New Tarkir Zombie is Three Entombs in a Trenchcoat

Last updated on March 28, 2025

Spoiler season should be all wrapped by the time you're reading this, but WotC seems to have saved some of the sweetest cards for last, as Lotuslight Dancers was just spoiled. There's a lot you can do with this dancing Zombie pair, especially in Commander.

Evaluating the Card

So what kind of card is Lotuslight Dancers anyways? And is it any good? Let's establish some basic facts first:

• Lotuslight Dancers is a 5 mana creature that necessitates playing at least three colors.
• It's a 3/6 lifelink for 5, which is an odd statline that's great for stabilizing the board vs small creatures.
• The combat stats alone certainly aren't worth playing a 3c 5 drop for, though!
• As such, much of the cards value is found in its “enters” ability, which is essentially a triple Entomb that is color restricted.

Thusly, we can see that the card is all about graveyard setups. You're putting this in your Limited/Standard/Commander deck with the hope of doing something from the ‘yard.

Zombie Dance Moves

So what are you supposed to grab with the triple Entomb anyways? There's a wide array of potential options (especially in big formats like Commander), so here's a list of some ideas to get you started in various formats:

Limited

In Limited, the most obvious way to get value out of Lotuslight Dancers is the Sultai's new clan mechanic, renew. Let's say you cast Lotuslight Dancers on turn 5, then go and dump the following cards into your yard:

• Agent of Kotis
• Kheru Goldkeeper
• Laysd Prowler

You've clearly picked up some value here! Doing this essentially hooks you up with a trio of expensive “pseudo-Auras”, which you can now use to suit up the Dancers themselves. Its tough lifelink body is perfect for Agent of Kotis counters too.

Standard

In Standard, you'll have substantially more options for Lotuslight Dancers than Limited, but it will also face fierce competition from other five drops that require less setup. One obvious way to build around it is to play cards with graveyard mechanics like flashback and renew, such as:

• Self-Reflection
• Think Twice
• Revenge of the Rats
• Lasyd Prowler
• Naga Fleshcrafter
• Qarsi Revenant

Another angle is to use Lotuslight Dancers to power up other graveyard cards like Hollow Marauder and Overwhelming Remorse. You'd want to try to ramp to Dancers with dorks like Molt Tender and Llanowar Elves for this, as Standard is fast and brutal right now.

There may also be genuine Standard combos with Lotuslight Dancers, as there's often a lot you can do with three particular cards in the graveyard. Just remember to take advantage of the fact that this is three cards rather than one, as Standard has other single Entomb variants for less than five mana like:

• Cynical Loner (although survival is tough to pull off)
• Lively Dirge
• Vile Entomber

Commander

This is where the fun begins, as Commander's card pool is over eight times the size of Standard's! That means you have a ton of options with this card, from simple value plays (i.e., flashback, scavenge, etc) to convoluted combos that win the game on the spot. It's also worth noting how much better the value targets are in Commander, as you'll be able to set up cards like:

• Brawn
• Filth
• Wonder
• For the Ancestors
• Dread Return
• Narcomeba

And much more. Dread Return in particular is a dangerous card with Lotuslight Dancers, as tutoring Dread Return + Narcomoeba + Archon of Cruelty puts you one creature away from returning it immediately. We could write a full article on all the applications and combos with this card, but for now, that should be enough to show off its potential!

Other Formats

Unless we're missing something obviously better, Dread Return + Narcomoeba setups might be Lotuslight Dancers best shot at Modern+ play. Most five drops do not get there though, so don't be surprised if Lotuslight Dancers shines brightest in Commander.]

Lotuslight Dancers is a compelling option for Pioneer, as it's certainly slower and lower powered than Modern+ formats. It also has Narcomeba for it and a larger card pool than Standard, so it's certainly possible that Lotuslight Dancers could have potential in the format.