Published May 14, 2026, 3:30 PM EDT

That’s a lot of blood.

A $2 Magic card is a risky but essential upgrade for one of Strixhaven's best new decks

Image: Wizards of the Coast

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Magic: The Gathering 's Secrets of Strixhaven precons are all incredibly strong, but some rise above even their peers to be genuinely fantastic.

One of those is Witherbloom Pestilence , the Golgari (black-green) deck helmed by Dina, Essence Brewer . It’s a deck that can be built in a number of ways, leaning into sacrifice for card draw, lifelink synergies, and making creatures bigger.

Among the more enjoyable cards to plug into the deck is Wall of Blood . It’s a 0/2 defender with the text "Pay 1 life: Wall of Blood gets +1/+1 until end of turn." It’s not immediately obvious why you’d want a massive wall that can’t attack, but Dina's abilities make things pretty clear.

Essentially, you can pay a bunch of life at the start of your turn to add dozens of +1/+1 counters to the Wall of Blood.…