Art by Slawomir Maniak
Saved commander deck
Nethroi, Apex of Death
Fill the graveyard with high-toughness, low-power creatures and mass-reanimate them all at once with Nethroi's 10-power mutate trigger, then close out the game by assigning combat damage with toughness and allowing defenders to attack.
Prompt: Abzan commander deck using Nethroi, apex of death as the commander, while filling the graveyard with big toughness/small power creatures. And also using cards that deal damage with their toughness and give creatures with defender the ability to attack
Commander
1 cards
Nethroi, Apex of Death
{2}{W}{B}{G}Legendary Creature — Cat Nightmare Beast
Chosen commander for the requested strategy.
Ramp
10 cards
Overgrown Battlement
{1}{G}Creature — Wall
High-toughness wall that produces tons of green mana
Axebane Guardian
{2}{G}Creature — Human Druid
Wall that fixes all colors based on defender count
Birds of Paradise
{G}Creature — Bird
Efficient non-Human mana dork and mutate target
Card Draw
10 cards
Wall of Blossoms
{1}{G}Creature — Plant Wall
Low-power cantrip wall that enters and reanimates for zero power
Wall of Omens
{1}{W}Creature — Wall
Zero-power cantrip wall that reanimates easily
Welcoming Vampire
{2}{W}Creature — Vampire
Draws cards whenever low-power creatures enter
Grisly Salvage
{B}{G}Instant
Fills the graveyard while finding a creature or land
Deadbridge Chant
{4}{B}{G}Enchantment
Mills ten cards upfront and generates continuous recursion
Beast Whisperer
{2}{G}{G}Creature — Elf Druid
Draws cards for casting your creature spells
Shamanic Revelation
{3}{G}{G}Sorcery
Massive draw and lifegain after reanimating a wide board
Removal
10 cards
Slaughter the Strong
{1}{W}{W}Sorcery
Asymmetrical wipe that spares almost all of your high-toughness creatures
Fell the Mighty
{4}{W}Sorcery
Wipes opposing boards by targeting a 0-power creature you control
Wave of Reckoning
{4}{W}Sorcery
Board wipe where high-toughness, low-power creatures survive their own power damage
Expel the Interlopers
{3}{W}{W}Sorcery
Flexible board wipe that spares your small-power creatures
Threats/Wincons
23 cards
Doran, the Siege Tower
{W}{B}{G}Legendary Creature — Treefolk Shaman
Core enabler that makes all creatures deal combat damage with toughness
Ancient Lumberknot
{2}{B}{G}Creature — Treefolk
Allows creatures with toughness greater than power to deal toughness damage
Rasaad yn Bashir
{2}{W}Legendary Creature — Human Monk
Massively boosts toughness of attacking creatures and enables toughness damage
Baldin, Century Herdmaster
{4}{W}{W}Legendary Creature — Human Warrior
Pumps your team's toughness by the number of cards in defending player's hand
Belligerent Brontodon
{5}{G}{W}Creature — Dinosaur
Global toughness-based damage assigner on a large body
Tree of Perdition
{3}{B}Creature — Plant
Zero power for Nethroi's limit while possessing 13 toughness and life manipulation
Unhallowed Phalanx
{4}{B}Creature — Zombie Soldier
Takes only 1 power of Nethroi's allowance while providing 13 toughness
Indomitable Ancients
{2}{W}{W}Creature — Treefolk Warrior
Massive 2/10 body that attacks for 10 under toughness enablers
Shield Sphere
{0}Artifact Creature — Wall
Free 0/8 creature that costs zero power toward Nethroi's reanimation limit
Nyx-Fleece Ram
{1}{W}Enchantment Creature — Sheep
Zero-power 0/5 enchantment creature that buffers life total
Wall of Junk
{2}Artifact Creature — Wall
Zero-power 0/7 defender that hits for 7 damage
Perimeter Captain
{W}Creature — Human Soldier
Zero-power 0/4 defender that gains massive life when walls block
Disowned Ancestor
{B}Creature — Spirit Warrior
Low-power 0/4 that can grow its toughness with outlast
Catapult Fodder // Catapult Captain
{2}{B}Creature — Zombie // Creature — Zombie
Taps to fling high toughness creatures directly at opponents' life totals
Wingmantle Chaplain
{3}{W}Creature — Human Cleric
Floods the board with flying Bird tokens based on your defender count
Towering Titan
{4}{G}{G}Creature — Giant
Grows exponentially with defenders and grants trample
Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite
{5}{W}{W}Legendary Creature — Phyrexian Praetor
Only uses 4 power for Nethroi while devastating enemy boards and buffing yours
Zetalpa, Primal Dawn
{6}{W}{W}Legendary Creature — Elder Dinosaur
Keywords soup with 8 toughness that easily fits inside Nethroi's 10-power pool
Golgari Grave-Troll
{4}{G}Creature — Troll Skeleton
0 power in the graveyard for Nethroi and provides huge self-mill via dredge
Stinkweed Imp
{2}{B}Creature — Imp
1-power recurring deathtouch blocker that dredges five cards
Weathered Sentinels
{3}Artifact Creature — Wall
Defender that gains vigilance, trample, and attack ability when opponents swing
Resolute Watchdog
{W}Creature — Dog
Cheap high-toughness non-Human mutate target that sacrifices to grant indestructible
Sapling of Colfenor
{3}{B/G}{B/G}Legendary Creature — Treefolk Shaman
Indestructible non-Human treefolk that draws cards and gains life off high toughness
Utility
9 cards
Assault Formation
{1}{G}Enchantment
Assigns damage with toughness and allows defenders to attack
Wakestone Gargoyle
{3}{W}Creature — Gargoyle
Allows all creatures with defender to attack
Bedrock Tortoise
{3}{G}Creature — Turtle
Enables toughness-based combat damage and protects attackers with hexproof
Rolling Stones
{1}{W}Enchantment
Classic enchantment enabling Wall creatures to attack
Walking Bulwark
{1}Artifact Creature — Golem
Cheap artifact creature that lets defenders attack with toughness damage
Altar of Dementia
{2}Artifact
Sacrifice outlet to mill your deck or opponents using toughness/power
Buried Alive
{2}{B}Sorcery
Tutors three key high-toughness pieces straight to the graveyard
Hermit Druid
{1}{G}Creature — Human Druid
Rapidly fills the graveyard with reanimation targets
