Lava Zombie
Creature — Zombie
When this creature enters, return a black or red creature you control to its owner's hand.
: This creature gets +1/+0 until end of turn.
- CMC
- 3
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- BR
- Rarity
- common
- Set
- Planeshift
- Price
- $0.19
- EDHREC rank
- #28737
Lava Zombie is a 3/1 that makes you bounce a land when it enters — a steep tempo cost that almost always reads as card disadvantage. The only context where that drawback disappears is Aluren, where free, instant-speed recast loops turn the bounce into an engine rather than a punishment.
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 | legal |
| oathbreaker | legal |
In Commander, Lava Zombie is a fringe piece in Aluren combo builds — it's not a staple, but it's one of the few creatures that can close a loop in that shell. In Pauper, it sits at common and occasionally surfaces in reanimator or bounce-value brews, but the land bounce is brutal in a format where tempo is everything. Legacy and Vintage have access to it but have no reason to run it; far more efficient tools exist for any role Lava Zombie might fill. Across every format, this is a build-around card, not a role-player — if you're not engineering a reason to ignore the drawback, it belongs in the bulk bin.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Lava ZombieRooftop Storm
Infinite LTB; Infinite ETB; Infinite storm count
View on Commander Spellbook ↗Price Context
Current price
$0.19 bulk tier
At $0.19, Lava Zombie is deep bulk — the kind of card you pick out of a commons box rather than order. Demand is narrow enough that the price is unlikely to move unless an Aluren combo list spikes in visibility, and even then the ceiling is modest.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.