Necrogenesis vs Similar Cards: A Statistical Power Comparison

In TCG ·

Necrogenesis card art (Commander 2016) by Trevor Claxton

Image courtesy of Scryfall.com

Necrogenesis and the Saproling Economy: A Statistical Power Look

In the dim corners of BG graveyard synergy, Necrogenesis sits as a lean, two-mana engine that converts a graveyard’s castaways into green, proliferating saprolings 🧙‍♂️. Hailing from Commander 2016, this uncommon enchantment asks you to pay {2} and exile a creature card from a graveyard to conjure a 1/1 green Saproling token. The value proposition is not just about token count—it’s about throughput, resilience, and the way it scales with a deck’s broader plan. In modern or legacy contexts, where graveyard hate can appear in waves, the card’s ability to sidestep do-nothing turns by turning dead creatures into fresh bodies is a compelling stat-line to break down 🔥⚔️.

Let’s set the baseline: Necrogenesis costs 2 mana and yields a 1/1 Saproling whenever you exile a creature card from any graveyard. That’s a clean conversion rate: 2 mana for a token, with the caveat that the engine is only as healthy as the graveyard supply you’re drawing from. In a typical midrange or token-focused incarnation of a Commander deck, you’re likely flirting with a handful of activations per game, and the Saproling swarm grows as you pick off more targets from the gy. The flavor text—“Those may be the squirms of one life ending or of another beginning. Either way, I’d leave it alone.”—lands neatly with the mathematics: Necrogenesis thrives when the graveyard is an underworld of bodies waiting to be reborn as biomass for your board 🪵💎.

From a statistical perspective, the card’s power hinges on three levers: availability of creature cards in graveyards, your reach to tap mana consistently, and the presence of token-friendly synergies to magnify your board state. In a two-player duel, you’ll often see a handful of graveyard recursions or hate cards; in EDH, the “graveyard abundance” can be truly wild, with opponents contributing target-rich environments or you mining your own yard for fodder. The token output per activation is a fixed value, but the total potential becomes a function of how many times you can safely exile a creature and what you do with those Saprolings once they arrive. Saproling tribal decks love that the tokens scale with anthem effects like Overrun-style finishers or The Addition of token doublers later in the game. Necrogenesis is not just a tempo play; it’s a ramping engine that can swing the battlefield when you’ve got the right pushers in play 🧙‍♂️🎲.

Benchmarks: Where Necrogenesis shines and where it struggles

To understand its relative power, it helps to consider a few comparative axes. First, the token generation is contingent on creature-cards-in-graveyards. Compared to classic token engines that simply flood the board with tokens (think creatures that produce tokens on ETB or loyalty abilities that generate emblems of creatures), Necrogenesis has the scarcity of graveyard targets as a natural constraint. If your deck taps out turn after turn and the graveyard contains few viable targets, the engine will feel underwhelming. On the flip side, in a deck designed to feed the graveyard—either by recurring creatures, self-mueling loops, or your opponents discarding—the 2-mana exile-to-token conversion can feel like a steady, reliable trickle that compounds with other synergies 🎨.

Another angle is resilience. Necrogenesis is an enchantment, so it benefits from niche protection methods and can be interrupted by mass removal—the classic, brutal reality of multiplayer formats. It does not reanimate the exiled creature nor fetch it back; it simply creates a Saproling and leaves the exiled card out of play. That means in formats with heavy graveyard hate (Rest in Peace, Leyline of the Void, etc.), its usefulness can wane unless you’ve found ways to replenish your own graveyard or leverage the tokens for a combat advantage before the hate lands. Yet when the chips are down, those Saprolings can become a sturdy tide of green momentum in the right deck, especially when paired with token amplifiers or green sacrifice outlets that convert bodies into value 🔥⚔️.

Pricing and accessibility matter too, especially for new players eyeing a budget-friendly build. Necrogenesis sits on the lower end of the spectrum in most printings, and its commander-legal status makes it approachable for casual tables that love a good saproling swarm. Historically, the card sits around modest market values, making it a practical add for players chasing a synergy-heavy, graveyard-focused strategy without a steep cost curve. In practice, you’ll find that the card’s value isn’t just monetary; it’s the possibility of turning a clogged gy into a productive engine with enough support from your color pair and board state 💎.

The flavor and art deliver a strong mood for players who enjoy the tactile, creature-driven nature of Saproling tribal ideas. Trevor Claxton’s illustration, with its earthy greens and creeping movement, reinforces the idea that life cycles loop and decay births something new—an archetype many players find irresistibly nostalgic in MTG’s vast lore. It’s not just about numbers; it’s about capturing a moment in the game where a single enchantment quietly redefines your battlefield tempo and invites a long, satisfying game of cat-and-mouse with graveyard-centric strategies 🎨🧙‍♂️.

Practical tips for builders and battlers

  • Pair Necrogenesis with token multipliers and anthem effects to maximize Saproling output across multiple activations.
  • Keep a steady supply of creature cards in graveyards—whether from self-muel strategies, discarding engines, or synergy cards—to ensure ongoing exile targets.
  • Be mindful of graveyard hate in your meta. In tables where Rest in Peace or similar effects dominate, consider a contingency plan that converts dead cards into other forms of value (e.g., drawing into other engines or shifting to a different win condition).
  • In EDH, a deck with resilient draw and recursion can sustain Necrogenesis’s loop, turning early token generation into a late-game avalanche.

If you’re scouting a budget-friendly BG build with a soft spot for graveyards and a love for Saproling swarms, this enchantment is a solid anchor. It’s not a flashy, insta-win card, but it rewards patient play, proper mana timing, and smart targets. And with the right ancillary pieces—dramatic token producers, protection, and some graveyard-friendly abuse—Necrogenesis can deliver consistent, incremental power that slowly shifts the battlefield in your favor 🧙‍♂️🎲.

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Necrogenesis

Necrogenesis

{B}{G}
Enchantment

{2}: Exile target creature card from a graveyard. Create a 1/1 green Saproling creature token.

"Those may be the squirms of one life ending or of another beginning. Either way, I'd leave it alone." —Rakka Mar

ID: 32a50be8-3937-458b-a2f9-e75569016665

Oracle ID: ad08952a-bcae-41d6-8093-c18535dad7d5

Multiverse IDs: 420832

TCGPlayer ID: 124582

Cardmarket ID: 293713

Colors: B, G

Color Identity: B, G

Keywords:

Rarity: Uncommon

Released: 2016-11-11

Artist: Trevor Claxton

Frame: 2015

Border: black

EDHRec Rank: 8640

Penny Rank: 6599

Set: Commander 2016 (c16)

Collector #: 215

Legalities

  • Standard — not_legal
  • Future — not_legal
  • Historic — not_legal
  • Timeless — not_legal
  • Gladiator — not_legal
  • Pioneer — not_legal
  • Modern — legal
  • Legacy — legal
  • Pauper — not_legal
  • Vintage — legal
  • Penny — not_legal
  • Commander — legal
  • Oathbreaker — legal
  • Standardbrawl — not_legal
  • Brawl — not_legal
  • Alchemy — not_legal
  • Paupercommander — not_legal
  • Duel — legal
  • Oldschool — not_legal
  • Premodern — not_legal
  • Predh — legal

Prices

  • USD: 0.38
  • EUR: 0.42
Last updated: 2025-11-14