This can be a very frightening tool for a Zombie
deck. If you control Zombies but no creatures
that aren't Zombies, you don't have to sacrifice
a creature to it. You knew that and stocked your
deck with Zombies, but your opponents are quite
unlikely to have nothing but Zombies in play,
which means they'll be losing creatures every
turn. And what's worse, once they run out of
creatures on the board, as long as you can keep
at least one Zombie around, the Call of the
Grave will sit and wait for them to play another
one, meaning unless they have a creature with
haste, they don't get to attack again without
removing the Call. Which means their half of the
field is empty, and your half has Zombies with
which to attack them! Between this and Syphon
Flesh, Zombies are going to be quite the
attractive tribe soon-- especially in
multiplayer formats.
I remember when this card was first released in
Scourge. Back then, it was considered a cool
concept, and it remains a powerhouse in casual
Magic; but competitive Standard was ruled by
Goblins and Wild Mongrel, so it never really got
a chance in that scene. It's been a long time
since then. Has the success of Caw-Blade opened
people's eyes to the potential power of control
decks with lots of creatures? Will Innistrad's
Castlevania-style setting catapult zombies back
to the forefront of tournament Magic? Will this
generation of casual players embrace a version
of The Abyss you can build around and people
probably won't punch you in the face? I wouldn't
be surprised at all if the answer to all three
of these questions is yes.
Today's card of the day is Call to the Grave
which is a five mana Black spell which has each
player sacrifice a non-zombie creature during
their upkeep and if no creature is in play Call
of the Grave is sacrificed.
This works well in a zombie deck, supported by
other removal, and can keep an opponent from
putting much pressure on you outside of using a
creature with Haste. The casting cost is a
little high and swarm decks may overwhelm the
effect, but in a dedicated zombie deck against
anyone not playing zombies the advantage adds up
the longer the game goes, especially in
multiplayer.
In Limited you may not have any zombies to
really make the most of this, so it will more
than likely impact you as much as the opponent.
Even if your pool has a zombie or two they may
not be available when Call to the Grave is which
makes it a fairly poor choice to play in Sealed
and a weak first pick in Booster despite being
both a rare and removal. The opponent
having control over the target is an issue as
well when they have two or more in play which
restricts the value of this as a topdeck in a
bad situation. In the format a targeted
removal or reliable creature is less likely to
work against you as only three zombies are
common and the other three are rare.
Welcome to another
card of the day review here at Pojo.com. Today
we are looking at Call to the Grave from M12.
Call to the Grave is an enchantment that costs
four generic and one black mana. Call to the
Grave says that at the beginning of each
player’s upkeep, they sacrifice a non-zombie
creature. Then, at the beginning of the end
step, if there are no creatures in play,
sacrifice Call to the Grave.
Zombie decks are always around, and always mean. M12
brings with it some of the best tools to make
zombie decks make a major reappearance in
Standard. And Call to the Grave is a staple for
such decks. The forced sacrifice can mean the
difference in a game, since it doesn’t target,
and indestructible creatures will also be
sacrificed. And if you are running it in a
zombie deck, than the likelihood that there will
never be a creature in play is more likely to
happen after a Day of Judgment. And the fact
that even in multiplayer it is hitting everybody
at the beginning of they’re turn.
An amazing card, which like I said should aide in the
rise of zombie decks in Standard play.
