Wilhelt, the Rotcleaver | Tribal / Aristocrats / Combo - The Brewery [S07E02]

Wilhelt is quite possibly the best commander for a zombie tribal deck because you can overlap the tribal archetype (fairly well since zombies are a vastly supported tribal) along with the aristocrat archetype. Then, with cards that work well on their own but provide infinite combos for the win when assembled together. So the deck has plenty of avenues to get the win.
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[@jacobestrada1399]

Awesome deck list! I personally prefer Varina because she gives you access to Wayward Servant and Corpse Knight and her looting ability lets you draw into combo pieces very quickly. But Wilhelt is definitely a strong commander. Plus he has cool artwork. Innistrad is such a cool plane.

[@TheCommanderTavern]

Thanks! Glad you liked it! Varina is definitely another amazing zombie tribal commander. But what I love about Wilhelt over Varina is (even though you lose access to white), you have strict game-ending combo potential right in the command zone.

[@thewhitestallion7824]

I have him as the helm of my zombie tribal aristocrat deck and I've built it in a way to where I always have 5-7 cards in hand with draw. It is a great combo deck for a casual table!

[@TheCommanderTavern]

For sure!

[@taa347]

Sacrificing a 7/7 to Gisa would make 7 2/2 zombies, not 7 7/7 zombies

[@DarkEinherjar]

I run Mikaeus the Unhallowed in my Wilhelt deck. Even without his usual combo pieces, giving undying to all of my other zombies means I get twice as much value when they die. I even add Putrid Goblin for persist/undying shenanigans with Mikaeus while still remaining on the tribal theme (zombies with persist/undying are always good with Wilhelt anyway).

[@TheCommanderTavern]

Nice! Mikaeus is definitely an allstar in zombie and aristocrat decks, so it's definitely exception here. Excellent suggestion!

[@DarkEinherjar]

Aside from Empty the Laboratory, Polymorph effects work great, converting those decayed tokens into better zombies from the deck. I'm currently experimenting with Proteus Staff.

[@TheCommanderTavern]

Sounds interesting!

[@DorianTheReaper]

I cut down on the tribal cards a bit. I just focussed on the whole sacrificing zombies theme and draining people for a ton through diregraf captain type effects. Dictate of erebos is good too, acererak and rooftop storm and gravecrawler and phyrexian altar do rlly well in this deck

[@TheCommanderTavern]

Yeah, you can definitely just dedicate Wilhelt to be purely stax and combo. That's what I love so much about this card: the versatility. It's not just another tribal commander.

[@DorianTheReaper]

@@TheCommanderTavern me too, its my second ever commander deck and the first one i actually tried rlly hard to make it good. I've playtested a lot and even switched out wilhelt as commander in favor of scarab god. I quickly reversed that decision tho. At first i wanted nothing more than to make a lot of big zombie tokens, give them keywords and attack. Stuff like Ghoulcaller Gisa was what i wanted to play. I kinda ran into a wall with that strategy tho, i noticed i almost never used wilhelt's sacrifice ability. Furthermore attacking with decayed tokens just feels bad so i was like okay let's make that decayed ability into an advantage. They might not be able to block but it's rlly easy to have them die so blood artist and dictate of erebos really shine with that. Since i have phyrexian arena and dreadhorde invasion i also decided to put whip of erebos so i have even more life gain. It turns out that this strategy is rlly durable. It also enables infinite combos which i kind of hesitate to use because i dont think its fun to end every game by turn 6.

[@TheCommanderTavern]

@@DorianTheReaper Same thing happened when I was testing my deck. I found that all I really needed was the lords and not a lot of other fluff zombies. I shifted more towards stax and combo. The improvement was palpable.

[@jamesrenegade1010]

Could you send me your deck listing mate?

[@TheCommanderTavern]

@@jamesrenegade1010 The link to the decklist is in the description.

[@crovax1375]

I've just put together Wilham too! (or whatever the name was) I'm testing out Mystic Reflection in mine just to see how it does. In magic Christmas land I'm hoping to make something like 13 Undead Warchiefs. But even if I get a decayed token creature upgraded, or disrupt an opponent, I'm sure it will be fine

[@TheCommanderTavern]

Oof!! Multiplying Undead Warchiefs is definitely the dream!

[@gonz22]

Coming back to this, and it’s the perfect list for what I need! With some budget changes ofc lol. So many wilhelt decks don’t focus on the lords. I was wondering why you didn’t choose any dedicated reanimating instants/sorceries? Great video

[@TheCommanderTavern]

Thanks! Glad you like it so much! I don't run that many reanimation effects because you can already overrun the table with large zombies fairly easily. Also, you can already rebuild the board much faster than your opponents after a boardwipe. So I feel like the slots are better spent with more protection or interaction rather than reanimation.

[@stephanhasenberg7783]

Poppet stitcher also goes good with blasting station and don't forget about altar of dementia and tutors tutors tutors

[@TheCommanderTavern]

It's been some time since I decided to purposefully cut down on tutors in my decks (especially tutors that can search for any card). But that's just a personal preference, naturally anyone can include as many tutors as they want in their own decks.

[@sheldonadams2847]

Tombstone Stairwell is insane w this commander

[@TheCommanderTavern]

A couple of people have already commented that but it requires a lot of setup. You need to have enough creatures in your graveyard for it to be worth it. Especially since your opponents get zombies too if they have creatures in their graveyard. But you're the only one paying the cumulative upkeep cost. I had it in the deck when I started tested it and wasn't convinced by it at all. So I took it out.

[@zedekiahcrockett4016]

Fun decklist! Definitely want to try a lot of these cards in my list. What do you think about replacing Gravespawn Sovereign with Havengul Lich? It costs one less mana, and let’s you cast from every graveyard. Gravespawn CAN pop off if you have a board, but topdecking or low on zombies Lich might have better value.

[@TheCommanderTavern]

Thanks! Glad you liked it! You can definitely add Havengul Lich if you wanted to. I don't think I'd cut Gravespawn Sovereign for it, though. That card does an insane amount of work here. Sure, it can be a bit a slow, but it's not like you're taking this deck to a competitive table ;)

[@jayjayhooksch1]

I've watched a lot of videos on wilhelt and I think your list most closely resembles what I have in my mind. The main difference being that I want a few less of the Lord's and a few more combo pieces. It's been awhile since you did this video, have you updated the list at all? Would love to see where you are at with it these days.

[@TheCommanderTavern]

Thanks! Glad you liked it! I'd have to revisit it. Not many sets have come out since then with zombies in them. If I were to add anything - off the top of my head - possibly An Offer You Can't Refuse just because it's a 1-cost counterspell.

[@mandielyn0416]

This is my current casual deck

[@TheCommanderTavern]

Nice! How's it running?

[@DarkEinherjar]

Since you mentioned the countermagic pack, it's important to remember the standard blue drawing pack of Rhystic Study and Mystic Remora. Also, Sidisi, Undead Vizier for tutoring.

[@TheCommanderTavern]

I don't feel like every blue deck needs to run Rhystic Study and Mystic Remora. That's just my opinion but I'd rather either draw synergistically throughout a game or draw a ton of cards with an X-draw instant spell. They're still good cards, but I'd rather play them in stax decks than any other blue deck.

[@colinsheffieldpharm.d.8931]

Nice! that is some added Fire! So Where would Tombstone Stairwell fit into this? is it too slow?

[@TheCommanderTavern]

Thanks! I considered it, but it didn't perform as well as I expected. It's slow if you don't have enough creatures in your graveyard and there're much better ways of getting zombies to then reuse with Wilhelt.

[@gohengcheong7097]

Not much sac outlet to benefit grave pact and dictate thou. Wonder if there are other recommended sac outlet beside phyrexian altar?

[@TheCommanderTavern]

Wilhelt is already a sacrifice outlet in the command zone (end of turn trigger). Plus he creates zombie tokens with decayed, which is a built-in sacrifice effect keyword.

[@gohengcheong7097]

@@TheCommanderTavern thanks! Will be forming a zombie tribal! Can trigger between wilhelt or gringrim

[@TheCommanderTavern]

@@gohengcheong7097 Nice!

[@stevegoudreau7973]

Carrion feeder, ashnod's altar, blasting station, viscera seer, grimgrin, Yawgmoth, thran physician, altar of dementia, are all good sac outlets that can be used without paying per sac.

[@TheCommanderTavern]

@@stevegoudreau7973 All useful suggestions!

[@davidblass3767]

I think I’d rather have god eternal Bontu and kefnet in the deck rather than Erebos and gravespawn sovereign. Both gods are also considered zombies, and they also have decent effects for getting off extra spells and sacking more zombies.

[@TheCommanderTavern]

Those are still decent suggestions as well. But I'd still keep Erebos for the card draw and Gravespawn Sovereign for the free reanimation.

[@davidblass3767]

@@TheCommanderTavern that’s true, but in the case of Erebos, he’s not a zombie, and can’t be a target for a lot of the beneficial abilities in the deck like all of the lords buffing the creatures. Plus, in kefnet’s case, he can also act as a flying beat stick.

[@TheCommanderTavern]

@@davidblass3767 Not every creature needs to be a zombie, though. Either way, I don't really have to worry about Erebos anyways because of the indestructible. The indestructible might seem like a nice bonus but it's super useful.

[@beliffywu5804]

raise the palisade is good in this deck

[@TheCommanderTavern]

100%

[@karimgrygiel5267]

I have a Wilhelt liste myself but i don't like Acererak in it because by himself he is too slow, you are paying 3 mana to venture and I feel it's to much. i like when my combo pieces are good by themself and I feel Acererak is lackluster . Popett stitcher is very good tought.

[@TheCommanderTavern]

Acererak is definitely a bit slow on its own. But you can still use it to venture through Tomb of the Archlich, it'll then be a zombie that creates zombies on attack. But it's potentially a cut if you were to need to find a slot for a better card.

[@RazielNightfall]

Only problems I see is low draw cards and very high cmc. This might be fun at a low power pod with no aggro players, but once you sit down with a fast aggro player (goblins & elves) plus someone with control/counter cards the high cmc will hurt.

[@TheCommanderTavern]

Yes, this is meant to be a bit more casual since it prioritizes tribal versus combo and aristocrats, so it's meant to be more midrange. No tribe will ever outpace goblins nor elves, so that's not a fair bar to gauge other tribal decks to. Also, goblins and elves - if fast enough - can beat combo decks before they go off anyways.

[@thewhitestallion7824]

I run cards that take advantage of the sac triggers from decayed zombies. For example, smothering abomination, species specialist, dark prophecy and undead augr are great ways to refill your hand for sub optimal decayed tokens.

[@TheCommanderTavern]

@@thewhitestallion7824 All great suggestions!

[@kenny040993]

Where is Gray Merchant and massive reanimation spells?

[@TheCommanderTavern]

My deck isn't dependent on reanimation but on comboing off. Had I gone in that direction, then those cards would've definitely been in here. Gray Merchant of Asphodel in particular is actually not that good in this deck since most of the permanents in play are tokens and thus my devotion to black wasn't ever that high.

[@Moonwake534]

I’ve watched too many undead unleashed upgrades 💀💀💀

[@TheCommanderTavern]

While the precon seems to be the better of the 4, most of the cards I mention here aren't from the precon, so at least it wasn't too much like another "precon upgrade" video for you to watch :P

[@Sucrose_Mother]

You forgot the Mikaeus & triskelion combo 🥺

[@TheCommanderTavern]

I didn't want to add it since that can go in any deck with black. Plus, Triskelion doesn't do anything on its own here. I'd rather slot in something like Necroduality, which got release in the following set (Crimson Vow) than Triskelion.

[@korymov]

Ghoulcaller Gisa only makes 2/2 zombies unfortunately.

[@TheCommanderTavern]

Yes, but if the 2/2 zombie token you sacrificed was 7/7 because of the lords pumping it, then the seven 2/2's she creates will also be 7/7 for the same reason.

[@korymov]

@@TheCommanderTavern Oh ok, gotcha. I thought you meant a zombie with base power 7. Yeah, that's a good play.

[@TheCommanderTavern]

@@korymov No worries! I should've been more specific that you're sacrificing a pumped zombie and thus your zombie tokens are also pumped. But yeah, that's the gist of maximizing the use out of Gisa's ability.

[@kylemacgillivary5577]

Thematically I love Endless Ranks of the Dead, but it's such a trap of a card and so bad.

[@TheCommanderTavern]

I know! But if there were one place to run it, it would be in Commander.

[@beliffywu5804]

endless ranks of undead is too slow. easy cut

[@TheCommanderTavern]

Sure, cut it if you want.

[@giovannivsc8411]

Only 2 tousand Dolars, cheap

[@TheCommanderTavern]

Prices change every day (mostly trending upwards) and this video was released over 2yrs ago. Not only that, but this is not a channel dedicated to budget decks.

[@beliffywu5804]

lucille is terrible 6 mana to equipped at artifact that creats 1 token on attack. ew

[@TheCommanderTavern]

Sure, cut it if you want.

[@veganpork7601]

decklist pretty shit ngl. this is the only list I've seen that's happy to include huge six, seven drops and expensive sorceries without thinking about how much value you actually get out of it. yikes.

[@TheCommanderTavern]

To each their own 🤷‍♂