Wilhelt, Grave Defiler

Commander / EDH Reanimator UB (Dimir) Zombie

MegaMatt13

Creature (32)

• 1x Cemetery Reaper
• 1x Cryptbreaker
• 1x Death Baron
• 1x Diregraf Captain
• 1x Diregraf Colossus
• 1x Fell Stinger
• 1x Fleshbag Marauder
• 1x Gisa and Geralf
• 1x Gleaming Overseer
• 1x Gravecrawler
• 1x Gray Merchant of Asphodel
• 1x Grimgrin, Corpse-Born
• 1x Headless Rider
• 1x Hordewing Skaab
• 1x Liliana's Standard Bearer
• 1x Lord of the Accursed
• 1x Loyal Subordinate
• 1x Master of Death
• 1x Midnight Reaper
• 1x Mikaeus, the Unhallowed
• 1x Noosegraf Mob
• 1x Noxious Ghoul
• 1x Phyrexian Delver
• 1x Plague Belcher
• 1x Relentless Dead
• 1x Sidisi, Undead Vizier
• 1x The Scarab God
• 1x Tomebound Lich
• 1x Undead Augur
• 1x Undead Warchief
• 1x Vengeful Dead
• 1x Vile Entomber

Land (35)

• 1x Cabal Coffers
• 1x Clearwater Pathway  ^Flip
• 1x Command Tower
• 1x Drowned Catacomb
• 1x Fetid Pools
• 8x Island
• 1x Myriad Landscape
• 1x Shipwreck Marsh
• 1x Sunken Hollow
• 13x Swamp
• 1x Tainted Isle
• 1x Temple of Deceit
• 1x Temple of the False God
• 1x Underground River
• 1x Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
• 1x Watery Grave

Artifact (10)

• 1x Arcane Signet
• 1x Crowded Crypt
• 1x Dimir Signet
• 1x Expedition Map
• 1x Herald's Horn
• 1x Mind Stone
• 1x Skullclamp
• 1x Sol Ring
• 1x Talisman of Dominance
• 1x Wayfarer's Bauble

Enchantment (4)

• 1x Animate Dead
• 1x Endless Ranks of the Dead
• 1x Necroduality
• 1x Rooftop Storm

Commander (1)

Sorcery (10)

• 1x Buried Alive
• 1x Damnation
• 1x Empty the Laboratory
• 1x Feed the Swarm
• 1x Ghouls' Night Out
• 1x Kindred Dominance
• 1x Living Death
• 1x Patriarch's Bidding
• 1x Victimize
• 1x Zombie Apocalypse

Instant (7)

• 1x Countersquall
• 1x Infernal Grasp
• 1x Pongify
• 1x Rapid Hybridization
• 1x Resculpt
• 1x Swan Song
• 1x Village Rites

Planeswalker (1)

• 1x Liliana, Death's Majesty

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Maybeboard

Enchantment (1)

• 1x Liliana's Mastery

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The Scarab God raids graveyards to create a host of zombies! The decks attempts to either go wide with a massive zombie army or drain people out with The Scarab God and other zombie life drainers.

Zombie Horde

Grave Titan, Noosegraf Mob, Lich Lord of Unx, Josu Vess, Lich Knight, Liliana's Mastery, Dark Salvation, Diregraf Colossus Overseer of the Damned, Cryptbreaker and Liliana, Death's Majesty can all create zombie tokens.

Diregraf Captain, Plague Belcher, Vengeful Dead, Lich Lord of Unx, Loyal Subordinate, Gray Merchant of Asphodel and Shepherd of Rot are all life-draining zombies.

Liliana's Mastery, Undead Warchief, Mikaeus, the Unhallowed, Lord of the Accursed, and Death Baron all pump our zombies.

Cryptbreaker, Midnight Reaper, and Graveborn Muse are card drawing zombies.

Carrion Feeder and Grimgrin, Corpse-Born are zombie sac outlets for when we are trying to drain out opponents.

Havengul Lich, Phyrexian Delver, Relentless Dead and Gravecrawler act as zombie recursion.

Corpse Connoisseur and Sidisi, Undead Vizier are tutoring zombies.

Fleshbag Marauder, Grimgrin, Corpse-Born and Overseer of the Damned are removal zombies.

Controlling the Board

Our God had control issues. He likes to be in charge of who is allowed to live on the battlefield. This is done through boardwipes, zombies with ETB kill effects, counterspells, and instant-speed kill spells. It can take a while to build up a critical mass of zombies to drain opponents out and removal helps protect our God while he summons his army.

Boardwipes

Kindred Dominance: Expensive but acts as a one-sided boardwipe.

Necromantic Selection: Allows us to reanimate the best creature on the board as a zombie.

Damnation + Toxic Deluge: Cheap boardwipes.

Living Death: Mass edict effect that also reanimates our zombie horde.

ETB Kill Creatures

Fleshbag Marauder: Gets around hexproof and indestructible creatures.

Overseer of the Damned: Expensive but produces zombies as well as killing any threat.

Go for the Throat and Feed the Swarm: Efficiently costed instant-speed removal.

Counterspells

Unwind: Allows us to hold up mana for both countering a spell and activating Scarab God.

Arcane Denial: Probably the least annoying counterspell as it gives the spell caster a bit of card advantage. Also helps to negate our own card disadvantage by replacing itself with another card.

Swan Song: Dirt cheap counterspell that allows us to still have enough mana to Eternalize.

Countersquall: Another cheap counterspell that also drains an opponent which is on theme with the deck.

Filling our Grave

The most efficient way to fill graveyards for our God is to mill ourselves and opponents. The following cards help us achieve this:

Mesmeric Orb: Fills up everyone's graveyard very quickly for reanimation.

Gisa and Geralf: Mills and then allows us to cast zombies from our grave.

Buried Alive and Corpse Connoisseur: Throws our best zombies into the grave.

Compulsive Research, Thirst for Knowledge, Monastery Siege, Thirst for Meaning, and Frantic Search: Blue draw spells that also help us throw creatures into the grave for us.

Stitcher's Supplier: Self-mills and then self-mills some more when he dies!

Tomebound Lich: Looting zombie.

Draining Opponents

As well as alpha striking with his Zombies, the Scarab God can drain opponents out for the win. His own life drain ability, but other zombies can help speed up the process.

Plague Belcher, Diregraf Captain, and Vengeful Dead all drain opponents when our zombies die.

Lich Lord of Unx allows us to dump our mana into a life-draining ability.

Carrion Feeder and Grimgrin, Corpse-Born provide sacrifice outlets to trigger the life draining zombies listed above.

Mikaeus, the Unhallowed is another enabler allowing us to sacrifice our zombies a second time due to the undying ability bringing them back.

Gray Merchant of Asphodel is an obvious life drain choice for the deck.

Top Ranked	Achieved #10 position overall 7 years ago Achieved #1 position in Commander / EDH Reanimator 4 years ago Achieved #1 position in Commander / EDH UB (Dimir) 4 years ago Achieved #1 position in Commander / EDH Zombie 4 years ago
Date added	8 years
Last updated	2 years
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	9 - 0 Mythic Rares 33 - 0 Rares 27 - 0 Uncommons 10 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	3.22
Tokens	Ape 3/3 G, Bird 2/2 U, Copy Clone, Elemental 4/4 UR, Frog Lizard 3/3 G, Zombie 2/2 B, Zombie 2/2 B w/ Decayed, Zombie Army 0/0 B
Folders	Miscellaneous/Utility, Decks, EDH to build, EDH, EDH (Sac), Decks to Play, Compare to.... , Cool decks, Good black decks, Inspiration / Reference EDH