Hello Spellslingers!
Remember early on after the Laboratory Maniac nerf and the meta was open for about three seconds? Then people realized Ral had really good starts and fast games, and became the big bad wolf? Then people figured out some counters and the deck became really good, but not insanely broken?
I am Boss of Blades here to tell you about the new meta menace causing mayhem. Casino Liliana was a deck that someone posted they saw on the ranked ladder, but it was unrefined. Some people on Discord (TickleToast and Tino, thanks for helping to refine the list) and I took the idea, created the framework to make the deck work, and turned it into an absolute monster
The general concept of the deck is to use Corpse Conveyer to mill one of the five or so creatures in the deck, then use Zombify, Fearsome Return, or Ghoulcaller’s Grimoire to return these big creatures to play for exorbitant discounts. The scariest thing you can do is turn 2 with the extra gem play Corpse Conveyer into turn 3 Zombify into a Soulsever Lich — turn 3 swing with the lich — turn 4 play Invisibility Cloak and swing for 20 more damage, winning the game as long as they have 40 or less life (HINT: they don’t). Without further ado here is the original working list.
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The deck can be broken down as Removal, Mill Package, Reanimation targets, and Reanimation Effects. The mill package will always be 2 Bag of Devouring and 2 Corpse Conveyor. The Reanimation targets should be 5, maybe 6 creatures to maximize the odds of getting the best creature. Reanimation effects are always 2 Zombify, 2 Fearsome Return, and 1-2 Ghoulcaller’s Grimoire. The rest of the deck is Traps, Answers to creatures and usually either 2 Divination or 2 Anticipate. I personally prefer Anticipates because of how particular the cards you need can be.
Removal:
2 Fatal Infection
People seem to dislike this card in here, but it’s one of the few cheap answers to flyers and things you have to chump block otherwise, the only other choice not in the deck is Demonic Edict, which is good vs Ral, but bad vs Aggro, this card can do work in almost any matchup.
2 Grave Disturbance
Most of the time it acts as a Shock to a creature, but occasionally gives you the creature to sacrifice to Ghoulcaller’s Grimoire.
2 Unsummon
Key card for facing the mirror match and Ral, but gets replaced for Shell Game as a more permanent answer to the mirror when it calls for it.
2 Flagrant Foul
Four-mana to destroy anything is good versus the decks that go tall like Vivien and Ajani.
2 Drain Blood
Gain 2 deal 2, is a really good deal for 2. This card is often used with other cards to clear big threats, but sometimes the life gain is needed to survive early Aggro pushes.
2 Infest
The only out to wide boards. Good vs Angrath and usually not enough by itself vs Vivien.
Other Removal options are Demonic Edict, Transparent Hallway, Shell Game (highly recommend), Crippling Bolt, and Break a Leg.
Reanimation Targets:
Grave Titan
Decent Reanimation target, is great against aggro as it creates blockers, and even on turn 6 he’s not the worst play. Newer deck builds have decided to replace him.
2 Soulsever Lich
Your main win condition. Relentless makes it hard to deal with cleanly outside of transform or bounce, and he can do the one-two punch with Invisibility Cloak for an early win.
1 Grimgrin, Hulking Skaab
Second best target to reanimate. Proper use of removal is the key to a mirror match, and Grimgrin turning their Lich or opposing Grimgrin into your zombie is the way to win. He gives you a blocker and removes an attacker from the opponent as well. He is a big reason to run blue over other potential colors in this deck.
1 Krav, the Unredeemed
Wait, that’s not a zombie! Well no he isn’t, so you can’t pull him back with Zombify, but he is a great blocker if you drop him early, and a turn 3 Krav with the extra gem is still really good. Pulling him back on turn 5 with a Fearsome Return as an 8/8 Trampler is still very powerful and can win games. He is an insurance policy for when your opener is bad, he is still a powerful play. In the current build I replaced him for a zombie, though he may find his way back in one day.
Other Reanimation Targets are Persecution Demon, Ebondeath, Cruel Flagellant (Tests well so far), and Griselbrand.
Reanimation Effects:
2 Zombify: The second best card in the deck. Zombify leads to a lot of early concessions. You almost always want to keep it in hand unless your opponent is a really aggressive Spellslinger and your hand is bad otherwise.
2 Fearsome Return: The other main way to reanimate creatures. One tip to remember is because Grimgrin and Soulsever both have the same attack starting out, this card will randomly choose one if both are in the graveyard. Make sure to check which gets revived before you play it because sometimes it’s correct to delay a turn to get the right target out.
1-2 Ghoullcaller’s Grimoire: I’m still wavering between 1 or 2 copies of this card. When it’s good it’s game winning, and a lot of the time you use this card to trigger Relentless and get the second big thing for free, and the other reason is to remove Power Word Stun and Serra’s Judgment effects from your creatures.
Other options include Ebondeath. He’s expensive, but not actually too bad as a reanimation target as the biggest Flying Zombie.
Mill and Discard Effects:
2 Corpse Conveyor: Best card in the deck hands down. This card would be broken if all it did was mill the top creature from your deck, but it also gives you a blocker. Developers never saw it coming.
2 Bag of Devouring: The other best way to get creatures in the graveyard. A lot of the time you draw this card and it just sits there, but it is the only non-creature way to discard creatures, and the two creature cards that do it, would dilute the reanimation pool and corpse conveyer mill effect.
The other options for mill and discard effects are Stitched Drake and Lurking Horror; they may become viable if Corpse Conveyer takes a nerf.
Other Cards:
1 Invisibility Cloak: Part of the one-two punch combo. This card despite only running 1 is a key way to win early games. The Ward is what pushes this card over the top of other options such as Arcane Flight and Silent Strike.
2 Anticipate / Divination: The old quantity vs quality argument. Divination gives you 1 more card for 1 more mana, but Anticipate lets you see 1 more card. I personally prefer Anticipate, but I can’t fault anyone for running Divination.
Silent Strike is another option for winning with Soulsever Lich capable of dishing out 24 damage on your first Lich Attack.
Other Draw Effects include: Wizard’s Spellbook, Hatch a Plan (If you’re running 5-6 Traps, go for it.) Get Ahead (Super good, and run in the newer Builds), Eldritch Tutor can grab Blasphemous Act or a Reanimation Target, but it has been tested to be a little slow, and unreliable.
The New List:
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This is the newest list I’ve been playing on the ladder with to hit top 100. Transparent Hallways have been excellent vs Aggro and Midrange decks. Shell Game is a permanent answer to Ral and mirror match high rolls whereas Unsummon can still lead to some blowouts. Bag of Devouring was dropped to 1 as it is often less necessary and the second one was a bad draw every time. Get Ahead is amazing and can sometimes steal your opponent’s win Conditions, give you a blocker, or even give you a Negate versus Teferi. Fatal Infections were taken out because they aren’t always fast enough to deal with threats and Hallways work better in the current meta.
Cruel Flagellant is here over the Grave Titan and Krav, Unredeemed as a way to deal Trample damage, and be a decent 5 drop that can block and still attack. Him coming back as a 6/7 Trampler that has Relentless and comes back as a 7/8 has been really good so far.
Outro:
You’ve come to the end of the article, thank you very much for your patronage and for reading about the game we all love: Spellslingers. This game has many ways to play and cool ideas often surface among the playerbase. If you’ve scrolled to the bottom just to see something cool, or check out the new decklist and leave. I will leave you with some parting words:
I’ll see you on the ladder Slingers, be warned.