It's a nice card in any black red deck using creatures with come into play effects.
Like chittering rats or hellhole rats or flametongue kavu.
Manacurve wise, the best would be:
turn 2 ravenous rats
turn 3 attack with rats, then play this zombie and return rats to hand
turn 4 attack with zombie, pump it by one and use the other 2 mana to replay the rats.
Then you have dealt 6 damage and made your opponent discard two cards by turn 4. It's not tournament quality but very solid for casual.
In the late game or slow multiplayer game, if the zombie get's killed, you can play a gravedigger to get such a zombie back from your gy. Then replay it, return the gravedigger to hand, replay the digger, return another such zombie from your gy to hand until you have all lavazombies back, and then replay the digger another time for another creature.
The zombie needs badly trample though, so a au... (see all)
Posted By:
majinara
(2/17/2010 12:59:37 PM)
No one's mentioned this, but look at where his hands are
Posted By:
Kryptnyt
(3/21/2011 7:01:22 PM)
I play this after I play ravenous rats and it's hilarious to watch my opponent sigh a little bit... 4 for psychological damage to my opponent.
Posted By:
Mr.Floppy
(5/24/2010 10:56:42 PM)
This could have its uses, especially on black-red which, coincidentially, have some if not the best 187 creatures (almost all Rats, Avalanche Riders, Keldon Champion, Ingot Chewer, Nekrataal, Shriekmaw, Flametongue Kavu... and on the other hand, Spark Elemental, Hellspark Elemental, Ball Lightning, Blistering Firecat. And this is just from the top of my head).
Sadly, it competes with lots of better 3-drops on its colors. A 3/2 for 
would have been a lot better.
Posted By:
DespisedIcon
(9/9/2010 10:14:46 PM)
Use the kobolds from Legends to "avoid" the bounce.
No one had mentioned them yet...
Posted By:
Paolino
(2/27/2012 8:05:54 AM)
Lava nice day.
Posted By:
DeckMechanic
(1/19/2013 11:44:06 AM)
@ Donjohnson
Sadly it won't bring a creature from your graveyard to your hand, instead it requires you to bounce one of your creatures in play back to your hand (and if there are no others in play it will bounce its self).
If it had been the other way around it would have put Gravedigger to shame.
Its no undead warchief, but it isn't any mindless null either. Just an average zombie.
Posted By:
Silverware
(12/21/2009 12:05:58 AM)
Very good card for the CMC.
For 3 mana I get a pumpable 4/3 creature which brings a creature from my graveyard to my hand. Overall a very solid card.
Posted By:
donjohnson
(11/22/2009 9:52:24 AM)