Dina, Essence BrewerDina, Essence Brewer | Art by Pauline Voss

You know what's fun? School. Everyone loves tests, homework, and group projects. Oh... just me? Well, either way, we're all headed to university soon enough!

Our return to Strixhaven is just around the corner, and we've already seen the face commanders for the set's preconstructed decks. They seem pretty well-aligned with what we know about the five colleges from our last visit to the plane, but with some fun new twists.

Today, I'll be brewing a deck for the coolest college: Witherbloom! This school's face commander, Dina, Essence BrewerDina, Essence Brewer, is super interesting, so let's see what she can do leading a Commander deck.

What Does Dina, Essence Brewer Do?

For , Dina is a 2/3 Dryad Druid. And, much like Smothering AbominationSmothering Abomination, she lets us draw a card whenever we sacrifice a creature. Though, sadly, this ability is limited to once per turn.

Then, for and , Dina lets us sacrifice a creature to gain X life and put X +1/+1 counters on one of our creatures, where X is the sacrificed creature's power.

To maximize the effectiveness of Dina's abilities, we need to do two things. First, we want to sacrifice a creature every turn. While Dina lets us pay to sacrifice a creature at any time, that only lets us draw one card per turn cycle. With other instant-speed sacrifice outlets, we can keep a steady flow of cards.

Second, we want big, cheap creatures. Dina cares about creatures' power, and there's plenty of other cards in her Golgari () color identity that do the same. We'll make sure to fill our 99 with large creatures to take advantage of that fact.

Key Cards for Dina, Essence BrewerDina, Essence Brewer

Lucky for us, there's a few cards that can both sacrifice creatures at instant speed and reward us for having big creatures. My favorite among these is Varolz, the Scar-StripedVarolz, the Scar-Striped, a Troll Warrior from Dragon's Maze. He's a hard to remove, free sacrifice outlet that gives cards in our graveyard some extra utility.

We've got a few ways to bring creatures back from the bin, like ReanimateReanimate, but it's nice to get some extra value from the big bodies we're putting into the 'yard. Scavenging ten +1/+1 counters from a Baloth PrimeBaloth Prime onto a different creature for just is pretty sweet!

Then, for some extra card advantage, we've got the trio of The Gitrog, Ravenous RideThe Gitrog, Ravenous Ride, Shadowheart, Dark JusticiarShadowheart, Dark Justiciar, and Greater GoodGreater Good. All three of these cards let us draw huge chunks of cards multiple times per game. Best of all, Gitrog lets us dump lands onto the battlefield to fuel future turns!

It's also neat that Shadowheart and Greater Good can be activated at any time, letting us dodge removal and get even more cards from Dina's first ability (if we sacrifice a creature on an opponent's turn).

And, of course, we need some big bodies to take advantage of these sacrifice outlets. We're even willing to play some creatures with notable drawbacks, because we're likely sacrificing them soon after they hit the battlefield.

For just we can get an 8/8 Phyrexian SoulgorgerPhyrexian Soulgorger, and for just we can get an 11/10 Daemogoth TitanDaemogoth Titan. These big bodies both force us to sacrifice other creatures to keep them on the board, but we can simply sacrifice them to one of our specialized outlets to draw a ton of cards instead.

And, in the late game, that drawback may actually be tolerable! If we've got a few Zombie tokens laying around, attacking with our 11/10 Daemogoth Titan doesn't seem so bad anymore.

If we're looking to slowly grow a creature over time, we can turn to Forgotten AncientForgotten Ancient. This Elemental can gain five or more +1/+1 counters per turn cycle, turning into a veritable threat quite quickly.

Finally, once we've got enough mana, we can actually cast some big bodies without drawbacks. Summon: BahamutSummon: Bahamut and Yargle and MultaniYargle and Multani are great curve toppers. These hulking creatures can take big chunks out of an opponent's life total before being sacrificed for mind-boggling amounts of card advantage.

We've got other sacrifice outlets too, and most of them provide extra utility. Flare of MaliceFlare of Malice lets us turn any nontoken black creature on board into a free Soul ShatterSoul Shatter, typically wiping out our opponents' biggest threats. We've also got some cheaper sac outlets, like Carrion FeederCarrion Feeder and Umbral Collar ZealotUmbral Collar Zealot, allowing for even more instant-speed sacrificing.

These cards are particularly good at letting us dodge opposing removal while still getting some benefit, making them fantastic picks for an Aristocrats deck.

Rise of the Witch-kingRise of the Witch-king is great too, forcing opponents to sacrifice creatures while letting us grab any permanent back from the graveyard. This spell is criminally underplayed, finding a slot in just 4.36% of eligible decks. It's a Soul ShatterSoul Shatter with a ReanimateReanimate slapped on! What more could you ask for?

How Does This Dina, Essence BrewerDina, Essence Brewer Deck Win?

But how do we turn our big creatures into victory? Sure, our commander lets us gain some life and put +1/+1 counters on creatures, but that may not be enough to actually close out a game.

Zopandrel, Hunger DominusZopandrel, Hunger Dominus can help things along, turning a middling board state into a terrifying one. This Horror also lets us sacrifice two creatures to put an indestructible counter on itself, tying in to our larger game plan. Ghoulcaller GisaGhoulcaller Gisa can turn a single large creature into an army of 2/2 Zombies. That's likely going to be much harder for our opponents to effectively block!

There's also Jarad, Golgari Lich LordJarad, Golgari Lich Lord, who can turn a few big bodies into a victory for just a small mana investment.

We've got a few more ways to punch through for victory in combat. The Skullspore NexusThe Skullspore Nexus is an insurance policy for our large creatures, and can double the power of any creature for just . That lets us draw extra cards, drain opponents for extra life, or just hit an opponent in the face even harder.

Then there's Tyvar, the PummelerTyvar, the Pummeler, a sweet anthem for our whole board. For , he gives our board a minimum of +3/+3! If we've got Yargle and MultaniYargle and Multani on the board, our opponents might as well concede once we activate Tyvar's ability.

Finally, there's Blossoming BogbeastBlossoming Bogbeast. Because Dina gains us a significant chunk of life every turn, this creature turns into a repeatable version of Craterhoof BehemothCraterhoof Behemoth. We'll be giving our creatures at least +2/+2 and trample, and usually provide an even larger buff.

Dina, Essence Brewer Commander Deck List

Notably, I built this to be a Bracket 2 list. It's got a few tutors (just Wight of the ReliquaryWight of the Reliquary, Dimir House GuardDimir House Guard, and Lively DirgeLively Dirge) and no Game Changers.

If I wanted to move this list up to Bracket 3, I'd reach for Seedborn MuseSeedborn Muse and Bolas's CitadelBolas's Citadel. Seedborn Muse would allow us to activate Dina on each player's turn, while Bolas's Citadel would let us turn all the extra life we're gaining into more definitive on-board advantage.

I'd also consider adding Formidable SpeakerFormidable Speaker, a fantastic tutor that can also untap Dina. With all that said, here's the deck list!

Conclusion

I'm happy with this new version of Dina. She integrates some powerful Golgari themes, like power matters and aristocrats, into a neat little three-mana package. She even kept the lifegain theme from her previous printingprevious printing, even if that's been deemphasized in her Secrets of Strixhaven Commander card.

While I don't think she'll be quite as popular as Killian, Decisive MentorKillian, Decisive Mentor, Quintorius, History ChaserQuintorius, History Chaser, or Zimone, Infinite AnalystZimone, Infinite Analyst, I think she's certainly more exciting to build around than Rootha, Mastering the MomentRootha, Mastering the Moment. Which of the Strixhaven face commanders are you most excited to get your hands on? Let me know in the comments below!