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At a glance
- Format: cEDH (Commander)
- Commander: The Scarab God
- Colors: Blue / Black (UB)
- Archetype: UB graveyard-theft aristocrats — twin corpse-thieves (Scarab God + Supper for Spiders) fed by sweepers/edicts, with an artifact-animator sub-theme and a compact Gravecrawler drain combo — high-power (bracket 4)
- Power tier: high-power (bracket 4)
Strategy
Gameplan
Two engines steal the pod’s dead creatures and turn them into your win. The Scarab God exiles the fattest corpse in any graveyard for a reusable 4/4 Zombie and drains each opponent on your upkeep (X = Zombies you control); it returns to your hand when it dies, so it is nearly impossible to answer for good. Supper for Spiders ({1}{B} instant) scoops every opposing creature that died this turn as a 0-MV Food artifact under your control — an end-of-turn or post-sweep blowout in a four-player pod. You reward both by making the whole table’s creatures die on demand: DESTROY sweepers (Toxic Deluge, Damnation, The Meathook Massacre, Bontu’s Last Reckoning — deliberately no exile-sweepers, so corpses land in yards) and table-wide edicts (Grave Pact, Dictate of Erebos, Fleshbag Marauder, Plaguecrafter, Sheoldred’s Edict). Every death then pings the pod through the aristocrat shell.
Sequencing
- Early (T1–4): ramp and dig. Sol Ring / Signets / Talisman / Mana Vault into the cheap draw engines (Rhystic Study, Mystic Remora, Night’s Whisper, Phyrexian Arena, Necropotence) so the mid-game snowballs. Land Cauldron Familiar + Witch’s Oven for a recurring per-turn drain, amplified by Academy Manufactor (each Food becomes Food + Clue + Treasure).
- Mid (T4–7): start converting the pod’s board into your resources. Sweep or edict so creatures die this turn, then cast Supper for Spiders end-of-turn to harvest the corpses as Food while The Scarab God recurs the biggest bodies as 4/4 Zombies. Convert the Food pile two ways: animate it (Rise and Shine overload = all your artifacts become 4/4; Cyberdrive Awakener = mass 4/4 + evasion; Ensoul Artifact / Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas / Karn, the Great Creator for single big threats — every mana rock is also an animate target), or sacrifice it for value (Deadly Dispute, Village Rites, Witch’s Oven, the altars) with each death draining via Blood Artist / Falkenrath Noble and drawing off Midnight Reaper.
- Protect the turn you go off with Counterspell, Swan Song, free Fierce Guardianship, and An Offer You Can’t Refuse; Cyclonic Rift (overloaded) is the one-sided reset that clears blockers before a lethal animate or combo turn.
Combo
- Primary (free): Gravecrawler + Phyrexian Altar + Blood Artist + any other Zombie (a Scarab token, Grimgrin, Fleshbag, Midnight Reaper). Sac Gravecrawler to the Altar for {B}; its death drains each opponent 1 via Blood Artist; recast Gravecrawler for {B}. Net-zero mana → repeat until the table is dead. Falkenrath Noble is a drop-in Blood Artist.
- Redundant (mana-positive): Gravecrawler + Ashnod’s Altar + Pitiless Plunderer (+ a Zombie) nets {C}{C} minus a {B}-from-Treasure each loop — arbitrarily large mana to dump into Torment of Hailfire, and infinite drain if Blood Artist is out. Each dying Treasure/Servo also triggers Disciple of the Vault (−1) and Marionette Master (−power). Grimgrin, Corpse-Born is a free sac outlet that supplies the Zombie itself. Assembly comes through four broad tutors (Demonic, Vampiric, Diabolic Intent) plus Whir of Invention for the artifact half — fair 3-piece redundancy, not turbo.
Closing
- Primary: the drain combo, or Torment of Hailfire for large X off the deck’s ramp and Treasures.
- Grind: Blood Artist / Falkenrath Noble / The Meathook Massacre + the Cauldron loop out-attrition a fair pod over turns 6–9; Gray-value from Sepulchral Primordial (steal from every opponent’s yard), Reanimate, and Living Death rebuy the biggest corpses or a Supper target.
- Beatdown backup: The Scarab God’s Zombie army, a mass-animated Food board, Grimgrin, and Creeping Tar Pit close if the combo is answered.
Cards
Decklist
Paste straight into MTG Arena (or Moxfield/Archidekt):
Commander
1 The Scarab God
Deck
1 Sol Ring
1 Arcane Signet
1 Dimir Signet
1 Talisman of Dominance
1 Mind Stone
1 Fellwar Stone
1 Mana Vault
1 Rhystic Study
1 Mystic Remora
1 Phyrexian Arena
1 Necropotence
1 Night's Whisper
1 Midnight Reaper
1 Sheoldred, the Apocalypse
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Diabolic Intent
1 Whir of Invention
1 Infernal Grasp
1 Go for the Throat
1 Hero's Downfall
1 Bloodchief's Thirst
1 Bake into a Pie
1 Savor
1 Deadly Rollick
1 Toxic Deluge
1 Damnation
1 The Meathook Massacre
1 Bontu's Last Reckoning
1 Grave Pact
1 Dictate of Erebos
1 Fleshbag Marauder
1 Plaguecrafter
1 Sheoldred's Edict
1 Counterspell
1 Swan Song
1 Fierce Guardianship
1 An Offer You Can't Refuse
1 Cyberdrive Awakener
1 Rise and Shine
1 Ensoul Artifact
1 Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas
1 Karn, the Great Creator
1 Torment of Hailfire
1 Cyclonic Rift
1 Reanimate
1 Living Death
1 Sepulchral Primordial
1 Supper for Spiders
1 Cauldron Familiar
1 Witch's Oven
1 Academy Manufactor
1 Gravecrawler
1 Blood Artist
1 Falkenrath Noble
1 Marionette Master
1 Disciple of the Vault
1 Phyrexian Altar
1 Ashnod's Altar
1 Pitiless Plunderer
1 Grimgrin, Corpse-Born
1 Deadly Dispute
1 Village Rites
1 Polluted Delta
1 Misty Rainforest
1 Marsh Flats
1 Bloodstained Mire
1 Verdant Catacombs
1 Prismatic Vista
1 Watery Grave
1 Underground Sea
1 Command Tower
1 Reflecting Pool
1 Morphic Pool
1 Sunken Hollow
1 Underground River
1 Sunken Ruins
1 Darkslick Shores
1 Drowned Catacomb
1 Choked Estuary
1 River of Tears
1 Gloomlake Verge
1 Darkwater Catacombs
1 Creeping Tar Pit
1 Bojuka Bog
1 Otawara, Soaring City
1 Takenuma, Abandoned Mire
1 Hive of the Eye Tyrant
1 Castle Locthwain
6 Swamp
4 Island
Card images & data via Scryfall.