Witherbloom Life Drain

Standard BG (Golgari) Magecraft Sacrifice Tokens Vorthos

johnpants

Creature (19)

• 3x Dina, Soul Steeper
• 4x Eyetwitch
• 4x Sedgemoor Witch
• 2x Shambling Ghast
• 2x Valentin, Dean of the Vein  ^Flip
• 4x Witherbloom Apprentice

Planeswalker (2)

• 2x Professor Onyx

Land (21)

• 4x Deathcap Glade
• 3x Forest
• 4x Necroblossom Snarl
• 6x Swamp
• 4x Witherbloom Campus

Enchantment (3)

• 3x The Meathook Massacre

Instant (8)

• 4x Mortality Spear
• 4x Plumb the Forbidden

Sorcery (7)

• 3x Agadeem's Awakening  ^Flip
• 4x Hunt for Specimens

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Sideboard

Sorcery (7)

• 1x Confront the Past
• 1x Containment Breach
• 1x Environmental Sciences
• 1x Mascot Exhibition
• 1x Necrotic Fumes
• 2x Pest Summoning

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This Witherbloom-themed deck's gameplan is to drain all the life out of opponents using Dina, Soul Steeper's ability combined with Witherbloom Magecraft abilities.

The usual plan is to make a lot of Pest tokens, and then sacrifice them to copy Plumb the Forbidden a bunch of times. Each Pest sacrificed triggers Dina's ability, and each copy of the spell triggers Magecraft on Witherbloom Apprentice and Professor Onyx which drain the opponent and trigger Dina an additional time. That either drains the opponent of all their life or you draw a bunch of cards, and either way is fun.

The total life drain can get wild if the right things are on the board. For instance, with Dina and 2 Witherbloom Apprentices, only 4 Pests need to be sacrificed to Plumb the Forbidden to drain the opponent for 24. Making lots of Pests tokens can be done with Sedgemoor Witches and Hunt for Specimens.

This is a Python script I wrote that'll calculate the total life loss in case anyone is interested; it's really just a fancy calculator.

There's four non-Strixhaven cards in the deck. They all work really well mechanically but I'm very open to more flavorful substitutions. The Meathook Massacre makes the opponent lose 1 life for each Pest sacrificed and is a useful board-wipe. Agadeem's Awakening   can bring back any of our key creatures for 6 mana tops, and is on a land. Shambling Ghast loves to be sacrificed and its death-triggers are just so versatile. And lastly Deathcap Glade is a great dual land and the fungal vibes match with the Witherbloom stuff.

Date added	3 years
Last updated	2 years
Legality	This deck is not Standard legal.
Rarity (main - side)	8 - 1 Mythic Rares 14 - 1 Rares 19 - 2 Uncommons 10 - 3 Commons
Cards	60
Avg. CMC	2.38
Tokens	Elemental 4/4 UR, Inkling 2/1 WB, Pest 1/1 BG, Spirit 3/2 RW, Treasure