Gnawing Zombie MTG Card

Magic 2014 (M14)
2013-07-19 - Number 99

Gnawing Zombie - Modern Masters 2017 (MM3)

Modern Masters 2017 (MM3)
2017-03-17 - Number 71

Jumpstart 2022 (J22)
2022-12-02 - Number 419

Card sets	Released in 3 setsSee all
Mana cost
Converted mana cost	2
Rarity	Uncommon
Type	Creature — Zombie
Power	1
Toughness	3

Key Takeaways

Enables graveyard strategies and presents advantages through sacrificial synergies.
Instant speed sacrifice provides flexibility and board control in matchups.
Mana cost and color specificity might limit deck integration and versatility.

Text of card

, Sacrifice a creature: Target player loses 1 life and you gain 1 life.

On still nights you can hear its rotted teeth grinding tirelessly on scavenged bones.

Card Pros

Card Advantage: Gnawing Zombie can be a source of ongoing card advantage by enabling graveyard recursion strategies. Its ability to sacrifice other creatures not only thins the board but can synergize with cards that activate upon entering the graveyard, giving you an edge in card utility. With each activation, you maintain pressure and potential interaction with your library.

Resource Acceleration: This creature aids in resource acceleration in a more indirect manner. By sacrificing creatures, you have the potential to trigger effects that will ramp your mana or draw you additional cards. This plays well in decks that capitalize on death triggers or have effects that replace the creature’s presence with another form of resource.

Instant Speed: Gnawing Zombie operates at instant speed, allowing strategic flexibility during the game. You can choose the best moment to sacrifice a creature—be it for dodging removal, utilizing death triggers, or denying your opponent the benefit of their blocking or attacking creature. This responsiveness to gameplay proves invaluable in maintaining control over the pace and state of the battlefield.

Card Cons

Discard Requirement: Gnawing Zombie’s ability to gain life and deal damage to an opponent can be costly since it requires sacrificing a creature. This might deplete your board presence, especially if you’re running low on creatures to sacrifice.

Specific Mana Cost: This card demands black mana, not offering flexibility for decks that are not heavily focused on black or running multiple colors. It’s not always optimal for every strategy, which may limit its integration into various deck types.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: With a casting cost of two black mana and one generic mana, Gnawing Zombie may not be the most mana-efficient choice for an aggressive or a creature-heavy deck. There are alternative and less mana-intensive options available when looking for sacrifice outlets or life drain effects.

Reasons to Include Gnawing Zombie in Your Collection

Versatility: Gnawing Zombie offers a flexible role in any deck that thrives on creature sacrifice mechanics. It serves as both an enabler for your own strategy and a potential hindrance to your opponent’s board state, fitting snugly into most sacrifice or aggro decks.

Combo Potential: This card works exceptionally well in combinations that deploy recursion tactics or generate a multitude of tokens. Leveraging its ability to sacrifice other creatures, you can orchestrate a stream of incremental life loss for your opponent while bolstering your own life total.

Meta-Relevance: With the current trends in gameplay often favoring creature-based strategies, Gnawing Zombie provides a cost-effective method to disrupt opponent’s progress. Its presence on the battlefield can turn the tide of the game, especially in metas where the incremental life gain and loss can determine the victor in tight matches.

How to beat

Gnawing Zombie is an intriguing creature in the vast landscape of Magic: The Gathering. With the ability to sacrifice another creature to drain life from your opponent, it adds strategic depth to gameplay. Tackling Gnawing Zombie effectively requires a multi-faceted approach. Control decks might opt for removal spells, like Murder or Doom Blade, to deal with it directly off the bat. In terms of prevention, cards that deny creature abilities, like Pithing Needle, can shut down Gnawing Zombie’s life-draining antics before they even begin.

Aggressive strategies can also outpace the incremental life loss, focusing on reducing the opponent’s life total swiftly and making the Zombie’s efforts negligible. Moreover, graveyard control cards that exile creatures, such as Scavenging Ooze, can neutralize the benefits your adversary receives from sacrificing creatures. Lastly, cards granting you life for each creature dying, like Deathgreeter, can balance out the life-drain effect, keeping your health stable as you plan your victorious strike.

Ultimately, it is vital to remain proactive and adaptable when facing a Gnawing Zombie. With careful planning and the right responses, this pesky creature can be rendered far less threatening on the battlefield.

Cards like Gnawing Zombie

Gnawing Zombie offers a unique role in the undead arsenal of Magic: The Gathering. Its ability to sacrifice another creature to deal damage and gain life echoes the functionality of other undead themed cards. Cards like Bloodthrone Vampire come to mind, which also profit from creature sacrifices but instead of dealing damage, it gains a temporary power and toughness boost. Unlike Gnawing Zombie, Bloodthrone Vampire lacks the direct life gain and damage output.

Another card worthy of note is the Falkenrath Noble, which, like Gnawing Zombie, deals damage to opponents and provides you with life whenever a creature dies. However, the Noble’s effect isn’t restricted by a mana cost or a tap condition, applying its effect passively to any creature’s death rather than acting on a direct sacrifice. This means that while it may be less controllable, it has the potential for a wider impact across the game.

Evaluating the niche Gnawing Zombie fills shows its unique balance in tactical creature sacrifice, direct damage, and life gain within the MTG universe, making it a potentially valuable inclusion for players crafting a deck centering around sacrifice mechanics and incremental advantage.

Cards similar to Gnawing Zombie by color, type and mana cost

Order of the Ebon Hand - MTG Card versions

Nezumi Graverobber // Nighteyes the Desecrator - MTG Card versions

Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Gnawing Zombie MTG card by a specific set like Magic 2014 and Modern Masters 2017, there are several reliable options to consider. One of the primary sources is your local game store, where you can often find booster packs, individual cards, and preconstructed decks from current and some past sets. They often offer the added benefit of a community where you can trade with other players.

For a broader inventory, particularly of older sets, online marketplaces like TCGPlayer, Card Kingdom and Card Market offer extensive selections and allow you to search for cards from specific sets. Larger e-commerce platforms like eBay and Amazon also have listings from various sellers, which can be a good place to look for sealed product and rare finds.

Additionally, Magic’s official site often has a store locator and retailer lists for finding Wizards of the Coast licensed products. Remember to check for authenticity and the condition of the cards when purchasing, especially from individual sellers on larger marketplaces.

Below is a list of some store websites where you can buy the Gnawing Zombie and other MTG cards:

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Printings

The Gnawing Zombie Magic the Gathering card was released in 3 different sets between 2013-07-19 and 2022-12-02. Illustrated by Greg Staples.

#	Released	Name	Code	Number	Frame	Layout	Border	Artist
1	2013-07-19	Magic 2014	M14	99	2003	Normal	Black	Greg Staples
2	2017-03-17	Modern Masters 2017	MM3	71	2015	Normal	Black	Greg Staples
3	2022-12-02	Jumpstart 2022	J22	419	2015	Normal	Black	Greg Staples