Kathril, Parasite of the Dead

Commander / EDH BGW (Abzan, Junk) Counters Creature Cheat

Red05

Multi Lands (17)

• 1x Brushland
• 1x Canopy Vista
• 1x Caves of Koilos
• 1x Command Tower
• 1x Exotic Orchard
• 1x Fetid Heath
• 1x Golgari Rot Farm
• 1x Llanowar Wastes
• 1x Orzhov Basilica
• 1x Overgrown Tomb
• 1x Sandsteppe Citadel
• 1x Selesnya Sanctuary
• 1x Sungrass Prairie
• 1x Temple Garden
• 1x Twilight Mire
• 1x Wooded Bastion
• 1x Woodland Cemetery

Special Lands (7)

• 1x Bala Ged Sanctuary  ^Flip
• 1x Geier Reach Sanitarium
• 1x Grim Backwoods
• 1x Malakir Mire  ^Flip
• 1x Nesting Grounds
• 1x Sejiri Glacier  ^Flip
• 1x Tyrite Sanctum

Graveyard Fillers (5)

• 1x Hermit Druid
• 1x Angel of Suffering
• 1x Incarnation Technique
• 1x Deadbridge Chant
• 1x See the Unwritten

Fetch Lands (4)

• 1x Ash Barrens
• 1x Blighted Woodland
• 1x Krosan Verge
• 1x Myriad Landscape

Boardwipes (3)

• 1x Austere Command
• 1x Casualties of War
• 1x Duneblast

Ability Creatures (15)

• 1x Gifted Aetherborn
• 1x Nullpriest of Oblivion
• 1x Aerial Responder
• 1x Bontu the Glorified
• 1x Nighthawk Scavenger
• 1x Rhonas the Indomitable
• 1x Vampire Nighthawk
• 1x Oketra the True
• 1x Avenging Huntbonder
• 1x Sigarda, Host of Herons
• 1x Archon of Valor's Reach
• 1x Scavenged Brawler
• 1x Akroma, Vision of Ixidor
• 1x Akroma, Angel of Wrath
• 1x Zetalpa, Primal Dawn

Removal (8)

• 1x Fracture
• 1x Golgari Charm
• 1x Anguished Unmaking
• 1x Beast Within
• 1x Generous Gift
• 1x Mythos of Nethroi
• 1x Gemrazer
• 1x Status / Statue

Tutors (6)

• 1x Greenseeker
• 1x Fauna Shaman
• 1x Unmarked Grave
• 1x Buried Alive
• 1x Final Parting
• 1x Gravebreaker Lamia

Ability Copiers (3)

• 1x Odric, Lunarch Marshal
• 1x Cairn Wanderer
• 1x Majestic Myriarch

Finishers (3)

• 1x Living Death
• 1x Nethroi, Apex of Death
• 1x Eerie Ultimatum

Commander (1)

Ramp (9)

• 1x Sol Ring
• 1x Arcane Signet
• 1x Grisly Salvage
• 1x Sakura-Tribe Elder
• 1x Satyr Wayfinder
• 1x Skull Prophet
• 1x Cultivate
• 1x Faeburrow Elder
• 1x Leyline Prowler

Reanimation (6)

• 1x Reanimate
• 1x Dance of the Dead
• 1x Journey to Eternity  ^Flip
• 1x Victimize
• 1x Unburial Rites
• 1x Selective Adaptation

Card Draw / Smoothers (4)

• 1x Night's Whisper
• 1x Painful Truths
• 1x Protection Racket
• 1x Read the Bones

Basic Lands (9)

• 3x Forest
• 2x Plains
• 4x Swamp

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Maybeboard

Ability Creatures (21)

• 1x Wilson, Refined Grizzly
• 1x Fiendslayer Paladin
• 1x Solemn Recruit
• 1x Troll Ascetic
• 1x Weathered Sentinels
• 1x Poison-Tip Archer
• 1x Ramunap Hydra
• 1x Slippery Bogbonder
• 1x Baneslayer Angel
• 1x Dire Fleet Ravager
• 1x Doom Whisperer
• 1x Elder Gargaroth
• 1x Enduring Angel  ^Flip
• 1x Junji, the Midnight Sky
• 1x Shadrix Silverquill
• 1x Vorapede
• 1x Sunblade Angel
• 1x Goring Ceratops
• 1x Hornet Queen
• 1x Plated Crusher
• 1x Stonehoof Chieftain

Mana Sources (4)

• 1x Nylea, Keen-Eyed
• 1x Splendid Reclamation
• 1x World Shaper
• 1x Karametra, God of Harvests

Boardwipes (3)

• 1x Cataclysmic Gearhulk
• 1x Kalemne's Captain
• 1x Magister of Worth

Special Lands (3)

• 1x Dakmor Salvage
• 1x Memorial to Folly
• 1x Mortuary Mire

Tutors (3)

• 1x Rushed Rebirth
• 1x Mwonvuli Beast Tracker
• 1x Vile Entomber

Graveyard Fillers (14)

• 1x Stitcher's Supplier
• 1x Drown in Filth
• 1x Grapple with the Past
• 1x Mulch
• 1x Death's Oasis
• 1x Discerning Taste
• 1x Nyx Weaver
• 1x Splinterfright
• 1x Bitter Revelation
• 1x Carrion Grub
• 1x Dark Bargain
• 1x Monster Manual
• 1x The Mending of Dominaria
• 1x Underrealm Lich

Removal (10)

• 1x Ghastly Demise
• 1x Angel of Finality
• 1x Blood Curdle
• 1x Deathsprout
• 1x Acidic Slime
• 1x Status / Statue
• 1x Windgrace's Judgment
• 1x Back for More
• 1x Sunblast Angel
• 1x Angel of Despair

Ability Copiers (3)

• 1x Phyrexian Splicer
• 1x Shifting Ceratops
• 1x Soulflayer

Counter Cyclers (3)

• 1x Splendor Mare
• 1x Void Beckoner
• 1x Titanoth Rex

Combat Support (1)

• 1x Power Matrix

Recursion / Reanimation (14)

• 1x Tortured Existence
• 1x Angelic Renewal
• 1x Persist
• 1x Dread Return
• 1x Nissa of Shadowed Boughs
• 1x Diregraf Rebirth
• 1x Genesis
• 1x Palace Siege
• 1x Thrilling Encore
• 1x Baloth Null
• 1x Command the Dreadhorde
• 1x Ever After
• 1x Soul of Innistrad
• 1x The Cauldron of Eternity

Ramp (6)

• 1x Songs of the Damned
• 1x Deathcap Cultivator
• 1x Aura Shards
• 1x Far Wanderings
• 1x Ramunap Excavator
• 1x Verge Rangers

Protection (5)

• 1x Kaya's Ghostform
• 1x Gaea's Gift
• 1x Netherborn Altar
• 1x Obscuring Haze
• 1x Daring Fiendbonder

Card Draw (3)

• 1x Skullwinder
• 1x Vivien, Monsters' Advocate
• 1x Soul of the Harvest

Too Expensive (3)

• 1x Volrath's Stronghold
• 1x Agadeem's Awakening  ^Flip
• 1x Carnage Tyrant

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Gameplay Mission: Assemble a small legion of high-impact creatures as you build up your graveyard through death, tutors, and self-mill effects. Wait for the opportune moment to summon Kathril as you decide which creatures to buff with new offensive and defensive abilities. Bring back key creatures from the grave through both single-target effects and mass reanimation spells.

Power Cards ($5-10): Sigarda Host of Herons, Reanimate, Dance of the Dead, Hermit Druid

Sleeper Cards: Incarnation Technique, Avenging Huntbonder, Odric, Majestic Myriarch, Deadbridge Chant

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Possible Edits

CHANGE F Elder to K Reach or other ramp

INCREASE ramp, removal, card draw?

CONSIDER new Reanimate spell, S Supplier, D Whisperer, W Sentinels, E Virtue, A Renewal / K Ghostform, T Encore, M Manual

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During Game

Try to time Living Death in a way that sends a key creature to the graveyard while Kathril is in the command zone

Use Final Parting to tutor for Erie Ultimatum or Living Death and Zetalpa

Use other tutors based on the ability keywords best suited to board state

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Stats

33 cards support main strategy (ability creatures + graveyard mill + tutors + ability copiers)

Kathril ability pool: Flying 10 First Strike 2 Double Strike 2 Deathtouch 6 Hexproof 1 Indestructible 4 Lifelink 9 Menace 2 Reach 1 Trample 6 Vigilance 6

12 cards that return creatures to the battlefield from the graveyard

9 lands that ETB tapped (24% of total)

3 colorless non-fetch lands (8% of total)

3 of the 4 fetch lands also help with ramp

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Deck Notes

Rebuild of "Symbiotic Swarm" pre-con to focus entirely on Kathril

Includes a balance of each keyword but prioritized some over others (e.g. Flying instead of Reach, Double Strike instead of First Strike)

Uses some graveyard mill in addition to tutors that can put key creatures directly in the graveyard

Has some additional cards with $5-10 market value but all of these were bought for <$5

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Card Notes

All the creatures w/ Hexproof and Indestructible help with protection through Katril's ETB effect and ability copiers

Some of the Graveyard Mill also functions as Ramp, abilities for Kathril, etc (e.g. Hermit Druid, Greenseeker)

Malakir Rebirth and Journey to Eternity also help with protection but will lose counters in the process

Golgari Charm can also be used for protection (regeneration)

Archon of Valor's Reach also helps with removal

Satyr Wayfinder, Grisly Salvage, and Skull Prophet also help with mill

Nullpriest, Death's Oasis, Incarnation Technique, and See the Unwritten also help with card draw / recursion

Rhonas, Avenging Huntbonder, and Akroma Vision of Ixidor also provide combat support

Not running The Ozolith because most of the counters in this deck come from Kathril's ETB effect

Considered Cauldron of Eternity, but negatively impacts other cards when creatures are no longer sent to graveyard

Doesn't use Strionic Resonator b/c the extra two mana be too much mana on top of Kathril’s casting cost

Originally included Karametra God of Harvests but 5 CMC and high devotion requirement are hard to pull off for ramp and Kathril's ETB effect

Originally included Sunblade Angel but a 3/3 creature for 6 mana isn’t very strong if not being used as fodder for Kathril

Date added	2 years
Last updated	1 week
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	12 - 0 Mythic Rares 43 - 0 Rares 24 - 0 Uncommons 12 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	3.83
Tokens	Beast 3/3 G, Elephant 3/3 G, Warrior 1/1 W w/ Vigilance