Balthor the Defiled - Zombie Tribal

Commander / EDH Combo Mono-Black Reanimator Zombie

frozenGG

Creature (27)

• 1x Carrion Feeder
• 1x Cemetery Reaper
• 1x Corpse Augur
• 1x Corpse Harvester
• 1x Crypt Ghast
• 1x Cryptbreaker
• 1x Death Baron
• 1x Diregraf Colossus
• 1x Erebos, God of the Dead
• 1x Fleshbag Marauder
• 1x Geth, Lord of the Vault
• 1x Ghoulcaller Gisa
• 1x Grave Titan
• 1x Graveborn Muse
• 1x Gravespawn Sovereign
• 1x Gray Merchant of Asphodel
• 1x Lord of the Undead
• 1x Mikaeus, the Unhallowed
• 1x Nantuko Husk
• 1x Noxious Ghoul
• 1x Shepherd of Rot
• 1x Soulless One
• 1x Stinkweed Imp
• 1x Undead Warchief
• 1x Vengeful Dead
• 1x Vengeful Pharaoh
• 1x Zombie Master

Instant (1)

• 1x Tragic Slip

Sorcery (14)

• 1x Army of the Damned
• 1x Beseech the Queen
• 1x Black Sun's Zenith
• 1x Bubbling Muck
• 1x Buried Alive
• 1x Damnation
• 1x Decree of Pain
• 1x Dread Summons
• 1x Morality Shift
• 1x Patriarch's Bidding
• 1x Rise of the Dark Realms
• 1x Temporal Extortion
• 1x Torment of Hailfire
• 1x Yawgmoth's Will

Artifact (10)

• 1x Akroma's Memorial
• 1x Altar of Dementia
• 1x Ashnod's Altar
• 1x Caged Sun
• 1x Coat of Arms
• 1x Expedition Map
• 1x Lifeline
• 1x Oblivion Stone
• 1x Perpetual Timepiece
• 1x Whip of Erebos

Planeswalker (2)

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

Commander (1)

Land (37)

• 1x Bojuka Bog
• 1x Cabal Coffers
• 1x Crypt of Agadeem
• 1x Dakmor Salvage
• 1x Ghost Quarter
• 1x Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
• 1x Reliquary Tower
• 26x Swamp
• 1x Thespian's Stage
• 1x Unholy Grotto
• 1x Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
• 1x Vesuva

Enchantment (8)

• 1x Black Market
• 1x Endless Ranks of the Dead
• 1x Grave Pact
• 1x Leyline of the Void
• 1x Necropotence
• 1x Phyrexian Arena
• 1x Phyrexian Reclamation
• 1x Zombie Infestation

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Maybeboard

Artifact (6)

• 1x Coalition Relic
• 1x Extraplanar Lens
• 1x Gilded Lotus
• 1x Jet Medallion
• 1x Sensei's Divining Top
• 1x Thran Dynamo

Creature (1)

• 1x Razaketh, the Foulblooded

Instant (1)

• 1x Entomb

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Everything Black!

Why Balthor the Defiled?

If you say zombie you say graveyard. Zombies should keep comming back from the grave, they never really die since they are already dead. They merely go to the graveyard to rest. If we want to defeat our opponents we need them on the battlefield. How do we get them there? Balthor the Defiled is your man when it comes to returning zombies from the graveyard to play. For only 7 mana you get to return ALL your black creatures from your graveyard whenever you want! You want zombies to come back from the grave? You want a general that keeps giving value everytime you play him? Balthor the Defiled.

How do we get the zombies in the graveyard?

Balthor needs his buddy's in the graveyard to be effective. How do we get them there?

Cryptbreaker - Discard a card and get a 2/2 zombie? Sweet.

Buried Alive - 3 creature cards from your library into your graveyard? Hell yes!

Dread Summons - It is fairly easy to get high amounts of mana in black. This makes Dread Summons an awesome spell.

Morality Shift - This card is high risk high reward. We want our zombies in the graveyard right? Why not put our whole library into it!

Dakmor Salvage - Dredge!

Stinkweed Imp - Dredge!

Crow of Dark Tidings - Zombie bird that mills 2.

Necromancer's Stockpile - Discard a creature card. Draw a card and put a 2/2 zombie on the battlefield. What is there not to like? - Removed this card. It is really restrictive?

Zombie Infestation - Discard 2 cards and get a 2/2 zombie.

Are there any specific zombies we want to get into our graveyard?

Yes! There are a two all-stars in this deck, Gray Merchant of Asphodel and Mikaeus, the Unhallowed. You always want these guys in your graveyard. Gray Merchant of Asphodel helps you kill your opponents and gives you a crazy amount of life while doing so. Mikaeus, the Unhallowed Lets yo do this all again if you have a sac engine like Nantuko Husk, Ashnod's Altar or Carrion Feeder

Other zombies that are worth mentioning;

Noxious Ghoul - You also return a bunch of creature for your opponents with Balthor? If you have enough zombies this card kills those creatures instantly.

Vengeful Pharaoh - Make sure not to anounce the fact that it is in your graveyard and watch someone walk their value creature right into it.

There are ofcourse other zombie creatures in this deck that have cool ETB effects. But the ones above are those that almost always have an amazing impact on the game. (for you that is)

Balthor also returns our opponents Black and red creatures! Is this a problem?

Balthor does say: "Each player returns all black and red creature cards from his or her graveyard to play." How do we prevent our opponents to benefit from this? Leyline of the Void is by far the best card for this. It prevents any card from going to your opponents graveyards. This means you will have absolutely nothing to worry about. Bojuka Bog can remove a graveyard that is stacked with black and/or red creatures. You have no way of removing your opponents graveyard but still want to go ham with Balthor? Just make sure Noxious Ghoul is in your graveyard and that you have enough zombies that enter the battlefield with him. Your opponent gets his Sheoldread, Whispering One? It would be a shame if it instantly got -6/-6 from zombies entering the battlefield.

What if Balthor the Defiled gets shut down? Do we have other ways to get our zombies back?

Black knows how to return creatures from the graveyard. Cards like Patriarch's Bidding and Rise of the Dark Realms do the same as Balthor and maybe even a bit more. Yawgmoth's Will needs no introduction. Why just get your zombies back from the grave when you could recast anything.

If people get really bold and have the audacity to try and remove your graveyard you have cards like Unholy Grotto and Phyrexian Reclamation to save your Gray Merchant of Asphodel and Mikaeus, the Unhallowed.

Date added	11 years
Last updated	3 years
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	13 - 0 Mythic Rares 36 - 0 Rares 16 - 0 Uncommons 9 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	3.92
Tokens	Emblem Liliana of the Dark Realms, Zombie 2/2 B