s Stronghold
Watery Grave
[/lands]
[/deck]