Combos Browse all Suggest
Legality
| Format | Legality |
| 1v1 Commander | Legal |
| Archenemy | Legal |
| Arena | Legal |
| Block Constructed | Legal |
| Canadian Highlander | Legal |
| Casual | Legal |
| Commander / EDH | Legal |
| Commander: Rule 0 | Legal |
| Custom | Legal |
| Duel Commander | Legal |
| Gladiator | Legal |
| Highlander | Legal |
| Historic | Legal |
| Historic Brawl | Legal |
| Legacy | Legal |
| Leviathan | Legal |
| Limited | Legal |
| Modern | Legal |
| Modern Beyond Horizons | Legal |
| Oathbreaker | Legal |
| Pauper | Legal |
| Pauper Duel Commander | Legal |
| Pauper EDH | Legal |
| Pioneer | Legal |
| Planar Constructed | Legal |
| Planechase | Legal |
| Quest Magic | Legal |
| Vanguard | Legal |
| Vintage | Legal |
Dutiful Return
Sorcery
Return up to two target creature cards from your graveyard to your hand.
Simerix on
Ally Commanders
4 years ago
Bad: Brilliant Spectrum Dutiful Return Cancel Unsummon Retreat to Hagra Saving Grace Reliquary Tower Bloodbond Vampire Coralhelm Guide Drana's Emissary Hagra Sharpshooter Halimar Tidecaller Infantry Veteran Kalastria Nightwatch Lifespring Druid Ondu War Cleric Reckless Cohort Tajuru Pathwarden Umara Entangler Zulaport Chainmage
Recommendations: Sea Gate Loremaster Turntimber Ranger Beastcaller Savant Tajuru Warcaller Agadeem Occultist Angelic Captain Irregular Cohort Akoum Battlesinger Kazandu Blademaster Tajuru Archer Graveshifter Unsettled Mariner Unified Front Distant Melody Oblivion Ring Gideon, Ally of Zendikar Pillar of Origins Mana Geode Prismatic Lens Ally Encampment Evolving Wilds Terramorphic Expanse
T_Dog345 on T_Dog345
4 years ago
Alright, let's see if maybe this will help. I'm really new to everything on here sorry. //Lands 2 Dismal Backwater 1 Dimir Guildgate 2 Submerged Boneyard 4 Evolving Wilds 2 Desert of the Mindful 1 Arcane Lighthouse 1 Reliquary Tower 1 Temple of the False God
//Spells 4 Duress 2 Ghoulcaller's Chant 3 Macabre Waltz 3 Sleep 4 Slip Through Space 2 Taigam's Scheming 4 Tome Scour 4 Lich's Caress 4 Sovereign's Bite 4 Resourceful Return 3 March of the Returned 1 In Garruk's Wake 1 Army of the Damned 1 Dutiful Return 1 Decompose 1 Worst Fears 1 Rise of the Dark Realms 4 Hubris 4 Countermand 1 Tezzeret's Touch 1 Paranoid Delusions 1 Coerced Confession 2 Mind Sculpt 1 Compelling Argument 1 Index 1 Redirect 1 Dream Twist 2 Gift of Tusks 2 Rewind 3 Thought Scour 2 Psychic Spiral 1 Gigadrowse 4 Negate 1 Overwhelming Denial 1 Dramatic Reversal 1 Impulse 2 Cremate 3 Crypt Incursion 2 Grim Harvest 1 Scarab Feast 1 Grim Return 1 Gravepurge 1 Dark Ritual 4 Font of Return 3 Death's Approach 2 Cast into Darkness 1 Triskaidekaphobia 1 Grave Betrayal 1 Endless Ranks of the Dead 3 Invisibility 2 Curiosity 4 Curse of the Bloody Tome 3 Illusory Wrappings 3 Ice Over 1 Chronic Flooding 1 Navigator's Ruin 1 Chant of the Skifsang 3 Bone Saw 3 Millstone 3 Tormod's Crypt 2 Trepanation Blade 1 Ghoulcaller's Bell 1 Masterwork of Ingenuity 1 Sol Ring 1 Nihil Spellbomb 1 Illusionist's Bracers 1 Codex Shredder 1 Profane Memento 1 Loxodon Warhammer 1 Bonehoard 1 Trusty Machete 1 Mirari 1 Argentum Armor
//Creatures 1 Archetype of Finality 1 Overeager Apprentice 1 Agent of Erebos 1 Butcher Ghoul 1 Risen Executioner 1 Dutiful Attendant 1 Sly Requisitioner 1 Sepulchral Primordial 2 Zombie Assassin 1 Nightmare 1 Marshmist Titan 3 Graven Abomination 4 Workshop Assistant 4 Guardians of Meletis 2 Phyrexian Revoker 2 Ornithopter 1 Juggernaut 2 Veilborn Ghoul 2 Minotaur Abomination 4 Undead Servant 3 Gravedigger 2 Mogis's Marauder 2 Bogstomper 4 Walking Corpse 3 Corpse Hauler 4 Gravewaker 2 Returned Phalanx 3 Faerie Miscreant 1 Master of Predicaments 2 Benthic Giant 1 Stormtide Leviathan 4 Screeching Skaab 2 Seer of the Last Tomorrow 1 Floating-Dream Zubera 3 Fog Bank 1 Possessed Skaab 3 Armored Skaab 2 Murmuring Phantasm 1 Wall of Frost 4 Doorkeeper 1 Clever Impersonator 1 Jace's Mindseeker 1 Oculus 1 Mindshrieker 1 Willbreaker 1 Spellweaver Eternal 1 Wall of Mist 1 Sultai Skullkeeper 1 Diregraf Captain
ExpletoryOrb on
what am i doing
6 years ago
alright so here goes, so the cards to the left can be swapped with the ones to the right, it has the same or very similair effect but for a reduced mana cost etc.
Bloodtallow Candle -> Dismember
Whispers of Emrakul -> Hymn to Tourach
Painful Lesson -> Night's Whisper (there is also: Sign in Blood
Lethal Sting -> Victim of Night (there is also Go for the Throat)
Dutiful Return -> Ghoulcaller's Chant ? (its cheaper and will almost always be for a zombie? a lot cheeper but its your call.)
Abyssal Specter -> Hypnotic Specter
the next ones are cards i think you should strip, i will list them and then explain why:
Ruin Rat : you already have a few of these, and this isnt even a zombie. there are just better cards out there that arent expensive at all, (i'll give some suggestions further down the post)
Shambling Attendants : Just strictly bad, you dont want to play a 3/5 dude for 8 mana ever.
Cruel Feeding : its just pretty bad, the strive cost is very expensive just to +1/0 lifelink. dont use this unless you had something specific in mind that i didnt catch up on reading the list.
Duress and Divest : these never really do much, yes you get to pick away 1 card and see 1 hand but you will almost never hit anything especially good, only run this if you are planning to do a lot of 1v1 EDH.
Here are some suggestions of cards that are very cheap and are pretty good:
PartyJ on
Shaman of the Fireball | Pauper EDH
6 years ago
Hello wraya2 and Podkomorka,
thank you so much for actively helping me improve the deck. I have been closely looking at the large pile of commons which I own more closely. As well as paying good attention to all the suggestions you both made. I came up with the following list of changes to improve the overall strategy and consistancy of the deck.
OUT:
- Elvish Ranger: Too vanilla
- Selvala's Enforcer: I don't like giving my oponents free cards
- Treetop Scout: Not relevant enough
- Touch of Moonglove: A defensive removal, better options at hand
- Reave Soul: Too narrow, knowing that Eldrazi flock my meta too
- Plummet: Too narrow
- Murder: Better options at hand
- Asphyxiate: Better options at hand
- Dutiful Return: Better options at hand
- Scour from Existence: Too mana intensive for what it does
IN:
- Grim Harvest: overall improvement for what it does
- Culling the Weak: Great synergy with my commander
- Innocent Blood: Great synergy with my commander
- Sundering Vitae: Overall improvement
- Terror: Overall improvement
- Ashes to Ashes: Overall improvement
- Evincar's Justice: Overall improvement
- Entourage of Trest: Overall improvement
- Priest of Titania: Huge improvement
- Vulturous Aven : Great synergy with my commander
Thank you both for all the great recommendations. I have put a few still on the maybeboard, as I do not own them yet. But these changes feel like a mayor improvement to the deck already and I can't wait to see this build into action. If anyone still spots possible upgrades or weak links, then I love to hear you about it!
If anyone wishes to chat with me or other fellow magic players about EDH, Pauper EDH or any other format, I can also be found in here most of the time. Feel welcome to join this discord channel at any time.
Best regards,
PJ
Darth_Savage on
b/u zombies
6 years ago
Hi animeking1999,
Modern is often described as a turn four format, this means your deck needs to be in a position to win on turn four. Card choices are based on efficiency and consistency, there is a reason decks run 4x of cards, it is to improve the chance of drawing the card you need. Often you don't want to run just a 4x but you want a card with the same or similar effect meaning 8x so for example running 4x Ghoulcaller's Chant and 4x Cemetery Recruitment might make sense in your zombie based deck, but a card like Dutiful Return is just too expensive.
Diregraf Captain is a good lord type creature and if you want flying zombies Scrapskin Drake, Siren of the Silent Song or Stitched Drake would be better choices. I'd also suggest Gravecrawler, even if you are working to a budget, it is worth it.
You need to strip your deck back to a core, decide what it is you want to play and run 4x of those cards and 4x of the cards which support or protect that plan. You also need to balance your mana base better (27 is too much), land cards are worth the investment because they can be used in a variety of decks, so 4x Sunken Hollow probably wouldn't go wrong...
theindigoeffect on
The many children of Edgar Markov
7 years ago
No problem, man. If you use too many basics, you run the risk of not having enough different colors to cast certain cards.
There are other cards like Reflecting Pool, City of Brass and Forbidden Orchard that will give you the colors that you need as well, but if you run too many non-basics, people can abuse the fact that by playing cards like Ruination: it never really happens in my play group, but it's common in others.
Personally, I would replace Opal Palace when you have the opportunity: there are so many lands that let you gain mana instead of simply exchanging one colorless mana for a colored mana.
As far as card draw goes, black is arguably the best color in Magic, but with black there's always a drawback. That being said, cards like Skeletal Scrying, Underworld Connections and Necrologia may seem bad on the surface, but they allow you to draw more than Ambition's Cost. There's even colorless options like Mind's Eye and Memory Jar. Skullclamp and Phyrexian Arena are definitely worth keeping in your deck!
It varies from deck to deck, but a good rule of thumb is to have at least 10 cards that serve as mana ramp, such as Sol Ring, Dark Ritual, Mana Geyser, Caged Sun and Myriad Landscape. There are rare exceptions, where you really don't need it, like in a weenie deck where most of your creatures cost 1 or 2 mana.
Mana ramp helps you play everything earlier. I know you're not really trying to get your commander out on the battlefield, but in most decks you have a huge advantage by playing your spells 1-2 turns earlier, and cards like Jet Medallion and Burnished Hart will help ensure that the Butcher of Malakir you drew in your opening hand can be played on turn 5, instead of 7.
You typically want to have at least 10 card draw cards, too. Ultimately, you may have to adjust how much ramp/card draw you include or remove, based on how the deck performs, but that's a good starting point.
Coat of Arms is a great card, unless you're playing your friend's The Ur-Dragon deck, since it also gives your friend's dragons +1/+1 counters. A better alternative for your colors would be Shared Animosity: it's confusing to read at first, but once you understand how it works, it's actually better for a tribal deck. Anyhow, Coat of Arms is still awesome, unless you're playing against another strong, tribal deck.
Consuming Vapors doesn't allow you to pick what creature you want to destroy, so if you use it against an Edgar Markov deck, that person will just sacrifice one of their vampire tokens, instead of that annoying Captivating Vampire. Hero's Downfall lets you pick a creature or planeswalker.
Also, if you look on the right side of the page, you'll see a stat that shows your Avg. CMC (average converted mana cost) is 3.79. You can reduce that average and make your deck faster and more efficient by replacing cards with high cmc costs with lower cmc costs. For example, by replacing Dutiful Return with Death's Duet, you can make your deck run faster and reduce the overall cost. If you try to do this with every card, your deck will become more competitive as a result.
That being said, it's not worth it to to replace a good card with a worse version of the same card, even if it costs less. For example, Furnace of Rath may be cheaper, but Gratuitous Violence is definitely better and worth the higher cost.
Sometimes the worse card is actually better for your deck. For example, Grave Pact has a much lower cmc than Butcher of Malakir, and it's harder to remove an enchantment than it is to remove a creature, but since you're playing a vampire deck, Butcher of Malakir is a more synergistic choice, and that makes Butcher of Malakir a superior option.
| Have (1) | abritt |
| Want (0) |