Rhizome Lurcher

Creature — Zombie Fungus

Undergrowth — Rhizome Lurcher enters the battlefield with a number of +1/+1 counters on it equal to the number of creature cars in your graveyard.

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

Discussion (19)

Cheerful_Zucchini on Golgari Reanimator

3 years ago

Try putting in Rhizome Lurcher over Undergrowth Scavenger , since he'll generally be more powerful. Pretty good deck, but I feel like you need more cards that fill your yard. Maybe replace Nimble Mongoose with Eye Collector ?

TheVectornaut on Blue-Black Deck

3 years ago

I'd start by identifying what you want the main goal of your deck to be. I see two main ideas here that could be built around.

The first is dealing unblocked damage by disincentivizing blocks with deathtouch. Darkblade Agent , Eternal of Harsh Truths , Graveblade Marauder , and maybe Blightsteel Colossus (with enough reanimation) fit this archetype. Because of the two "blade" cards, there is some overlap with the second archetype which I'll cover next (and if you keep them, cards like Notion Rain , Mission Briefing , Thought Erasure , and Discovery / Dispersal are likely to get more mileage than Divination or Secrets of the Golden City ), but there may be even better ways to profit from unblocked creatures. Curiosity enchantments like Curious Obsession , Sixth Sense , and Keen Sense are frequent accompaniments to the Invisible Stalker s and other bogles of the world, and Bident of Thassa is a strong option for those going wide. I like Quietus Spike as a sort of midway point between Basilisk Collar and Master of Cruelties in decks like these too. Other beaters to get in with could be Tomebound Lich , Oona's Blackguard , Dimir Cutpurse , Looter il-Kor , Shadowmage Infiltrator , Surrakar Spellblade , Wharf Infiltrator , or Virtus the Veiled if he's legal in whatever format this is for. More generic deathtouch synergy could include Hooded Blightfang , Viridian Longbow , Thornbite Staff , Psionic Gift enchantments, and any source of first strike. Finally, I like Cipher as a way to gain advantage from repeated attacks, so maybe a Hidden Strings or Paranoid Delusions could come in handy.

The second main idea is to stack the graveyard(s) with as many creatures as possible to extract value from Undergrowth and similar mechanics. Avatar of Woe , Lotleth Giant , Trepanation Blade , Teferi's Tutelage , and some of your Disentomb effects fit here. Major threats in these kinds of decks include Wight of Precinct Six , Jace's Phantasm , Consuming Aberration , Mirko Vosk, Mind Drinker , Fleet Swallower , Nemesis of Reason , Bonehoard , Mortivore , and Nighthowler . If you want to focus on your own graveyard, green is a great color to dip into as I alluded to earlier. Ghoultree , Boneyard Wurm , Jarad, Golgari Lich Lord , Splinterfright , Nyx Weaver , Nemesis of Mortals , Spider Spawning , and Kessig Cagebreakers are just some of the tools you get access to. Golgari is also the king of Undergrowth, so Hatchery Spider , Izoni, Thousand-Eyed , Molderhulk , Rhizome Lurcher / Undergrowth Scavenger , Kraul Harpooner , and Necrotic Wound are on the table. If milling your opponents is more your thing, some staples to consider are Thought Scour , Sphinx's Tutelage , Drown in the Loch , Traumatize , Fraying Sanity , and the crab duo. Jace's Erasure , Psychic Corrosion , and the Tutelage pair benefit the most from other draw synergy, and Visions of Beyond is an obvious inclusion if that's the route you take. Either way, I'd cut down to only the most efficient of your reanimate to hand cards and the like since you don't want to be stuck with a fist full of them and no creatures in the graveyard to target. Speaking of cuts, for maximum power, it's usually correct to play as close to the 60 card minimum as possible. Picking a single strategy to hone in on should make it easier to whittle down to the most important 60 in the deck.

If you have questions, let me know. Good luck with your build!

0riginal on sultai midrange: graveyard control

4 years ago

I did a graveyard-style deck like this with Brokkos, Apex of Forever which was to get cards into the graveyard, namely Brokkos, and then use his ability to mutate him onto a strong creature like Rhizome Lurcher that benefits from the graveyard. I saw this deck and it looked pretty similar, so i checked it out. I like it, i'll probably try to get it in arena, but you might want to do Ashiok, Dream Render instead of Blood Curdle and add in 1 more Thassa's Oracle so one of your win conditions is higher.

ghostofsparta on Polukranos's Prison Break

4 years ago

Also, you could replace your least favorite hydra with Vigor. Play the deck a few times to see how those "enters the battlefield with counters equal to creatures in graveyards"-type creatures work out for you. I suspect that there will be times that your commander will eat their lunch, so to speak. Rhizome Lurcher seems to be the weakest of these, and this would be a good slot for any of the other cards I mentioned. Other cards to look at are Fungal Behemoth, Scute Mob, Obsessive Skinner, and Feral Hydra: if they're not pulling their weight when you test your deck then I would try replacing these with other cards.

Baerbel2000 on Golgari Swarm - Undergrowth

4 years ago

aperson321 Overwhelming Stampede is exactly what I had in mind. Mad combo possibilities with Nighthowler, Rhizome Lurcher etc. Will certainly look into Dredge, thanks.

ZendikariWol on Grixis Undeath Mechanics

5 years ago

Is it really terrible in limited? Something I've been forced to think about is the very creature-centered nature of the shards. All of the shards except Esper are innately creature-based in their mechanics.

However, I'm also realizing that's not new.

Take the last few blocks for example:

Eldraine- Adventure is creature-based, Adamant can go on a creature, and non-human tribal is... well, tribal. The set has some light synergies with "artifacts or enchantments" and "drawing your second card per turn", but all of the large synergies interact with creatures.

Of the guild mechanics from the latest Ravnica block, Adapt, Mentor, Afterlife, and Riot go only on creatures.

Surveil, Spectacle, Convoke, and Undergrowth go on creatures and other things. Of those, Convoke and Undergrowth have a heavy emphasis on creatures (on the battlefield or in the graveyard, respectively), and Spectacle's main turnon in limited is creatures.

Only Addendum and Jump-Start do not appear on creatures. Well, technically since Addendum appears on things that have flash, it could appear on a creature, but probably not.

Or in Khans of Tarkir, the wedge set, all of the mechanics but Prowess were innately creature-based: Outlast/Bolster, Exploit, Raid/Dash, Ferocious/Formidable, Morph and Warrior tribal are suuuper creature-based.

---

Bottom line, creatures in the graveyard isn't so difficult. Just ask the Undergrowth deck I got POUNDED by in limited ( Rhizome Lurcher is a really solid common!)

Also creatures make up a little over 50% of a set.

SideBae on Jarad, Golgari Lich Lord

5 years ago

So I think you probably don’t want 36 lands... frankly, I think you want 33 at most. The reason I say this is that, being green, your deck has access to the best ramp in the game. You should strongly consider running any/all of the following: Llanowar Elves , Elves of Deep Shadow , Fyndhorn Elves , Elvish Mystic , Deathrite Shaman , Birds of Paradise , Arbor Elf , Utopia Sprawl and/or Wild Growth .

You want your creatures to be synergistic with your general and be more than midrange value. I think cards like Mindslicer , which effect the board when sacrificed as well as being a body, are likely a lot better than Wall of Blood , Splinterfright , Rhizome Lurcher , etc. Other creatures to consider for these slots: Stinkweed Imp , Golgari Grave-Troll , Eternal Witness , Entomb , Kokusho, the Evening Star ...

This list could also benefit from more card-drawn. Phyrexian Arena is the classical example, but there’re other good options. I like the Shamanic Revelation in your MB; I suggest considering Night's Whisper , Blood Divination , Life's Legacy , Minions' Murmurs , Syphon Mind and Succumb to Temptation .

Also, Diabolic Intent as a more budget Demonic Tutor .

Good luck!

Tata on Abzan Tortured Existence

5 years ago

I really like your list. I've been casting around for a good abzan tortured existence list and this is the best I've seen. I also admire your attention to unknown cards - both Rhizome Lurcher and Moodmark Painter are diamonds in the rough.