Graveborne Muse, Optimally?

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Ephraim

Guest
There are two extreme possibilities for using Graveborne Muse. The first is in a deck comprised primarily of zombies. It will cause you to draw many cards and to lose a lot of life. The second is in a deck with no other zombies, basically as a replacement for Phyrexian Arena, but attached to a 3/3 creature.

I suspect that the 'optimal' use of this card lies somewhere between the two extrema, probably somewhat closer to the 'Phyrexian Arena' situation. How many other zombies should be in the deck then? Four seems too few, but eight seems just a shade too high. I would probably aim for six or seven other zombie cards, consisting of two or three different zombie cards. Which zombies should be used and in what quantities depends, I think, on the aims of the rest of the deck.

An aggressive deck intending to use zombies as its finisher might choose to use Undead Warchief and Mass of Ghouls. A controlling deck might prefer Withered Wretch, Boneknitter, and Cabal Interrogator. I didn't make this a "Let's Break..." article because I really have no idea where I'd like to go with Graveborne Muse. I just wanted to prompt some discussion about what sort of decks people think are positioned to use it most effectively.
 

Oversoul

The Tentacled One
Ephraim said:
I suspect that the 'optimal' use of this card lies somewhere between the two extrema, probably somewhat closer to the 'Phyrexian Arena' situation.
I disagree. Phyrexian Arena is garbage. Graveborn Muse has the potential to be much closer to Necropotence than Phyrexian Arena could ever hope for. With only one other zombie, it becomes twice as powerful as Phyrexian Arena. In fact, two Graveborn Muses are twice as powerful as two Phyrexian Arenas. Of course, if you have two Muses and eight other zombies, you're going to be losing 20 life a turn, which doesn't sound like a sustainable strategy. But if you'd been drawing enough cards to get to that point, you should have won by now anyway. And if not, you should be drawing something stuff that can give you a ton of life and maybe even stuff that lets you sacrifice your zombies for fun and profit.

It will work better with some zombies than others, but I definitely wouldn't use Graveborn Muse in a deck with no other zombies. Maybe if it were some sort of weird deck that puts all four copies out easily then that would be a possible option, but using it as a Phyrexian Arena is like reconfiguring your semi-automatic rifle into a single-shot musket.
 
E

Ephraim

Guest
Did you read my entire post? Please note the sentences immediately following the one that you quoted:
I suspect that the 'optimal' use of this card lies somewhere between the two extrema, probably somewhat closer to the 'Phyrexian Arena' situation. How many other zombies should be in the deck then? Four seems too few, but eight seems just a shade too high. I would probably aim for six or seven other zombie cards...
I am still talking about having ten or eleven zombies in the deck, which I think is perfect for having one Graveborne Muse and one or two other zombies out at a time -- a manageable amount of card drawing and life gaining. (Draw too many cards and you're paying excess life for more spells than you can reasonably expect to cast in a turn.)
 
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BigBlue

Guest
What about Lim Dul?

With Removal, you can create an army of your opponents creatures which allows you to draw removal. Put in something to sacrifice those creatures for some advantage, will get you a cycle... and allow you to control the number of zombies in play.

I don't know Standard today... but it would seem something like this...

Graveborn Muse
Lim Dul the Necromancer (not a zombie)
Opponent's creature (who is now a zombie in addition to his other types.)

Blood Funnel? (sac those creatures to get to pay 2 less for a non-creature spell... if you want you can spend 1B to get it back for the same cost as the spell)
Grave Pact? Make them sac creatures when you do... again for 1B you can grab those creatures if you want.
 

Mooseman

Isengar Tussle
BigBlue said:
With Removal, you can create an army of your opponents creatures which allows you to draw removal. Put in something to sacrifice those creatures for some advantage, will get you a cycle... and allow you to control the number of zombies in play.
Attrition? Corpse Harvester? Deathmark Prelate? Gutless Ghoul, for life gain.... :D
 
T

train

Guest
run it with lich...

Black's bringing Suicide (Sexy) Back!!!....

(ok, that was a bad pun...)
 
F

Force of Will Smith

Guest
Lies all lies...

graveborn muse is already completely broken..
All you have to do is splash white to add words of wisdom..



Um... i have 5 zombies.... ill uh.. pay 2 mana... to gain 10 life... then draw 3..
im at 7..

i have 11 zombies.... ill pay 5.... gain 25 life, then lose 11... why not.

a friend of mine used this to sickening proportions.

and if youre unconvinced what else to add, simply

4x vindicates
4x mortify

to make your zombie deck explosive..
 

Mooseman

Isengar Tussle
Words of Worship may be a better card.... :D

But with many zombies (and how hard is that) this is a sick combo

Words of Waste could be good too.....
 
T

train

Guest
I hadn't thought about it - but Simulacrum isn't a bad idea...
 

Oversoul

The Tentacled One
Ephraim said:
I am still talking about having ten or eleven zombies in the deck, which I think is perfect for having one Graveborne Muse and one or two other zombies out at a time -- a manageable amount of card drawing and life gaining. (Draw too many cards and you're paying excess life for more spells than you can reasonably expect to cast in a turn.)
Having two other zombies in play doesn't seem very close to Phyrexian Arena...
 
E

Ephraim

Guest
The two "extreme" cases that I was discussing, however, were as follows:
4 Graveborne Muses in the deck and no other zombies.
28+ zombies in the deck, 4 of which are Graveborne Muses.

The mean option is 16 zombies in the deck, 4 of which are Graveborne Muse. Therefore, having only 11 zombies in the deck falls on the "low" side of the mean.

FoWSmith, I like where that deck is going. If you use inexpensive enough zombies to fuel Graveborne Muse, then you have plenty of room at the top for Ghost Council of Orzhova, Angel of Despair, and/or Debtor's Knell.
 

Oversoul

The Tentacled One
Ephraim said:
The two "extreme" cases that I was discussing, however, were as follows:
4 Graveborne Muses in the deck and no other zombies.
28+ zombies in the deck, 4 of which are Graveborne Muses.
I guess I'm not used to using 28 creatures in any 60-card deck. While there are exceptions, to be sure, it seems like a good way to lose. 16 seems to be well within the reasonable range one might want to use.
 
T

train

Guest
I've run utility creatures with a numberas high as 26... amazing what they can do when a gaea's herald is in play... (and you can keep 'em alive...) :cool:
 
F

Force of Will Smith

Guest
If you only ran 4 graveborn muses in those "extreme" cases..

Its an overcosted Dark Confidant who takes away slightly less life from you.
If you wanted to do something strange like that, you'd have to use conspiracy or possibly mistform creatures in the deck.

(I actually had a mistform deck that abuses slivers abilities, and the ninja shriken XD) so it is possible..



Also zombies are one of the few exception to having an almost entirely creature-filled deck.
Many of them kill, gain life, draw cards, and do all sorts of useful things.

and if you're making a zombie deck please dont forget the best cards that a zombie deck can possess..


Lord of the Undead
Gempalm polluter
Noxious Ghoul and
Call to the Grave

Lord of the undead+gempalm is insane.
 
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