Tainted Adversary

Creature — Zombie

Deathtouch

When this enters the battlefield, you may pay any number of times. When you pay this cost one or more times, put that many +1/+1 counters on this creature, then create twice that many 2/2 black Zombie creature tokens with decayed. (A creature with decayed can't block. When it attacks, sacrifice it at the end end of combat.)

Discussion (8)

NinjaBunny01 on What's Your Favorite Spooky MTG …

1 day ago

From the new set, I like the following:

The Meathook Massacre, Tainted Adversary, Diregraf Horde, Eaten Alive, Rotten Reunion

From older sets, I like Woodland Cemetery (ISD art), Endless Ranks of the Dead, Zombie Apocalypse, Gravespawn Sovereign, and Thraximundar

multimedia on Wilhelt's Zombie Apocalypse

1 week ago

Hey, well done with the precon upgrade and very nice formated deck description. You're a good deck builder with the budget that you have, choosing the better expensive price cards (Demonic, Gravecrawler, Acererak, Cryptbreaker and Watery). If on a budget I don't think Tainted Adversary and Ebondeath, Dracolich are worth their prices.

You're very honest about the power level here, not exaggerating and saying power level 8 to make your deck seem better than it really is. Believe me, I hear this all the time, players insisting that the power level of their deck is very high while playing $100 deck with only 30 lands and Guildgates...

In the combo section of the description you don't mention Gravecrawler and it's a pretty important Zombie for combos especially with Rooftop. He needs a sac outlet with Rooftop to go infinite which all you need is Carrion Feeder. Gravecrawler is the most powerful Zombie printed because its just so damn mana efficient. He deserves his own section in the description since his interaction with Wilhert is excellent, giving you a Zombie on your turn to repeatedly sac at your end steps to draw and create a decayed Zombie for one mana.

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You clearly have deck building skills, but there's some cards here that could be upgraded even on a budget. You've removed some of the better cards from the precon that can give you repeatable value especially more draw and Zombie tokens.

• Undead Augur: very good Zombie since it triggers to draw whenever a Zombie token dies.

• Midnight Reaper: another source or repeatable draw when nontokens die.
  

• Gisa and Geralf: don't underestimate how valuable it is to be able repeatedly cast even one Zombie on your turn from your graveyard. Pair Augur with Gisa/Geralf and Wilhelt to repeatedly draw two cards/create a decayed Zombie on your turns for two mana. Pair Gisa/Geralf with Fleshbag Marauder and Wilhelt to repeatedly wreck your opponents creatures for three mana and create a decayed Zombie.
  

• Fleshbag Marauder: making all opponents have to sac a creature they control is really good in multiplayer Commander especially on a three drop Zombie who can be recurred or reanimated.

• Curse of the Restless Dead: you can curse yourself to have more control over this making it a repeatable Zombie source by playing lands. Honestly, this card is better than Endless Ranks of the Dead at consistency of creating Zombies since there's no lame restriction like Ranks has and you'll have lands.
  

• Liliana, Death's Majesty: all her loyalty abilities are good especially her -7 which is not difficult to get to and in casual it can wreck, be a game winning effect.

Some changes to consider:

• Carrion Feeder --> Rank Officer
• Undead Augur --> Eternal Skylord
• Gisa and Geralf --> Enter the God-Eternals
• Curse of the Restless Dead --> Diregraf Horde
• Midnight Reaper --> Josu Vess, Lich Knight
• Fleshbag Marauder --> Risen Executioner
• Liliana, Death's Majesty --> Icon of Ancestry
• Mystic Sanctuary --> Mistvault Bridge

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Poppet Stitcher  ^Flip is a powerful new card for Zombies and Poppet Factory is busted with Wilhert because it removes decayed from Zombies letting you repeatedly sac a decayed Zombie to create another. Fallen Ideal is an underrated gem in Commander with token strategies because it gives the enchanted creature flying and it's a sac outlet.

Enchant Wilhert and then sac your Zombie horde to attack for lethal Commander damage at an opponent. If you created a bunch of decayed Zombies potentially attack again for lethal Commander damage to another opponent on your next turn. Pair Ideal with Factory to attack for lethal Commander damage on your turn every turn.

Good luck with your deck.

multimedia on Hercules23

3 weeks ago

Hey, you always ask me what my take is on a Commander, but not your own thoughts. What are your thoughts on Wilhelt, the Rotcleaver? How about you build a deck with him and show it to me?

I'm excited about Wilhelt, the Rotcleaver, already added him as well as Crowded Crypt to my Varina deck. Also added Champion of the Perished, Shipwreck Marsh, Deserted Beach from Midnight Hunt. On the fence about adding Curse of the Restless Dead, Ravenous Rotbelly and Ghoul's Night Out from the precon and a few other budget cards from Midnight Hunt such as Infernal Grasp and Siege Zombie.

If Tainted Adversary keeps dropping in price then he has potential. I don't except The Meathook Massacre to drop in price at all, but if it does it also has potential. Empty the Laboratory in the precon seems powerful and Vanquish the Horde from Hunt, but I'm avoiding all and cards because of the budget manabase. All of the new Zombies in the precon are fine cards, but other than Wilhelt the rest are not better four/five drops then already current Zombies and other four/five drops.

I like Varina better as Zombie Commander than Wilhelt.

Necrosis24 on Adversary Cycle

1 month ago

In terms of commander I think they can be pretty fun, although not as strong as they initially seem when you realize how mana intensive they really are.

Intrepid Adversary: I would put in a Sidar Kondo of Jamuraa deck for some flicker shenanigans. Swing in with my white weenies then flicker Intrepid Adversary paying its etb to pump my unblocked creatures.

Spectral Adversary: Good for its flexibility and would maybe put it in a simic or bant deck. I like that it can target itself.

Tainted Adversary: Grave Titan but not as good

Bloodthirsty Adversary: meh

Primal Adversary I do not care for.

All of these have more efficient cards that more or less do the same, so these cards more of a fun include.

Oof_Magic on Adversary Cycle

1 month ago

wallisface

I think Intrepid Adversary had the same pitfalls any true lord would. And that’s probably why Thalia's Lieutenant outclasses it. If Humans were tightened down, they could probably work it in but as is, Humans aren’t looking for much.

Spectral Adversary is much more than a bad Rattlechains. It sits between Rattlechains and Brazen Borrower. That versatility of applications is valuable enough to consider for Spirits (which plays Borrower). Just like Intrepid Adversary and Bloodthirsty Adversary, it only has one potential home.

As such, Primal Adversary and Tainted Adversary being at the bottom as far as Modern is concerned.

I wouldn’t know how to analyze these from the Standard lens but I think it would go something like this:

1) Intrepid Adversary

2) Primal Adversary

3) Spectral Adversary

4) Tainted Adversary

5) Bloodthirsty Adversary

wallisface on Adversary Cycle

1 month ago

Oof_Magic:

• The big issue with Intrepid Adversary is that, other than there just being soo many cards better than it it modern, is that it risks you getting blown-out heavily by your opponent casting a well-timed killspell, which could end up costing you most of your board.

• Spectral Adversary has an issue where it's just a bad Rattlechains in almost every situation. And spirits already have soo many better ways to protect their dudes, on top of that. I just don't see where this card has a home.

• As you've already mentioned, Bloodthirsty Adversary is very similar to Goblin Dark-Dwellers, so might see some fringe play in decks of that vein (potentially even replacing Dwellers, if the deck is wanting to confine itself to running something like Lurrus of the Dream-Den, or Unearth). Imo this is the only one of the 5 that will even come close to seeing modern play, because it explores some interesting avenues, and this effect has seen play in modern already.

• Tainted Adversary and Primal Adversary are clearly the weakest of the 5, and I'm not sure its worth discussing either of these... but they generally just demand too much mana for no real payoff.

Oof_Magic on Adversary Cycle

1 month ago

wallisface

I think that’s generally true but a bit more nuanced. I think Spectral Adversary and Intrepid Adversary have a shot in Modern. I can’t speak to Tainted Adversary and Primal Adversary as they lack homes and as such probably have less of a shot in the format. Intrepid Adversary gets outclassed by Thalia's Lieutenant in the one home it could have and Humans is really tight and probably not looking for redundancy. A similar case goes for Bloodthirsty Adversary which would only serve as redundancy for the bigger Goblin Dark-Dwellers in land destro which is much more fringe than Humans and Spirits. I think blue has the best shot in Modern as it has a home and really comes down to whether the tribal body is more impactful to its deck than the split utility efficiency of Brazen Borrower. I think the offensive and defensive versatility is promising.

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.