Hey friends! Welcome back to another precon guide here on EDHREC. Duskmourn week is here, and we’re digging into all the great new precons from the set. It’s time to see if we can improve the Death Toll deck, led by Winter, Cynical OpportunistWinter, Cynical Opportunist.

In case you missed it, go check out my review of the deck here. I gave it a really good review, only hindered by a few new cards that felt dead on arrival. Other than that, the deck plays beautifully. But I’m sure we can make it even better.

Let’s tune up.

What’s in the Original Deck?

Death Toll is green and black (Golgari) and led by Winter, Cynical OpportunistWinter, Cynical Opportunist, a 2/5 Human Warlock with deathtouch that mills three when he attacks. He also has a delirium effect at the end step that lets us exile cards from our graveyard with a total of at least four card types to bring one of those cards back from the battlefield with a finality counter.

Our backup commander for this deck is Rendmaw, Creaking NestRendmaw, Creaking Nest, a 5/5 Scarecrow with menace and reach. When it enters and whenever we play a card with two or more card types, each player makes a tapped 2/2 Bird token with flying that’s goaded for the rest of the game. The card types are land, creature, enchantment, artifact, battle, planeswalker, kindred, instant, and sorcery.

Here’s the original deck list:

What Budget Cards Can We Add to Death Toll?

We’ll break this upgrade up into two parts, one for budget cards (less than $5 each) and one for non-budget ($5 and up).

This deck is all about getting a massive number of cards into our graveyard. So let’s make that happen some more. First up is Underrealm LichUnderrealm Lich, a creature that changes up all of our card draws.

Instead of drawing, we’ll look at our top three cards and put one of those into our hand, the rest into the grave. Skull ProphetSkull Prophet gives us some ramp, but if we don’t need it we can tap them to mill two, while MillikinMillikin does both at the same time.

Shigeki, Jukai VisionaryShigeki, Jukai Visionary can be bounced to hand to look at our top four cards, put a land from among them onto the battlefield and the rest into the yard.

It also has a channel ability which lets us discard it to bring stuff back from the yard. This is even more of a winner since it’s two card types.

And let’s not forget the big daddy of mill decks, Syr Konrad, the GrimSyr Konrad, the Grim. One of the best uncommon legends ever printed, this guy can mill everyone for two for just two mana, but where he really shines is dealing out damage to opponents when creature cards get milled.

Or when creatures die. Or when a creature card leaves our graveyard. With Winter’s abilities, we’re likely to have a lot of creatures entering and leaving our graveyard, so old Konnie is a no-brainer.

We’ve got two utility lands coming in. First is Treasure VaultTreasure Vault, which has two card types and can be sacrificed for Treasures.

Then there’s Nesting GroundsNesting Grounds, which can move those pesky Finality counters from the permanents Winter brings back and put them onto another permanent, even something an opponent controls.

That’s one way to deal with a Stinkweed ImpStinkweed Imp!

A large portion of the cards we’ll be dropping in the yard will be lands. And we really don’t need them all in the yard, so let’s get some of them back.

For that we’ll enlist Aftermath AnalystAftermath Analyst, who mills us on entry and can be sacrificed to get all of our lands to the battlefield. There’s also Perennial BehemothPerennial Behemoth, which is both an artifact and creature and allows us to play lands from our yard. 

For more tokens we’ll add the enchantment creature Arasta of the Endless WebArasta of the Endless Web, PolygoyfPolygoyf which will get big with all the stuff in our yard and make copies of itself with myriad, and Tarmogoyf NestTarmogoyf Nest, a kindred enchantment that enchants a land which can be tapped to make a Lhurgoyf.

For our last few additions, we’ve got LignifyLignify, a piece of removal with two card types, Matzalantli, the Great DoorMatzalantli, the Great Door, which helps to fill our yard and can flip to a land that provides a ton of mana, and Wickerfolk ThresherWickerfolk Thresher, which will give us ramp or card draw when it attacks if we have delirium.

These cards from the precon are getting buried alive:

• Carrion GrubCarrion Grub
• Culling RitualCulling Ritual
• Gnarlwood DryadGnarlwood Dryad
• Golgari SignetGolgari Signet
• Grim BackwoodsGrim Backwoods
• Grim FlayerGrim Flayer
• Inscription of AbundanceInscription of Abundance
• Into the PitInto the Pit
• Ishkanah, GrafwidowIshkanah, Grafwidow
• Mind StoneMind Stone
• Moldgraf MonstrosityMoldgraf Monstrosity
• Obsessive SkinnerObsessive Skinner
• Reliquary TowerReliquary Tower
• Scavenging OozeScavenging Ooze
• Suspicious BookcaseSuspicious Bookcase

Here’s our budget upgraded list:

And a few more cards to consider:

• Beledros WitherbloomBeledros Witherbloom
• BroodspinnerBroodspinner
• Cloakwood HermitCloakwood Hermit
• Consuming BlobConsuming Blob
• Criminal PastCriminal Past
• DreadhoundDreadhound
• Eldritch ImmunityEldritch Immunity
• Golgari Grave-TrollGolgari Grave-Troll
• Kagha, Shadow ArchdruidKagha, Shadow Archdruid
• Mirkwood BatsMirkwood Bats
• Omnivorous FlytrapOmnivorous Flytrap
• Ripples of UndeathRipples of Undeath
• Scion of HalasterScion of Halaster
• Season of LossSeason of Loss
• SixSix
• Soul SwallowerSoul Swallower
• Splendid ReclamationSplendid Reclamation
• The Peregrine DynamoThe Peregrine Dynamo
• The SwarmweaverThe Swarmweaver
• Peer into the AbyssPeer into the Abyss

What Non-Budget Cards Can We Add to Death Toll?

Let’s take our budget upgraded list and sub in a few pricier cards. For tokens we’ll add in Amzu, Swarm’s HungerAmzu, Swarm’s Hunger, which can give us a huge Insect whenever we resurrect something with Winter.

There’s also the classic BitterblossomBitterblossom, which has two card types and gives us a 1/1 flyer every turn.

If we want more recursion effects, we can throw in Portal to PhyrexiaPortal to Phyrexia. This nine-mana artifact isn’t easy to cast, but we can certainly cheat it out with our commander and start stealing things from our opponents’ yards as well.

We’ve also got BarrowgoyfBarrowgoyf, which has the typical Lhurgoyf power/toughness boost for every card type in graveyards, but also gets us a creature back if we hit an opponent with it in combat, in addition to milling a bunch of cards. 

To get some lands back we’ll run Life from the LoamLife from the Loam, which has that beautiful dredge ability, as well as Lumra, Bellow of the WoodsLumra, Bellow of the Woods, which mills four when it enters and then brings all the lands in our yard back to the field.

And last we’ve got a bit of card advantage. Breach the MultiverseBreach the Multiverse mills each player ten cards, then we can snatch a creature or planeswalker out of each graveyard and put it on the field.

And then there’s Urza’s SagaUrza’s Saga, an enchantment land Saga that will initially tap for a colorless mana, and eventually go fetch up our Sol RingSol Ring.

After the third step, it’ll go to our yard where it’ll have those crucial double card types.

These cards are getting the cut:

• Commander’s SphereCommander’s Sphere
• Convert to SlimeConvert to Slime
• Deathreap RitualDeathreap Ritual
• Hornet QueenHornet Queen
• MillikinMillikin
• Moldgraf MillipedeMoldgraf Millipede
• Old StickfingersOld Stickfingers
• PolygoyfPolygoyf

Here’s our non-budget upgraded list:

And a few more pricey cards to consider:

• Demonic CounselDemonic Counsel
• Hedge ShredderHedge Shredder
• Overlord of the BalemurkOverlord of the Balemurk
• Palantir of OrthancPalantir of Orthanc
• Primal VigorPrimal Vigor
• Sheoldred, Whispering OneSheoldred, Whispering One
• Doubling SeasonDoubling Season

Death, Be Not Proud

That’s it for our upgrade of the Death Toll precon! This deck was already great to begin with, we just added a few more solid mill cards and token-makers.

What do you think? Did I make this deck better? Any cards I missed? Let me know in the comments or hit me up on Twitter. And stay tuned for our final set of Duskmourn precon guides, coming at you in just a couple days, right here on EDHREC.

More Precon Fun:

Miracle Worker Upgrade Guide

Jump Scare! Upgrade Guide

Squirreled Away Upgrade Guide

Andy Zupke

Andy's been playing Magic on and off since Fallen Empires. He loves to travel, drink, eat, and spend time with family and friends.