Ok, random card gatherer, I will take this challenge.
Gather Specimens makes the drawback a bonus but it might be hard to pay ten mana in one turn. So, we need some way to cast one of those spells for free or cheap. I'd suggest Elvish Piper, or Omniscience, or Jhoira of the Ghitu but all those cards have better things to be doing. So, I will go with Delay.
Delay has the benefit of also protecting your combo if you get it in multiples. This still effectively makes this a turn 9 play, which does one better than turn ten if you hit every land drop. We can still do better than that. Dimir Signet accelerates us as well as fixing our mana, and Jhoira's Timebug quickens our Delay. Clockspinning also works.
We'll also want things to actually be in our opponent's graveyard, so we can ... (see all)
Posted By:
Taudisban
(7/27/2013 10:56:52 AM)
Not that terrible. It's not that likely that by turn 4 your opponent would have much in his graveyard, definitely not anything better than this guy. Still, with this kind of drawback it should've been a 5/5.
Posted By:
achilleselbow
(4/28/2010 9:40:18 AM)
One of a cycle of cards that happen to work really well in Emperor magic.
Posted By:
Kryptnyt
(9/2/2010 3:05:03 AM)
Underrated? Yes. Still a poor choice for basically any deck? Yes. Nothing to see here, folks, except some nostalgia for those of us who got our start in Mercadian Masques. <3
Posted By:
DysprosiumJudas
(4/22/2011 3:07:25 PM)
Meh, black is a gamble.
I'd run this guy for the hell of it,
But Gravedigger is a better bet for most games,
Simply because it gives only you the creature,
And it's a Zombie.
Posted By:
infernox10
(8/11/2010 7:55:14 PM)
@Polzini: What Kruggles said, but Emmy's abilitiy is, in fact, triggered and not a replacement effect. Plus this guy's ability is a triggered ability, not a spell. And, finally, you'd need to give this guy flash to return Emrakul, and giving your opponent a free Eldrazi seems kinda... poor.
Posted By:
Fanaticmogg
(2/5/2011 9:39:17 PM)
Dark Ritual made this potentially playable on second turn; a swamp, Dark Rit+Lotus Petal in your opening draw could get you a 4/4 on first turn before the drawback is relevant.
Posted By:
jfre81
(6/2/2011 2:18:58 AM)
Yeah Gravedigger is way better. I'd rather have a 2/2 and a creature then a 4/4 and my opponent have one too.
Posted By:
John-Bender
(11/25/2009 4:32:56 AM)
Advantage of this card : it does not target a creature => as such it can return a discarded Emrakul (protection from colored spells) directly into play.
Posted By:
Polzini
(8/10/2010 2:22:24 AM)
It is that terrible, 4 4/4 for 4 CMC (4444CMC ;)) with a horrible drawback? Who would have this in their deck? Can you make some kind of combo with this? I don't get it.
Posted By:
Sironos
(6/22/2010 7:14:52 AM)