Image courtesy of Scryfall.com
Draft Insights: Black Strategy with a Stalwart Zombie Creature
When you’re building a black-heavy draft deck in Jumpstart, you’re often balancing midrange inevitability with disruptive inevitability. A well-timed 4/3 deathtouch creature for a modest 4 mana is the kind of card that can swing tempo in your favor while feeding a broader kingdom of graveyard and zombie-blueprints. This rare zombie arrives with two potent perks: a true deathtouch threat that punishes trades, and a revenge-on-demand ability that punishes the opponent whenever you land a hit. The result is a card that rewards both aggressive lines and patient stall, depending on what the draft table gives you. 🧙♂️🔥💎⚔️🎨🎲
Why this card shines in Jumpstart drafts
Jumpstart’s design hinges on fast, themed experiences where you can lean into a cohesive color story in a single sitting. In black, you’re playing for pressure, hand disruption, and value from creatures that keep pressuring the opponent while you accumulate advantage. The card’s mana cost (2 generic and 2 black) makes it a believable centerpiece for a black-dominated curve. Its deathtouch means it trades up against most one-toughness or even some two-toughness blockers, turning favorable combat into a card-discard engine for your opponent. Every time this creature deals combat damage to a player, you’re forcing a discard and, on top of that, you create a tapped 2/2 black Zombie—a token that can grow the board or set up a future alpha strike. That dual output is gold in a draft environment where every card must do multiple jobs. 🧙♂️🔥
In Jumpstart, diversity of synergies matters. This card plays nicely with any black midrange plan that loves to grind an opponent down while accumulating empty-handed advantages. Its token generation also plays well with zombie-themed subgames or other black cards that reward you for sacrificing, draining, or reanimating. The ability-to-discard-then-token-support makes it an excellent engine piece for “attack early, lock the board late” strategies. It’s not just a beater; it’s a mini-board state engine that shifts the table’s tempo in your favor. 🎲
Drafting tips and deck-building notes
- Prioritize mana sources: You’re looking at a four-mana play on the earlier side if you want to maximize damage, so ensure you’re drafting enough swamps and compatible mana sources to hit 4 by turn 4. A steady Black-heavy mana base lets you curve out with removal and midrange threats rather than stalling on mana hiccups. ⚡
- Pair with solid removal: Black thrives on removing threats so your big beater can connect. Prioritize spells that answer early aggression or problem planeswalkers and creatures, letting this Reaver swing in with minimal resistance. A clean answer on opponent boards makes your Reaver unblockable on the critical turns. 🗡️
- Protect the beatdown with deluge-draw synergy: Although the card’s discard effect is on the opponent, you should still look for draw/reload effects that keep your hand full once the discard trigger starts doing work. Card advantage matters in a limited format, and refill spells let you keep pressing while your opponent stumbles. 💎
- Early blockers aren’t wasted potential: If your board stalls, this Reaver remains a credible blocker thanks to deathtouch. A single hit can force a discard and spawn a 2/2 zombie, which can keep pressure steady even when you’re a card down. Use it to maintain route integrity through the midgame. ⚔️
- Zombie token tempo: The 2/2 zombie token can be used as a chump with utility or as a grower for a bigger late-game plan. In addition to board presence, tokens can enable synergy with other black cards that care about zombie or token mechanics, creating a multi-layered board state that’s tough to answer in a single turn. 🧟
“A solid four-drop that punishes opponents for attacking your life total while nudging their card advantage in your favor—that’s the sweet spot you chase in black drafts.”
Flavor, design, and the feel of the table
The art and design choices for this card emphasize classic necromantic aesthetics. Karl Kopinski’s illustration captures the menace of a hunter returned from the grave, wearing the bite of deathtouch as a badge of survival. The name itself—Liliana’s Reaver—hints at the broader world of the living and the dead colliding under a necromantic banner, which fittingly aligns with a broader black strategy predicated on control, disruption, and inevitability. The card’s narrative arc mirrors how in a draft environment, the player who best times their commitment to the board tends to control the tempo and dictate the pace of the game. 🎨🧙♂️
Formats, value, and collectability
In terms of legality, you’ll find this card legal in formats like Historic, Modern, Legacy, and Commander, while Standard is not a home for it. Jumpstart’s reprint nature means this particular printing sits as a rare in a limited environment, which can make it a desirable pick for players chasing a (non-foil) zombie engine or a powerful deathtouch threat in their black-heavy pile. Current market presence shows a modest value, with non-foil printing often hovering in the sub-$1 range, reflecting its utility in drafting and its status as a classic, resilient zombie melee creature. For collectors, it’s a nod to Jumpstart’s bold, mixed-pickle approach to drafting—where two themed boosters collide to create a crafted narrative and a stack of unpredictable synergies. 🧙♂️💎⚔️
Related picks and synergy ideas
- Other deathtouch creatures to enable favorable trades and to augment the Reaver’s pressure.
- Hand-disruption spells or effects that complement the discard trigger and push the opponent’s resources out of reach.
- Zombie-themed or token-supporting cards that can quickly convert a single hit into a bigger board presence.
- Removal and tempo tools that keep you on the front foot while your opponent scrambles to answer your board state.
As you dip into Jumpstart’s black-heavy waters, you’ll notice that the true value isn’t just the raw power of a single card—it’s how well that card plays with the color’s shared identity: disruption, inevitability, and a touch of graveyard-grace that turns a single well-timed attack into a sweeping swing of momentum. This Reaver isn’t a one-note finisher; it’s a multi-tool that rewards precise drafting and smart combat decisions. 🧙♂️🔥💎⚔️