Combos with Lord of the Undead and Unholy Grotto for insane amounts of damage, particularly in multiplayer. Replaces itself in your hand, and is a serviceable warm body if you ever hardcast it. Very, very good.
BlackKnight28
★★★★☆ (4.2/5.0)(2 votes)
My alltime favorite zombie card, was the win condition in my standard Onslaught era zombie deck, and is still the win condition in my legacy zombie deck
RuthieA
★★★★☆ (4.2/5.0)(4 votes)
Quite possibly one of the most evil Zombie cards in the game. On its own, perhaps it's not so powerful, however in a Zombie deck (particularly ones with Lord of the Undead and Disentomb) it can be deadly. Say your opponent has five zombies in play (if not more, because they probably have raided your graveyard using Cemetery Reaper), and then cycles Gempalm Polluter. You lose five life. The next turn they do it again. Twice, because they have a disentomb in their hand. It's just terrible. If you're playing it, of course, it's a great combo.
That said, this card's main strength is its cycling ability. A 4/3 for 6 Mana is a little costly nowadays, and so, I can't really see this card being played, as such, it basically amounts to an uncounterable two mana sorcery. Which is fine, especially in the right kind of deck (namely one with lots and lots of Zombies).
SwordSkill
★★☆☆☆ (2.2/5.0)(5 votes)
This card in worthy only for cycling
maxzakh
★☆☆☆☆ (1.2/5.0)(2 votes)
best zombie card ever printed. it may as well read: BB: draw a card you opponent loses
Tanaka348
★★★★☆ (4.7/5.0)(3 votes)
The card's only worth it for the cycle, sure, but it's well worth it alone for the cycle. I guess you could hard cast it if you're really desperate for a body... it's better than not having it.
combo him with Urborg (making all lands swamps in play), and Lord of the Undead for large amounts of damage, if its a four player game, just 5 lands each is required for a 1 hit kill...
Carnophage_4ever
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Hmm, I use these with Lord of the Undead and Grave Pact. It then deals damage to the opposing player while getting rid of his creatures when you cycle it. When your zombie throng is substantially deployed, it's an instant kill.
Seems to me that some people confuse "each zombie" for "each swamp"... Urborg isn't part of a combo with this guy.
For multiplayer I give it a 4.5/5, for duel, a 4/5. The reason is that it's a little bit harder to have a massive zombie legion in play when facing another player alone, who will focus on not letting that happen. If you have less than 5 zombies, it's still worth the cycling, but it wont deal that much damage.
Don't bother trying to play it as a body: if you can afford that, it generally means the game's yours anyway.
Nagoragama
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Good uncounterable finisher in a zombie deck, but you'd never want to actually cast it.
ClockworkSwordfish
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
GEMPALMS F*CK YEA! I remember these suckers...Saw many, many matches lost to them.
supershawn
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
at first I though "with that mana cost it's only good for cycling", but no. indeed you DO have to cycle it to make it good, but AFTER you cycle it not only do you get a free card and a bunch of damage, you get an extra creature in your graveyard! which you can either bring back into play through many different means OR just take advantage of the fact it's in there OR you can remove it from your graveyard for a numerous amount of other black abilities... this card has versatility and usefulness coming out of his palms.
roguepariah
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Lets see... puts a creature in your graveyard draws you a card works well with zombies
I like to cycle him, even early on in the game, just to get him into my graveyard to combo with Soulless one or Cemetery reaper. Or even better, lord of the undead. Repeatable draw and HUGE damage for 4 mana.
StealthShadow
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
This card is simply brilliant when you can end the game in two turns when there are 10 or more zombies in play. Quick to play zombies like Festering Goblin or Maggot Carrier make cycling him much more satisfying.
Bulhakas
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Oh look, it's Eddie the Head!
Lord_of_Tresserhorn
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
This is gonna get at least a casual revival with all the Innistrad Zombies. :D
thewalkingdead
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
yeah i know everyone says the same thing..... well worth it just for the cycle ability. i dont think i've ever played it just use it for a draw spell that causes lots of life loss that i can fetch with lord of the undead. and carnopahge_4ever you seem to forget that grave pact is usless with this card. i mean, really take a moment and read both of them.
@Carnophage_4ever - It's a nice thought, but Grave Pact doesn't work that way.
"Whenever a creature you control is put into a graveyard from the battlefield, each other player sacrifices a creature."
When you cycle Gempalm Polluter, you are activating the Cycling ability on the card, which forces you to discard the card to the graveyard as per its cost. It never went to the battlefield nor was it ever technically a creature, therefore certain conditions were never met. It may have the creature card type, but it's not a creature while in your hand. If you hard cast the card and the spell resolves, then it's a creature on the battlefield and Grave Pact will then take affect.
Also, please look further at the Details rulings above for a clearer understanding on the abilities' activation conditions and the order on the stack, or lack there of.
And if the new text "dies" is on your Grave Pact card...
700.6. The term dies means "is put into a graveyard from the battlefield." It is used only when referring to creatures.
Kirbster
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
"It's tickle time!"
Ferlord
★★★☆☆ (3.0/5.0)(3 votes)
Weirdly, if this didn't have Cycle, this would've been strictly worse than Zombie Goliath.
Kind of like goblin war strike, except for uncounterable, cantrip, and instant for 1 more cmc
Osprey_93
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(2 votes)
I'm not sure I follow the flavour of this card. I always picture a Necromancer who's ***ed because the casting cost of it is too high so he sends him back to the graveyard, making the polluter have a tantrum on the opponent for playing more competitive creatures meaning he'll never hit the field, subsequently giving the Necromancer the Idea to cast more zombies :P
mechanically it's Cycle, life loss, & card draw, which make for an extremely powerful workhorse. I like to think of it as an uncounterable, cantripping sorcery life cannon that can recur on the side of a Ghoulcaller's Chant. 5/5
@Ferlord: Actually try reading the card for once and read what it DOES when you cycle it.
SAUS3
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
This card is extremely good. I use it in my pauper zombie EDH deck and it's actually a better finisher than most of the cards in my deck. Using aphetto dredging, ghoulcaller's chant, urborg uprising, and similar, I can keep reusing his effect. It doesn't do a ton of damage, but it does enough to keep the pressure. My deck is almost pure defense anyway (chump block with black cat and stuff while I slowly beat them down with card advantage).
Absolutely awesome card. 5/5
Combofriend
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Good card in zombie tribal for its cycling for sure! 3.5/5
blurrymadness
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
As mentioned, this with Ghoulcaller's Chant is a draw engine for zombie decks while it also burns an opponent. The body is mostly for limited, but occasionally it's good to remember that a 4/3 can end the game quickly if you're in bad shape or need to recur some Gravecrawlers.
Continue
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Volrath's Stronghold for a repeatable ": Target player loses 1 life for each Zombie on the battlefield."
OlvynChuru
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Onslaught block had so, so many good common zombies. It's just great.
Comments (40)
That said, this card's main strength is its cycling ability. A 4/3 for 6 Mana is a little costly nowadays, and so, I can't really see this card being played, as such, it basically amounts to an uncounterable two mana sorcery. Which is fine, especially in the right kind of deck (namely one with lots and lots of Zombies).
BB: draw a card you opponent loses
SKREEEEEEE!!!
I hate myself.
Very usable like the rest of the cycle.
I wonder if anyone has ever actually cast this as a creature.
Seems to me that some people confuse "each zombie" for "each swamp"... Urborg isn't part of a combo with this guy.
For multiplayer I give it a 4.5/5, for duel, a 4/5. The reason is that it's a little bit harder to have a massive zombie legion in play when facing another player alone, who will focus on not letting that happen. If you have less than 5 zombies, it's still worth the cycling, but it wont deal that much damage.
Don't bother trying to play it as a body: if you can afford that, it generally means the game's yours anyway.
I remember these suckers...Saw many, many matches lost to them.
puts a creature in your graveyard
draws you a card
works well with zombies
hello tombstone stairwell
"Whenever a creature you control is put into a graveyard from the battlefield, each other player sacrifices a creature."
When you cycle Gempalm Polluter, you are activating the Cycling ability on the card, which forces you to discard the card to the graveyard as per its cost. It never went to the battlefield nor was it ever technically a creature, therefore certain conditions were never met. It may have the creature card type, but it's not a creature while in your hand. If you hard cast the card and the spell resolves, then it's a creature on the battlefield and Grave Pact will then take affect.
Also, please look further at the Details rulings above for a clearer understanding on the abilities' activation conditions and the order on the stack, or lack there of.
And if the new text "dies" is on your Grave Pact card...
700.6. The term dies means "is put into a graveyard from the battlefield." It is used only when referring to creatures.
ZOMBIE. F**KING. GOLIATH.
B/G Apoc - Parallel Lives + Army of the Damned
Now you can cycle<3
mechanically it's Cycle, life loss, & card draw, which make for an extremely powerful workhorse. I like to think of it as an uncounterable, cantripping sorcery life cannon that can recur on the side of a Ghoulcaller's Chant. 5/5
Bam, 13 damage for
Absolutely awesome card. 5/5