FREE SAMPLE · 100 CARDS · DRAFT
Wilhelt, the Rotcleaver
Zombie sacrifice. Nontoken Zombies dying create decayed Zombies through Wilhelt. Decayed bodies do not replace themselves. Save a Zombie to sacrifice for his end-step draw. Establish mana first, then deploy the commander with one piece of follow-up rather than treating it as your only resource.
$37.92 in singles, observed 2026-10-01. Commander and nonbasic lands included. Basic lands, shipping, tax and tokens excluded. Pinned observations are not current seller quotes; recheck available paper printings before release. Drafts require substitutions and review if prices rise. Original sample observations are preserved; this is not a fresh price check.
Download plain-text decklist - 100 cards including the commander.
Drafted content. Automated card checks support review; no playtesting or reviewer signoff is claimed.
Opening hands and mulligans
Keep three lands that provide both blue and black, a cheap Zombie, and draw or ramp. Avoid a hand full of expensive Zombies with no early play. A sacrifice outlet helps, but it does not replace colored mana.
Important interactions
Nontoken Zombies dying create decayed Zombies through Wilhelt. Decayed bodies do not replace themselves. Save a Zombie to sacrifice for his end-step draw.
How the deck finishes
Use repeated Zombie deaths and replacement decayed bodies to sustain a board, then attack after opponents exhaust removal. Save a Zombie for Wilhelt's end-step draw. Carrion Feeder turns threatened bodies into permanent power, while Undead Augur draws from Zombie deaths at a life cost.
Weaknesses and limitations
Graveyard exile and creature wipes reduce resilience. Decayed Zombies do not replace themselves through Wilhelt. A decayed attacker is sacrificed at end of combat, and life lost to Undead Augur can accumulate quickly.
Budget substitutions
If a Zombie lord exceeds the budget, use a low-cost Zombie that draws or supplies another body. Replace a costly dual land with a basic of the missing color or an inexpensive tapped dual; account for the tempo cost. Keep enough blue sources for draw and interaction.
Commander
1x Wilhelt, the Rotcleaver ($9.20)
Spells (62)
1x Lord of the Accursed ($0.16)
1x Diregraf Captain ($0.34)
1x Cemetery Reaper ($0.33)
1x Carrion Feeder ($3.66)
1x Gravecrawler ($1.09)
1x Diregraf Ghoul ($0.06)
1x Cryptbreaker ($0.41)
1x Stitcher's Supplier ($0.27)
1x Gisa and Geralf ($0.30)
1x Prized Amalgam ($0.41)
1x Fleshbag Marauder ($0.19)
1x Merciless Executioner ($0.37)
1x Plaguecrafter ($0.36)
1x Gray Merchant of Asphodel ($0.94)
1x Undead Augur ($0.15)
1x Midnight Reaper ($0.23)
1x Diregraf Scavenger ($0.14)
1x Eternal Skylord ($0.17)
1x Vengeful Dead ($0.28)
1x Liliana's Reaver ($0.42)
1x Dread Wanderer ($0.34)
1x Champion of the Perished ($0.86)
1x Wight of Precinct Six ($0.17)
1x Lazotep Reaver ($0.17)
1x Liliana's Mastery ($0.25)
1x Dark Salvation ($0.49)
1x Final Parting ($0.45)
1x Syphon Flesh ($0.15)
1x Feed the Swarm ($0.21)
1x Go for the Throat ($0.39)
1x Doom Blade ($0.15)
1x Negate ($0.15)
1x Fact or Fiction ($0.19)
1x Read the Bones ($0.20)
1x Village Rites ($0.34)
1x Deadly Dispute ($0.32)
1x Tymaret Calls the Dead ($0.15)
1x Sol Ring ($1.42)
1x Arcane Signet ($0.35)
1x Dimir Signet ($0.87)
1x Mind Stone ($0.27)
1x Charcoal Diamond ($0.31)
1x Sky Diamond ($0.23)
1x Graf Harvest ($0.34)
1x Ravenous Rotbelly ($0.49)
1x Hobbling Zombie ($0.24)
1x Dread Return ($0.51)
1x Open the Graves ($0.39)
1x Corrupted Conviction ($0.38)
1x Diregraf Horde ($0.09)
1x Costly Plunder ($0.23)
1x Gempalm Polluter ($0.24)
1x Moan of the Unhallowed ($0.07)
1x Zul Ashur, Lich Lord ($1.48)
1x Walking Corpse ($0.02)
1x Doomed Dissenter ($0.06)
1x Butcher Ghoul ($0.23)
1x Soot Imp ($1.26)
1x Carrion Screecher ($0.10)
1x Festering Mummy ($0.23)
1x Miscalculation ($0.28)
1x Duress ($0.08)
Lands (37)
14x Swamp (excluded)
11x Island (excluded)
1x Command Tower ($0.25)
1x Dimir Guildgate ($0.13)
1x Submerged Boneyard ($0.07)
1x Dismal Backwater ($0.08)
1x Evolving Wilds ($0.09)
1x Terramorphic Expanse ($0.15)
1x Myriad Landscape ($0.25)
1x Choked Estuary ($0.27)
1x Path of Ancestry ($0.21)
1x Ice Tunnel ($0.41)
1x Witch's Cottage ($1.08)
1x Fetid Pools ($0.30)
Upgrade path (outside the base budget)
Death Baron: boost Zombies and give deathtouch. Noxious Ghoul: clear non-Zombie creatures. Rooftop Storm: make Zombie casting cheaper.
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