Cephalid Vandal

Creature — Cephalid Rogue

At the beginning of your upkeep, put a shred counter on Cephalid Vandal. Then put the top card of your library into your graveyard for each shred counter on Cephalid Vandal.

Legality

Format	Legality
1v1 Commander	Legal
Archenemy	Legal
Canadian Highlander	Legal
Casual	Legal
Commander / EDH	Legal
Commander: Rule 0	Legal
Custom	Legal
Duel Commander	Legal
Highlander	Legal
Legacy	Legal
Leviathan	Legal
Limited	Legal
Oathbreaker	Legal
Planechase	Legal
Premodern	Legal
Quest Magic	Legal
Tiny Leaders	Legal
Vanguard	Legal
Vintage	Legal

Discussion (12)

Krom3 on To Drown the World in Death: Araumi EDH [PRIMER]

2 years ago

Daedalus19876 Oh nice haha good to know then how about Cephalid Vandal as a low cmc way to keep the self mill engine going?

SideBae on Muldrotha EDH Self Mill

4 years ago

Cephalid Vandal helps mill a lot.

Tainted Pact can exile your whole deck, as your list is really singleton and doesn't have doubled basics. Demonic Consultation is similar. These can win the game with Laboratory Maniac .

Lotus Petal is a good mana-source in this deck. Lion's Eye Diamond is similar and much better, though it's about $200 these days.

I think taking out Mortal Combat for Jace, Wielder of Mysteries is probably a good idea. Mortal Combat needs to stick on the field for at least a full turn iteration in order to trigger, but Jace, Wielder of Mysteries can win on the turn he comes down. Also, he fits as an interchangeable part with the Laboratory Maniac win condition.

Vintage Xerox cantrips are worth inclusion. Ponder and Preordain belong in any blue deck, and Brainstorm is good if you have enough shuffle effects. You're not running fetches, but I think with your self-mill cards like Stinkweed Imp and Hedron Crab you may have the ability to avoid a Brainstorm lock anyway.

Plaguecrafter is a repeatable edict effect -- it even sacrifices itself.

A big reason to play green in EDH is because of the access to mana-dorks. Llanowar Elves , Birds of Paradise and Elves of Deep Shadow are all worth including, and Priest of Titania , Bloom Tender , Deathrite Shaman and Arbor Elf are worth at least considering, too.

Doom Whisperer ? This is a good way to build card-advantage.

Mishra's Bauble is a good second Urza's Bauble , if you wanted that effect.

Mindslaver is a card worth thinking about. You can hard-lock one opponent by just repeatedly dropping and sac-ing it.

Ashiok, Dream Render and Narset, Parter of Veils are great in any blue EDH deck, especially since Narset, Parter of Veils pairs REALLY well with Windfall .

Seal of Primordium is good as a second Caustic Caterpillar . It also doesn't use up the creature permanent-type with Muldrotha, the Gravetide and costs less to cast and activate.

City of Brass and Mana Confluence are good sources of colored mana in three-color decks.

Good luck! That's all I got.

SideBae on Zombies are Dim

4 years ago

Lol — I was just thinking about TSG in EDH, and then I saw this. I always loved zombie decks. Feel free to ignore and/or heed my suggestions as you see fit.

1. Your Gravecrawler is your friend. Skullclamp makes it into a 1B: Draw two, which is kinda dumb and super busted. Other sac-outlets, like Corpse Harvester , also benefit from the self-recursion.

2. Since you aren’t running Call to the Grave (which I think is bad anyways), you can run non-zombie zombie-enablers. Cephalid Vandal comes to mind, as filling your graveyard will be useful most of the time.

3. Though they may interfere with Gravecrawler / Skullclamp loops, zombie lords are abundant in MTG. I like that you’re already running Cemetery Reaper and friends; have you considered Zombie Master or Undead Warchief ?

4. Your deck can probably use some more ramp to speed it up. Talisman of Dominance , Fellwar Stone , Corrupted Grafstone , Mind Stone and the soon-to-release Arcane Signet are all worth strong consideration. In my experience, there is a big difference between 2 and 3 mana rocks; consider replacing Commander's Sphere .

5. Card draw is bonkers in EDH. Graveborn Muse is a powerhouse, and I strongly suggest adding it. Fact or Fiction is likely another good card here, as binning cards is a form of card advantage for you. Night's Whisper , Mirrodin Besieged and Phyrexian Arena are also worth considering.

Good luck!

SideBae on That's no King Cureslime

4 years ago

I mean, so with regards to self-mill Cephalid Vandal is a card I've been impressed with. Dredge creatures like Golgari Grave-Troll and Stinkweed Imp are also good to consider in addition to your Life from the Loam .

The biggest bonus of being in green is the color's access to one-mana mana dorks. Llanowar Elves , Elves of Deep Shadow , Birds of Paradise , Deathrite Shaman , Fyndhorn Elves and Elvish Mystic are all cards to consider. Simply being able to play a turn or so faster can make all the difference in the world. Similarly, Priest of Titania and Bloom Tender are great dorks, though being two mana does put them second-tier.

I've generally found that, in EDH, replacing 1-for-1s with 2-or-more-for-1s is a good idea. Force of Vigor is a new card I've been considering for my decks, and I think it's strictly better than Naturalize .

Have you considered Reanimate ? I notice that you aren't running it -- I think it's probably the best reanimation spell there is.

With the recent printings of enemy talismans, I don't think running Dimir Signet , Simic Signet and Golgari Signet is where you want to be. Talisman of Dominance , Talisman of Creativity and Talisman of Resilience are less awkward to use and cost the same.

Unless I'm missing some targeted spells in your list, I think Lightning Greaves is better than Swiftfoot Boots .

Mana Confluence and City of Brass are important sources of colored mana once you're at 3+ colors. Additionally, fetch lands are at a premium. Though the Onslaught and Zendikar fetches can cost the same as a used kidney, slow fetches ( Grasslands , Rocky Tar Pit , Bad River , Flood Plain and Mountain Valley ) work as well and are WAY easier on the wallet.

You may want to get more card-draw in your list, too. Grim Flowering and Nature's Resurgence seem powerful in a creature-heavy list based around self-mill, but classic draw spells like Painful Truths , Thirst for Knowledge , Night's Whisper , Chart a Course , Ponder , Preordain and Fact or Fiction are also really strong here. I like that you're already running Windfall -- most people forget that card for some reason; it's like, REALLY good. Brainstorm is another card to consider, but it only becomes good with a lot of shuffle effects (see the aforementioned fetch lands).

I gotta go to work. Good luck man!

phattbraun on Varina Zombie Tribal EDH

4 years ago

SideBae This is some great advice! I appreciate all the help!

I like your thoughts on 2 mana rocks as opposed to 3 mana rocks. I'll be making a change there to increase the deck's speed.

You make a really good point about Approach of the Second Sun that I haven't thought about before. I'll most likely be cutting that in favor of another card that will help me with my deck's plan.

My budget doesn't really allow for the fast fetches but I didn't even know about the slow fetches! I'll be including some of those for sure. City of Brass , Mana Confluence , and Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth are some great suggestions too, I'll find room for them. When it comes to the land count, I'll try playing with different amounts, as I have some other decks with similar curve and a lower land count that can screw me sometimes.

I agree with your thoughts on card advantage, it's definitely very important. I've heard Varina, Lich Queen can produce a lot of card draw on her own, so I went a little light on the cards for that. After some playtesting I'll be able to see if I need to find some room for more card draw spells. One card in particular I was considering was Frantic Search , but I also like your suggestions a lot.

I agree that tutors are great cards, but I tried to limit myself with how many I was using when building this deck. In the past I've had decks with lots of tutors, and I found that it made my games always play the same. This time I wanted to try to cut down on that so I can see more of my deck and try to win with the tools available in the moment. This may also change after some playtesting too!

The Liliana's are great, Liliana, the Last Hope is a little out of my budget at the moment, but I'd love to find room for the other two.

I've definitely got my eye on Damnation and Toxic Deluge , I'd like to pick those up when I'm able to. My main reason for running the Anguished Unmaking and Utter End is the versatility they have. Any nonland permanent is really strong, and an exile is also great, due to the amount of graveyard-heavy decks in my playgroup. Another big reason for including them is to deal with problem cards that might be hard to deal with otherwise, such as Rest in Peace or Leyline of the Void . These cards can show up pretty often in my group, and I'm worried their effects would completely shut off my deck. But again, I'll learn more once I playtest.

I like the Cephalid Vandal suggestion, I've never seen that card before. I'm curious to see how much self-mill Varina, Lich Queen produces, I'm sure she could always use more help with it though.

I wanted to include some more counter magic, but my downfall in deck building is always deciding what to cut. There's always too many things I want to include in the deck, and nothing I want to cut. Any suggestions to help with this?

I do have access to both Narset, Parter of Veils and Ashiok, Dream Render , and I was heavily considering playing Ashiok in the early stages of deck building. I'll be taking another look at those cards.

Patriarch's Bidding is definitely on my list of cards to eventually get, I can imagine how strong it would be in a deck like this. I hadn't thought of Living Death 's interaction with Wonder , hopefully that won't screw me up too often!

Thanks again for your help, I really appreciate all the suggestions!

SideBae on Varina Zombie Tribal EDH

4 years ago

My first suggestion involves your artifact ramp. Dimir Signet and Orzhov Signet are worse than Talisman of Dominance and Talisman of Hierarchy in the majority of situations, mainly because they don't need mana to begin activating. Talisman of Progress is also worth considering, though I'm assuming blue and white are your lesser colors. In that vein, I suggest cutting Chromatic Lantern for another piece of two-mana artifact ramp. In my experience, there is a big difference between 2 and 3 mana rocks in EDH, and anything you can do to increase your deck's speed will be a good thing.

Considering the win conditions: I think Approach of the Second Sun is superfluous. In my experience, zombie decks are perfectly happy just trying to get away with the aggro win condition, though the Gravecrawler loops are certainly an interesting second. The problem with Approach of the Second Sun is that it is not good by itself; generally, you want to run combo pieces that also serve some utility even without the combo. (For example, this is why I hate the Isochron Scepter in my Kess, Dissident Mage list.) Drawing it in your opener or when you don't have the mana to cast it leaves it essentially dead, and I think the aggro or Gravecrawler plans are just better.

Once you hit three colors, mana base becomes extremely important. City of Brass and Mana Confluence are excellent cards, and I've had excellent luck with them. Ideally, you'd run fetch lands like Polluted Delta and Misty Rainforest as a sort of 'additional dual land,' but these can be very pricy. If that's an issue, I advise slow fetches like Bad River , Flood Plain , Rocky Tar Pit and Grasslands . Cavern of Souls is an expensive card, though it is excellent in any tribal deck -- if you have access to it, you should run it. Unclaimed Territory is another thing to consider, as is running Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth instead of one of your basic Swamp s. I also think you're running a few too many lands. Thirty-three is generally my upper limit, and since your curve is so high, I think that's about what you'd want. Thirty-five is too many.

I like that you're running zombie lords. Though anthem effects do greatly reduce the synergy of Gravecrawler with Skullclamp , I think their bonus to the aggro plan is high enough to justify their inclusion. In that vein, Lord of the Undead and Zombie Master are worth considering.

Card advantage decides most EDH games -- for example, yesterday I had someone concede not because I had pressure on the board, but because I was drawing five more cards than them a turn. Though this may have been a premature concession, it does illustrate my point. Thus, I highly recommend running cards like Graveborn Muse , Phyrexian Arena , Painful Truths , Chart a Course , Slate of Ancestry , Glimmer of Genius , Pulse of the Grid , Night's Whisper , Notion Thief , Thirst for Knowledge and/or Windfall . Similarly, cantrips like Ponder and Preordain are almost auto-includes in a blue list. Brainstorm 's efficacy is dependent on the number of shuffle effects you run, though if you choose to include fetches (slow or otherwise), I highly advise it. Many of these cards involve paying life; if life becomes an issue, try Whip of Erebos or a non-lethal Exsanguinate in addition to your Gray Merchant of Asphodel .

Tutors are good cards. I'm a fan of Entomb in addition to your Buried Alive , as it gets Gravecrawler in the yard for your combo and, if you pair it with reanimation like Reanimate , Animate Dead or the Victimize / Stitch Together you already run, it allows you to cheat in fatties. Grave Titan and Massacre Wurm are two of my favorite reanimation targets, but they're both around $20 these days. Demonic Tutor and Vampiric Tutor are the gold standard for black tutors, but these can also be inaccessible because of their price. Diabolic Tutor is a fine substitute, and I've had good success with Lim-Dul's Vault .

Liliana is also a good zombie-include, be it for flavor or for the power she offers. Liliana, Death's Majesty is great in zombie decks and is pretty affordable; Liliana, Dreadhorde General has been dropping in price recently and is also great. Depending on your playgroup's meta, Liliana, the Last Hope may be a powerhouse, though she is $40 these days.

Generally in EDH, one-for-ones are not where you want to be. There are usually three opponents, so on average you'll be facing 3x as many cards as you have. Anguished Unmaking and Utter End are good cards, but they are not as good in EDH as they'd be in 1v1 formats. Supreme Verdict and Merciless Eviction , which I see you're running, are better. Might I suggest Damnation , Wrath of God , and/or Toxic Deluge ? You may want to lean toward black board-wipes, as this is already where your mana will be when casting zombies. An overloaded Cyclonic Rift is also great, especially if paired with the aforementioned Windfall .

Perpetual Timepiece is a cool include. Consider Cephalid Vandal . Because you're not running Call to the Grave (which I think is overrated anyways), there is little to no cost of running non-zombie creatures in your deck. I think Cephalid Vandal is another good way of trying to keep your deck churning with self-mill.

Another thing that takes good EDH decks to the next level is counter magic. I see you're running Counterspell , which is good, but you should consider running at least three to four other counter spells as well. Force of Will , Mana Drain and Pact of Negation are all good if you want to sell a kidney. If you're a slightly more reasonable player, cards like Narset's Reversal , Negate / Countersquall / Dovin's Veto , Swan Song , Disallow , Arcane Denial and Archmage's Charm are also worth considering.

Depending on your meta (and your personal level of sadism), Narset, Parter of Veils and Ashiok, Dream Render should be considered. Turning off tutors and extra-draws with asymmetrical effects is brutal. Personally, I don't think those two cards should ever have been printed, but what the hell -- they're here, so we might as well use them.

Patriarch's Bidding is a good way for a tribal deck to recover after a board-wipe, and Living Death is just good for black creature decks in general. Living Death is a sort of nonbo with Wonder , but that may be worth the trouble; play-testing will iron that issue out.

Good luck man!

ThoAlmighty on Night Of The Masochist Dead

5 years ago

Crop Sigil , Crawling Sensation (lots of sac fodder too), and Cephalid Vandal are solid repeatable self-mill.

KingOfWhales on Self-Mill Tribal!

5 years ago

As for cuts:

Cephalid Vandal too slow Endless Ranks of the Dead too slow Muraganda Petroglyphs bad Satyr Wayfinder too small Path of Discovery too small Grisly Salvage you want creatures in your graveyard, not hand. Splinterfright too small Shambling Shell bad

There are much better ways to selfmill yourself than with dredge, I named two cards but in general running a ton of the draw X discard X cards really is the best way to fill your graveyard with what you want. They’re the hidden all stars of decks like this.

Look at adding Relentless Dead, I have a zombie deck on my account, if you want to look. It’s not updated and I don’t think it has the amazing draw/discard cards I mentioned, but it may give you ideas.