Betor life gain by SuspiciousPanda

Format: Commander

Commander: Betor, Ancestor's Voice

Bracket: 4

Deck overview

This is an Abzan life-swing reanimator deck helmed by Betor, Ancestor's Voice. The plan is to gain and lose life in the same turn cycle so Betor's end step both stacks +1/+1 counters and reanimates a creature whose mana value is at most the life lost. A dense package of entomb effects (Entomb, Buried Alive) and cheap reanimation (Reanimate, Animate Dead, Dance of the Dead, Necromancy, Victimize) cheats out haymakers such as Archon of Cruelty, Valgavoth, Terror Eater, and Vilis, Broker of Blood. Parallel end-step recursion from Celestine, the Living Saint and Rodolf Duskbringer, plus the mass rebuild Eerie Ultimatum, keep the graveyard plan online even when Betor is absent. Wins come from repeated Archon/Valgavoth value, combat with pumped bodies, The Meathook Massacre drains, and Bolas's Citadel life-casting. No infinite combos are present; the deck wins through resilient midrange inevitability.

Decklist (100 cards)

  • 1 Ancient Tomb
  • 1 Anguished Unmaking
  • 1 Animate Dead
  • 1 Archon of Cruelty
  • 1 Bane of Progress
  • 1 Beast Within
  • 1 Betor, Ancestor's Voice
  • 1 Birds of Paradise
  • 1 Black Market Connections
  • 1 Boggart Trawler // Boggart Bog
  • 1 Bolas's Citadel
  • 1 Boseiju, Who Endures
  • 1 Bridgeworks Battle // Tanglespan Bridgeworks
  • 1 Burgeoning
  • 1 Buried Alive
  • 1 Caves of Koilos
  • 1 Celestine, the Living Saint
  • 1 Children of Korlis
  • 1 City of Brass
  • 1 Command Tower
  • 1 Dance of the Dead
  • 1 Disciple of Freyalise // Garden of Freyalise
  • 1 Doom Whisperer
  • 1 Dragonlord Dromoka
  • 1 Eerie Ultimatum
  • 1 Entomb
  • 1 Evendo, Waking Haven
  • 1 Exploration
  • 1 Farseek
  • 1 Fell the Profane // Fell Mire
  • 1 Field of the Dead
  • 5 Forest
  • 1 Generous Gift
  • 1 Godless Shrine
  • 1 Greater Good
  • 1 Gyre Sage
  • 1 Heroic Intervention
  • 1 Indatha Triome
  • 1 Inkshield
  • 1 Kami of Whispered Hopes
  • 1 Karmic Guide
  • 1 Lightning Greaves
  • 1 Llanowar Wastes
  • 1 Loran's Escape
  • 1 Lumra, Bellow of the Woods
  • 1 Lush Portico
  • 1 Malakir Rebirth // Malakir Mire
  • 1 Mana Confluence
  • 1 Marsh Flats
  • 1 Metamorphosis Fanatic
  • 1 Murmuring Bosk
  • 1 Nature's Lore
  • 1 Necrologia
  • 1 Necromancy
  • 1 Overgrown Tomb
  • 4 Plains
  • 1 Rampant Growth
  • 1 Reanimate
  • 1 Reliquary Tower
  • 1 Ripples of Undeath
  • 1 Rishkar's Expertise
  • 1 Rodolf Duskbringer
  • 1 Sakura-Tribe Elder
  • 1 Shadowy Backstreet
  • 1 Shigeki, Jukai Visionary
  • 1 Sol Ring
  • 1 Soul Warden
  • 4 Swamp
  • 1 Swiftfoot Boots
  • 1 Swords to Plowshares
  • 1 Sylvan Library
  • 1 Tainted Sigil
  • 1 Teferi's Protection
  • 1 Temple Garden
  • 1 The Meathook Massacre
  • 1 Three Visits
  • 1 Toxic Deluge
  • 1 Traverse the Outlands
  • 1 Underground Mortuary
  • 1 Underrealm Lich
  • 1 Valgavoth, Terror Eater
  • 1 Vampiric Tutor
  • 1 Vault of the Archangel
  • 1 Verdant Catacombs
  • 1 Victimize
  • 1 Vilis, Broker of Blood
  • 1 Viridian Joiner
  • 1 Windswept Heath
  • 1 Witch Enchanter // Witch-Blessed Meadow
  • 1 Withering Torment