Balthor the Defiled

Commander / EDH* Combo Mono-Black Tribal Zombie

justnthrguy

Creature (37)

• 1x Agent of Erebos
• 1x Apprentice Necromancer
• 1x Carrion Feeder
• 1x Coffin Queen
• 1x Corpse Augur
• 1x Corpse Harvester
• 1x Crypt Creeper
• 1x Cryptbreaker
• 1x Diregraf Colossus
• 1x Fleshbag Marauder
• 1x Gempalm Polluter
• 1x Graveborn Muse
• 1x Gravecrawler
• 1x Gray Merchant of Asphodel
• 1x Grim Haruspex
• 1x Midnight Reaper
• 1x Mikaeus, the Unhallowed
• 1x Nantuko Husk
• 1x Noxious Ghoul
• 1x Phyrexian Delver
• 1x Phyrexian Ghoul
• 1x Phyrexian Plaguelord
• 1x Plague Belcher
• 1x Putrid Imp
• 1x Relentless Dead
• 1x Rot Hulk
• 1x Rotting Rats
• 1x Sidisi, Undead Vizier
• 1x Skinrender
• 1x Stinkweed Imp
• 1x Triskelion
• 1x Twisted Abomination
• 1x Undead Gladiator
• 1x Vengeful Dead
• 1x Viscera Dragger
• 1x Withered Wretch
• 1x Zombie Master

Sorcery (15)

• 1x All Hallow's Eve
• 1x Buried Alive
• 1x Damnation
• 1x Decree of Pain
• 1x Demonic Tutor
• 1x Diabolic Intent
• 1x Final Parting
• 1x Living Death
• 1x Morality Shift
• 1x Night's Whisper
• 1x Read the Bones
• 1x Rise of the Dark Realms
• 1x Toxic Deluge
• 1x Victimize
• 1x Zombie Apocalypse

Artifact (6)

• 1x Altar of Dementia
• 1x Basalt Monolith
• 1x Expedition Map
• 1x Mesmeric Orb
• 1x Phyrexian Altar
• 1x Sol Ring

Enchantment (1)

• 1x Necromancer's Stockpile

Commander (1)

Land (35)

• 1x Cabal Coffers
• 1x Crypt of Agadeem
• 1x Deserted Temple
• 1x High Market
• 1x Lake of the Dead
• 1x Petrified Field
• 1x Phyrexian Tower
• 27x Swamp
• 1x Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth

Instant (5)

• 1x Culling the Weak
• 1x Dark Ritual
• 1x Entomb
• 1x Moonlight Bargain
• 1x Songs of the Damned

---

Maybeboard

Instant (8)

• 1x Ad Nauseam
• 1x Imp's Mischief
• 1x Insidious Dreams
• 1x Mausoleum Secrets
• 1x Necrologia
• 1x Plunge into Darkness
• 1x Sacrifice
• 1x Vampiric Tutor

Creature (6)

• 1x Gravespawn Sovereign
• 1x Liliana, Heretical Healer  ^Flip
• 1x Lotleth Giant
• 1x Razaketh, the Foulblooded
• 1x Skirge Familiar
• 1x Walking Ballista

Enchantment (8)

• 1x Animate Dead
• 1x Infernal Tribute
• 1x Necromancy
• 1x Oath of Lim-Dul
• 1x Open the Graves
• 1x Over my Dead Bodies
• 1x Phyrexian Arena
• 1x Tombstone Stairwell

Artifact (3)

• 1x Anvil of Bogardan
• 1x Memory Jar
• 1x Skullclamp

Sorcery (7)

• 1x All is Dust
• 1x Dark Deal
• 1x Dark Petition
• 1x Mutilate
• 1x Patriarch's Bidding
• 1x Reanimate
• 1x Stitch Together

Planeswalker (2)

• 1x Liliana, Death's Majesty
• 1x Liliana, Untouched By Death

Land (2)

• 1x Ancient Tomb
• 1x Bojuka Bog

---

Bring Out Your Dead!

Summary

This is a Zombie tribal deck whose most fun plan is to flip our library with Morality Shift and then use Balthor to raise our brain-obsessed walking/crawling corpses. This deck is built with the goal of staying Zombie focused - only straying outside of the tribe for enablers or answers to problems.

Tips & Tricks

This deck has lots of neat interactions that yield slow, value-oriented turns. It's worth remembering that Gravecrawler can generate value on certain turns when you aren't killing the table or comboing off. Grim Haruspex is a fantastic draw engine in this deck and it may be worth pulling the trigger on Balthor early to get it back onto the battlefield.

Rot Hulk is a powerhouse of a card early in the game and is just a better Phyrexian Delver in the late game. If you need to get multiple things back from a single reanimation spell, this is the guy you want in your graveyard.

Coffin Queen / Apprentice Necromancer are slow reanimation spells on the first turn, but later they become great backup abilities for helping protect the deck's ability to go off.

Ending the Game

Obviously, this deck is Zombie tribal, so it's not going to put up much of a fight against a cEDH deck any time soon. However, I have been getting into the cEDH Reddit and checking out how people are building to help give me some ideas.

One of the things I've always wanted to do is find room for my Triskelion in this list. How do we make use of Mike & Trike when Balthor doesn't care about Artifacts?

Primary single target reanimation Buried Alive pile:

1. Mikaeus, the Unhallowed
2. Corpse Connoisseur
3. Rot Hulk

These are the best single target reanimation Buried Alive piles I could think of, and they all need a sac outlet:

1. Mikaeus, the Unhallowed
2. Triskelion
3. Phyrexian Delver

1. Rot Hulk
2. Phyrexian Delver
3. Gray Merchant of Asphodel

Other interesting shenanigans include:

1. Mikaeus, the Unhallowed
2. Phyrexian Delver
3. Sidisi, Undead Vizier

Combos

There are 2 major combo categories when working with the undead and the below combos are not exhaustive:

• Mikaeus, the Unhallowed + Skinrender

  • + Phyrexian Ghoul + Vengeful Dead = infinite life loss
  • + Phyrexian Ghoul + Noxious Ghoul = infinite -1/-1
  • + Phyrexian Altar = infinite
  • + Altar of Dementia = infinite mill
  • + Carrion Feeder = infinitely giant zombie

• Gravecrawler + Phyrexian Altar

  • + Mikaeus, the Unhallowed = infinite
  • + Vengeful Dead = infinite life loss
  • + Noxious Ghoul = infinite -1/-1
  • + Diregraf Colossus = infinite , infinite zombies

• Mesmeric Orb + Basalt Monolith = infinite self-mill
• Necromancer's Stockpile + Stinkweed Imp = Dredge 5 as long as you can pay

Thoughts on the Deck

• Entomb - I can never quite find enough value for a single creature. Almost every time I draw it I wish it was a tutor or a draw spell. Possible replacements Mausoleum Secrets or Vampiric Tutor .
• Card Draw - A lot of the time this deck seems to struggle to draw cards. It seems like the only way to deal with that is to run Ad Nauseam or Necrologia and more tutors. Sign in Blood may also warrant a slot.

Inspiration

• This deck and the discussion in this reddit thread are really interesting. It is doing something a little different than my main goal, but it really made me think about draw engines and counterplay. In particular I like Imp's Mischief and Oppression as ways to interact with opponents.

Date added	10 years
Last updated	5 years
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	4 - 0 Mythic Rares 37 - 0 Rares 15 - 0 Uncommons 17 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	3.46
Tokens	Morph 2/2 C, Zombie 2/2 B
Folders	Commander, Built, For fun