Witherbloom Pestilence precon: decklist, what it is worth, and five upgrades under $5

September 8, 2026

Witherbloom Pestilence precon: Dina, Essence Brewer, Gorma, Merchant of Venom, Pest Rescuer and Turbulent Fen

Witherbloom Pestilence is the black and green deck from the five Secrets of Strixhaven Commander precons, released 24 April 2026. Dina, Essence Brewer commands it, and the plan is simple and grim: make small creatures every turn, feed them to something, and get paid in cards, life and counters each time.

What the deck does

The commander. Dina draws you a card the first time you sacrifice a creature each turn, and for two mana she sacrifices another creature to gain life equal to its power and put that many +1/+1 counters on a creature you control. Feed her a Pest and it is one life, one counter and, if it is your first sacrifice that turn, a card. Feed her a Mycoloth carrying six counters and it is eight life and eight counters on whatever you want to attack with.

The bodies. The deck makes a creature nearly every upkeep. Pest Rescuer makes a Pest if you have none, Ophiomancer a deathtouch Snake, Awakening Zone an Eldrazi Spawn, Creakwood Liege a Worm, Beledros Witherbloom a Pest on every player's upkeep and Tendershoot Dryad a Saproling on every player's upkeep too. Jadar, Ghoulcaller of Nephalia brings a Zombie at your end step, Blight Mound turns each nontoken death into a Pest, Ribtruss Roaster makes Pests each end step equal to its counters, Mycoloth makes Saprolings each upkeep equal to its, Pest Infestation makes twice X of them, Woe Strider arrives with a Goat and Gyome, Master Chef makes Food for every nontoken creature that entered this turn. Every Pest gives you a life when it dies, and Pest Rescuer adds one to every gain.

The outlets. Viscera Seer and Woe Strider scry, Umbral Collar Zealot surveils, Priest of Forgotten Gods sacrifices two to make any number of players lose two life and sacrifice a creature while you add two black and draw, and Wight of the Reliquary sacrifices one to fetch any land. High Market and Grim Backwoods are outlets that cost you no card, Immoral Bargain sacrifices X creatures to destroy X nonland permanents, Plumb the Forbidden draws a card per creature sacrificed to it, and Deadly Brew makes everyone sacrifice and returns a permanent to your hand. Smothering Abomination forces the question every upkeep and draws a card each time you answer it.

The payoffs. Blood Artist and Zulaport Cutthroat drain for every death, Morbid Opportunist and Moldervine Reclamation draw for them, Mazirek, Kraul Death Priest puts a counter on each of your creatures whenever any player sacrifices a permanent, and Merchant of Venom grows the same way. Gorma, the Gullet grows with every death and makes your next creatures enter bigger, Pawn of Ulamog makes a Spawn for each nontoken death, and Nether Traitor, Bloodghast and Teacher's Pest keep coming back to be sacrificed again. The lifegain has its own payoffs: Dina, Soul Steeper drains each opponent whenever you gain, Witch of the Moors makes each opponent sacrifice and returns a creature card to your hand at the end of any turn you gained life, Trudge Garden makes a 4/4 trampler per gain for two mana, Defiling Daemogoth drains for the life you gained, Veinwitch Coven returns a creature card per gain for a black mana, and Blossoming Bogbeast pumps the team by the life you gained on the attack.

The finish. Ohran Frostfang gives your attackers deathtouch and draws a card for each one that connects, which with a board of Pests ends games. Stensian Sanguinist // Exsanguinate prepares Exsanguinate for X when the deathtouch creature connects, Toxic Deluge and Final Act clear a board your sacrifice outlets already profited from, and Assassin's Trophy, Infernal Grasp, Mortality Spear and Witherbloom Command handle the one thing in the way.

What it is worth

The 100 cards add up to $80.34 in singles at today's TCGplayer market prices (3 November 2026). Turbulent Fen and Ohran Frostfang between them are about 28% of it; with Toxic Deluge, Stensian Sanguinist // Exsanguinate, Blood Artist, Sol Ring, Bojuka Bog and Zulaport Cutthroat the top eight are about 53%. The engine pieces themselves are cents each, which is the argument for buying the deck rather than the parts.

Card	Printing	Market
Turbulent Fen	Secrets of Strixhaven Commander #55	$8.37
Ohran Frostfang	Secrets of Strixhaven Commander #279	$7.21
Toxic Deluge	Secrets of Strixhaven Commander #120	$5.62
Stensian Sanguinist // Exsanguinate	Secrets of Strixhaven Commander #29	$6.18
Blood Artist	Secrets of Strixhaven Commander #209	$3.33
Sol Ring	Secrets of Strixhaven Commander #128	$1.81
Bojuka Bog	Secrets of Strixhaven Commander #363	$1.37
Zulaport Cutthroat	Secrets of Strixhaven Commander #233	$1.53
Beledros Witherbloom	Secrets of Strixhaven Commander #296	$1.47
Dina, Essence Brewer	Secrets of Strixhaven Commander #1	$2.42

Five upgrades under $5

Together they cost $2.11. The deck has the bodies and the payoffs; what it wants is a cheaper way to sacrifice at instant speed, a way to bring the best payoffs back, and removal that costs two.

Deadly Dispute ($0.33). Sacrifice a creature or an artifact at instant speed for two cards and a Treasure, and Dina draws a third. The best two mana a sacrifice deck can spend, and a Pest is the cheapest thing to feed it.
Victimize ($0.64). Sacrifice one creature to return two from your graveyard: a death for every drain and draw trigger on the table, then two bodies back for three mana. Blood Artist and Ohran Frostfang are the ones to bring back.
Feed the Swarm ($0.22). Black and green have little cheap removal that hits an enchantment; this does, and it kills a creature just as well for two mana. The life it costs is what the Pests are for.
Llanowar Elves ($0.25). A second one-mana mana creature beside Elvish Mystic makes Dina a turn-two play and the sacrifice engine a turn-three one. Later it is a body for Dina to eat.
Beast Within ($0.67). Destroy any permanent at instant speed. The 3/3 Beast it leaves behind goes to its controller, and if that is you, it is three life and three counters through Dina.

What to cut: Casualties of War (six mana with four coloured pips), Culling Ritual (destroys your own Pests, Spawn and Elves along with everyone else's cheap permanents), Ominous Harvest (a card and a point of damage per copy), Final Act (a six-mana wrath in a deck that would rather sacrifice one creature at a time), and Yahenni, Undying Partisan (grows only when your opponents' creatures die).

Where to get it

The sealed deck: Witherbloom Pestilence Commander Deck. Every card below links to its own page with every printing and current prices, and the whole set is at Secrets of Strixhaven Commander.