Winter is coming! Well a certain winter is, Winter, Cynical Opportunist. This is the new commander for the Death Toll Duskmourn Commander deck. We are back with another blog for budget upgrades. This one is focused on Death Toll. This one is back to being a proper graveyard deck, unlike the MH3 Graveyard Overdrive commander deck - a weird name for a deck that didn’t use the graveyard other than to bring back Goyfs with the commander. No, this is a proper one, it is all about getting cards into there to bring them back.
Winter also brings in the interesting deck building restrictions of delirium. This cares about 4 at least different types of cards. To quickly go over them, we have artifact, creature, enchantment, land, planeswalker, kindred (tribal on older cards), instant, sorcery and battle. I have a more detailed explanation of these in the introduction of my Graveyard Overdrive blog. But if you exile 4 or more types, you get to bring one of the permanents back for free. Although it does have a finality counter on it so you can't do some looping shenanigans. This is because if a permanent with a finality counter would go to the graveyard, it would be exiled instead. Help stock the graveyard, Winter, Cynical Opportunist mills you on attack. Also, the end step trigger is a ‘may’ so you don’t have to exile until you get delirium or get a good target to bring back. In this blog, we will be reviewing my suggestions for upgrades to Death Toll. So we don’t send your wallet to an early grave. There is a limit of £10 for 10 new cards. So let's dig up some not so new additions to add into the deck.
Table of Contents
Budget Upgrades
Upgrade 1
So what is another payoff (other than Winter) for all this self mill, that the deck is built around? How about Matzlantli, the Great Door? On the front side, you can get value from the loot ability by discarding the necessary types into the graveyard. Once you get there, you can flip it into The Core. Do note this is slightly harder than delirium, as it only counts permanent types. So no instants and sorceries or kindred to help you out. If you can keep a stocked graveyard, The Core can give you some serious ramp. However, this might be hard with Winter, Cynical Opportunist, wanting to remove cards. So, you will have to be selective in what you prioritise.
OUT: SwampIN: Matzalantli, the Great Door
I'm using my standard land cut here. I always cut a land from the precons. Too many are put into them. And Matzlantli, the Great Door, does turn into an excellent land, so it balances out anyway.
Upgrade 2
As I mentioned in the Endless Punishment blog, the decks are getting hard to make cuts for. Night’s Whisper is one of them. This is a perfectly fine card for an EDH deck. Drawing 2 cards for 2 life and 2 mana is a good rate in black. I don’t want to cut it, but you can only have 100 cards in Commander, so something has to go. So, I am adding Gloomshrieker. This is both an enchantment and a creature, being able to count twice to delirium. This is especially good in Death Toll, meaning you have to exile less for Winter's ability. The reason why I’m adding this is to be able to bring back another card. In case you accidentally mill the cards you are wanting, and don’t want to bring it back with Winter. The main downside is exiling itself. So if you play it you can’t use it for Winter.
OUT: Night's WhisperIN: Gloomshrieker
Even still, I think this being a double delirium card is worth adding and follows on from the other cards like Eternal Witness, which I am surprised isn't already in the deck. The only reason why I went with Gloomshrieker instead is because of the dual typing. If you mill it over, its extra value. Although I would also play Eternal Witness if I had more than 10 additions.
Upgrade 3
This is a great segway to my next card, Timeless Witness, which is a reference to Eternal Witness. The reason for having Timeless Witness over Eternal Witness is the greater recursion. Having the eternalize mechanic means you can do it twice, bringing back your cards to use again. It makes the graveyard and extension of your hand. Instead of being limited to a hand size of 7, you also have all of your graveyard now. You only want to bring back your good stuff with Winter as a last resort, as the finality counter makes them fragile. Timeless Witness's eternalize ability means that you can still have the effect even if you mill this card.
OUT: Moldgraf MonstrosityIN: Timeless Witness
I am cutting Moldgraf Monstrosity. This has a similar effect but on the battlefield. While also being a reasonable threat. 8/8 with trample. The reason why I'm swapping it is because the effect is random. You don’t get to pick which creatures you get back. So unless you have carefully curated your graveyard, which is possible thanks to Winter, you might get back your enablers, not the payoffs. Also, it is limited to creatures only, which Timeless Witness isn’t, allowing you to rebuy removal cards if required. The other part is Moldgraf Monstrosity's trigger on death. So without sacrifice outlets, which this deck doesn't have, you are reliant on your opponents killing it, leaving the timing up to them. Another downside to this is the death part. If your opponents exile it instead with Swords to Plowshares, then you won’t get the trigger, as the creature didn’t die. It was just exiled. It didn’t pass go, couldn’t collect £200 and went straight to exile.
Upgrade 4
Millikin was a play on Manakin but added the line of text of milling a card as part of the cost. Hence the name change. There isn’t too much to talk about this card. It's just a simple manadork but with an upside for the deck. While not a flashy card, it will just quietly put in the work, filling your graveyard and accelerating you ahead on mana.
OUT: Gnarlwood DryadIN: Millikin
I am cutting an equally unflashy card. Gnarlwood Dryad is a speed bump of a blocker. While having deathtouch is an effective strategy, it's still only a 1/1 and potentially a huge 3/3 if you get delirium. I would much rather be a more significant threat or something more active than just a blocker. A large creature can act as both defence and offence. Gnarlwood Dryad can only really be on defence. Top decking this late with no board - this won’t do anything. While the same could be said about Millikin, this card's ceiling (upper limit of power) is higher. If you get it early, it can ramp you up to bigger stuff. Late game it also has more utility than Gnarlwood Dryad as it can slowly stockpile your graveyard through the mill effect.
Upgrade 5
Treasure Vault is my next card. This is an artifact land to go alongside the ones already in the deck - Darkmoss Bridge, Tree of Tales and Vault of Whisper. This is a very low cost effect to add to the deck to add another dual type card for Winter. This one is the next best of the artifact lands. While it doesn’t have colours like the 3 already in the deck, it comes in untapped and can “store” your excess mana in the form of Treasure tokens. Although, this does come at the cost of sacrificing itself. But that could be an upside if you need the extra 2 types for a Winter trigger, as this doesn’t even need extra mana. Tap Treasure Vault to make no Treasure tokens, but send it to the graveyard. It's a neat upside for a land slot.
OUT: ForestIN: Treasure Vault
If you want to go deep, you can use some other dual type lands. I would be cautious of how many you add if you are just dropping basics to add them, though. The cards are Scene of the Crime, Darksteel Citadel, Power Depot and the new enchantment version of Valgavoth’s Lair. However, having Valgavoth’s Lair synergies better in Death Toll than Valgavoth’s own deck, Endless Punishment, feels weird.
As Treasure Vault is a land, it’s a pretty straight swap for a basic land. I am swapping out a Forest here, as I already cut a Swamp in the first upgrade.
Upgrade 6
Shigeki, Jukai Visionary is another card similar to my second and third upgrades. However, this one does a little more, so I didn’t group them. Being able to self mill and ramp yourself with the activation. If it were just this, then it would be reasonable but nothing spectacular. The kicker is the channel ability, which lets you discard it and bring back cards. While this can only get non legendary cards, it is balanced with this being an ability. Meaning it's much harder to counter. Your typical Counterspell can’t stop you. Also, being (X)(X)(G)(G) means you can get back multiple cards. That is if you have the mana to sink into it.
OUT: Crawling SensationIN: Shigeki, Jukai Visionary
The Crawling Sensation is getting cut to make room. While not having to sink mana into it to get the mill repeatedly. Just a 'play and forget' enchantment. It doesn’t have the same upside as Shigeki, Jukai Visionary. It only makes 1/1 tokens for you. Shigeki just does so much more.
Upgrade 7
I have talked a lot about the setup cards, but what about the cards you want to bring back? Archetype of Endurance is not only a double type it is a decent reanimation target for Winter. Archetype used to be part of Legacy Reanimator. While being powercrept out of Legacy, it's still serviceable in Commander, protecting your board with the hexproof while also removing your opponents. However, Wizards are slowly fading out hexproof in favour of ward. You may not be able to remove it, but your cards are still saved.
OUT: Moldgraf MillipedeIN: Archetype of Endurance
I am cutting a payoff card here, too, Moldgraf Millipede. I say ‘sort of’, as it really depends on how curated and full your graveyard is, as the Millipede gets more extensive depending on the number of creatures in your graveyard. Although this isn’t a Character Defining Ability (CDA) so, it’s not continually checking. This is an enters trigger, so it only happens once. It comes with a mill 3, which is a bonus. But at the end of the day, Moldgraf Millipede is just a big body. I prefer Archetype of Endurance over it due to the protection it provides. Your team will be an ok sized threat.
Upgrade 8/9
I have combined the following two cards as they are tutors. Buried Alive is the simplest, putting 3 creatures from your library in the graveyard. This will almost guarantee that you can bring back one of these with the trigger of Winter as long as you have another type in the graveyard. You can get an artifact creature and an enchantment creature to accompany your target creature. Buried Alive used to be way out of budget for my blogs, but the recent printing in Modern Horizons 3 has brought the price way down, allowing me to use it. Gravebreaker Lamia has the same effect but is more minor, only allowing you to get one card. But this is backed up by it not being limited to creatures, so if you have a big enchantment or artifact you want to bring back you can set up with Gravebreaker Lamia. It is also another dual typing for added benefit.
OUT: Obsessive SkinnerIN: Gravebreaker Lamia
Obsessive Skinner is the first to go for these cards. While fitting mechanically with the delirium and gaining a counter at every turn. It's only 1 counter and a turn cycle in Commander is an eternity. For that, I need a much bigger effect. It's not even like the body is a treat; it's just a 1/1.
OUT: Suspicious BookcaseIN: Buried Alive
Suspicious Bookcase is the other cut. This one fits in well for the Vorthoses out there, i.e. the people in the lore of MTG. Having a secret entrance behind a bookcase is a classic. Mechanically, it’s okay, making a creature unblockable for a turn. But I would much rather have this effect on a “free” land, like Rogue's Passage. I say free, as I don’t count lands as taking up a slot in a deck. If you can get any additional effects out of your Lands while still being able to add mana, makes them free. I have Suspicious Bookcase as better than Obsessive Skinner. But that isn’t a high bar. I would much rather have both of these be more impactful cards.
Upgrade 10
The final card I am adding is Ripples of Undeath, a new card from Modern Horizons 3. This does it all. It mills every turn for 3 cards while giving you a card advantage for (1) and 3 life. While this is a hefty cost, I would compare this to Sylvan Library, which looks at 3 cards and can pay extra for more cards. Although, it's 3 life and a mana compared to 4 life. Ripples of Undeath don’t lock you into those draws, as the other cards go to the graveyard, which is exactly what we want to do in this deck.
OUT: Into the PitIN: Ripples of UndeathThe last card coming out is Into the Pit. It’s sort of a card draw engine that requires sacrifices. In a token or an aristocrats deck, this is a great addition. The problem is Death Toll isn't either of them. Yes, you can sacrifice a non-land permanent to add to your delirium count, but I would rather trigger that through other means. If Into the Pit lets you cast them for free, or even with a discount with the sacrifice, I could see leaving it in, but you still have to pay full cost. This just doesn’t feel like the right deck for Into the Pit.
Final Thoughts
Death Toll is the graveyard deck Graveyard Overdrive tried to be. It self mills to then utilise your graveyard as an extension of your hand. Either through recursive cards or through Winter, Cynical Opportunist. While the Golgari graveyard deck is a very typical archetype, it works well. Death Toll has a unique spin, having a delirium focus and putting a heavier restriction on deck building. This is sort of new as the only other Commander that cared about delirium was Ishkanah, Grafwidow. However, Ishkanah tends to be spider kindred and only needs to get delirium once. Whereas Death Toll needs it repeatedly if you will keep using Winter's ability.
Without much playtesting, I want to put Winter, Cynical Opportunist pretty high as a graveyard commander. This is with a fully rebuilt deck to maximise them. Although I don’t think it can topple Meren of Clan Nel Toth as the queen of Golgari graveyard decks. It's the finality counters that hold Winter back. If it didn’t have that,, you could set up loops to repeatedly bring back your heymakers, which is exactly what Meren does with many less hoops to jump, though.
Finally, thank you for sticking with me until the end. I do hope you have good luck, are having fun and I hope to see you next time.
Non-Budget Upgrades
Looking for even more upgrades? Try these 9 cards that didn't meet our budget requitement:
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