Hey fellow brewers! Welcome back to the ThemEDH brewing lab for another “Theory Brew”! Today, we’re we’re going to be weaving a narrative of magical mishap and monstrous creation straight from the halls of Strixhaven University. Our story centers on two promising students, the Witherbloom dryad Dina and the Silverquill Killian Lu, whose powerful but divergent magics accidentally birth a terrifying entity – a colossal swamp creature we’re representing with the formidable Abzan commander, The Necrobloom.
My own fascination with Strixhaven began with its incredibly rich lore and the unique magical philosophies of its five colleges. The idea of students from rival schools, their energies clashing with unforeseen consequences, felt like a perfect setup for a compelling Commander deck. I’d seen The Necrobloom in play, a relentless engine of landfall and tokens, and wondered if its somewhat sparse official lore could be a canvas for a more intricate story. That’s when the tale of Dina and Killian from “The Chains That Bind” sparked this decks beginning. Its a story of ambition, forbidden magic, and a monstrous birth. This brew is my attempt to capture that dramatic arc, every card a piece of the puzzle, showing how good intentions and powerful magic can sometimes lead to… well, a Blight on the campus!
This Abzan (White/Black/Green) saga aims to bring that story to life at your Commander table, focusing on fun, flavor, and creative card choices that evoke the narrative. And, in true ThemEDH fashion, we’ve meticulously crafted this tale while keeping the total cost just under our $50 budget, currently clocking in at $49.97!
What We Did & Why We Did It
The goal for this $50 ThemEDH project was to translate a specific Strixhaven story – Dina and Killian’s accidental creation of a swamp monster – into a playable Commander experience. It’s about each card contributing to the narrative of these students, their colleges, their mentors, and the terrifying but fascinating entity they unleash.
We’ve centered the deck around The Necrobloom as the “colossal living swamp creature with a dark heart.” Its landfall ability (creating Plants, then Zombies as its power grows from diverse lands) and its dredge ability (drawing sustenance from the earth/graveyard) closely mirror the monster’s description in the lore. Our key protagonists, Dina, Soul Steeper and Killian, Ink Duelist, are in the 99, their abilities reflecting their Witherbloom and Silverquill magical styles, respectively. The Abzan color identity allows us to fully represent both students, their colleges (Witherbloom {B}{G} and Silverquill {W}{B}), and the Green aspect of the monstrous, overgrown creation.
The Soul of the Saga: Overarching Themes
Before we dive into specific card choices, let’s revisit the thematic pillars that guided th7is brew, reflecting the magical and narrative essence of our Strixhaven story:
- The Accidental Creation: The birth and growth of The Necrobloom as the central “monster,” a product of clashing Witherbloom and Silverquill magics.
- Dina’s Witherbloom Magic: Her connection to life, death, Pests, fungi, druidic rituals, and the potent, sometimes dangerous, magic of nature.
- Killian’s Silverquill Influence: His mastery of ink magic, eloquent pronouncements, targeted spells, emotional volatility leading to uncontrolled power, and the inspiring (or intimidating) presence of Silverquill artistry, often represented by +1/+1 counters.
- The Collision & Confluence: The Abzan colors representing the merging of these distinct magical traditions and the chaotic, powerful results.
- Strixhaven’s Environment: The presence and influence of faculty like Professor Onyx, Deans Valentin & Lisette, and even the Elder Dragons Beledros Witherbloom and Shadrix Silverquill, alongside other students and campus elements.
- Key Mechanics as Storytelling: Landfall (the monster’s growth from the land), Life Gain (Witherbloom’s essence manipulation), Magecraft (students honing their spells), Tokens (Pests, Plants, Zombies, Inklings as magical byproducts or minions), +1/+1 Counters (empowerment, growth), Recursion (the cycle of life and death), and Sacrifice (Witherbloom’s costly rituals).
Thematic Deep Dive: Strixhaven’s Story, Card by Card
Here’s where we see how individual cards bring our “Accidental Monster” narrative to life, focusing on the characters and story beats.
The Students & Their Colleges
At the heart of our story are Dina and Killian, students whose distinct magical backgrounds set the stage for disaster and, eventually, cooperation.
- Dina, Soul Steeper: Our Witherbloom protagonist. Her drive to understand life and death is represented by her life gain payoffs and sacrifice abilities.
- Her affinity for Pests and specimens: Hunt for Specimens, Festering Newt (her “salamander-like pest”), and the Pests created by many Witherbloom-themed cards.
- Her tools and rituals: Bubbling Cauldron (synergizing with her Newt), Nature’s Spiral (the very symbol she uses in her ritual, for recursion), and Druidic Ritual (milling and recursion). Her interest in fungi is represented by the mana-dorking, token-generating Undercellar Myconid.
- Witherbloom life magic: Jaddi Offshoot and Druid Class provide life from the land.
- Killian, Ink Duelist: The Silverquill scion, his magic is precise, impactful, and sometimes dangerously volatile. His cost-reduction ability makes many of our targeted spells exceptionally efficient.
- His ink magic & oratory: Lash of Malice (a sharp, dark spell), Blot Out the Sky (a catastrophic ink swarm), Silverquill Command (versatile pronouncements), Closing Statement (a decisive, final word), and Exhilarating Elocution (inspiring rhetoric that buffs the team).
- His personal tool: Poet’s Quill, granting lifelink and Learn.
- His protective instincts/growth: Beaming Defiance.
The Faculty & Elder Influences
The academic and ancient powers of Strixhaven play their part, knowingly or not.
- Professor Onyx: Her Magecraft fuels life gain/drain, and her +1 ability (card selection & self-mill) helps stock our graveyard for The Necrobloom or recursion. Her classroom was where Dina found a key ingredient.
- Valentin, Dean of the Vein // Lisette, Dean of the Root: The Witherbloom deans showcase the college’s duality. Valentin provides early lifelink, graveyard hate, and Pests. Lisette is a powerful life gain payoff, turning vitality into +1/+1 counters and trample for your army.
- The Elder Dragons:
- Beledros Witherbloom: A massive engine, creating Pests every upkeep and offering a powerful (if costly) land untap ability. A prime target for our Fearsome Awakening, which brings her back as a 6/6 flyer!
- Shadrix Silverquill: A political and value-generating powerhouse, offering choices of Inklings, card draw, or team-wide +1/+1 counters each combat. Also an excellent Fearsome Awakening target, becoming a 4/5 flying double-striker.
The Ritual, The Accident, The Monster
The core of our story: forbidden magic, unforeseen consequences, and a terrifying creation.
- Forbidden Knowledge & Tools: Grimoire of the Dead stands as the dangerous tome Dina uses, slowly “studied” to unleash a massive reanimation. Spell Satchel is Dina’s personal item, accumulating “book counters” from spells to provide mana or card draw. Arcane Encyclopedia represents general Strixhaven research.
- The Uncontrolled Outburst:
- Pest Infestation: A scalable X-spell that destroys artifacts/enchantments and unleashes a swarm of Pests, representing Witherbloom magic running rampant.
- Culling Ritual: A powerful Witherbloom spell that clears away small permanents (including tokens, whose death triggers our life gain) and generates a massive burst of mana for a follow-up play.
- The Monster – The Necrobloom: Our commander. Its landfall ability creates an ever-growing board of Plants and then Zombies. Its dredge ability allows it to pull sustenance (lands) from the grave, fueling further landfall. Ancient Lumberknot thematically ties to the sentient trees of the bog and mechanically turns The Necrobloom (2/7) into a 7-damage attacker.
Consequences & Desperate Measures
The students must react to the chaos and protect themselves.
- Protective Magic:
- Rootborn Defenses: Thematically represents Dina protecting Killian with tree roots, granting indestructibility and populating a token.
- Sheltering Word: Provides hexproof and life gain, a “sheltering word” from either Dina’s nature magic or Killian’s protective rhetoric.
- Dark Dabbling: Regeneration that can save the team, representing Dina’s “dark dabbling” for restorative purposes.
- Infuse with Vitality: Directly depicts Dina saving Killian, offering recursion and life gain.
- Rush of Vitality & Alchemist’s Gift: Cheap, versatile instants providing lifelink (for synergies) or deathtouch/indestructibility.
- Dealing with Threats:
- Mortify, Path to Exile, Petrify, Closing Statement, and Defend the Campus provide a suite of targeted removal for creatures, artifacts, enchantments, and planeswalkers.
- Deadly Brew & Witherbloom Command offer flexible removal and value.
- The Grand Response: Inkshield, our big budget splurge, represents a massive Silverquill defensive maneuver, turning an opponent’s all-out attack into a victorious army of Inklings.
Essential Magical Arts
Staple effects any Strixhaven student would value.
- Ramp & Fixing: Sol Ring, Arcane Signet, Fellwar Stone provide crucial acceleration. Cultivate and our land base (featuring duals like Caves of Koilos, Fetid Heath, Isolated Chapel, Llanowar Wastes, Woodland Cemetery, filter lands, and campuses) ensure our Abzan colors are accessible.
- Card Draw & Manipulation: Plumb the Forbidden is an explosive draw spell with sacrifice synergies. Crushing Disappointment (Killian’s angst yielding insight), Spell Satchel, and Arcane Encyclopedia provide card flow.
The Decklist – Strixhaven’s Shadow ($49.97)
(Prices provided by brewer, reflecting TCGPlayer Market or similar at time of brewing, May 2025. Prices will fluctuate.)
Commander
- The Necrobloom – $0.47
Creatures (19)
- Festering Newt – $0.19
- Jaddi Offshoot – $0.20
- Tormented Hero – $0.20
- Valentin, Dean of the Vein // Lisette, Dean of the Root – $0.57
- Dina, Soul Steeper – $0.25
- Killian, Ink Duelist – $0.43
- Witherbloom Apprentice – $0.35
- Callous Bloodmage – $0.39
- Faeburrow Elder – $0.50
- Sedgemoor Witch – $1.82
- Undercellar Myconid – $0.20
- Veinwitch Coven – $0.65
- Accomplished Alchemist – $0.49
- Ancient Lumberknot – $0.25
- Felisa, Fang of Silverquill – $0.60
- Tenured Inkcaster – $0.19
- Witherbloom Pledgemage – $0.17
- Shadrix Silverquill – $0.68
- Beledros Witherbloom – $4.99
Planeswalker (1)
- Professor Onyx – $1.34
Instants (14)
- Alchemist’s Gift – $0.18
- Lash of Malice – $0.15
- Path to Exile – $0.99
- Beaming Defiance – $0.16
- Infuse with Vitality – $0.20
- Plumb the Forbidden – $0.75
- Rush of Vitality – $0.20
- Sheltering Word – $0.25
- Dark Dabbling – $0.20
- Mortify – $0.25
- Rootborn Defenses – $0.25
- Crushing Disappointment – $0.20
- Closing Statement – $0.20
- Inkshield – $7.06
Sorceries (15)
- Essence Infusion – $0.15
- Hunt for Specimens – $0.19
- Inkling Summoning – $0.15
- Nature’s Spiral – $0.20
- Deadly Brew – $0.25
- Druidic Ritual – $0.15
- Witherbloom Command – $0.78
- Cultivate – $0.62
- Blot Out the Sky – $0.76
- Culling Ritual – $0.79
- Exhilarating Elocution – $0.15
- Silverquill Command – $0.26
- Fearsome Awakening – $0.27
- Pest Infestation – $1.29
- Primal Command – $0.25
Artifacts (8)
- Sol Ring – $1.36
- Poet’s Quill – $0.27
- Bubbling Cauldron – $0.20
- Arcane Signet – $0.47
- Fellwar Stone – $0.69
- Spell Satchel – $0.20
- Arcane Encyclopedia – $0.20
- Grimoire of the Dead – $0.63
Enchantments (4)
- Petrify – $0.20
- Druid Class – $2.09
- Sparring Regimen – $0.25
- Blight Mound – $1.99
Lands (38)
- Caves of Koilos – $0.66
- Command Tower – $0.25
- Deceptive Landscape – $0.20
- Evolving Wilds – $0.19
- Exotic Orchard – $0.25
- Fetid Heath – $1.09
- 9 Forest – $0.90 (total for 9)
- Isolated Chapel – $0.51
- Llanowar Wastes – $0.75
- 6 Plains – $0.78 (total for 6)
- Silverquill Campus – $0.20
- Sungrass Prairie – $0.25
- 6 Swamp – $0.78 (total for 6)
- Tainted Field – $0.25
- Tainted Wood – $0.25
- Terramorphic Expanse – $0.20
- Twilight Mire – $0.65
- Viridescent Bog – $0.26
- Witherbloom Campus – $0.24
- Woodland Cemetery – $0.53
View decklist on Moxfield.
Deck Breakdown & How It Wins
The Commander: The Necrobloom: Our 5-mana Abzan Plant is the heart of the “accidental monster.” Its landfall ability is our primary token engine, creating 0/1 Plants, which then upgrade to 2/2 Zombies once we control seven or more lands with different names – a mini-game representing the monster growing in power as it consumes or corrupts more of the land. The crucial “Land cards in your graveyard have dredge 2” ability allows us to recur lands for more landfall triggers, fill our graveyard for other synergies, and ensure we hit our land drops.
Core Mechanics & Engines:
- Landfall & Lands Matter: With The Necrobloom, every land drop is value. Druid Class (especially Level 1 & 2 for life gain and an additional land drop) and Jaddi Offshoot provide life gain on landfall. Witherbloom Command and Druidic Ritual help recur lands to hand, while Cultivate ramps us.
- Life Gain & Payoffs: This is a massive theme. Incidental life gain from landfall (Druid Class, Jaddi Offshoot), Magecraft triggers (Professor Onyx, Witherbloom Apprentice, Witherbloom Pledgemage), Pests dying, and lifelinking spells/equipment fuels:
- Dina, Soul Steeper: Weaponizes every life gain tick into direct damage to opponents.
- Lisette, Dean of the Root: Turns life gain into team-wide +1/+1 counters and trample.
- Veinwitch Coven: Allows creature recursion for a mere {B} per life gain trigger.
- Accomplished Alchemist: Converts a big turn of life gain into a massive mana burst.
- Magecraft Engine: A hefty suite of 29 Instants and Sorceries consistently triggers Professor Onyx, Witherbloom Apprentice, Witherbloom Pledgemage, and charges up Spell Satchel. Many of these spells also provide protection, removal, or card draw, making them valuable in their own right.
- Token Army: Beyond The Necrobloom’s Plants and Zombies, we create:
- Pests (highly synergistic life gain on death) via Sedgemoor Witch, Beledros Witherbloom, Blight Mound, Hunt for Specimens, Valentin, and Pest Infestation.
- Inklings (evasive flyers) via Shadrix Silverquill, Blot Out the Sky, Inkling Summoning (as a Lesson), and Felisa.
- Saprolings via Undercellar Myconid.
- +1/+1 Counters Matter: A developing subtheme with Lisette, Felisa, Tenured Inkcaster, Sparring Regimen, and buff spells like Essence Infusion, Exhilarating Elocution, and Closing Statement.
- Recursion & Resilience: Veinwitch Coven, Nature’s Spiral, Druidic Ritual, Silverquill Command (for small creatures), Fearsome Awakening (especially for our Dragons), and the ultimate Grimoire of the Dead ensure our key pieces can return from the grave.
- Sacrifice for Value: Plumb the Forbidden, Deadly Brew, Bubbling Cauldron, and Dina herself allow us to convert our many tokens (especially Pests) into significant advantages. Culling Ritual takes this to an extreme, potentially generating huge mana.
Win Conditions:
- Token Overwhelm: Amass a huge board of Plants, Zombies, Pests, and Inklings, then pump them with Lisette, Exhilarating Elocution, or Shadrix for a massive alpha strike.
- Aristocratic Drain: Use Dina, Professor Onyx, Witherbloom Apprentice, and Tenured Inkcaster to steadily drain opponents’ life totals through life gain, Magecraft, and combat with counter-laden creatures.
- Commander Damage: While The Necrobloom starts as a 2/7, Ancient Lumberknot can turn it into a 7-damage attacker. Buffs from other sources can also make commander damage a viable route.
- Elder Dragon Power: Hard casting or reanimating Beledros Witherbloom or Shadrix Silverquill can quickly take over a game with their powerful abilities and combat presence. Beledros generating four Pests a turn cycle or Shadrix giving your team +1/+1 counters each combat is immense.
- The Big Finishers: A massive X-spell like Pest Infestation or Blot Out the Sky fueled by mana from Accomplished Alchemist or Beledros. The ultimate ability of Grimoire of the Dead reanimating all creatures from all graveyards. A surprise Inkshield turning a lethal attack into a victorious swarm of Inklings.
Lore, Flavor & Fun
This deck isn’t just about Abzan value; it’s an interactive narrative centered on Strixhaven’s darker corners and the consequences of ambitious magic:
- The Central Tragedy: Every game plays out the “accidental monster” story, with The Necrobloom as your ever-present, growing creation.
- Student Life: Cards like Poet’s Quill on Killian, Spell Satchel for Dina’s components, or Crushing Disappointment capturing Killian’s angst make their student experiences tangible.
- Faculty Intervention: The Deans and Professor Onyx aren’t just powerful cards; they are the authority figures whose influence (or negligence, in Onyx’s case regarding the Esis root) shapes the story.
- Callback Moments: Rootborn Defenses directly echoes Dina protecting Killian with roots. Nature’s Spiral is the very symbol she uses in her ritual. These deep cuts make playing the deck a richer experience.
- The “Monster Mash”: Watching The Necrobloom churn out tokens while Pests from Beledros or Sedgemoor Witch join the fray, all potentially buffed by Lisette or Blight Mound, is a Witherbloom dream (or nightmare for your opponents!).
Playing this deck is about embracing the chaos of creation, leveraging the potent life-death magic of Witherbloom, and wielding the sharp, impactful artistry of Silverquill. It’s unique because it blends these college identities through the lens of a shared, catastrophic mistake, leading to a creature (The Necrobloom) that embodies aspects of all three Abzan colors in a monstrous, yet strangely beautiful, way.
Budget Breakdown
Crafting this intricate Strixhaven saga under $50, landing at $49.97, was a delightful challenge! The key was balancing a few pricier, high-impact mythics and rares that are central to the theme or mechanical engines (like Beledros Witherbloom at ~$5 and Inkshield at ~$7) with a vast array of incredibly cheap yet highly synergistic commons and uncommons. Many of our core engine pieces – the Magecraft creatures, Pest generators, life gain enablers, and utility spells – cost mere pennies, allowing for those impactful “splurge” cards that define the deck’s memorable moments.
Call for Feedback!
As always with our ThemEDH Theory Brews, this concept has been meticulously crafted from lore and mechanical synergy but is now ready to face the real test: your Commander tables! What are your thoughts on this Abzan “Accidental Monster” brew?
Does the theme of Dina and Killian’s magical mishap resonate? Are there any budget Abzan gems or Strixhaven-themed cards that perfectly capture a moment from “The Chains That Bind” that we might have overlooked? I’d love to hear your insights, suggestions, and gameplay experiences in the comments below!
Final Word from the Bayou
Are you ready to delve into forbidden Witherbloom rituals, wield the sharp ink of Silverquill, and command a monstrous creation born of their collision? The Necrobloom and its ever-growing legion await. Just remember, as Dina learned, even the best intentions can have… unexpected growths.
Thanks for stopping by ThemEDH, and happy brewing!
ThemEDH 
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