I knew it! I knew it all along! Of course Mikey would die! Too bad all the humans are gonna die...
But this is hella awesome! Prepare to rape some kitchen tables, Mikey!
Hackworthy
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.5/5.0)(4 votes)
Mikaeus + Death Baron is a combo I very much look forward to.
JRE47
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.5/5.0)(3 votes)
Poor Mikaeus. He looks so sad.
...or like me on Mondays. "Dude, what time is it? Why is it dark out?"
jsttu
★★★★☆ (4.7/5.0)(3 votes)
Comboed with any creature that has persist to create infinite recursion, my favorite would be Murderous Redcap with a sacrifice engine for infinite damage dealt. A 5/5 with intimidate is not exactly anything to sneer at either, presenting a 4 turn clock assuming nothing else is happening. I will be very happy if i pull one of these.
Paladin85
★★★★☆ (4.7/5.0)(5 votes)
Not another 'good/neutral guy' turned into bad/evil. Can we have a few 'bad guys' turned good for a change?
His abilities are quite awesome though, with all your creatures gaining undying and +1/+1, removal is like helping you instead of killing your creatures
And killing humans attacking you renders some soldier/knight/cleric decks helpless
4wolf359
★★★★☆ (4.2/5.0)(6 votes)
Use him with Ghave, Guru of Spores. Take off the +1/+1 counters into Saprolings and creatures get eternal Undying. I'm actually drooling. A field full of infinite recursion with a side of Saprolings. Exactly like Quillspike worked for Persist in Shadowmoor block, but amped up.
Aorpheat
★★★★☆ (4.4/5.0)(8 votes)
See, this is just what he gets for wearing such a flowing gown around all of those candles.
Milliman
★☆☆☆☆ (1.6/5.0)(8 votes)
GOD DAMN YOU TO HELL! i hate this MASSIVE boost that zombies get in this set and this ridiculous infinite machine!
"whoa whoa, whats with the hate? You can just play that one artifact that shuts down every zombie deck for only 99$!" Well zombies hadd enough lords as it was and now they get even more ridiculous...
I hate this set with its crappy fateful hour and werewolves!
BlakeHN
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
@Lord_of_Tresserhorn - He works wonders with Arcbound Reclaimer and a graveyard full of artifacts... But better yet is infinite mana with Workhorse, which can cycle through Pentavus for infinite flying tokens, and add a dash of Mindless Automaton for some good draw. Off color, but Spike Feeder = infinite lifegain too...
.Blaze.
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Lili sure is one hell of a necromancer. Wonder what she'll do with him after she leaves Innistrad.
RAV0004
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
...what? The article Wizards printed said Geralf Reanimated Mikaeus, not Liliana. It's odd that Mikaeus is a black unhallowed (Geralf being a blue skaaberen and all) but It was Geralf who snuck into Thraben to Kill him and steal his corpse.
MyrBattlecube
★★☆☆☆ (2.3/5.0)(5 votes)
Well, I'd put this in the comments for Mikaeus, the Lunarch as a joke because of all the candles, but now it's surprisingly appropriate. Ahem.
And it seems to me you lived your life like a candle in the wind. Never knowing who to cling to when the rain set in. And I would have liked to known you, but I was just a kid. Your candle burned out long before your legend ever did.
am802g
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
@dethcreature88 This ruling confirms all combos this has with persist: 121.3. If a permanent has both a +1/+1 counter and a -1/-1 counter on it, N +1/+1 and N -1/-1 counters are removed from it as a state-based action, where N is the smaller of the number of +1/+1 and -1/-1 counters on it. See rule 704.
dethcreature88
★★☆☆☆ (2.8/5.0)(2 votes)
@am802g: Ohh, alright, thanks for the ruling, I was unfamiliar with the rule. Now that that's cleared up, this guy is gonna create some vicious decks I'd imagine.
JaFaR_Ironclad
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
In commander: Vish Kal, Blood Arbiter + Mikaeus the Unhallowed for infinite dies/ETB's/targeted creature removal.
1. Have both cards in play. 2. sac Vish Kal to its own ability, let undying trigger resolve, he comes back with a +1/+1 counter. 3. Use Vish Kal's second ability to clear counters and hit a creature. If you've already wiped your opponent's boards by now, just debuff himself. 4. Repeat step 2-4.
There's something very creepy about this card. I mean, if you look at the Unhallowed and Lunarch side by side, you wonder how something so elegant and majestic turns into a rotten zombie.
Anyways, great card, very anti-human. 5/5
Kirbster
★★★★☆ (4.7/5.0)(5 votes)
In a zombie/cleric deck, he pairs quite nicely with Rotlung Reanimator. The creature comes back and you get a zombie token? Now that just doesn't make sense.
ZX-XZ
★★☆☆☆ (2.8/5.0)(2 votes)
Whoever said Mikaeus was revived by Geralf) The Article in question sid that Geralf had met Liliana and that she showed immense interest in Mikaeus's corpse. when you add 2+2 you get that Liliana Reanimated The Lunarch
chainsmoker
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Rawr!
Reliquium
★★★☆☆ (3.0/5.0)(3 votes)
Heartless Summoning. Your creatures cost less and they JUST...WON'T...STAY...DEAD!!!
(I really hope that Cage that people are pretending won't screw everything up doesn't screw everything up. We should start to see the effect soon...)
(I can't Autocard for some reason...OMG, it's starting!)
(Nope, there we go. Everyone can stop panicing now, it's good. I thought Wizards screwed up so large this time that it blew out the site's formatting capabilities along with hundreds of card abilities, a few dozen fun combos, and the functionality of at least five decks. Not to mention their own great new mechanic that they were introducing in this very same set. But stay calm, the formatting's working fine! Whew!)
um im not sure why anyone hasnt said wurmcoil yet? he brings back ANY NON-HUMAN, and another thing, does he also bring back tokens? if so then welcome to absoloute brokenness
C5r1a5z0y
★★★☆☆ (3.5/5.0)(3 votes)
@am802g: Rule 121.3 has nothing to do with why Persist combo's infinitely w/ Mikaeus. Either Persist or Undying will bring the creature back, but both will only try to do so when it doesn't have either type of counters. Otherwise, if it has a +1/+1 counter, only Persist will trigger. If it has only a -1/-1 counter, only Undying will trigger. Counters don't stay on a card when goes to the graveyard, so the previous type doesn't have to cancel out when it comes back.
Interestingly, if a Persist creature dies to infect/wither damage with a +1/+1 counter on it (presumably from Mikaeus), the +1/+1 and -1/-1 counters won't cancel out before it dies, and neither Persist nor Undying will trigger.
Layz
★★★☆☆ (3.9/5.0)(4 votes)
Correct me if I am wrong but won't comboing this with Triskelion just let you win. Spend 2 tokens damaging the player, deal the last counter's damage to itself to kill it, comes back with more 4 tokens. Rinse and repeat.
UncreativeNameMaker
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Works well with Morbid. Creatures with "When enters the battlefield" Morbid abilities would trigger off their own deaths.
Wasret
★☆☆☆☆ (1.5/5.0)(1 vote)
@ZirilanoftheClaw Undying would work on Wurmcoil engine which is probably as broken as ever. But I actually got this at pre-release and he was awesome, although hard to play with 3 black (in a 3 color deck), he was fantastic. I plan to make some sort of deck on this guy soon. Really great card. 5/5 for his amazing potential. Edit: The tokens would come back with undying also. So yes that is a dirty combination.
Demonic_Math_Tutor
★★★★☆ (4.2/5.0)(3 votes)
Honestly, I suprised we didn't get two version of Mikaeus is Innistrad. Mikaeus the Lunarch and Mikaeus: In Flames.
Oh yeah, and anything with Persist, Murderous Redcap being the obvious choice.
@ZirilanoftheClaw & Wasret: Tokens go POOF as soon as they hit a zone other than the battlefield, so no, they would not come back from the dead via undying (or via any other method, for that matter).
syrazemyla
★★★★☆ (4.4/5.0)(9 votes)
To the Avacynians, seeing Mikaeus changed like this would be as shocking as a Catholic seeing Pope Benedict turn into an undead creature of evil.
If you read the lore they revealed as they spoiled cards, Mikaeus, the Lunarch was killed by Geralf and resurrected as a zombie by Liliana. It's not like he abandoned his faith or anything. He's a mindless zombie now, so I'm not sure I'd qualify this as a "'good/neutral guy' turns into a 'bad/evil guy'" situation.
skormeus
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.5/5.0)(1 vote)
I would combo this with Everlasting Torment. all your creatures would die without any +1 counters due to wither. so none of your creatures would stay dead but all of the opponents creatures would wither away.
ilovealara
★★★★☆ (4.0/5.0)(1 vote)
Hilarious with Loyal Cathar. The Cathar dies and you get a 3/2 who can't block with undying. When that dies to your Altar's Reap, or other sacrifice engine (Hint, hint, Falkenrath Torturer), you get a 3/3 vigilance human which can be sacrifice for flying and +1/+1 on a Torturer. He dies, you get the zombie, zombie dies to the torturer and you get infinite counters on your Falkenrath Torturer.
ScarabKnight
★★★☆☆ (3.9/5.0)(4 votes)
Heh, I wonder if this is a common occurance on Innistrad: The new pope has to fight the recently risen previous incumbant in a battle to the death.
"New just in! John Paul II has risen from the grave, and challenged Benedict XVI to a fight to the death! Ladies and gentlemen, for the first time in years, we bring you a good, old fashioned POPE FIIIIIIIIGHT!"
Entropic_Acolyte
★★★★☆ (4.5/5.0)(1 vote)
Works wonders with a morph deck. Not only do all of the morphed (no creature type, so non-Human) get a +1/+1 boost so each creature is a 3/3 for 3, but when they die they come back face-up. Of course, since they don't actually "morph" any abilities that say "when this card is flipped face up" don't work, but there are still some good morph creatures (even in Black- I'm looking at you, Liege of the Pit) that could wreak havoc alongside this guy. Also, the Liege helps trigger the Undying morph creatures! Joyous!
Ferlord
★★★☆☆ (3.9/5.0)(4 votes)
Hey 4wolf359, you might want Captain Sisay in that EDH deck to assist you (to find Mikaeus)...
Or, you know, just use a Demonic Tutor like all god-forsaken black players.
Mr.Freshness-Timmy
★★☆☆☆ (2.0/5.0)(1 vote)
cauldron of souls. (persist and undying counters fizzle out, and your persist cards or come into play cards or well everything! your stuff just won't dieeeee) yeah (: also conspiracy when appropriate (humans)
rankodd
★☆☆☆☆ (1.5/5.0)(1 vote)
Looks like you can get an infinite G mana combo with devoted druid - the druid untaps by adding a -1/-1 counter to himself. He does that 3 times, goes to the graveyard and comes back with a +1/+1. Four more mana later he's back in, and out of the graveyard.
In fact, it's starting to look feasible to build a deck out of nothing but cards that infinite combo with this guy.
drpvfx
★★★★☆ (4.8/5.0)(4 votes)
This guy is a nexus of combos waiting to happen. His CC will more or less ensure his antics are confined to Casual and EDH decks (or possibly Reanimator), but DAMN!
He breaks Flash even more than it already was- *any* nonhuman creature can be cast for 1U, and they get +2/+2 to boot!
Similarly, you can Evoke a creature like Shriekmaw to kill two creatures and get a 5/4 for 1B. Not bad.
I don't exactly see this guy having much of an impact on Standard, but I suspect he will feature prominently in several casual Combo decks... He enables too many infinite/insane combos to be ignored.
this + Gravecrawler + grimgrin + diregraf captain = you guess :)
A seriously nasty card.. staple for standard zombie tribe
Drawxne
★★★☆☆ (3.5/5.0)(1 vote)
Darn you, Lilliana! You just HAD to resurrect Mikaeus after Geralf killed him so you could find out where Griselbrand, who happens to be one of the demons who is bound to the contract over your soul, is, didn't you?
@Layz, Triskelion does combo infinitely. But you have to shoot itself twice (because of the pump given by Mikaeus) and shoot the player once. Seems like a minor distinction but it might lose you a game :)
Gcrudaplaneswalker
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
As hated as the card is, I think this is why white gets cards like Path to Exile
timmymac1978
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.5/5.0)(1 vote)
I hate to say it, but any combo that relies on removing all the counters from a 0/0 to get effects (Spike Feeder, Fertilid, etc.) won't work on their own. Mikaeus gives everyone +1/+1 in addition to undying, so you get them down to 1/1 but then they just sit there unless you have another way of killing them off. Still, there are a ton of monster combos that use him, so don't let that stop you.
White player: I cast Mikaeus, the Lunarch! Black player : I cast Mikaeus, the Unhallowed! For some reason the legends rule doesn't kick in. How strange would it be for both of them to see each other on the battlefield, seeing their past and future selves? I've wondered the same for Glissa Sunseeker and Glissa, the Traitor.
adrian.malacoda
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
No, Mikaeus. You are the demons.
@shotoku64 The legend rule doesn't account for this because it can't. I think flavorfully this is explained as the summoner (the planeswalker) pulling out a version from a different time period. Since they are fundamentally different people, whatever magical rule prevents the same being from existing in multiple places doesn't kick in.
And then you have Nicol Bolas, Karn, and Venser who have both creature and walker versions. Since the legend rule and the planeswalker rule don't interact with each other, you can have the creature version and the planeswalker version out at the same time. Flavorfully this makes sense, and I think there was even an instance of Bolas creating a double of himself in the story
Kruggles
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
All your fat beaters died? Play a Spike Cannibal and get another fat beater, and another use of undying for ALL your other fat beaters.
Heres a bonus: Kills Ghave in EDH, and any other creatures with 0 toughness and +1/+1 counters.
j_mindfingerpainter
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Oh yeah. Top of the chain in my Undying Pod deck.
The deck is {G}{B} and this is one of the few solutions to Mirran Crusader. Unfortunately, these colors are hard to run together because they are on the opposing color cycle and therefore (1) have a Sword of ____ and ____ that has protection from almost all the deck and (2), there's no land froms Scars that "Enters tapped unless you control 2 or fewer lands" that matches these colors.
This Mikaeus is amazing in Birthing Pod! 6 Drops are nice and easy to get without the chance of him clogging your hand. Gives everything undying so you sac it for Pod, then get it right back for the ETB or LTB effects, and sometimes both! (looking at Solemn Simulacrum here). The +1/+1 to everything is also amazing, makes your titans make their titans look like baby titans :D
Zielheim
★★☆☆☆ (2.8/5.0)(2 votes)
@Mr.Freshness-Timmy
That isn't going to work the way you're thinking of. You need to have a creature with persist on it already in order for it to work, since when it dies, you can stack the undying on it, then when it dies after that, you can use the persist. Rinse and repeat.
@djflo
Someone already mentioned it with Vish Kal, but Mikaeus also has a stupid combo with Vish Kal, Blood Arbiter. Sac Vish Kal to himself, he comes back with a counter, remove the counter to reduce a creature by -1/-1, then sac Vish Kal to himself again, and you loop around with that. Slow and inefficient? No doubt. Lulz worthy if you do it? More than likely.
(The trick with really making Tribal Decks over the top is to not restrict yourself to only the Tribal types you want when you have an opportunity like THIS. He's not Kaalia's favorite type, but he fits beautifully into her deck- and as a Cleric, they would still get along. A Vorthos that doesn't understand this needs to readjust what they think 'Vorthos' means.)
DoragonShinzui
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
This has got to be the fastest conversion of Good guy to Bad guy in MtG history.
What a grumpy gus. Liliana resurrects him just to ask him one stupid question, and suddenly he hates all humans.
Ligerman30
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
I want one but, I already finished my deck :(
BanZZai
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
When Mikaeus comes in, Bloodflow Connoisseur says something like: All your creatures gets +1/+1, then I take +X/+X, number of creatures that you controlled^^
TheDementiaBat
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.5/5.0)(1 vote)
Lunarch is better in my opinion.
Wurmcaller
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Fantastic in my Green/Black deck. Lets me sac most of my creatures twice, including my land fetchers! Just using a couple Dawntreader Elk with him ensures I never need to worry about land again. Works fantastic with morbid triggers for this reason. He's basically a lord for anything but humans, which works for me.
Plus 5/5 intimidate by itself is nothing to laugh at as long as you aren't facing black or artifact based decks.
dlgn
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
EDH.
*Runs off to find mono-black persist creatures*
Tearthesky
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
I think it's worth mentioning that most creatures with a printed p/t of 0/0 still need to be destroyed or sac'd manually because of Mikaeus' nonhuman 1/1 buff! This applies to fun Ghave/pentavus/etc shenanigans. I didn't catch that for a while.
SomeGuy007
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
@Tearthesky: It also bears mentioning that Heartless Summoning is in color and makes getting the combo pieces out quite a lot easier. ;)
arise_shine
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Poor Mikaeus. :( His undead form is quite the beast. So many abilities on this thing. At six mana, he's pretty much unplayable in Constructed, and a 99% "I win" bomb in Limited. I thought about trying to make him work in a Birthing Pod deck, but he just seems too slow, and there were so many other great six-drops.
corranhorn84
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Love the concept of this card. Bought two for my zombie deck to add a little flavor! =)
I've been reading the comments and think some people are somewhat confused about the wording and/ or rules.
704.5r. If a permanent has both a +1/+1 counter and a -1/-1 counter on it, N +1/+1 and N -1/-1 counters are removed from it, where N is the smaller of the number of +1/+1 and -1/-1 counters on it.
704.7. If a state-based action results in a permanent leaving the battlefield at the same time other state-based actions were performed, that permanent’s last known information is derived from the game state before any of those state-based actions were performed.
Example: You control Young Wolf, a 1/1 creature with undying, and it has a +1/+1 counter on it. A spell puts three -1/-1 counters on Young Wolf. Before state-based actions are performed, Young Wolf has one +1/+1 counter and three -1/-1 counters on it. After state-based actions are performed, Young Wolf is in the graveyard. When it was last on the battlefield, it had a +1/+1 counter on it, so undying will not trigger.
700.6. The term dies means "is put into a graveyard from the battlefield." It is used only when referring to creatures.
Therefore...
110.5f. A token that’s phased out, or that’s in a zone other than the battlefield, ceases to exist. This is a state-based action; see rule 704. (Note that if a token changes zones, applicable triggered abilities will trigger before the token ceases to exist.)
110.5g. A token that has left the battlefield can’t move to another zone or come back onto the battlefield. If such a token would change zones, it remains in its current zone instead. It ceases to exist the next time state-based actions are checked; see rule 704.
Meaning, although tokens do trigger the 'undying' ability, they ARE NOT placed in the graveyard and therefore CEASE TO EXIST, causing them to be invalid targets for the ability.
Also... For all those combo players out there... remember that Mikaeus, the Unhallowed BUFFS the other Non-Human creatures +1/+1.
And since the permanent needs to hit the graveyard to activate the 'undying' ability, IN RESPONSE, I Tormod's Crypt your graveyard... or Feast of Blood / Oblivion Ring Mikaeus, the Unhallowed itself. lol
Hugomanen
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Not an infinite combo or anything, but goes pretty nuts with Grave Titan on the kitchen table. Play Titan: 6/6 deathtouch plus two 3/3 zombies Attack: Trade with a 6/x creature, get two more zombies, Titan returns, two more. Attack again: another trade, more zombies At this point your titan itself will have traded with a 6/x and a 7/x and given you 8 3/3 tokens all with undying!
psychichobo
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
It's kind of a pity really that he doesn't provide much for Cleric decks, seeing as they're mostly human. Then again, any humans on his side are hardly screwed.
Eldrazi Spawn produce 2 mana! Each creature can be sacced 4 times! 2 times as a creature, 2 times as a spawn!
Carrion Feeder became a 25/25 this way xD
Mitsunarii
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Best, and currently still legal (though totally broken) setup I use with him is G/B Golgari setup with Disciple of Griselbrand with a Falkenrath Noble on the field. Gain life, sac creature, and no actual changes on your board except a stronger creature. Add in a Corpsejack Menace and even more fun, if the x2 effect procs that way, if not still a strong combo on its own.
kyothine
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
You don't even need to combo this guy with a Cauldron of Souls to realize that he is a huge house in EDH. I put him in my Karador, Ghost Chieftain deck and he just does work. He allows you to bounce back after boardwipes, to take advantage of sacrifice cards like Victimize, and allows you to reuse ETB effects for sweet advantage. Do not underestimate him.
TPmanW
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
I love how flavourful the non-human bit is but every time I'm about to put this into my tribal deck I reread it and cry a little bit.
James_Kernaghan
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Much better than his first rendition, but the mana cost makes him hard to play.
The_Hamez
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
So, if I have Mikey here in play and I cast either Slave of Bolas or the Act of Treason/Fling combo on an opponent's non-human creature, does the stolen creature come back into play under my control, or under its original controller's control, or neither?
Smoke_Stack
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Having him and mikaeus, the lunarch on the field would be pointless... but amusing nonetheless
This would've been an op edh general at 5 mana, and could've even been a 2/2 for 4 with power creep
multiseth
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Riders of Gavony
Haplo81
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
This guy is just ridiculously good in any Tribal EDH deck other than Human. I'm tempted to drop Garza Zol for him in my Vampire deck even though it means I lose access to Blood Tyrant, Stromkirk Captain, Spin Into Myth, Terminate, Ætherize, and Vandalblast.
LordRandomness
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
@Arachnos: Hey sexy mama...wanna kill all humans?
GhostCounselor
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Of the two Mikaeus's, this one will affect the game quicker and produce more dramatic results. I run him in an Orzhov deck and he makes my Treasury Thrulls, Vampire Nighthawks and Desecration Demons stronger and keeps them on the field a bit longer. Not to mention the flavor of it is just perfect. He's been risen from the dead with black magic, and black is far more aggressive then white, so of course you're going to want to smack people with this guy more then you would Mikaeus, the Lunarch. Unfortunately, pairing them both up doesn't work as good as I thought it would.
kiseki
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
@The_Hamez That is a "nonbo". If you gain control of a creature and fling it, it comes back under its owner's control. Good thinking though.
EdgarPoeAllen
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Beast with a Hex parasite and an undying vil in your hand. why not make him hexproof with Alpha Authority
SAUS3
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
I love this guy. He's such a monster. I used to use him in my Vish Kal EDH deck to go infinite with him, but it was kind of lame, so I took him out.
Now he's in my zombie horde deck. It's quite scary. Even if you have a wrath, all of the other zombies come back. He's a 5/5 intimidate too so you can't just kill him with blocking super easily either (need a black or artifact creature that is big enough). He's quite the boss and has epic flavour.
5/5 for an epic zombie lord (in fact he is a lord for any non-human deck - he'd be a funny EDH general for a relentless rats deck lol).
And this guy was printed likely as a countermeasure to the monster Wizards let loose called "Humans". Funny how on Innistrad Humans turned out to be the most monstrous among Zombies, Vampires, and Werewolves...
Master__of__Nature
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
It's only missing one thing. Your opponents NON-zombie creatures get -1/-1. It fits perfectly with everything this card wants to do which is have some impact on the board. Nope, too bad.
Kontrah
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Happy to play him with Gravedigger, let alone about a thousand other things..
Zebra_Lord
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(1 vote)
I just dropped him and then Demon of Death's Gate...so...that was fun. Nothing like sacrificing three creatures so they come back stronger, and also having a 10/10.
TexasDice
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(4 votes)
I call him Mikaeus the Hollowed. Because that satisfies my dark soul.
Nightstrike
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
@Karkain: That's not really a transformation though, that's just a parallel universe.
This guy alone turned my Karador "sacrifice for value" EDH deck from a "durdle around and do not much of anything except get value by killing your own creatures" kind of deck into a full-blown combo deck. Get this guy, Wickerbough Elder or any dude with persist, and a sac outlet on the board, and you have infinite of whatever that sac outlet does. Viscera Seer? Infinite scry/get whatever you want on top of your deck. Greater Good? Infinite draw, as long as you're careful not to draw yourself out. Phyrexian Altar? Infinite mana. The deck is now all about getting to this combo, then getting Eternal Witness and either Kokusho, the Evening Star or Blood Artist and then infinitely Living Deathing the board, killing everybody. And that all happened because one day I decided to add Mike here to my lineup.
I was surprised this guy wasn't rated higher, but I guess I look at things from an EDH perspective too much. I can see the triple being quite restrictive, but he's still a helluva combo engine.
Splume
★★★☆☆ (3.0/5.0)(1 vote)
Does this mean I get to destroy the other player if they play a Lightning Bolt, Searing Spear, Devil's Play, etc. targeting me? (Assuming the other player is human)
K34
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Does not turn workhorse into infinite mana, nor does it turn triskelion into infinite damage as some have said. If you read the rulings it says plain as day that this is NOT a +1/+1 counter boost.
Stuflames
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
K34,
See: Undying
Mikaeus can do both... although you do need a third card for the combo, a repeating sac engine (or -/- debuff) for both. Workhorse looks good to go at first glance but the static +1/+1 Mikaeus grants keeps Workhorse from killing itself after dumping its counters, which would otherwise complete the combo with 2 cards.
Anyway, Mikaeus is amazing though understandably a higher-cost card. A powerful lord for all non-humans with vast combo potential.
jaaja
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
do you know how he interacts with Mishra's Factory as asembly worker? IMHO when the asembly worker dies, he returns to the battlefield only as land but with a +1/+1 counter.
JimmyNoobPlayer
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.5/5.0)(1 vote)
Yes, Triskelion and Mikaeus alone will allow you to deal infinite damage. Trisky can deal damage to any creature, including himself. With Mikaeus he'll be a 2/2 not including the counters, so if the last two pings target himself, he'll die.
The innistrad block was one of my favorite blocks where it just felt good to play black. Black got Heartless Summonings; black god Grislebrand; black got gravecrawler (not quite bloodghast but still good); black good a new Liliana which I feel is one of the best walkers to date; and black got this guy. I love the zombie theme, I love the fallen savior idea that this guy represents, and while at 6 mana he is a bit pricey, you get an awful lot of value. At the absolute least he belongs in any edh deck that runs black, maybe not as a commander, but to offer all your creatures a form of protection, throw up a middle finger to white, and have a form of evasion this bad boy is probably the closest thing black will ever get to Kira, Great Glass Spinner
Comments (110)
But this is hella awesome! Prepare to rape some kitchen tables, Mikey!
...or like me on Mondays. "Dude, what time is it? Why is it dark out?"
His abilities are quite awesome though, with all your creatures gaining undying and +1/+1, removal is like helping you instead of killing your creatures
And killing humans attacking you renders some soldier/knight/cleric decks helpless
"whoa whoa, whats with the hate? You can just play that one artifact that shuts down every zombie deck for only 99$!"
Well zombies hadd enough lords as it was and now they get even more ridiculous...
I hate this set with its crappy fateful hour and werewolves!
And it seems to me you lived your life like a candle in the wind. Never knowing who to cling to when the rain set in. And I would have liked to known you, but I was just a kid. Your candle burned out long before your legend ever did.
This ruling confirms all combos this has with persist:
121.3. If a permanent has both a +1/+1 counter and a -1/-1 counter on it, N +1/+1 and N -1/-1 counters are removed from it as a state-based action, where N is the smaller of the number of +1/+1 and -1/-1 counters on it. See rule 704.
Ohh, alright, thanks for the ruling, I was unfamiliar with the rule. Now that that's cleared up, this guy is gonna create some vicious decks I'd imagine.
1. Have both cards in play.
2. sac Vish Kal to its own ability, let undying trigger resolve, he comes back with a +1/+1 counter.
3. Use Vish Kal's second ability to clear counters and hit a creature. If you've already wiped your opponent's boards by now, just debuff himself.
4. Repeat step 2-4.
Anyways, great card, very anti-human. 5/5
(I really hope that Cage that people are pretending won't screw everything up doesn't screw everything up. We should start to see the effect soon...)
(I can't Autocard for some reason...OMG, it's starting!)
(Nope, there we go. Everyone can stop panicing now, it's good. I thought Wizards screwed up so large this time that it blew out the site's formatting capabilities along with hundreds of card abilities, a few dozen fun combos, and the functionality of at least five decks. Not to mention their own great new mechanic that they were introducing in this very same set. But stay calm, the formatting's working fine! Whew!)
Interestingly, if a Persist creature dies to infect/wither damage with a +1/+1 counter on it (presumably from Mikaeus), the +1/+1 and -1/-1 counters won't cancel out before it dies, and neither Persist nor Undying will trigger.
Edit: The tokens would come back with undying also. So yes that is a dirty combination.
Oh yeah, and anything with Persist, Murderous Redcap being the obvious choice.
@ZirilanoftheClaw & Wasret: Tokens go POOF as soon as they hit a zone other than the battlefield, so no, they would not come back from the dead via undying (or via any other method, for that matter).
Oh, wait.
If you read the lore they revealed as they spoiled cards, Mikaeus, the Lunarch was killed by Geralf and resurrected as a zombie by Liliana. It's not like he abandoned his faith or anything. He's a mindless zombie now, so I'm not sure I'd qualify this as a "'good/neutral guy' turns into a 'bad/evil guy'" situation.
"New just in! John Paul II has risen from the grave, and challenged Benedict XVI to a fight to the death! Ladies and gentlemen, for the first time in years, we bring you a good, old fashioned POPE FIIIIIIIIGHT!"
Or, you know, just use a Demonic Tutor like all god-forsaken black players.
(persist and undying counters fizzle out, and your persist cards or come into play cards or well everything! your stuff just won't dieeeee)
yeah (:
also conspiracy when appropriate (humans)
In fact, it's starting to look feasible to build a deck out of nothing but cards that infinite combo with this guy.
His CC will more or less ensure his antics are confined to Casual and EDH decks
(or possibly Reanimator), but DAMN!
He breaks Flash even more than it already was-
*any* nonhuman creature can be cast for 1U, and they get +2/+2 to boot!
Similarly, you can Evoke a creature like Shriekmaw to kill two creatures and get a 5/4 for 1B. Not bad.
I don't exactly see this guy having much of an impact on Standard,
but I suspect he will feature prominently in several casual Combo decks...
He enables too many infinite/insane combos to be ignored.
Infinite Undying (except when Hex Parasite dies.)
this + Clockwork Condor = a blocker that wont die
this + Gravecrawler + grimgrin + diregraf captain = you guess :)
A seriously nasty card.. staple for standard zombie tribe
Too bad it does not work with Modular, for a moment, I dreamed comboing this with Arcbound Ravager and nearly crapped my pants.
Oh, and also Etched Monstrosity...
Black player : I cast Mikaeus, the Unhallowed!
For some reason the legends rule doesn't kick in. How strange would it be for both of them to see each other on the battlefield, seeing their past and future selves? I've wondered the same for Glissa Sunseeker and Glissa, the Traitor.
@shotoku64
The legend rule doesn't account for this because it can't. I think flavorfully this is explained as the summoner (the planeswalker) pulling out a version from a different time period. Since they are fundamentally different people, whatever magical rule prevents the same being from existing in multiple places doesn't kick in.
For flavor's sake, if the legend rule could account for this occurance, it'd have to account for all the times a legendary thing has been represented by multiple cards, which isn't always clear cut.
Mikaeus, the Lunarch / Mikaeus, the Unhallowed - sure
Glissa Sunseeker / Glissa, the Traitor - why not
Kamahl, Pit Fighter / Kamahl, Fist of Krosa - makes sense
Crovax the Cursed / Ascendant Evincar - it's apparent to us that these are the same person, but the Evincar creature's card isn't even named Crovax!
Crovax the Cursed / Crovax, Ascendant Hero - although White Crovax actually includes "Crovax" in his name, he's actually an alternate dimension variant, so logically the legend rule shouldn't apply here
Braids, Cabal Minion / Braids, Conjurer Adept - same
Akroma, Angel of Wrath / Akroma, Angel of Fury - etc
Mirari / Memnarch - it's not immediately obvious at first, but Memnarch is an animated Mirari. He was the guardian of Mirrodin, which he named after himself.
Skyship Weatherlight, Karn, Silver Golem / Legacy Weapon - the Legacy Weapon is the amalgamation of artifacts that comprise Urza's Legacy, the most notable of which are Weatherlight and Karn. After the Phyrexian invasion, Karn incorporated Weatherlight and the rest of the legacy into himself. This is probably why Karn Liberated has the Legacy Weapon as one of his abilities.
Urborg / Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
And then you have Nicol Bolas, Karn, and Venser who have both creature and walker versions. Since the legend rule and the planeswalker rule don't interact with each other, you can have the creature version and the planeswalker version out at the same time. Flavorfully this makes sense, and I think there was even an instance of Bolas creating a double of himself in the story
Heres a bonus: Kills Ghave in EDH, and any other creatures with 0 toughness and +1/+1 counters.
The deck is {G}{B} and this is one of the few solutions to Mirran Crusader. Unfortunately, these colors are hard to run together because they are on the opposing color cycle and therefore (1) have a Sword of ____ and ____ that has protection from almost all the deck and (2), there's no land froms Scars that "Enters tapped unless you control 2 or fewer lands" that matches these colors.
And of course, because Grafdigger's Cage hates me.
That isn't going to work the way you're thinking of. You need to have a creature with persist on it already in order for it to work, since when it dies, you can stack the undying on it, then when it dies after that, you can use the persist. Rinse and repeat.
@djflo
Someone already mentioned it with Vish Kal, but Mikaeus also has a stupid combo with Vish Kal, Blood Arbiter. Sac Vish Kal to himself, he comes back with a counter, remove the counter to reduce a creature by -1/-1, then sac Vish Kal to himself again, and you loop around with that. Slow and inefficient? No doubt. Lulz worthy if you do it? More than likely.
Kaalia of the Vast + Concerted Effort is sounding pretty delicious right now. 3:) O:)
(The trick with really making Tribal Decks over the top is to not restrict yourself to only the Tribal types you want when you have an opportunity like THIS. He's not Kaalia's favorite type, but he fits beautifully into her deck- and as a Cleric, they would still get along. A Vorthos that doesn't understand this needs to readjust what they think 'Vorthos' means.)
"Kill all humans... kill all humans... must kill all humans..."
All your creatures gets +1/+1, then I take +X/+X, number of creatures that you controlled^^
Plus 5/5 intimidate by itself is nothing to laugh at as long as you aren't facing black or artifact based decks.
*Runs off to find mono-black persist creatures*
I've been reading the comments and think some people are somewhat confused about the wording and/ or rules.
704.5r. If a permanent has both a +1/+1 counter and a -1/-1 counter on it, N +1/+1 and N -1/-1 counters are removed from it, where N is the smaller of the number of +1/+1 and -1/-1 counters on it.
704.7. If a state-based action results in a permanent leaving the battlefield at the same time other state-based actions were performed, that permanent’s last known information is derived from the game state before any of those state-based actions were performed.
Example: You control Young Wolf, a 1/1 creature with undying, and it has a +1/+1 counter on it. A spell puts three -1/-1 counters on Young Wolf. Before state-based actions are performed, Young Wolf has one +1/+1 counter and three -1/-1 counters on it. After state-based actions are performed, Young Wolf is in the graveyard. When it was last on the battlefield, it had a +1/+1 counter on it, so undying will not trigger.
700.6. The term dies means "is put into a graveyard from the battlefield." It is used only when referring to creatures.
Therefore...
110.5f. A token that’s phased out, or that’s in a zone other than the battlefield, ceases to exist. This is a state-based action; see rule 704. (Note that if a token changes zones, applicable triggered abilities will trigger before the token ceases to exist.)
110.5g. A token that has left the battlefield can’t move to another zone or come back onto the battlefield. If such a token would change zones, it remains in its current zone instead. It ceases to exist the next time state-based actions are checked; see rule 704.
Meaning, although tokens do trigger the 'undying' ability, they ARE NOT placed in the graveyard and therefore CEASE TO EXIST, causing them to be invalid targets for the ability.
Also... For all those combo players out there... remember that Mikaeus, the Unhallowed BUFFS the other Non-Human creatures +1/+1.
And since the permanent needs to hit the graveyard to activate the 'undying' ability, IN RESPONSE, I Tormod's Crypt your graveyard... or Feast of Blood / Oblivion Ring Mikaeus, the Unhallowed itself. lol
Play Titan: 6/6 deathtouch plus two 3/3 zombies
Attack: Trade with a 6/x creature, get two more zombies, Titan returns, two more.
Attack again: another trade, more zombies
At this point your titan itself will have traded with a 6/x and a 7/x and given you 8 3/3 tokens all with undying!
Plus, seeing an Undying Battletide Alchemist would be entertaining.
Eldrazi Spawn produce 2 mana!
Each creature can be sacced 4 times! 2 times as a creature, 2 times as a spawn!
Carrion Feeder became a 25/25 this way xD
Yes! Lol
This would've been an op edh general at 5 mana, and could've even been a 2/2 for 4 with power creep
That is a "nonbo".
If you gain control of a creature and fling it, it comes back under its owner's control.
Good thinking though.
Now he's in my zombie horde deck. It's quite scary. Even if you have a wrath, all of the other zombies come back. He's a 5/5 intimidate too so you can't just kill him with blocking super easily either (need a black or artifact creature that is big enough). He's quite the boss and has epic flavour.
5/5 for an epic zombie lord (in fact he is a lord for any non-human deck - he'd be a funny EDH general for a relentless rats deck lol).
And this guy was printed likely as a countermeasure to the monster Wizards let loose called "Humans". Funny how on Innistrad Humans turned out to be the most monstrous among Zombies, Vampires, and Werewolves...
I was thinking more like Rhys the Exiled (Morningtide) to Rhys the Redeemed (Shadowmoor)
But yeah, in general, we get far more legends falling from grace (Balthor, Glissa, Ertai)
@TexasDice haha, nice reference.
I was surprised this guy wasn't rated higher, but I guess I look at things from an EDH perspective too much. I can see the triple
See: Undying
Mikaeus can do both... although you do need a third card for the combo, a repeating sac engine (or -/- debuff) for both. Workhorse looks good to go at first glance but the static +1/+1 Mikaeus grants keeps Workhorse from killing itself after dumping its counters, which would otherwise complete the combo with 2 cards.
Anyway, Mikaeus is amazing though understandably a higher-cost card. A powerful lord for all non-humans with vast combo potential.
You'll need some way to sac Workhorse, though. Claws of Gix (using some of the mana), Phyrexian Altar, Ashnod's Altar, and many creatures like Viscera Seer or Blood Bairn, can do the job.