Majiya: Dead Won’t Die (Undead Portal)

Ok so this is a variation of my favorite deck I created during Shadow Era PFG3.

Majiya Portal builds have been around since the beginning of Shadowera, starting in Call of the Crystals and evolving to one of the top Majiya Deck during Dark Prophecies. What makes this deck different is the Undead Tribal Theme.

The draw power of this deck is insane. The goal is to get Tombstone Beacon set up early. Majiya has access to lots of burn and her hero ability so she can often afford to be less aggressive during the earlier turns. The focus should be draw as the goal is to fill you hand as much as possible so you can max portal efficiency. I usually aim for turn 4 with combo of Frostmare to take out 4 hp allies. This will let you draw 2 cards early (1 from Majiya and 1 from tombstone), make sure you’re behind on the board though so Frostmare cost 1 or it won’t work. Aside from the awesome combo, tombstone lets you renew 1 resource + draw, so this combo is essentially free. Frostmare replace Death Mage Thaddeus for Majiya as the turn 4 (previous reason) but also the flexibility to play turn 2 if facing a turn 1 Kris. Also on turn 5 you can use with Shadow Knight to draw + revive top ally which is the right draw for portal pairing.

Cryptspawn Tormentor and Der’Kan, The Bone King (alternative for Necromancer’s Shroud) are both awesome allies with self recycling potential (pseudo draw). You just have to be careful with your graveyard manipulation (SK – pseudo draw) as you need to leave allies in the graveyard to receive their benefits. If either Der’Kan or CT are meeting their graveyard request they are the ones you want to use sac lamb on (remember Der’Kan needs to be in solo mode or he goes to graveyard when he dies, against board wipes he needs to be furthest right on board, Standard Resolution Order will check him as last and bounce him back to hand).

Originally I had Charred Cowl of the Damned but for this version I opted for the cheaper and combo friendly Grave Resistance. GR turns all friendly allies into Gargoyles and with a current cost of O you can always combo this card.

Transmogrification Curse is generally for your haste blockers but also good control. Prior to Shattered Fates, Dagger of Unmasking was the go to haste blocker remover and had multiple uses. DoU has become less effective with the increase of allies with summon abilities. Trans Curse is a one time use card but permanently removes the treat by transforming him into a vanilla item. If opponent plays a second ally of the same type, that ally will not be able to be removed via Trans Curse because items are unique and cannot have 2 of the same card in play at the same time. You’ll have to look to hero ability + burn to remove these guys.

I opted for Necromancers Shroud over Der’Kan. This gives an alt pseudo haste option that can be used prior to portal or after it ends. Prior to portal can be effective to recycle tormentor to stock up on allies, after portal can be used for finishing blows. The recent buff to Necro Shroud allow the revived ally to regain full health allowing for the potential for the ally to take retaliation damage and still survive to be comboed with Sacrificial Lamb. The pseudo haste cannot be blocked by haste blockers. Allies revived from the graveyard cannot have haste, the key wording on Necromancer’s Shroud is “readied” which is why this works against haste blocker and why it’s called a pseudo haste option.