Could see this going into my Brago, King Eternal deck. With only 16 creatures she digs not only deep but efficiently there. The static ability and loyalty of 5 for 3 is "just" a nice bonus.
Think my guild (Rakdos) is going to get a rare legend? Literally every guild has gotten a rare legendary walker or creature so far. Salesnyia got both! Im starting to get down about it lol. Like, why not just make Angrath rare?
Might give the new Narset a try in Raff. The -2 ability is solid, but it's the static makes me rather interested. I'd much prefer a Notion Thief of course, but in the absence of B, she's the best I can do, and it's definitely a strong effect. Without the ability to flash her in though, I'm not so sure how good she is. Maybe if you're already heavy on the wheel/twister effects.
Return to Nature is one of my favourite cards in the set. Simple, but versatile and effective.
My problem with amass is that it doesn't reliably make you wider, and it doesn't make you taller quick enough to matter. So with that in mind, I may playtest some things, but I'm very hesitant to put a lot of stock in amass. I may be wrong, they just don't seem that efficient, although I can concede that at a lower place on the curve they could be good value.
This was my initial concern as well, but if we are only running 3-4 Amass cards in a 99-card deck then I think we can safely say that those Amass cards will create tokens 90% of the time. I would think that you would need to have 10+ Amass cards before you start running into having multiple Amass cards in hand at once, and even then there are enough sac outlets and other reasons for Zombie Army tokens to die that you can manipulate the odds overwhelmingly in your favor. I think that for Commander purposes, 'Amass X' can reliably be considered 'Create a X/X Zombie token'.
For what it's worth, that 5 slot I have trouble with too. A lot of my current five drops are too slow (Grimgrin, Corpse-Born) or too expensive (Havengul Lich), so I've been looking for utility lower to the ground myself. Interestingly enough, the one I'm most excited about you don't seem to fancy - Soul Diviner. I run Mikaeus, the Unhallowed, Noosegraf Mob, Carrion Feeder, and at least a couple of walkers - plus I've been keeping my eyes peeled for a local copy of Glacial Chasm. Turning any of these counters into cards is gravy for me, and it's well costed too. It really hurts my feelings that he can't remove counters from enchantments, because I run both Tombstone Stairwell and Mystic Remora, but it's still decent utility for a low cost.
Soul Diviner is at a minimum an interesting card, but you really need more stuff for him to remove counters from in order for me to really get excited about it. The thing is that his default of being "just a 2/3 for 2 mana" isn't necessarily all that bad in a dedicated Zombie deck that wants to beat face. I don't think that I would go out of my way to run sub-par cards that have counters that I want to remove, but it is a nice feature to have when it comes up. For a deck that needs to often rebuild post-Wrath effect, having as many different CA engines in the deck as you can is always welcome.
Question for you Varina players. Can you help convince me to switch to her from The Scarab God? Like I know she gives you acess to white, but this new Oketra anNecromancer's Covenant are really the only things white contributes to zombies specifically that looks worth playing to me. Those and maybe Unraveling Mummy too. There are also the 3 white any tribal goodstuff cards like Mirror Entity, Radient Destiny, Kindred Boon. So thats like 6 cards white contributes to tribal, then of course you have all the white goodstuff like Smothering Tithe, Land Tax, Removal etc.
But The Scarab God is just so powerful lol. He just does it all. He cares about zombies, he pseudo evades tax, his activated ability is better, he does indirect damage to each opponent, he scrys and he has beefy stats to boot.
I am currently on the fence and this new Oketra is just so good its really tempting to switch but Scary God is just sooooo good in the zone. Is the handful of white stuff worth losing him in the Zone?
Question for you Varina players. Can you help convince me to switch to her from The Scarab God? Like I know she gives you acess to white, but this new Oketra anNecromancer's Covenant are really the only things white contributes to zombies specifically that looks worth playing to me. Those and maybe Unraveling Mummy too. There are also the 3 white any tribal goodstuff cards like Mirror Entity, Radient Destiny, Kindred Boon. So thats like 6 cards white contributes to tribal, then of course you have all the white goodstuff like Smothering Tithe, Land Tax, Removal etc.
But The Scarab God is just so powerful lol. He just does it all. He cares about zombies, he pseudo evades tax, his activated ability is better, he does indirect damage to each opponent, he scrys and he has beefy stats to boot.
I am currently on the fence and this new Oketra is just so good its really tempting to switch but Scary God is just sooooo good in the zone. Is the handful of white stuff worth losing him in the Zone?
I think that the new God-Eternal Oketra is definitely worth adding white, although I am having some concerns over the WW in the casting cost. The ability to get a 4/4 token for each creature you play is fantastic. In fact, God-Eternal Oketra might be worth building a mono-white deck around...
In my Varina build I also have the following white cards in my deck:
In the end, I think it is just a matter of preference as you are right in saying that white doesn't give you a lot (you could add Wraths, Swords to Plowshares, Path to Exile, Anguished Unmaking, etc. to that list). The Scarab God is definitely a very powerful card and one I wouldn't mind being the Commander, and if that is working for you then I wouldn't necessarily jump ship.
Question for you Varina players. Can you help convince me to switch to her from The Scarab God? Like I know she gives you acess to white, but this new Oketra anNecromancer's Covenant are really the only things white contributes to zombies specifically that looks worth playing to me. Those and maybe Unraveling Mummy too. There are also the 3 white any tribal goodstuff cards like Mirror Entity, Radient Destiny, Kindred Boon. So thats like 6 cards white contributes to tribal, then of course you have all the white goodstuff like Smothering Tithe, Land Tax, Removal etc.
But The Scarab God is just so powerful lol. He just does it all. He cares about zombies, he pseudo evades tax, his activated ability is better, he does indirect damage to each opponent, he scrys and he has beefy stats to boot.
I am currently on the fence and this new Oketra is just so good its really tempting to switch but Scary God is just sooooo good in the zone. Is the handful of white stuff worth losing him in the Zone?
I don’t necessarily disagree. He’s remarkably strong. I like Varina more for a toolbox/midrange build (which apparently is my thing). She gives access to white removal in Anguished unmaking, Vindicate, Supreme Verdict and such, as well as Vault of the Archangel, Wayward Servant and Binding Mummy - servant in particular has been outstanding for me. Besides, I don’t think they necessarily do the same thing. I’m a huge fan of reanimation, and with her discard that’s something she enables far more so than Scarab does. Or at least, it looks a little different with Varina.
I don’t necessarily think either one is stronger essentially, I just think Varina suits my play style better. She’s versatile, can change strategy quickly, and has a remarkable level of resilience. I’ve found there’s a certain momentum playing her; it’s really quite hard to keep her out of the game entirely and she can turn the game around with ease. I’ve faced down Scarab though, and he is fantastic too.
So, Command the Dreadhorde. Thoughts? Could be excellent value in a deck that has enough lifegain to support making it worth casting.
I hate to repeat Varina's name here, but this would fit great in her deck. I can also see people hiding behind Oloro, Ageless Ascetic with bunch of board wipes and proceed to Reanimate en mass.
I hate to repeat Varina's name here, but this would fit great in her deck. I can see people hiding behind Oloro, Ageless Ascetic with bunch of board wipes and proceed to Reanimate en mass.
I was thinking much the same to be honest. Fits great and with lifegain I can beat the CMC for this spell fairly easy.
To be fair, if you're casting Reversal off the top with Melek, you want to target two different spells, since the first Reversal to resolve bounces the spell it targeted and if the second Reversal was also targeting it, it has nothing to copy. So you can't just use Scroll Rack to put Lightning Bolt and Narset's Reversal on top, then pay RRUU to deal 12 damage. If you cast Reversal from hand on a spell you cast off the top, it's kinda like Twincasting the spell and giving the original buyback.
Seems like a fun card to use Narset’s Reversal on!
This set has a ton of neat internal interactions. The story implications of Gideon's Sacrifice got the lion's share of the attention, but it's a common fog that targets a creature you control in the same set as Feather, the Redeemed, so I'm 100% drafting Feather any time I see her and testing who forgot to pack removal in their draft deck.
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Zedruu: "This deck is not only able to go crazy - it also needs to do so."
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Eh it's probably fine.
Way more excited about return to nature. Get in my Phelddagrif deck, stat!
EDH Primers
Phelddagrif - Zirilan
EDH
Thrasios+Bruse - Pang - Sasaya - Wydwen - Feather - Rona - Toshiro - Sylvia+Khorvath - Geth - QMarchesa - Firesong - Athreos - Arixmethes - Isperia - Etali - Silas+Sidar - Saskia - Virtus+Gorm - Kynaios - Naban - Aryel - Mizzix - Kazuul - Tymna+Kraum - Sidar+Tymna - Ayli - Gwendlyn - Phelddagrif 4 - Liliana - Kaervek - Phelddagrif 3 - Mairsil - Scarab - Child - Phenax - Shirei - Thada - Depala - Circu - Kytheon - GrenzoHR - Phelddagrif - Reyhan+Kraum - Toshiro - Varolz - Nin - Ojutai - Tasigur - Zedruu - Uril - Edric - Wort - Zurgo - Nahiri - Grenzo - Kozilek - Yisan - Ink-Treader - Yisan - Brago - Sidisi - Toshiro - Alexi - Sygg - Brimaz - Sek'Kuar - Marchesa - Vish Kal - Iroas - Phelddagrif - Ephara - Derevi - Glissa - Wanderer - Saffi - Melek - Xiahou Dun - Lazav - Lin Sivvi - Zirilan - Glissa
PDH - Drake - Graverobber - Izzet GM - Tallowisp - Symbiote Brawl - Feather - Ugin - Jace - Scarab - Angrath - Vraska - Kumena Oathbreaker - Wrenn&6
(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'
Right? Same here. Strictly better Naturalize. I've got to buy, like, twenty of those.
(I'm also impressed that we've gotten this far into Magic's history without "Return to Nature" having been used already)
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)
Return to Nature is one of my favourite cards in the set. Simple, but versatile and effective.
This was my initial concern as well, but if we are only running 3-4 Amass cards in a 99-card deck then I think we can safely say that those Amass cards will create tokens 90% of the time. I would think that you would need to have 10+ Amass cards before you start running into having multiple Amass cards in hand at once, and even then there are enough sac outlets and other reasons for Zombie Army tokens to die that you can manipulate the odds overwhelmingly in your favor. I think that for Commander purposes, 'Amass X' can reliably be considered 'Create a X/X Zombie token'.
Soul Diviner is at a minimum an interesting card, but you really need more stuff for him to remove counters from in order for me to really get excited about it. The thing is that his default of being "just a 2/3 for 2 mana" isn't necessarily all that bad in a dedicated Zombie deck that wants to beat face. I don't think that I would go out of my way to run sub-par cards that have counters that I want to remove, but it is a nice feature to have when it comes up. For a deck that needs to often rebuild post-Wrath effect, having as many different CA engines in the deck as you can is always welcome.
Jalira, Master Polymorphist | Endrek Sahr, Master Breeder | Bosh, Iron Golem | Ezuri, Renegade Leader
Brago, King Eternal | Oona, Queen of the Fae | Wort, Boggart Auntie | Wort, the Raidmother
Captain Sisay | Rhys, the Redeemed | Trostani, Selesnya's Voice | Jarad, Golgari Lich Lord
Gisela, Blade of Goldnight | Obzedat, Ghost Council | Niv-Mizzet, the Firemind | Vorel of the Hull Clade
Uril, the Miststalker | Prossh, Skyraider of Kher | Nicol Bolas | Progenitus
Ghave, Guru of Spores | Zedruu the Greathearted | Damia, Sage of Stone | Riku of Two Reflections
But The Scarab God is just so powerful lol. He just does it all. He cares about zombies, he pseudo evades tax, his activated ability is better, he does indirect damage to each opponent, he scrys and he has beefy stats to boot.
I am currently on the fence and this new Oketra is just so good its really tempting to switch but Scary God is just sooooo good in the zone. Is the handful of white stuff worth losing him in the Zone?
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)
Hour of Revelation -> Finale of Revelation
Hour of Eternity -> Finale of Eternity
Hour of Glory -> Finale of Glory
Hour of Devastation -> Finale of Devastation
Hour of Promise -> Finale of Promise
The Esper-colored ones cycled their names around in a circle, and the Gruul-colored ones swapped.
I feel if you flip Part the Waterveil off Narset, Parter of Veils, you deserve to win on the spot.
Two Score, Minus Two or: A Stargate Tail
(Image by totallynotabrony)
RBGLiving EndRBG
EDH
UFblthpU
BRXantchaRB
BGVarolzGB
URWZedruuWRU
Two Score, Minus Two or: A Stargate Tail
(Image by totallynotabrony)
I think that the new God-Eternal Oketra is definitely worth adding white, although I am having some concerns over the WW in the casting cost. The ability to get a 4/4 token for each creature you play is fantastic. In fact, God-Eternal Oketra might be worth building a mono-white deck around...
In my Varina build I also have the following white cards in my deck:
1 Necrotic Sliver
1 Vindicate
1 Utter End
1 Necromancer's Covenant
1 Vault of the Archangel
In the end, I think it is just a matter of preference as you are right in saying that white doesn't give you a lot (you could add Wraths, Swords to Plowshares, Path to Exile, Anguished Unmaking, etc. to that list). The Scarab God is definitely a very powerful card and one I wouldn't mind being the Commander, and if that is working for you then I wouldn't necessarily jump ship.
Jalira, Master Polymorphist | Endrek Sahr, Master Breeder | Bosh, Iron Golem | Ezuri, Renegade Leader
Brago, King Eternal | Oona, Queen of the Fae | Wort, Boggart Auntie | Wort, the Raidmother
Captain Sisay | Rhys, the Redeemed | Trostani, Selesnya's Voice | Jarad, Golgari Lich Lord
Gisela, Blade of Goldnight | Obzedat, Ghost Council | Niv-Mizzet, the Firemind | Vorel of the Hull Clade
Uril, the Miststalker | Prossh, Skyraider of Kher | Nicol Bolas | Progenitus
Ghave, Guru of Spores | Zedruu the Greathearted | Damia, Sage of Stone | Riku of Two Reflections
You monster.
RBGLiving EndRBG
EDH
UFblthpU
BRXantchaRB
BGVarolzGB
URWZedruuWRU
I don’t necessarily disagree. He’s remarkably strong. I like Varina more for a toolbox/midrange build (which apparently is my thing). She gives access to white removal in Anguished unmaking, Vindicate, Supreme Verdict and such, as well as Vault of the Archangel, Wayward Servant and Binding Mummy - servant in particular has been outstanding for me. Besides, I don’t think they necessarily do the same thing. I’m a huge fan of reanimation, and with her discard that’s something she enables far more so than Scarab does. Or at least, it looks a little different with Varina.
I don’t necessarily think either one is stronger essentially, I just think Varina suits my play style better. She’s versatile, can change strategy quickly, and has a remarkable level of resilience. I’ve found there’s a certain momentum playing her; it’s really quite hard to keep her out of the game entirely and she can turn the game around with ease. I’ve faced down Scarab though, and he is fantastic too.
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)
Most welcome.
So, Command the Dreadhorde. Thoughts? Could be excellent value in a deck that has enough lifegain to support making it worth casting.
I hate to repeat Varina's name here, but this would fit great in her deck. I can also see people hiding behind Oloro, Ageless Ascetic with bunch of board wipes and proceed to Reanimate en mass.
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)
I was thinking much the same to be honest. Fits great and with lifegain I can beat the CMC for this spell fairly easy.
Oh damn, that wording. If it were loss of life, Chasm wouldn't help. As it states damage, Glacial Chasm is tech. Noice.
Two Score, Minus Two or: A Stargate Tail
(Image by totallynotabrony)
Seems pretty legit, especially if some of the creatures you reanimate also give you life like Gray Merchant of Asphodel, Disciple of Bolas, or Malakir Bloodwitch. I also like that it is damage in one big chunk, so a single Circle of Protection: Black activation or similar effect will prevent the damage.
Jalira, Master Polymorphist | Endrek Sahr, Master Breeder | Bosh, Iron Golem | Ezuri, Renegade Leader
Brago, King Eternal | Oona, Queen of the Fae | Wort, Boggart Auntie | Wort, the Raidmother
Captain Sisay | Rhys, the Redeemed | Trostani, Selesnya's Voice | Jarad, Golgari Lich Lord
Gisela, Blade of Goldnight | Obzedat, Ghost Council | Niv-Mizzet, the Firemind | Vorel of the Hull Clade
Uril, the Miststalker | Prossh, Skyraider of Kher | Nicol Bolas | Progenitus
Ghave, Guru of Spores | Zedruu the Greathearted | Damia, Sage of Stone | Riku of Two Reflections
(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'
This set has a ton of neat internal interactions. The story implications of Gideon's Sacrifice got the lion's share of the attention, but it's a common fog that targets a creature you control in the same set as Feather, the Redeemed, so I'm 100% drafting Feather any time I see her and testing who forgot to pack removal in their draft deck.