The 28 Best Witherbloom Cards in Secrets of Strixhaven Ranked

Last updated on April 24, 2026

Lluwen, Exchange Student | Illustration by Alix Branwyn

Green and black have a strong Constructed MTG tradition, with black’s powerful removal, green’s powerful threats, and catch-all BG answers.

Witherbloom wasn’t so flashy in the original Strixhaven set, but in Secrets of Strixhaven, Witherbloom is a powerful contender for the best school. It has some of the best “guild” cards, be it for Standard, Commander, or even other Eternal formats. And while infusion, Witherbloom’s set mechanic, encourages players to build lifegain decks, that’s only a small piece of the puzzle.

Let’s check out what BG gained from this new set, shall we?

What Are Witherbloom Cards in Secrets of Strixhaven?

Vicious Rivalry | Illustration by Chris Rallis

Witherbloom () cards in Secrets of Strixhaven are cards with the black and green color identity. These cards are from the Secrets of Strixhaven (SOS) set, the Secrets of Strixhaven Commander (o) set, as well as cards from the Secrets of Strixhaven Mystical Archive (oa). I’m only considering gold and hybrid cards, so I’m not considering cards that are only green or only black, or cards that have the Witherbloom watermark.

Best Reprints and Bonus Sheet Cards

#11. Deathcap Glade

Welcome back to Standard, Deathcap Glade. This cycle of lands is very strong, and they already see play in the formats where they're legal. It’s certainly going to be a Standard staple, too.

#10. Creakwood Liege

Creakwood Liege is a very good card when you have a lot of green and black creatures, and it even produces a black and green token, which will be a 3/3 with the static bonuses. Boosting your 1/1 Pests by +2/+2 is excellent, and the more gold/hybrid cards you have, the better. This card ends up finding a lot of homes, be it in proactive beatdown builds or in sacrifice decks.

#9. Culling Ritual

Culling Ritual is a nice, catch-all answer for low mana value cards. But it ramps you, too, and you’re not even sad if you lose some permanents. Sometimes, you’ll sweep the board of tokens and ramp into a big spell. The card sees play in many BG EDH decks. It appears in the Witherbloom Pestilence precon as well as the Mystical Archive bonus sheet.

#8. Witherbloom Command

Witherbloom Command offers four interesting modes for a green and black deck, and only at a 2-mana investment. Many times, you’ll get a two-for-one by sniping a small creature and a mana rock, or milling and getting a land back. With infusion as a mechanic, the ability to drain 2 life isn’t bad either.

#7. Wight of the Reliquary

Wight of the Reliquary is a very strong creature that has seen play ever since it appeared in Modern Horizons 3. You can have a sacrifice outlet and a landfall enabler in the same creature, and the more creatures you sacrifice, the stronger Wight becomes. It’s a staple in decks that produce tokens regularly, aristocrats, and zombie decks.

#6. Mortality Spear

Four mana to destroy a nonland permanent is quite expensive, but 2 is a steal. Mortality Spear is close to an auto-include in decks that can gain life consistently. Even as a 4-mana interactive spell, it’s not bad in casual EDH.

#5. Beledros Witherbloom

It’s only fair that Beledros Witherbloom is reprinted in Secrets of Strixhaven, and as an important part of the Witherbloom precon. It’s an excellent token generator that allows you to create tokens on each of your opponents’ turns, and considering that the Pests gain life, it’s an excellent infusion enabler, too.

#4. Assassin’s Trophy

Assassin's Trophy is a card that’s seen competitive play in many formats, including Eternal ones, and it’s currently legal in Standard. You can get rid of everything at instant speed, including problematic lands. In 1v1, giving your opponent an extra land is a huge price to pay, so it usually sees sideboard play at most. But in Commander, a huge percentage of green and black decks use this card as a catch-all answer.

#3. Casualties of War

Six mana is a lot, but Casualties of War delivers. Although this card saw some Standard play, EDH is the true home for expensive sorcery spells. You can realistically get a 5-for-1, and that scales very well in a Commander pod.

#2. Mazirek, Kraul Death Priest

Mazirek, Kraul Death Priest puts a +1/+1 counter on each creature you control whenever anyone sacrifices a permanent. You’ll grow your board as players sacrifice lands, treasures, food, or clues. It’s important that you play a lot of token makers and have +1/+1 counter synergies. Edicts are also strong with this card around.

#1. Gyome, Master Chef

The best reprints are often expensive cards, and Gyome, Master Chef is in the $15-20 range. This card is excellent because it gives you a Food token for each nontoken creature that entered, and that means lifegain, artifact synergies, and more. It’s easier to trigger infusion with this card around, and you can use Food tokens to protect your bombs, your commander, or what have you.

Best New Cards

#17. Bogwater Lumaret

Bogwater Lumaret is a little 2-drop that can be a nice infusion enabler or an infinite life combo piece. White usually gets a lot of these creatures, but green and black don’t (outside of Essence Warden). If there’s a green/black or Abzan () lifegain strategy, this card will probably be there.

#16. Teacher’s Pest

Reassembling Skeleton is annoying, and now we have a menace one that gains life when it attacks. Teacher's Pest is a solid synergy card that can help other infusion-related cards, or if you’re keen on sacrificing some creatures, you get another reassembling tool.

#15. Essenceknit Scholar

It’s harder to cast, but Essenceknit Scholar is a cool take on Morbid Opportunist, although one that only works on your turn. It’s also two creatures for one, so it already comes with its sacrifice fodder. And if your opponent blocks the Pest, you draw a card.

#14. Lluwen, Exchange Student

While not a powerhouse, I like that Lluwen, Exchange Student can cast many spells and produce many tokens by itself. Exile a creature, make a token, sacrifice another creature, exile it, make another token. If you have any engine that triggers whenever a card leaves the graveyard (Insidious Roots), or a prowess card, Lluwen can power that up, while it makes sacrifice fodder for more death triggers. It’s a synergy card that’s worth building around.

#13. Witherbloom Charm

Charms usually see play in Constructed, and Witherbloom Charm is no exception. I’d say the main mode for this is a Village Rites that can sacrifice any permanent, including tokens and lands. But you can also snipe a small nonland permanent, and you’ve paid 2 mana for this, so it’s an equal exchange. Gaining 5 life is often pretty bad, but sometimes you need to survive or need ways to trigger infusion.

#12. Mind Roots

Mind Rot isn’t that playable of an effect. But when you combine your opponent’s discard with a possible ramp effect, you get a very nice card. They either discard two spells or they ramp you. You’re not even that sad when they only have lands and discard them since you get one for free. It’s a potential sideboard card that can see maindeck play in discard decks (hello, Bandit's Talent).

#11. Eccentric Pestfinder

Eccentric Pestfinder has playable stats as a 5/5 trample creature for 4 mana. But if you can gain life consistently every turn, paying to make three Pests is a steal. You can do this with a card like Viscera Seer: Make three pests, sac one, gain 1 life, and the Pestfinder becomes prepared. Next turn, you pay , make three more, sac one, and so on. Many cards in MTG allow us to make three tokens, but you’re usually spending a card and 3+ mana to do that.

#10. Blech, Loafing Pest

Blex, Vexing Pest was an interesting take on a build-around from the last Strixhaven set. In Blech, Loafing Pest, we have another creature to carry its torch. You can build a different deck around Blech, focusing on the lifegain aspect, or unite them both. There’s the possibility of a Standard or Brawl deck, considering that sets like Bloomburrow added more playable bats to MTG, and they also have a lifegain theme. There’s also that other Standard, maligned spider set that can help Blech with the arachnids.

#9. Gorma, the Gullet

The main idea behind Gorma, the Gullet is that you can alpha strike your opponent and follow that up with smaller creatures that get a lot of +1/+1 counters, or you have a way to sacrifice many tokens in a single turn. Plus, it’s a 1/1 lifelinker that quickly grows over the course of a game.

#8. Cauldron of Essence

Cauldron of Essence combines a sacrifice outlet, a payoff, and a reanimator on the same card. That’s flexible enough to see play in many aristocrat decks, and depending on what you return from your graveyard, your opponents can lose a lot of life in a single turn (say, Hornet Queen with another free sacrifice outlet).

#7. Turbulent Fen

This new cycle of dual lands that count the opponents’ total lands has the makings of a staple cycle. Turbulent Fen will surely see play in many BGx decks in the years to come. Just one opponent playing some sort of ramp strategy ensures you’ll play this land untapped early in the game.

#6. Professor Dellian Fel

Professor Dellian Fel is an exciting new planeswalker for Golgari decks. Sometimes, you’ll activate the +2 and emblem it next turn to get a free Sanguine Bond. If you’re being attacked or burned, 3 life a turn helps a lot, and it also sets up future infusion plays. The other options are what you expect from a black planeswalker: Either you draw cards or you destroy creatures.

#5. Dina, Essence Brewer

Dina, Essence Brewer is the face of the Witherbloom Pestilence Commander precon, and it’s very strong with cards that have disproportionate power and toughness to their mana values. Dina can use cards like Rotting Regisaur or Daemogoth Titan to produce a stats monster right away, while you gain a bunch of life. Plus, you’re incentivized to sacrifice a creature every turn so that you’ll max on card draw.

#4. Witherbloom, the Balancer

Witherbloom, the Balancer is a really busted card, considering that it’s cheaper to cast if you have creatures, and your instants and sorceries receive the same mana discount. Untapping with this card means that you can win the game by casting a huge X-spell, some Tooth and Nail shenanigans, or sometimes go infinite with cards like Sprout Swarm.

#3. Dina’s Guidance

It’s an instant speed tutor that puts a card in your hand or graveyard to set up future reanimate turns. What’s not to like about Dina's Guidance? Most creature tutors don’t give you a creature in your hand right away, and this card can be a higher mana value replacement for Entomb.

#2. Immoral Bargain

Immoral Bargain is one of the best payoffs for having a bunch of sacrifice fodder. It’s like you want to cast Bone Splinters, but you can sacrifice any number of creatures and destroy any number of nonland permanents. Not quite a one-sided wrath, but it can feel like it as long as you have the creature fodder to sustain.

#1. Vicious Rivalry

Vicious Rivalry is like Pernicious Deed on a sorcery, mixed with Toxic Deluge. It’s nice that you can only get small creatures and attack with your big ones, and it’s a true wrath if you have a lot of life. And only for 4 mana at that. If you don’t want to spend life, sometimes a sweeper for 0-MV permanents is still strong in a token-heavy meta.

Wrap Up

Professor Dellian Fel | Illustration by Lie Setiawan

Witherbloom () looks very strong this time around, with a supported and cohesive theme. Many of its best cards are soon-to-be staples of MTG, and I wouldn’t be surprised if cards like Vicious Rivalry and Immoral Bargain don’t become EDH staples.

What do you think about the new Witherbloom cards, guys? Let me know in the comments section below. And for more Secrets of Strixhaven coverage, check out Draftsim’s YouTube channel, The Daily Upkeep.

Thanks for reading, and I’ll see you around.