Despite the endless number of different directions to take your Commander deck, some of the oldest strategies remain the most powerful. Thanks to getting massive creatures into play ahead of time, reanimator decks have been part of MTG since the beginning. While there are plenty of Reanimator Commanders you can put in your Command Zone, very few are capable of resurrecting everything in your graveyard at once. Balthor the Defiled, however, can do exactly this, despite seeing little to no play.
MTG Balthor, the Defiled
Originating from all the way back in Judgment, Balthor, the Defiled grants its user a Commander that can resurrect your entire graveyard on impact. Even though you need to spend seven mana to do this, having access to a repeatable mass resurrection effect gives you a very strong, unified game plan. Sadly, the Minion buff isn’t super relevant, but, thankfully, you don’t really need it.
To maximize Balthor, the first thing you need to do to set up Balthor for success is get massive haymakers into your graveyard. This is easily accomplished with repeatable mill tools like Ripples of Undeath and Doom Whisperer, which can fill your graveyard and sculpt your hand at the same time. Of course, graveyard tutors like Entomb and Buried Alive can dump haymakers directly into your graveyard.
When it comes to massive haymakers to resurrect, Balthor is spoilt for choice. Razaketh, the Foulblooded, Archon of Cruelty, and Vilis, Broker of Blood can easily pull ahead on a massive board. Since you’re going wide, even smaller creatures like Ayara, First of Lochtwain that create incidental value for your deck can be good to get into the graveyard.
Sadly, even if you get your haymakers into the graveyard, casting Balthor and activating his ability is still mana-intensive. Fortunately, Mono-black has some powerful ramp elements, such as Crypt Ghast, K’rrik, Son of Yawgmoth, and Cabal Stronghold, that can help bridge the gap.
While this creates a strong and consistent game plan, using Balthor, the Defiled comes with a catch. This card will reanimate your opponent’s black and red creatures, too, which can muddy the waters a bit. If you’re truly all-in on your reanimation strategy, this shouldn’t be an issue, since you’ll always get more value than your opponents. That said, you can run cards like Leyline of the Void and Soul-Guide Lantern if you’re worried about breaking parity. This also makes creature-based Edict effects like Fleshbag Marauder and Plaguecrafter more interesting, since they can act as interaction that removes your opponent’s creatures again on resurrection.
Infinite Mana By Resurrection
If reanimating a massive board of creatures isn’t enough to win games of Commander at your table, you can instead turn to a series of infinite combos that Balthor, the Defiled can resurrect. Using cards like Buried Alive, you can dump various combinations of creatures into the graveyard that can win the game instantly. Warren Soultrader, Gravecrawler and Blood Artist, for example, will drain the table. Since Warren Soultrader is a Zombie, you can repeatedly sacrifice Gravecrawler and recast it, using the Treasure Token that Soultrader makes. This will trigger Blood Artist infinite times, draining the table. You can also run some infinite life drain combos that only use creatures, like Bloodthirsty Conqueror and Vito, Thorn of the Dusk Rose that Balthor can resurrect from nowhere.
Sadly, executing infinite combos with Balthor itself isn’t something you can do in mono-black, but it is possible in Golgari. Using Dual Nature and a creature that creates two black mana, like Blood Vassal, you can create infinite black mana using resurrection loops. To pull this off, you need to cast Balthor, the Defiled after Dual Nature is already in play, causing it to trigger. After putting the original copy of Balthor in the graveyard due to the Legend Rule, sacrifice your Blood Vassal for mana. From there, activate your token Balthor’s ability, bringing back your original Balthor and Blood Vassal. Dual Nature will create copies of both creatures, allowing you to put Balthor into the graveyard and repeat the loop.
Underplayed, But Expensive
Whether you decide to use Balthor, the Defiled to resurrect big haymakers or infinite combo combinations, the Commander does offer an extremely consistent gameplan. Thanks to the card’s lack of play, there’s a good chance it’ll be a unique brew for your Commander pod, too. There are only 841 Commander lists for this card according to EDHREC, which gives you plenty of opportunity to surprise your opponents.
Sadly, unlike many strong, forgotten Commanders, Balthor is not cheap. While you can find damaged copies of the card for as little as $9.89, you’ll typically be paying around $10-12 for this Commander. While that’s far from a budget option, Balthor will certainly perform up to his price point. Even resolving his effect once should put your opponents in a world of hurt.
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