Diregraf Colossus

Creature — Zombie Giant

Diregraf Colossus enters the battlefield with a +1/+1 counter on it for each Zombie card in your graveyard.

Whenever you cast a Zombie spell, put a 2/2 black Zombie creature token onto the battlefield tapped.

Discussion (51)

Joe_Ken_ on A rose by any other name

1 week ago

Nightscape Familiar would be a great addition since it will make your red and blue spells cost less.

Some zombie lords like Undead Warchief, Lord of the Accursed , Diregraf Captain , Cemetery Reaper, and Death Baron would be good for making your entire board stronger. Liliana's Mastery also has a similar effect.

Diregraf Colossus is good for making a small army of tokens as the game goes on.

Some cheap removal like Terminate , Crosis's Charm , Murder , and Dreadbore would be good to add.

A cheap tutor or two would also be good like Diabolic Tutor.

Crumbling Necropolis Command Tower are some good lands to add and some budget dual color lands like Dimir Guildgate , Rakdos Guildgate , and Izzet Guildgate would be good as well as Izzet Boilerworks , Dimir Aqueduct , and Rakdos Carnarium would be good additions.

ShutUpMokuba on Help with Scarab God deck

2 weeks ago

It really depends on your meta and your budget. However for now i'll try to list some cards that i really like in that type of deck.. In the creature compartment i would suggest Diregraf Colossus, Undead Warchief, maybe Death Baron, Cryptbreaker, the obvious Gravecrawler, Sidisi, Undead Vizier and Lich Lord of Unx. For card draw i would add Graveborn Muse or Midnight Reaper. Soulless One can be a good card if you are on a budget. Grimgrin, Corpse-Born is a great card too as he gets really big and destroys your opponents' creatures fast.Zombie Master is good on its own in a tribal deck but becomes great with Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth. More expensive cards are Mikaeus, the Unhallowed and Ghoulcaller Gisa; if i had to pick i would choose the first. Also Grave Titan can get you a lot of tokens.

Enchantments: Grave Pact for removal, Phyrexian Arena/Kindred Discovery/Rhystic Study and the great and cheap Monastery Siege for card draw, Black Market for ramp, Rooftop Storm enables a lot of Gravecrawler combos, Paradox Haze doubles your commander's effect while Training Grounds makes his second effect cheaper.

Artifacts: Phyrexian Altar for the gravecrawler combo, i love in this deck Bontu's Monument, Door of Destinies/Vanquisher's Banner/Coat of Arms because you are going for a tribal deck (and why not Herald's Horn. Illusionist's Bracers doubles the scarab's firs ability.

PW: Liliana, Untouched By Death does everything you want in a Scarab god deck.

Lands: Reliquary Tower, Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth, Bojuka Bog to exile an opponent's graveyard. Unholy Grotto is fine here. More lands to to fix your mana base like Sunken Hollow would be nice.

If you are going for a mill version i would suggest other cards like Dreamborn Muse, Mindcrank and so on..

The problem with your deck in my opinion is that even if you play cards with some synergy because of the zombie tribal element and some way to double your commander's drain ability there are a lot of cards that do not enough for you here. Remember that playing a deck that is a constant menace to your opponents gets you a big target on your head. To be more specific with my suggestions i need to know your budget, your meta and the path you want to take with this deck. Also there are too little cards in the removal compartment, in the draw compartment and in the mana base fixing compartment.

Tzefick on Ability challenge

3 weeks ago

Some quick 2 cents on other entries:

TypicalTimmy Show

There's a lot of memory going into this mechanic, which creature is hunting which creature?

As such I would say this is strained to be printed on more than a small handful of cards and mainly at uncommon rarity and up, to avoid too much memory dedicated to a rather complex mechanic.

I wont say it will never happen, but the mechanic has a lot going against it.

That being said, I still think it's a neat concept, but I'm unsure about the balance between useful/oppressive and relevant/irrelevant. If the trigger is bound on the opponent's choice, it's in their hands to make it useful to you. They'll generally do whatever they can to make it the least impactful for you. As such it's a very unreliable mechanic.

Boza Show

This is where I'll go that extra step and say: That'll never happen.

I don't think we'll ever see a segregation of creature types based on something like race or profession/title - mostly because there are so many creatures without either (correction; it seems like WotC have gone through all their older designs and designated a race to each creature, including artifact creatures). In the modern frame, WotC have actually been rather consistent with giving each creature a race - however there are exceptions.

Giants are in some instances used as a race, seen in Arbiter of Knollridge. And sometimes as an adjective to describe something immense, Diregraf Colossus. In Diregraf's situation it could be a zombified giant - then giant is the race and zombie is a state. However if that's true, is zombie then not ever a "race"?

Another is Yahenni, Undying Partisan which is an Aetherborn Vampire. Next to Midnight Entourage who is an Aetherborn Rogue. I think we can quickly agree that Rogue is a profession/title. Then Aetherborn must be a race. However we can also quickly agree that Vampire is a race, so Yahenni is half-Aetherborn, half-Vampire? It's a mess.

As for the mechanic itself, it is extremely narrow to the point that it can only ever see print in a heavy tribal set reminiscent of Lorwyn, Ixalan, or Innistrad. And it would have no relevance outside block. Not that that makes it bad per se, but it certainly makes it less exciting.

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As for my own suggestion on Hunt, I'm sitting on two versions and would like some feedback on the concept if possible before deciding a final route. I'll note which version will be the main entry until I change my mind or the challenge ends - when is that btw dbpunk?

Mechanic Show

I am tempted to run a variant of the old Provoke keyword. It will be a mainly green mechanic with red and white closely secondary.

I'm kinda between two models:

1. Hunt (When this attacks, you may have it hunt target creature defending player controls, which become hunted until end of combat. A hunted creature can and must block all creatures hunting it, ignoring any restrictions.)

2. Hunt (After blockers are declared, you may have target creature defending player control block this creature if able, in addition to any other creature(s) that creature is blocking.)

No. 1 will be the main entry for the challenge until I decide otherwise.

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The first model is turning multi-blockers upside-down, by forcing one blocker to block multiple attackers. It is also a functional but improved provoke, as it can function with just one, but it doesn't untap the creature, and it can ignore restrictions - such as Bedlam or Auntie's Snitch or the creature being tapped. You could counter provoke by tapping the creature before it could block. With this model, you ignore everything and basically says; "These two creatures fight in combat".

It is functionally different from fighting as it goes through the combat phase. Multiple users of Fight all receive the same damage from the attacked opponent, while this means the attacked only gets one count of power to use. As such multiple users of Hunt, can band together to take down a larger prey at greatly reduced risk to themselves.

It also interacts differently with ways to interact with creatures in combat, such as Righteousness or Bow of Nylea or simply Maze of Ith or the new Labyrinth of Skophos. Combat centered keywords or abilities also have a purpose in conjunction to Hunt, such as First Strike, Double Strike, and abilities that cares about attacking creatures. A card like Mark of Asylum prevents Fight from having any meaning, while the Mark is pointless against this variant. Dolmen Gate or Iroas, God of Victory functions really well with Hunt but not so with Fight. Similarly Holy Day does nothing to Fight, but stops Hunt.

Hunt is functionally weaker than Fight (at least as a stand alone mechanic), as Fight doesn't disable combat damage and there are many reasons why Fighting outside the combat step or even outside your own turn can be beneficial. As such I think you can allow Hunt more leg room and grant it to stronger/more efficient creatures than what we saw with Provoke. Provoke was mainly featured on bad midrange creatures with high power and low toughness, as a pseudo-removal.

And you can add conditions to it, check the examples.

Until I change my mind, this will be the main entry for the challenge.

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The secondary model is a more flexible version that works better by itself, as it functionally allows any attacker with Hunt to be on the damage order for any creature defending player controls who can block. It's a delayed Provoke and grants a lot of decision power to the attacker by knowing all blockers before making a decision - not including combat tricks.

Where the first version is very much an indirect removal tool, in addition to Provoke's secondary utility which is disabling/distracting a blocker, best seen on Deftblade Elite. This secondary version is more a way to restructure combat to grant the attacker a leg-up after blockers are declared. Normally the defending player has the upper hand in combat, as they choose blockers for attackers. This Hunt mechanic tries to hand some power back to the attacking player.

I'm uncertain how fine a line is threaded under this model, as I can see it becoming a nightmare to defend against if a creature with Hunt can basically always be a moving target, meaning they will always have a chance to take down your creatures more efficiently. Your only saving grace would be combat tricks.

Examples for model 1 Show

Stalking Wolf

Creature - Wolf (Common)

Hunt (When this attacks, you may have it hunt target creature defending player controls, which become hunted until end of combat. A hunted creature can and must block all creatures hunting it, ignoring any restrictions.)

2/3

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Yellow-tailed Viper

Creature - Snake (Uncommon)

Deathtouch

Hunt (When this attacks, you may have it hunt target creature defending player controls, which become hunted until end of combat. A hunted creature can and must block all creatures hunting it, ignoring any restrictions.)

2/1

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Ardar Prowler

Creature - Cat (Rare)

First strike

Hunt (When this attacks, you may have it hunt target creature defending player controls, which become hunted until end of combat. A hunted creature can and must block all creatures hunting it, ignoring any restrictions.)

4/4

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On the Hunt

Sorcery (Uncommon)

Up to two target creatures gain Hunt until end of turn. (When a creature with Hunt attacks, you may have it hunt target creature defending player controls, which become hunted until end of combat. A hunted creature can and must block all creatures hunting it, ignoring any restrictions.)

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Training Warrior

Creature - Human Warrior (Uncommon)

Hunt (When this attacks, you may have it hunt target creature defending player controls, which become hunted until end of combat. A hunted creature can and must block all creatures hunting it, ignoring any restrictions.)

Whenever Training Warrior deals combat damage to a creature, put a +1/+1 counter on Training Warrior.

Training Warrior has Vigilance as long its power is 3 or more.

1/3

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Seasoned Hunter

Creature - Human Soldier (Uncommon)

Hunt Beast, Cat, Snake, Wolf, and Bear (When this attacks, you may have it hunt target Beast, Cat, Snake, Wolf, or Bear creature defending player controls, which become hunted until end of combat. A hunted creature can and must block all creatures hunting it, ignoring any restrictions.)

Whenever a Beast, Cat, Snake, Wolf, or Bear dealt damage by Seasoned Hunter this turn dies, create a Treasure token.

3/3

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Halt, Eagle Eyes

Legendary Creature - Human Soldier (Mythic Rare)

At the beginning of combat on your turn, Halt and up to two other creatures you control gain Hunt until end of turn. (When a creature with Hunt attacks, you may have it hunt target creature defending player controls, which become hunted until end of combat. A hunted creature can and must block all creatures hunting it, ignoring any restrictions.)

Whenever a creature an opponent controls dies, if a creature you control have dealt damage to it this turn, you may draw a card.

3/6

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Vorales of the Crimson Fang

Legendary Creature - Vampire (Rare)

Flying, Haste

At the beginning of combat on your turn, you may sacrifice another creature. If you do, Vorales gain Hunt until end of turn. (When this attacks, you may have it hunt target creature defending player controls, which become hunted until end of combat. A hunted creature can and must block all creatures hunting it, ignoring any restrictions.)

Whenever a creature dies, put a +1/+1 counter on Vorales.

3/4

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At the moment I will not make examples on the second variant.

Lanzo493 on Mister T

1 month ago

Phyresis and Grafted Exoskeleton make your commander a one-hit kill regenerating killing machine. Embercleave does it too, with the best part of it being using the flash to get an unexpected kill. Tainted Strike does the same thing if you like combat tricks. Chandra's Ignition also is great because it's a boardwipe that deals massive damage to opponents and opens the way for commander damage kills.

Gravecrawler and Diregraf Colossus make sacrificing zombies for your commander much easier. Your commander is also a zombie and synergizes well with them.

Happymaster19 on The Undead Curse [Modern Zombies]

3 months ago

The most popular deck in the format currently looks like it’s Urza.

For Urza

-2x Smuggler's Copter -2x Fatal Push -3x Relentless Dead -2x Diregraf Colossus

+3x Damping Sphere +4x Leyline of the Void +2x Pithing Needle

Geo67 on Mono B Zombies

3 months ago

Cool deck.

I think you need to get Diregraf Colossus into this build for the finale, maybe cut the Graveyard Marshal ?

Also, if you have 4 Thoughtseize , try and get a few of them into the main.

Liliana's Mastery , also take a look at Risen Executioner , he's a zombie lord, that gives you an extra "B" for devotion.

Dozing on Company of the Dead

3 months ago

not having Diregraf Colossus here is a huge oversight I think! definitely add him in. I'd cut reavers for it, and I think the creature count is slightly low to run collected company.

ClockGear on Mono-Black Zombies

3 months ago

After some testing I noticed that Diregraf Colossus was a bit slow, so I cut one of them and a land to make room for some Diregraf Ghoul s to help lower the curve to a point where 22 lands seems fine.