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Carnage, Crimson Chaos

SPM · rare · Released 2025-09-26

Power

brawl
tier-1Strong staple
commander
tier-1Strong staple

Tier shown as baseline → best-case (in its ideal shell).

Derived from the 7 atoms below.

over

above rate

standalone

meaningful alone

synergy

wants support

scales

scales up

flexible

multiple modes

broad

broadly useful

fragile

easily answered

Commander Bracket

1Precon2Core3Upgraded4Optimized5cEDH

Archetypes

positive:
reanimatoraristocratssacrificegraveyard-matters
negative:

No active conflicts.

Roles

reanimatoretb-triggermidrange-threatsacrifice-outletaggressive-creature

Risks

requires-graveyard-densityonce-per-turn-restrictedattack-trigger-only

Mechanics

mech-mayhem

Typal

synergy:

anti:

Structural

triggered-abilitystatic-ability

Rationale

Carnage is a 4cmc 4/3 trample reanimator that ETB-recurs a creature with MV ≤3 from the graveyard, granting it a forced-attack and sacrifice-on-combat-damage rider — effectively a kamikaze attacker that pairs well with aristocrats payoffs. Its Mayhem ability lets it recast from the graveyard if discarded this turn, adding resilience. Signature in reanimator and aristocrats shells where the recycled creature's death can be exploited; limited by the MV ≤3 ceiling on targets.

Learnings (3)

  • The reanimated creature's forced-attack and sacrifice-on-damage rider are permanent abilities — if the creature deals no combat damage (e.g., blocked and survives), it does NOT sacrifice itself that turn but still must attack next combat.

    tagging · claude-sonnet-4-6

  • Mayhem lets Carnage recast from the graveyard if discarded THIS turn, making wheels or discard-outlet decks able to threaten repeated ETB reanimation across multiple turns.

    tagging · claude-sonnet-4-6

  • The MV ≤3 cap on reanimation targets is a meaningful deckbuilding constraint — this card rewards stocking the graveyard with cheap utility creatures (e.g., Viscera Seer, Zulaport Cutthroat) rather than large finishers.

    tagging · claude-sonnet-4-6

Popularity

  • EDHREC rank: #8,611

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