[EDH] Scarab God Advice

[SirHerpaderp]

Hey Guys, I would like to include 1) an Icon of Ancestry and 2) a Caged Sun in my Deck and would like to get some objective views on a) what you think of those adds and b) which cards to cut? I am tending towards Dark Salvation and Dread Summons atm. Apart from that i still need some room for more removal i believe, but cannot decide on what to cut here too and which removal it should be. Thanks in advance

https://deckstats.net/decks/112347/1227232-scarab-god-zombie-edh/de

[CleanBelwas]

Man that's a great list! I run a Scarab God too, but it's super budget by comparison. Love him as a commander though.

Personally I would look to cut Graf Harvest. It would depend on your strategy, but personally I think Scarab God's zombies don't need to do all that much swinging. His drain and scry effects do enough work. Lord of the Accursed can give you the same effect, and if you're going to pay 4 mana to exile a creature from your graveyard and make a Zombie, you're going to want to use the Scarab God's ability rather than that of Graf Harvest.

I think fundamentally though it would depend on your strategy. Are you looking more at a horde, "more zombies = more good", flood the board kind of thing or more of a control, let the Scarab god do the work kind of thing?

For the first, I'd keep Dark Salvation and git rid of Dread summons, for the latter I'd do the opposite. A huge thing with the Scarab God is that he can target opponent's graveyards, so if you just want him on board to dominate then dread summons is great at providing options for his reanimation. If it's more about making a lot of Zombies and Scarab God's upkeep trigger is too delicious to ignore, then Dark Salvation is the better keep for me.

[Judaspriester]

About your question, I agree with cleanbelwas.

But I've also noticed another thing: If you add Phyrexian Altar, you could produce endless ETB triggers with Gravecrawler. With cards like Diregraf Captain you could finish off the table then. I'm not sure this really fits into your deck, but its something you may think about.

[SirHerpaderp]

Man that's a great list! I run a Scarab God too, but it's super budget by comparison. Love him as a commander though.

Personally I would look to cut Graf Harvest. It would depend on your strategy, but personally I think Scarab God's zombies don't need to do all that much swinging. His drain and scry effects do enough work. Lord of the Accursed can give you the same effect, and if you're going to pay 4 mana to exile a creature from your graveyard and make a Zombie, you're going to want to use the Scarab God's ability rather than that of Graf Harvest.

I think fundamentally though it would depend on your strategy. Are you looking more at a horde, "more zombies = more good", flood the board kind of thing or more of a control, let the Scarab god do the work kind of thing?

For the first, I'd keep Dark Salvation and git rid of Dread summons, for the latter I'd do the opposite. A huge thing with the Scarab God is that he can target opponent's graveyards, so if you just want him on board to dominate then dread summons is great at providing options for his reanimation. If it's more about making a lot of Zombies and Scarab God's upkeep trigger is too delicious to ignore, then Dark Salvation is the better keep for me.

Thank you for the commendation Cleanbelwas! Overall my main strategy i focussed on while building this has always been his first ability tho I think Graf Harvest is a card that can be cut without hesitation, you are completly right here:) I personally play a mix of beatdown and The Scarab God 's first ability, but i kinda like to have the option to get back some "goodstuff" from my or even my opponent's yards. The Problem I had with Dread Summons is that you have to dump a lot of mana into it and are not guaranteed to hit anything that gives you advantage or helps you win and it feels really bad to dump 10 mana into it to hit 2 creatures. It's kinda hit or miss here. Dark Salvation is also pretty expensive in terms of a tokengenerator and since its only sorcery speed not the best in terms of removal, tho it can be good presumed you have enough mana dump into.

About your question, I agree with cleanbelwas.

But I've also noticed another thing: If you add Phyrexian Altar, you could produce endless ETB triggers with Gravecrawler. With cards like Diregraf Captain you could finish off the table then. I'm not sure this really fits into your deck, but its something you may think about.

I have already played with the Phyrexian Altar while it was a Gisa and Geralf Deck back in the days, but since i run nearly no tutors and i have no other real synergy with the altar i cut it, since it was a very clunky manarock most of the time. I was aware of the Combo with Gravecrawler and Diregraf Colossus oder Diregraf Captain, but it felt rather unlikely to assemble this frequently.

[SirHerpaderp]

Revision 22

Added/removed cards:
+1 Emergence Zone

Changed amounts:
-1 Swamp

[Judaspriester]

If you want to make an advantage of items in your opponent's graveyards, Dimir Doppelganger could come handy.

About the Altar combo, well, I thought it was worth mentioning it. but if you already tried and cut it, its fine.

[SirHerpaderp]

Revision 23

Added/removed cards:
+1 Caged Sun
+1 Icon of Ancestry
+1 Reality Shift

Changed amounts:
-1 (Main) +1 (SB) Dark Salvation
-1 (Main) +1 (SB) Dread Summons
-1 (Main) +1 (SB) Graf Harvest

[CleanBelwas]

Just thought of another suggestion that might interest you. Swapping out Kindred Discovery for Vanquisher's Banner. The banner does the same thing but also has a lord effect stapled on, which is especially nice with 2/2 zombie tokens (my Scarab God is a little more control with more of a focus on removal and mill to fill up graveyards. I run an Awaken the Erstwhile which feels real good with a lord effect or two where everyone has zombies, but mine are bigger).

Obviously it's an artifact which tends to be easier to remove so it might not be the right choice for your meta, though in those rare instances that happen in magic when your first mana isn't an even reflection of your colours this can be an upside too.

Just thought I'd mention it in case the card wasn't on your radar as it seems like a potential easy swap out if you don't experience too much artifact hate.

[Judaspriester]

Just thought of another suggestion that might interest you. Swapping out Kindred Discovery for Vanquisher's Banner. The banner does the same thing but also has a lord effect stapled on, which is especially nice with 2/2 zombie tokens (my Scarab God is a little more control with more of a focus on removal and mill to fill up graveyards. I run an Awaken the Erstwhile which feels real good with a lord effect or two where everyone has zombies, but mine are bigger).

Obviously it's an artifact which tends to be easier to remove so it might not be the right choice for your meta, though in those rare instances that happen in magic when your first mana isn't an even reflection of your colours this can be an upside too.

Just thought I'd mention it in case the card wasn't on your radar as it seems like a potential easy swap out if you don't experience too much artifact hate.

Err.. they don't do the same thing. Kindred Discovery offers a card draw on EtB AND attack. It depends a little on the meta and the gameplan, but all in all the Discovery is way stronger than the Banner.

[CleanBelwas]

Just thought of another suggestion that might interest you. Swapping out Kindred Discovery for Vanquisher's Banner. The banner does the same thing but also has a lord effect stapled on, which is especially nice with 2/2 zombie tokens (my Scarab God is a little more control with more of a focus on removal and mill to fill up graveyards. I run an Awaken the Erstwhile which feels real good with a lord effect or two where everyone has zombies, but mine are bigger).

Obviously it's an artifact which tends to be easier to remove so it might not be the right choice for your meta, though in those rare instances that happen in magic when your first mana isn't an even reflection of your colours this can be an upside too.

Just thought I'd mention it in case the card wasn't on your radar as it seems like a potential easy swap out if you don't experience too much artifact hate.

Err.. they don't do the same thing. Kindred Discovery offers a card draw on EtB AND attack. It depends a little on the meta and the gameplan, but all in all the Discovery is way stronger than the Banner.

My mistake. Turn's out I've misread that card the whole time. Thanks for pointing it out. That card is super good.

[Marshstepper78]

In this context, I believe Kindred Discovery is better as well.

I recently took Kindred Discovery out of my Naban, Dean of Iteration deck in favour of Vanquisher's Banner. I don't regret it as wizards can always use an anthem effect and Naban is a Panharmonicon for wizards so I get to draw 2 cards per wizard etb with the Banner out. I have a lot of other card draw in the deck so the draw-on-attack component is less enticing.

[CleanBelwas]

In this context, I believe Kindred Discovery is better as well.

I recently took Kindred Discovery out of my Naban, Dean of Iteration deck in favour of Vanquisher's Banner. I don't regret it as wizards can always use an anthem effect and Naban is a Panharmonicon for wizards so I get to draw 2 cards per wizard etb with the Banner out. I have a lot of other card draw in the deck so the draw-on-attack component is less enticing.

Yea I'm completely with you. For this deck, Kindred Discovery is no doubt better, I just mis-read it. Vanquisher's Banners is still good, and has it's place in certain decks, but Kindred no doubt wins in this instance.

[SirHerpaderp]

Revision 24

Added/removed cards:
+1 Nexus of Fate

Changed amounts:
-1 (Main) +1 (SB) Noosegraf Mob

[SirHerpaderp]

Just thought of another suggestion that might interest you. Swapping out Kindred Discovery for Vanquisher's Banner. The banner does the same thing but also has a lord effect stapled on, which is especially nice with 2/2 zombie tokens (my Scarab God is a little more control with more of a focus on removal and mill to fill up graveyards. I run an Awaken the Erstwhile which feels real good with a lord effect or two where everyone has zombies, but mine are bigger).

Obviously it's an artifact which tends to be easier to remove so it might not be the right choice for your meta, though in those rare instances that happen in magic when your first mana isn't an even reflection of your colours this can be an upside too.

Just thought I'd mention it in case the card wasn't on your radar as it seems like a potential easy swap out if you don't experience too much artifact hate.

In this context, I believe Kindred Discovery is better as well.

I recently took Kindred Discovery out of my Naban, Dean of Iteration deck in favour of Vanquisher's Banner. I don't regret it as wizards can always use an anthem effect and Naban is a Panharmonicon for wizards so I get to draw 2 cards per wizard etb with the Banner out. I have a lot of other card draw in the deck so the draw-on-attack component is less enticing.

I've actually played with the banner when it was a Gisa and Geralf deck (and since it's way cheaper than Kindred Discovery), but with the God at the helm, you don't only cast zombies but make them enter the battlefield as tokens with his ability way more often. Since the banner only lets you draw on cast and the discovery lets you draw on EtB it's way more powerful in this deck (+ i already got a lot of anthem effects with 9 anthem effects included )