At a glance
- Format: Brawl (100-card)
- Commander: The Scarab God
- Colors: Blue / Black (UB)
- Archetype: Dimir reanimator-control (budget)
- Power tier: competitive
- Competitive Brawl: ✅ Legal
Strategy
Play the same grindy Dimir shell as the power build with cheaper parts: a deep suite of one-for-one removal, cheap counters, and mass -X/-X sweepers (Languish, Cry of the Carnarium, Malicious Eclipse, Darkness Descends, Massacre Wurm) keeps the board clear while self-mill from Stitcher’s Supplier, Undead Butler, Buried Alive, and Corpse Churn stocks the graveyard. The Scarab God plus a redundant reanimation package (Zombify, Come Back Wrong, Zuko’s Conviction, Dose of Dawnglow, Live or Die, Rise of the Dark Realms, Bringer of the Last Gift) turns any yard into value bodies and cheats out the owned bombs Massacre Wurm, Demon of Loathing, Arbiter of Woe, and Riddlemaster Sphinx. Every Zombie token scales the God’s upkeep drain, which Gray Merchant, Zulaport Cutthroat, and Syr Konrad convert into life loss. Vampiric Rites and the card-draw shell refuel while Exsanguinate closes as an X-drain finisher.
Upgrade path
This is the playable-now build: the only rare/mythic wildcard you spend is the commander, The Scarab God (owned_qty 0). Every other card here is already owned or a cheap common/uncommon craft, so exactly 1 rare/mythic craft total. It swaps the ideal’s premium rares/mythics for in-role budget pieces (Reanimate/Necromancy/Liliana Death’s Majesty → Zuko’s Conviction/Dose of Dawnglow/Live or Die; Grave Titan/Sheoldred/Kalitas → Demon of Loathing/Arbiter of Woe/Riddlemaster Sphinx; Toxic Deluge/Damnation/Meathook → Cry of the Carnarium/Malicious Eclipse/Darkness Descends; Rhystic Study → Vampiric Rites; Torment of Hailfire → Exsanguinate; Vraska’s Contempt → Death in the Family; Sidisi, Undead Vizier → Corpse Churn; Liliana, the Last Hope → Narset, Parter of Veils; Dimir Signet/Talisman/Coalition Relic → Coldsteel Heart/Dimir Locket/Worn Powerstone). The power version at data/decks_json/brawl-scarab-god.json is the ideal upgrade target as wildcards allow.
Cards
Decklist
Paste straight into MTG Arena (or Moxfield/Archidekt):
Commander
1 The Scarab God
Deck
1 Arcane Signet
1 Coldsteel Heart
1 Dimir Locket
1 Worn Powerstone
1 Mind Stone
1 Solemn Simulacrum
1 Phyrexian Arena
1 Vampiric Rites
1 Night's Whisper
1 Read the Bones
1 Deadly Dispute
1 Preacher of the Schism
1 Fatal Push
1 Bloodchief's Thirst
1 Go for the Throat
1 Infernal Grasp
1 Heartless Act
1 Bitter Triumph
1 Hero's Downfall
1 Feed the Swarm
1 Bake into a Pie
1 Death in the Family
1 Languish
1 Cry of the Carnarium
1 Malicious Eclipse
1 Darkness Descends
1 Massacre Wurm
1 Counterspell
1 An Offer You Can't Refuse
1 Negate
1 Essence Scatter
1 Drown in the Loch
1 Zombify
1 Come Back Wrong
1 Zuko's Conviction
1 Dose of Dawnglow
1 Live or Die
1 Rise of the Dark Realms
1 Stitcher's Supplier
1 Overlord of the Balemurk
1 Undead Butler
1 Buried Alive
1 Corpse Churn
1 Midnight Reaper
1 Syr Konrad, the Grim
1 Zulaport Cutthroat
1 Xathrid Necromancer
1 Sidisi, Regent of the Mire
1 Gix, Yawgmoth Praetor
1 Vein Ripper
1 Bringer of the Last Gift
1 Junji, the Midnight Sky
1 Consuming Aberration
1 Kaito, Cunning Infiltrator
1 Kaito, Bane of Nightmares
1 Demon of Loathing
1 Arbiter of Woe
1 Riddlemaster Sphinx
1 Ravenous Chupacabra
1 Gray Merchant of Asphodel
1 Narset, Parter of Veils
1 Exsanguinate
1 Command Tower
1 Undercity Sewers
1 Restless Reef
1 Watery Grave
1 Gloomlake Verge
1 Underground River
5 Island
26 Swamp
Ideal build (upgrade target)
The power-ceiling build (multi-agent workflow output) — every premium payoff and the full combo/synergy package. The current list is the playable-now budget version; craft toward this as your wildcards come in.
Crafts to reach the ideal: 17 (8 mythic, 6 rare, 3 other)
- Mythic: Damnation, Grave Titan, Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet, Liliana, Death’s Majesty, Liliana, the Last Hope, Rhystic Study, Sheoldred, the Apocalypse, The Meathook Massacre
- Rare: Coalition Relic, Reanimate, Sidisi, Undead Vizier, Torment of Hailfire, Toxic Deluge, Vraska’s Contempt
- Other: Dimir Signet, Necromancy, Talisman of Dominance
Full ideal list (paste into Arena):
Commander
1 The Scarab God
Deck
1 Arcane Signet
1 Dimir Signet
1 Talisman of Dominance
1 Mind Stone
1 Solemn Simulacrum
1 Coalition Relic
1 Phyrexian Arena
1 Night's Whisper
1 Read the Bones
1 Deadly Dispute
1 Preacher of the Schism
1 Rhystic Study
1 Fatal Push
1 Bloodchief's Thirst
1 Go for the Throat
1 Infernal Grasp
1 Heartless Act
1 Bitter Triumph
1 Hero's Downfall
1 Feed the Swarm
1 Bake into a Pie
1 Vraska's Contempt
1 Damnation
1 Toxic Deluge
1 The Meathook Massacre
1 Languish
1 Massacre Wurm
1 Counterspell
1 An Offer You Can't Refuse
1 Negate
1 Essence Scatter
1 Drown in the Loch
1 Reanimate
1 Necromancy
1 Rise of the Dark Realms
1 Liliana, Death's Majesty
1 Zombify
1 Come Back Wrong
1 Stitcher's Supplier
1 Overlord of the Balemurk
1 Undead Butler
1 Buried Alive
1 Midnight Reaper
1 Syr Konrad, the Grim
1 Zulaport Cutthroat
1 Xathrid Necromancer
1 Sidisi, Regent of the Mire
1 Gix, Yawgmoth Praetor
1 Vein Ripper
1 Bringer of the Last Gift
1 Junji, the Midnight Sky
1 Consuming Aberration
1 Kaito, Cunning Infiltrator
1 Kaito, Bane of Nightmares
1 Grave Titan
1 Sheoldred, the Apocalypse
1 Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet
1 Ravenous Chupacabra
1 Gray Merchant of Asphodel
1 Sidisi, Undead Vizier
1 Liliana, the Last Hope
1 Torment of Hailfire
1 Command Tower
1 Undercity Sewers
1 Restless Reef
1 Demolition Field
1 Temple of Deceit
1 Watery Grave
1 Gloomlake Verge
1 Underground River
4 Island
25 Swamp
Card images & data via Scryfall.