I think the God does function well as an attrition deck. I had considered going mill as theme for the deck, but I feel like boardwipes are better. Just let opponents play creatures out, then wipe them, then resurrect them. Cuts out the middle man of needing a mill card.
I did see a really nasty looking self-mill edh decklist for the God though. He had all of the massive scary eldrazi and disgusting highcost creatures he could jam into the deck. So he would self-mill a little, play the god, and start resurrecting Kozileks and Ulamogs and the like. Pretty cool concept.
Basically I agree with what you said though. It doesn't make too much sense to jam a bunch of mill cards in the deck unless you're ultra dedicated to the strategy. My deck is down to just Altar of the brood for mill cards. I like this one because of how cheap and effective it is.
It's why the god is so cool. If you get tired of a concept you're doing, just change the deck. One of these days I'm going to put my zombie list back together for this guy in different colored sleeves and have 2 decks for him. The ultra-tuned competitive control/attrition version, and fun loving/not so powerful zombie version.
The issue with sower is that if at any point it eats removal, the creature returns to its owner's control, while once the Deceiver takes the card, it is permanently under your control (barring Homeward Path).
Fatestitcher gets to pull double-utility too, though - It's a Zombie. It's an incredibly underrated card that I forget about constantly. Might try one out myself, actually, I was already thinking of adding more rocks.
Speaking from experience, being able to 'gotcha' opponents is great. Haven't received my Wizard Replica yet, but if it performs anything like Mausoleum Wanderer has, it's going to ruin days. Even though I'm known to build graveyard-oriented decks, people still forget to check my bin when they go to cast their spells... and then you Eternalize a Counterspell and call it a day.
Since Paragon posted his list, I've been thinking a lot and realized I overlooked the most basic aspect of The Scarab God. UB has been associated with Mill for a while now, so naturally - everyone threw mill into it when it was released. But at it's heart, SG is an attrition-based Commander that benefits from keeping everyone else suppressed. Mill is disruptive, but not in any immediate way (the one that matters).
Really appreciating how this thread has been shaping up and the level of activity from everyone; I've got some major tweaking to do with my list. I'll add some discard-stax pieces and extra removal, and I've been identifying weaknesses from my first few drafts. Cards like Lich Lord of Unx and Nimble Obstructionist are cute, but they haven't done much often. I may even remove my infinite (Duskmantle Guildmage + Mindcrank), to go down a route with stronger synergy.
I am getting excited for return to return to ravnica, though! I suspect they'll divide the guilds up, but we're almost guaranteed going to get some interesting new toys.
The main issue I have with mill, especially in commander, is that most decks are used to using the graveyard as an extension of their hand. Most decks interact with or recur cards from their graveyard with regularity. Unless you can control it or use it better than the rest of the table combined, it tends to backfire. The only mill deck that I built that worked was a hard control Angus Mackenzie deck that led to game states that 3+ hours where nothing seemed to change.
I have seen The Scarab God played in a bunch of different ways:
1. Hard control and using the general as the finisher.
2. Zombie tribal in an attempt to burn opponents out with the scry/life loss trigger.
3. Mill and reanimator.
4. I have a discard build that reanimates opponent's creatures (and a few of your own). This is very different from 3 since mill helps all reanimator decks and you are focusing on reanimating your opponent's creatures and not your own.
How is narset "generic"
She is easily one of the .ost hated (and probably broken) commanders out there. (Granted the RC thought erayo, refellos, and Leovold were worst. But that is neither here nor there)
For the most part Narset can be built in one of three ways:
1. Chaining together extra turns/combat steps (the most competitive option).
2. Superfriends
3. Value (playing R/U/B non-creature good stuff and use her trigger for value).
Just catching up on this thread.
- Love the ideas of Gilded Drake, Wizard Replica and Mausoleum Wanderer. I hadn't considered them yet, but they will be going into my watch list. I'm wondering if the 2 extra mana is enough for the Replica to be effective, or if there enough targets for the Wanderer to get.
Somehow missed the Overburden during my first look. Sunder is a card that (weirdly enough) I always seem to think is banned, even though it isn't. I definitely don't dislike your approach, it's gotta be nasty once it gets rolling. The Stax approach is definitely something worth noting - I may try a Mindslicer, at least, in my build. Noetic Scales is also a fascinating way of keeping the board under control, I'd forgotten about it entirely.
I'd asked about the playgroup because other players near me trend towards more aggressive decks. I do intend on keeping my Scarab God more casual, so while I enjoy stax, I think I'll be keeping them out for the most part. There's no doubting that it sounds effective though - getting everyone hellbent hurts. You guys have given me a lot to consider for my personal build (even just a few cards that assault the hand could be interesting).
But you're right, with a lot of this in mind, your Specter package looks to be the weakest portion of your deck. Needle Specter synergizes with SG best, the type of card I think I'd prefer in my build, but it seems you're looking for more consistent value?
Noetic Scales is a card you need to be careful with as it is a nonbo for you with eternalized cards. I will probably add Fell Specter and Dreamstealer and replace two of the weaker specter cards. The issue is that discard that hits everyone during the upkeep step (like Bottomless Pit) doesn't work with The Scarab God as it will be discarded before you can play him again.
I'll be replying to the majority of the feedback in a day or two - hopefully when the site's functionality is better. Been thinking on it heavily, however, and marking out other cards for replacement.
Paragon, I like your list! I've a fondness for resource denial strategies and discard is a staple of mine; and you've included another pet of mine, Warped Devotion. Looking at it though, I see what you mean by the Specters feeling sub-optimal: with a card like Mind Twist or Mindslicer you can empty one or all players hands for 4-6 mana. Whereas the Specters are either ETB, or reliant on combat triggers, neither of which is anywhere near as effective as your Enchantment package. You've also got some real money cards in there too (I wish I could play Land Equilibrium, you lucky bastard).
What does your meta look like? If there's a single reason I never considered building Scarab God as Discard-focused, it was because I felt other Commanders (namely, Nekusar) could transform it into a win condition more naturally. But you've gone for a heavier stax/control, and I don't see much to deter early game aggression.
Visited my shop today, helped teach some newer players basic magic. But while perusing some of the binders there, I was reminded of the Borderpost cycle. In particular, Mistvein Borderpost. Going to try one out (adding it and a Sol Ring, when the site is working again).
I can deal with some early game hate, but this deck is typically not one to drop a bunch of early threats out (a Liliana's Caress is not as scary on turn 3 as the green player that has a sizable army). Still, a 5/5 on turn 4 or so is usually enough to deter opponents from attacking for a bit (at least until I wipe the board). Having 2 instant speed board wipes (Cyclonic and Evacuation) help quite a bit as does some spot removal. Also, while the stax pieces generate some hate (Overburden is one that generates a lot of whining) it keeps the aggro players in check early in the game as swarming the board leaves them very vulnerable and very behind on to the control decks and they usually won't hate me out of the game as they would put themselves in a weakened position to the rest of the table. Finally, the stax pieces that generate more aggravation (like Oppression) need to be played when you can protect yourself after playing it. Also, copying Painful Quandary a few times has won me plenty of games even if I eventually become the archenemy.
The LD package is more to deal with the green turbo ramp decks and Land Equilibrium keeps them in check and Sunder can (at instant speed) reset all of their hard work setting them further back than everyone else as they don't usually use artifact ramp.
Creature wise, I feel I should move towards more good stuff/ETB creatures or possibly clones.
Meta wise, since I play at bunch of LGSs, it is extremely varied. Very early combo decks (especially ones that don't rely on creatures) are a huge weakness for this deck. Nekusar isn't as big of an issue I have found as killing it 1-2 times usually sets the Nekusar player back and wheeling could hurt them from my discard triggers. It is usually a fun game of tug of war at that point as I am trying to shred hands and they are trying to refill them.
As weird as it sounds, I like the low creature count as it allows varying games as I am usually reanimating my opponents threats and not my own and figuring out which ones need to be reanimated and when makes the deck very non-linear.
Dang paragonweapon! That deck looks fierce. I'm sure I'd be crying if I ever played against it.
Given your theme, what about Dark deal or small pox? Perhaps a nice specter's shroud? I'm not at all positive that you need them, just throwing stuff out that you may have already discarded (so to speak ) A darn brutal theme you've got going on there. Surprised at the lack of creatures. I suppose you need all of that room for discard stuff.
Thanks. First, sorry about the triple post (I got an error screen when I tried to post, so I thought it didn't work).
The idea behind the deck is to force your opponents to play threats and overextend (into a board wipe) or pitch their hands, and then eternalize their threats to beat them down with it (or against a control deck, beat down with The Scarab God). The bounce sub theme is a way of dealing with enchantments and to provide me with more things to force them to discard (and take damage from the few enchantments).
The main issue for me is that the specter package (sans Needle Specter) seems suboptimal (as it is hard to connect with them and connecting with them and they do little unless they connect), so I am looking to rework those parts of the deck (and I need a Fell Specter for the deck).
Grave Titan which is a game ending threat that synergizes very well with our commander.
Venser, Shaper Savant, which is either a remand or a way of being able to deal with a problematic enchantment/artifact.
One card I have been very happy with is Imprisoned in the Moon which deals with a problematic commander for a significant chunk of time.
I've been considering Imprisoned in the Moon for a little while now, another way to deal with off-color or indestructible threats.
I'd love to play Gilded Drake. It's a cheap, sorcery-speed (most of the time) way of dealing with large threats. That price tag, tho. I am operating under something of a budget, so I wouldn't be getting one anytime soon.
Solemn and Venser are also things I've been considering for a while; I've just been hesitant to raise the cmc of the deck.
I am interested in knowing if you've posted your Discard-based list online anywhere?
Grave Titan which is a game ending threat that synergizes very well with our commander.
Venser, Shaper Savant, which is either a remand or a way of being able to deal with a problematic enchantment/artifact.
One card I have been very happy with is Imprisoned in the Moon which deals with a problematic commander for a significant chunk of time.
I've been considering Imprisoned in the Moon for a little while now, another way to deal with off-color or indestructible threats.
I'd love to play Gilded Drake. It's a cheap, sorcery-speed (most of the time) way of dealing with large threats. That price tag, tho. I am operating under something of a budget, so I wouldn't be getting one anytime soon.
Solemn and Venser are also things I've been considering for a while; I've just been hesitant to raise the cmc of the deck.
I am interested in knowing if you've posted your Discard-based list online anywhere?
Grave Titan which is a game ending threat that synergizes very well with our commander.
Venser, Shaper Savant, which is either a remand or a way of being able to deal with a problematic enchantment/artifact.
One card I have been very happy with is Imprisoned in the Moon which deals with a problematic commander for a significant chunk of time.
I've been considering Imprisoned in the Moon for a little while now, another way to deal with off-color or indestructible threats.
I'd love to play Gilded Drake. It's a cheap, sorcery-speed (most of the time) way of dealing with large threats. That price tag, tho. I am operating under something of a budget, so I wouldn't be getting one anytime soon.
Solemn and Venser are also things I've been considering for a while; I've just been hesitant to raise the cmc of the deck.
I am interested in knowing if you've posted your Discard-based list online anywhere?
With this in mind I began myself to thinking: in a format where mono-Red already has the short end of the stick, in many cases, and with WotC's attempts at making Red better (maybe not directly, but still), where does Norin fall in the grand scheme of Red being a contender?
I've always loved this deck. If you recall I made a Facebook page giving praise to the unsung messiah we have as our commander (link in sig lmao). But is he simply outclasses by stronger, more-focused decks? Or is Norin meant to be more of a sort of jack-of-all-trades?
Just some things to ponder whilst we have cool toys from c18 to muck around with.
~Lil Kalki
While you are right on all of those counts, those generals are all more threatening and playing any those generals signals to your opponent what your strategy is. Norin lets us fly under the radar and while they are a few cards synonymous with Norin (e.g. Confusion in the Ranks, Genesis Chamber) people don't know how the deck would work by just seeing the general.
So while I play a different style of The Scarab God, a lack of life gain and early hate (my deck is discard themed) can definitely make me a target. The only cards in my deck that gain me life are Bloodchief Ascension and Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet. Other than that, you are at the mercy of what your opponents have in their graveyard.
Also, out of curiosity, why are you running Deathbringer Regent? At best, it is a 7 mana board wipe that cannot be recurred with The Scarab God.
Hmm. Personally, I enjoy resource-denial strategies like Discard, but I find I prefer to build around it for a deck or include one or two powerful pieces for that added surprise factor. Sadistic Hypnotist is a great example; sac a few creatures to wipe hands, when the opportunity presents itself. Fair enough though.
Deathbringer Regent was a recent include I wanted to test: For me, it is essentially always a boardwipe that leaves a large, flying body behind. If it ends up in the graveyard for any reason (milled/discarded/dies), it's another reanimation target for SG - it isn't about getting a second wipe, just ensuring I have a neutral target. I like to leave up mana and do tricks at instant speed - sometimes I'll wait on Eternalizing the better targets, simply because I don't need them yet, just another 4/4 body. Something like Necromantic Selection may be better for those purposes, when I think about it, but I also dislike triple black pips.
A few of the non-discard creatures that I am running that I didn't see in your list that I run and am very happy with (the specter package on my end need to be reworked):
Gilded Drake, which lets me steal their best creature twice (and is tutorable with your transmute package).
Solemn Simulacrum which is land ramp in not green and card advantage (6UB gets us two basics, 6 power of creatures and two cards).
So while I play a different style of The Scarab God, a lack of life gain and early hate (my deck is discard themed) can definitely make me a target. The only cards in my deck that gain me life are Bloodchief Ascension and Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet. Other than that, you are at the mercy of what your opponents have in their graveyard.
Also, out of curiosity, why are you running Deathbringer Regent? At best, it is a 7 mana board wipe that cannot be recurred with The Scarab God.
I run a more discard oriented build of The Scarab God, but some cards that could work for your deck, that I have been very impressed by are:
Needle Specter is a monster when it is eternalized and not answered quickly as it quickly ensures that your opponents are playing hellbent until it is dealt with. Gilded Drake is an easy way of stealing someone else's best creature and then being able to reuse this ability is very strong. Venser, Shaper Savant is also instant speed removal, both from the hand and from the graveyard.
The only zombie I run is Graveborn Muse as it is a card advantage engine even without additional zombies. Grave Titan is also very helpful.
The issue with sower is that if at any point it eats removal, the creature returns to its owner's control, while once the Deceiver takes the card, it is permanently under your control (barring Homeward Path).
The main issue I have with mill, especially in commander, is that most decks are used to using the graveyard as an extension of their hand. Most decks interact with or recur cards from their graveyard with regularity. Unless you can control it or use it better than the rest of the table combined, it tends to backfire. The only mill deck that I built that worked was a hard control Angus Mackenzie deck that led to game states that 3+ hours where nothing seemed to change.
1. Hard control and using the general as the finisher.
2. Zombie tribal in an attempt to burn opponents out with the scry/life loss trigger.
3. Mill and reanimator.
4. I have a discard build that reanimates opponent's creatures (and a few of your own). This is very different from 3 since mill helps all reanimator decks and you are focusing on reanimating your opponent's creatures and not your own.
For the most part Narset can be built in one of three ways:
1. Chaining together extra turns/combat steps (the most competitive option).
2. Superfriends
3. Value (playing R/U/B non-creature good stuff and use her trigger for value).
What does everyone think of Thalakos Deceiver?
Noetic Scales is a card you need to be careful with as it is a nonbo for you with eternalized cards. I will probably add Fell Specter and Dreamstealer and replace two of the weaker specter cards. The issue is that discard that hits everyone during the upkeep step (like Bottomless Pit) doesn't work with The Scarab God as it will be discarded before you can play him again.
I can deal with some early game hate, but this deck is typically not one to drop a bunch of early threats out (a Liliana's Caress is not as scary on turn 3 as the green player that has a sizable army). Still, a 5/5 on turn 4 or so is usually enough to deter opponents from attacking for a bit (at least until I wipe the board). Having 2 instant speed board wipes (Cyclonic and Evacuation) help quite a bit as does some spot removal. Also, while the stax pieces generate some hate (Overburden is one that generates a lot of whining) it keeps the aggro players in check early in the game as swarming the board leaves them very vulnerable and very behind on to the control decks and they usually won't hate me out of the game as they would put themselves in a weakened position to the rest of the table. Finally, the stax pieces that generate more aggravation (like Oppression) need to be played when you can protect yourself after playing it. Also, copying Painful Quandary a few times has won me plenty of games even if I eventually become the archenemy.
The LD package is more to deal with the green turbo ramp decks and Land Equilibrium keeps them in check and Sunder can (at instant speed) reset all of their hard work setting them further back than everyone else as they don't usually use artifact ramp.
Creature wise, I feel I should move towards more good stuff/ETB creatures or possibly clones.
Meta wise, since I play at bunch of LGSs, it is extremely varied. Very early combo decks (especially ones that don't rely on creatures) are a huge weakness for this deck. Nekusar isn't as big of an issue I have found as killing it 1-2 times usually sets the Nekusar player back and wheeling could hurt them from my discard triggers. It is usually a fun game of tug of war at that point as I am trying to shred hands and they are trying to refill them.
As weird as it sounds, I like the low creature count as it allows varying games as I am usually reanimating my opponents threats and not my own and figuring out which ones need to be reanimated and when makes the deck very non-linear.
Thanks. First, sorry about the triple post (I got an error screen when I tried to post, so I thought it didn't work).
The idea behind the deck is to force your opponents to play threats and overextend (into a board wipe) or pitch their hands, and then eternalize their threats to beat them down with it (or against a control deck, beat down with The Scarab God). The bounce sub theme is a way of dealing with enchantments and to provide me with more things to force them to discard (and take damage from the few enchantments).
The main issue for me is that the specter package (sans Needle Specter) seems suboptimal (as it is hard to connect with them and connecting with them and they do little unless they connect), so I am looking to rework those parts of the deck (and I need a Fell Specter for the deck).
I just uploaded it on the deck
1 The Scarab God
Creature
1 Clever Impersonator
1 Needle Specter
1 Hypnotic Specter
1 Blizzard Specter
1 Guul Draz Specter
1 Venser, Shaper Savant
1 Gilded Drake
1 Graveborn Muse
1 Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet
1 Mindslicer
1 Bloodgift Demon
1 Grave Titan
Enchantment
1 Land Equilibrium
1 Necropotence
1 Megrim
1 Oppression
1 Overburden
1 Warped Devotion
1 Phyrexian Arena
1 Copy Enchantment
1 Bloodchief Ascension
1 Training Grounds
1 Liliana's Caress
1 Painful Quandary
1 Waste Not
1 Imprisoned in the Moon
13 Swamp
1 Underground River
11 Island
1 Darkwater Catacombs
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
1 River of Tears
1 Creeping Tar Pit
1 Darkslick Shores
1 Command Tower
1 Drowned Catacomb
1 Watery Grave
1 Temple of Deceit
1 Bloodstained Mire
1 Polluted Delta
1 Sunken Hollow
1 Choked Estuary
1 Fetid Pools
Artifact
1 Charcoal Diamond
1 Sky Diamond
1 Noetic Scales
1 Gilded Lotus
1 Talisman of Dominance
1 Darksteel Ingot
1 Geth's Grimoire
1 Dimir Signet
1 Coldsteel Heart
1 Relic of Progenitus
1 Sol Ring
1 Wayfarer's Bauble
1 Hedron Archive
1 Solemn Simulacrum
1 Burnished Hart
1 Counterspell
1 Arcane Denial
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Evacuation
1 Sunder
1 Fact or Fiction
1 Recoil
1 Go for the Throat
1 Cyclonic Rift
1 Force of Will
1 Disallow
Sorcery
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Mind Twist
1 Urza's Guilt
1 Death Cloud
1 Toxic Deluge
1 Damnation
Planeswalker
1 Liliana of the Veil
1 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
I just uploaded it on the deck
1 The Scarab God
Creature
1 Clever Impersonator
1 Needle Specter
1 Hypnotic Specter
1 Blizzard Specter
1 Guul Draz Specter
1 Venser, Shaper Savant
1 Gilded Drake
1 Graveborn Muse
1 Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet
1 Mindslicer
1 Bloodgift Demon
1 Grave Titan
Enchantment
1 Land Equilibrium
1 Necropotence
1 Megrim
1 Oppression
1 Overburden
1 Warped Devotion
1 Phyrexian Arena
1 Copy Enchantment
1 Bloodchief Ascension
1 Training Grounds
1 Liliana's Caress
1 Painful Quandary
1 Waste Not
1 Imprisoned in the Moon
13 Swamp
1 Underground River
11 Island
1 Darkwater Catacombs
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
1 River of Tears
1 Creeping Tar Pit
1 Darkslick Shores
1 Command Tower
1 Drowned Catacomb
1 Watery Grave
1 Temple of Deceit
1 Bloodstained Mire
1 Polluted Delta
1 Sunken Hollow
1 Choked Estuary
1 Fetid Pools
Artifact
1 Charcoal Diamond
1 Sky Diamond
1 Noetic Scales
1 Gilded Lotus
1 Talisman of Dominance
1 Darksteel Ingot
1 Geth's Grimoire
1 Dimir Signet
1 Coldsteel Heart
1 Relic of Progenitus
1 Sol Ring
1 Wayfarer's Bauble
1 Hedron Archive
1 Solemn Simulacrum
1 Burnished Hart
1 Counterspell
1 Arcane Denial
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Evacuation
1 Sunder
1 Fact or Fiction
1 Recoil
1 Go for the Throat
1 Cyclonic Rift
1 Force of Will
1 Disallow
Sorcery
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Mind Twist
1 Urza's Guilt
1 Death Cloud
1 Toxic Deluge
1 Damnation
Planeswalker
1 Liliana of the Veil
1 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
I just uploaded it on the deck
1 The Scarab God
Creature
1 Clever Impersonator
1 Needle Specter
1 Hypnotic Specter
1 Blizzard Specter
1 Guul Draz Specter
1 Venser, Shaper Savant
1 Gilded Drake
1 Graveborn Muse
1 Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet
1 Mindslicer
1 Bloodgift Demon
1 Grave Titan
Enchantment
1 Land Equilibrium
1 Necropotence
1 Megrim
1 Oppression
1 Overburden
1 Warped Devotion
1 Phyrexian Arena
1 Copy Enchantment
1 Bloodchief Ascension
1 Training Grounds
1 Liliana's Caress
1 Painful Quandary
1 Waste Not
1 Imprisoned in the Moon
13 Swamp
1 Underground River
11 Island
1 Darkwater Catacombs
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
1 River of Tears
1 Creeping Tar Pit
1 Darkslick Shores
1 Command Tower
1 Drowned Catacomb
1 Watery Grave
1 Temple of Deceit
1 Bloodstained Mire
1 Polluted Delta
1 Sunken Hollow
1 Choked Estuary
1 Fetid Pools
Artifact
1 Charcoal Diamond
1 Sky Diamond
1 Noetic Scales
1 Gilded Lotus
1 Talisman of Dominance
1 Darksteel Ingot
1 Geth's Grimoire
1 Dimir Signet
1 Coldsteel Heart
1 Relic of Progenitus
1 Sol Ring
1 Wayfarer's Bauble
1 Hedron Archive
1 Solemn Simulacrum
1 Burnished Hart
1 Counterspell
1 Arcane Denial
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Evacuation
1 Sunder
1 Fact or Fiction
1 Recoil
1 Go for the Throat
1 Cyclonic Rift
1 Force of Will
1 Disallow
Sorcery
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Mind Twist
1 Urza's Guilt
1 Death Cloud
1 Toxic Deluge
1 Damnation
Planeswalker
1 Liliana of the Veil
1 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
While you are right on all of those counts, those generals are all more threatening and playing any those generals signals to your opponent what your strategy is. Norin lets us fly under the radar and while they are a few cards synonymous with Norin (e.g. Confusion in the Ranks, Genesis Chamber) people don't know how the deck would work by just seeing the general.
Fair enough. Board wipe wise, I run Damnation, Cyclonic Rift, Evacuation, Toxic Deluge, Death Cloud, and a discard and Noetic Scales combination.
A few of the non-discard creatures that I am running that I didn't see in your list that I run and am very happy with (the specter package on my end need to be reworked):
One card I have been very happy with is Imprisoned in the Moon which deals with a problematic commander for a significant chunk of time.
Also, out of curiosity, why are you running Deathbringer Regent? At best, it is a 7 mana board wipe that cannot be recurred with The Scarab God.
Needle Specter is a monster when it is eternalized and not answered quickly as it quickly ensures that your opponents are playing hellbent until it is dealt with.
Gilded Drake is an easy way of stealing someone else's best creature and then being able to reuse this ability is very strong.
Venser, Shaper Savant is also instant speed removal, both from the hand and from the graveyard.
The only zombie I run is Graveborn Muse as it is a card advantage engine even without additional zombies. Grave Titan is also very helpful.