I can't beleive it! (Corpse Dance)
Commander (EDH) forum
Posted on Nov. 22, 2015, 5:52 a.m. by kengiczar
So I just found Corpse Dance on the gatherer and was blown away that such a powerful card is legal in EDH. I mean...I have never, ever seen anybody play this at my LGS and I must have played over 500 commander games in the last 4 years.
Have any of you ever seen somebody abuse this card? With a Viscera Seer or Goblin Bombardment it wouldn't be hard to start bringing back something ridiculous like Sheoldred, Whispering One, Avenger of Zendikar or with some finagling Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre back.
Here's what I'm thinking:
T3 play Viscera Seer + Bombardment
T4 pitch Avenger then Sheoldred in that order.
T5 opponent plays whatever
T5 opponents end step cast Corpse Dance at end of turn
T6 Upkeep return Avenger + Attack with Sheoldred and sac Sheoldred to either Bombardment or seer
T6 during end step cast Corpse Dance returning Sheoldred
T7 Opponet sacs to Sheoldred, I sac sheoldred after.
T6 Untap, can't cast Corpse Dance but who cares you should be winning now.
Karns_Pyromancer says... #3
I've seen it before, but never in a deck. People prefer to run Animate Dead because it's cheaper.
I do like Corpse Dance, but I think it's more useful with Sundial of the Infinite. Panoptic Mirror or Elite Arcanist could also be interesting with it.
November 22, 2015 9 a.m.
It seems ok I guess, however there are more solid cards that give similar effects. And what's more, in the example you list, that's a lot of cards involved. For that kind of investment, you'd be much better of running some sort of recursion combo that wins outright. Then you're not having to faf about over multiple turns.
November 22, 2015 9:02 a.m.
It's also one of those annoying old cards that actually cares about the top card of a graveyard and therefore you can't rearrange your graveyard. While theoretically you shouldn't be rearranging your graveyard anyway, no one in my playgroup plays with those cards and so we ignore that rule, letting us ignore some annoying book-keeping.
November 22, 2015 9:05 a.m.
Tomahawk-Bang says... #6
It's a good card, but as stated before there's better cards out there for similar purposes. If you combo it with something like Tortured Existence it can be pretty powerful and annoying for your opponents.
November 22, 2015 1:29 p.m.
griffstick says... #7
I think its cool its instant speed and with a sac out let it doesn't get exiled. Cool card I have seen it before but not in EDH. I'm gonna pick one up I like it.
November 22, 2015 1:40 p.m.
Adameus2012 says... #8
I had a deck with this back around Tempest block. The strength of the card lies in ETB effects that net you advantage, cards like black market combo well with it, as well as things like Phyrexian Plaguelord (remember, this was circa tempest block, there would be much better choices now) altar of dementia was my sac outlet of choice, as I had an infinite mill combo with it, corpse dance, jet medallion, and witch engine (witch engine may not work now due to the way rules have changed). I could also self mill and cast living death if needed, which didn't need to win me the game, but would allow a BUNCH of ETB triggers and to restack my graveyard the way I needed it. The deck I had would be really inconsistent now, as now I could not run 4 demonic tutors, 4 sol rings, or 4 yawgmoths will. Hope those are some ideas. I eventually toward Odyssey block had transformed the deck into a complete toolbox, much like birthing pod decks. Able to take out any type of permanent (at the time) and deal with a vast majority of deck types. It is a lot more powerful of a card than people give it credit for, and there are a thousand hijinks that you can pull off with it. One of my favorites was priest of gix with black market out to pull the priest out and pay for 3/5 of the mana for another corpse dance, then sac it off and dance it again. You can build up a ton of counters on black market this way and hence; ramp insanely on your next turn (while milling opponents out).
November 22, 2015 2:26 p.m.
Although not instant speed, Whip of Erebos is a better option I think. Also Goblin Bombardment requires you to have creature on board, so the fatties wouldn't really work. Lotleth Troll or Zombie Infestation are better early game options imo for pitching creatures. Debtors' Knell is also a better option imo
November 22, 2015 2:52 p.m.
PlattBonnay says... #10
Hadnt seen anyone say it yet, but it usually shows up in Child of Alara decks as a way to continuously wrath away everything on the board with High Market or some other land based sac outlet.
SaberTech says... #2
It's a powerful card, but it has some limitations that hurt it's application in a Commander multiplayer game. Since it can only bring back the top creature card of your graveyard, its value can be situational. In the example you gave above, your plan could be interrupted if an opponent killed your Viscera Seer and made it the top creature card in your graveyard. You would have to reanimate it and then let it be exiled to get at the other creature cards beneath it.
The other problem is the temporary nature of the effect. You are paying five mana a turn to reanimate a creature for a limited amount of time. Instant speed reanimation is useful, but in this case it isn't reliable for the reason I listed above. For five mana I could cast Beacon of Unrest and get a creature or artifact from any graveyard and have it stay on the board until someone destroys it, or I could cast Living Death and potentially reanimate a bunch of creatures while swinging the board state around.
There are also less mana intensive reanimation options. For instant speed reanimation, I'm partial to Necromancy for it's versatility. There is also Wake the Dead, which can be really degenerate for abusing ETB and graveyard triggers (especially if you have an Eternal Witness in the graveyard).
You can also get two creatures for three mana (and sacing a creature) using Victimize, or you can get a creature from any graveyard for just two mana with good 'ol Animate Dead.
What I'm saying is, having to shell out 5 mana each turn to keep bringing back the same powerful creature for a limited amount of time each turn is a huge mana expenditure in a game where you have to get the best value out of your resources to keep ahead of multiple opponents. There are lots of more mana efficient ways that let you keep the creature on the board, so I think people gravitate more to those.
November 22, 2015 7:32 a.m.