Tainted Adversary

Creature — Zombie

Deathtouch

When this enters the battlefield, you may pay {2}{B} 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.)

Tokens

• Zombie 2/2 B w/ Decayed

Legality

Format	Legality
1v1 Commander	Legal
Alchemy	Legal
Arena	Legal
Block Constructed	Legal
Brawl	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
Pioneer	Legal
Pre-release	Legal
Standard	Legal
Tiny Leaders	Legal
Vintage	Legal

Discussion (14)

bushido_man96 on Zombie help

2 months ago

Tainted Adversary seems a bit mana intensive to really get good results from. How many tokens do you usually get when you cast it? And is the effect worth that much mana investment? I don't like Stitchwing Skaab, either, especially when you talk about running out of gas. It will only contribute to that problem if you don't have cards to discard, and you don't want to discard better cards to play that one.

I'd consider cutting Spell Swindle for a cheaper CMC counterspell, or a straight removal spell. I think you want to be pretty aggressive with how you spend your mana in this deck, and holding up 5 mana to counter a spell is counterintuitive to that strategy.

I'd drop the mill theme: Dread Summons, Drown in Dreams, Maddening Cacophony, Peer into the Abyss, Psychic Corrosion maybe even Telemin Performance. I would add card draw spells in those spots. Night's Whisper, Ambition's Cost, and Sign in Blood will always draw you cards, regardless of board state. Altar's Reap, Village Rites, and Vampiric Rites are good draw sources when you have a board state. I'd recommend pushing your ramp to 10 spells, and then you should be off an running.

Good luck going forward with this deck.

TheOfficialCreator on first zombie tribal deck.

3 months ago

What Balaam_ said. Also, I think you might need a few more low cost zombies to keep the early game stressful for your opponent, and this will likely come as a result of restricting your card choices.

But I do think Tainted Adversary would be a good match for the deck, as would a sacrifice outlet.

dealaden on Endless Hunger

3 months ago

I agree 20 lands feels like too few. The Meathook Massacre looks like it wants to be cast for 3 (x = 1) to hit all the 1 toughness creatures you have. But Tainted Adversary begs for 5 mana to get a single extra zombie. your other +1/+1 synergies also make the Masacre sometimes want to hit x = 2 and x = 3 needing more and more mana to close out the game. Bloodghast also really wants you hitting your land drops.

That being said, Bitterblossom and Tainted Adversary seem to be the weakest cards. If you really want to keep Grist, the Hunger Tide in, consider running Collected Company. Company can hit grist, because he's a creature with cmc 3 while in the library. Company also pushes you towards critical mass you seem to be building towards.

Final thoughts -3 Bitterblossom -2 Tainted Adversary

+2/3 land +2/3 Collected Company

TheReal_MtGHaystak on God of the Undead

9 months ago

I would definitely try to drop down on all of these 3 drops. I'm sure it makes it incredibly hard to play multiple spells a turn and you're not doing a whole lot until you hit 3 lands. I would lower the curve considerably. I would stick with one play set of Zombie lords with the Warchiefs. Undead Augur or Cryptbreaker will help you with card draw. And I would look for beaters that's come in the 1 and 2 mana slots like Champion of the Perished or Tainted Adversary

wallisface on UB Modern Zombies

1 year ago

Some thoughts:

• Zombies are a very aggro deck. Aether Vial is better suited to midrange gameplans, and will only slow you down here, i’d suggest ditching them, and going up to 20 lands.

• Waaay too many 3 drops, i’d suggest limiting yourself to 8 cards. If it were me, that would be in the form of playsets of Geralf's Messenger and Geralf, Visionary Stitcher, as they’ll give you the best “bang for buck” at the top end of the spectrum.

• Run the full playset of Carrion Feeder, as it just works soo well alongside Gravecrawler and Champion of the Perished. Feeder is one of the best zombies for the zombie archtype as it gives you a ton of utility.

• Undead Augur is a great 2-drop, and Tainted Adversary isn’t bad. But Graveyard Marshal and Relentless Dead don’t seem great. If you need an additional 2-drop, i’d suggest Bladestitched Skaab, or Jadar, Ghoulcaller of Nephalia

• you need more interaction to guarantee you can wear your opponent down. I’d suggest 8 killspells total. Something like a playset of Fatal Push and Infernal Grasp should work well. Dismember is fine, but can cause problems if you’re up against burn.

Dangerwillrobinson79 on Wilhelt- Lord of the Horde

1 year ago

Most probable cuts: 1. Carrion Feeder 2. Filth 3. Hordewing Skaab 4. Ravenous Rotbelly 5. Tainted Adversary 6. Tomb Tyrant 7. Undead Augur 8. Swiftfoot Boots 9. Buried Alive 10. Feed the Swarm 11. From Under the Floorboards 12. Necromancer's Stockpile 13. Wake the Dead 14. Swamp 15. Wonder 16. Stronghold Assassin 17. Liliana's Mastery 18. Open the Graves 19. Corpse Harvester 20. Acererak the Archlich

NinjaBunny01 on What's Your Favorite Spooky MTG …

1 year 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

1 year 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.