MTG Salvation

Hello everyone,

This is my take on the Scarab God so far. It doesn't emphasize on zombies as much. It's leaning more to a control/combo aspect. With a GY steal. Even your little guys become 4/4 zombies when I steal them which helps fuel the Scarab god. The goal is the preferably steal your creatures with good ETB abilities or useful abilities in general. All the while slowly killing you with them or combo out with Vengeful, Diregraf or Plague Belcher.

I have played 3 games with this deck so far. Each one seemed a tad slow but I am still trying to figure out how exactly to work it and what to Tutor for. I did win two of those 3 games. However, the matches weren't like the best. Krenko vs Scarab God vs Precon(that was two of the games) and Lavisa vs Scarab God vs Precon.. I won one of the matches against Krenko and the one against Lavisa.


The cards in my "Maybeboard" section are ones I have but haven't tried yet.... Few cards I know I want for the deck but do not own yet are.... Exsanguinate, Vengeful Dead and Training Grounds



Thank you all for your time and possibly help with making this a better deck.




The Scarab God

How competitive are you trying to make this deck? Are you open to infinite combos? Do you have budget constraints?

I haven't looked at really any other The Scarab God lists, but I imagine a good portion of them will fit in the infinite damage/mill loop of Mindcrank + Bloodchief Ascension / Duskmantle Guildmage.

Rings of Brighthearth or the more budget-friendly Illusionist's Bracers seem great with The Scarab God's activated ability to net you more than one creature per activation.

Were you thinking more heavy mill pieces to get you more targets with The Scarab God's activated ability? I'm thinking the classic Traumatize and maybe Keening Stone. I feel Tunnel Vision can be underrated here - just name Sol Ring or Evolving Wilds if your opponent is playing more than one color and watch as he or she flips each card into the yard in slow motion praying that the named card isn't second from the bottom of their deck at that moment. Mill is a more difficult strategy in EDH since there's multiple players and literally hundreds of cards to burn through, and most of these bigger mill spells target only a single opponent, but you can potentially cast multiple copies if you can fit Mirari or other similar artifact the copies spells. You can even use the Strionic Resonator you already have in your list to copy the Mirari trigger, thus milling 3 oponents for half their decks off one Traumatize.

I see you have Grave Betrayal on your current maybeboard, and this deck seems like it's screaming to use it - with all the edict (sacrifice) effects and board wipes. I'd highly recommend fitting that in. It's a 7 CMC, but this is commander and the effect is game changing if you play it just prior to a board wipe or edict.

Another card I highly recommend from your maybeboard is Sepulchral Primordial. This can also be a big game changer if played just or shortly after a later game board wipe, or anytime if you see good value in everyone's yards from your mill effects. Even better if an opponent has a copy-type creature in his or her yard (or your own Clever Impersonator) as you can take that from the Primordial's effect and copy the Primordial to take even more creatures from everyone (I speak from experience on that one, super sweet).

I also think you should consider Gray Merchant of Asphodel from your maybeboard. You have some 40+ black pips in your current list, so he's bound to do some hard damage (life loss) to your opponents, plus he's a zombie, so he still gives value for hanging around. Best part, I feel like? You can sac him or let him die to board wipe or black an attack so he goes to your yeard, then use The Scarab God ability to bring him back once more for another devotion life drain.

On the note of devotion, it might be worth it to consider Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx since you've a decent pip count among your permanents. Maybe.

Your list is looking pretty solid with a handful of ways to get creatures into yards for you to exile and make tokens

My budget is alright I guess to work with. I can probably drop 2-300 on the deck over time. In addition, I am trying to make it somewhat competitive. At least to keep up with my playgroup.



The first game I won going infinite with Gravecrawler, Phyrexian Arena and Diregraf Captain. Personally I don't like Bloodchief ascension and that other two card enchantment combo for the lifeloss/lifegain thingy. So I just don't want them in the deck. I also don't want to run counter spells which is why you don't see any in my list.


Yeah I have a few cards that are like PUT ME IN THE DECK! but I haven't put them in yet to try them out. I just got an Exsanguinate I need to fit in and that new blue enchantment that whenever I play an instant/sorcery I can copy it. From this Hours of Devastation set from the Pre-release.


I'm still play testing and tweaking the deck. I feel like I should add in a couple more zombies too. I only have 12 in the deck. So most the time I never feel like I get to use his Life loss/Scry ability. However, I did build this deck more of a Black Board control and GY steal.



Thank you for your advice. I will look into most of the stuff you suggested.

Yeah, I can understand not wanting to run the Mindcrank combo - personally, I likely wouldn't either since I prefer "under the radar" combos that aren't obvious to everyone at the table. That and Bloodchief Ascension just paints a huge bull's eye because it has the stigma.

Swarm Intelligence from Hour of Devastation is pretty good too, and likely harder to remove as an enchantment than Mirari is as an artifact, so I agree that can have a place here.

As far as putting more zombies in the deck: remember, the God's second ability makes whatever it is you steal from yards a zombie, which adds fuel to the first ability. I think this type of deck can be more effective with more control and creature-kill or mill pieces than packing a bunch of zombies. Don't get me wrong - I think something like Army of the Damned and a couple zombie lords can have their place in a deck like this, but more as supplemental to the zombies you'll be making/stealing from yours and others' yards. Forcing more zombies in, I feel, may force out some of the stronger control elements that you will need to make it to later game once some good enough creatures have gone to the yards. You already have over 20 creatures in a deck that can be poised to run much less and get creature gas from others' GYs. I dunno, that's just what I'm thinking.

Swarm Intelligence and Exsanguinate have been added in. In addition, Grave Titan and Grave Betrayal.


I took out. Jace, Heartstone, Strionic resonator and Copy Enchantment.

So my decklist is updated with what I play currently with it.... I have played quite a few games and 1v1 and multiplayer and so far I am having fun playing it. It's not super fast but it holds it own. I have only won twice without going infinite though which I would like to fix.

Just minor things I would suggest. Take out underground river for tainted isle. When I run black and have cabal coffers I like to run vesuva or thespian's stage to copy it or maybe another land that's out there. I know it is not as good as exsanguinate as far as it being a wincon but torment of hailfire seems like it may fit very well in the deck since it will either cause loss of life or create more creatures for you to steal in the graveyard. Altar of Dementia may be a viable sac outlet that will help mill opponents' cards and hopefully creatures into the graveyard.