The Commander
At the beginning of your upkeep, each opponent loses X life and you scry X, where X is the number of Zombies you control.
: Exile target creature card from a graveyard. Create a token that's a copy of it, except it's a 4/4 black Zombie.
When The Scarab God dies, return it to its owner's hand at the beginning of the next end step.
Guide
Gameplan
The Scarab God is a Dimir reanimator/zombie value engine that grinds opponents down with recursive card advantage. Mill or trade away creatures, then use the activated ability to steal the best ones from any graveyard as 4/4 Zombies, building a board that drains life and scries every upkeep. You win slowly but inevitably through value, then close with a big swing or a combo.
Strengths
- Nearly impossible to permanently kill—dies-to-removal just returns it to hand at end step.
- Excellent card advantage and selection via repeatable scry and graveyard recursion.
- Eats opponents' best creatures from their own graveyards, turning their removal and combat into your resources.
- Built-in win condition with the upkeep life drain that scales as your Zombie count grows.
Weaknesses
- Activated ability is mana-intensive and graveyard-dependent—grave hate (Rest in Peace, Bojuka Bog) shuts it down.
- Slow clock; the upkeep drain takes time and the deck can stumble against fast combo or aggro.
- Five-mana commander that does nothing the turn it lands without setup.
- Exile-based removal and recursion-stoppers (Containment Priest, Grafdigger's Cage) blunt the tokens.
Key Cards
- Gravecrawler — Free recurring Zombie that fuels the upkeep drain and combos as a sacrifice outlet target.
- Rooftop Storm — Makes every Zombie free to cast, enabling explosive turns and powering recursion engines.
- Cyclonic Rift — Premier blue blowout that resets opponents' boards while you keep your Zombie army.
- Liliana, Death's Majesty — Mills, reanimates, and makes Zombies—perfect synergy with the God's plan.
- Wonder — Grants your whole Zombie horde flying for easy lethal alpha strikes.
- Toxic Deluge — One-sided sweeper that clears blockers while The Scarab God survives or returns.
Upgrade Path
Add fast mana (Sol Ring, Mana Crest, signets) and efficient self-mill (Stitcher's Supplier, Buried Alive, Altar of Dementia) to power the engine sooner. Lean into a Gravecrawler + sac-outlet + Rooftop Storm or Phyrexian Altar loop for a hard combo finish, and run more interaction like Counterspell, Mana Drain, and Dauthi Voidwalker. Tighten the mana base with fetches, duals, and Urborg/Cabal Coffers to support the heavy activation costs.
Core Cards
The most-played cards for this commander, built from aggregated deck data (the Mythic Graph). Build public decks to seed it.
Win Conditions
- ▸Upkeep life drain scaling with a wide Zombie board.
- ▸Alpha strike with a buffed Zombie army, often with Wonder or anthem effects.
- ▸Gray Merchant of Asphodel or Rooftop Storm-fueled combo turns for massive drain.
- ▸Stealing and reanimating opponents' bombs to dominate the board and grind them out.
Archetypes
- Zombie Tribal — X in the upkeep ability scales directly with your Zombie count, rewarding a wide undead board.
- Reanimator — The activated ability is repeatable reanimation that pulls bombs from every graveyard.
- Control — Dimir colors and an unkillable engine let you stall, sweep, and grind out value.
- Mill/Aristocrats — Self-mill and sacrifice loops feed graveyards full of fuel for the God's tokens.
Combos
- The Scarab God + Mirror-Mad Phantasm
→ Infinite self-mill
Combos via Commander Spellbook.
Related Commanders
Same color identity (BU), by popularity.
