Empty the Laboratory
Sorcery
Sacrifice X Zombies, then reveal cards from the top of your library until you reveal a number of Zombie creature cards equal to the number of Zombies sacrificed this way. Put those cards onto the battlefield and the rest on the bottom of your library in a random order.
- CMC
- 2
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- U
- Rarity
- rare
- Set
- Midnight Hunt Commander
- Price
- $1.50
- EDHREC rank
- #6050
Empty the Laboratory puts a board's worth of Zombies into play at instant speed — the payoff scales directly with how deep your graveyard runs. In Wilhelt, the Rotcleaver decks, where Decayed tokens fuel a constant cycle of dying creatures, this card routinely produces six-plus tokens for five mana.
Best Commanders
Commanders with the highest synergy
Wilhelt, the Rotcleaver
Wilhelt, the Rotcleaver's Decayed tokens die constantly, packing the graveyard fast, and Empty the Laboratory converts that pile back into a real board of non-Decayed Zombies — it's one of the deck's most efficient refill spells at 55% inclusion.
Varina, Lich Queen
Varina, Lich Queen wheels through Zombies aggressively, filling the graveyard turn after turn, which makes Empty the Laboratory a late-game bomb that rebuilds a full board from every prior attack and discard.
Grimgrin, Corpse-Born
Grimgrin, Corpse-Born demands a steady supply of Zombies to sacrifice for counters and untap triggers, and Empty the Laboratory restocks the ranks from the graveyard at instant speed when the board runs dry.
The Scarab God
The Scarab God wants creatures in graveyards — yours and opponents' — but Empty the Laboratory gives the deck a burst of Zombie bodies that immediately become sacrifice fodder or pressure the table.
Gisa and Geralf
Gisa and Geralf already treats the graveyard as a second hand for casting Zombies, and Empty the Laboratory supplements that engine with a mass reanimate effect that scales with every creature that's been milled or discarded over the game.
Format Analysis
Where it lives, where it can’t
| Format | Verdict |
|---|---|
| commander | legal |
| legacy | legal |
| modern | not legal |
| pioneer | not legal |
| standard | not legal |
| vintage | legal |
| pauper | not legal |
| oathbreaker | legal |
Empty the Laboratory is a Commander card in practice — the mass reanimate payoff only comes online once a graveyard has been cultivated over several turns, which is exactly the kind of long game Commander enables. In Legacy and Vintage it's legal but irrelevant; those formats are too fast for a five-mana sorcery that asks you to have already lost creatures. Oathbreaker can support it in dedicated Zombie shells, though the smaller board state makes the ceiling lower. Stick to Commander, and specifically to Zombie tribal decks where Empty the Laboratory's X-for-five equation regularly comes out ahead.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
$1.50 cheap tier
At $1.50, Empty the Laboratory sits in the sweet spot where it costs less than a booster pack but does real work in any serious Zombie Commander deck. That price is stable — it's not a casual afterthought but it's not chased by competitive formats either, so there's no pressure spike on the horizon.
Explore
Sources
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.