Tuesday Night Takeover
Dina, Essence Brewer
EDH April 4, 2026

Witherbloom Pestilence Precon Upgrade Guide

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Commander Overview

We’ve seen a couple of different iterations of Dina before, but Dina, Essence Brewer stands out as one of the more utilitarian editions. Witherbloom is the school of natural magic, honoring life and death equally, so it’s fitting that Dina’s ability rewards us for sacrificing creatures. The bigger they are, the better our reward.

This fits into the Golgari color identity like a glove, and there are quite a few neat cards included in the Witherbloom Pestilence commander deck. Defiling Daemogoth and Ominous Harvest are two stand-out cards for me. We also got a long-awaited Gyome, Master Chef reprint, alongside some other staples like Nether Traitor and Culling Ritual.

There are definitely some improvements we can make to this deck, and a few tasty cards we can add to really amp up the “Pest” theme.

What We’re Removing

This deck is very creature-heavy, coming out of the box with 39 creatures. There were a few that stood out as easy cuts, and others were a bit harder to trim. Lands, though, were easy to pick through: 37 is too much, in my opinion, especially with a relatively low mana value across the deck.

Cards to Remove:

Mana

Right out of the gate, I opted to remove 6 lands, including two basics, Terramorphic Expanse, Haunted Mire, and the filtration lands Viridescent Bog and Grim Backwoods. The filter lands are great for 3+ color decks, but in a 2-color build, they are a bit of a nuisance.

Creatures

I’m cutting 5 creatures from the list, and you’ll see why soon. Cards like Gilded Goose and Haywire Mite have some utility, but they aren’t great additions to this deck. We’re focused more on pests and creature tokens more than food, so these fellas were the first to go.

Next, I cut Springbloom Druid. He’s a sacrificial body, but we have some other cards that get us lands that are a bit better. (Cough cough Sakura-Tribe Elder and Wight of the Reliquary cough cough).

And finally, Tendershoot Dryad and Morbid Opportunist. These cards have some good utility, creating tokens and drawing us cards. But I’ll be adding in creatures that do these things a bit better, and aren’t quite as restrictive.

Noncreature Spells

This precon deck actually had a significant amount of interaction and removal. It’s probably because it’s focused on creatures dying, but there were a few cards that I think could go. Casualties of War is expensive to cast, and we have better options. Mortality Spear is conditional, so sometimes we will pay 4, sometimes we will pay 2. If you’re saving 4 mana to cast the spell but only need 2, you’ve wasted 2 mana you could have spent on your turn. That’s my philosophy, at least.

I also opted to remove Night's Whisper and Trudge Garden. One-time draw effects are limiting, and cards that offer you to pay additional for stuff that’s happening have always underperformed for me.

What We’re Adding

The cards I’m adding in help hone the deck toward the pest theme. Lifegain and opponent’s life loss stood out as the main win conditions in this deck, so the creatures and other spells I’ve added work toward that goal. I tried to be cognizant of flavor, as well, as there are some new cards I felt didn’t live up to the hype, but I kept them in because they are new. (I’m looking at you, Merchant of Venom.)

Cards to Add:

Mana

To bring our land count back up, I added in Overgrown Tomb and Wastewood Verge. Both of these lands make it easier to add the colors as you need them, and make the mana base a bit more predictable.

Creatures

I think one of the most important value adds is Wall of Blood. This deck gains you life incrementally, but that shouldn’t stop you from using it as a resource. Paying into Wall of Blood to kill attacking creatures is just the tip of the iceberg. You can also make it very large and sacrifice it to Dina’s second ability, drawing you a lot of cards and gaining you all that life you just spent.

I promised that I’d add in more token creation, and Bitterbloom Bearer does that. While it’s on the pricy side, it does grant us a body every turn for only 2 mana (as opposed to Tendershoot Dryad, who was 5).

To help us gain more life, I added Marauding Blight-Priest and Prosperous Innkeeper. The innkeeper is exceptionally good because he technically only costs 1 mana, and gains us a life every time a creature enters.

I also added Blex, Vexing Pest because he’s a pest and he’s cool!

Instants and Sorceries

Abrupt Decay is a bit of a safer option to destroy cheap nonland permanents, and Containment Breach is on-theme, granting you a pest if the thing you destroy is 2 or less mana.

Because I took out Springbloom Druid, I added Flare of Cultivation to hunt for lands. The sacrificing a nontoken creature helps out our game plan (if you have one to sacrifice), otherwise it’s the same cost as Springbloom druid for the same amount of lands.

Eldritch Evolution fits well in this deck as a way to hunt for specific creatures while also getting sacrifice triggers. It’s useful for finding pingers like Blood Artist or other high-value aristocrats.

Enchantments, Artifacts, and Planeswalkers

Because we’ll be gaining a significant amount of life with this deck, Sanguine Bond was a no-brainer. It’s much less expensive than Exquisite Blood and Bloodthirsty Conqueror, and fits our theme better.

Skullclamp is good in the early game, when you don’t have an anthem for pests or other tokens. And Exploration Broodship is a turn-one play that can help you find lands and cast spells from your graveyard. You can always use your tokens to station the ship and then sacrifice them later, so it’s a dual-use scenario.

And finally, Grist, Hunger Tide. I was on the fence about adding in Grist, because the mill on his first ability isn’t super great for us. But, he does create bodies, and he does help us sacrifice permanents to destroy other people’s stuff, so he made the cut.

Deck Upgrades

If you want to take a look at the price for each of the upgrades, here’s a look at what you’ll be spending:

Suggested Upgrades


ADD Wall of Blood
CUT Gilded Goose
High Priority Utility $1.80

ADD Prosperous Innkeeper
CUT Haywire Mite
High Priority Gameplan $0.25

ADD Flare of Cultivation
CUT Springbloom Druid
High Priority Ramp $0.50

ADD Bitterbloom Bearer
CUT Tendershoot Dryad
High Priority Token Production $17.26

ADD Abrupt Decay
CUT Mortality Spear
High Priority Removal $2.13

ADD Sanguine Bond
CUT Terramorphic Expanse
High Priority Gameplan $5.77

ADD Eldritch Evolution
CUT Forest
High Priority Tutor $3.96

ADD Marauding Blight-Priest
CUT Trudge Garden
Mid Priority Gameplan $0.29

ADD Containment Breach
CUT Casualties of War
Mid Priority Removal $0.14

ADD Skullclamp
CUT Night's Whisper
Mid Priority Card Draw $6.09

ADD Overgrown Tomb
CUT Grim Backwoods
Mid Priority Mana $8.91

ADD Wastewood Verge
CUT Viridescent Bog
Mid Priority Mana $11.94

ADD Exploration Broodship
CUT Haunted Mire
Mid Priority Utility $3.27

ADD Grist, the Hunger Tide
CUT Swamp
Low Priority Utility $0.41

ADD Blex, Vexing Pest
CUT Morbid Opportunist
Low Priority Flavor $13.50

Upgrade Cost $76.22 TCGPlayer Buy Upgrades ManaPool Buy Upgrades WNYGaming Code "TNTSUB" (-5%)

Conclusion

I really like the theme of this Witherbloom precon. It has flavor and fits into one of the traditional archetypes of Magic’s color pairings. Dina provides us some create card advantage in the command zone for a relatively low cost, while the supporting creatures make it easy to always have blockers and sacrifice fodder at the ready.

While it’s one of the cheapest precons with raw card value, I think this is one of the more powerful decks we’ve seen from Secrets of Strixhaven. You can pick up this precon from game stores when the set releases April 24th.

Please take a look at the full upgraded decklist below

Bracket 2 Golgari Sacrifice
Command Zone

Dina, Essence Brewer

Legendary Creature — Dryad Druid
$151.89

Creature 39

1 Beledros Witherbloom $1.32
1 Bitterbloom Bearer $17.26
1 Blex, Vexing Pest $13.50
1 Blood Artist $1.52
1 Bloodghast $0.57
1 Blossoming Bogbeast $0.55
1 Cordyceps Rat King $2.21
1 Creakwood Liege $0.36
1 Defiling Daemogoth $2.74
1 Dina, Soul Steeper $0.29
1 Eccentric Pestfinder $0.55
1 Elvish Mystic $0.39
1 Gorma, the Gullet $3.46
1 Gyome, Master Chef $1.84
1 Jadar, Ghoulcaller of Nephalia $1.05
1 Marauding Blight-Priest $0.29
1 Mazirek, Kraul Death Priest $0.33
1 Merchant of Venom $0.51
1 Nether Traitor $1.48
1 Ohran Frostfang $4.25
1 Ophiomancer $0.77
1 Pawn of Ulamog $0.90
1 Pest Rescuer $1.88
1 Priest of Forgotten Gods $0.50
1 Prosperous Innkeeper $0.25
1 Ribtruss Roaster $0.61
1 Sakura-Tribe Elder $0.30
1 Smothering Abomination $0.30
1 Stensian Sanguinist $8.77
1 Teacher's Pest $0.35
1 Umbral Collar Zealot $0.34
1 Veinwitch Coven $0.29
1 Viscera Seer $0.37
1 Wall of Blood $1.80
1 Wight of the Reliquary $0.45
1 Witch of the Moors $0.39
1 Woe Strider $0.27
1 Yahenni, Undying Partisan $0.32
1 Zulaport Cutthroat $0.74

Planeswalker 1

1 Grist, the Hunger Tide $0.41

Instant 5

1 Abrupt Decay $2.13
1 Assassin's Trophy $0.66
1 Infernal Grasp $0.27
1 Plumb the Forbidden $0.31
1 Witherbloom Charm $0.33

Sorcery 12

1 Containment Breach $0.14
1 Culling Ritual $0.54
1 Cultivate $0.33
1 Deadly Brew $0.28
1 Eldritch Evolution $3.96
1 Final Act $0.34
1 Flare of Cultivation $0.50
1 Immoral Bargain $1.28
1 Ominous Harvest $1.45
1 Pest Infestation $0.49
1 Toxic Deluge $4.72
1 Witherbloom Command $0.29

Artifact 4

1 Arcane Signet $0.40
1 Exploration Broodship $3.27
1 Skullclamp $6.09
1 Sol Ring $1.13

Enchantment 5

1 Awakening Zone $0.38
1 Blight Mound $0.63
1 Feral Appetite $0.46
1 Moldervine Reclamation $0.31
1 Sanguine Bond $5.77

Land 33

1 Bojuka Bog $0.53
1 Command Tower $0.33
1 Exotic Orchard $0.31
1 Fabled Passage $0.98
1 Festering Thicket $0.31
7 Forest
1 High Market $0.42
1 Llanowar Wastes $0.45
1 Necroblossom Snarl $0.35
1 Overgrown Tomb $8.91
1 Path of Ancestry $0.29
1 Study Hall $0.22
7 Swamp
1 Temple of Malady $0.28
1 Terramorphic Expanse $0.20
1 Titan's Grave $0.14
1 Turbulent Fen $8.90
1 Vernal Fen $0.47
1 Wastewood Verge $11.94
1 Witherbloom Campus $0.37
1 Woodland Cemetery $0.38

Tokens Used 11

Eldrazi Spawn
Faerie
Food
Goat
Insect
Pest
Saproling
Snake
Treasure
Worm
Zombie

EDH BRACKET

1
Exhibition
2
Core
3
Upgraded
4
Optimized
5
cEDH
Bracket 2 // Core

The average current preconstructed deck.

  • No Mass Land Denial
  • No Chaining Extra Turns
  • No 2-Card Infinite Combos
  • No Game Changers
  • Few Tutors
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