Did you know Scarabs Eat Poop

Commander / EDH Mill Tribal UB (Dimir) Zombie

PotentiallyNot

Creature (26)

• 1x Cemetery Reaper
• 1x Cryptbreaker
• 1x Death Baron
• 1x Diregraf Captain
• 1x Diregraf Colossus
• 1x Duskmantle Guildmage
• 1x Geralf's Mindcrusher
• 1x Geth, Lord of the Vault
• 1x Ghoulcaller Gisa
• 1x Grave Titan
• 1x Graveborn Muse
• 1x Gravecrawler
• 1x Havengul Lich
• 1x Lich Lord of Unx
• 1x Lord of the Accursed
• 1x Lord of the Undead
• 1x Mikaeus, the Unhallowed
• 1x Plague Belcher
• 1x Risen Executioner
• 1x Shepherd of Rot
• 1x Siren of the Silent Song
• 1x Soulless One
• 1x Undead Alchemist
• 1x Undead Warchief
• 1x Vengeful Dead
• 1x Zombie Master

Sorcery (7)

• 1x Army of the Damned
• 1x Buried Alive
• 1x Dark Salvation
• 1x Dread Summons
• 1x Life's Finale
• 1x Necromantic Selection
• 1x Traumatize

Land (36)

• 1x Bad River
• 1x Bojuka Bog
• 1x Choked Estuary
• 1x Command Tower
• 1x Dark Depths
• 1x Darkwater Catacombs
• 1x Dismal Backwater
• 1x Drowned Catacomb
• 11x Island
• 1x Mortuary Mire
• 1x Myriad Landscape
• 1x Sunken Hollow
• 11x Swamp
• 1x Tainted Isle
• 1x Underground River
• 1x Westvale Abbey  ^Flip

Enchantment (13)

• 1x As Foretold
• 1x Endless Ranks of the Dead
• 1x Fraying Sanity
• 1x Gate to Phyrexia
• 1x Glistening Oil
• 1x Grave Betrayal
• 1x Grave Pact
• 1x Koskun Falls
• 1x Phyrexian Arena
• 1x Propaganda
• 1x Rooftop Storm
• 1x Tombstone Stairwell
• 1x Training Grounds

Commander (1)

Artifact (14)

• 1x Altar of Dementia
• 1x Altar of the Brood
• 1x Ashnod's Altar
• 1x Cauldron of Souls
• 1x Coalition Relic
• 1x Coat of Arms
• 1x Commander's Sphere
• 1x Crawlspace
• 1x Dimir Cluestone
• 1x Dimir Signet
• 1x Door of Destinies
• 1x Mindcrank
• 1x Sol Ring
• 1x Talisman of Dominance

Instant (3)

• 1x Counterspell
• 1x Cyclonic Rift
• 1x Entomb

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Sideboard

Creature (7)

• 1x Carrion Feeder
• 1x Gempalm Polluter
• 1x Guiltfeeder
• 1x Phyrexian Crusader
• 1x Sewer Nemesis
• 1x Unbreathing Horde
• 1x Zombie Cannibal

Instant (6)

• 1x Cancel
• 1x Go for the Throat
• 1x Murder
• 1x Psychic Strike
• 1x Swan Song
• 1x Tragic Slip

Artifact (1)

• 1x Tormod's Crypt

Sorcery (1)

• 1x From Under the Floorboards

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Maybeboard

Creature (33)

• 1x Accursed Horde
• 1x Black Oak of Odunos
• 1x Carrion Beetles
• 1x Carrion Screecher
• 1x Consuming Aberration
• 1x Corpse Harvester
• 1x Crypt Ghast
• 1x Dralnu, Lich Lord
• 1x Fatestitcher
• 1x Fleshbag Marauder
• 1x Gisa and Geralf
• 1x Gray Merchant of Asphodel
• 1x Grimgrin, Corpse-Born
• 1x Josu Vess, Lich Knight
• 1x Mistform Wall
• 1x Moaning Wall
• 1x Mortician Beetle
• 1x Necromaster Dragon
• 1x Nemesis of Reason
• 1x Nested Ghoul
• 1x Nighthowler
• 1x Noosegraf Mob
• 1x Phyrexian Ghoul
• 1x Raving Dead
• 1x Sheoldred, Whispering One
• 1x Solemn Simulacrum
• 1x Stitcher Geralf
• 1x Wall of Bone
• 1x Wall of Shadows
• 1x Wall of Souls
• 1x Wight of Precinct Six
• 1x Withered Wretch
• 1x Zombie Trailblazer

Enchantment (7)

• 1x Call to the Grave
• 1x Dictate of Erebos
• 1x Freed from the Real
• 1x Graf Harvest
• 1x Kindred Discovery
• 1x Paradox Haze
• 1x Phyrexian Reclamation

Artifact (4)

• 1x Defense Grid
• 1x Grimoire of the Dead
• 1x Trepanation Blade
• 1x Whispersilk Cloak

Sorcery (6)

• 1x Clone Legion
• 1x Essence Harvest
• 1x Glimpse the Unthinkable
• 1x Mind Funeral
• 1x Rite of Replication
• 1x Zombie Apocalypse

Instant (3)

• 1x Agony Warp
• 1x Disallow
• 1x Feeding Frenzy

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Did you know the Scarab Beetle is the name it gave itself? It's also known by another name:

The dung beetle.

They eat poop. Which is fitting, because if you play this deck right people will be telling you to eat s*** and die!

The Zombies

While most dung beetles like to roll up a big ol' ball of s***, our dung beetle-ahem- Scarab Beetle wants to roll up a big ol' ball of zombies.

Tons of zombies, tons of damage!

Not just any zombie will do, though. We want zombies that give us options and multiple ways of dishing out pain.

• Creatures that deal damage based on zombies:

  Plague Belcher, Vengeful Dead, Diregraf Captain, Lich Lord of Unx, Shepherd of Rot, Scarab God, Gempalm Polluter (sideboard).

• Creatures that make zombies:

  Grave Titan, Cryptbreaker, Diregraf Colossus,Ghoulcaller Gisa, Lich Lord of Unx, Nestled Ghoul (maybeboard), Scarab God, Undead Alchemist, Cemetery Reaper.

• Spells/Artifacts that produce zombies:

  Army of the Damned, Endless Ranks of the Dead, Dark Salvation, Dread Summons, From Under the Floorboards (sideboard), Tombstone Stairwell, Grimoire of the Dead (sideboard), Grave Betrayal.

• Zombie Lords:

  Cemetery Reaper, Lord of the Undead, Death Baron, Diregraf Captain, Undead Warchief, Lord of the Accursed, Undead Executioner, Zombie Master.

It's Miller Time

While zombies are the center of our strategy, there is a secondary strategy in the form of milling, and it's a tad bit more experimental. We want to mill primarily to give us targets for recursion or theft via the Scarab God, Havengul Lich or Geth. Milling heavily can also buff a couple of our creatures as well.

• Milling Cards:

  Mindcrank, Altar of Dementia, Fraying Sanity, Traumatize, Undead Alchemist, Geralf's Mindcrusher, Lich Lord of Unx, Buried Alive, Entomb, Stitcher Geralf (maybeboard), Consuming Abberation (maybeboard), Sewer Nemesis (Maybeboard), Trepanation Blade (maybeboard), Nemesis of Reason (maybeboard), Geth Lord of the Vault, Altar of the Brood, Siren of the Silent Song.

• Buffed by milling:

  Consuming abberation (maybeboard), Nighthowler (maybeboard) , Guiltfeeder (sideboard), Sewer Nemesis (sideboard), Diregraf Colossus, Soulless One, Wight of Precinct Six (maybeboard) .

Infinite Combos

Going infinite isn't really the focus of this deck, but we have a handful of options. You'll need Mikaeus and the Cauldron of Souls out for these to work:

• Altar of Dementia + any critter lets you mill everyone out.
• Any sac outlet+ any critter + Altar of the Brood lets you mill everyone out.
• Ashnod's Altar + any critter gives you infinite mana.
• Any sac outlet+ Grave Titan lets you make infinite zombie tokens.
• Gate to phyrexia + any critter lets you blow up as many artifacts as you desire. Take that guy's Mycosynth lattice and use it against him!
• Vengeful Dead + sac outlet + any critter will let you wipe everyone out.

• Geralf's Mindcrusher + sac outlet lets you mill everyone out. You don't even need Mikey for this one, just the cauldron- he's already got Undying!

• Duskmantle Guildmage cannot be used for Mikey's combos, being human, but if you use him in conjunction with Mindcrank, you can go infinite and kill/mill everyone out that way!

The weaknesses

While this deck is fun to play, it's dependence on creatures and the graveyard present some obvious weaknesses:

• GRAVEYARD HATE BAD. VERY BAD. BEETLE NO LIKE GRAVEYARD HATE DO NOT BULLY BEETLE.

• In all seriousness, while our graveyard might not be the lynchpin holding our deck together like say, a golgari deck, if we lose our graveyard or, even worse, all graveyards, some of our cards are going to lose their muscle and we'll be out of potential targets to nab with Scarab God. It's still possible to pilot this deck if the graves are wiped- I would argue tokens are still more important- but we want to avoid it whenever possible.

• Undead Alchemist is something of a paradox in this deck; on one hand it allows us to go berserk with milling people out, but also exiles all milled cards so suddenly we can't steal people's stuff anymore. It's very anti-synergy but in the right scenario it may be better than just trying to mill for cards. Be sure to evaluate the situation before playing him.

• Graveborn Muse can be a cruel mistress; she gives you plenty of cards, but get too overzealous with it and she'll off you before your opponents can. If the situation arises, kill her before she kills you!

• Some of the creatures that combo the best with milling aren't even zombies. It doesn't inhibit the deck, really, but it just isn't as optimized when our main focus is amassing a blob of zombies. For the time these guys are scattered between the sideboard and maybeboard.

• Our tokens are very much vulnerable to board wipes or any "return to hand" cards, and if we lose our tokens, we lose a lot of our firepower. This deck will probably see more counterspells in the future.

• People know the Scarab God is nasty. You're not going to be catching anyone by surprise with this deck; you WILL be targeted.

Final Word

All in all, Scarab God is strong but will require you to play thoughtfully and ruthlessly. No amount of politicing will keep you from becoming the table nemesis- you have no means of helping other players, you make hordes of nasty beaters, you throw their cards away or outright steal them, play control and damage everyone equally.

You ARE the bad guy, so act like it!

Set your defenses, take everyone else's stuff before they can use it against you and raise an army of the dead! Drown everyone in corpses or die trying!

Take that ball of s### and chuck it at somebody!

Date added	7 years
Last updated	3 years
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	10 - 0 Mythic Rares 42 - 6 Rares 15 - 3 Uncommons 11 - 6 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	3.45
Tokens	Bird 2/2 U, Copy Clone, Human Cleric 1/1 BW, Marit Lage, Zombie 2/2 B, Zombie 2/2 B w/ Haste, Zombie Wizard 1/1 UB
Folders	scarab god