Deck Construction

Preamble

The idea behind modern builds of Entombsday is to take the Turbo Doomsday shell, move the Doomsday package to the sideboard (Doomsday, tutors, Thassa's Oracle, and pile cards), then add the Tin Fins combo package to the maindeck. As such, the deckbuilding ideas mirror those expressed in the Deck Construction chapter of the Doomsday Wiki.

Below is a sample Entombsday list, followed by a Turbo Doomsday and Tin Fins list:

When comparing the Entombsday list to the Tin Fins list, you should notice a slight reduction in the size of the combo package and a shift toward countermagic over discard.

When comparing the Entombsday list to the Turbo Doomsday list, you'll notice that the maindeck of both only differs by ~25 cards with many of those being due to the choice of specific fetchlands, discard spells, and counterspells. You'll also notice that most of the missing cards from the Doomsday maindeck are present in the sideboard of the Entombsday list.

The Shell

The shell of Entombsday is made up of cantrips, counterspells, discard, acceleration, and lands. Most lists will run nine to eleven cantrips, six to eight counterspells, three to five discard spells, eight to ten pieces of acceleration, and about fourteen lands.

Cantrips

Cantrips play a vital role in Legacy decks by allowing you to filter your draws to find the card you need without having to rely solely on the top of your deck and your opening hand. This is especially true in Entombsday, as we have a lower density of reanimation effects than pure Tin Fins lists and access to fewer tutor effects that Turbo Doomsday lists.

As stated above, most lists run about 10 cantrips.

The two main cantrips run in Entombsday are Brainstorm and Ponder. Just like in Doomsday lists, these should almost-never be run as less than four-ofs. The next best cantrip is Preordain and it is most commonly run as a two-of.

Since it's printing in 2021, Entombsday lists have also started running one copy of Consider in place of the third Preordain due to it's utility in both gameplans. In addition to enabling several Doomsday piles, it is able to bin Griselbrand or Emrakul directly from your library (generally after setting it up with another cantrip).

Counterspells

As a Legacy deck, Entombsday runs a number of counterspell effects that enable it to protect its combos, primarily Force of Will and Daze. Force of Will is always run as a four-of, while only two or three copies of Daze are included.

A single copy of Misdirection can be run, usually in place of a copy of Daze. Misdirection allows for some interesting play patterns, such as redirecting an opponent's Surgical Extraction, but is generally worse than Daze and is considered spicy.

In the sideboard, we typically run a single copy of Flusterstorm. Flusterstorm is a staple of Tin Fins sideboards and can be used to protect our combos and disrupt opponent's.

Discard Spells

As a deck, Entombsday has access to a number of Discard effects, the most important of which is Thoughtseize. Generally run as a two or three of, Thoughtseize can be used to "punch a hole" in fair matchups, disrupt opposing combos, and—critically—discard a Griselbrand or Emrakul from hand. Because of the need to discard our creatures, cards like Duress and Grief are not played in Entombsday despite being common in Turbo Doomsday lists.

Cabal Therapy enables several interactions that are important to the Tin Fins half of the deck.

1. It is a way to discard yourself without needing to pay the 2 life for Thoughtseize
2. It allows you to sacrifice Griselbrand to put it back into the graveyard and avoid the exile clause of the reanimation spells if you whiff on your combo turn.

Collective Brutality is an uncountable way to discard Griselbrand or Emrakul. By casting it with at least one Escalate mode, you are able to discard a card as a cost, preventing your opponent from countering it. Collective Brutality also allows you to win without the combat step by draining your opponent for two life every time you loop your library. Despite these upsides, the card can be clunky and has been cut by some players recently.

Mana Acceleration

Mana acceleration is one of the defining features of Legacy combo decks. By cheating on mana and being able to resolve your combos as early as turn one, you can invalidate any pressure your opponent is presenting on the board and reduce the likelyhood that they are able to find interaction to disrupt you.

The two primary pieces of mana acceleration for Entombsday are Dark Ritual and Lotus Petal. Dark Ritual provides the exact mana needed for both combos— for Doomsday and + for Entomb and Shallow Grave. Lotus Petal allows you to run a low land count, gives you access to additional mana while comboing off, and is useful for building certain Doomsday piles. Dark Ritual and Lotus Petal should always be included as four-ofs.

Some Entombsday lists opt to run a single copy of Chrome Mox as a pseudo fifth Lotus Petal. This can allow for additional turn one combos and is another source of non-land mana while comboing. Notably, imprinting Lim-Dul's Vault under Chrome Mox allows you to "build your own" Underground Sea.

Lion's Eye Diamond is typically included in the maindeck of Entombsday. It enables several low-resource Doomsday piles and can be used to bin a Griselbrand in Response to a Shallow Grave. Some recent lists have opted to move LED to the sideboard, but it is currently still considered a staple and should be run as a one-of in the maindeck.

Lands

Entombsday is primarily a deck that splashes for Children of Korlis. The deck generally runs eight fetchlands consisting of four Polluted Delta and a split of other or fetchlands—typically two copies of Flooded Strand and two copies of Marsh Flats, but other variations are common.

The fetchable lands typically consist of three to four copies of Underground Sea, a single Scrubland, one Island and one Swamp. Scrubland is not required for the deck, but is strongly recommended, as it allows you to cast Children of Korlis off of a land in the event that you do not draw a Lotus Petal while comboing.

Some lists opt to only run two copies of Underground Sea (usually for budget reasons) and will substitute and additional Island and an Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth. This is serviceable, but suboptimal.

The Combo Packages

The core combo package of Tin Fins consists of a minimum of four copies of Entomb, six reanimation spells, two copies of Griselbrand, an Emrakul, the Aeons Torn, and a Children of Korlis. Emrakul has generally fallen out of favor in Doomsday lists, but is integral to the Tin Fins strategy as she allows looping the deck and swinging for lethal.

The Doomsday package in the sideboard is somewhat streamlined compared to current Doomsday list. It still includes four copies of Doomsday, one to two copies of Thassa's Oracle, and a Cavern of Souls, but there is only space for two copies of Personal Tutor, two Street Wraith, and one Edge of Autumn.

Notable Inclusions

Lim-Dul’s Vault - While slow, LDV allows you to find Entomb, a reanimation spell, and Doomsday. Unless Mystical Tutor gets unbanned (one can dream!), it’s our best option for a tutor that finds both combos.

Shelldock Isle - This is another card that has seen less inclusion in Doomsday lists, but we include it since we already have an Emrakul in the deck. This enables some fairly simple piles that play around Endurance and Painter’s Servant + Grindstone.

Sideboard Options

Because Entombsday is defined by the transformative sideboard from Tin Fins to Doomsday, the slots available for other sideboard cards are very limited to between two and four cards. Becvause of this, the slots chosen need to be highly impactful in a specific matchup or broadly applicable across the metagame. The two most common options are Echoing Truth and Flusterstorm.

Echoing Truth is broadly applicable to the metagame by enabling you to interact with things such as Urza's Saga tokens, Dress Down, a resolved Teferi, Time Raveler, Chalice of the Void set to one, Trinisphere and many more.

As discussed above, Flusterstorm is a potent tool for fighting opposing combo decks and powering through opposing countermagic. Notably, it will function through a Pyroblast effect and a Chalice on one.

Other Playables

There are several other cards that are playable in an Entombsday shell, but are considered non-standard and aren't seen often. A few examples are listed below:

Predict and Ideas Unbound - Predict and Ideas Unbound allow you to quickly draw through your Doomsday pile and build protection into it at the cost of making you vulnerable to disruption like Pyroblast.

Spell Pierce - Similar to Flusterstorm, Spell Pierce is another option for a one CMC counterspell. It answers Planeswalker spell, which Flusterstorm does not, but is otherwise less useful.

Chain of Vapor - Cheaper to cast than Echoing Truth, but can’t bounce Chalice of the Void on 1.

Reanimate - Tin Fins lists will sometimes run a single copy of Reanimate to allow you additional routes to combo off, as well as allowing you to reanimate Children of Korlis using fewer reources. This is generally not standard for Entombsday, but is an option if you would like to try it. It can also enable Doomsday piles that mill Thassa's Oracle with Consider, but this opens you up to graveyard hate, which Entombsday is built to dodge.

Example Lists

Last updated 29 March 2023

Below are three example Entombsday lists: