Return by Death

Format: Commander

Commander: Terra, Herald of Hope

Bracket: 3

Deck overview

This is a Mardu graveyard-value deck built around Terra, Herald of Hope. The plan is to fill the graveyard cheaply, then use Terra's combat trigger - backed by a dense web of reanimation in the 99 - to return 3-power-or-less creatures every turn. The deck grinds with Morbid Opportunist, Teval's Judgment, Dihada, Binder of Wills, and Braids, Arisen Nightmare, converts reanimation into reach with Flayer of the Hatebound and Gau, Feral Youth, and finishes through mass resurrection such as Rise of the Dark Realms and Joshua, Phoenix's Dominant // Phoenix, Warden of Fire or by stealing opposing spells with Kefka, Dancing Mad. There is no infinite combo; the deck wins through recursive combat and board inevitability. Chainer, Nightmare Adept and Sun Titan act as hidden commanders, while Terra is one of several engines rather than a required combo piece.

Decklist (92 cards)

  • 1 Alesha, Who Laughs at Fate
  • 1 Anger
  • 1 Anguished Unmaking
  • 1 Arcane Signet
  • 1 Ash Barrens
  • 1 Bedevil
  • 1 Big Score
  • 1 Blade Historian
  • 1 Blasphemous Act
  • 1 Boros Charm
  • 1 Boros Signet
  • 1 Braids, Arisen Nightmare
  • 1 Brotherhood Regalia
  • 1 Buried Alive
  • 1 Celes, Rune Knight
  • 1 Chainer, Nightmare Adept
  • 1 Command Tower
  • 1 Crackling Doom
  • 1 Damn
  • 1 Dark Ritual
  • 1 Deadly Dispute
  • 1 Dihada, Binder of Wills
  • 1 Dread Return
  • 1 Emeritus of Woe // Demonic Tutor
  • 1 Evolving Wilds
  • 1 Exotic Orchard
  • 1 Faithless Looting
  • 1 Flare of Fortitude
  • 1 Flayer of the Hatebound
  • 1 Foreboding Ruins
  • 1 Furycalm Snarl
  • 1 Gau, Feral Youth
  • 1 General Leo Cristophe
  • 1 Generous Gift
  • 1 Havoc Eater
  • 1 Joshua, Phoenix's Dominant // Phoenix, Warden of Fire
  • 1 Kefka, Dancing Mad
  • 1 Locke, Treasure Hunter
  • 1 Millikin
  • 1 Morbid Opportunist
  • 1 Mortify
  • 9 Mountain
  • 1 Night's Whisper
  • 1 Orzhov Signet
  • 1 Path of Ancestry
  • 9 Plains
  • 1 Rakdos Signet
  • 1 Reanimate
  • 1 Ripples of Undeath
  • 1 Rise of the Dark Realms
  • 1 Ruinous Ultimatum
  • 1 Shineshadow Snarl
  • 1 Sister Hospitaller
  • 1 Smile at Death
  • 1 Sol Ring
  • 1 Solemn Simulacrum
  • 1 Stitch Together
  • 1 Stitcher's Supplier
  • 1 Stroke of Midnight
  • 1 Sun Titan
  • 9 Swamp
  • 1 Swords to Plowshares
  • 1 Terra, Herald of Hope
  • 1 Teval's Judgment
  • 1 The Soul Stone
  • 1 Unearth
  • 1 Victimize
  • 1 Viscera Seer