Gisa and Geralf

Legendary Creature — Human Wizard

When Gisa and Geralf enters the battlefield, 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 (51)

SideBae on Dimir Zombies

1 month ago

I don't think you need more combos... I think you need better mana, tutors and card draw to make your current combos more consistent. Running one or two combos is probably good enough, especially since zombie decks tend to be good at the beat-face plan, too. Counter-magic is worth considering, though not everyone likes running it.

Mana: Ramp is a big part of EDH. Having fast, reliable access to your colors is indispensable -- this is part of the reason two-cost rocks are better than three-cost rocks. I think Talisman of Dominance is probably better than Commander's Sphere . It comes down a turn earlier, and it allows you to cast your general turn three. Cards like Charcoal Diamond , Sky Diamond and Coldsteel Heart are also good, though their coming into play tapped is a real setback. Underground River is a land you should consider, as are Morphic Pool and Drowned Catacomb .

Tutors: Demonic Tutor and Vampiric Tutor are the gold-standard here, though they're also rather hard to get ahold of. I like Dark Petition and Diabolic Tutor ; you might want to consider Entomb or Buried Alive to get your Gravecrawler and friends into the 'yard. If you include Animate Dead , Reanimate , Necromancy , Exhume and/or Dance of the Dead you can get out your Grave Titan or Overseer of the Damned real fast. Reanimation packages are good.

Card Draw: There're a few cards I think you either didn't know about or overlooked in this area.

1. Graveborn Muse : This card is BUSTED in zombie decks. Even staying out for just one turn cycle can get you four or five cards easily, making it a way better Phyrexian Arena . If you choose to run something like Whip of Erebos , you can pretty easily recoup the life.

2. Night's Whisper / Chart a Course : Two-mana draw-twos have always been pretty good. In a top-deck war, these can make all the difference.

3. Cantrips: Ponder , Preordain and Brainstorm are all excellent cards; in Vintage, these are signatures of Xerox-decks. They'll dig you to lands if you need them, and get you past lands if you don't. Note that Brainstorm goes from OK to really good with the inclusion of shuffle-effects, like your Evolving Wilds . Running more of these lands, like Prismatic Vista , Flooded Strand , Polluted Delta , or even just Bad River or Rocky Tar Pit is a good idea.

4. Treasure Cruise / Dig Through Time : These are good ways to utilize lands or similar non-functional-in-graveyard cards you mill with Gisa and Geralf . Depending on how full your yard typically ends up, running one or both of these is probably a good idea.

5. Skullclamp : Pair this with your Gravecrawler for instant value.

6. Distant Melody : I'm not sure how many zombies you have, but having an average of four or more zombies will make this worth including.

7. Slate of Ancestry : This is similar to Distant Melody , but is more repeatable.

8. Undead Augur : This card will help you out-draw opponents.

9. Corpse Harvester : While not technically card-draw, it is a good form of card-advantage. It'll get you both swamps and whatever creature you need. If you include Fetid Pools , Sunken Hollow or Watery Grave , you can fetch those, too.

10. Fact or Fiction : This is card-draw and self-mill all packed into one card.

Beat Face:

1. Zombie Master : Pair this with Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth and your creatures are unblockable.

2. Cover of Darkness : This is a good secondary evasion plan. Lord of the Accursed is a similar card that also buffs your guys.

3. Death Baron , Undead Warchief and Lord of the Undead : These lords make your dudes all the more potent. Note that buffing toughness makes the Gravecrawler + Skullclamp loop harder to pull off.

4. Patriarch's Bidding : This is a great way for tribal decks to come back from a boardwipe.

5. Coat of Arms : This is a lot of mana to invest in an easily-killed artifact, though it is worth considering. This can rather easily pump your guys with +5/+5.

6. Gray Merchant of Asphodel : This is a good way to recoup life, while at the same time pressuring your opponents' life totals.

7. Rot Hulk : I'd run this in any zombie deck.

Counter-Magic: Force of Will , Mana Drain and Pact of Negation are the gold standard, though difficult to get ahold of. Consider the following:

1. Counterspell : This is a better form of Cancel .

2. Spell Snare : This is a good, affordable counter spell that can take out an opposing Demonic Tutor or Flash -combo without difficulty.

3. Negate / Countersquall : This will hold off boardwipes and keep your guys alive.

4. Exclude : In a creature-heavy meta, this is probably worth running as it does not cost card advantage.

5. Cryptic Command / Dismiss : Four mana is a lot to leave up in this sort of deck, but these can be powerful. You should at least consider them.

Right -- that's all from me. Good luck!

FrancoisParfait on Gisa and geralf

1 month ago

Looks sweet! I'm actually working on a Gisa and Geralf deck as well so this giving me some good ideas!

I'd definitely put in Cabal Coffers , and also Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth . Those two together can get you some serious Mana. Commander's Sphere is also really good, sort of an auto-include in any commander deck from my perspective.

Also I'd consider Coat of Arms . I run mainly tribal decks and this thing is a beast in anything of the tribal variety. It'll all make those zombies big and nasty instead of just nasty.

And Gravecrawler . Zombie that you can cast from the graveyard for just one Mana. If anything it'll just mess with your oppenents' heads.

LadyZ on Ertai's Corrupted Army

2 months ago

You're in the right colors, I'd run Varina, Lich Queen to help your zombie subtheme. Ghoulcaller Gisa , Stitcher Geralf , Gisa and Geralf , and Lim-Dul the Necromancer could all help there too.

CyborgAeon on RazaBridge Combo

3 months ago

MediSyntax firstly I'd like to say way to go on finding Sifter of Skulls . That card is a treasure; secondly I'd like to preface the next update (soon to have some awesome css styles added and custom js elements).

Some changes I'm looking to make are stripping out Walking Ballista in favour of Sifter of Skulls . Furthermore I feel like enough people have mentioned that Yawgmoth, Thran Physician is putting in work, so he'll be going in over the flex slot temporarily (as he draws cards, pumps lily, blocks tymna and hates on the best creature type - humans). If he were a zombie it would be a slam dunk include for now he is in for testing.

Paradox Engine is a really busted card... I think that a couple of times I've been tempted to slide this in, as in the instance that we have a sacrifice outlet, GC and a few rocks we could just use that to function in place of Phyrexian Arena / Blood Artist .

Undead Augur is as streamlined as we could really ask for. The card draws cards at a VERY reasonable cost, and it's a zombie!

Lastly I've been thinking of porting this list into a Gisa and Geralf list, as with abundant mana we can use the general to fill our grave and cast every combo piece within it (also having countermagic would make this list a lot less risky)

P.S: Yixlid Jailer can't be in our flex slots (despite how good he is against some decks).

bushido_man96 on Grimgrin, Corpse-Born: Gravecrawler's Lament

3 months ago

I love your Gray Merchant of Asphodel and Rite of Replication combo. That just nasty. Bontu's Monument is a solid piece, too. I've added it to the list of my Zombie tribal deck. I play a Dimir one with Gisa and Geralf as the Commander. A nice piece of equipment I like to run with Ghoulcaller Gisa is Thornbite Staff .

McToters on U/B Zombie tribal commander

3 months ago

Hey there! I like how you’re running Gisa and Geralf as your commander. Two zombies I think will work well for you are Graveborn Muse and Forgotten Creation . My zombie deck runs both of the cards I suggested to you but I run Grimgrin, Corpse-Born as the commander. If you have any suggestions for me I’m all ears. I tend not to lean too token-focused just any and all zombies.

+1

SideBae on Zombo's and God's

3 months ago

As a general rule, adding things to slow your opponents down is a good way to start taking a deck to the next level. Idk how much search your meta has, but Ashiok, Dream Render works wonders against enemy tutors while also providing a level of graveyard hate.

Liliana, Death's Majesty is well under $10 and should be strongly considered for any zombie deck.

Unholy Grotto is a utility land you might be interested in, as it provides some recursion for your zombies.

You also seem to be relatively light on card draw or selection. Ponder , Preordain and Brainstorm are all good cantrips, especially if conjoined with shuffle effects like Evolving Wilds or Terramorphic Expanse . Personally, I like Night's Whisper and Chart a Course as two-for-ones, but I see you're running Phyrexian Arena ; that is a solid permanent which produces card advantage. Graveborn Muse is also a similar consideration, although the life loss may need to be countered by a Whip of Erebos or the like. In a similar vein, something like Slate of Ancestry may work well with the token-producers you have; Curse of Disturbance seems a good consideration to add to the token-package. It's worth noting that a large majority of EDH games are decided by card advantage.

I'm not sure how well Crypt of Agadeem works; I've had poor results with it. You may want to just run a basic land instead.

The Undermine slot is likely better served with Sinister Sabotage . In a format with 40 life, making an opponent lose 3 life is equivalent to draining them 1.5 life in a 20 life format. In all likelihood, you may just want the ability to filter your draws or (ideally) to bin a zombie, then cast it from the graveyard with Gisa and Geralf without needing to worry about wasting a draw on it.

I've also not had good experience with 3-mana artifact mana-producers. I suggest Dimir Signet and Talisman of Dominance instead of Mana Geode and Chromatic Lantern . Chromatic Lantern really only becomes strictly necessary in 4- or 5-color decks, and since you're 2, it seems superfluous.

I also notice you're running Xenograft and Arcane Adaptation . I don't think these cards are necessary, especially if you cut Call to the Grave for something like Grave Pact or Dictate of Erebos .

I always like seeing a list with Exquisite Blood in it; you should run Sanguine Bond as well, as these two together produce an auto-win. Also, if you put a way to grant lifelink (such as the aforementioned Whip of Erebos ), Sanguine Bond begins to act as a pseudo damage-doubler.

Depending on your meta and whether there are other creature-based black decks, Bad Moon may be a good insert as an anthem effect. Similarly, barring an over-abundance of artifact decks, you may want to include Ashes to Ashes as a two-for-one removal spell.

Since UMA came out, Entomb is only a few dollars; Buried Alive acts similarly. So I advise adding that, as well as reanimation effects like Animate Dead , Necromancy or Reanimate . Being able to produce a Grave Titan turn two is always a massive plus. But don't feel limited to just Grave Titan , though; things like Helldozer are good reanimation targets as well. If you just want big, black fatties, Massacre Wurm and Phyrexian Obliterator are two of my favorites (though they're relatively expensive).

Good luck with the zombies. The living dead are bosses.

Asder on Card creation challenge

3 months ago

Taking of the Sun

sorcery

choose an artifact card you own from outside the game with converted mana cost X or less and put that card into your hand. If you control a planeswalker, instead put that card onto the battlefield.

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I think if that card was to be made it would have been in War of the Spark so I think planeswalkers matter is a fitting mechanic.

Create partner planeswalkers for if Gisa and Geralf (see also Ghoulcaller Gisa and Stitcher Geralf ) had their sparks ignited.