Balthor's Defiance of Death

Commander / EDH Lifegain Mono-Black Reanimator Theme/Gimmick Zombie

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Instant (1)

• 1x Moonlight Bargain

Sorcery (14)

• 1x Beacon of Unrest
• 1x Beseech the Queen
• 1x Black Sun's Zenith
• 1x Buried Alive
• 1x Damnation
• 1x Decree of Pain
• 1x Demonic Tutor
• 1x Dread Return
• 1x Killing Wave
• 1x Living Death
• 1x Plague Wind
• 1x Reanimate
• 1x Toxic Deluge
• 1x Yawgmoth's Will

Enchantment (4)

• 1x Dictate of Erebos
• 1x Grave Pact
• 1x Null Profusion
• 1x Phyrexian Arena

Artifact (8)

• 1x Ashnod's Altar
• 1x Bonehoard
• 1x Nim Deathmantle
• 1x Phyrexian Altar
• 1x Sensei's Divining Top
• 1x Skullclamp
• 1x Sol Ring
• 1x Whip of Erebos

Planeswalker (2)

• 1x Liliana of the Dark Realms
• 1x Liliana Vess

Creature (33)

• 1x Abhorrent Overlord
• 1x Baleful Force
• 1x Blood Artist
• 1x Bloodgift Demon
• 1x Burnished Hart
• 1x Butcher of Malakir
• 1x Chainer, Dementia Master
• 1x Crypt Ghast
• 1x Dark Impostor
• 1x Dimir House Guard
• 1x Disciple of Bolas
• 1x Dread
• 1x Erebos, God of the Dead
• 1x Falkenrath Noble
• 1x Flesh-Eater Imp
• 1x Geralf's Messenger
• 1x Geth, Lord of the Vault
• 1x Grave Titan
• 1x Graveborn Muse
• 1x Gravecrawler
• 1x Gray Merchant of Asphodel
• 1x Kokusho, the Evening Star
• 1x Massacre Wurm
• 1x Mikaeus, the Unhallowed
• 1x Nether Traitor
• 1x Phyrexian Delver
• 1x Rune-Scarred Demon
• 1x Scion of Darkness
• 1x Sepulchral Primordial
• 1x Sheoldred, Whispering One
• 1x Shriekmaw
• 1x Skirsdag High Priest
• 1x Viscera Seer

Land (37)

• 1x Bojuka Bog
• 1x Cabal Coffers
• 1x Crypt of Agadeem
• 1x Deserted Temple
• 1x Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
• 1x Reliquary Tower
• 28x Swamp
• 1x Thespian's Stage
• 1x Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
• 1x Vesuva

Commander (1)

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Maybeboard

Creature (1)

• 1x Mogis's Marauder

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At its core this deck plays out as a graveyard based value combo deck. With my commander's ability to mass reanimate my graveyard I can do some crazy shenanigans.

The "Living the Dream" plan is to cast Buried Alive with a Phyrexian's Altar in play, getting Mikaeus, the Unhallowed, Rune-Scarred Demon and Abhorrent Overlord . Then activate Balthor the Defiled and essentially win on the spot. This will only work if there is no instant speed graveyard hate so that must be played around. The interaction here is quite simple the Overlord produces a minimum of 7 tokens per ETB which can be sacrificed for mana. You get a minimum of 2 ETBs because Mikaeus gives undying. With all the mana you just got you can play whatever you tutored for with the Rune demon.IE Gray Merchant of Asphodel.

Now let us talk strategy shall we.

In the early stages of the game my focus is on finding a way to start getting some draw power going while trying to interact with the board a decent amount. Typically this means getting Phyrexian Arena , Erebos, God of the Dead, or the mighty Skullclamp.

Once I get to about 6 to 8 mana is when i start looking at making the "Big" plays. Stuff like Grave Titan and Sheoldred, Whispering One. Or I look at trying to start doing Balthor Loops if I can do at least a good amount of damage to my opponents. It's a rather simple game plan but it works pretty consistently.

The mana base in the deck is pretty straightforward for mono black. If it's not broke don't fix it I suppose. Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth and Cabal Coffers along with Thespian's Stage and Vesuva to copy Cabal Coffers give a ton of mana. Then with all the black symbols in the deck Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx is another very good land that also produces a ton of mana.

This next bit will be where I list some Key cards/Personal Favorites of mine.

Buried Alive with Balthor's ability is just bananas. Really nothing more needs to be said.

mikeaus, the unhallowed again it's rather obvious why this card is good. Allowing me to double ETB and death triggers is awesome.

Phyrexian Altar, Ashnod's Altar, Viscera Seer, Flesh-Eater Imp are all of the free sac outlets in the deck which enable cards like Blood Artist, Falkenrath Noble, or Grave Pact. Also Flesh-Eater Imp can be used to beat an opponent who has gained infinite life.

Gray Merchant of Asphodel is typically how the deck can win easily because when you activate Balthor the Defiled's ability you get a lot of devotion in play and basically drain each opponent for about 10 to 15 per trigger. Personal High Devotion Drain for me was 45.

So in a nutshell this is basically all the little tidbits I thought needed to be shared. I do intend to format the description better but I don't know how to do that yet. But it will happen.

If you have any questions suggestions feel free to fire away. Until next time may you enjoy the satisfaction of killing your enemies with a zombie dwarf.

Date added	10 years
Last updated	8 years
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	10 - 0 Mythic Rares 46 - 0 Rares 12 - 0 Uncommons 4 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	4.25
Tokens	Demon 5/5 B, Emblem Liliana of the Dark Realms, Harpy 1/1 B, Phyrexian Germ 0/0 B, Zombie 2/2 B
Folders	liked decks