Balthor the Defiled
Legendary Creature — Zombie Dwarf
Minion creatures get +1/+1.
, Exile Balthor: Each player returns all black and all red creature cards from their graveyard to the battlefield.
- CMC
- 4
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- B
- Rarity
- rare
- Set
- Judgment
- Price
- $12.36
- EDHREC rank
- #9000
Balthor the Defiled reanimates every black and red creature in every graveyard simultaneously — a table-wide effect that can refill your board from nothing for six mana, or win on the spot with the right setup. Pair it with Dual Nature and a sacrifice outlet and the enters-the-battlefield triggers alone close games; K'rrik, Son of Yawgmoth cuts that six-mana activation down to life payment, making the threat immediate.
Best Commanders
Commanders with the highest synergy
K'rrik, Son of Yawgmoth
K'rrik, Son of Yawgmoth converts Balthor the Defiled's activation cost to life, letting you fire it off without tapping out — and since K'rrik's deck is already stacking the graveyard with expensive black creatures, a single Balthor activation frequently ends the game.
Chainer, Nightmare Adept
Chainer, Nightmare Adept wants recursive loops and bodies entering from the graveyard on every turn, and Balthor the Defiled provides a nuclear reset button when incremental recursion isn't enough — one activation refills the board after a wipe and hands Chainer fresh fodder immediately.
Format Analysis
Where it lives, where it can’t
| Format | Verdict |
|---|---|
| commander | legal |
| legacy | legal |
| modern | not legal |
| pioneer | not legal |
| standard | not legal |
| vintage | legal |
| pauper | not legal |
| oathbreaker | legal |
Commander is where Balthor the Defiled does its real work: the symmetric reanimation clause that looks like a liability becomes an asymmetric weapon when your deck is built around black and red creatures and your opponents' graveyards are irrelevant or empty. In Legacy and Vintage, it's legal but sees essentially no play — the six-mana activation is too slow for those formats, and dedicated reanimation spells get the job done for far less. Oathbreaker is the only other format worth mentioning, where it occasionally appears as a spell target under a black planeswalker, though the card's natural home is firmly the 99.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Dual NatureBalthor the DefiledBlood Vassal
Infinite black mana; Infinite death triggers; Infinite ETB; Infinite LTB; Infinite sacrifice triggers
View on Commander Spellbook ↗
Dual NatureBalthor the DefiledBasal Sliver
Infinite black mana; Infinite death triggers; Infinite ETB; Infinite LTB; Infinite sacrifice triggers
View on Commander Spellbook ↗Budget Alternatives
Cheaper options that do most of the same work
Haunting Voyage and Rise of the Dread Marn cover mass reanimation at a lower price point, though both are sorcery speed and lack Balthor the Defiled's activated-ability repeatability — you lose the surprise factor and the ability to hold mana up. Mortal Combat and Living Death are the closest functional replacements; Living Death in particular is the most-played budget swap, trading the creature type restriction for a symmetric board swap that often advantages the graveyard-heaviest player anyway.
Price Context
Current price
$12.36 mid tier
At $12.36, Balthor the Defiled sits comfortably in the mid tier — expensive enough that it's a considered purchase, cheap enough that it's not a barrier for most Commander players. The price has held steady because the effect is unique: no other card in the format activates a table-wide reanimation on demand at instant speed, and that niche keeps demand consistent.
Explore
Sources
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.