Cemetery Reaper

Cemetery Reaper

Creature — Zombie

Other Zombie creatures you control get +1/+1.

{{2.B}}, Tap: Exile target creature card from a graveyard. Put a 2/2 black Zombie creature token onto the battlefield.

Latest Decks as Commander

Cemetery Reaper Discussion

TheVectornaut on Night Of The Living Dead

4 months ago

I don't know if it was intentional or not but you have quite a few creatures that care about counters. Thus, there might be a place for ways to take advantage of that here. Proliferators including Contagion Clasp , Karn's Bastion , and Yawgmoth, Thran Physician come to mind. Some other zombie cards in that vein might be Carrion Feeder , Skinrender , or Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet . Mikaeus, the Unhallowed is a little awkward with the +1/+1 theme. On one hand, he does dish out more counters when he brings some of your guys back for more action. On the other, his undying buff doesn't even apply to 3 of the deck's biggest hitters (in Diregraf Colossus , Unbreathing Horde , and Noosegraf Mob ). I think the single copy is a fair compromise, but I think testing both more and less would be interesting. If you're only looking to play around the tokens, Death Baron , Cemetery Reaper , and Cryptbreaker have proven effective for me, at least in EDH.

abby315 on LF Blue/Black Zombies pieces for …

8 months ago

Just updated my wants on my Binder. Take a look and see if we can make a trade!

Added the following Zombies EDH pieces to my wants:
Cemetery Reaper
Tainted Isle
The Scarab God
Graveborn Muse
Cyclonic Rift
Rhystic Study

And I'm also always looking for good lands, so if you have any pain/filter/Bond/fetchlands that aren't on my list, feel free to include it.

In the spirit of giving, I'll throw in a fun random card or token with any trade, too. :)

MrKillStar on Abandon All Hope | Ayara, First of Locthwain

8 months ago

I see a lot of shiny cards! Love the deck "intro" :D

Instead of typing all the cards I would suggest, I got a similar deck, just with Syr Konrad, the Grim: For the Void, the idea of the deck, just like with Ayara, is to get creatures, kills them, ping opponents to death.. with few bonuses. Maybe you'll like some cards, I would definitely suggest Tortured Existence (even if it doesnt like working with Necropotence, because of the discarding into exile), with Desecrated Tomb to make a 1/1 black bat token with flying for at instant speed and since Ayara loves black creatures, its would be really good :D Black itself offers a lot of card draw to replace Necropotence.
I also wrote an explanation why I use every single card in the deck, if you would wonder why some stuff are even in there. :D Also if you would decide to give some feedback aswell, I would appreaciate it :P

Anyway, about some cards I would probably replace here:

1) Ugin, the Ineffable - making colorless cards cheaper is definitely nice, but most cards here are already cheap enough with a decent mono-black ramp, which just make it less effective 6 drop. Making tokens into card draw when they die is alright, but again, black has tons of way to generate tokens and card draw (also less synergy with Ayara, since those tokens arent black). His permanent removal is a little bit better for mono-black decks, but since it takes 2 turns to use that ability again (and killing Ugin in process) is slow, cards like Meteor Golem would be probably much more effective as a permanent removal, since it just targets any permanent no matter the color AND is a creature, so sac Meteor Golem and reanimate later. Also, Feed the Swarm.
2) Cemetery Reaper - there is only 5 other Zombie creatures (if I dont count tokens from Grave Titan,Army of the Damned and Open the Graves). Even with some zombies on board, +1/+1 is pretty small buff and Cemetery Reaper is just slow token generator.
3) Beseech the Queen - even for , you are forced to reveal the tutored card, which makes it pretty bad tutor and in my personal opinion, one of the worst tutors in mono-black. As much as I love BtQ art, its a big no from me. Just for , there is budget Diabolic Tutor that wont make you reveal the card you tutored for. Or, a bit more expensive, but mana cheaper and great in token decks: Diabolic Intent. BsQ also limits you by the number of lands you control, so its less effective in the early game.
4) Caged Sun - I know how the mana doubling is nice, but since it costs to get out, then wait a turn to get value out of it might be slow. I think tutoring for Cabal Coffers/Cabal Stronghold might be just faster and more effective. Similar problem with Gauntlet of Power, even if it costs less, it affects lands of the chosen color your opponents control too, which just might lead to some ugly moments :D Probably something like Mirage Mirror would be a good replacement, so you can make an additional copy of Cabal Coffers. Another one could be Pawn of Ulamog, since you have plenty of creatures and those 0/1 Eldrazi tokens could help you with ramp.

Some more cards that could be nice:

1) Piper of the Swarm - cheap creature that buffs some of your other rats and can make rat tokens for cheap aswell, with mind control effect too. There are some really cool Ayara decks with rat tribal aswell.
2) Clackbridge Troll - I pretty like this card since I first saw it... its big ugly troll that does a lot of stuff, forcing your opponent to sac a creature to give you 3 life and 1 card, ooorrrr you the troll hits them! :D
3) Songs of the Damned/Bubbling Muck - both are pretty good to give you a lot of mana to cast a some big stuff during a single turn.
4) Malakir Rebirth  Flip - this is definitely a cool card from the last set, giving either Ayara or any other creature important at the moment "protection" or just use it as a land if needed. With Vilis on board, it also draws you 2 cards for at instant speed.

obitus on Ghoulcaller Gisa Zombie Tokens

9 months ago

I see what you mean about Cemetery Reaper, I feel the same way sometimes. I do like Graveborn Muse because I play her with a sac outlet already in play. I usually play it early on or after a board wipe, I love how this card is a time bomb.

I agree about Risen Executioner and would not mind dropping him, even though my graveyard is usually empty unless it is late game. Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet serves more for token generation and control then for a sac outlet.

I like Custodi Lich because it makes you the monarch for at least a turn and you can sac him for a decent amount of zombies. So I use him as good fooder, but I do like your point about Priest of Forgotten Gods. Will have to ponder that one.

I will have to play test the deck a little to see where I can cut cards, I appreciate the feedback so thank you.

Epicurus on Ghoulcaller Gisa Zombie Tokens

9 months ago

Every time I build zombie tribal, I end up removing Cemetery Reaper. But maybe that's just me. Also, though, Graveborn Muse seems like it has the potential to kill you, so maybe I'd replace that.

Other candidates for replacement would be Risen Executioner, which gets very expensive to recur very quickly, or Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet, which isn't the best of sac outlets.

And you can tell me if Custodi Lich is worth the cost. Personally, I'd trade that one out for Priest of Forgotten Gods, which is underutilized and multifunctional.

Dumannios on Scarab God - Zombie Horde

9 months ago

meilers Ah yeah, I think you are talking about the one that gives tokens flying. Eternal Skylord?

Loyal Subordinate had a lot of success in my playgroup in the sense that, it drew about as much hate as The Scarab God himself... So it became somewhat of a removal magnet. But then again if the commander isn't out it doesn't do much. It was a bit of a hit or miss scenario, but it fit the drain theme at the time.

As for what to cut, it's just a suggestion on my end based on my preferences (Because I know how you feel, I love all my zombies and have a hard time cutting stuff. :P) I am not a huge fan of Cryptbreaker. People keep telling me how good it is but I just never use the abilities. Tapping 3 zombies usually leaves me with few blockers so I'd be wide open to draw 1 card. And tapping it for is maybe okay in an emergency if you need a quick blocker, but I don't see it saving the game or adding extreme value. I also ended up cutting Cemetery Reaper in my Varina, Lich Queen deck for the same reason. My commander did mostly what it did, but better. , to exile a creature for a 2/2 never happened. In this situation the optimal scenario would also be using your commander rather than it so you get a token copy of what you exiled as a 4/4. And then there is the +1/+1 for all zombies but there's quite a few lords already so losing one doesn't feel like it would hurt that much vs the payoff of getting some extra solutions.

Or if you use those abilities a lot and want to keep them in, and you can make a lot of cards in your deck work with Intruder Alarm (Works with 8 of your current cards if I counted right), that can also add a lot of value.

azja on Gisa and Geralf Zombies

11 months ago


  • cut Doomed Dissenter since it can't be recast with your commander, and there are plenty of 2/2 zombies for 2 which can
  • cut Festering Mummy because in commander, most creatures will not die with a couple of -1/-1 counters. Consider keeping it if your opponents play lots of mana dorks such as Llanowar Elves
  • cut Ghoulraiser, your commander casts a zombie of your choice from the graveyard anyway
  • cut Liliana's Steward, targeted discard is bad in commander. You and the targeted opponent lose a card, but your other two opponents don't.

My suggestions for possible replacements are Cemetery Reaper, Cryptbreaker, Rot Hulk, Sidisi, Undead Vizier and Undead Warchief.


  • cut Increasing Ambition, it simply costs too much mana for the effect in my opinion
  • cut Sealed Fate, it's pretty bad unless your opponent just used a Worldly Tutor or something
  • cut Shamble Back, you don't want to exile your own creatures, and it's a pretty poor form of graveyard hate.

Suggestions: Demonic Tutor or the budget replacement Diabolic Tutor, Windfall, Night's Whisper, Reanimate and Buried Alive


Suggestions: Cyclonic Rift, Entomb, Swan Song, Pull from Tomorrow


  • cut Manalith and Nyx Lotus. When you're in 2 colours, you generally don't want to pay more than 2 mana to ramp. Plus if you ramp on turn 2, you'll have 4 mana on turn 3, allowing you to cast your commander early

Suggestions: I think you're a bit low on ramp, most commander decks want 8-10 ramp pieces. Try Arcane Signet, Dimir Signet, Talisman of Dominance, Fellwar Stone, or Mind Stone.


  • cut Telepathy, it's not worth using a card to see your opponents hand unless you're playing something specific like maybe Sen Triplets.

Suggestions: Animate Dead, Phyrexian Arena, Rhystic Study


  • For semi-budget 2-colour deck, your mana base looks pretty good. I would just cut Skyline Cascade, having it come in tapped isn't worth it for it's effect in commander. You can probably just play a basic island in its place.

If you want to upgrade your mana base, avoid lands that come in tapped like Dimir Guildgate. A few suggestions would be Command Tower, Choked Estuary, Darkwater Catacombs, Drowned Catacomb, Tainted Isle, Underground River, Watery Grave.

I hope that was helpful! Here's a link to my The Scarab God commander deck which has a pretty similar zombie tribal theme to what you have. Take a look through it and maybe you'll find more cards that I forgot to mention. If you have any questions don't be afraid to ask!


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