MTG Secrets Of Strixhaven Witherbloom Pestilence Commander Deck List & Upgrades

Witherbloom is one of the more interesting Strixhaven Colleges for its internally conflicting beliefs, and these are fully represented in the Witherbloom Pestilence Commander pre-con. With five new ones Magic: The Gathering pre-con deck to choose from, this is the one to go for if you like the idea of ​​balancing life gain and sacrifice mechanics.

Led by an amazing Dryad Druid named Dina, this green and black Commander deck tasks you with boosting creatures only to sacrifice them for the greater good. Here's everything we know about the deck so far and some possible upgrades to consider.

Witherbloom Pest Deck List

As is the case with most of the Secrets of Strixhaven pre-cons, with the exception of Prismari Artistry, which was part of a leak, we know very little about the contents of the Witherbloom Pestilence deck right now. However, we will keep you posted once spoiler season is in full swing.

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The commander's breakdown

Dina, Essence Brewer, is the master of Witherbloom Pestilence pre-con, and their main ability lets you draw a card each time you sacrifice a creaturebut only once per turn.

In addition to this, they also have an activated ability for two mana plus to tap Dina, Essence Brewer. This lets you sacrifice a creature and gain X life and put X +1/+1 counters on target creature you control, where X is the value of the sacrificed creature's power.

For example, if you sacrifice a 4/4 creature, you'll gain four life and place four +1/+1 counters on another creature you rule.

Deck themes and strategy

As we noted in the intro, Witherbloom is interesting for the contrasting beliefs within the college, which is a result of the two deans, Valentin and Lisette, holding opposing notions of life and death. Lisette chooses to cherish and protect all life as sacred, while Valentine believes that death and decay are nature's natural fuel.

This is reflected in the deck mechanics, there life gain is paired with sacrifice. As we already see with Dina, we can expect new cards to come that pair both a sacrifice element with life gain.

Elsewhere, the deck will likely be constructed of cards that focus on +1/+1 counters, graveyard interactions and life drain.

This deck will likely have us build up creatures to do high damage, but ultimately sacrifice them either to keep our life total high or to activate other abilities on the battlefield to damage our opponents.

Upgrades

While we can't pinpoint any cards for removal yet, we'll keep these upgrades updated as we know more about the final deck list. Some of our selections may also end up as reprints selected for the deck, in which case we will replace them once we have confirmation.

Yours, Soul Steeper

It is no coincidence that we see previous Strixhaven cards as great options for the new Commander decksand Dina, Soul Steeper is another example of this.

This 1/3 legendary creature drains a life from each opponent every time you gain life.

You can too pay one mana to sacrifice another creature and add its power to the power of Dina, Soul Steeperuntil the end of the turn.

Infuse with vitality

This common instant spell actually fits quite well with the themes of this deck, as it gives a creature deathtouch but also the text “When this creature dies, return it to the battlefield under its owner's control.”

In the event that you want take a creature with low effect and sacrifice it in battle, using this spell ensures that your opponent's creature will also die. You will trigger all the abilities of a creature you control dying, but then it will immediately return to the battlefield.

If that wasn't enough, you too gain two life when you use this spell.

Ted the Pests

Another Strixhaven card that would do well in this deck is Tend the Pests, which lets you sacrifice a creature and create X 1/1 black and green pest tokens, where X is the power of the creature you sacrificed.

When each of the 1/1 pest proofs dies, you die too get a life.

Diregraf Rebirth

This spell costs five mana, but you can reduce the cost by one for each creature that has died during the turn it is molded.

You can use this spell to return target creature from your graveyard to the battlefieldand this spell also has flashback for a cost of seven mana.

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