Gisa and Geralf

Legendary Creature — Human Wizard

When this enters the battlefield, mill four cards. (Put the top four cards of your library into your graveyard.)

During each of your turns, you may cast a Zombie creature card from your graveyard.

Discussion (50)

multimedia on Undead unleashed combo upgrade

3 days ago

Hey, nice upgrades on a budget so far for the precon.

Opponent mill strategy is an interesting choice/change from the precon. Opponent mill that's not an infinite combo, but done over many turns can be risky in multiplayer Commander because graveyards are a huge resource for so many decks.

The precon has too high of a mana curve with over 20 cards that are 5 CMC or higher. You haven't really changed this, but you have reduced the number of lands to 34 from 40 in the precon. By reducing the number lands, but not reducing the mana curve you risk not being able to cast spells until much later in a game. You're right to reduce the land count and 34 lands is fine, but the rest of your deck also needs to be reduced especially since you've added Bolas's Citadel.

Upgrading to better high CMC cards which you have done with Rise of the Dark Realms and Bolas's Citadel is good, but you really should consider cutting other high CMC cards from the precon to add these such as Gorex, the Tombshell and Gravespawn Sovereign. Gravespawn is also a reanimation effect, but is worse than Rise. Tombshell can be reduced in mana cost, but that has negative interaction with wanting to reanimate Zombies.

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Death Tyrant is an example of a budget high CMC card that's an upgrade for another five drop in the precon such as Eternal Skylord. Tyrant has excellent synergy with decayed Zombies because when they attack and are saced at end of combat then you create a 2/2 Zombie for each one. This interaction is also good with sac outlets such as Carrion Feeder to sac all your attacking Zombies in combat to create that many 2/2 Zombies which can then with Wilhelt, sac them to create 2/2 decayed Zombies and repeat the next turn with Tyrant.

Some budget lower CMC cards to consider adding:

• Pyre of Heroes: repeatable sac/tutor/cheat Zombie onto the battlefield.
• Master of Death: repeatable Zombie to sac since can return itself from your graveyard to your hand at your upkeep for 1 life.
• Necromancer's Stockpile: repeatable discard, excellent with Master of Death and good way to get Zombies into your graveyard for reanimation.
• Siege Zombie: combos with at least two other Zombies + Throne of the God-Pharaoh for lots repeatable opponent life loss.
• Apprentice Necromancer: can be repeatable reanimation source with Gisa and Geralf.
• Lazotep Plating
• Counterspell
• Arcane Denial

Some cards to consider cutting: Gorex, the Tombshell, Switcheroo, Mass Manipulation, Aetherspouts, Eternal Skylord, Eloise, Nephalia Sleuth, Gravespawn Sovereign, Shadow Kin, Vilis, Broker of Blood, Open the Graves.

Good luck with your deck.

multimedia on Wombo Zombo

4 days ago

Hey, good upgrades so far of the precon. Nice first attempt, but your deck doesn't have a Commander.

In the deck editor add the CMDR tag after Wilhelt, the Rotcleaver text.

1x Wilhelt, the Rotcleaver *CMDR*

When you save and return to your deck then Wilhelt will be the Commander with it's own category and card image.

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Undead Augur is in the precon and cutting it is a mistake because it triggers to draw when it dies or any other Zombie including a Zombie token dies. Because it triggers when decayed Zombies die then it can be an excellent source of repeatable draw and it's a Zombie. Augur because it's only two mana is really good with Gisa and Geralf.

Nice foil Acererak the Archlich. Him along with Rooftop Storm is your best way of winning. A way to win with Wilhelt is Poppet Factory which is the backside of Poppet Stitcher  ^Flip. Factory removes decayed from Zombies letting you with a sac outlet repeatedly sac a decayed Zombie to create another one. Blasting Station or Altar of Dementia are win condition sac outlets with Factory.

If you want to infinite combo with Gravecrawler + Rooftop Storm then you also need a sac outlet which Carrion Feeder being a Zombie is helpful. Blasting Station or Altar of Dementia are also win conditions with infinite Gravecrawler. If Rooftop Storm is how you want to win then consider some more protection: Counterspell, Arcane Denial, Lazotep Plating? With 11 Islands Mystic Sanctuary can be a helpful land.

Some changes to consider including some cards in the maybeboard:

• Undead Augur --> Ruthless Deathfang
• Poppet Stitcher  ^Flip --> Stitcher Geralf
• Blasting Station --> Ammit Eternal
• Altar of Dementia --> Havengul Runebinder
• Carrion Feeder --> Undead Alchemist
• Counterspell --> Soulless One
• Arcane Denial --> Prowling Geistcatcher
• Lazotep Plating --> Dread Summons
• Cryptbreaker --> Ebondeath, Dracolich
• Lord of the Undead --> Liliana's Mastery
• Living Death --> Ravenous Rotbelly
• Jet Medallion --> Obelisk of Urd
• Infernal Grasp --> Foul Renewal

Good luck with your deck.

[email protected]_only on Eilistraee

1 week ago

so, rather than flood the area with bricks of text, I've broken my thoughts on this down into 3 issues:

Color Issues

Svylunn is a monochromatic deity in a tribe that branches into all 5 colors; while all merfolk are at least a little bit blue, lorwyn and morningtide had white merfolk, eventide & Shadowmoor had black merfolk, and now ixilan has green merfolk (then there are the 4 izzet merfolk that nobody really uses for tribal). Yet the sole merfolk god only exists in mono-blue. As such, there is a restriction for what you can or cannot build a deck with her as a commander.

Likewise, elves were white in shadowmoor / eventide, but black in lorwyn / morningtide. but for Alara they were red, and for simic they were blue. And as a regularly reoccuring tribe, they had even more support than merfolk, what with vedalken, humans, and faeries edging in on their turf.

Heck, if you limit the colors and focus in on what elves do, the closest elf god comparison actually already exists - Ezuri, Renegade Leader - protection for other elves (better than ward 1, I'd argue), and a mass-pump built in. He doesn't do card draw, but before green stole a bit of everone elses stuff on the color pie, that was blue's schtick.

Power Issues

It feels a waaaay to good to work. Even if you remove the cast from exile, Gisa and Geralf only lets you cast a single zombie from the graveyard each turn, for a single mana fewer.

While I like the concept of needing elves to make her indestructible, it would make more sense to make her closer to a Thero's gods; requiring elves to be a creature and maintain indestructibility at all times. Instead, have a passive ward 1 for elves, but only let you cast from graveyard while she is a creature. Just spitballing here for what might work better.

Lore Issues

So, lore wise (assuming drawing from forgotten realms, as the name implies), she really only accepts drow that have rejected their subterranean heritage and reverance of Lloth. as such, she would make more sense to have something akin to:

Whenever a black elf comes into play under your control, target opponent gains control of it. it gains "when this creature leaves play, its owner puts a green copy of it into play under their control".

or, if you want to feature her aspect as a deity of retemption:

Your deck may contain elves of any color. Any non-green, non-white elves are green. You may spend white mana to cast elves as if it were mana of any color.

While she was banished to the underdark, she went willingly to try and redeem her mother's followers. This is not he act of a selfish being - quite the opposite. As such, while I have no issue with the , the in her mana cost really doesn't belong.

Just my 2 Cents

multimedia on Wilhelt's Zombie Apocalypse

2 weeks ago

Hey, well done with the precon upgrade and very nice formated deck description. You're a good deck builder with the budget that you have, choosing the better expensive price cards (Demonic, Gravecrawler, Acererak, Cryptbreaker and Watery). If on a budget I don't think Tainted Adversary and Ebondeath, Dracolich are worth their prices.

You're very honest about the power level here, not exaggerating and saying power level 8 to make your deck seem better than it really is. Believe me, I hear this all the time, players insisting that the power level of their deck is very high while playing $100 deck with only 30 lands and Guildgates...

In the combo section of the description you don't mention Gravecrawler and it's a pretty important Zombie for combos especially with Rooftop. He needs a sac outlet with Rooftop to go infinite which all you need is Carrion Feeder. Gravecrawler is the most powerful Zombie printed because its just so damn mana efficient. He deserves his own section in the description since his interaction with Wilhert is excellent, giving you a Zombie on your turn to repeatedly sac at your end steps to draw and create a decayed Zombie for one mana.

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You clearly have deck building skills, but there's some cards here that could be upgraded even on a budget. You've removed some of the better cards from the precon that can give you repeatable value especially more draw and Zombie tokens.

• Undead Augur: very good Zombie since it triggers to draw whenever a Zombie token dies.

• Midnight Reaper: another source or repeatable draw when nontokens die.
  

• Gisa and Geralf: don't underestimate how valuable it is to be able repeatedly cast even one Zombie on your turn from your graveyard. Pair Augur with Gisa/Geralf and Wilhelt to repeatedly draw two cards/create a decayed Zombie on your turns for two mana. Pair Gisa/Geralf with Fleshbag Marauder and Wilhelt to repeatedly wreck your opponents creatures for three mana and create a decayed Zombie.
  

• Fleshbag Marauder: making all opponents have to sac a creature they control is really good in multiplayer Commander especially on a three drop Zombie who can be recurred or reanimated.

• Curse of the Restless Dead: you can curse yourself to have more control over this making it a repeatable Zombie source by playing lands. Honestly, this card is better than Endless Ranks of the Dead at consistency of creating Zombies since there's no lame restriction like Ranks has and you'll have lands.
  

• Liliana, Death's Majesty: all her loyalty abilities are good especially her -7 which is not difficult to get to and in casual it can wreck, be a game winning effect.

Some changes to consider:

• Carrion Feeder --> Rank Officer
• Undead Augur --> Eternal Skylord
• Gisa and Geralf --> Enter the God-Eternals
• Curse of the Restless Dead --> Diregraf Horde
• Midnight Reaper --> Josu Vess, Lich Knight
• Fleshbag Marauder --> Risen Executioner
• Liliana, Death's Majesty --> Icon of Ancestry
• Mystic Sanctuary --> Mistvault Bridge

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Poppet Stitcher  ^Flip is a powerful new card for Zombies and Poppet Factory is busted with Wilhert because it removes decayed from Zombies letting you repeatedly sac a decayed Zombie to create another. Fallen Ideal is an underrated gem in Commander with token strategies because it gives the enchanted creature flying and it's a sac outlet.

Enchant Wilhert and then sac your Zombie horde to attack for lethal Commander damage at an opponent. If you created a bunch of decayed Zombies potentially attack again for lethal Commander damage to another opponent on your next turn. Pair Ideal with Factory to attack for lethal Commander damage on your turn every turn.

Good luck with your deck.

Junkygoatgibblets on Commanders You Defend?

1 month ago

Honestly a lot of my commanders get questioned. Usually it's something like : "But there's way better options." And my response is: That's cool, I like this one, it fits the flavor of my deck, and adds to the synergy. I don't play The Scarab God over Gisa and Geralf because while scarab IS better (in some ways) I wanted to play a Dimir Zombie deck focused around big name necromancers in MTG. Thankfully it's not my pod that does this, it's usually some random at the LGS.

KBK7101 on Alena // Halana (Gruulfriends Forever) [Primer]

1 month ago

MaRo teased a "a character from Innistrad once mentioned in a short story finally gets a card in an Innistrad set" as part of his Midnight Hunt teasers. Could we be getting a combined Alena/Halana card like Gisa and Geralf?! I'm excited!

sduval2 on sduval2

2 months ago

Gisa and Geralf sduval2

Junkygoatgibblets on Best commanders to introduce new …

2 months ago

Gisa and Geralf

Relatively cheap, easy to get a ton of support for, and you can go super casual or relatively competitive and have fun! It's also my personal favorite commander, and I feel like zombies need more love.