Welcome back to another entry in my Secrets of Strixhaven Commander series! Lately, I've been working on building a deck for each of Strixhaven's five colleges, with each brew capturing the flavor and mechanics of its school.

I've been enjoying the set because it reminds me of some of my favorites in fantasy, like Wizard of Earthsea or even the Harry Potter series.

Today, we're heading into the halls of Witherbloom, where life, death, growth, and decay all work together. That makes it the perfect home for today's Commander, and my second-favorite color pair, Golgari .

Let's dive in.

Meet Our Commander

Here's our great and beloved dork, Blech, Loafing Pest, who already has more than 6,000 decks registered at EDHREC.

Everyone loves life gain, and for, this 3/4 body rewards the strategy by giving us +1/+1 Counters every time we gain life. Kindred brews like this, where you can take it in multiple directions, are great.

Blech supports Pests Rats, Snakes, or Spiders.

Pest tokens can help you gain life either by attacking or dying, so one move can grow your entire board fast.

Mana Matters

Let's start with the boring mana stuff. Overgrown Pest is a three-drop 2/2 Common Pest that lets us look at the top five cards when it arrives. We can reveal a Land from among them and put it into our hand. That's a nice way to keep our Land drops coming while adding another Pest to the board.

Then Follow the Lumarets digs four cards deep for a Creature or a Land. If we've gained life this turn, we get two of those cards instead. With Blech already rewarding us for gaining life, that extra card can come pretty easily.

And now let's turn to some decent Lands. Grim Backwoods gives us a way to Sacrifice a Creature and turn it into a card later. That's perfect when we have a Pest ready to go, since its death can gain us life and trigger Blech.

Then High Market does the same basic job without needing mana. Sacrifice a Creature, gain a life, and trigger our leader. That means one little Pest can turn into a life gain trigger, a +1/+1 Counter, and another use for the Land. I like that kind of work from a Land slot.

Next up are these two Lands. Karn's Bastion taps for colorless mana and can spend four mana to Proliferate. That means we can add another +1/+1 Counter to every Creature that already has one from Blech. It also works with the Loyalty Counters on our Planeswalkers, so there are plenty of targets here.

Three Tree City enters with Pest chosen as our Creature type. From there, two mana lets it make one mana for each Pest we control. With a board that is absolutely infested with Pests, that can turn one Land into a whole lot of mana. Nasty, I know.

Synergies and Win-Cons

Beledros Witherbloom is a seven-drop 4/4 Flying Elder Dragon that makes a 1/1 Pest at the beginning of each upkeep. That's every player's upkeep, not just ours, so the board can fill up with Pests fast. We can also pay ten life once each turn to untap our Lands.

In a deck built around gaining life, that cost is much easier to swallow. Then Blex, Vexing Pest // Search for Blex pumps our Pests, Rats, Snakes, and Spiders by +1/+1. When Blex dies, we gain four life, which gives Blech another counter. We can also cast the flip side, Search for Blex, to draw cards and turn some of that life total into fresh gas.

Cauldron of Essence is a three-drop Artifact that is right at home here. It turns our dying Creatures into life loss for each foe, giving us another reason to Sacrifice a Pest.

The Pest itself can also gain us life when it dies, so we can stack several triggers from one Creature. Then you can pay three mana and Sacrifice a Creature to bring another Creature back from the graveyard. That gives us a repeatable way to reuse our best Creatures.

Gorma, the Gullet brings another pile of synergy. This 1/1 Legendary Pest Frog has Lifelink, and it gets a +1/+1 Counter whenever another Creature dies. Our nontoken Creatures also enter with a +1/+1 Counter for each Creature that died that turn. Dying tokens count here too, so a big Sacrifice turn can make Gorma and the rest of our team huge.

Send in the Pest is a two-mana Black spell that makes each opponent discard a card, which gets better with more players at the table. Then it leaves us a 1/1 Pest behind.

These Pests have an Attack Trigger rather than the usual Death Trigger, so they give us life when they get in there. That still works great with Blech, and the extra body can carry counters or feed one of our Sacrifice effects later.

Then Ribtruss Roaster is a five-drop 3/3 Troll Druid with Devour 1. It can eat our smaller Creatures and turn them into counters. At each of our end steps, it then makes 1/1 Pests equal to the number of counters on it. One big Devour turn can leave us with a whole new army. Those Pests can gain life while giving us plenty of bodies for our next turn.

Leyline of Vitality can start the game on the battlefield if it was in our opening hand, which is a nice way to get our engine going early. It gives our Creatures +0/+1 and makes us gain a life whenever a Creature enters under our control. That means every Pest we make can help trigger Blech.

I also tossed in Essence Warden and similar cards for more of these Lifegain triggers. With a steady stream of Pests entering and leaving play, those small gains can add up fast.

Then Moseo, Vein's New Dean arrives as a 2/1 Legendary Creature with Flying and brings a 1/1 Pest with it. At our end step, Moseo can return a Creature from our graveyard with mana value equal to the life we've gained that turn. Gain two life? Bring back a two-drop. I like that math.

Next are these two Enchantments in our colors. Feral Appetite gives our attacking Pests Deathtouch and +1 power. It can also Exile a card from a graveyard for two mana to make another Pest. That gives us a nice graveyard answer while also giving us another body. We can use the ability when a graveyard needs cleaning or just spend the mana at the end of the turn.

Then Blight Mound gives our Pests Menace and another +1 power. It also makes a 1/1 Pest whenever one of our nontoken Creatures dies. That gives us more bodies after a board wipe or a Sacrifice turn. Both cards help turn our little Pests into real attackers while giving us more ways to keep the Lifegain engine moving.

Next are some other ways to gain that life. Lifegift gives us a life whenever a Land enters the battlefield under any player's control. That's a lot of triggers in a four-player game. Every Land drop around the table can add another +1/+1 Counter to our Creatures through Blech.

Then Eumidian Terrabotanist is a two-drop 2/3 Insect with Landfall that gains us a life. That's a simple trigger, but that's what we want here. Lands are already going to enter the battlefield, so getting another life from them asks us to do very little. I also like that it's an Insect. Landfall plus Lifegain is a good little package here.

Iridescent Hornbeetle is a five-drop 3/4 Insect that makes 1/1 Insect tokens at our end step based on the number of +1/+1 Counters we put on our permanents that turn. Blech is already handing out counters when we gain life, so Hornbeetle can turn that work into even more bodies.

Those new bodies can then gain life, attack, block, or feed our Sacrifice effects. Then For the Common Good is a great way to turn one token into many. We can pay to make X copies of one token we control, such as a Pest. It also gives our tokens Indestructible for the turn and gains us one life for each token we control.

That's a huge turn for Blech. Make a pile of Pests, gain a pile of life, and then watch all those counters start landing.

And then, with an infestation of Pest tokens to jump in front of our Planeswalkers, I tossed in some of these. Lolth, Spider Queen starts with four Loyalty and gains a Loyalty Counter whenever one of our Creatures dies. That can happen a lot in this brew.

Her zero ability draws us a card while costing us one life, and that life loss is easy to offset here. Her -3 makes two 2/1 Spider tokens with Menace and Reach, while her -8 gives us an Emblem that can punish foes for dealing too little damage. The Spiders give us more blockers and more bodies for the death synergies.

Then Ob Nixilis of the Black Oath can use his +2 to make each foe lose one life, which helps whittle down the table. His -2 can trade two of our life for a 5/5 Flying Demon. With all the life we're gaining, that exchange can be well worth it.

I also tossed in Sorin Markov. His +2 deals two damage to a target and gains us two life, so it feeds Blech while also helping control the board. His -3 can set one player's life total to 10, which gives us a real way to close out a game when a foe has gained too much life.

Liliana, Dreadhorde General gives us even more card draw whenever a Creature dies, and that happens all over this deck. Her +1 makes a 2/2 Zombie, while her -4 forces each player to Sacrifice two Creatures. That can clear the board while also feeding her Death Trigger.

Then I tossed in Doubling Season, which doubles our Pest tokens and +1/+1 Counters. It also makes our Planeswalkers enter with twice as much Loyalty, which can get downright silly.

Answers

And now let's turn to these two Planeswalkers that kick off my answers section. Both cost four mana, and both fit right into what we're doing.

Vraska, Golgari Queen can +2 to Sacrifice a permanent, draw a card, and gain a life. That's great here. We get a card, trigger Blech, and can Sacrifice something like a Pest without giving up a Creature we need. Her -3 can then destroy a cheap nonland permanent.

Professor Dellian Fel starts with five Loyalty and has a +2 that gains us three life. His 0 draws a card while costing us one life, which is easy to offset. His -3 can destroy a target Creature.

Then his -6 is the big one. It turns the life we've gained into life loss for our foes. I didn't add many other cards that use their life loss this way, but this Emblem can still be nasty. Use it wisely.

How about two Garruks? Garruk, Apex Predator costs seven mana and starts with five Loyalty. His +1 can destroy another Planeswalker, or he can use that same +1 to make a 3/3 Beast with Deathtouch. His -3 can destroy a Creature and, yes, gain us life equal to its toughness. That's just what this deck wants.

Then Garruk, Cursed Huntsman costs six mana and also starts with five Loyalty. His 0 makes two 2/2 Wolves, and when those Wolves die, Garruk gets another Loyalty Counter. His -3 can destroy a Creature and draw us a card.

Those Wolves give us blockers, Sacrifice fodder, and more Creatures to grow with our Lifegain triggers. Both Garruks give us removal while still feeding the rest of the deck.

And next, how about these two three-cost Sorceries with removal? Grapple with Death can destroy either a Creature or an Artifact, then gains us a life. That life gain is worth more than it may look like here. It can add another counter to Blech and also turn on some of our other cards.

Then Containment Breach is a Green Lesson that destroys an Artifact or Enchantment and leaves us a 1/1 Pest. I like having the Pest attached to the removal spell. It gives us another body for attacks, blocks, or Sacrifice effects. It can also gain us life when it dies, so even our answers can keep the engine moving.

Next up are these mass-removal spells that stay on theme. Pest Infestation is an spell that destroys X Artifacts and/or Enchantments. Then it leaves behind two 1/1 Pests for each permanent destroyed.

That can turn one big spell into a huge board of Pests, which is just what we want. Those tokens can gain life, attack, block, or feed our Sacrifice cards.

Then Immoral Bargain lets us Sacrifice any number of Creatures to destroy that many nonland permanents. That's a great way to clear out a bunch of opposing cards while turning our own Creatures into fuel. It can hit Planeswalkers, Artifacts, Enchantments, and Creatures. A big Pest board can make this spell one heck of a cleanup tool.

Card Draw

Pestilent Cauldron // Restorative Burst is a three-drop Black Artifact with plenty to do. It can make a Pest while also making a player discard. Then we can pay one to mill cards from a graveyard or pay four to Exile four cards from a graveyard and draw a card. That gives us a few ways to get value from one card.

Then Greater Good lets us Sacrifice a Creature to draw cards equal to its power, then discard three cards. That's free to use, which is nice. A Pest with a pile of +1/+1 Counters can turn into several cards while also gaining us life when it dies. That's a trade I'm happy to make.

Decorum Dissertation is a five-cost Sorcery that draws us two cards while costing us two life. That's a small price to pay in this deck, since gaining life is one of our main plans. We can keep using that life total as a resource while our other cards build it back up.

Essenceknit Scholar arrives as a three-drop 3/1 and brings a Pest with it. That Pest has an Attack Trigger, giving us another way to gain life. At our end step, Scholar can also draw us a card if one of our Creatures died that turn. With all the Pests and Sacrifice effects here, that should happen pretty often.

I like when our card draw asks us to do something the deck already wants to do.

Moldervine Reclamation turns our Creatures dying into a card and a life. Tokens count too, so every Pest we Sacrifice can replace itself in our hand while also feeding Blech. That's a great deal for this deck.

Vampiric Rites is a one-drop Enchantment that lets us pay two mana and Sacrifice a Creature to draw a card and gain a life. That life gain can trigger Moldervine Reclamation, and if the Sacrificed Creature was a Pest, its own Death Trigger can gain another life. That's a lot of work from one tiny token.

I also tossed in the obvious Skullclamp. Pests start small, so turning them into two cards for one mana is right where we want to be. Then Blech's counters can make our other Creatures into even better targets.

How'd the deck turn out?

Let's take a look at the deck all together now that we understand the pieces.

My Golgari Lifegain Meets Pests Brew | Commander | Abe Sargent

• Commander (1)
• 1 Blech, Loafing Pest

• Creatures (19)
• 1 Beledros Witherbloom
• 1 Blex, Vexing Pest
• 1 Bogwater Lumaret
• 1 Eccentric Pestfinder
• 1 Essence Warden
• 1 Essenceknit Scholar
• 1 Eumidian Terrabotanist
• 1 Gorma, the Gullet
• 1 Iridescent Hornbeetle
• 1 Lluwen, Exchange Student
• 1 Moseo, Vein's New Dean
• 1 Overgrown Pest
• 1 Pest Mascot
• 1 Ribtruss Roaster
• 1 Sakura-Tribe Elder
• 1 Sedgemoor Witch
• 1 Signal Pest
• 1 Teacher's Pest
• 1 Valentin, Dean of the Vein

• Planeswalkers (8)
• 1 Garruk, Apex Predator
• 1 Garruk, Cursed Huntsman
• 1 Liliana, Dreadhorde General
• 1 Lolth, Spider Queen
• 1 Ob Nixilis of the Black Oath
• 1 Professor Dellian Fel
• 1 Sorin Markov
• 1 Vraska, Golgari Queen

• Instants (4)
• 1 Beast Within
• 1 Deadly Dispute
• 1 Heroic Intervention
• 1 Tend the Pests

• Sorceries (11)
• 1 Containment Breach
• 1 Decorum Dissertation
• 1 Follow the Lumarets
• 1 For the Common Good
• 1 Grapple with Death
• 1 Immoral Bargain
• 1 Pest Infestation
• 1 Pest Summoning
• 1 Rampant Growth
• 1 Send in the Pest
• 1 Shared Roots

• Enchantments (8)
• 1 Blight Mound
• 1 Doubling Season
• 1 Feral Appetite
• 1 Greater Good
• 1 Leyline of Vitality
• 1 Lifegift
• 1 Moldervine Reclamation
• 1 Vampiric Rites

• Artifacts (9)
• 1 Ancient Cornucopia
• 1 Ashnod's Altar
• 1 Cauldron of Essence
• 1 Pestilent Cauldron
• 1 Pristine Talisman
• 1 Skullclamp
• 1 Sol Ring
• 1 Tablet of the Guilds
• 1 The Earth Crystal

• Lands (39)
• 10 Forest
• 9 Swamp
• 1 Adventurer's Inn
• 1 Bojuka Bog
• 1 Command Tower
• 1 Festering Thicket
• 1 Grim Backwoods
• 1 High Market
• 1 Illegitimate Business
• 1 Jungle Hollow
• 1 Karn's Bastion
• 1 Path of Ancestry
• 1 Radiant Fountain
• 1 Rogue's Passage
• 1 Swarmyard
• 1 Sapseep Forest
• 1 Temple of Malady
• 1 The Shire
• 1 Three Tree City
• 1 Vernal Fen
• 1 War Room
• 1 Witch's Clinic

Buy This Deck Export text

I tossed in every Land I could find that will gain us life when it enters, as well as The Shire that taps our Creatures for a Food token, especially great if we have Doubling Season on the board. I also tossed in The Earth Crystal to double our counters too.

Conclusion

I adore Ancient Cornucopia since it taps for any color of mana and gains us life as we cast our spells, or that Tablet of the Guilds also gains life as we cast spells.

There are plenty of directions you could go with Blech as your leader, too.

You could lean harder into Pests, expand into the other Creature types, focus on counters, or even build around Sacrifice and Aristocrat effects. I decided to stay away from the more obvious Lifegain combo finishes and instead let the deck win through combat and incremental value.