We’re back with another Duskmourn precon guide here on EDHREC. Today we’re digging into the new Golgari deck Death Toll, led by Winter, Cynical OpportunistWinter, Cynical Opportunist. Let's open up this grave and see what's inside.

Who Are the Commanders of Death Toll?

Winter is a 2/5 Human Warlock for four mana () with deathtouch that mills three when you attack.

He also has a delirium effect at your end step, which allows you to exile cards from your graveyard with a total of four or more card types to put one of those cards onto the battlefield if it’s a permanent. That card will enter with a finality counter, so it gets exiled if it would leave the battlefield.

Important to note here that you don’t need to exile four cards with Winter, you just need a minimum of four card types exiled.

So if you’ve got a card that’s both an enchantment and artifact, such as Whip of ErebosWhip of Erebos, and a card that’s both a land and a creature, like Dryad ArborDryad Arbor, you can exile just those two cards to meet the requirements and get one of them back to the field.

So what do we expect this deck to do based on the commander? Definitely a lot of self-mill, and likely some high-impact creatures waiting to be reanimated. And, of course, a lot of cards with multiple card types.

Our backup commander is Rendmaw, Creaking NestRendmaw, Creaking Nest a 5/5 Scarecrow artifact creature with menace and reach. Whenever it enters or you play a card with multiple card types, each player makes a tapped 2/2 flying Bird token that’s goaded for the rest of the game.

Let me tell you, I geeked out hard when this legend was revealed. This is easily one of my favorite card designs in a long time, and I can’t wait to play it in a game.

Just picturing a sky full of Birds attacking everyone but me, like something out of Hitchcock, puts a smile on my face.

Here’s the full deck list:

What Are the New Cards in Death Toll?

This deck has given us something we don’t see too often: new kindred cards! Formless GenesisFormless Genesis is a kindred sorcery with changeling, so it will trigger any creature typal effects you may be running.

It creates an X/X Shapeshifter token, where X is the number of lands in your yard. It also has retrace, so you can keep casting it from the yard as long as you have a land to discard. Retrace is an underutilized, and underappreciated, ability.

Unlike other cast-from-exile effects, this one doesn’t exile itself, so you can keep doing it over and over. There are gonna be a lot of lands decks that want this, like Lord WindgraceLord Windgrace and The Gitrog MonsterThe Gitrog Monster. 

Our other kindred card is Demonic CovenantDemonic Covenant, which is a Demon kindred enchantment. At your end step you make a 5/5 flying Demon token and mill two cards.

If those two cards shared exactly the same card types, you have to sacrifice the enchantment.

Also, whenever you attack a player with one or more Demons, you draw a card and lose a life. I actually had this in play during a couple of playtests, and never once had to sacrifice it. Getting a free 5/5 flyer every turn is a really potent effect, especially since it enters untapped and you’ve got a massive blocker.

Obviously Demon decks will want this, but its usefulness extends far beyond that. Dropping a large body and drawing cards every turn make it a very powerful card that I’d be happy to run in a lot of decks.

Our Room card for this deck is Polluted Cistern // Dim OubliettePolluted Cistern // Dim Oubliette. With the amount of self-mill in this deck, Polluted Cistern is gonna be a huge threat to your opponents’ life totals. Especially for just two mana! Dim Oubliette has the bigger cost, but is much less exciting.

Still, it’s a nice effect to have just laying around in the late game when you need another creature on the board.

We’ve got two new creatures in this deck. First up is Ursine MonstrosityUrsine Monstrosity, a 3/3 Bear Mutant with trample. At the beginning of your combats, you mill a card and choose an opponent at random. Monstrosity has to attack that player if able, and it gets indestructible and +1/+1 for each card type in your graveyard.

You can get pretty dirty with this thing, especially if you can get infinite combats. To do that you’ll need Aggravated AssaultAggravated Assault and something that makes you red mana on attacks.

Savage VentmawSavage Ventmaw will obviously get the job done, but I think Shriekwood DevourerShriekwood Devourer, who we talked about from the Jump Scare! deck, will be even better.

Just keep activating Aggravated Assault and attacking with Monstrosity. Eventually it’ll get big enough to kill your opponents. The only thing holding you back from infinite greatness here is if your library is already seriously depleted.

But one card per combat, with Monstrosity getting more massive on each attack, shouldn’t be enough to deck you before you end your opponents in most games.

Our next creature is Demolisher SpawnDemolisher Spawn, a 7/7 Horror with trample and haste. It has a delirium effect when it attacks, which gives all of your other attacking creatures +4/+4 until end of turn if you have four or more card types in the yard.

Pretty easy to pull off in this deck, and a big threat with all the tokens this deck makes. 

Next up is Into the PitInto the Pit, the first mono-black card since Bolas’s CitadelBolas’s Citadel that lets you look at and play your top card.

This enchantment gives you the ability to cast spells from the top of your library by sacrificing a nonland permanent in addition to paying the spell’s other costs.

Like Bolas’s Citadel, this card is limited by a few factors. Where Citadel runs out of steam when you get low on life, this one needs you to have a lot of sacrifice fodder and mana. Citadel also allows you to play a land from the top, which is huge.

Pit doesn’t offer that. While Into the Pit is half the cost of Citadel, I just don’t see it knocking Citadel out of many decks, aside from token decks.

Our last two new cards are sorcery removal effects. First up is Deluge of DoomDeluge of Doom, which gives all creatures -X/-X until end of turn, where X is the number of card types in your yard.

This is obviously a callback to Toxic DelugeToxic Deluge, but it won’t be nearly as ubiquitous as that card. It’s easier to give up a few life points to wipe the board than to be sure you’ll have enough card types in the yard to make this effective. Still, a three-mana board wipe is always worth considering.

And our last new card is Convert to SlimeConvert to Slime, which destroys an artifact, a creature, and an enchantment. It also has a delirium effect which makes you an X/X Ooze token, where X is equal to the total mana value of permanents you destroyed.

Sorcery-speed targeted removal is always a bit sketchy, and I can’t see a lot of people wanting to run this, unless dropping massive tokens is their whole game plan. 

What Are the Themes and Strategies of the Deck?

Our main goal is to drop as much good stuff in the yard as possible so we can get it back out with Winter, or other recursion effects.

A lot of cards will mill you on entry, like Carrion GrubCarrion Grub, Deadbridge ChantDeadbridge Chant, Moldgraf MillipedeMoldgraf Millipede, and Stitcher’s SupplierStitcher’s Supplier.

Other mill effects will happen at particular parts of your turn, like Ursine MonstrosityUrsine Monstrosity, Nyx WeaverNyx Weaver, Cemetery TamperingCemetery Tampering, and Crawling SensationCrawling Sensation.

We even have some activated abilities, like Grist, the Hunger TideGrist, the Hunger Tide, Professor OnyxProfessor Onyx, Wrenn and SevenWrenn and Seven, and Skola GrovedancerSkola Grovedancer, as well as some nonpermanent spells like Grapple with the PastGrapple with the Past, MulchMulch, and Grisly SalvageGrisly Salvage.

And there’s Old StickfingersOld Stickfingers, which mills you X creature cards when you cast him.

Obviously we don’t want everything staying in the yard, so we’ll need recursion effects beyond our commander’s ability.

We’ve got the classic ReanimateReanimate, which is as efficient as they come. Whip of ErebosWhip of Erebos can bring a creature back just for a turn. Moldgraf MonstrosityMoldgraf Monstrosity gives you two creatures back if you exile it when it dies.

And Deadbridge ChantDeadbridge Chant gives you a card every upkeep, either a creature to the battlefield or noncreature to your hand.

Graveyard recursion is fun. But how does the deck win? For that, we’ll need some combat. We already talked about the big threats of Ursine MonstrosityUrsine Monstrosity and Demolisher SpawnDemolisher Spawn.

There’s also:

• Moldgraf MonstrosityMoldgraf Monstrosity
• Noxious GearhulkNoxious Gearhulk
• Vile MutilatorVile Mutilator
• Giant AdephageGiant Adephage
• Titania, Nature’s ForceTitania, Nature’s Force

However, we’re gonna need more than these big beaters to end our opponents. That’s where tokens come in.

Repeatable token effects are the best, and for that we have:

• Titania, Nature’s ForceTitania, Nature’s Force
• Rendmaw, Creaking NestRendmaw, Creaking Nest
• Grist, the Hunger TideGrist, the Hunger Tide
• Giant AdephageGiant Adephage
• Formless GenesisFormless Genesis
• Demonic CovenantDemonic Covenant
• Crawling SensationCrawling Sensation

One-time effects are good too, like:

• Hornet QueenHornet Queen
• Ishkanah, GrafwidowIshkanah, Grafwidow
• ArachnogenesisArachnogenesis

And let’s not forget our other important theme, which is card types. The most useful cards in the deck are the ones that double up on card types.

Our best ones are:

• Whip of ErebosWhip of Erebos,
• Demolisher SpawnDemolisher Spawn,
• Grist, the Hunger TideGrist, the Hunger Tide (which counts as both a planeswalker and a creature when it’s not on the field)
• Dryad ArborDryad Arbor

And the two kindred cards;

• Formless GenesisFormless Genesis
• Demonic CovenantDemonic Covenant

How Do You Play Death Toll?

Unless someone Bojuka BogBojuka Bogs you, like a jerk, you’re gonna have a lot of fun with this deck. When playing it, always keep in mind that the most beneficial cards to have in your yard are the ones with multiple card types, since they allow you to hit all of your delirium effects like Winter's, more quickly. As I said before, with Winter’s effect, you don’t need to exile four cards, just enough to get to four card types. And for those newer to the game, I’ll list the current card types here:

• Creature
• Land
• Battle
• Enchantment
• Kindred (this type used to be called tribal, but was recently changed by WOTC)
• Sorcery
• Instant
• Artifact
• Planeswalker

You’ll notice this list doesn’t include legendary, as that’s what’s called a supertype. Other supertypes include basic, snow, and world. These supertypes don’t impact card type effects like delirium.

The MPVs of the deck are the ones that mill you the most. Deadbridge ChantDeadbridge Chant bins a tenth of your deck, which obviously makes it one of the key cards in the deck.

The other ongoing mill effects, like Nyx WeaverNyx Weaver and Crawling SensationCrawling Sensation, are also key for making sure you’re getting the most out of Winter’s end-of-turn ability. 

Without stuff in the yard, the deck can be a drag. Thankfully its main win plan of beating face works just fine if all your best stuff gets on the battlefield the old-fashioned way.

This may take a little longer than cheating them out with recursion effects, but that’s what ramp is for. And the deck has plenty of that.

So get your big creatures swinging, and get your token-makers spewing out babies, and you’ll have no trouble taking down pods with this precon.

Is Death Toll Worth Buying?

Here’s my final grade:

B+

The deck is everything a Golgari graveyard deck should be. It’s fun, it’s powerful, and it gets the job done. The biggest bonus here is that both of our commanders are great.

Winter’s effect is very powerful, but not in a boring value-engine kind of way. And Rendmaw, while maybe not terribly powerful, is such a beautifully designed card.

The only thing bringing down the grade is the new cards. For the most part, they’re good. We have some solid hits with Demolisher SpawnDemolisher Spawn, Formless GenesisFormless Genesis, and Demonic CovenantDemonic Covenant.

Convert to SlimeConvert to Slime and Deluge of DoomDeluge of Doom are a bit too niche, and Into the PitInto the Pit just can’t hold a candle to its predecessor, Bolas’s CitadelBolas’s Citadel.

The reprint quality in the deck is very solid. Nothing extravagant, but we do have a handful of cards that were in the $10ish range before the deck was revealed, like Whip of ErebosWhip of Erebos, Titania, Nature’s ForceTitania, Nature’s Force, Professor OnyxProfessor Onyx, and Dryad ArborDryad Arbor.

Can I make this graveyard deck more deadly? Find out in my Upgrade Guide here. And stay tuned, cuz we’ve got one more Duskmourn precon coming at you soon, right here on EDHREC.

More Precon Fun:

Jump Scare! Precon Review

Miracle Worker Precon Review

Squirreled Away Precon Review

Andy Zupke

Andy's been playing Magic on and off since Fallen Empires. He loves to travel, drink, eat, and spend time with family and friends.