Ticks and Leeches

Commander / EDH Discard Infinite Combo Mill Reanimator UB (Dimir) Zombie

Azdranax

Creature (23)

• 1x Baleful Strix
• 1x Bane of Bala Ged
• 1x Clever Impersonator
• 1x Diluvian Primordial
• 1x Duskmantle Guildmage
• 1x Fleet Swallower
• 1x Geth, Lord of the Vault
• 1x Ghoulcaller Gisa
• 1x Grave Titan
• 1x Gray Merchant of Asphodel
• 1x It That Betrays
• 1x Jace's Archivist
• 1x Mindslicer
• 1x Noosegraf Mob
• 1x Pathrazer of Ulamog
• 1x Phenax, God of Deception
• 1x Phyrexian Metamorph
• 1x Razaketh, the Foulblooded
• 1x Sheoldred, Whispering One
• 1x Sidisi, Undead Vizier
• 1x Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger
• 1x Vengeful Pharaoh
• 1x Void Winnower

Artifact (10)

• 1x Dimir Signet
• 1x Illusionist's Bracers
• 1x Lightning Greaves
• 1x Mana Crypt
• 1x Mesmeric Orb
• 1x Mindcrank
• 1x Rings of Brighthearth
• 1x Sensei's Divining Top
• 1x Sol Ring
• 1x Thought Vessel

Sorcery (17)

• 1x Buried Alive
• 1x Careful Study
• 1x Compulsive Research
• 1x Damnation
• 1x Demonic Tutor
• 1x Dread Return
• 1x Extract from Darkness
• 1x Imperial Seal
• 1x Mind Grind
• 1x Probe
• 1x Reanimate
• 1x Torment of Hailfire
• 1x Toxic Deluge
• 1x Traumatize
• 1x Whispering Madness
• 1x Windfall
• 1x Yawgmoth's Will

Instant (12)

• 1x Cabal Ritual
• 1x Careful Consideration
• 1x Cyclonic Rift
• 1x Dark Ritual
• 1x Dream Salvage
• 1x Frantic Search
• 1x Lim-Dul's Vault
• 1x Mana Drain
• 1x Mystical Tutor
• 1x Songs of the Damned
• 1x Thirst for Knowledge
• 1x Vampiric Tutor

Commander (1)

Land (33)

• 1x Academy Ruins
• 1x Cabal Coffers
• 1x Cephalid Coliseum
• 1x Command Tower
• 1x Drowned Catacomb
• 7x Island
• 1x Misty Rainforest
• 1x Morphic Pool
• 1x Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
• 1x Polluted Delta
• 1x Sunken Ruins
• 13x Swamp
• 1x Underground Sea
• 1x Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
• 1x Watery Grave

Enchantment (4)

• 1x Arcane Adaptation
• 1x Chains of Mephistopheles
• 1x Training Grounds
• 1x Waste Not

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Is this what you wanted? Is this what you had in mind?

The Scarab God is definitely one of my favorite legendary creatures in quite some time, as Dimir is by far my favorite color combination, reanimator is my favorite play mechanic, and library manipulation and life drain are just the icing on the cake. The minute I saw this card was being printed, I knew I was building some version of a commander deck with him at the helm. Initially, I started down the path of zombie tribal, but the more I considered the best synergy for a deck designed to abuse my own cards, the more I realized tribal wasn't what I was looking for in this build. As I focused on building around draw, mill, discard and destructive options, the current iteration finally started to become clear.

While the deck isn't cEDH material by any means, it is a deck designed to absolute crush your opponents with a few key cards, that become incredibly oppressive once they hit the board. I've spent the last few years trying to design a deck with Chains of Mephistopheles as a major component, and this deck finally helps it reach its maximum potential. Coupled with Waste Not and the many draw spells and wheel-like effects, it can easily become a lock out for opponents hands and draw spells. Meanwhile, we can easily reanimate our creatures from the graveyard, and increase the oppression of their board state even further by swinging with any creatures with annihilator.

A key combo in the deck is Mindcrank and Duskmantle Guildmage, as with The Scarab God in play with just one zombie (or even just solo with Arcane Adaptation in play), all it takes is an activation of ability 1 of the guildmage at the beginning of your upkeep, and it's game over for your opponents unless they have an instant response to the combo. With so much drawing, scrying, several tutors and additional recursion/reanimate options available in the deck, the ability to find this combo is pretty strong, which is going to win you plenty of games.

Even without this combo option, the deck is quite viable, and can find options to deal lethal damage or severely restrict your opponents ability to play in several other ways. Torment of Hailfire, Mind Grind, Traumatize, Mindslicer, It That Betrays, Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger, Ghoulcaller Gisa, Geth, Lord of the Vault, Diluvian Primordial and Fleet Swallower all have the ability to be major bombs against your opponents in the right situations. The key is to start filling graveyards as quickly as possible to maximize the value of your reanimate/recursion spells and abilities. Ultimately, the fastest wins will be via the lockouts and combos noted, but just like with real ticks and leeches, the cumulative effect will result in the same - fat little parasites and exsanguinated opponents.

Is this what you wanted? Cause this is what you're getting.

Top Ranked	Achieved #14 position overall 6 years ago
Date added	6 years
Last updated	5 years
Exclude colors	WRG
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	16 - 0 Mythic Rares 38 - 0 Rares 18 - 0 Uncommons 8 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	3.61
Tokens	Copy Clone, Zombie 2/2 B
Folders	Other people's EDH decks, Decks, Interesting Commander Decks, EDH, EDH Decks By Others, Mill Decks, Cool Concepts, i lik e it, Black EDH, edh