Pointed Discussion

It´s slow and weak for its cost.

Weak for its cost? I wouldn't call this guy weak by any means; he's incredibly useful and he tactfully rounds out any Zombie tribal deck. Maybe not quite as good with the M10 rule changes but still bomb

Pair it with a Cemetery Reaper and simultaneouly nuke your opponent's graveyard and draw every zombie in your deck at no collateral cost to you. Expensive combo, but Dark Rituals, Cabal Coffers, and any other big mana generator can support it.

How about using him to get out as many Death Barons, Lord of the Undead, etc. as possible- every game!
pick and choose, my friends.

He's a very slow card. 5 mana makes it hard to get out unless you draw a Dark Ritual, and you can't even use his effect the first turn he comes to the field. Still, he has a very powerful effect and getting it off even once or twice can mean victory for the Zombies.

Overall, can be useful for Zombies.

Weak for his cost is entirely correct. Zombie pilots must be careful when choosing creature cards for tribal decks since zombies have historically been overcosted and/or narrow in scope. Compare Gravespawn Sovereign to Captivating Vampire - the power difference is just sickening. There are many zombie cards which appear to be hypothetically good while in practise they just end up warming your hand.

From what I have seen, many people commenting on cards in gatherer appear to either be very ignorant or have no playtesting experience what-so-ever and are just commenting on the cards hypothetically.

"How about using him to get out as many Death Barons, Lord of the Undead, etc. as possible- every game!"

You will not see him every game. Not to mention you won't be able to utilize his ability in an adequate fashion consistantly. Not to mention you still must cast the cards that you retrieve AND he taps to do so limiting your draw with him substantially. Not to mention you must actually sacrifice a permanent which in the end reduces your effective card draw. Not to mention his ability effectively forces you to pay it in three different ways just to be able to use it (mana, tapping, AND saccing - gimme a break), etc, etc... Count on using his ability either once a game or never, unless you are playing against some extremely jank casual decks.

"Weak for its cost? I wouldn't call this guy weak by any means; he's incredibly useful and he tactfully rounds out any Zombie tribal deck."

ANY zombie deck? Lemme guess... you run a deck with 16 lands, 4 of which are cabal coffers, to support this montrosity of a card and a full playset of Helldozers, amirite?

Be careful in choosing your tribal bombs, ESPECIALLY in zombies - where you will be consistently be forced to compete against opponents who use generally stronger decks. In the end this card is nothing better than a limited bomb that might win you the game if you plan on consistently playing games that last for 20 turns or more.

slow yes, but hes great as a finisher. err to find your finishers. dont forget thats land accel deck thinning and creature search for 1B sac n tap

overrated overcosted, zombie aggro decks must be fast, this guy is nonsense and wont compete against true opponents, only good for kindergarten

This looks like it could be good for a zombie deck in EDH, but not for much else.

This is a REPEATABLE DOUBLE TUTOR PEOPLE!

'might' be good in EDH is an understatement- he's plain BROKEN there.

Now, I understand that for normal 60-card concoctions, he seems almost underwhelming because of his cost. It's still a double tutor. I don't know why he's not a Rare. I'm not a fool, he's not worth Mythic, but double tutor still seems rare to me.

He's not 'weak for his cost'- if you're playing him for his mana cost, using one swamp per turn so he only comes out on turn 5, that's your fault, not his. Magic cards are made to be broken, and if you land this guy turn 4, or turn 3, then you are in a very good position. Green for mana, Black for sick graveyard interactions, both for tokens to to sac to his ability.

Zombies are undead. What part of the word 'Reanimator' don't you understand?! Instead of a Reanimator Beatdown deck, this guy could really shine in a Reanimator Control deck. So complain about his 3/3 low stats. Complain about his lack of evasion. Complain about the M10 Rules Changes. Complain about ANYTHING you want EXCEPT his mana cost. If Progenitus and Emrakul can hit the battlefield, then this guy sure as hell can too.

He's good if you play the right cards around him. That's true of nearly every card, all the way up to Jace, the Mindsculptor (needs something more than just his unsummon ability to keep him alive)
So why WOULDN'T you play Dark Ritual? Why WOULDN'T you play Entomb? it's like you guys forgot what a ZOMBIE was! sheesh! xP

And you can see him every game if you use that new sacrifice ritual in Innistrad- the one that draws two at INSTANT speed.

Turn 3 with a Dark Ritual. Turn 1 with a Dark Rit, Entomb and Exhume.

Badass art. Because no-one said it.

Um... Gravecrawler?

combo's with swamps and zombies...
4/5 Stars

Personally would much rather have Altar's Reap or Skulltap, particularly for aggro. Gives identical card advantage at the same cost as the ability but playable in turn 2 rather than turn 6 (with no acceleration) and honestly a tutor for 5 mana + 1 turn is too expensive to be a practical utility in early situations, which against challenging decks is exactly where you need it. Also requiring more swamps outside of a combo (in which case there are better cards to fetch them) once you've played this is low as most Zombies are 3 mana or less. Maybe there is a niche Zombie utility deck that draws games out and benefits from having certain creatures on the field but in my experience I've found most decent Zombie decks are based on many aggressive and cheap creatures that keep coming back via Unholy Grotto / Lord of the Undead / Unearth with Gempalm Polluter thrown in there for a sudden alternative win condition and further card advantage.

EDH is a different matter just because games are longer.

An extremely tempting option for general in my zombie pauper EDH deck. Depending on how well my deck does at defending, I may try this guy out. Massive card advantage all day, and there are very few options for tutoring in pauper. This guy would just keep dumping out my best zombies. Hitting all the land drops would be nice too (for thinning my deck as well as playing a lot of zombies).

EX: I sacrifice my black cat to tutor for my gravedigger. I cast gravedigger and get my black cat back.

Repeat that sort of stuff while slowly bringing more zombies out of my deck. Tutor for the win conditions as well (gempalm polluter and/or shepherd of rot).

Is that the orb of confusion...?

Not a bad card to have in a Thraximundar deck; he ensures you don't fall behind on your lands, and lets you tutor for a gravecrawler to help with your combo.

If you equip him with Thornbite Staff, he gets even better; you get a sac trigger for Thrax,tutor for 2 cards, and you can untap this guy to repeat the process for only 2 mana. Grab a Fleshbag Marauder or something else that helps with sacs with this, and you'll be pretty happy with this card, I can assure you. And unless you're playing against land destruction or super tournament quality EDH decks, you shouldn't have to worry too much about being able to get him out.