A History of Zombies

Become a Lore Mage: / magicarcanum
What's the story behind one of Magic's most popular creature types? From their humble beginnings on Dominaria to their plane-shaking attack on Ravnica, zombies have been all over the multiverse, so come hear it all from Ryan, just in time for Halloween!

[@tbone6704]

The one dislike is tgcplayer.

[@ezrilebeau8234]

@S V Riiight? This is the first of his vids I've seen that isn't with TCG

[@EpicGamerz01]

I can’t believe you would compare Nicol Bolas to Tibalt. Clearly one out powers the other. I mean, one of them isn’t trapped in an alternate dimension for the rest of eternity.

[@EpicGamerz01]

@@Spootprime Jesus you’re right

[@zephyrstrife4668]

@@EpicGamerz01 I'm a bit out of the loop on MTG lore and slowly catching up... did Bolas escape?

[@EpicGamerz01]

@@zephyrstrife4668 as far as I know, Bolas is still trapped after the events of War of the Spark

[@metalfan7270]

RIP tibalt

[@thissisawesome4853]

"Hey, if you like zombies, you can make a zombie deck and use it to not ever do very well over the course of two decades."

[@VanAleph]

If you think about it, Golos Field was probably the most successful zombie-related deck in recent Magic history. Kind of a bummer, flavor wise.

[@ritterbrown5474]

Unless you play commander :P

[@Narabedla4]

@@ritterbrown5474 i mean, not really? if you play in a "winning is secondary" metagame, sure, but i wouldn't call that doing very well.

[@Mogget01]

They were a decently strong tribe during Onslaught

[@joyride8837]

At least zombie did well during Amonkhet standard. That was a legit deck

[@MrSJPowell]

Yeah, I've found a great way to get someone interested in magic is "You can play with cats." At that point, she didn't care what colors I was offering, she just wanted cats.

[@MagicArcanum]

Cats and horses also work well, I must admit.

[@haroldsandahl6408]

@@MagicArcanum But in magic there is nothing stronger then squirrels. The reason they have so few cards is that WOTC knows that they are the true planeswalkers and can destroy all with a snap of their fingers. That and squirrel decks are hard but fun to build.

[@DarthJarJar501]

@@haroldsandahl6408 this is why squirrellink is a ten on the storm scale

[@marnixw8724]

Exactly this, I Just ask people "hey want to play magic and make an army of cats?"

[@Bluecho4]

@@haroldsandahl6408 WotC knows if they release too many squirrel cards, they'll be obligated to make a Squirrel Girl planeswalker card. And that would simply be too broken for the game to handle. Glorious though it would be.

[@gavinmarkee8499]

Grave Titan is my favorite honorary zombie, because seriously, he belongs with them.

[@saschabaer3327]

Please make a video summarizing what happened on Theros so far (and also the entire story of Elspeth) before Beyond Death releases!

[@MagicArcanum]

That's on my short list, you got it!

[@jonasp.1830]

Heya, first of all: awsome that you startet an independent chanel for magic arcanum! My nuber one feedback right now would be to add something in the Backround, maybe a greenscreen with a topic fiting Land Artwork or even a simple Black wall, it would give videos an even better professional feel. Hope you two keep on doing awsome stuff like this and looking forward to new videos!

[@MagicArcanum]

Yep! I'm in a temporary living space at the moment but once I'm settled into my next place, revamping the "studio" will be top of the list, along with better lighting :-)

[@World_Reaper]

@@MagicArcanum I like the vids the way they are now. They have a personal touch, even if it is just temporary. Hope you are doing okay.

[@MagicArcanum]

@@World_Reaper Honestly I'm probably doing the best I've ever done. I'm so happy this channel is growing and you all are here to watch videos and share stories. This is everything I wanted it to be, so thanks for stopping by!

[@jrightly]

"let's skip Lorwyn block" -wait, what and miss out on Stillmoon Cavalier? AND no Gravecrawler? Where is zombie infestation? *sigh* my favorite zombie card has to be Army of the Damned though cause I do love me some tokens

[@jozzyalthefool9273]

Dreadhorde Butcher, of course. That card is amazing. Also, Dragons of Tarkir 2/2 Zombie token gets an honorable mention for having the most badass art of all zombie tokens.

[@inferxan]

You misspelled Viking zombie token.

[@T_Peazy]

I would be really interested in the Story of Geth.

[@MagicArcanum]

I'll put him on the list!

[@marnixw8724]

Yesssss please

[@duncanmacintyre8470]

I'm so happy that you got your own channel that allows you to do what ever you want. I liked the Mustache Minute at the end. Request: Could you do a history of Dragons in magic?

[@MagicArcanum]

I plan to hit all the iconic creatures including Angels, Sphinxes, Demons, and Dragons. (Already did Hydras!)

[@TheRobsalot]

You will do totally fine getting viewership back up. Found you again from a reddit post, I otherwise have just been waiting for you to upload again on tcg player

[@maxpociask]

“Will she escape” Me, who has seen the leak and new mechanic: Hehe

[@rabidadder3635]

One of my favourite commander decks (and subsequently favourite zombie) is Varina, Lich Queen as she snowballs into an absolute horde and the more zombies you have, the more life you gain. Just got to be careful about milling myself out.

[@Russo_Hurtrax]

It's quality content like yours that makes me go back to Magic again and again. Great works as always Ryan

[@bertschumacher2097]

By far, Carrion feeder. Loved it back when it came out, and it's still a really strong zombie. Stood the test of times, like zombies should.

[@MagicArcanum]

That's a good one. Simple design, deceptively powerful.

[@gabrielrodriguez5144]

Hell yeah! Last month my Carrion feeder beat a Galta because I fed him like half a deck of zombies😆

[@thatonedudejake]

Glad to see the channel picking up steam, keep up the hard work!

[@tedhand6237]

I appreciated that Midnight Hunt did so much with zombies. Just had a max win run in the Edge of Night event with a Dimir zombies deck!

[@Carryoutpie]

Gotta give love to Death Baron. His ability to give zombies (and skeletons) +1/+1 along with cards like Gravedigger, Reassembling Skeleton, and Open the Graves made my mono black deck a force to be reckoned with.

[@xgetxsickx]

History of every creature would be so awesome!! Clerics, dragon's, wizard/mages, centaur, etc.

[@maget300]

I absolutly love the thought of someone having to follow that hudra around with just miles of wrap to attach it to the new head! Thats amazing!

[@CosmikZombie]

Zombies got me playing magic too. I have always been a fan of Zombies far before the Zombonie craze in the recent years and its nice that they're getting so much love.

[@Rukalin]

My favourite zombie? Whatever I can eternalize when I have my commander, the scarab god out :P But really though, gameplay-wise, Cryptbreaker is my favourite zombie. Nothing beats some good ol' card advantage. Design-wise, I'm a fan of Grimgrin, especially after my D&D group had to fight a similar zombie, multiple times.

[@MagicArcanum]

Great choices!

[@marinrasic645]

Could you keep the cards on the screen a bit longer? I feel I have to constantly pause to read their text. Great video, as always.

[@MagicArcanum]

That's great feedback. I try and not have cards up over an edit because to me that looks weird but I should find a way to keep them up so they're readable, you're right.

[@Angel-qs6if]

Oh boy was wondering where Magic Arcanum was, hadnt seen it so long, finally found this Channel and am glad to find content to binge up on. Keep beeing the best Lore channel out there and I am happy to see more Stuff in the Future!

[@Intreductor]

My fav Zombie is Miss Bontu of course. Little speculation for Theros: Beyond Death: What could be the chances that Gideon returns in one way or the other. He died on Ravnica and joined his friends in an afterlife realm on Theros. And we are going back to Theros in what appears to be the realm of the dead. Also PS for Rian: Will you soon release a video about a roadmap for November like you did for October? I am really excited for whatever topics will come next!

[@MagicArcanum]

I will make another road map announcement, but I'm not sure if it will be a video or a post on Patreon or Twitter or something like that. As for Gideon, I think he's going to stay dead. Elspeth, however...

[@jozzyalthefool9273]

I swear if Gideon returns from the dead, I'll put Rakdos, the Showstopper in my competitive Rakdos Aggro/Midrange deck for standard.

[@andrewsparkes8829]

@@jozzyalthefool9273 ...why is he not already in there as a playset?!

[@shinsua_]

Severed Legion is easily one of my favorite zombies, even if the card itself isn't exactly wonderful. The idea that there's some roaming gang of disembodied hands lurking the streets at night is appropriately why the card has Fear. And that flavor text? Damn "No one in Aphetto answers a knock at the door after sundown."

[@alexanderthealright]

Favorite zombie: Grimgrin! Little correction, blue zombies on Innistrad are "skaabs", and stitchers are those who make them.

[@stevenfreiria4603]

You have now solidified my desire to have atleast a copy (if not playset) of every undead creature in Magic history! Well done!

[@bogdanionescu419]

I've only started playing since Ixalan, so my favourite zombie has to be Corpse Knight. They're in one of my favourite color pairings, they're a knight, and have some sweet gameplay potential as a bonus. Speaking of Ixalan, I guess they don't have zombies there either because they have vampires instead.

[@MagicArcanum]

That's true, I missed Ixalan, but yeah they seem to get vampires rather than zombies. They probably wanted to avoid any Pirates of the Caribbean movie overlap.

[@thomasaktor6867]

I just gotta say, I love the mustache minute.

[@thecircus2367]

It NEEDS to stick!!

[@TakeoGW2]

Not following a specific story arc, but talking about multiple story bits around a topic was more entertaining than I thought it would be! Thank you for another great episode of Magic Arcanum!

[@diSTUD013]

Glad to see you guys going strong! I look forward to all of your new content!!

[@austinspratt353]

Auto subbed, cant wait for a theros video. Also glad you guys are separate

[@juliogalvao7560]

I'm commenting here just to help with youtube algorithms. best of luck Ryan, I have watched literally all magic arcanum episodes there are available on youtube. I`ll be your patreon asaic

[@arancourt5623]

Gempalm polluter and shepherd of rot, especially when playing zombies vs zombies. Absolute effing chaos.

[@wouterbos4485]

I always begin with do you like magic? Do you like dragons? Faries? Elfs? Zombies? Bears? Angels? Etcetera... then this is your game!

[@Beltorra1]

I don't play MTG so I can learn the most broken combos, the meta decks or how popular some cards are in the market, I play MTG because I LOVE the lore and the stories of each plane in the multiverse, that's why I instantly subscribed to Magic Arcanum and desubscribed to TCGplayer. Keep up the good work, I want to know more !

[@MagicArcanum]

Thanks friend. Glad to have your support!

[@thephyrexian9664]

I gotta say my all time fav zombies are the Nim, there's something about their artwork that I always loved as a kid, even to this day, I've got a zombie nim EDH deck

[@hk015]

I subbed to the TCGPlayer in the summer for the Magic Arcanum and watched every episode , I was so hungry for it and ask my self where´s the bald guy with the mustache? Luckely i saw the thumbnail of this video , Hope you all doing all right and thanks for the great contents you all make.

[@weirdmusicmixmaster]

Noxious Ghoul will always be my fave, great effect that kills indestructables, cool art, able to be comboed off or at the very least massively synergized.

[@austinhite2684]

A story on Geth would be interesting, even if it’s unlikely

[@mattman8436]

Great stuff, loving the new channel! I have to give my favorite zombie to Wandering Tombshell from Dragons of Tarkir who is the zombiefied version of Meandering Towershell from Khans of Tarkir. It's cool to see a creatures evolve or devolve through out sets. Keep up the great work!

[@MagicArcanum]

That's a really good one. I also liked how Tarkir showed how the change affected everyone, including the yetis, who were NOT affected lol

[@eitanelran3877]

My favourite zombie is "sticher's supplier" people use it to put more of their zombo's in the graveyard but it's always fun seeing someone mill himself

[@marnixw8724]

My favourite zombie is probably Death Baron, Just looks badass and that +1+1 and deathtouch is brutal

[@MagicArcanum]

That is a good one. He even helps out skeletons. What a bro.

[@roy4173]

I felt like TCGplayer never released enough Magic Arcanum episodes. Now, this is much better!

[@thyguywithtime670]

My favourite zombie card will always be Undead Alchemist because it’s just so satisfying to mill someone for 27 and then get 12 more zombies out.

[@mateuszsmaruj9152]

Mustache minut is awesome idea :D Fingers crossed to keep up it in next videos!

[@NTJ1984]

The very first precon I ever bought was Zombies Unleashed from Legions. Loved that deck and want to rebuild it.

[@TwinkleTwilight]

Josu Vess was great in standard! I played the Rainbow black with him as a solid finisher, only one copy but man making all those zombies outa no where really was a fun way to finish off a game!

[@theartfulcodger]

Love your channel, I've been a fan of MTG lore since 1995... maybe this is just an old fan's silly wish... but a video about Thallids and Fungus creatures would be a dream come true. For tribal flavor and design, they are one of the coolest things to come out of the game... and Fallen Empires no less! Thank you for the excellent lore mongering!

[@MagicArcanum]

That's a really good idea. I want to hit all the main tribes eventually but giving off-beat things a chance to shine too would be great.

[@-KiTToBuG]

Shepard of Rot. The key to one of the best extended rogues I ever brewed up.

[@NJKoopmeiners]

So I only now discovered you got your own channel. Immediately watched all the new videos and subscribed. Unfortunately I do not have the funds yet to support you as a Patreon, but I will do my part in commenting, liking, subscribing and watching your content, because I think it is great. I do think that a great deal of the appeal of your show on TGCPlayer was the clean lighting, sound and black background, to really put the focus on you and the story that you are telling. However, even this set up works for delivering the stories in a fun way and I am sure that just means it will get better and better as we progress! I can not wait for you to dig into the lore of Yawgmoth and the Phyrexians, preferably in different video's.

[@gothkrix]

My favourite zombie is Josu for sure. I managed to pull off the kicker in a couple commander games and it was an insta-win both times. In one of them the opponents just looked at their hands and conceded.

[@paulywaulywauly]

Gray Merchant is THEE zombie ❤

[@MagicArcanum]

As a pauper player I must agree.

[@garbagemalloy6153]

I thought the same about honored Hydra lol I imagine a couple if anointed mummies following it wrap the new heads

[@Fr3AkFr3Ak]

Liliana's standard bearer being invoked after a Blood in the snow, its beautiful

[@gaylordfocker7567]

Fav zombie has got to be Geralf's Messenger or Relentless Dead. Zombies are definitely my fav tribe to play

[@kylebrochill21]

So happy I've found yall again, love all the videos! I just made a zombie commander deck recently so I'm really *digging* this episode too.

[@jonrmahnke]

Zombie master. That card has won me more games than I can count

[@KenseiKitsune]

I wish I hadn't happened on this video so long after posting. Zombies and Magic are two of my great loves in this life. Its so hard to choose a favorite, but I have a real soft spot for Phylactery Lich.

[@oafkad]

That zombie mummy question at the end is going to stick with me.

[@whatsinadeadname]

I'd wondered what happened to new videos from you the last few months. Guess I have the algorithm to thank for finding your new channel. Best of luck to you going forward! Edit: As for my favorite zombies, that's tough. Death Baron is my favorite lord, Glissa or Storrev my preferred commander zombies, and Ghoultree my favorite mono-green zombie.

[@MagicArcanum]

I tried Storrev for Brawl but felt the card pool wasn't deep enough to get max value from her ability. I bet it's a lot better in commander.

[@krazee_aznnn]

I have a casual constructed Zombie deck comboing with Nantuko Husk, Festering Goblin, and Vengeful Dead and tons of reanimation. It's pretty fun for not being competitive.

[@DarkDevero]

Zombie master is SO broken though... I combined it with that one enchantment that's just Urborg until I could afford the urborgs and it's really fun to play it

[@jozzyalthefool9273]

Wait what? Tibalt is now considered as a big threat to the multiverse? I am so happy now.

[@jasonp9519]

Darth Bontu!!! Ok definitely more moustache minutes please!

[@jadarea1221]

Favorite zombie good old gravecrawler! Especially fun when an prized amalgam is also hanging around in your graveyard.

[@Yous0147]

Wow, cool you're your own channel now! Best of luck, subscribed. My favourite Zombie is probably Fallen Shinobi, mostly because I'm one of those that aren't really a big fan of zombies, but I do love me some ninjas. I enjoyed the video regardless though

[@MagicArcanum]

That one took me by surprise but I must admit, zombie ninja is pretty cool.

[@Tizeps]

Hooow am I just finding out about this channel?? But now you got my support back. Best of luck, Ryan! Oh and mustache minute: definitely Relentless Dead from Innistrad. Drafted it for the win with some friends when we rediscovered mtg^^

[@MagicArcanum]

Love Relentless Dead. I think Ryan Yee is underappreciated as an artist, too.

[@iplayforfunsowhat9728]

can we just appreciate that Ryan is still hearting comments from 4 and a half months later, please?

[@MagicArcanum]

People remain surprised that I read every comment!

[@Gibbons3457]

Not a Zombie itself but its my favorite card in Magic and is Zombie themed is Endless Ranks of the Dead. I just love watching my army of Zombies slowly but steadily grow turn by turn.

[@3weiter]

my top 3 is;Cryptbraker - 1 drop black plainswalker Gravecrawler - Does what a zombie should do - and does it the best way.Diregraf Collosuss - make zombies on cast other zombies - good early and late.

[@golgariguy]

Love your channel and your voice! You should make a podcast and/or upload your content on Spotify :) PS Favorite zombie: festering goblin! I just love the flavor text :)

[@gael_le_cruel]

Awesome content, as usual ! Here's my request/suggestion : Keep going for popular topics to give the channel time to gain momentum, but then I would really love a series of videos taking the story of magic from the very beginning, "chapter" by "chapter", without going into too much detail. You could alternate between this and your "normal" videos because I would definitely expect the first chapters to be not the most exciting for most viewers, BUT : This would give a structure to the rest of the videos and topics you cover. Once you already have covered the main events of a part of the story, I think it would be easier for you to dive into a more specific topic on a video, and "delegate" the background to these videos that already give the background of these events. For instance, your video on Dominaria would be a good brick for this part, and allows to more easily make a video about the weatherlight and its new crew.

[@silasraye4777]

Hey Ryan I've been a long time fan of the show. I'm so happy you have you own channel so TCGplayer isen't spamming my feed :)

[@acdvfb]

My first draft and first time playing after a 10 year break a foil Liliana's Mastery got passed to me by at least 4 people. I happened to be drafting a BW zombie deck so it was pretty great! Unfortunately the format of the draft was single elimination(something that LGS has since stopped doing) and I was knocked out in the first round. I have the card in my Yidris chaos/zombie token deck. Love it!

[@acciaio]

Sooo I've clicked on this video because it was in my feeds and I thought it was from tgcplayer, since that's where you used to be. If i didn't look down at the channel name by mistake, i wouldn't have realized! I subscribed tgcplayer BECAUSE of magic arcanum! I hope you're doing well! I cannot afford to back you on patreon, but I'm still leaving a big like and a subscription and a lot of love to you both

[@acciaio]

Also, again, thanks for making that big old mess that the Magic lore is a bit more linear and easier to follow

[@World_Reaper]

The only reason I did any "like" on TCGPlayer, were YOUR storys. Greetings from Germany :-) Keep going !!!

[@Mogget01]

I had the same reaction when I saw Gideon “Blackblade”. How they can miss the opportunity to do a cool land planeswalker mechanic is completely beyond me.

[@dragonmaster613]

my main Commander deck is Sultai with Sidisi, Brood Tyrant, built from a combination of Golgari and Innastrahd zombies. (mostly a token farm with Liliana Vess from her Duel Deck with Garruk Wildspeaker)

[@keenanevans7888]

The one thing that got my wife to try MTG was dinosaurs. Thanks Ixalan!

[@cabzxs]

Talk about Jodah, Urza, the brother's war, phyrexia, all cool stuff.

[@nicholasvandonkersgoed3758]

See, the problem with Josu Vess is that by the time you've got 10 mana in most decks he's in, it's likely you've already won the game. However, I did get him out once in an Orzhov Aristocrats decks. Pure. Fuel.

[@BrushSaw]

Mikaeus the Unhallowed has been my no.1 commander ever since

[@Will_Morand]

I once pulled off the Josu Army and then copied the ETB with Anointed Procession out. I didn’t bother doing the math since I had 2 Lord of the Acursed, 3 Liliana’s Mastery, and a Scarab God out and my opponent conceded on the spot. It was epic, and then rotation hit and I went to EDH.

[@matty_butchery]

I am incredible engaged with this video and channel

[@ulifernando]

My favourite zombie would be Thraximundar, another from Alara Reborn, and my other zombie related is Rooftop Storm, the card that let you cast that monster for free (which I did long time ago).

[@michaelhall5208]

What kicked my magic obsession into overdrive were the creatures known as slivers.

[@carthagosenatus2245]

Ryan: its only 1994 Me: frantically looks at my computer calendar to confirm the year

[@thembile6477]

Gotta comment for dat algorithmpump, love your videos, keep it coming!

[@markvelvis1176]

I love Noosegraf Mob. One zombie makes five zombies? I heard you like zombies, so we got some zombies for your zombies...

[@foyoGames]

"There's a Zombie on your lawn - we don't want Zombies on the Lawn"

[@aunrah02]

Goblins worked on me back during Onslaught. Still love them

[@jaidenandrews750]

Yo can you guys maybe possible make a recap on Theros? It's one of my favourite plans and it's the one I started playing so it would be nice to see a video explaining all the lore of the plan! You guys are doing great and I hope this new channel goes on to grow and thrive!

[@MagicArcanum]

I'm already drafting a primer for Theros before "Beyond Death" takes us back there, so sit tight! And thanks for your support and encouragement. It makes doing this so much fun!

[@rhyderrek6155]

Fun fact: at time of writing, there are only two mono-green zombies in all of MtG: Ghoultree and God-Eternal Rhonas.

[@plutonbinchuka]

Amazing video!! Zombies are my favourite tribe Greetings from Spain

[@djethanol256]

Could we get a video on that fblthp guy (i dont know if i spelled thay right) i think hes made not rly great on purpose but i wanna know more about him haha. Also, just a suggestion, maybe add some light background music or something? Just whenever you take a sec to breathe it feels awkward haha

[@hermodnitter3902]

Favorite zombie: Lord of Tresserhorn! The first awesome, super-dangerous zombie, packed with nostalgia...

[@dervar1]

The Phyrexians are one of mtg‘s biggest threats, along with the Eldrazi, Bolas and... Tibalt.