The Scarab God
– Amonkhet Invocations thru Aetherdrift
Date Reviewed: February 27, 2025
Ratings:
Constructed: 4
Casual: 5
Limited: 5
Multiplayer: 4.37
Commander [EDH]: 4.5
Ratings are based on a 1 to 5 scale. 1 is bad. 3 is average. 5 is great.
Reviews Below:
The Kaladesh and Amonkhet blocks brought some of the most powerful cards that had been seen in years at the time, and The Scarab God’s ongoing impact to Magic is just one testament to that. His game text can make for some pretty complicated game states, but it always spells trouble for your opponent – if you somehow don’t have any Zombies to drain your opponent with, he not only eternalizes some for you but is a five-mana 5/5 on top of that. Note that the same block’s Glorybringer, considered a sublime midrange powerhouse, nonetheless does not match those stats. In fact, his abilities are so powerful that his triggered ability to return from the graveyard is often surprisingly irrelevant: he ends the game so effectively that it doesn’t come up. He does this in formats from draft to Pioneer to cube to Commander, which makes it seem very appropriate that he looms over Aetherdrift‘s Amonkhet story segments despite his master being long gone.
Constructed: 4
Casual: 5
Limited: 5
Multiplayer: 4.5
Commander [EDH]: 4.5
Founding member of the Chitin Court and menace to many a format, The Scarab God manages to do just about everything you would want in a Zombie-centric card. It rewards you and punishes your opponents for having loads of the undead abominations, and it can even make more of them. Functionally giving every creature card in your graveyard eternalize is quite a big deal…and it also lets you eternalize cards from any graveyard, making this one part graveyard removal and one part set-up. It does its job scarily well, letting you make a mess without ever needing to turn one sideways, and it boasts a body that, while not immune to removal, has no issues coming back turn after turn thanks to the delayed recovery.
The Scarab God has been obnoxious ever since release, and while it hasn’t quite wrought immeasurable havoc elsewhere, it has settled into Pioneer and Commander rather comfortably, acting as a Zombie deck’s bit of back-pocket inevitability. Because if it’s not answered, it will both bleed opponents out and help you find the cards you need to end the game then and there, and that’s quite a good use of five mana.
Constructed: 4
Casual: 5
Limited: 5 (a powerful build-around well worth drafting)
Multiplayer: 4.25
Commander [EDH]: 4.5 (shines best in Zombies, but any deck in its colors can consider it)
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