Yay! They printed a REAL skeleton! Definately fun and playable. I just love the flavor and playablility in both limited and constructed. I was waiting for them to make a true skeleton like this. Hopefully there will be more skeletons in the future that will have the same ability. I definately adore this card. 5/5
Zulp
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
It's just useful. And it enables so many combos. One of my favorites from M11.
Shell_shockkun
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
woah... for two mana you have an instant speed chump blocker
or recurring ammo for a sac engine...
this, vengevine, and bloodghast makes me almost wanna play thought gourger,
but that black leyline is the only thing keeping me away...
funny how a black card is the one to kill grave combos
Doom_Lich
★★★★☆ (4.8/5.0)(2 votes)
Hehe, i got traumatized in the prerelease, and brought back two of these.
Oh, your gonna mill me to death? Well I just got card advantage.
My favourite card of the set, putting four of these guys in my sacrifice deck :)
ToidiDiPuts
★★★★☆ (4.5/5.0)(10 votes)
Another unfortunate card who's name can't type to comment or autocard because it has ASS in its name. Seriously, wizards, take the vulgarity filter off of the a-word, it doesn't stop people from cursing, and gets in the way. need examples? here: royal assassin, assassinate, Ambassador Laquatus, assault, any of the unhinged ass-cards... it goes on and on. the site counts 104 cards with ASS in their name. seriously, this has gone too far.
mutantman
★☆☆☆☆ (1.0/5.0)(1 vote)
Boo regeneration! Yay reanimation!
I hate regeneration, so I grin spitefully now that Drudge Skeletons got the boot. And this card is so much better in so many ways. Now all we need to do is dump Cudgel Troll.
royal assassin, assassinate, Ambassador Laquatus, assault, any of the unhinged ***-cards... it goes on and on. the site counts 104 cards with *** in their name. seriously, this has gone too far.
I can do it just fine...
swingcity03
★★☆☆☆ (2.8/5.0)(2 votes)
Great Synergy with Quest for the Gravelord
niallcmurray86
★★☆☆☆ (2.8/5.0)(2 votes)
Doesn't it kinda feel like this was what Drudge Skeletons was always supposed to be like? Great ability
JoralG
★★☆☆☆ (2.0/5.0)(1 vote)
If you have out Amulet of Vigor and something to sacrifice it too, could you block as many creatures as you could pay 2 black mana for?
Declare it as a blocker, sacrifice Reassembling Skeletons, bring it back into play, declare it as a blocker against another creature, wash, rinse, repeat.
Is there a reason this wouldn't work?
Laguz
★★★★☆ (4.5/5.0)(2 votes)
Great in draft. Forms a sweet little combo with the otherwise-useless Viscera Seer.
Eternal blockers are made of win, and it has tons of flavor to back it up.
The reason that idea won't work is because blockers are declared all at once.
@SilverSkyz
Ooo, I gotta try that. ***atrice. Ok, that didn't work. Royal Assassin. That didn't work either.
How did you manage to autocard them?
Cheza
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(3 votes)
Quite powerful. But R&D, please listen to me. Just print a sorcery with some sort of buyback that produces a skeleton token. I would like to have a black deck that kills an opponent by nothing else but vanilla skeletons. No +1/+1, no deathtouch, no regeneration, just MASSES of them.
Just a Sprout Swarm with a non-mana dependant buyback. Maybe an automatic buyback unless an opponent fulfills a condition.
Vampire96
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
@ dberry02 I agree it is finally a REAL skel. & hopefully the card bellow fits in some reason... 1BB nonamedskel B: return this skel to the battlefield 2/1
EternalLurker
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
noobmag1, Amulet of Vigor isn't worth it at all. It's not like this guy has haste, and there are much better regenerators if it's blocking you want.
TheKeiser
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Easily my favorite black creature in M11 (saying a lot since I love black and this set has some good'uns), the combo potential is just insane. Non-unearth direct cast from the graveyard isn't something I have on a single card in my collection to my knowledge.
Even something as simple as chump blocking and then saccing to Viscera Seer and bringing him back immediately is powerful to assure good draws. Extra mana at the end of opponent's turn? Do that a few more times. Demon of Death's Gate? Sac a skellie or two and a Bloodghast to play him, then bring them all back. Yes, I have a Black Market in that deck.
@FogRaider, I heard Mortician Beetle wanted to go to your little party!
Rikiaz
★★★★☆ (4.2/5.0)(4 votes)
This "Another unfortunate card who's name can't type to comment or autocard because it has ass in its name. Seriously, wizards, take the vulgarity filter off of the a-word, it doesn't stop people from cursing, and gets in the way. need examples? here: royal ******in, ******inate, Amb***ador Laquatus, ***ault, any of the unhinged ***-cards... it goes on and on. the site counts 104 cards with *** in their name. seriously, this has gone too far."
Surprisingly, this served me well with bloodthrone vampire. As long as you have a bunch of unused mana, you can sac him two or three times in a turn. 5/5
can you sacrifice it four times (by paying 8 mana) and summon heccatomb
metalevolence
★★★★☆ (4.4/5.0)(4 votes)
"EAT ME A MILLION TIMES"
-reassembling skeleton
A0602
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
So many useful effects to combine this with. I think this is a powerful addition to black.
EDIT: Like we need another awesome idea to work with this guy? Trying Blasting Station. Basically says: {1}{B} deal one damage to target creature or player. That is a power usually reserved for dragons like Shivan Hellkite, a CMC 7 creature.
It's amazing that this thing is a 1/1. Because of it, you can combine it with Shirei, Shizo's Caretaker, and Bloodthrone Vampire. Sac it to the vamp as many times as you can, then when you run out of mana, just wait until the end of your turn. You get your creature back, untapped.
One of the best skeletons in a long time. It's like unearth and regenerate had a baby.
--Nate--
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Initially, I rated this a 4/5. Then I changed it to 5/5. This card has so many uses that you don't even realize it at first. I use it in my sacrifice deck; I really love this with innocent blood. I also agree with dberry02 that this is what a "real skeleton" should be like. It gives new meaning to the word "graveyard" vs. being "exiled". It's also just plain fun to play. This is just an awesome card.
It says a lot that, in my Savra EDH deck, this 2 mana creature attracts so much attention. Usually because it gets sacrificed at least once a turn once it hits the battlefield.
Yes, I named him Kenny.
bijart_dauth
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(1 vote)
While there are other cards that can be brought back to be used as sacrifice fodder for much cheeper, they are conditional. Like bloodghast or Nether Traitor, where you have to meat a condition in order to bring them back. This may cost 2 instead of 1 or 0, and its harder to go infinite with it, but there were so many times in my sac deck that i had tons of ways to sack and tons of sacrifices in my graveyard, but i had no way to bring them back. With this guy, i just need 2 land.
supershawn
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.5/5.0)(1 vote)
this is THE best black card.
land_comment
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(1 vote)
I once played a game of Magic Online where someone kept using this and Bloodthrone Vampire. I lost miserably.
LOVE this card. Fantastic design since it is powerful but not broken. It is not an auto-include in every black deck (vampire nighthawk I'm looking at you) and not overly powerful on its own (1/1). But, this guy combos with so many things, is a recurring chump blocker, and is amazing in EDH. 5/5 for sure.
Wulfsten
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(6 votes)
THIS is how magic should be updating old classics. Drudge Skeletons, but with an interesting twist. This is probably a little better, but both are excellent cards with their own spin.
R&D has been making far too many "updates" that are basically the same card but better, with the wording slightly changed so that you can't call them "strictly better" and evade accusations of power creep. All it does is devalue the old cards we know and love, and it feels like a cheap way to get casual players to keep buying boosters.
Kind of like how DLCs in video games often include powers/weapons/characters that are just better than what you get in the core game.
Ideally, Wizards would be enticing me to buy boosters by making cards that are inventive, fun, and flavourful. Not by making a 5/4 for 3 mana that makes me worry that my casual deck based on Visions and Stronghold cards is going to start losing unless I buy the new expansions.
/Rant
BegleOne
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(2 votes)
This card should have existed in Alpha. It is so right. I don't think a card has ever become a staple across the whole breadth of the game so soon after printing as this one. There was a gap in my mental card encyclopedia just waiting to be filled, and this guy plugged it perfectly. Before this we had to put up activation gymnastics on stuff like Nether Shadow and Plague of ***roaches.
Thanks Wizards. No, it doesn't make-up for Papa Jace, Lotus Cobra, Vengevine or the whole greedy concept of mythic rare tourney staples. But I will accept that you do some things correctly as well from time to time.
Kitty_the_Kat
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
I like the idea of using this in EDH to fuel Skullclamp in a pinch. Reoccuring draw is always ideal, and this would offer just another way to use it. Especially if you have River Kelpie on the board with it. Gotta maximize that draw!
Peaceout734
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Man, I love this card. Repeatable (in a turn) sacrifice target. I think so.
Radagast
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
A solid card that fills a gap in black magic. Very flavorful, since the dead just keep on coming back.
blindthrall
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
@TomYoung: I've been using it with Attrition since I pulled one. And Mind Slash. And Contamination. My sac deck sees alot of scoops.
Comments (59)
Not if you cape-twirl or freeze/kick them (or, in Magic's case, exile them).
ROFTL skeleton
or recurring ammo for a sac engine...
this, vengevine, and bloodghast
makes me almost wanna play thought gourger,
but that black leyline is the only thing keeping me away...
funny how a black card is the one to kill grave combos
Oh, your gonna mill me to death? Well I just got card advantage.
here: royal assassin, assassinate, Ambassador Laquatus, assault, any of the unhinged ass-cards... it goes on and on.
the site counts 104 cards with ASS in their name. seriously, this has gone too far.
I hate regeneration, so I grin spitefully now that Drudge Skeletons got the boot. And this card is so much better in so many ways. Now all we need to do is dump Cudgel Troll.
ELDRAZI MONUMENT!!
Reassembling Skeleton, I'm pretty sure you can auto card it.
royal assassin, assassinate, Ambassador Laquatus, assault, any of the unhinged ***-cards... it goes on and on.
the site counts 104 cards with *** in their name. seriously, this has gone too far.
I can do it just fine...
Declare it as a blocker, sacrifice Reassembling Skeletons, bring it back into play, declare it as a blocker against another creature, wash, rinse, repeat.
Is there a reason this wouldn't work?
Eternal blockers are made of win, and it has tons of flavor to back it up.
The reason that idea won't work is because blockers are declared all at once.
@SilverSkyz
Ooo, I gotta try that. ***atrice. Ok, that didn't work. Royal Assassin. That didn't work either.
How did you manage to autocard them?
Just a Sprout Swarm with a non-mana dependant buyback. Maybe an automatic buyback unless an opponent fulfills a condition.
& hopefully the card bellow fits in some reason...
1BB nonamedskel
B: return this skel to the battlefield
2/1
Even something as simple as chump blocking and then saccing to Viscera Seer and bringing him back immediately is powerful to assure good draws. Extra mana at the end of opponent's turn? Do that a few more times. Demon of Death's Gate? Sac a skellie or two and a Bloodghast to play him, then bring them all back. Yes, I have a Black Market in that deck.
also, Attrition
here: royal ******in, ******inate, Amb***ador Laquatus, ***ault, any of the unhinged ***-cards... it goes on and on.
the site counts 104 cards with *** in their name. seriously, this has gone too far."
- makes 2/2 Zombie tokens every turn with Archdemon of Unx and keeps Lord of the Pit, Liege of the Pit, Xathrid Demon and Devouring Strossus well fed and happy. Also combos with cards like Magus of the Abyss to lessen the drawback.
-reassembling skeleton
EDIT: Like we need another awesome idea to work with this guy? Trying Blasting Station. Basically says: {1}{B} deal one damage to target creature or player. That is a power usually reserved for dragons like Shivan Hellkite, a CMC 7 creature.
-reassembling skeleton
Plus, as has been said, in general it is good sacrifice fodder. BTW, Grave Pact and Blade of the Bloodchief/Sadistic Glee love this card.
culling the weak ...
Yes, I named him Kenny.
R&D has been making far too many "updates" that are basically the same card but better, with the wording slightly changed so that you can't call them "strictly better" and evade accusations of power creep. All it does is devalue the old cards we know and love, and it feels like a cheap way to get casual players to keep buying boosters.
Kind of like how DLCs in video games often include powers/weapons/characters that are just better than what you get in the core game.
Ideally, Wizards would be enticing me to buy boosters by making cards that are inventive, fun, and flavourful. Not by making a 5/4 for 3 mana that makes me worry that my casual deck based on Visions and Stronghold cards is going to start losing unless I buy the new expansions.
/Rant
Thanks Wizards. No, it doesn't make-up for Papa Jace, Lotus Cobra, Vengevine or the whole greedy concept of mythic rare tourney staples. But I will accept that you do some things correctly as well from time to time.