The new Core Set 2020 spoiler, Corpse Knight, nails the two-drop spot in a Magic: The Gathering Orzhov Zombie deck.
Releasing during the early days of July, Core Set 2020 is shaping up to be another powerful set that’ll change the metagame in Standard—much like War of the Spark did.
With Mono-Red Aggro and Esper archetypes dominating the metagame, it seems like M20 will provide the power needed for other decks to climb the rankings. And one of those archetypes is Orzhov Zombies, who just got a huge boost from Corpse Knight.
Corpse Knight
As a two mana (one black and one white) Uncommon two/two zombie, Corpse Knight takes away an opponent’s life each time its owner puts a creature onto the battlefield. Chipping away at an opponent for one life with each creature cast is good, but Corpse Knight also reduces a life point for creature tokens that enter the battlefield.
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“Whenever another creature enters the battlefield under your control, each opponent loses one life,” the card reads.
Nowhere in the text does it specify creatures that were cast, just ones that enter onto the battlefield. And this includes tokens created by the abilities of other creatures, enchantments, and planeswalkers like Liliana, Dreadhorde General.
Corpse Knight is a great two-drop card in a Mardu Aristocrats deck with Chandra on its heels in the three-drop slot. It’ll also work well in Black/White Zombie Token decks, thanks to its lethal static ability. Pairing Corpse Knight with Liliana, Dreadhorde General from War of the Spark, however, could prove extremely detrimental to other deck archetypes.
Related: Chandra is the only planeswalker getting three rarity cards in MTG Core Set 2020
Magic: The Gathering Core Set 2020 comes to MTG Arena and Magic Online on July 2. Pre-release for the M20 set is for July 5 and 6, with the official release date being July 12.
