I'm just going to clear the board with black sun zenith, do a ton of damage to you when my zombies die and then bring them all back next turn with Zombie Apocalypse :) Have a nice day :) Stupid humans!!!
drpvfx
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.5/5.0)(1 vote)
Not as good as Drogskol Captain, but an amazing enabler nonetheless.
Yes because zombies needed more tech... Then again this is Innistrad.
majinara
★☆☆☆☆ (1.1/5.0)(14 votes)
Commander Review: not bad, not great. It's just a 2/2 which is quite a pity, because in Commander it will die too easily. Just it's deathtouch rescues it a bit from beeing instantly stomped over. The +1/+1 bonus is cute, but not that relevant. As such, if you run an aggressive Commander deck with 15 to 20 or more zombies, you might consider adding him. But if you skip him, your deck wouldn't lose too much either. 2/5
sarroth
★★★★☆ (4.2/5.0)(6 votes)
Oh, Zombies, you'll always have a place in my heart. Especially when so many of your cards are just so cool.
Okuu-chan
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.5/5.0)(2 votes)
Pulled one in my winnings in the prerelease, along with a Stromkirk Captain. Needless to say, this went straight into my zombie deck.
1) Put Gravecrawler on the field 2) Put Diregraf Captain on the field 3) Put Grimgrin, Corpse-Born on the field. 4) sac Gravecrawler by using Grimgrin second ability; pay and bring him back on the field. Opponent would lose 1 life point each time you bring him back.
This would be more fun if you have more than one of Diregraf Captain on the field.
NaxoEgg
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Does having 2 instances of this card stack its abilities? e.g other zombies I control get +2/+2, target opponent loses 2 life when another zombie I control dies
Roobre
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Hi there! I've a question about this card, and all the "while-in-battleflield-X-obtains-Y-bonus" type cards.
Let's suppose that I, owning this card and another 2/2 zombie, attack to other player. The zombie would get +1/+1, and if he doesn't block, it would get 5 damage. But the opponent blocks and DEFEATS the Captain. Does the bonus of the zombie disappears? In other words, will he get 2 or 3 damage points?
Regards, and thanks in advance :)
Steinhauser
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Compared to Falkenrath Noble, his tribal ability seems lacking. Yet it's definitely still relevant when combined with his other abilities.
You know, even in a horror-themed set, you can overdo it.
"Magic: The ZOMBIES presents its new entry in the ZOMBIE Decks Series, 'ZOMBIES of ZOMBIE Hollow'. This limited-ZOMBIE deck of 60 ZOMBIES is all-foil, including five hard-to-ZOMBIE classic ZOMBIE lands. These ZOMBIES are ZOMBIE-legal black bordered ZOMBIES in all ZOMBIE formats. ZOMBIES."
Jesus Christ.
joker53
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
@Roobre, damage is dealt all at the same time. So by the time damage is assigned, the zombie is 3/3 due to the lord, and it's at the end of the fight when the zombie gets back to be 2/2. i hope i'm clear. so basically, they will take 3.
By the way, really powerful card. Makes gravecrawler a recurring 3/2 that hurts even when it dies. They smashed my illusions deck last FNM. I hate them both.
EDIT: I'm playing zombies myself now. This is not specially good to see, unless you get to combine a couple or even three of them. I bet zombie decks will start to decrease using it. Certainly not geralf's messenger.
AxeZyllMattex
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Question? If I add this card to my Lord of the Pit/Lord of the Undead/Grave Titan deck can I count the zombies I send to the graveyard to appease my Lord of the Pit as a Zombie killed and therefore inflict damage to my opponent?
Bowshewicz
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
@AxeZyllMattex: Yes, those zombies would count. Your opponent would lose life for them.
Absolutely disgusting when equipped with Unscythe, Killer of Kings. First Strike + Deathtouch is devastating as it is, but then throw in the fact that he can pump all those zombies and you have one dirty little combo.
Ummm, majinara: HOW is this not good in EDH? Remember Army of the Damned? EDH BOMB? This card is amazing with that one. The +1/+1 isn't just cute. For tokens, it may as well be a finisher. And if that's not enough, drop a Damnation and because tokens hit the yard before they're exiled and then cease to exist, your opponent of choice loses 1 life per token. As for the body, don't ALL low-curve cards that aren't broken have small toughnesses? It's not awesome outside of a Zombie Tribal EDH (Grimgrin seems like a nice choice for the Commander) but he's not "not great". Zombies could use another Lord anyway.
Works well in my zombie-only EDH deck with Undead Alchemist and Dralnu and my Commander, and also works well in my Modern zombie-only deck. 5/5
nunyaJs
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
HOLY COW! Only ONE 'Dies to x' comment? (But Elite Inquisitor hoses 2 good tribes, and an emerging one... *shrug*) Anyways... Hells of fun, and with that blue mana, its just begging to find a way into a Zombie Infestation deck .
atemu1234
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Why is it I think there should be a Duel Decks: Vampires Vs. Zombies, with Jace, Memory Adept as the Zombie ruler (because he mills, that's why) and Sorin for the Vampires. Or, maybe neither gets a planeswalker and Grimgrin for Zombies and Olivia Voldaren for the Vampires.
zzxyyzx
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Doesn't bring as much to the table as his counterpart Stromkirk Captain, but the incremental advantage this guy provides is still very useful. Chumps can turn out unfavorable to an opponent late game, and between this, Blood Artist and Geralf's Messenger, I wonder how much you can make your opponents suffer just by your guys dying xD
Ataraxiom
★★★★☆ (4.0/5.0)(1 vote)
Probably a very good card in the right deck, but personally my least favourite of the captain cycle.
Tribal Support: As one of the more heavily-pushed tribes on Innistrad, Zombies have received solid support in the form of powerful creatures and relevant enchantments. Although Zombies tend to be individually weaker than creatures of other tribes, they have a focus on sheer numbers and graveyard recursion that makes them difficult to get rid of. Because of cards like Ghoulcaller's Chant and Endless Ranks of the Dead, Diregraf Captain often gets to support many more creatures than his counterparts do. On a side note, Standard Zombies have suffered from the lack of a powerful 2-drop for some time, and unlike Vampires, they didn't get much of a curve-filler in M14 (i.e. Gnawing Zombie).
Buff Ability: Maybe it's just me, but this captain seems underpowered in terms of supporting his tribe. The usual +1/+1 boost goes a long way to making the typical 2/2 Zombie a threat, but the supporting ability (which tends to be the focus of a captain card) seems anticlimactic. To be fair, dealing one damage per Zombie death isn't totally useless, especially when Zombies like Gravecrawler and Butcher Ghoul can die multiple times. However, would it have been overpowered to have the captain give other Zombies Undying or even Deathtouch? Both options seem flavourfully appropriate, although cards like Mikaeus, the Unhallowed seem to suggest that they're just too powerful to exist on a 3-drop that way.
Solo Ability: The value of Deathtouch as an ability depends on a few things. First of all, you want your Deathtoucher to be able to threaten as many enemy creatures as possible, usually through Reach or Flying; Deadly Recluse is a great example of this. Second of all, your Deathtoucher should either be expendable (like Typhoid Rats) or bulky enough to survive combat (like Vampire Nighthawk). Diregraf Captain is none of these things. With the 2/2 stats of a bear and no evasion, it's more than likely that the captain will be trading with whatever he fights, and more often than not, losing your tribal support will not be worth the trade. Because of this, Deathtouch on the captain is little more than a hypothetical threat for your opponent, albeit a flavourful one. Something just doesn't feel mechanically effective about this, though.
In EDH, your zombie token army is getting removed usually in one turn around the table. This guy assures that a wrath effect still takes a pound of someone's flesh (unless they exile everything with some Terminus BS, but for that, make sure you are packing an Altar of Dementia). If you have Mindcrank out, that ping effect really adds up for UB mill. If you have Bloodchief Ascension out, pinging from Zombies really speeds up those counters. His art rocks too.
Karkain
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Compared his Zombie Lord ancestors, he would be insulting as a rare. I didn't expect something like Deathtouch (as that would make him a rehashed Death Baron), but it would have been nice to see him do more. +1/+1 is great and is a staple abilities for Lords now, but his life loss ability is not only weaker compared to the previous Lords, but unflavorful as well. How does Stromkirk Captain inspire First Strike? He is your Captain and you follow orders to slay all trespassers. Drogskol Captain and Hexproof? Great leadership inspires resilience in his followers. Nothing about Diregraf's ability gives him the "Captain" feel. Lord of the Undead could revive the fallen, which (un)naturally makes him a valuable leader, Undead Warchief calls other Zombies to the fight faster as a warchief is meant to do, Death Baron's Deathtouch goes along with the flavour text bit about "killing and recruitment". I don't blame them for giving Zombies such a low-power Lord because we already have some very good Lords that wasn't the right time to give us another table-flipping one. Next time we get a Zombie Lord, hopefully it won't be on a plane like Innistrad where Zombies are just glorified/damned potatoes. Only reason he's in my Zombie deck is that Lords are removal magnets, and I need something to soak up the removal.
Moral of the story: potatoes are outstanding fodder.
3.5 - solid Lord for people who can't afford LotU and the Baron, very cool artwork as well.
Comments (39)
Like Disciple of the Vault good.
The only problem is getting the expensive blue/black dual lands in order to move this into my mono-black zombie deck.
This, Mikaeus, the Unhallowed and Ravengul Runebinder, in Dark Ascension, Adaptive Automaton and Cemetery Reaper in M12 and Undead Alchemist in Innistrad.
...FIVE LORDS? And that's without counting all other pro-zombie cards like Call to the Grave and Endless Ranks of the Dead. And the new zombie Bloodghast (Gravecrawler).
but an amazing enabler nonetheless.
B/U Zombies just became a *lot* stronger.
This + Gravecrawler + Grimgrin, Corpse-born = OUCH.
Even nastier if you can get Mikaeus, the Unhallowed out!
I totally dig it... 5/5.
Diregraf Captain
Gravecrawler
Rooftop Storm
Infinite loss of life
Then again this is Innistrad.
2/5
+1/+1 and vigilance to humans. I can wait...
Too bad thats not standard.
1) Put Gravecrawler on the field
2) Put Diregraf Captain on the field
3) Put Grimgrin, Corpse-Born on the field.
4) sac Gravecrawler by using Grimgrin second ability; pay
This would be more fun if you have more than one of Diregraf Captain on the field.
I've a question about this card, and all the "while-in-battleflield-X-obtains-Y-bonus" type cards.
Let's suppose that I, owning this card and another 2/2 zombie, attack to other player. The zombie would get +1/+1, and if he doesn't block, it would get 5 damage. But the opponent blocks and DEFEATS the Captain. Does the bonus of the zombie disappears? In other words, will he get 2 or 3 damage points?
Regards, and thanks in advance :)
"Magic: The ZOMBIES presents its new entry in the ZOMBIE Decks Series, 'ZOMBIES of ZOMBIE Hollow'. This limited-ZOMBIE deck of 60 ZOMBIES is all-foil, including five hard-to-ZOMBIE classic ZOMBIE lands. These ZOMBIES are ZOMBIE-legal black bordered ZOMBIES in all ZOMBIE formats. ZOMBIES."
Jesus Christ.
By the way, really powerful card. Makes gravecrawler a recurring 3/2 that hurts even when it dies. They smashed my illusions deck last FNM. I hate them both.
EDIT: I'm playing zombies myself now. This is not specially good to see, unless you get to combine a couple or even three of them. I bet zombie decks will start to decrease using it. Certainly not geralf's messenger.
Turn 4 Undead Alchemist
Turn 5 Traumatize
Turn 6 Killing Wave...sac all your zombies, ping target opponent to death
5/5
Anyways... Hells of fun, and with that blue mana, its just begging to find a way into a Zombie Infestation deck .
Stromkirk Captain
Immerwolf
Drogskol Captain
Diregraf Captain
Tribal Support: As one of the more heavily-pushed tribes on Innistrad, Zombies have received solid support in the form of powerful creatures and relevant enchantments. Although Zombies tend to be individually weaker than creatures of other tribes, they have a focus on sheer numbers and graveyard recursion that makes them difficult to get rid of. Because of cards like Ghoulcaller's Chant and Endless Ranks of the Dead, Diregraf Captain often gets to support many more creatures than his counterparts do. On a side note, Standard Zombies have suffered from the lack of a powerful 2-drop for some time, and unlike Vampires, they didn't get much of a curve-filler in M14 (i.e. Gnawing Zombie).
Buff Ability: Maybe it's just me, but this captain seems underpowered in terms of supporting his tribe. The usual +1/+1 boost goes a long way to making the typical 2/2 Zombie a threat, but the supporting ability (which tends to be the focus of a captain card) seems anticlimactic. To be fair, dealing one damage per Zombie death isn't totally useless, especially when Zombies like Gravecrawler and Butcher Ghoul can die multiple times. However, would it have been overpowered to have the captain give other Zombies Undying or even Deathtouch? Both options seem flavourfully appropriate, although cards like Mikaeus, the Unhallowed seem to suggest that they're just too powerful to exist on a 3-drop that way.
Solo Ability: The value of Deathtouch as an ability depends on a few things. First of all, you want your Deathtoucher to be able to threaten as many enemy creatures as possible, usually through Reach or Flying; Deadly Recluse is a great example of this. Second of all, your Deathtoucher should either be expendable (like Typhoid Rats) or bulky enough to survive combat (like Vampire Nighthawk). Diregraf Captain is none of these things. With the 2/2 stats of a bear and no evasion, it's more than likely that the captain will be trading with whatever he fights, and more often than not, losing your tribal support will not be worth the trade. Because of this, Deathtouch on the captain is little more than a hypothetical threat for your opponent, albeit a flavourful one. Something just doesn't feel mechanically effective about this, though.
Underpowered, reasonably supported, somewhat enjoyable: 3/5
Moral of the story: potatoes are outstanding fodder.
3.5 - solid Lord for people who can't afford LotU and the Baron, very cool artwork as well.