Shepherd of Rot

Creature — Zombie Cleric

Tap: Each player loses 1 life for each Zombie on the battlefield.

Discussion (50)

multimedia on Zombie

1 month ago

Hey, well done for first deck on a budget, nice Demonic Tutor. You've definitely done research into the better budget cards for Varina and adding win condition combos. Liquimetal Torque + Binding Mummy is interesting tech.

I see Wonder which is great with Varina, but it's going to be difficult to consistently activate Wonder needing an Island land with only 4 Islands + Wilds/Expanse for a total of only 6 Island sources. There's several dual lands here that could be replaced by budget Island dual lands to help Wonder and make Marsh Flats better.

Some budget land upgrades to consider:

• Command Tower --> Rupture Spire
• Exotic Orchard --> Crumbling Vestige
• Esper Panorama --> Orzhov Guildgate
• Sunken Hollow --> Dimir Guildgate
• Prairie Stream --> Azorius Guildgate
• Ice Tunnel --> Dismal Backwater
• Irrigated Farmland --> Tranquil Cove
• Glacial Floodplain --> Meandering River
• Caves of Koilos --> Forsaken Sanctuary
• Tainted Isle --> Dimir Aqueduct
• Tainted Field --> Orzhov Basilica
• Choked Estuary --> Scoured Barrens

Command Tower and Exotic Orchard are two staple rainbow lands. By adding Sunken Hollow and Prairie Stream then Marsh Flats has an Island dual land to search for that can potentially ETB untapped.

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Graveborn Muse is amazing repeatable draw with Zombies and the life lose doesn't matter much because of Varina. Muse can repeatedly refill your hand at the beginning of your turn giving you lots of choices for looting with Varina. Vile Entomber can tutor for Wonder or Gravecrawler and put it right into your graveyard. Patriarch's Bidding is another spell for mass reanimation of your Zombies.

Shepherd of Rot can wreck opponents life totals, who don't have life gain and it doesn't hurt you as much because you have a lot of life gain with Varina. If you're trying to win with Rooftop Storm then Lazotep Plating is excellent instant protection. Hordewing Skaab is a Zombie upgrade for Eternal Skylord to give all Zombies you control flying not just tokens.

• Graveborn Muse --> Corpse Augur
• Vile Entomber --> Tymaret Calls the Dead
• Patriarch's Bidding --> Necromancer's Covenant
• Shepherd of Rot --> Cemetery Recruitment
• Lazotep Plating --> In Oketra's Name
• Hordewing Skaab --> Eternal Skylord

Good luck with your deck.

multimedia on The horde

1 month ago

Hey, well done so far on a budget.

Your deck doesn't have a Commander yet. If The Scarab God is the Commander then in the deck editor add the CMDR tag after The Scarab God text.

The Scarab God *CMDR*

When you save and reload the decklist Scarab will show as Commander with an image.

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The 17 cards to consider cutting to get to 100:

• Submerged Boneyard
• Dimir Keyrune
• Dimir Cluestone
• Dimir Locket
• Wight of Precinct Six
• Hall of Triumph
• Price of Fame
• Drunau Corpse Trawler
• Brass Herald
• Geth, Lord of the Vault
• Ascendant Evincar
• Paragon of Open Graves
• Consuming Aberration
• Possessed Skaab
• Door of Destinies
• Caged Sun
• Gauntlet of Power

Several of these cuts to consider are high CMC cards, by cutting them you can reduce the mana curve which helps gameplay. The Scarab God is the high CMC creature you want to cast more than rest and you want an established battlefield of Zombies before you play Scarab. For five or six mana you want to cast Scarab or others Zombies not ramp.

Door of Destinies is an expensive price card that you don't really need. Door is too slow, you have better artifact anthem effects such as Coat of Arms. Caged Sun and Gauntlet of Power are other expensive price cards for small anthem effects and ramp that are not needed. Endless Ranks of the Dead, Gravecrawler or Grave Titan, any of these for about the same price would do a lot more for Zombies.

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Some other upgrades to consider (close to price matching):

• Arcane Signet --> Sky Diamond
• Cryptbreaker --> Adaptive Automaton
• Carrion Feeder --> Loyal Subordinate
• Wand of Orcus --> Risen Executioner
• Patriarch's Bidding --> From Under the Floorboards
• Shepherd of Rot --> Gempalm Polluter
• Murderous Rider --> Drag to the Underworld
• Dark Prophecy --> Corpse Augur
• Vile Entomber --> Corpse Connoisseur
• Windfall --> Tymaret Calls the Dead
• Negate --> Didn't Say Please
• Arcane Denial --> Sinister Sabotage
• Unclaimed Territory --> Swamp
• Choked Estuary --> Island
• Sunken Hollow --> Island
• Temple of Deceit --> Island

Try to reduce the amount of casting cost cards since these will be more difficult to cast with so many Swamps. Having much more black sources from lands in the manabase is better overall for Zombies.

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There's a new Magic set releasing Sept 24 called Innistrad Midnight Hunt and Zombies are part of it. Cards that can create Zombie tokens is a theme in the set. All the cards in the set haven't been revealed yet, but these are some cards to keep an eye on:

• Champion of the Perished: hopefully he's in the Commander precon.
• Wilhelt, the Rotcleaver
• Infernal Grasp
• Siege Zombie
• Ghoulish Procession

Of these I think definitely Champion and Wilhelt as well as Grasp are upgrades. Poppet Stitcher  ^Flip and Tainted Adversary are Mythics in the set that would also be upgrades, are expensive prices right now, but watch hopefully their prices drop when the set releases. The new rare land cycle in the set is a good one for Commander. Shipwreck Marsh is the Dimir land, but it's unlikely the prices of these lands go down much more than $5 because they're going to be wanted in Standard.

Innistrad Midnight Hunt has two Commander precons that will release when the set releases. One of these precons is Undead Unleashed, it's Dimir colors, Zombies with Wilhelt, the Rotcleaver as Commander. We don't yet know the precon decklists, we will soon, but we do know the price point. These precons will cost $40 meaning there will be at least 15 new cards designed for Commander in them. There's going to be Zombie goodness in Wilhelt's precon including hopefully some good card reprints.

Good luck with your deck.

eyes2sky on Representation: List of Tribal Support in Pauper

1 month ago

Zombies: Gempalm Polluter, Ghoulcaller's Chant, Ghoulflesh, Ghoulraiser, Infernal Caretaker, Marauding Boneslasher, Shepherd of Rot, Vengeful Dead

arquistar on When The Violence Causes Silence - Zombie Prison

4 months ago

I like the prison/mill strategy. It really makes me miss my old Varina deck. Have you considered Shepherd of Rot or Lochmere Serpent ? I found them to be excellent includes in my previous build. The Shepherd can suddenly blow out opponents if your steadily increasing zombie hoard can't get through plus he sees your opponents' zombies and Varina's life-gain keeps your life total at reasonable levels. The Serpent is excellent discard fodder that you can recur for good effects.

Jonesbond49 on Zombie Tribal

9 months ago

I've decided to make more than one list but each one should be helpful to you in the future. Also, you don't need to put in all these cards. There are too many here for you to fit in the deck.

Liliana cards:

Liliana, Death's Majesty (can be a board wipe but don't count on it), Liliana, Dreadhorde General (also doubles as amazing card draw), Liliana, Heretical Healer  ^Flip, Liliana, the Last Hope, and Liliana, Untouched By Death (has a removal ability).

Zombie tribal cards:

Shepherd of Rot, Lord of the Accursed, Risen Executioner, Relentless Dead, Field of the Dead, Undead Augur (also card advantage), Havengul Runebinder, Stitcher Geralf, Gleaming Overseer, Call to the Grave (rude card), Endless Ranks of the Dead (my favorite zombie tribal card), Graf Harvest, Graveborn Muse (also card advantage), and Josu Vess, Lich Knight.

Never/Return is zombie themed removal.

Necromantic Selection is a zombie themed board wipe.

Ramp cards:

Dimir Signet, Talisman of Dominance, Charcoal Diamond, Sky Diamond, and Fellwar Stone.

I hope this helps!

Ardees on The Scarab God

9 months ago

Liliana's Devotee, Necrotic Hex, Shepherd of Rot, Tormod, the Desecrator, Liliana, Heretical Healer  ^Flip, Dread Summons are cards to consider

Liliana's Standard Bearer and Midnight Reaper as draw engines.

Opposition Agent and Hullbreacher for control.

Tortured Existence and Graf Harvest make an incredible synergy.

Mindslicer and Living Death are a must.

Price of Fame works well with its surveil ability (you can discard creatures in graveyard and use them with your cmd), plus is an excellent removal.

Epicurus on Ghoulcaller Gisa Zombie Tokens

11 months ago

You've been at this deck for a long time, so you probably don't want suggestions. However, have you thought about adding Gempalm Polluter? High CMC, but mostly utilized for its cycling ability, which is low cost. And moderately high power if it does end up on the battlefield somehow. Thought of it because you have Shepherd of Rot as the only card in the "Win" category. Figured 'Ol Gempalm could fit there as well.

Coward_Token on Belbe, Corrupted Observer cEDH

11 months ago

I mean if you just want to make people lose life at CMC 2 there's always Sanctum of Stone Fangs (more niche: Lim-Dul's Hex & Shepherd of Rot

Leechridden Swamp is a thing but you've probably already seen it