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| Format | Legality |
| 1v1 Commander | Legal |
| Archenemy | Legal |
| Block Constructed | Legal |
| Canadian Highlander | Legal |
| Casual | Legal |
| Commander / EDH | Legal |
| Commander: Rule 0 | Legal |
| Custom | Legal |
| Duel Commander | Legal |
| Highlander | Legal |
| Legacy | Legal |
| Leviathan | Legal |
| Limited | Legal |
| Oathbreaker | Legal |
| Planar Constructed | Legal |
| Planechase | Legal |
| Quest Magic | Legal |
| Vanguard | Legal |
| Vintage | Legal |
Wilhelt, the Rotcleaver
Legendary Creature — Zombie Warrior
Whenever another Zombie you control dies (is put into the graveyard from the battlefield), if it didn't have decayed, create a 2/2 black Zombie creature token with decayed. (It can't block. When it attacks, sacrifice it at the end of combat.)
At the beginning of your end step, you may sacrifice a Zombie. If you do, draw a card.
SaberTech on
Varina: Unalive in 2025
3 months ago
Well, I'll try picking some options to cut from different points in your curve so that I don't mess with the balance you are trying to go for too much.
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Changeling Outcast I don't think that this one is really worth it. It is an early drop that can net you some value off of Varina if attacks don't look great but I think that I would prefer to see a mana rock over that in my starting hand pretty much every time.
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Champion of the Perished, Shambling Ghast, and Lazotep Reaver are also pretty low value options that I would prefer to be a mana rock in my opening hand but they at least have a bit of potential scaling value. The Champion could get big enough to pressure opponents a bit even though it doesn't have trample, and both the Ghast and Reaver could potentially do something late game with the Liliana, Untouched By Death combo line. Still, I would consider any of those three to be cuttable for other stuff.
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Relentless Dead I think that this card is too mana hungry. Varina's card filtering lets the deck be pretty consistent in finding cards that it wants to cast, so it's a waste to leave mana untapped just so that you can make use of Relentless Dead's abilities if it dies. You have other ways of getting creatures back in the deck, and I think that Zul Ashur, Lich Lord already fills the role better.
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Headless Rider Preferably, you don't want to be trading away your utility zombies in combat if you can help it so the Rider becomes more of a backup to get some value if an opponent uses removal than a way of getting ahead on board. It can produce infinite tokens off of some of the decks combos, I'll give it that, but on its own it is trying to compete with Wilhelt, the Rotcleaver, which can also combo and draw you cards. If you are looking for an alternative to it, I've actually been very impressed with Geralf, the Fleshwright in my own list. Geralf also combos and his ability to pump your zombies can get pretty nuts.
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Priest of the Crossing is a card that I'm just uncertain of. It's more a suggestion to just watch how this card performs for you in practice to see if it's worth it. I think that how well it fits will come down to play style.
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Noxious Ghoul and Temmet, Naktamun's Will kind of play a similar role in the deck, but from different angles. They both ultimately make your creatures harder to block. The Ghoul removes creatures, synergizes well with cards like Cryptcaller Chariot, and can fit in with some of your combos. It's dependent on other cards working well for it to do more than clear some small creatures each turn though. Temmet is a better body for your mana and his looting effect helps to fuel both itself and other cards in the deck. With other cards in the deck like On Wings of Gold, Zombie Master, or Death Baron that also make it harder for the opponent to block you could decide which of them ends up doing more for you overall after some testing.
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Land Tax is a card that I like in my own deck but what I mainly use it for is a way to put a bunch of cards in my hand to loot away for something better. I don't put too much emphasis on it as a way to mana fix. With only 6 basics in your deck you only get a couple shots with it, but considering that it is only 1 mana that still could be enough value for what you spend. Just something to keep your eye on.
blamor on
Esper Zombies (Varina, The New Zombo Combo)
3 months ago
I am wondering if Wilhelt, the Rotcleaver or Necroduality would be good inclusions in this deck? How about Temmet, Naktamun's Will. I played this deck and really liked it so far. Thansk for sharing.
Necramus on
Zombies Ate My Neighbors (Zul Ashur)
4 months ago
Goldberserkerdragon Personally, Wilhelt, the Rotcleaver gets my money, if we're going Dimir. But, I wanted mono black. Counters and removal are fine, but like.. are you going to counter my Gravecrawler rather than something bigger or flashier? Also, the whole gimmick of the commander is to just replay the stuff from the graveyard. I could see Krenko being an issue for a deck like this, simply because it can likely keep pace. I think we're probably online before something like Grand Arbiter Augustin IV unless we're aggressively mulliganing to play him out t1 (my cEDH love was Grand Arbiter a few years ago when I was sweatier about the game).
Part of the strength of the deck is no one thinks mono black zombies are going to kill the table on t4. Ya know? Lol. The hardest thing I've found to deal with so far is Leyline of the Void and Rest in Peace style effects. It's difficult to get around replacement effects and, unfortunately, mono black's biggest weakness is targeted enchantment removal.
But yeah, it's been a blast so far!!
legendofa on Does roiling vortex trigger whenever …
1 year ago
Wilhelt, the Rotcleaver's token creation isn't a spell, it's an ability, and isn't affected by Roiling Vortex. Broadly speaking, a spell is anything represented by a card you play from your hand, that isn't a land. (There are exceptions, but this will cover most of the interactions you're likely to see.)
So, lands are never spells.
If it's coming from something already in play, it's an ability, not a spell.
A Duress you cast from your hand is a spell.
When you cast Corrupt Court Official, it's a spell until it resolves, then it becomes a permanent. This is important for cards like Essence Scatter; a creature spell is not the same thing as a creature.
The simplified sequence of events is
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Declare that you're casting Corrupt Court Official.
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Pay .
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Play CCO. (This is where it's a spell.)
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Nobody does anything, CCO resolves and enters the battlefield. (It's no longer a spell.)
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CCO's ability triggers, and you choose who will discard. (This is not a spell, it's an ability.)
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Nobody does anything, CCO's ability resolves, and someone discards a card.
Yeah, that's the simple version.
Roiling Vortex will affect cards like Memnite, which has a casting cost of mana; Fireblast if Mountains were sacrificed, since no mana was paid; or Walking Skyscraper if you control eight modified creatures, since its cost is reduced to .
The most technical definition is covered in 112.1 of the Comprehensive Rules:
- A spell is a card on the stack. As the first step of being cast (see rule 601, “Casting Spells”), the card becomes a spell and is moved to the top of the stack from the zone it was in, which is usually its owner’s hand. (See rule 405, “Stack.”) A spell remains on the stack as a spell until it resolves (see rule 608, “Resolving Spells and Abilities”), is countered (see rule 701.5), or otherwise leaves the stack. For more information, see section 6, “Spells, Abilities, and Effects.”
By the way, welcome to the club, Coldless! Are you confused yet?
77hi77 on
Disk Boi's Zombie Disco
2 years ago
I've had a handful of games with this deck now, here's what I've learned so far:
1) It's a lot less straight forward than I thought. Commanders like Wilhelt, the Rotcleaver and Varina, Lich Queen generate value. You cast them as early as possible, make a lot of Zombies and draw a lot of cards with them. I figured I could build the same deck, have it generate its own tokens and draw cards without commander help, then cast Nevinyrral, Urborg Tyrant as a wincon or to reset the board. That has not been the case. I find that it's never the right time to cast him, either because my board state looks good, no creatures died this turn, or I don't have enough floating mana. Which brings us to:
2) Technically he's an 8 mana commander: he costs 6, let's assume I can sac him for free, his ability costs 1, and the way to reanimate him (like Supernatural Stamina costs 1. I'm not trying to play cEDH, but I'm definitely low on ramp in this deck, definitely compared to my other deck that I have on here: I BEG YOUR F@CKING PARDON??!!! - Razaketh with its like 25 ramp spells/mana rocks (necessary because that deck's cheapest wincon costs 11 mana).
I still enjoy what Nevvy brings to the table, I'll keep tinkering, but yeah I'm being humbled right now
CherryBomb on
Dimir Diregraf Doom v2
2 years ago
Rooftop Storm comes down to mana value. By turn 7, I hope to have Ashnod's Altar/Phyrexian Altar out, or some other ramps. With either, Wilhelt, the Rotcleaver will give you a token in return. And with Poppet Factory Flip out as well, it becomes infinite.
For Tombstone Stairwell, pump out your sets of tokens. Pay the cumulative upkeep once or twice, and then using Wilhelt, the Rotcleaver, when all of those tokens gets sacrificed, you get that many Zombie 2/2 B w/ Decayed. With Poppet Factory Flip, before and after they get sac'd, they're 3/3. And once you do let Tombstone Stairwell go, your opponent doesn't get any of those Zombie tokens.
kirbysan on
[Primer] Helming the Host of Heaven *Update*
2 years ago
Ah, I guess spoilers don't work in comment boxes, that's annoying.
1. Guardian of Ghirapur IN Angelic Curator OUT
After nearly a year of playtesting, I'm not the biggest fan of the low CMC angels, especially Angelic Curator. While it's a 1/1 flying angel body for 2, the protection for artifacts is more of a hindrance than a help. It helped defend against a Blightsteel Colossus once but being unable to equip it hurts more. By turn 3 when we want to drop Angelic Curator we would rather want to drop a 3-4 CMC angel or an impactful Artifact, Equipment or Enchantment.
Guardian of Ghirapur is a far superior body to Angelic Curator at 3/3 for 3. Initially there weren't that many blink targets for this deck but I've tweaked it to have more relevant targets and provide some outs to accelerate our gameplan. Typical targets would be Stoneforge Mystic, Recruiter of the Guard, Inspiring Overseer, Karmic Guide, Sanctuary Warden, Bruna, the Fading Light Meld.
2. Karmic Guide IN Angelic Page OUT
Following the same logic as Angelic Curator, Angelic Page simply doesn't do enough when it hits the board. Karmic Guide was initially pulled due to lack of use as 5CMC is a lot for simple recursion and the deck was more focused on mana efficiency. However, with the re-introduction of tutors and blink mechanics it may have a place again.
3. Recruiter of the Guard IN Mangara, the Diplomat OUT
Mangara has proven its worth in a few games if opponents continue with their strategy and play through it. However, like Smuggler's Share, if opponents decide to play around it, it's kind of a dead card on board. The first ability generally doesn't do much since opponents aren't swinging into our board and depending on the deck they can cast one big spell on their turn and save their instants for opponents. Recruiter of the Guard was in my initial build but pulled in favor of more angels. Typical line would be Recruiter of the Guard into Stoneforge Mystic to grab either Lightning Greaves for protection or Sword of Hearth and Home for protection, ramp and blink shenanigans. While it seems like adding 1 card for a maybe synergy seems inefficient I was able to pull it off in 1/3 games so it's not as inconsistent as it seems.
4. Firemane Commando IN Angelic Sleuth OUT
While the clues generated with Sleuth have saved me before, I would much rather have more consistent draw to keep my hand topped off rather than wastinga turn after a wipe to refill my hand. Firemane serves double duty as not only being a solid 4/3 angel body but also provides "free" draw through attacking which we want to do. It also helps direct combat decks towards opponents if they want the draw.
5. Invasion of Dominaria Flip IN Thorough Investigation OUT
In the same theme as Sleuth, Thorough Investigation provides draw for later with the added benefit of going through the dungeon. I've completed dungeons twice before with this card but the benefits haven't been as strong as I hoped. Invasion of Dominaria Flip provides lifegain and draw immediately and as long as we have 2 angels (Giada and 1 other) then we can defeat this battle the turn we drop it providing a 6/6 Serra Angel. When you staple all 3 together then that's incredibly efficient. Late game when we're trying to close out the game we may choose to not swing at the battle but instead go for lethal but the option remains.
6. Invasion of Gobakhan Flip IN The Ozolith OUT
In the dozens of games I've played with Ozolith I've only had it successfully work once. Late game it may seem like a dead card as it sort of hinges on either an opponent playing a board wipe and us refilling the board to swing again or using Pyre of Heroes on a stacked angel to grab something relevant. I much prefer Gobakhan as it slows down an opponents gameplay, easy to flip and provides benefits right away by buffing our board the same turn it comes out and also has "free" protection for later.
7. Conjurer's Mantle IN Mask of Memory OUT
Mask has been pretty great overall but sometimes slows down the game too much by making us filter. While there's a recursion package, it's not always guaranteed, so pitching relevant angel bodies early can be detrimental for late game, especially against graveyard exiles like Bojuka Bog. Yet, we'll still want to draw our cards so the discarding is necessary. Mantle is great not only because it costs the same, has a buff and vigilance and grabs relevant bodies off the top 6 without having to discard.
8. Clever Concealment IN Cosmic Intervention OUT
Cosmic seems good on paper but exile effects like Farewell or Merciless Eviction can make it useless. It also doesn't protect the angel tokens which can sometimes be the main body of threat. Concealment allows us to not just protect the tokens but lets the vigilant angels tap for a surprise protection. Oftentimes opponents will check untapped mana before blowing everything on a boardwipe so the convoke mechanic is super relevant for a well timed protection spell. Depending on the success of this swap I may consider Wand of the Worldsoul as well for some sneaky convoke shenanigans.
9. Chivalric Alliance IN Tome of Legends OUT
In the same line of thinking as Firemane Commando, "free" draw is better than costed draw. They both cost the same but having to pay for Tome of Legends can slow us down as well as if Giada is removed too much in the beginning. At most we'll ever get 1 draw per turn anyway so this swap was pretty simple.
10. Land Tax IN Smothering Tithe OUT
I've loved Tithe for awhile thinking it's a great ramp card. While it is good, it hinges on the decks it's played against. I've been most successful against my friends Jhoira's deck which colored my view when bringing it into pub matches. After reflecting on it for a year, it simply isn't worth it in mid to high powered casual decks that don't use draw as part of their strategy. In 90% of games I'll get 3-6 treasures before it gets removed or the game ends. Figuratively, you would drop it on turn 4 and if no one pays the tax then by turn 6 you'll have at most 6 treasures which is only net +2 mana. If the game lasts till turn 7 then you could have +5 mana but at that point opponents would either have game ending spells or plenty of open mana to pay the tax. Land Tax on the other hand can come down T1 before Giada even hits the field, thins out the deck while filling the hand with relevant plays and synergizes well with Emeria Shepherd or Emeria, The Sky Ruin. It was in the initial build of this deck before but was taken out along with the other artifact ramp to add more angels in.
11. Plains IN Bonders' Enclave OUT
As one of the few available card draws in mono-white, Enclave was a land for hail-mary draws. I've only ever used these abilities in 1 game when I was desperate for any card draw and it felt terrible. Paying 4 to draw a single card is terrible use of mana. Also, there were too many colorless sources from lands so I was struggling early game to play 2 relevant white cards in one turn.
12. Mistveil Plains IN War Room OUT
Same line of thinking as Enclave. Mistveil's ability is more of an experiment as tap lands are generally too slow. Typically recursion would just put the creatures back on the battlefield but Mistveil can possibly help with the Blink/Tutor package we've introduced.
Considering Wand of the Worldsoul and Excise the Imperfect
Opponents: Sigarda, Host of Herons & Lathiel, the Bounteous Dawn
Starting hand: Windswept Heath, Fabled Passage, Path of Ancestry, Bruna, the Fading Light Meld, Folk Hero, Righteous Valkyrie, Invasion of Dominaria Flip
Game lasted only 20 minutes as this hand curved out nearly perfectly.
T1 - Path of Ancestry tapped, drew Lightning Greaves
T2 - Plains (drew) into Lightning Greaves
T3 - Myriad Landscape tapped into Giada, Font of Hope, equipped Lightning Greaves swung with Giada
T4 - Windswept Heath into Plains into Folk Hero, swung with Giada, cast Righteous Valkyrie, drew a card
T5 - Mutavault (drew) into Invasion of Dominaria Flip and swung both Giada and Valkyrie into the battle flipping it to Serra Faithkeeper Flip to gain 8 life this turn and triggering Valkyrie's +2/+2 anthem
T6 - Cast Herald of War and equipped it with Lightning Greaves.
T7 - Cast Lyra Dawnbringer and Invasion of Gobakhan Flip. Equipped Lyra with Lightning Greaves. Swung in for lethal ending the game.
Lightning Greaves did work this game as it not only protected Giada from early single target removal but also accelerated combat damage each turn. While I did draw into both battles this game I didn't have a chance to test out Invasion of Gobakhan Flip except making a Krosan Grip more expensive which likely helped my Folk Hero or Lightning Greaves survive till the end.
Opponents: Sigarda, Host of Herons, Lathiel, the Bounteous Dawn & Wilhelt, the Rotcleaver
Starting hand: Cavern of Souls, Scavenger Grounds, Mutavault, Guardian of Ghirapur, Folk Hero, Winds of Abandon, Battle Angels of Tyr
Initially I believed this hand was amazing as I had draw, removal and aggro all in one but failed to realize I had 0 colored mana except for angels. It ended up working out as the 2 Selesnya players ramped hard in the beginning allowing Tyr to do some work.
T1 - Cavern of Souls
T2 - Mutavault into Giada, Font of Hope
T3 - Scavenger Grounds into Battle Angels of Tyr, Giada sworded by Lathiel
T4 - Ancient Tomb into recasting Giada, swung with Tyr drawing a card and generating a Treasure token
T5 - Plains into Folk Hero and Herald's Horn and swung again with Tyr and Giada drawing a card and generating a Treasure token. Using the 3 open mana I cast Recruiter of the Guard fetching Stoneforge Mystic.
T6+ Cast Stoneforge Mystic to fetch Lightning Greaves but Stoneforge was promptly exiled. I had originally planned to use Guardian of Ghirapur to chain blink Stoneforge into Sword of Hearth and Home but instead used her on Recruiter of the Guard to fetch Thraben Watcher. I finished the game by casting Avacyn, Angel of Hope and equipping it with Lightning Greaves to give my board protection and started swinging away with indestructible vigilance angels.
I was nearly knocked out by the Sigarda player in the second to last turn because she was equipped with Sword of Hearth and Home making her unblockable as well as a Kaldra Compleat and finally a flashed in Sigarda's Vanguard for double strike. Luckily I had left mana open for Oblation and targeted the Sword of Hearth and Home allowing me to block with Ghirapur and Giada preventing lethal damage.
Opponents: Prosper, Tome-Bound, Sliver Overlord & Muldrotha, the Gravetide
Starting hand was pretty slow with only 2 tapped lands but I figured Luminarch would win me the game provided I wasn't attacked early game.
Starting hand: Kabira Takedown Flip, Windbrisk Heights, Luminarch Ascension, Invasion of Gobakhan Flip, Herald's Horn, Bruna, the Fading Light Meld, Generous Gift
Prosper started off the game insanely fast with a T1 Dark Ritual into Bucknard's Everfull Purse where he rolled 4 to cast Prosper on T1. They proceeded to dominate the game with a Reckless Fireweaver and later a Storm-Kiln Artist draining us to the low 10s. They attempted to finish us off with a Delayed Blast Fireball to wipe our board and swing with lethal. However, Slivers flashed in a Spiteful Sliver and Sliver Overlord to deal 30 damage back to Prosper bringing them down to 3. I used Luminarch Ascension to drop 2 angels before Giada died and got a 7/7 & 8/8 body that survived the fireball. While Slivers could have knocked me out with the Spiteful Sliver they had no real way to deal with Prosper after the fireball so I was able to knock out both players on my turn. Muldrotha had no answers so was dead on my next turn.
kirbysan on
[Primer] Helming the Host of Heaven *Update*
2 years ago
All,
Grabbed all my 3+ pod gameplays and the recent MOM gameplay and swaps and posted it on my own decklist. I'll keep commenting on Guerric page as it gets more traffic. Let me know your thoughts and if my thinking is sound. Thanks!
Help Me Giada, You're My Only Hope
