Beatle juice...beatle juice...BEATLE JUICE!!! Scarab God tribal zombie, drain build here, with a focus on discard / wheel / mill benefits. Get your zombie lords out, start pumping out tokens, and then start filling your opponent's graveyards with creature fodder for the Scarab God as you drain your opponents life total and turn them into bug juice. In my breakdown, I have separated all cards into strategic categories and make any special mentions / more notable cards below each individual grouping. Any feedback is appreciated.

Commander (1): The Scarab God

Our fearless Beatle leader in all his insect glory. Per usual, we are almost always trying to get him out on turn 5 at latest. Once he is on the board, we use our rapidly amassing zombie creature and token army to drain our opponents, while we scry our deck to draw exactly what we need. Make sure not to be blinded by your hand and remember that many times utilizing the Scarab God's exile and zombie copy ability for 4 mana, each turn when possible, can be much more valuable then playing a card from hand. Nothing is more fun in this deck then stealing your opponents discarded Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger etc. and not only exiling it for good, but putting its glorious zombie 4/4 copy counterpart onto the battlefield to start hitting them for 20 exiled cards each turn.

Zombie Lords (7): 1x Cemetery Reaper - 1x Death Baron - 1x Diregraf Captain - 1x Gleaming Overseer - 1x Lord of the Accursed - 1x Lord of the Undead - 1x Undead Warchief

Standard buff all your zombie's P/T synergy Lords. Diregraf Captain plays well into the decks life drain strategy, while Gleaming Overseer's ability to give your zombie tokens menace can be quite powerful as you continue to pump them out.

Tokens (11): 1x Cryptbreaker - 1x Diregraf Colossus - 1x Ghoulcaller Gisa - 1x Grave Titan - 1x Josu Vess, Ich Knight - 1x Liliana's Reaver - 1x Noosegraf Mob - 1x Army of the Damned - 1x Dread Summons - 1x Endless Ranks of the Dead - 1x Necromancer's Stockpile

Create zombie tokens to pester your enemy or chump block with as Scarab God drains your opponents for more and more life each turn. Keep going between replacing Army of the Damned for something much more mana friendly, but it's so much fun if you ever get it off that it is staying for now...this is probably a mistake though. Personally, I just really like haymakers even when its rare they land... Necromancer's Stockpile and Cryptbreaker both work great into our discard strategy if we have some other pieces like Bone Miser in place, as well as giving us access to some card draw when needed.

Tutors (2): 1x Corpse Connoisseur - 1x Sidisi, Undead Vizier

Find some cards in a pinch and use them for whatever situation you are in. Corpse Connoisseur is great at finding a card like Wonder and placing it directly into our graveyard to give all our zombies flying, a great evasion buff that should not be underestimated. Sidisi, Undead Vizier almost always has a zombie creature or token fodder to exploit for the tutor ability and her 4/6 deathtouch body comes in handy.

Drain (4): 1x Lich Lord of Unx - 1x Plague Belcher - 1x Shepherd of Rot - 1x Vengeful Dead -

The main win condition in this deck is still draining the opponents life total. You'll often be quite surprised how a few turns after Scarab God's entrance you find all your opponents well below 20 life. All of these zombie creatures do additional damage to your opponents as zombies die, etc. and are a great addition to the deck. Lich Lord of Unx is great because not only does he drain your opponents, but he can mill them for more Scarab God fodder and also create more zombie tokens when needed. Plague Belcher has gone in and out of the deck, but I find there is always a zombie token to sacrifice as his additional ETB cost and the power of a early game 5/4 menace who is normally buffed AND helps drain, cannot be ignored. Shepherd of Rot is the star here, but be careful that you have more life than your opponents to not drain yourself to death as well! Great out of nowhere finisher when all life totals are low and you are slightly ahead of the pack and also a great suicide / draw game ender when needed.

Discard (9): 1x Bone Miser - 1x Forgotten Creation - 1x Siren of the Silent Song - 1x Undead Alchemist - 1x Altar of the Brood - 1x Altar of Dementia - 1x Geth's Grimoire - 1x Mesmeric Orb - 1x Waste Not

Discard is a major part of this deck as well. With cards like Bone Miser + Waste Not and Geth's Grimoire + Mesmeric Orb we can ensure that whenever our opponents or ourselves discard that we are getting maximum benefit from it. The discard is also important to get our opponents putting powerful creatures into their graveyard that we can steal with Scarab God when convenient. Another great combination in the deck is Altar of the Brood + Undead Alchemist With these two out, its not rare to get into a nice loop of zombies milling your opponent again and again, all while creating more and more zombie tokens for yourself. Altar of Dementia fits quite nicely with those two as well and is a great sac mill outlet when called for.

Wheel (3): 1x Dark Deal - 1x Whispering Madness - 1x Windfall

Specific wheels in the discard strategy. If you can cipher Whispering Madness onto a hard to block creature and your off to the discard / card draw races.

Special Ability Creatures (7): 1x Consuming Aberration - 1x Geth, Lord of the Vault - 1x Gravecrawler - 1x Gray Merchant of Asphodel - 1x Mikaeus, the Unhallowed - 1x Relentless Dead - 1x Wonder -

All of these creatures have some great abilities. Wonder is a "wonderful" way to give your zombies flying Relentless Dead and Gravecrawler's graveyard recursion abilities have shenanigans written all over them, especially when paired with our discard buffs and life drain effects. Gray Merchant of Asphodel you really can't go wrong with considered his clout and power, but out of all of these is probably the first one I would lose because with this build I often have more tokens than devotion out the field. Geth, Lord of the Vault is just plain fun and useful not only for stealing creatures, but opponents artifacts from the grave as well. Mikaeus, the Unhallowed speaks for himself, give all your zombies undying and watch the chaos as the bugs scurry around you. Consuming Aberration adds a surprise powerhouse that grows larger and stronger with each card you force your opponent to discard.

Planeswalker (1): 1x Liliana, Dreadhorde General

I shy away from planeswalkers, but I think its about time we all admit how powerful they are. Even if they are targeted right away, you get some bonus or instant powerful effect, AND at the least, the very least, opponents are distracted more by your planeswalker for a cycle then they are with your life total. This is much more valuable then many people realize I feel. I have gone between running Liliana, Dreadhorde General with Liliana, Death's Majesty Liliana, Untouched By Death Liliana, Heretical Healer   and looked at the new Liliana, Waker of the Deadas well. So far, Dreadhorde has been the most effective it seems, by bringing in the card draw ability WITH token creation AND a dual edged creature sacrifice removal outlet.

Deck Abilities (6): 1x Cryptic Gateway - 1x Graf Harvest - 1x Paradox Haze - 1x Rooftop Storm - 1x Training Grounds - 1x Vanquisher's Banner

Various effects that help get our zombies into play at low to no cost. Cryptic Gateway lets us tap any two zombies (including tokens) to put another zombie card onto the battlefield for free. Rooftop Storm the ultimate free zombie card is a must, while Training Grounds reduces Scarab God's exile and zombie copy activation fee and Paradox Haze doubles our upkeep step to drain our opponents life twice each turn. Add a Lord buff and card draw from Vanquisher's Banner and give all our zombies menace with the inexpensive Graf Harvest and our deck is on it's way to squish the competition before us.

Removal / Mill (4): 1x Countersquall - 1x Hero's Downfall - 1x Mind Grind - 1x Psychic Drain

Every deck needs some spot removal or counters. I run Hero's Downfall as my meta is often Planeswalker heavy, but insert whatever Doom Blade you like here instead. Mind Grind + Psychic Drain continue to fill our opponents graveyards, while in the case of Psychic Drain also giving us an injection of life gain if needed later game.

Board Wipes / Return (4): 1x Damnation - 1x Kindred Dominance - 1x Necromantic Selection - 1x Zombie Apocalypse

Three board wipes...can't beat the classic Damnation for 4 mana in a pinch. One sided board wipes like Kindred Dominance can end the game quickly, while Necromantic Selection offers some unique post board wipe recursion. This card is especially effective after the new commander death trigger rules change. Now, you can steal your opponents most powerful destroyed commander of choice and return them to the battlefield as a raging black bug beatle zombie under your own control, all before your opponent has the option to return them to their own command zone. Although not a board wipe, Zombie Apocalypse is another haymaker that can return all your powerful zombies resting in the graveyard back to the battlefield and when executed properly can also be a powerful finisher.

Ramp (3): 1x Dimir Signet - 1x Sol Ring - 1x Talisman of Dominance

The least amount of ramp I have put in a deck in a long time. Also, first one in a long time without a mana crypt, etc. If you want to optimize this with powerful and expensive ramp cards like that the deck is your oyster. I'm not quite sure why I ended up with such little ramp, minor things like bumping my lands from originally 36 to 38 made me lose a little, and there are so many good zombie creature buffs that I left the ramp quite low. Have toyed with adding Black Market or even possibly something like Revel in Riches So far, have not had any mana quandaries except when playing one @$$ who threw down a Choke

Lands (38): Not going to re-list lands, as they are all the same above, but a few quick honorable mentions...Duskmantle, House of Shadow + Nephalia Drownyard is quite useful in a pinch if you need to mill yourself or others High Market is a great sac outlet for any Gravecrawler loops etc.

Sideboard:

Cards listed here were all recently in the deck and removed, or have been in the maybe / back and forth pile of my deck building tray for a good while. Appreciate any comments on other ideas or cards here you think should have made the cut.

Stitcher Geralf Perfect for the discard strategy? He creates zombies, but has to exile cards to do so, including our own... Fallen Shinobi So much fun and powerful if it hits...IF it hits...however a 5/4 zombie body can't be ignored... Risen Executioner Ive had great success, putting EVERY zombie lord in the deck, probably to my ramp's sadness, this was the one who got the cut for not being able to block... Tomebound Lich Cheap, inexpensive death touch, lifelink and discard / draw card ability... Gempalm Polluter Hit em' out of nowhere for a massive second life drain on your turn and end them quick... Evil Twin Not a zombie, but god I love this card, great to destroy threats as well as copy them. Havengul Lich Powerful zombie, but his effect I feel isn't the best with our synergies here for cost. Overseer of the Damned destroy creatures and create zombie tokens, but a demon not a zombie... Notion Thief Be really, really evil to the guy who swung at you first when you wheel and then play this... Liliana's Mastery Buff your zombies and get two tokens...pricey but nice as non-creature Coat of Arms Crazy good, huge zombies, but about when your buddy is playing his goblins... From Under the Floorboards the madness works well with our discard synergy and if you can pull off the large token creation it may be very well worth it... Wound Reflection Hardest card to take out, maybe should go back, drain your opponents again...

Well! Thanks again folks. Please let me know what you think about the deck and strategy! All hail the BEATLE GOD OF DOOM!!!

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98% Casual

Competitive

Date added 3 years
Last updated 3 years
Key combos
Legality

This deck is Commander / EDH legal.

Rarity (main - side)

8 - 0 Mythic Rares

47 - 0 Rares

19 - 0 Uncommons

6 - 0 Commons

Cards 100
Avg. CMC 3.63
Tokens Copy Clone, Zombie 2/2 B, Zombie Army 0/0 B, Zombie Knight 2/2 B, Zombie Wizard 1/1 UB
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