Pointed Discussion

Quite possibly one of the best insect cards in the game of magic.

could some1 tell me why this is soo good? i get the sacrifice drege thing but anything else?

If its going to die anyway, you might as well pay and get a card out of it.

Or if you have Savra.

another card made worse be the m10 rules change...

A 4/4 for five mana, and can sac to draw cards, with Dredge synergy, is a very powerful card. Under old rule this bug could also be sacrificed AFTER it deals the damage, which is killer in combat.

4/5, due to the new rules :(

EDIT: The ruling has an interesting tip - "You may sacrifice Grave-Shell Scarab to pay for its first ability, then replace that draw using the Scarab's dredge ability. The result is that the top card of your library is put into your graveyard and Grave-Shell Scarab returns to your hand (after a brief trip to the graveyard)."

This creature is 5/5, no question AT ALL. One of my all-time favourite creatures, and almost certainly the best of its colour combination.
4/4 for 5 is okay, maybe a bit weak given its wonky mana cost, but the ability to cycle for makes up for it.
However, the fact that you can immediately recur him makes him INCREDIBLY reliable, and thus valuable. You will never want for another recursive blocker while he's around. Every turn he is there for you, and doesn't even eat your draws if you do it properly. In EDH this is a gift from above; so often he just shut down someone's huge non-trampler, since they know that if they attack, I'll just be out five mana, and potentially up a card.
This isn't even getting into his amazing Dredge interactions, which, if you'll pardon the pun, are at this point, gravy.

Seems kind of weird for a card this powerful to have such a low Dredge number.

I mean, sure it's no grave troll, but that's still a good effect.

I think that this creature has such a low Dredge number because it doesn't suite a Dredge strategy so well. It's designed to be a beatdown creature, and in its role it performes very well. I'm glad that not every Golgari card isn't created to be a combo graveyard-breaker, because it would be so boring.

Great card, one of the best creature ever created, so reliable!
As ClockworkSwordfish said, 5/5, no question AT ALL!

@ClockworkSwordfish I agree it's very nice, but the best in colour combination... check out spiritmonger


anyway, it was really and truly amazing when damage went to the stack and you could sacrifice AND asign

Super secret ability: , put the top card of your library into your graveyard: return Grave-Shell Scarab to your hand.
I love this card, not least because it's a giant green scarab that digs up graves. A recurrable 4/4 that can draw you cards is even better.

He is so good in a Golgari Dredge deck (read; Not Narcobridge) a common thing I use him for is dredging Shambling Shell then sacrificing Shell to give Golgari Grave-troll another +1/+1 to keep regenerating with.

Why do people say this doesn't fit a dredge strategy? It's not Golgari Grave-Troll (which is a good thing IMO, otherwise it would be banned in Modern), but you can still dredge it into your graveyard with a Life from the Loam or whatever, then dredge it back whenever you may want/afford a 4/4 piece of beef.
The draw ability is subtly very good, too. Get value of out a creature about to die, "trigger" other dredge cards or make it very hard to get rid of? Yes please! Not to mention, it is a giant beelte. There is something very wrong with you if you do not appreciate giant coleoptera. That brings, however, my only complaint about it.
It doesn't have flying. As a scarab, it should be able to fly - while the outer pair of its winds has a mostly defensive function, the inner pair is enough for them to sustain themselves in the air. One could argue, though, that flying is relatively useless for a creature which burrows through the undercity, so natural selection would have favored a second pair of elytra over the millenia, and given we're also accepting the fact that it's a 6m-long insect rode by a probably undead elf, it sounds fair enough to me.

I think peoples here overrate it, but its good for green-black none-golgari decks, OR for creatures who gain from creatures death/enter to the battlefield, like morbid, evolve, recover, Savara, and maybe sacrifice him to take out a better situational dredge card like life from the loam to get lands to cast retrace or to get out golgari grave-troll.

good card, NOT AWESOME like everyone here said, most of the things here undying or persist can do with there eyes close, true persist and undying need to get rid of there counters, but 1/1 scavenge 0 cards in the new golgari almost seem like it was made to work with persist.

Could have used at least Dredge 2, or an evergreen keyword like trample or deathtouch. As it is, this card is just barely lacking something.

Actually, I guess it was better before the combat damage rules update. Still though, never one of my favorites.

Can't believe I haven't seen this card before. Being able to profit around removal for {1} is pretty sweet. Dredge creatures intrigue me as much for combo potential as for presenting options. Is exchanging a RANDOM draw for getting a creature or something back an amazing deal or what?!? My favorite dredge card is still Stinkweed Imp though. A defensive creature that has a decent dredge cost and will trade 1-1 with most every gigantic flying creature in the game? That's value.
As for this, 4.5/5, 5/5 if damage still went on the stack.