Undead Alchemist

Creature — Zombie

If a Zombie you control would deal combat damage to a player, instead that player mills that many cards. (They put that many cards from the top of their library into their graveyard.)

Whenever an opponent's creature card is milled, exile that card and create a 2/2 black Zombie creature token.

Combos

• Gravecrawler + Undead Alchemist

Tokens

• Zombie 2/2 B

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
Freeform	Legal
Gladiator	Legal
Highlander	Legal
Historic	Legal
Historic Brawl	Legal
Legacy	Legal
Leviathan	Legal
Limited	Legal
Modern	Legal
Modern Beyond Horizons	Legal
Oathbreaker	Legal
Planar Constructed	Legal
Planechase	Legal
Quest Magic	Legal
Vanguard	Legal
Vintage	Legal

Discussion (50)

wozislightning on Phenax

3 weeks ago

I like it. Very similar to my build.

A couple of quick thoughts: Aphetto Alchemist at worst untaps your biggest toughness guy for a second Phenax activation. He can also be pseudo-ramp if you have artifact mana. At best, he goes infinite with Illusionist's Bracers by targeting himself with the copied triggers.

As you have Undead Alchemist already, you get a similar effect from Zellix, Sanity Flayer. Both of these work spectacularly with Altar of the Brood. The Altar is one of my favorite cards in my version.

As you have Grindstone, have you considered The Water Crystal? The crystal makes it so it looks at more cards, and if any 2 of the 6 match, the process repeats (refer to the updated wording on grindstone with the newer printing). The Crystal also works well with any effects that just mill an opponent for a single card, turning simple effects into quick clocks (Mesmeric Orb shines here).

Elrond, Moon-Reader is a card that I am waiting to get my hands on to add to my paper deck. It seems like quite consistent card draw.

Best of luck and happy brewing!

wozislightning on Phenax Hates You

3 weeks ago

Phenax is my favorite commander! Glad to see others still brewing. It looks like you're going for a budget build, so I will try to keep my suggestions money-friendly.

Duskmantle Guildmage OR Syr Konrad, the Grim + Mindcrank OR The Master of Lake-town = murder, as long as they lose a life or a part is put in their graveyard. Mindcrank is a bit expensive at the moment, but the others aren't bad.

Eater of the Dead + Phenax, God of Deception = mill everyone as long as you can keep hitting creatures.

Undead Alchemist + Intruder Alarm + Phenax, God of Deception = mill everyone as long as you hit creatures.

King Macar, the Gold-Cursed + Phenax, God of Deception + Intruder Alarm = exile your opponents creatures and ramp yourself whenever they enter the battlefield.

Other great value cards: Charix, the Raging Isle, Consuming Aberration, Disciple of Deceit, Drift of Phantasms, Fallowsage, Cruel Somnophage, Didn't Say Please, Into the Story, Deepmuck Desperado & Singularity Rupture. The possibilities are endless.

Feel free to check out my list as well if you would like to see more.

Best of luck, and happy brewing!

wozislightning on The Horror Mill

2 months ago

I always love a good mill deck - I have a Phenax, God of Depeption deck that has a surprisingly high win rate, and mill is a blast to play.

You have a ton of great interactions here. Zellix + Altar, Mesmeric Orb + Water Crystal, etc. I know it isn't a Horror, but I would consider Undead Alchemist as a second Zellix that can also exile problematic creatures that are milled. Singularity Rupture is a wrath that works towards your game plan. You don't necessarily always want to wrath (being creature focused), but having access to at least one will help against other creature strategies. Grindstone is a consideration as another way to break Water Crystal, but is a bit narrow. Adding a little card draw often goes a long way as well. Phyrexian Arena & Into the Story could be considered.

As for cuts, I am not a fan of Glimpse the Unthinkable in multiplayer games. I like it for self-mill, but it does not progress the board - and unless you are killing someone the turn you cast it, it is card disadvantage. Other cuts are tricky, but I would say one or two of your 7 drops for mana cost/curve reasons may be considerable cuts. Your mana curve is high, and could hurt depending on your playgroup.

Best of luck, and happy brewing!

ClockworkSwordfish on Unc's Zombies

6 months ago

Lich Lord of Unx is a very cool build-around zombie who takes the tribe in a slightly different direction. My favourite pairing with him is Undead Alchemist - milling your opponent gives you more zombies, which means the next activation of the lich lord hits even harder. They're a good team!

Tippycat on Umbris Reimagined

8 months ago

Thanks for the suggestions, dr.kronski ! I have had those thoughts as well :) I picked Planar Void for a very specific reason over Leyline of the Void or Dauthi Voidwalker. Mainly to take advantage of the fact that with Planar Void things still hit the graveyard. Leyline and Dauthi are replacement effects so cards never hit the graveyard so things like Undead Alchemist or Lazav, Dimir Mastermind wouldn't trigger. Lantern of the Lost and Relic of Progenitus are good but I picked Soul-Guide Lantern because I could activate it without extra mana (just tapping it). Lithoform Engine is something to consider!

Venum on Phenax of the Many Mills

10 months ago

Always happy to see another Phenax deck, here's my budget friendly suggestions :

Mortivore Cruel Somnophage Wight of Precinct Six they all pretty much do the same thing. / that benefits from the milled cards.

Undead Alchemist is a fun one to create token, which you can tap for more mill.

Guiltfeeder and Mirko Vosk, Mind Drinker are also great synergy with mill-deck.

Eater of the Dead is also great because you mill at least 4 cards with the Phenax ability and you can rinse-repeat to possibly mill-out an opponent or all of them.

Polaris on undead alchemist vs Nine Lives

1 year ago

This is detailed in rule 616.1 (interaction of replacement and/or prevention effects). Since both of these affect the same player, the affected player chooses which order to apply them in. This usually but not always means, in practice, that the defending player will choose to prevent the damage with Nine Lives, though it's notable here that they can choose to prevent the damage with Undead Alchemist if they wish to not get more incarnation counters.

So in general, Nine Lives wins.

wozislightning on Heavy Grinder

1 year ago

I have run Phenax basically since he came out. I like your brew! Here are a few things that work well for me.

Card draw is important: Fallowsage , Into the Story , and Visions of Beyond have put in a ton of work for me. Combo potential: Intruder Alarm , Zellix, Sanity Flayer , and Undead Alchemist all seem to work well with what you already have. Other: Gyruda, Doom of Depths has been an absolute powerhouse for me. Sheoldred  ^Flip has a decent body and is easy to flip. Silent Arbiter is also good against a lot of go wide decks. Trinket Mage may be small, but it can tutor up sol ring, Alter of the Brood, and Soul Guide Lantern depending on what you need - very versatile. Wight of Precinct Six can get enormous for only 2 mana.

Good luck and happy brewing!