Arcane Foundry › Commanders › Zask, Skittering Swarmlord
Zask, Skittering Swarmlord
Legendary Creature — Insect · {3}{G}{G} · Black/Green commander
You may play lands and cast Insect spells from your graveyard.
Whenever another Insect you control dies, put it on the bottom of its owner's library, then mill two cards. (Put the top two cards of your library into your graveyard.)
{1}{B/G}: Target Insect gets +1/+0 and gains deathtouch until end of turn. ({B/G} can be paid with either {B} or {G}.)
Build a Zask, Skittering Swarmlord deck →
What Zask, Skittering Swarmlord actually does
Read off the card by the same engine the Forge and Analyzer use — this is the mechanical classification, not a summary.
- Triggered ability · deathWhenever another Insect you control dies, put it on the bottom of its owner's library, then mill two cards.
- Activated ability{1}{B/G}: Target Insect gets +1/+0 and gains deathtouch until end of turn.
- Static ability · restrictionYou may play lands and cast Insect spells from your graveyard.
What a Zask, Skittering Swarmlord deck needs
Plays as insect typal. What the commander asks of the other 99 — read from the card and checked by hand.
- expendable creatures and free sacrifice outlets (its payoff is creatures dying)
- self-mill, discard and recursion (the graveyard is a resource its text reads)
- insect creatures (its text counts them)
The Zask, Skittering Swarmlord deck plan
The roles the Forge fills for this commander, and how many cards of each.
- 28× A body of the exact type the commander's trigger requires — the wrong type is worthless here regardless of quality
- 7× Put your own cards into your graveyard as a resource
- 6× Sacrifice a creature for no mana, repeatably
- 5× Actually remove one problem permanent — preventing its damage is not removing it
- 9× Find the exact card the plan needs
- 1× Answer a whole board at once
- 7× Refill your hand
- 2× Keep a permanent you control alive through removal
- 11× Get ahead on mana
Best cards for Zask, Skittering Swarmlord
Ranked by an engine that reads what each card does — its real cost, its delay and how reliably it works — rather than counting how often other people play it.
A body of the exact type the commander's trigger requires — the wrong type is worthless here regardless of quality
- Haywire Mite1 mana
- Springheart Nantuko2 mana
- Scute Swarm3 mana
- Duskshell Crawler2 mana
- Bilious Skulldweller1 mana
- Caustic Caterpillar1 mana
- Gene Pollinator1 mana
- Grist, Voracious Larva // Grist, the Plague Swarm1 mana
Put your own cards into your graveyard as a resource
- Takenuma, Abandoned Mire0 mana
- Stitcher's Supplier1 mana
- Aftermath Analyst2 mana
- Ripples of Undeath2 mana
- Smuggler's Surprise1 mana
- Six3 mana
- Argoth, Sanctum of Nature0 mana
- Eden, Seat of the Sanctum0 mana
Sacrifice a creature for no mana, repeatably
- Carrion Feeder1 mana
- Viscera Seer1 mana
- Altar of Dementia2 mana
- Spawning Pit2 mana
- Umbral Collar Zealot2 mana
- Bloodthrone Vampire2 mana
- Dark Privilege2 mana
- Ashnod's Altar3 mana
Actually remove one problem permanent — preventing its damage is not removing it
- Assassin's Trophy2 mana
- Defile1 mana
- Tragic Slip1 mana
- Infernal Grasp2 mana
- Fatal Push1 mana
- Beast Within3 mana
- Bitter Triumph2 mana
- Nature's Claim1 mana
Find the exact card the plan needs
- Entomb1 mana
- Demonic Tutor2 mana
- Diabolic Intent2 mana
- Vampiric Tutor1 mana
- Green Sun's Zenith1 mana
- Imperial Seal1 mana
- Demonic Consultation1 mana
- Nature's Rhythm2 mana
Answer a whole board at once
- Toxic Deluge3 mana
- Damnation4 mana
- Bontu's Last Reckoning3 mana
- Sickening Dreams2 mana
- Crypt Rats3 mana
- Extinction Event4 mana
- Vicious Rivalry4 mana
- Endemic Plague4 mana
Refill your hand
- Skullclamp1 mana
- Sylvan Library2 mana
- Black Market Connections3 mana
- Braids, Arisen Nightmare3 mana
- Garruk's Uprising3 mana
- Herald's Horn3 mana
- Morbid Opportunist3 mana
- Phyrexian Arena3 mana
Keep a permanent you control alive through removal
- Guardian Augmenter3 mana
- Saryth, the Viper's Fang4 mana
- Lightning Greaves2 mana
- Swiftfoot Boots2 mana
- Asceticism5 mana
- Eldrazi Monument5 mana
- Commander's Plate1 mana
- Mithril Coat3 mana
Get ahead on mana
- Sol Ring1 mana
- Golgari Signet2 mana
- Incubation Druid2 mana
- Palladium Myr3 mana
- Worn Powerstone3 mana
- Ilysian Caryatid2 mana
- Heritage Druid1 mana
- Llanowar Tribe3 mana
Combos with Zask, Skittering Swarmlord
Known combos from Commander Spellbook that Zask, Skittering Swarmlord is a piece of, and how many decks list them.
- Zask, Skittering Swarmlord + Verdant Succession + Ashnod's Altar637 decks
- Zask, Skittering Swarmlord + Verdant Succession + Altar Of Dementia552 decks
- Zask, Skittering Swarmlord + Azusa, Lost But Seeking + Glacial Chasm498 decks
- Zask, Skittering Swarmlord + Glacial Chasm + Zuran Orb421 decks
- Zask, Skittering Swarmlord + Verdant Succession + Phyrexian Altar398 decks
- Zask, Skittering Swarmlord + Verdant Succession + Dross Hopper239 decks