Things Betor Left Undead [Primer]

Commander / EDH BGW (Abzan, Junk) Bracket 3 Lifegain Lifelink Sacrifice

Tsukimi

Lose Life (28)

• 1x Agadeem, the Undercrypt  ^Flip
• 1x Beledros Witherbloom
• 1x Black Market Connections
• 1x Bolas's CitadelGC
• 1x Castle Locthwain
• 1x Command the Dreadhorde
• 1x Dark Confidant
• 1x Darkstar Augur
• 1x Delaying Shield
• 1x Doom Whisperer
• 1x Dross Harvester
• 1x Garden of Freyalise  ^Flip
• 1x Godless Shrine
• 1x Hall of the Bandit Lord
• 1x Insatiable Avarice
• 1x Marsh Flats
• 1x Marshland Bloodcaster
• 1x Overgrown Tomb
• 1x Priest of Fell Rites
• 1x Reanimate
• 1x Sylvan Library
• 1x Temple Garden
• 1x Toxic Deluge
• 1x Tymna the Weaver *f-etch*
• 1x Vampiric TutorGC
• 1x Verdant Catacombs
• 1x War Room
• 1x Windswept Heath

Ramp (12)

• 1x Arcane Signet
• 1x Black Market Connections
• 1x Bolas's CitadelGC
• 1x Cultivate
• 1x Dryad of the Ilysian Grove
• 1x Kodama's Reach
• 1x Marshland Bloodcaster
• 1x Nature's Lore
• 1x Sakura-Tribe Elder
• 1x Thalia and The Gitrog Monster
• 1x The Great Henge
• 1x Three Visits

Recursion (7)

• 1x Agadeem, the Undercrypt  ^Flip
• 1x Bala Ged Sanctuary  ^Flip
• 1x Command the Dreadhorde
• 1x Priest of Fell Rites
• 1x Reanimate
• 1x Sun Titan
• 1x Witch of the Moors

Graveyard (4)

• 1x Buried Alive
• 1x Fauna Shaman
• 1x Fiend Artisan
• 1x Sakura-Tribe Elder

Land (35)

• 1x Agadeem, the Undercrypt  ^Flip
• 1x Bala Ged Sanctuary  ^Flip
• 1x Bountiful Promenade
• 1x Canopy Vista
• 1x Castle Locthwain
• 1x Command Beacon
• 1x Command Tower
• 1x Exotic Orchard
• 4x Forest
• 1x Garden of Freyalise  ^Flip
• 1x Godless Shrine
• 1x Hall of the Bandit Lord
• 1x Indatha Triome
• 1x Isolated Chapel
• 1x Marsh Flats
• 1x Overgrown Tomb
• 2x Plains
• 1x Sunpetal Grove
• 5x Swamp
• 1x Temple Garden
• 1x Undergrowth Stadium
• 1x Vault of Champions
• 1x Vault of the Archangel
• 1x Verdant Catacombs
• 1x War Room
• 1x Windswept Heath
• 1x Woodland Cemetery

Draw (12)

• 1x Archivist of Oghma
• 1x Black Market Connections
• 1x Bolas's CitadelGC
• 1x Castle Locthwain
• 1x Dark Confidant
• 1x Darkstar Augur
• 1x Doom Whisperer
• 1x Garden of Freyalise  ^Flip
• 1x Insatiable Avarice
• 1x Sylvan Library
• 1x The Great Henge
• 1x Tymna the Weaver *f-etch*

Interaction (9)

• 1x Authority of the Consuls
• 1x Flawless Maneuver
• 1x Giver of Runes
• 1x Heroic Intervention
• 1x Promise of Loyalty
• 1x Tamiyo's Safekeeping
• 1x Thalia and The Gitrog Monster
• 1x Toxic Deluge
• 1x Witch of the Moors

Life Loss Trigger (1)

• 1x Verrak, Warped Sengir

Commander (1)

Gain Life (22)

• 1x Angelic Skirmisher
• 1x Archivist of Oghma
• 1x Authority of the Consuls
• 1x Beledros Witherbloom
• 1x Blood Artist
• 1x Dross Harvester
• 1x Elenda's Hierophant
• 1x Essence Warden
• 1x Garden of Freyalise  ^Flip
• 1x Guide of Souls
• 1x Kokusho, the Evening Star
• 1x Leonin Elder
• 1x Odric, Lunarch Marshal
• 1x Soul Warden
• 1x Soul's Attendant
• 1x Sunscorch Regent
• 1x Tamiyo's Safekeeping
• 1x The Great Henge
• 1x Tymna the Weaver *f-etch*
• 1x Vault of the Archangel
• 1x Vein Ripper
• 1x Verrak, Warped Sengir

Life Trigger (11)

• 1x Archangel of Thune
• 1x Cliffhaven Vampire
• 1x Dina, Soul Steeper
• 1x Elenda's Hierophant
• 1x Enduring Tenacity
• 1x Karlov of the Ghost Council
• 1x Marauding Blight-Priest
• 1x Starscape Cleric
• 1x Trelasarra, Moon Dancer
• 1x Vito, Thorn of the Dusk Rose
• 1x Witch of the Moors

Removal (5)

• 1x Anguished Unmaking
• 1x Assassin's Trophy
• 1x Austere Command
• 1x Karlov of the Ghost Council
• 1x Stroke of Midnight

---

Maybeboard

Interaction (6)

• 1x Bronzebeak Foragers
• 1x Cavalier of Dawn
• 1x Cavalier of Night
• 1x Noxious Gearhulk
• 1x Selfless Spirit
• 1x Vexilus Praetor

Life Trigger (2)

• 1x Celestine, the Living Saint
• 1x Sanguine Bond

Lose Life (6)

• 1x Bellowing Mauler
• 1x Necropotence
• 1x Tavern Swindler
• 1x Underrealm Lich
• 1x Vilis, Broker of Blood
• 1x Vona, Butcher of Magan

Life Loss Trigger (1)

• 1x Font of Agonies

Draw (3)

• 1x Exemplar of Light
• 1x The Gitrog, Ravenous Ride
• 1x Underrealm Lich

Gain Life (2)

• 1x Children of Korlis
• 1x Whip of Erebos

Recursion (1)

• 1x Reveillark

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Abzan has long been a favorite color combo of mine, with the perfect suite for life gain/life loss strategies, and now we have a perfect commander for this in Betor, Ancestor's Voice! Karador is a placeholder until Betor is officially released.

The primer description is a WIP!

The Dream Abzan Life Gain Punishment Shell

• Dina, Soul Steeper
• Cliffhaven Vampire
• Enduring Tenacity
• Vito, Thorn of the Dusk Rose
• Marauding Blight-Priest
• Starscape Cleric

Abzan gives us the best spread of cards that have opponents losing life whenever you gain life. The life gain sources we work with are many smaller, recurring life gain triggers to ensure that each time we gain life from things like Soul Warden, Leonin Elder, etc. we can ping the table for one. Pieces like Enduring Tenacity also work well with our suite of lifelink creatures which continue to grow in power with Betor's first ability. These effects are the heart of the deck. While Exquisite Blood and friends will easily go infinite, we don't do infinite combos in my group so I decided to avoid them.

Recurring Sources of Life Gain

• Soul Warden
• Guide of Souls
• Essence Warden
• Soul's Attendant
• Authority of the Consuls
• Archivist of Oghma
• Blood Artist
• Dross Harvester
• Leonin Elder
• The Great Henge
• Tymna the Weaver *f-etch*
• Sunscorch Regent
• Vein Ripper

As mentioned above, we have many sources of life gain that can easily trigger several times a round and sometimes several times a turn. These effects work really well with our life gain triggers in general with cards like Archangel of Thune, Karlov of the Ghost Council, Trelasarra, Moon Dancer, etc. but they really shine with all the cards in the section above.

Blood calls to Blood

AKA Losing Life to Recur Creatures

This is one aspect of Betor that you can play around with a lot, as there are so many fun pieces in these colors, and many work very well in a life gain shell like Dross Harvester. I decided to focus on effects that can trigger life loss consistently and repeatedly if need be on my turn so that as long as you have Betor out you will always be able to return a creature from your graveyard at end of turn. Shock lands, fetch lands, MDFC lands all now have an additional value in our deck, and often will reward us by helping to recur a creature with a higher mana value. Verrak, Warped Sengir also doubles all of these effects for us for extra fun!

I'm not going to list every life loss trigger but instead highlight some fun interactions.

Marshland Bloodcaster and Bolas's CitadelGC act as pseudo ramp, allowing us to lose life instead of paying mana to cast spells. There's also good ol' fashioned Beledros Witherbloom. Also, Black Market Connections is an all star here.

Sylvan Library, Tymna the Weaver *f-etch*, Darkstar Augur, Dark Confidant and friends give you a strong suite of card draw that synergize great with Betor.

Priest of Fell Rites, Command the Dreadhorde, and Reanimate are all examples of strong recursion that also cost life.

Betor Safe than Sorry

AKA Protection

While this deck can function without Betor, everything runs much more smoothly when your the voice of your ancestors in on the board. Since your call is very important to Betor and Betor would like you to stay on the line we have:

• Giver of Runes
• Tamiyo's Safekeeping
• Flawless Maneuver
• card:Heoric Intervention

In addition to this you have a fair deal of recursion, so it's not unheard of to let Betor to to your graveyard to avoid commander tax.

My (Dragon) Grandma Told Me She Doesn't Like You

Aka Removal.

• Assassin's Trophy
• Anguished Unmaking (Which also loses us life)
• Stroke of Midnight
• Karlov of the Ghost Council

We also have Austere Command (great for artifacts or enchantments as well), Toxic Deluge, and Promise of Loyalty for board wipes.

With so many fun synergies, some cards didn't make the cut and live in the maybe board for now, but let me know if I missed any fun interactions! Also, let me know if you have any thoughts on the custom categories and whether or not they are helpful.

Date added	2 days
Last updated	8 hours
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	16 - 0 Mythic Rares 52 - 0 Rares 11 - 0 Uncommons 10 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	3.22
Tokens	Copy Clone, Darkstar Augur 1/1 B, Energy Reserve, Human 1/1 W, Pest 1/1 BG, Shapeshifter 3/2 C, Starscape Cleric 1/1 B, Treasure, Vampire 1/1 W
Folders	Decks to try