I am not sure if Empty the Pits is worth it however, since the cost is very high and may need to exile valuable cards to cast it effectively, also at sorcery speed.
A lot of people overvalue cards in the GY. Even in recursion heavy lists, you usually have something you can exile unless you're being hated out. With a general like Scarab God, where looting/windfall into reanimation targets is a viable plan, you're probably going to find yourself overloaded anyways. Killing your opponents and digging to other cards more quickly with the upkeep trigger is going to trump the increased flexibility of floating a bunch of targets most of the time. Take into account supporting instants and sorceries, fetches, etc and you should be able to delve deep without a problem. The quad-black seems like the more difficult part unless you're running heavy black.
Empty the Pits is one of the few zombie cards I'm planning on running in my first draft.
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[Pr]Jaya | Estrid | A rotating cast of decks built out of my box.
Weebo, do you have a link to that first draft? What do you think of mine?
With the disclaimer that's it's super rough and I place quite a few deckbuilding restrictions on myself (few to no tutors, limit the number of goodstuff staples), list is here.
Your list looks good. I'm always a little wary about Choked Estuary and Temple of the False God, though I'll admit to not ever really trying out the SOI duals. Temple has bitten me on too many opening hands for me to be a big fan. I think you may be a couple lands heavy with the cheap draw and rocks, maybe consider Ponder/Preordain. You're riding the general really hard for GY hate with basically just it and Kalitas, which is pretty easy to play around. Maybe add in another piece of that somewhere. Shred Memory is a personal favorite and will find you something more useful when it's a dead card. Reanimation targets all seem like good choices. I'm interested in seeing if token creation and small creatures keep up with Razaketh.
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[Pr]Jaya | Estrid | A rotating cast of decks built out of my box.
I am not sure if Empty the Pits is worth it however, since the cost is very high and may need to exile valuable cards to cast it effectively, also at sorcery speed.
A lot of people overvalue cards in the GY. Even in recursion heavy lists, you usually have something you can exile unless you're being hated out. With a general like Scarab God, where looting/windfall into reanimation targets is a viable plan, you're probably going to find yourself overloaded anyways. Killing your opponents and digging to other cards more quickly with the upkeep trigger is going to trump the increased flexibility of floating a bunch of targets most of the time. Take into account supporting instants and sorceries, fetches, etc and you should be able to delve deep without a problem. The quad-black seems like the more difficult part unless you're running heavy black.
Empty the Pits is one of the few zombie cards I'm planning on running in my first draft.
I don't mind exiling cards from GY, I do that all the time with Tasigur, but I don't find EtP efficient for its cost, although upon knowing it's an instant does help quite a bit.
Awesome thread guys. Since I saw the spoiler I really want to build him (and 2color is a cheaper deck :D)
What do you guys think how strong he is as a commander? In my opinion the U gives as a perfect card: Rhystic Study ? I have never seen people hate a card more
In terms of strength at a competitive level he's probably tier 2 like Jarad, Alesha and Narset. I don't think he's tier 1 like Tasigur, Zur and Prossh,
Unfulfilled Desires might be more useful in this build than Phyrexian Arena. You can control when it is triggered and stock your own graveyard with good things from your hand. It is also a useful place to sink mana if a turn goes by that you decide not to activate the Scarab God's ability.
Unfulfilled Desires might be more useful in this build than Phyrexian Arena. You can control when it is triggered and stock your own graveyard with good things from your hand. It is also a useful place to sink mana if a turn goes by that you decide not to activate the Scarab God's ability.
This is one of the better looting effects. There are plenty of them on creatures if you want more of it - Oracle of Dust was mentioned earlier and plays nicely for a couple reasons. Compulsion isn't quite the same (basically gives your hand cycling), but it's a favorite of mine. I wouldn't underestimate the usefulness of straight card advantage though, especially if you're running a more controlling list. If you're just going for zombie tribal/tempo/aggro, the filtering effects are probably good enough.
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[Pr]Jaya | Estrid | A rotating cast of decks built out of my box.
Looks interesting, but most players would just pay 3 life when you're telegraphing reanimator as strongly as this deck does.
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Card advantage is not the same thing as card draw. Something for 2B cannot be strictly worse than something for BBB or 3BB. If you're taking out Swords to Plowshares for Plummet, you're a fool. Stop doing these things!
I like Breathstealer's Crypt! Hand intelligence, another source of life loss and a chance to gain a reanimation target from your opponents. It also a convenient discard outlet for your own creatures.
One of the guys at my LGS is looking at building this and pointed out a rather good little interaction - Mirror-Mad Phantasm. Activating a token version (such as that created by The Scarab God...) will mill your entire deck. So, EOT Scarab God the phantasm and activate it, then make a Laboratory Maniac copy with the God on your upkeep, then on your draw step win. Risky, as with all Lab Maniac wins, but pretty easy to pull off.
One of the guys at my LGS is looking at building this and pointed out a rather good little interaction - Mirror-Mad Phantasm. Activating a token version (such as that created by The Scarab God...) will mill your entire deck. So, EOT Scarab God the phantasm and activate it, then make a Laboratory Maniac copy with the God on your upkeep, then on your draw step win. Risky, as with all Lab Maniac wins, but pretty easy to pull off.
One of the guys at my LGS is looking at building this and pointed out a rather good little interaction - Mirror-Mad Phantasm. Activating a token version (such as that created by The Scarab God...) will mill your entire deck. So, EOT Scarab God the phantasm and activate it, then make a Laboratory Maniac copy with the God on your upkeep, then on your draw step win. Risky, as with all Lab Maniac wins, but pretty easy to pull off.
I really don't think this will be a good replacement for Gisa and Geralf. He draws too much hate and doesn't really aid you.
Playing Zombies from the GY is a lot stronger than Scrying.
I really don't think this will be a good replacement for Gisa and Geralf. He draws too much hate and doesn't really aid you.
Playing Zombies from the GY is a lot stronger than Scrying.
Trust me, in August you will have switched back.
Two styles of zombie deck, and Scarab God can be played as reanimator without being a full blown zombie tribal. It's always nice to steal opponent's stuff from graveyard, making 0/1s and 1/1s as 4/4 instead, at instant speed no less.
I agree with Kangodo and RedGauntlet.
Utility creatures, Training Grounds, Cryptic Cruiser and Oracle of Dust to abuse opponents' creatures more than once and a slight mill subtheme (e.g. put Phenax in the 99) will be the way to build this commander.
Most people building The Scarab God as Zombie tribal will be converting to Gisa and Geralf by the end of july or august at the latest (unless they rebuild their deck, of course).
He is a decent commander, but not for zombies. My current draft has 4 zombies: 3 Zombie lords that are just value with eternalized creatures and Grey Merchant of Asphodel (because literally every Black deck with less than 3 colors runs one).
At this point it's not about two styles of zombie decks, but the fact that a focus on zombie tribal cuts down on the potential The Scarab God brings to the table. You can't get around lords, but limiting oneself to zombies and building them as a tribe is just wrong if you plan on using The Scarab God as your commander, as Gisa and Geralf just have more utility.
At this point it's not about two styles of zombie decks, but the fact that a focus on zombie tribal cuts down on the potential The Scarab God brings to the table. You can't get around lords, but limiting oneself to zombies and building them as a tribe is just wrong if you plan on using The Scarab God as your commander, as Gisa and Geralf just have more utility.
I'm not sure what you mean by "is just wrong", The Scarab God's upkeep trigger benefits from having zombies en mass, without losing its ability to steal opponent's creatures. It's a versatile general with many plausible directions, zombie tribal being one of them, and enough room for players to wiggle between tribal and utilities to fit into their ideal, the same way they could decide how many mill cards they need for their deck to suit their wincon.
Empty the Pits is one of the few zombie cards I'm planning on running in my first draft.
BChainer, Dementia Master(Big Mana/Reanimator)
BRRakdos, The Showstopper (Mass Life Loss/Ramp)
BUThe Scarab God (Zombie Tribal/Control)
BWKarlov of the Ghost Council (Life Gain)
BGJarad, Golgari Lich Lord (Stompy/Dredge)
BRGProssh, Skyraider of Kher (Tokens/Non-infinite Combo)
Your list looks good. I'm always a little wary about Choked Estuary and Temple of the False God, though I'll admit to not ever really trying out the SOI duals. Temple has bitten me on too many opening hands for me to be a big fan. I think you may be a couple lands heavy with the cheap draw and rocks, maybe consider Ponder/Preordain. You're riding the general really hard for GY hate with basically just it and Kalitas, which is pretty easy to play around. Maybe add in another piece of that somewhere. Shred Memory is a personal favorite and will find you something more useful when it's a dead card. Reanimation targets all seem like good choices. I'm interested in seeing if token creation and small creatures keep up with Razaketh.
Thanks for the correction.
I don't mind exiling cards from GY, I do that all the time with Tasigur, but I don't find EtP efficient for its cost, although upon knowing it's an instant does help quite a bit.
EDIT: Adding God-Pharaoh's Gift.
Shu Yun, the Silent Tempest WUR Voltron Control
Temmet, Vizier of Naktamun WU Unblockable Mirror Trickery
Ra's al Ghul (Sidar Kondo) and Face-Down Ninjas
Brudiclad, Token Engineer
Vaevictis (VV2) the Dire Lantern
Rona, Disciple of Gix
Tiana the Auror
Hallar
Ulrich the Politician
Zur the Rebel
Scorpion, Locust, Scarab, Egyptian Gods
O-Kagachi, Mathas, Mairsil
"Non-Tribal" Tribal Generals, Eggs
BChainer, Dementia Master(Big Mana/Reanimator)
BRRakdos, The Showstopper (Mass Life Loss/Ramp)
BUThe Scarab God (Zombie Tribal/Control)
BWKarlov of the Ghost Council (Life Gain)
BGJarad, Golgari Lich Lord (Stompy/Dredge)
BRGProssh, Skyraider of Kher (Tokens/Non-infinite Combo)
Looks interesting, but most players would just pay 3 life when you're telegraphing reanimator as strongly as this deck does.
On phasing:
(U/B)(U/B)(U/B) JUMP IN THE LINE, ROCK YOUR BODY IN TIME
(R/W)(R/W)(R/W) RISING FROM THE NEON GLOOM, SHINING LIKE A CRAZY MOON
(U/R)(R/G)(G/U) STEALIN' WHEN I SHOULD HAVE BEEN BUYIN'
I will add this alongside Unfulfilled Desires, options is good.
Shu Yun, the Silent Tempest WUR Voltron Control
Temmet, Vizier of Naktamun WU Unblockable Mirror Trickery
Ra's al Ghul (Sidar Kondo) and Face-Down Ninjas
Brudiclad, Token Engineer
Vaevictis (VV2) the Dire Lantern
Rona, Disciple of Gix
Tiana the Auror
Hallar
Ulrich the Politician
Zur the Rebel
Scorpion, Locust, Scarab, Egyptian Gods
O-Kagachi, Mathas, Mairsil
"Non-Tribal" Tribal Generals, Eggs
BChainer, Dementia Master(Big Mana/Reanimator)
BRRakdos, The Showstopper (Mass Life Loss/Ramp)
BUThe Scarab God (Zombie Tribal/Control)
BWKarlov of the Ghost Council (Life Gain)
BGJarad, Golgari Lich Lord (Stompy/Dredge)
BRGProssh, Skyraider of Kher (Tokens/Non-infinite Combo)
Awesome combo! Add both and Hour of Eternity into the list.
Shu Yun, the Silent Tempest WUR Voltron Control
Temmet, Vizier of Naktamun WU Unblockable Mirror Trickery
Ra's al Ghul (Sidar Kondo) and Face-Down Ninjas
Brudiclad, Token Engineer
Vaevictis (VV2) the Dire Lantern
Rona, Disciple of Gix
Tiana the Auror
Hallar
Ulrich the Politician
Zur the Rebel
Scorpion, Locust, Scarab, Egyptian Gods
O-Kagachi, Mathas, Mairsil
"Non-Tribal" Tribal Generals, Eggs
Shu Yun, the Silent Tempest WUR Voltron Control
Temmet, Vizier of Naktamun WU Unblockable Mirror Trickery
Ra's al Ghul (Sidar Kondo) and Face-Down Ninjas
Brudiclad, Token Engineer
Vaevictis (VV2) the Dire Lantern
Rona, Disciple of Gix
Tiana the Auror
Hallar
Ulrich the Politician
Zur the Rebel
Scorpion, Locust, Scarab, Egyptian Gods
O-Kagachi, Mathas, Mairsil
"Non-Tribal" Tribal Generals, Eggs
Wonder is wonderful! Will add. Thx!
Shu Yun, the Silent Tempest WUR Voltron Control
Temmet, Vizier of Naktamun WU Unblockable Mirror Trickery
Ra's al Ghul (Sidar Kondo) and Face-Down Ninjas
Brudiclad, Token Engineer
Vaevictis (VV2) the Dire Lantern
Rona, Disciple of Gix
Tiana the Auror
Hallar
Ulrich the Politician
Zur the Rebel
Scorpion, Locust, Scarab, Egyptian Gods
O-Kagachi, Mathas, Mairsil
"Non-Tribal" Tribal Generals, Eggs
I really don't think this will be a good replacement for Gisa and Geralf. He draws too much hate and doesn't really aid you.
Playing Zombies from the GY is a lot stronger than Scrying.
Trust me, in August you will have switched back.
Two styles of zombie deck, and Scarab God can be played as reanimator without being a full blown zombie tribal. It's always nice to steal opponent's stuff from graveyard, making 0/1s and 1/1s as 4/4 instead, at instant speed no less.
Shu Yun, the Silent Tempest WUR Voltron Control
Temmet, Vizier of Naktamun WU Unblockable Mirror Trickery
Ra's al Ghul (Sidar Kondo) and Face-Down Ninjas
Brudiclad, Token Engineer
Vaevictis (VV2) the Dire Lantern
Rona, Disciple of Gix
Tiana the Auror
Hallar
Ulrich the Politician
Zur the Rebel
Scorpion, Locust, Scarab, Egyptian Gods
O-Kagachi, Mathas, Mairsil
"Non-Tribal" Tribal Generals, Eggs
Utility creatures, Training Grounds, Cryptic Cruiser and Oracle of Dust to abuse opponents' creatures more than once and a slight mill subtheme (e.g. put Phenax in the 99) will be the way to build this commander.
Most people building The Scarab God as Zombie tribal will be converting to Gisa and Geralf by the end of july or august at the latest (unless they rebuild their deck, of course).
He is a decent commander, but not for zombies. My current draft has 4 zombies: 3 Zombie lords that are just value with eternalized creatures and Grey Merchant of Asphodel (because literally every Black deck with less than 3 colors runs one).
At this point it's not about two styles of zombie decks, but the fact that a focus on zombie tribal cuts down on the potential The Scarab God brings to the table. You can't get around lords, but limiting oneself to zombies and building them as a tribe is just wrong if you plan on using The Scarab God as your commander, as Gisa and Geralf just have more utility.
I'm not sure what you mean by "is just wrong", The Scarab God's upkeep trigger benefits from having zombies en mass, without losing its ability to steal opponent's creatures. It's a versatile general with many plausible directions, zombie tribal being one of them, and enough room for players to wiggle between tribal and utilities to fit into their ideal, the same way they could decide how many mill cards they need for their deck to suit their wincon.
Shu Yun, the Silent Tempest WUR Voltron Control
Temmet, Vizier of Naktamun WU Unblockable Mirror Trickery
Ra's al Ghul (Sidar Kondo) and Face-Down Ninjas
Brudiclad, Token Engineer
Vaevictis (VV2) the Dire Lantern
Rona, Disciple of Gix
Tiana the Auror
Hallar
Ulrich the Politician
Zur the Rebel
Scorpion, Locust, Scarab, Egyptian Gods
O-Kagachi, Mathas, Mairsil
"Non-Tribal" Tribal Generals, Eggs