Varina wants a deck that throws away its own cards on purpose for a reward. It also suits a deck that is built around one creature type, like Elves or Dragons.
Mana cost
White, Blue, Black ()
Power / toughness4 / 4
RarityMythic
Whenever you attack with one or more Zombies, draw that many cards, then discard that many cards. You gain that much life.
, Exile two cards from your graveyard: Create a tapped 2/2 black Zombie creature token.
Picked for what they do in Varina's deck. When two cards do the same job, the one with the lower comes first. All of them fit Varina's color identity.Mana ValueThe total amount of mana a card costs, all added up. A card costing two generic and one green has a mana value of three. Wizards renamed this from "converted mana cost" in 2021, so older cards and articles may still use the old name.Open the full glossary
explain how Varina works in tricky situations. They come from Wizards of the Coast, the company that makes Magic.RulingThe official answer to how a card works in a tricky situation. Most rulings are written by Wizards of the Coast, the company that makes Magic, and a few are notes from Scryfall, the card database Magic players use. A ruling explains a card. It does not change what the card says.Open the full glossary
Wizards of the Coast13 Jul 2018
The number of cards you discard and the amount of life you gain are both equal to the number of Zombies you attack with, even if you draw a different number of cards somehow.
Wizards of the Coast13 Jul 2018
Varina's first ability counts the number of Zombies you attacked with, even if some of those Zombies leave combat before the triggered ability resolves.
Color identityEvery color of mana symbol on a card, in its cost and in its rules text. Your commander's color identity sets the limit for your whole deck: every other card has to fit inside it. A deck led by a green and white commander cannot play a card with any blue in its color identity.Open the full glossaryWUBPlayers write colors as letters: W for white, U for blue, B for black. Blue is U because B was already taken by black.Madness/DiscardDiscard decks throw away their own cards on purpose and play cards that reward each discard. Cards with madness can even be cast for a different, usually cheaper, cost at the moment you discard them.Open the Madness/Discard pageLootingDraws and discards in the same breath. Faithless Looting, Frantic Search. It does not gain you cards. It improves the ones you have, and fills your graveyard on purpose, which is exactly what a reanimator card like Animate Dead wants.Open the Looting pageSelf-DiscardDiscards your own cards as a cost or an effect. Filling your own graveyard on purpose is the point: it feeds cards that bring things back, madness and channel abilities, and some cards are worth more there than in hand. Faithless Looting, Boseiju, Who EnduresOpen the Self-Discard pageTypal/KindredTypal decks are built around one creature type, like Elves, Dragons or Zombies, with cards that make that type stronger. The type is printed after the dash on the card's type line, and the strategy is also called kindred or tribal.Open the Typal/Kindred pageTypal PayoffRewards you for playing lots of one kind of creature. That includes "lords" that make every other Goblin or Merfolk you control bigger, and cards that ask you to choose a creature type and then pay you off for it. A creature type is the word on the middle line of the card, like Goblin, Elf or Zombie.Open the Typal Payoff pageToken EngineMakes tokens again and again rather than once. A token is a creature or other permanent created by a card, with no card of its own. Something that makes one token gives you a body; something that makes them every turn gives you a board you can keep rebuilding after it is cleared. Grave Titan, Bitterblossom, OphiomancerOpen the Token Engine pageToken MakerCreates one or more tokens. Different cards make very different ones: creatures Grave Titan, Treasures Smothering Tithe, Clues Tireless Tracker or Food Gilded Goose. This is one of our largest tags, so pair it with an archetype or theme when you are hunting a specific kind.Open the Token Maker pageLifegainLifegain decks gain life over and over and use cards that reward each gain with extra cards, creatures or damage to opponents. Everyone starts at 40 life in Commander, so the extra life also keeps you safe while you set up.Open the Lifegain pageLifegain EngineGains you life again and again, on a trigger that keeps happening, rather than once. You start at 40 life in Commander, so life is something to spend as well as a cushion, and a card like this sets off every card that rewards you for gaining it. Soul Warden, Trostani, Selesnya's VoiceOpen the Lifegain Engine pageLife GainGains you life, once or over and over. Soul Warden, The Great Henge. In Commander life is something to spend, not just a cushion, and many of these cards also set off others that reward gaining life.Open the Life Gain pageAttack TriggerTriggers when a creature attacks, so the reward comes from declaring the attack. You get it even if the creature is blocked. Sword of the Animist, Adeline, Resplendent CatharOpen the Attack Trigger pageZombiesZombies are mostly black creatures that often come back from the graveyard or make more Zombie tokens.Open the Zombies page
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, Exile two cards from your graveyard: Create a tapped 2/2 black Zombie creature token.
Open the full glossary
