Balthor the Defiled

Commander / EDH Combo Creature Cheat Mono-Black Reanimator Sacrifice

TheBestMagicCard

Other Creatures (24)

• 1x Blood Pet
• 1x Blood Artist
• 1x Soldevi Adnate
• 1x Zulaport Cutthroat
• 1x Basal Sliver
• 1x Blood Vassal
• 1x Bog Witch
• 1x Braids, Arisen Nightmare
• 1x Grim Haruspex
• 1x Illuminor Szeras
• 1x Mogis's Marauder
• 1x Overeager Apprentice
• 1x Body Launderer
• 1x Crypt Ghast
• 1x Fleshwrither
• 1x Pitiless Plunderer
• 1x Xiahou Dun, the One-Eyed
• 1x Yawgmoth, Thran Physician
• 1x Doom Whisperer
• 1x Krav, the Unredeemed
• 1x Skirge Familiar
• 1x K'rrik, Son of Yawgmoth
• 1x Hoarding Broodlord
• 1x Razaketh, the Foulblooded

Enchantment (4)

• 1x Carnival of Souls
• 1x Infernal Tribute
• 1x Necropotence
• 1x Tombstone Stairwell

Zombies (15)

• 1x Cryptbreaker
• 1x Gravecrawler
• 1x Putrid Imp
• 1x Undead Augur
• 1x Withered Wretch
• 1x Diregraf Colossus
• 1x Headless Rider
• 1x Midnight Reaper
• 1x Warren Soultrader
• 1x Grim Servant
• 1x Undead Warchief
• 1x Vile Entomber
• 1x Gray Merchant of Asphodel
• 1x Sidisi, Undead Vizier
• 1x Mikaeus, the Unhallowed

Land (34)

• 1x Ancient Tomb
• 1x Crypt of Agadeem
• 1x Lake of the Dead
• 1x Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
• 1x Spymaster's Vault
• 28x Swamp
• 1x Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth

Artifact (6)

• 1x Lotus Petal
• 1x Mana Crypt
• 1x Sol Ring
• 1x Altar of Dementia
• 1x Jet Medallion
• 1x Phyrexian Altar

Commander (1)

Instant (8)

• 1x Culling the Weak
• 1x Dark Ritual
• 1x Entomb
• 1x Sacrifice
• 1x Songs of the Damned
• 1x Vampiric Tutor
• 1x Mausoleum Secrets
• 1x Saw in Half

Sorcery (7)

• 1x Reanimate
• 1x Demonic Tutor
• 1x Diabolic Intent
• 1x Feed the Swarm
• 1x Buried Alive
• 1x Phyrexian Tribute
• 1x Living Death

Other (1)

• 1x Cabal Coffers

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Maybeboard

Other (42)

• 1x Bojuka Bog
• 1x Command Beacon
• 1x Bubbling Muck
• 1x Carrion Feeder
• 1x Defile
• 1x Skullclamp
• 1x Stitcher's Supplier
• 1x Tortured Existence
• 1x Dauthi Voidwalker
• 1x Gate to Phyrexia
• 1x Priest of Forgotten Gods
• 1x Unmarked Grave
• 1x Ashnod's Altar
• 1x Black Market Connections
• 1x Contamination
• 1x Fleshbag Marauder
• 1x Merciless Executioner
• 1x Oppression
• 1x Pawn of Ulamog
• 1x Plague Mare
• 1x Plaguecrafter
• 1x Priest of Gix
• 1x Agent of Erebos
• 1x Defiler of Flesh
• 1x Mindslicer
• 1x Orc Sureshot
• 1x Oriq Loremage
• 1x Ravenous Chupacabra
• 1x Angel of Suffering
• 1x Noxious Ghoul
• 1x Sadistic Hypnotist
• 1x Syr Konrad, the Grim
• 1x Asmodeus the Archfiend
• 1x Bolas's Citadel
• 1x Infernal Sovereign
• 1x Nirkana Revenant
• 1x Butcher of Malakir
• 1x Morality Shift
• 1x Sheoldred, Whispering One
• 1x Archfiend of Despair
• 1x Torgaar, Famine Incarnate
• 1x Vilis, Broker of Blood

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This is the 1ST EDH DECK I EVER MADE!!!

What This Deck Does Show

The point of this deck is to either get a bunch of, or a select few, creatures in your graveyard, and then re-animate them for maximum synergy and combo action for the win. There's a lot of tutoring and card draw in here to help assemble combos.

Usually, Balthor the Defiled should be played more like a sorcery spell. That is, instead of casting him and just having him sit around on the battlefield, he is played and then activated immediately, when it's time, more like a sorcery. Leaving Balthor on the battlefield, especially without mana to activate him, just leaves him vulnerable to removal, which just makes him more expensive. Also, it's better to activate him during your turn, since you can still play creatures and sorceries etc, as you will be trying to draw a bunch of cards and cheat creatures into play and attack during your turn anyways. Also, aside from being a Zombie, which is not really that relevant, there's not any reason to play him as a creature for creature's sake, the Minion thing is irrelevant...

Ultimately, the deck usually wins by triggering Gray Merchant of Asphodel's ability a few times. It can also win by re-animating a bunch of creatures and giving them haste with card:Mogis' Marauder and attacking. It can make some lethal Aristocrat loops with Blood Artist etc. It can make infinite mana, and make infinite Balthor loops to facilitate these strategies.

Evolution of This Deck Show

This deck was originally an old "Legacy" Zombie deck, way back in the day... I can't say it was good, Sarcomancy was one of the best Zombie cards out at the time, and Undead Warchief was the new Zombie tech and was still a house.

Anyways, the earliest version of this deck was really just all the Zombies that I had jammed into the deck 100 cards, but Balthor the Defiled was always the commander.

There weren't really any combos, and it definitely didn't have anything like Dark Ritual, or even Demonic Tutor... Early on, I was against mana rocks, fast mana, and tutoring, as I thought it was boring, and I wanted to play a bunch of casual jank instead - which is totally fine.

I love the card Tombstone Stairwell. That and Vengeful Dead was like the most synergy there was. I still always want to include Tombstone Stairwell, but at this point it seems to conditional and slow, and also can benefit opponents, so I feel that it's just not there for it's current evolution.

Anyways, I've kept it ever since I made it so many years ago, and it's evolved through all those years.

At this point, there are a few key combos in the deck which are explained in detail below. There is a lot more fast mana included now, which helps everything just happen faster and also enables some crazy play-lines, and I would say that it's more cEDH than not at this point. I don't know how well it can really compete in cEDH, but it's usually way too fast and powerful for casual decks...

It's vulnerable to graveyard hate, and artifacts and enchantments...

I've tried to build the deck so that it's still functional if Balthor, or like the Graveyard, are somehow turned off...

Combos, Synergies, and Winning Show

Grey Merchant of Asphodel

Gray Merchant of Asphodel is maybe the most common win condition, mono-black, go figure.

This card can be easily tutored for. Usually, with just a few activations of it's ETB effect, you can win the game. If you get an infinite mana/infinite Balthor loop online, you can trigger this up to infinity, but that's not even necessary.

You usually need a sacrifice outlet to recur this card, and when you have that and the ability to Balthor a few times, it's usually game over. Mikaeus, the Unhallowed makes a lethal Grey Merchant even easier.

Gravecrawler

Since Gravecrawler can be cast from the graveyard it can combo with several cards as long as you have a way to sacrifice it, and a Zombie on the battlefield, like Carrion Feeder for example. Balthor is also a Zombie.

Gravecrawler + Phyrexian Altar = Infinite Gravecrawler casts. Add a draw engine like Grim Haruspex to draw the deck out. Add Blood Artist or Zulaport Cutthroat to drain your opponents. Add Pitiless Plunderer for infinite treasure tokens. Add Headless Rider or Diregraf Colossus for infinite Zombie tokens.

Xiahou Dun, the One-Eyed

Xiahou Dun, the One-Eyed can be used with Songs of the Damned to activate Baltor multiple times. If you have a sacrifice outlet, and you can get two additional creatures into the graveyard each time you cast Songs of the Damned, you can potentially Balthor infinitely. For example, if you had Carrion Feeder as a sacrifice outlet, and say seven creatures in the graveyard, you could cast Songs of the Damned for the mana to cast and activate Balthor. Then if you have a draw engine and a discard outlet, you can just discard cards to make Songs of the Damned give you even more mana. Xiahou Dun will return to the battlefield with each Balthor activation, so you can then sacrifice it again to get Songs of the Damned back again...

I'm sure there are many combo lines that could involve Xiahou Dun, but I think this one with Songs of the Damned is the most important one...

Mogis' Marauder

card:Mogis' Marauder can give all creatures from a big Balthor activation haste and intimidate, making for huge attacks.

Doom Whisperer

Doom Whisperer can be used to fill up your graveyard. Don't be afraid to spend 20 or 30 life to fill up your graveyard!

Date added	2 years
Last updated	2 weeks
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	5 - 0 Mythic Rares 36 - 0 Rares 18 - 0 Uncommons 13 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	2.97
Tokens	Copy Clone, Morph 2/2 C, Treasure, Zombie 2/2 B, Zombie 2/2 B w/ Haste
Folders	Decks