Headless Rider

Creature — Zombie

Whenever this or another nontoken Zombie you control dies (is put into the graveyard from the battlefield), create a 2/2 black Zombie creature token.

Tokens

• Zombie 2/2 B

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
Freeform	Legal
Gladiator	Legal
Highlander	Legal
Historic	Legal
Historic Brawl	Legal
Legacy	Legal
Leviathan	Legal
Limited	Legal
Modern	Legal
Modern Beyond Horizons	Legal
Oathbreaker	Legal
Pioneer	Legal
Planar Constructed	Legal
Planechase	Legal
Quest Magic	Legal
Tiny Leaders	Legal
Vanguard	Legal
Vintage	Legal

Discussion (26)

SaberTech on Varina: Unalive in 2025

7 months ago

Well, I'll try picking some options to cut from different points in your curve so that I don't mess with the balance you are trying to go for too much.

• Changeling Outcast I don't think that this one is really worth it. It is an early drop that can net you some value off of Varina if attacks don't look great but I think that I would prefer to see a mana rock over that in my starting hand pretty much every time.

• Champion of the Perished, Shambling Ghast, and Lazotep Reaver are also pretty low value options that I would prefer to be a mana rock in my opening hand but they at least have a bit of potential scaling value. The Champion could get big enough to pressure opponents a bit even though it doesn't have trample, and both the Ghast and Reaver could potentially do something late game with the Liliana, Untouched By Death combo line. Still, I would consider any of those three to be cuttable for other stuff.

• Relentless Dead I think that this card is too mana hungry. Varina's card filtering lets the deck be pretty consistent in finding cards that it wants to cast, so it's a waste to leave mana untapped just so that you can make use of Relentless Dead's abilities if it dies. You have other ways of getting creatures back in the deck, and I think that Zul Ashur, Lich Lord already fills the role better.

• Headless Rider Preferably, you don't want to be trading away your utility zombies in combat if you can help it so the Rider becomes more of a backup to get some value if an opponent uses removal than a way of getting ahead on board. It can produce infinite tokens off of some of the decks combos, I'll give it that, but on its own it is trying to compete with Wilhelt, the Rotcleaver, which can also combo and draw you cards. If you are looking for an alternative to it, I've actually been very impressed with Geralf, the Fleshwright in my own list. Geralf also combos and his ability to pump your zombies can get pretty nuts.

• Priest of the Crossing is a card that I'm just uncertain of. It's more a suggestion to just watch how this card performs for you in practice to see if it's worth it. I think that how well it fits will come down to play style.

• Noxious Ghoul and Temmet, Naktamun's Will kind of play a similar role in the deck, but from different angles. They both ultimately make your creatures harder to block. The Ghoul removes creatures, synergizes well with cards like Cryptcaller Chariot, and can fit in with some of your combos. It's dependent on other cards working well for it to do more than clear some small creatures each turn though. Temmet is a better body for your mana and his looting effect helps to fuel both itself and other cards in the deck. With other cards in the deck like On Wings of Gold, Zombie Master, or Death Baron that also make it harder for the opponent to block you could decide which of them ends up doing more for you overall after some testing.

• Land Tax is a card that I like in my own deck but what I mainly use it for is a way to put a bunch of cards in my hand to loot away for something better. I don't put too much emphasis on it as a way to mana fix. With only 6 basics in your deck you only get a couple shots with it, but considering that it is only 1 mana that still could be enough value for what you spend. Just something to keep your eye on.

Predator_90 on Thriller Nights

1 year ago

If you wanna go with the LTB triggers you should consider Headless Rider.

Zenntrox on Zombo Combo

1 year ago

Love the combo of this deck!

I've been tinkering with a zombie sacrifice deck myself and I got a few recommendations that might be helpful:

Ayara, First of Locthwain could probably be replaced with Blood Artist or Zulaport Cutthroat (the later being slightly worse, but also cheaper to buy irl). They all do functionally pretty much the same, but Ayara is more expensive with her 3 mana cost. So you might as well replace her unless you absolutely feel like you need that option to sac for her card draw or might have a reason to prefer the damage on creatures entering the battlefield rather than dying.

Headless Rider honestly doesn't feel like it's doing very much in this deck. As far as I understand it, the main wincons are either dealing damage through Ayara's ability or milling via the Altar of Dementia. Creating tokens just feels unnecessary and having more draw to get to your combo pieces faster is probably more useful. For example, Village Rites combos well with having disposable creatures and Undead Augur, effectively allowing you to draw 3 cards for 1 mana at instant speed.

If you don't mind your removal being sorcery speed, then you might want to give Bone Shards a try. It gives flexibility in either discarding or sacrificing for its cost and can also target plainswalkers. Finally, maybe 1 or 2 copies of Unearth could be useful as a failsafe in case important combo pieces end up in the graveyard. It can get you literally any creature from your deck back and that for just 1 mana.

wallisface on Modern Zombies

2 years ago

Jadar, Ghoulcaller of Nephalia is already a decent token generator - if you’re looking for more Headless Rider does a good job also.

I think the thing to keep in mind with zombies is that their strength is in their ability to play very aggressively - if a game goes long you’re in trouble. So try not to focus too much into the grindy options, as you’ll often lose those interactions.

nlidmaster on Mono-black zomboys

2 years ago

This deck looks really solid! One of my close friends has been running a blue and black zombie deck for a while. I think your deck would benefit a lot from Cryptbreaker. Can generate zombies and card draw. Foulmire Knight is also a solid option.

As much as I love Grave Titan, depending on how fast/competitive you want this deck to be, he is going to slow you down a lot. I think Diregraf Colossus could be a strong replacement.

Lord of the Accursed can also be a game winning zombie lord. Although Consume Spirit adds to the lifegain idea, you still need at least three mana to cast it, and even then its not doing much work for you. Murderous Rider can not only serve as removal, but is alternatively a zombie with lifelink.

Cards I'd take out to replace with the ones I receommended would be Consume Spirit, Grave Titan, Graf Harvest, Headless Rider, and Shambling Ghast.

These of course are personal suggestions, you do what makes you happy!

thefiresoflurve on Grimgrin - Needs your Help

2 years ago

Yylon Thanks for the info, graveyard dimir zombies sounds fun.

A few potential cuts, subject to your playtesting experience:

Dread Summons - sorcery speed, and the zombies come in tapped, so right away I'm not horribly impressed. I'd cut this unless your table runs incredibly heavy creature decks and you get upwards of 6 zombies from it consistently.

Similarly, Dark Salvation seems a bit too mana intensive for what it does, although I will admit I am biased because I like board wipes more than targeted removal (Esper gang).

All of your enchantments look really amazing. Open the Graves may be able to be cut, since it's a strictly worse version of Headless Rider in this deck.

Endless Ranks of the Dead is another maybe-cut, crazy as it sounds. I think this card is a bit win-more. It is really fun, though...

Similarly, Empty the Laboratory. If you have enough zombies on the field to make it impactful, you're probably already winning. It's also sorcery speed in a deck that sucks at giving haste.

Champion of the Perished can be cut. It isn't bad, but a vanilla 110/110 is just as easy to block as a 2/2.

All of this is, of course, barring any idiosyncrasies of your playgroups - maybe Champion of the Perished singlehandedly wins games for you. I think you have a really solid deck here, and just need to play some more and figure out what works in practice and what doesn't.

Happy building!

DeinoStinkus on Dimir Zombie Tribal

3 years ago

If you throw in a Pitiless Plunderer then you can go infinite with Carrion Feeder and Gravecrawler ;)

Even besides that Plunderer is a good card

Headless Rider might also work decently in this deck.

sdtech58 on Wilhelt Tribal

3 years ago

Gray Merchant of Asphodel - life drain/gain. Bounce him a few times for maximum benefit

Havengul Lich - reanimation source. Has underperformed in games for me. Borderline

Headless Rider - tokens

Midnight Reaper - card draw

Murderous Rider - spot removal if needed. Versatile

Noxious Ghoul - one-sided board wipe potential

Plague Belcher - potential sac outlet, death trigger payoff

Relentless Dead - recurrence, reanimate

Shepherd of Rot - life drain. ALL players. Don't kill yourself...

Sidisi, Undead Vizier - tutor, sac outlet and big body

Undead Augur - card draw

Wilhelt, the Rotcleaver - alternate commander. Tokens and sac outlet

Zombie Master - reanimation, swampwalk. Nice when Urborg is on the field!!