One of the coolest aspects of Commander is incorporating some underplayed or old designs that others may not be expecting. Seeing the look on your opponents’ faces when an unfamiliar monster hits the board is pure bliss, and it’s even more satisfying if that card ends up winning you the game.
Despite being a deadly combo payoff, one intriguing Zombie from Alara Reborn somehow continues to fly under the radar. This creature has plenty of utility even outside of combo kills, too, making it worthy of more recognition.
MTG Deathbringer Thoctar
Even though Deathbringer Thoctar costs six mana, it packs a big enough punch to make it worth the hefty mana cost. Once you get even a single +1/+1 counter on Deathbringer Thoctar, you can then start mowing down every one-toughness creature your opponents control. All you really need are some strong ways to start building up counters and Deathbringer Thoctar can become one of the most problematic threats on the battlefield.
The simplest way to get things rolling is to utilize sacrifice synergies. Prossh, Skyraider of Kher and Korvold, Fae-Cursed King serve as great Commander options that trigger Deathbringer Thoctar with ease. Of course, you can always just go after opposing creatures with generic kill spells to help grow this Zombie.
From there, having a consistent source of pinging is easily abusable. In Joel, Resolute Survivor and Ellie, Brick Master Partner shells, having a simple way to get rid of any creature tokens your opponents create is quite strong. Meanwhile, Deathbringer Thoctar is capable of growing Kazarov, Sengir Pureblood extremely fast.
When Deathbringer Thoctar is at its absolute best, though, is when you can pair it with any Deathtouch enabler. In conjunction with Zagras, Thief of Heartbeats, for example, Deathbringer Thoctar will be able to kill every single creature your opponents play.
Deathbringer Thoctar Combos
For those who want to take things to the next level, there are a variety of infinite combos you can execute with Deathbringer Thoctor in play. If you control a copy of Urban Daggertooth with a +1/+1 counter on it and Deathbringer Thoctar has at least two +1/+1 counters on it, you can start a chain of infinite Proliferation. Just activate Deathbringer Thoctar’s second ability targeting Urban Daggertooth, and both threats will grow. All your other creatures with +1/+1 counters on them will grow infinitely large in the process. You can even throw in a copy of Hardened Scales to ensure Deathbringer Thoctar grows infinitely large and can then deal infinite damage to each opponent.
Alternatively, playing Deathbringer Thoctar alongside Animation Module and Phyrexian Altar lets you deal infinite damage in a completely different way. By sacrificing any other creature, Deathrbinger Thoctar grows, triggering Animation Module. Then, after using your floating mana to make a 1/1 token, you can sacrifice that token to Phyrexian Altar again and repeat this process to make Deathbringer Thoctar infinitely large.
There are even combos you can pull off using Agatha’s Soul Cauldron that can be done on the cheap. In an Ob Nixilis, Captive Kingpin deck, all you need to do is get your Commander into play and Deathbringer Thoctar exiled with Cauldron. By putting a +1/+1 counter on Ob Nixilis, it’ll gain Deathbringer Thoctar’s abilities. This enables you to ping an opponent for one, which will in turn grow Ob Nixilis so you can do it all over again.
With so many cool uses, it’s surprising that Deathbringer Thoctar only sees play in 7,000 decks according to EDHREC. This card is only worth 50 cents, too, making it a bargain upgrade.
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