Returned Phalanx

Creature — Zombie Soldier

Defender

1B: Returned Phalanx can attack this turn as if it did not have defender

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
Legacy	Legal
Leviathan	Legal
Limited	Legal
Modern	Legal
Oathbreaker	Legal
Pauper	Legal
Pauper Duel Commander	Legal
Pauper EDH	Legal
Pioneer	Legal
Planechase	Legal
Quest Magic	Legal
Tiny Leaders	Legal
Vanguard	Legal
Vintage	Legal

Discussion (12)

gameflips on ZOMBIES!!!!

2 years ago

Great deck! Cheap for kitchen table magic and a perfect template for a blue/black budget zombie deck. I really like Undead Alchemist but it's weird to switch to a milling strategy if you pull him late game. I'll probably still run him for the fun of it, but do you have any other suggestions to replace him?

Also, I have a few copies of Screeching Skaab that I might replace Returned Phalanx with to make the most out of Ghoulraiser and Ghoulcaller's Chant's graveyard flexibility and to beef up Unbreathing Horde.

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

Styrupp on Black/Blue Modern Zombies (Updated)

6 years ago

As SoakingDrop52 said so are Geralf's Messenger a really good threat thx to undying.

Here what i would do:

Remove following cards, Unsummon, Lay Bare the Heart, Gravedigger, Returned Phalanx, Diregraf Ghoul

Add following card or consider them: Phyrexian Arena, Dark Confidant,Sign in Blood For card draw, you will empty your hand really fast.

Add 2x more Sunken Hollow together with 4x Polluted Delta.

Add 3x more Gravecrawler, more lords like Lord of the Accursed and Diregraf Captain. 4x Relentless Dead could be awesome.

You need some disruption in mainboard, go get some: Thoughtseize,Fatal Push,Collective Brutality, Dismember or Liliana of the Veil.

There are plenty of options but these are some of them.

The_Pixel_Ninja on Nekusar, the cancer giver

6 years ago

Cards to take out:

Indentured Djinn while the logic is solid behind choosing him, he's each opponent "May" draw, allows them to opt out of the 3+ damage

Duskmantle Seer fit's the flavor, but isn't actually a draw which could easily net you less damage across the board.

Returned Phalanx this card takes up space for no real good reason

Trade Secrets is illegal in the commander/edh format

Swamp/Island/Mountain you have way too many lands in this deck you could probably run 10 less land and still be A-okay, obviously you should playtest it and tweak it accordingly.

Cards to consider:

Arjun, the Shifting Flame my friend runs this guy in a red/blue locust god EDH it forces all sorts of draw on everyone.

Graceful Adept living Spellbook/Reliquary Tower

Jin-Gitaxias, Core Augur Later game nets you heavy amounts of draw and makes your opponents lose any card advantage you might give them.

Stormbreath Dragon with the amount of cards you should be forcing your opponents to draw his monstrous will be devastating

Sturmgeist you're going to have a fair deal of cards yourself

The Locust God tokens for days.

Viseling hand sizes will easily be 4+ damage will be dealt.

Howling Mine forces draw

Font of Mythos forces more draw

Archmage Ascension why draw cards like a plebeian when you could tutor all the cards?

Fevered Visions essentially 2 damage a turn every turn.

Forced Fruition easy 7+ damage

Price of Knowledge Damage for days

Underworld Dreams it's like have 2 nekusar

Well of Ideas All the draw.

5D_Phantom on

6 years ago

Since the secondary ability of Wall of Forgotten Pharaohs only works with deserts and I'm trying to modernize this deck, I found some potential replacements, as there's no point in including slow lands for a single creature.

Potential Walls

• Steel Wall
• Oona's Gatewarden
• Perimeter Captain
• Order of the Stars
• Consulate Skygate
• Wall of Tanglecord
• Cathedral Membrane
• Thing in the Ice  ^Flip
• Returned Phalanx
• Murmuring Phantasm
• Ludevic's Test Subject  ^Flip
• Kaijin of the Vanishing Touch
• Jeskai Barricade
• Geist of the Lonely Vigil
• Fog Bank
• Doorkeeper
• Angelic Wall
• Vertigo Spawn
• Wall of Omens
• Wall of Essence

I really like Kaijin of the Vanishing Touch because of how bouncing enemy threats is a big theme of this deck, but I could also see Thing in the Ice  ^Flip being a replacement for both Wall of Forgotten Pharaohs as well as Striped Riverwinder though it doesn't get Hexproof. Thoughts, comments, suggestions?

Welch on Casual Zombies

6 years ago

I suggest you cut:

• at least 2, maybe 4 Ghoulcaller's Chant

• all Returned Phalanx and consequentially Dismal Backwater

• all Grave Defiler

• all Geralf's Messenger (for that budget, you can get much better cards)

• both Call to the Grave, it does too little for 5 mana.

JararoNatsu on

7 years ago

Hmm...

I don't particularly like Returned Phalanx. In an aggressive Zombie deck like this, you don't really want Defender unless it's something like Corpse Blockade, which may actually be decent as a 2-of or so here.

Don't forget that you still want to get Zombies into your graveyard so you can actually cast Skaab Goliath (and because it's a bit difficult to cast, keep it at like... a 3-of?). Carrion Feeder and Plague Belcher from the new set may help with that. I see a lot of decks like this use Grimgrin, Corpse-Born and sometimes Blood Artist, and Grimgrin may be a better option than Goliath. Something to consider.

I don't know how much of a budget you have, but Gravecrawler is a fun Zombie to have. Unless they're exiled they just keep coming back. Unbreathing Horde is fun too.

Would Smallpox work here? Maybe. Just maybe. Regardless you may want some removal here. Tragic Slip could work, as could Bone Splinters.

Trying to think of other things here... there's a lot of things that one can do with Zombies. I'm a Control junkie so my Zombie token decks both have a lot of control, which means that I'm not altogether versed in aggro decks. I would suggest looking at other decks, seeing what they've got going on, and go from there. Your deck is definitely coming together, so keep working on it XD

JararoNatsu on Pauper BUG Defenders

7 years ago

This might be long ONLY because I have a lot to say that may be helpful. Bear with me here!

Galvanic Alchemist would be a wonderful addition to this deck, as you can use it's Soulbond ability on both Axebane Guardian and Doorkeeper, and multiple of all three can potentially lead to an infinite mana/mill combo if you make the correct choices.

Returned Phalanx would be good as well, as it would give some some means of offense, should you have the opportunity to attack.

I would highly recommend that you have some Reach in this deck, as you currently have no way of defending against creatures with Flying. To this end Archers of Qarsi could work really well. Aim High would allow you to untap Axebane Guardian and Doorkeeper as well as give them +2/+2 AND Reach. You should definitely have a 4-of of this. Shape the Sands and Spidery Grasp are likewise potentially helpful.

I really like the thought of using Aspect of Gorgon in this deck. It would turn one of your Defenders into a sturdy, murder-y machine. Considering adding some of these! If not those then maybe Coat with Venom?

Consider dropping or reducing the amount of Gatecreeper Vine. You don't need a lot of mana for this deck at all, so having a weak Defender that pulls a land card won't do too terribly much for you. There are other Defenders that could take that spot and work better for what you want to do.

As your Sideboard would possibly suggest, having a set of counter spells would be helpful in this deck. There are plenty of Common counter spells, like Cancel, Calculated Dismissal, and Counterspell. With counter spells I usually tend to avoid because it can be mana-intensive, but I don't think that would be too big of a deal for this deck so if it works, go for it!

Okay... I think I'm done. I hope this helps!