The Scarab Commander

Commander / EDH Combo Mill Multiplayer Tribal UB (Dimir) Zombie

AnderDan

Creature (30)

• 1x Consecrated Sphinx
• 1x Consuming Aberration
• 1x Death Baron
• 1x Diregraf Captain
• 1x Diregraf Colossus
• 1x Dreamborn Muse
• 1x Drunau Corpse Trawler
• 1x Geralf's Mindcrusher
• 1x Geth, Lord of the Vault
• 1x Ghoulcaller Gisa
• 1x Grave Defiler
• 1x Gravecrawler
• 1x Gravedigger
• 1x Gray Merchant of Asphodel
• 1x Havengul Lich
• 1x Josu Vess, Lich Knight
• 1x Lich Lord of Unx
• 1x Lord of the Accursed
• 1x Lord of the Undead
• 1x Mikaeus, the Unhallowed
• 1x Noosegraf Mob
• 1x Noxious Ghoul
• 1x Pontiff of Blight
• 1x Shepherd of Rot
• 1x Sidisi, Undead Vizier
• 1x Triskelion
• 1x Undead Warchief
• 1x Vengeful Dead
• 1x Wonder
• 1x Zombie Master

Enchantment (7)

• 1x Bloodchief Ascension
• 1x Call to the Grave
• 1x Curse of Disturbance
• 1x Endless Ranks of the Dead
• 1x Liliana's Mastery
• 1x Propaganda
• 1x Rooftop Storm

Land (36)

• 1x Academy Ruins
• 1x Cabal Coffers
• 1x Cabal Stronghold
• 1x Command Tower
• 1x Dimir Aqueduct
• 1x Dismal Backwater
• 1x Drowned Catacomb
• 1x Evolving Wilds
• 1x Exotic Orchard
• 1x Grixis Panorama
• 2x Island
• 1x Jwar Isle Refuge
• 1x Minamo, School at Water's Edge
• 1x Morphic Pool
• 1x Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
• 1x Opal Palace
• 1x Reliquary Tower
• 1x Shizo, Death's Storehouse
• 1x Sunken Hollow
• 7x Swamp
• 1x Tainted Isle
• 1x Temple of Deceit
• 1x Temple of the False God
• 1x Terramorphic Expanse
• 1x Tolaria West
• 1x Unholy Grotto
• 1x Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
• 1x Watery Grave
• 1x Westvale Abbey  ^Flip

Instant (6)

• 1x Counterspell
• 1x Cyclonic Rift
• 1x Grisly Spectacle
• 1x Hero's Downfall
• 1x Intuition
• 1x Murder

Commander (1)

Sorcery (10)

• 1x Beseech the Queen
• 1x Black Sun's Zenith
• 1x Decree of Pain
• 1x Demonic Tutor
• 1x Ever After
• 1x Increasing Ambition
• 1x Life's Finale
• 1x Mind Grind
• 1x Ruinous Path
• 1x Traumatize

Artifact (8)

• 1x Armillary Sphere
• 1x Cloudstone Curio
• 1x Commander's Sphere
• 1x Hedron Archive
• 1x Lightning Greaves
• 1x Mindcrank
• 1x Sol Ring
• 1x Strionic Resonator

Planeswalker (2)

• 1x Jace, Memory Adept
• 1x Liliana, the Last Hope

---

Sideboard

Creature (1)

• 1x Wrexial, the Risen Deep

Sorcery (1)

• 1x Prosperity

Enchantment (1)

• 1x Price of Knowledge

Instant (1)

• 1x Hideous End

---

Maybeboard

Artifact (12)

• 1x Akroma's Memorial
• 1x Altar of the Brood
• 1x Ashnod's Altar
• 1x Darksteel Plate
• 1x Gilded Lotus
• 1x Illusionist's Bracers
• 1x Keening Stone
• 1x Mesmeric Orb
• 1x Mind's Eye
• 1x Phyrexian Altar
• 1x That Which Was Taken
• 1x Venser's Journal

Creature (9)

• 1x Corpse Harvester
• 1x Fleet Swallower
• 1x Grave Titan
• 1x Grimgrin, Corpse-Born *oversized*
• 1x Helldozer
• 1x Kokusho, the Evening Star
• 1x Necromaster Dragon
• 1x Overseer of the Damned
• 1x Risen Executioner

Sorcery (15)

• 1x Army of the Damned
• 2x Exsanguinate
• 1x Fabricate
• 1x From Under the Floorboards
• 2x Mastermind's Acquisition
• 1x Mutilate
• 1x Never / Return
• 1x Prosperity
• 1x Rise of the Dark Realms
• 2x Rite of Replication
• 1x Yawgmoth's Will
• 1x Zombie Apocalypse

Instant (7)

• 1x Lim-Dul's Vault
• 2x Mana Drain
• 1x Mystical Tutor
• 1x Psychic Spiral
• 1x Pull from Tomorrow
• 1x Soul Manipulation

Planeswalker (2)

• 1x Liliana, Death's Majesty
• 1x Liliana Vess

Land (11)

• 1x Bad River
• 1x Darkwater Catacombs
• 1x Deserted Temple
• 1x Maze of Ith
• 1x Polluted Delta
• 1x Reflecting Pool
• 1x Sunken Ruins
• 1x Unclaimed Territory
• 1x Underground Sea
• 2x Watery Grave

Enchantment (9)

• 2x Curse of Disturbance
• 1x Dictate of Erebos
• 1x Grave Pact
• 1x Leyline of Anticipation
• 1x Open the Graves
• 1x Paradox Haze
• 2x Rhystic Study

---

Cards in the maybeboard with a 2 or more for quantity are more important options at the moment for upgrades. Last few upgrades I have planned are:

1. Replacing a card with Rhystic Study

Then it gets hard to fine tune from there.

This deck is primarily built around milling and is meant to be fun to play in a disruptive role in multiplayer. The Scarab God's role depends on how many opponents there are, but using him and lots of zombies to lifedrain is a valid strategy. During 1vs1, Scarab is a little bit less likely to steal stuff from the grave (unless it specifically disrupts an opponents strategy) in comparison to multiplayer and relies more on killing and producing zombies. During multiplayer, it's ideal to steal important creatures from other people after board wipes. Lifedrain people with zombies while scrying for answers or other great combos is just icing on the cake if you can keep Scarab on the board. Always be mindful as to what entered any graveyard - you may not need it now, but probably later.

The biggest win conditions in this deck are with Rooftop Storm + Cloudstone Curio and bouncing enter the battlefield (ETB) effects:

1. Rooftop Storm + Cloudstone Curio + Geralf's Mindcrusher + any other nontoken zombie to infinite mill everyone (with any Zombie in play, cast Mindcrusher, bounce the other Zombie, recast, bounce Mindcrusher, repeat for infinite mill, one player at a time).
2. Rooftop Storm + Cloudstone Curio + Gray Merchant of Asphodel + any other nontoken zombie to infinite life drain everyone (with any Zombie in play, cast Merchant, bounce the other Zombie, recast, bounce Merchant, repeat for infinite life loss). Geralf's Messenger is another potential option to do the same but one opponent at a time.

Other great Cloudstone Curio + Rooftop Storm combos:

1. Rooftop Storm + Cloudstone Curio + Diregraf Colossus + any two other Zombies for infinite (tapped) Zombie tokens.
2. Rooftop Storm + Cloudstone Curio + Drunau Corpse Trawler + any other Zombie for infinite Zombie tokens. Noosegraf Mob with two other zombies can also be used as well with a little less direct approach. Dranau Corpse Trawler + Noosegraf Mob together creates Zombie tokens faster.
3. Rooftop Storm + Cloudstone Curio + Grave Defiler + any other Zombie to draw every Zombie in your deck (with any Zombie in play, cast Defiler, bounce the other Zombie, recast, bounce Defiler, repeat to draw all your Zombies).
4. Rooftop Storm + Cloudstone Curio + Gravedigger + any other Zombie to return all creatures from graveyard to hand (with any Zombie in play, cast Gravedigger, bounce the other Zombie, recast, bounce Gravedigger, repeat infinitely).

Additional Cloudstone and Rooftop Storm Options:

1. Rooftop Storm + Cloudstone Curio + Altar of the Brood + any two zombies to infinite mill.
2. Other potential options to take advanatage of infinite storm counts and win with include either Brain Freeze, Bitter Ordeal or Tendrils of Agony.

Other less flashy (but useful) Combos:

1. Zombie Master + Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth to create unblockable zombies. Works really well with zombie lords.
2. Wrexial, the Risen Deep + Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth to steal instants and sorceries.
3. Pontiff of Blight + Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth to more easily sap life. Even easier with Rooftop Storm on the field.
4. Noxious Ghoul + Army of the Damned to board wipe non-zombies while setting up my board. Additional option to enhance this combo is with Grave Betrayal, to steal all the board-wiped creatures.
5. Army of the Damned + The Scarab God's draining ability. Adding Strionic Resonator for the triggered ability really packs a punch.
6. Ghoulcaller Gisa + The Scarab God + 2 black/1 blue/3 other mana minimum. (Pay B, tap Gisa to sac Scarab. Scarab dies and is put in your hand while five 2/2 zombie tokens are created. Cast Scarab for the remaining 5 mana so on your next upkeep you drain 5 life from everyone and scry 5. Rinse and Repeat until you scry a better combo). If you have enough extra mana to combo in Minamo, School at Water's Edge to untap Gisa and repeat, you're golden
7. Using The Scarab God + Mindcrank + any number of zombies to lifedrain, scry and mill all at the same time. Again, Strionic Resonator doubles it all.

Recursion and Tutors:

1. The Scarab God takes any creature from any graveyard.
2. Diabolic Tutor, Beseech the Queen, Increasing Ambition searches for an answer or combo setup. Increasing Ambition can grab 3 cards, but on a much slower pace.
3. Intuition. Intuition to grab Wonder, Gravecrawler, or another needed creature depending on the situation. Wonder in the graveyard gives all my creatures flying. Gravecrawler is easy to cast from the graveyard. Increasing Ambition can be grabbed for the flashback tutoring to grab two more cards. Whichever they choose, The Scarab God can bring the creatures back if needed.
4. Gravedigger to bring something back in case of fear of exiling from The Scarab God's recursion.
5. Liliana, Death's Majesty's second ability to recure a creature and make it a zombie. Works nicely with Fleet Swallower.
6. Sidisi, Undead Vizier to tutor for a card by exploiting either Wonder, Gravecrawler or a zombie token. Can be also used to setup for Ever After by sacrificing non-zombies for Ever After to bring back. With Mikaeus, the Unhallowed on the field, you can sac a creature so that it comes back bigger while tutoring for a card.

Mike/Trike Combo

1. Mikaeus, the Unhallowed + Triskelion (Mike & Trike) for infinite damage (Mikaeus makes Triskelion a 2/2, remove all 3 counters to deal 1 to any target and 2 to the Triskelion, it dies and comes back with an extra counter, repeat infinitely).

Other Additional Methods/Upgrades this deck could use to suprise your group if they get used to the deck:

A) Gravecrawler Sacrifice Combos

1. Gravecrawler + Rooftop Storm + Grimgrin, Corpse-Born for an infinite-power Grimgrin (plus Shizo, Death's Storehouse to give him fear). This will also generate an infinite storm count, allowing for a win with either Brain Freeze , Bitter Ordeal or Tendrils of Agony. Altar of the Brood can also be used for infinite mill. Relentless Dead does not work with this combo, since you need the mana from Phyrexian Altar to pay for its trigger.
2. Gravecrawler + Phyrexian Altar (or Rooftop Storm and a free sac outlet) + Altar of the Brood for infinite mill.
3. Gravecrawler + Phyrexian Altar (or Rooftop Storm and a free sac outlet) + Diregraf Captain or Bontu's Monument for infinite life loss.
4. Gravecrawler + Phyrexian Altar (or Rooftop Storm and a free sac outlet) + Diregraf Colossus for infinite (tapped) Zombie tokens.
5. Gravecrawler + Phyrexian Altar (or Rooftop Storm and a free sac outlet) + any other Zombie + Grave Pact to make all opponents sacrifice all their creatures.
6. Gravecrawler + Phyrexian Altar (or Rooftop Storm and a free sac outlet) + Noxious Ghoul to wipe all non-Zombies from the board.
7. Gravecrawler + Rooftop Storm + Phyrexian Altar + Pontiff of Blight for infinite extort triggers (sac Gravecrawler to Altar for one black mana, recast Gravecrawler for free, use mana for extort, repeat infinitely). Relentless Dead does not work with this combo, since you need the mana from Phyrexian Altar to pay for its trigger.

B) Ashnod's Altar Combos

1. Ashnod's Altar + Nim Deathmantle + Grave Titan for infinite Zombie tokens (sac the Titan and a Zombie, pay the 4 floated colorless mana to bring the Titan back with two more Zombies, repeat infinitely, netting a Zombie every time). The Zombies can then be sacrificed to the Altar for infinite colorless mana.
2. Ashnod's Altar + Nim Deathmantle + Geralf's Messenger or Geralf's Mindcrusher for infinite life loss or mill (sac Messenger/Mindcrusher for 2 mana, undying triggers and brings the creature back, sac again for 2 more colorless mana, pay the 4 floated colorless mana, repeat infinitely). Altar/Deathmantle can also be used with Mikaeus, the Unhallowed in play and any other non-Human creature with an ETB effect to repeat that effect infinitely.
3. Ashnod's Altar + Rooftop Storm + Havengul Lich + any Zombie for infinite colorless mana (play a Zombie for free, sac to Altar for 2 colorless mana, use 1 to activate Lich, recast Zombie for free, repeat infinitely and net 1 colorless mana each time).
4. Ashnod's Altar + Rooftop Storm + Havengul Lich + Geralf's Messenger or Gray Merchant of Asphodel for infinite life loss (cast Messenger/Merchant for free, sac to Altar for 2 colorless mana, use 1 to activate Lich, recast Messenger/Merchant for free, repeat for infinite life loss).
5. Ashnod's Altar + Rooftop Storm + Havengul Lich + Geralf's Mindcrusher for infinite mill (cast Mindcrusher for free, sac to Altar for 2 colorless mana, use 1 to activate Lich, recast Mindcrusher for free, repeat for infinite mill).
6. Ashnod's Altar + Rooftop Storm + Havengul Lich + Grave Defiler to draw every Zombie in your deck and get infinite colorless mana (play Defiler for free, sac to Altar for 2 colorless mana, use 1 to activate Lich, recast Defiler for free, repeat infinitely).
7. Ashnod's Altar + Rooftop Storm + Havengul Lich + Gravedigger to return all creatures from graveyard to hand (cast Gravedigger for free, sac to Altar for 2 colorless mana, use 1 to activate Lich, recast Gravedigger for free, repeat infinitely).

C) Dreamborn Memory Wipe

Dreamborn Muse + Price of Knowledge + Prosperity or Jace, Memory Adept's -7 to mill everyone (including yourself) and drain opponents life upon each upkeep. The look on everyone's face when you tell them "Good news, bad news. You're gonna draw 20 cards, but after I cast Price of Knowledge and/or Dreamborn Muse" is quite amusing

Date added	7 years
Last updated	5 years
Exclude colors	WRG
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	9 - 1 Mythic Rares 46 - 1 Rares 23 - 1 Uncommons 12 - 1 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	3.89
Tokens	Copy Clone, Emblem Liliana, the Last Hope, Human Cleric 1/1 BW, Zombie 2/2 B, Zombie Knight 2/2 B, Zombie Wizard 1/1 UB
Folders	EDH, Copys