Witherbloom Pestilence precon.

How it plays.

Core game plan

Early, play ramp (Sol Ring, Arcane Signet, Elvish Mystic, Sakura-Tribe Elder, Cultivate) and cheap creatures that make or replace bodies, such as Gilded Goose, Ophiomancer, and Jadar, Ghoulcaller of Nephalia, so you always have something to sacrifice. By the mid game you want a sacrifice outlet (Viscera Seer, Woe Strider, Priest of Forgotten Gods, Yahenni, Undying Partisan, or High Market) on the board alongside at least one drain payoff (Blood Artist, Zulaport Cutthroat, Defiling Daemogoth) and a token engine (Awakening Zone, Tendershoot Dryad, Mycoloth, Pest Rescuer, Blight Mound). From there you loop: make tokens, sacrifice them, draw with Dina and Morbid Opportunist, drain with your payoffs, and gain life that converts into opponent life loss through Dina, Soul Steeper. Use spot removal (Infernal Grasp, Assassin's Trophy, Mortality Spear) on the biggest threats and save your wraths (Toxic Deluge, Culling Ritual, Final Act) for when an opponent's board outpaces yours, ideally when you can rebuild faster off recursion. Late, you close with a wide attack pumped by Blossoming Bogbeast, Creakwood Liege, and Mazirek, Kraul Death Priest, or you simply out-attrition the table by sacrificing into drain triggers turn after turn. Stensian Sanguinist's Exsanguinate half and Defiling Daemogoth provide reach to finish a damaged player.

Key cards

• Dina, Essence Brewer. The face commander and engine. Her first sacrifice each turn draws a card, and her activated ability converts a sacrificed creature's power into that much life gain plus that many +1/+1 counters, fueling both your life-gain payoffs and a single big threat.
• Gorma, the Gullet. The alternate commander. Lifelink plus a +1/+1 counter every time another creature dies, and your nontoken creatures enter with an extra +1/+1 counter for each creature that died this turn, so a single sacrifice-heavy turn can deploy a huge body.
• Blood Artist. The core drain payoff. It triggers on this creature or any other creature dying, draining a target player for 1 and gaining you 1, which also feeds Dina, Soul Steeper and the deck's life-gain triggers.
• Zulaport Cutthroat. A second aristocrat that hits every opponent at once when this or another creature you control dies, turning each sacrifice into table-wide life loss plus life gain for you.
• Dina, Soul Steeper. Turns your life gain into a wincon: whenever you gain life, each opponent loses 1. Combined with repeated drain triggers and Pest death triggers, your incidental life gain becomes steady damage to all opponents.
• Viscera Seer. A free, repeatable sacrifice outlet that scries on every sacrifice, letting you trigger Dina, the aristocrats, and Mazirek at instant speed for zero mana to dodge removal or push value.
• Mazirek, Kraul Death Priest. Whenever any player sacrifices another permanent, every creature you control gets a +1/+1 counter, so your own sacrifice loops grow the whole team and quickly enable a lethal swing.
• Tendershoot Dryad. A token engine that makes a Saproling each upkeep and, once you have the city's blessing, gives all your Saprolings +2/+2, supplying both a steady stream of sacrifice fodder and a real board presence.
• Blight Mound. Every nontoken creature you control that dies makes a Pest with a death trigger, so it refills your fodder while you sacrifice, and it pumps and grants menace to attacking Pests for a token alpha strike.

Combos and synergies

• There are no infinite two-card combos in the stock list. The deck is built on value loops, not a hard kill. The central engine is a sacrifice outlet plus an aristocrat plus a token maker: for example Viscera Seer or Woe Strider to sacrifice, Blood Artist and Zulaport Cutthroat to drain, and Awakening Zone, Pest Rescuer, Tendershoot Dryad, or Mycoloth to keep producing bodies, with Dina, Essence Brewer and Morbid Opportunist refilling your hand. A second loop pairs any life gain with Dina, Soul Steeper so that every Blood Artist trigger, Pest death (which says when this token dies you gain 1 life), or Teacher's Pest attack chips all opponents; Pest Rescuer adds plus 1 to each life-gain event to amplify it. Recursion threads it together: Bloodghast returns on each land you play, Nether Traitor and Teacher's Pest come back for mana, and Veinwitch Coven plus Witch of the Moors rebuy creatures off your life gain. Priest of Forgotten Gods is the engine's accelerant, sacrificing two creatures to drain, force opponent sacrifices, make black mana, and draw. None of these go infinite without help, but together they grind a pod out.

Mulligan

Lines and sequencing

• Sequence your land drops to recur Bloodghast for free fodder, and hold Fabled Passage, Terramorphic Expanse, or a Sakura-Tribe Elder sacrifice for a turn you want a fresh landfall trigger.
• Respond to targeted removal by sacrificing the creature to Viscera Seer or Woe Strider first, so you still bank the Dina draw and aristocrat drains instead of losing it for nothing.
• Cast Smothering Abomination only once you have card-draw payoffs online, since its upkeep forces you to sacrifice a creature every turn, and keep a token engine running so you are never sacrificing something you wanted.
• Pump life-gain turns before passing: an attack with Teacher's Pest or Blossoming Bogbeast, plus a Blood Artist trigger, can stack with Dina, Soul Steeper and Defiling Daemogoth's end step to drain the whole table at once.
• Use Priest of Forgotten Gods at the right moment to strip an opponent's key blocker and ramp into a haymaker, since it both forces a sacrifice and nets you black mana plus a card.
• Hold Casualties of War or Mortality Spear for value targets, and note Mortality Spear costs 2 less if you gained life this turn, so trigger a life-gain source first.
• Before a board wipe like Toxic Deluge or Final Act, make sure your recursion (Teacher's Pest, Nether Traitor, Veinwitch Coven, Woe Strider's escape) lets you rebuild faster than the opponents you are punishing.

Pilot difficulty

Intermediate. The plan is straightforward but rewards careful sequencing of sacrifices, life-gain timing, and stack ordering to maximize Dina, the aristocrats, and Mazirek triggers.