MTG Wither Explained: How Wither Works, All 38 Wither Cards and a $69 Massacre Girl Deck (2026)

Wither is a Magic: The Gathering keyword that changes what damage does to creatures. A creature with wither doesn’t mark damage on the creatures it hits. It puts that many -1/-1 counters on them instead. Damage heals at the end of every turn. Counters don’t. A 4/4 that blocks a 2-power wither creature survives the fight as a 2/2, and it stays a 2/2 for the rest of the game.

Wither debuted in Shadowmoor in May 2008, appeared on 24 cards across Shadowmoor and Eventide, and then the keyword wasn’t printed again for almost eighteen years. It came back in 2026: Lorwyn Eclipsed printed Spinerock Tyrant and an Equipment that grants wither, its Commander decks added Village Pillagers and reprinted five older wither cards, and Massacre Girl, Known Killer (Murders at Karlov Manor, 2024) gives wither to every creature you control. She is in 91,244 Commander decks on EDHREC, more than any other wither card.

This guide covers how wither works (with the actual rules text), every situation where it behaves differently from normal damage, how it compares to infect and deathtouch, all 26 wither cards and the 12 cards that grant it, the best wither commanders, legality in every format and a $69 Massacre Girl, Known Killer deck built around it.

What is wither in MTG?

Wither is rule 702.80 of the Comprehensive Rules. Rule 702.80a: “Wither is a static ability. Damage dealt to a creature by a source with wither isn’t marked on that creature. Rather, it causes that source’s controller to put that many -1/-1 counters on that creature.”

The reminder text on the cards says the same thing in fewer words: “This deals damage to creatures in the form of -1/-1 counters.” Three details in the rules text matter in real games:

• Only creatures are affected. Rule 120.3 lists what damage does to each kind of object. Wither only changes 120.3d, damage to creatures. Damage a wither creature deals to a player still causes life loss, and damage to a planeswalker still removes loyalty.
• The source’s controller puts the counters on. That wording makes every “whenever you put one or more -1/-1 counters on a creature” card work with wither, including Nest of Scarabs and Hapatra, Vizier of Poisons.
• It works from any zone. Rule 702.80c: “The wither rules function no matter what zone an object with wither deals damage from.” If a wither creature leaves the battlefield before its ability deals damage, rule 702.80b uses its last known information, so it still had wither.

Two copies of wither on one creature do nothing extra (702.80d). Wither is not a damage bonus: the creature deals exactly as much damage as before. What changes is how long that damage lasts.

How wither works: every situation that matters

Most rules questions about wither come down to one fact: -1/-1 counters lower toughness, and a creature with 0 or less toughness goes to the graveyard as a state-based action (rule 704.5f). That isn’t “destroy”, and it isn’t “lethal damage”. That’s why wither gets around effects that stop normal damage from killing.

The undying row catches people out. Undying creatures return with a +1/+1 counter, and that counter is what stops them returning a second time. A wither ping removes it. If you play wither, kill undying creatures with something else. Persist is the opposite: persist creatures come back with a -1/-1 counter, so wither is the natural answer to them. Our guides to undying and persist cover both loops in detail.

Wither vs infect vs deathtouch

Wither, infect and deathtouch all make damage to creatures worse than normal, and they’re often confused. Infect (702.90) handles creatures exactly like wither, but changes damage to players into poison counters. Deathtouch makes any amount of damage lethal but leaves nothing behind if the creature survives some other way.

The practical difference between wither and infect is how you win. An infect deck has to deal poison and usually can’t also win on damage. A wither creature still attacks for normal damage, so a wither deck can play the long game against blockers and win on life. The full rules on poison are in our MTG infect guide.

What wither kills for good: the Commander pool in numbers

We counted the Commander-legal creature pool on Scryfall (17,920 paper creatures) to see how much of it one wither source can actually reach. The counts below are for cards whose text or stats matter to wither.

The first rows are the real case for wither in Commander. Half of all creatures have toughness 2 or less, and because the counters stay, wither damage adds up over turns. A creature that takes one point on Tuesday and one on Thursday is dead, which never happens with normal damage. Repeated pingers are where this matters most, and a mono-black deck has eight creatures that deal damage to every creature at once (four of them are in the deck below).

Indestructible is the other big one. Gods, Avacyn and Blightsteel Colossus shrug off destroy effects and normal damage, but -1/-1 counters put them in the graveyard. The same goes for regeneration, which is still common on older black and green creatures (see our regenerate guide).

All 26 wither cards, ranked by Commander play

These are every card with the wither keyword, sorted by how many Commander decks on EDHREC run them. Prices are the cheapest regular printing on Scryfall as of 26 October 2026. 25 are creatures and one, Puncture Blast, is an instant.

Most of the list is Shadowmoor and Eventide commons that only see play in themed decks. The cards that matter in Commander are at the top:

• Necroskitter (57,854 decks) steals any opponent’s creature that dies with a -1/-1 counter on it. With any wither source, that’s every creature you kill in combat.
• Midnight Banshee puts a -1/-1 counter on every nonblack creature each upkeep. It’s a slow, one-sided board wipe in a mono-black deck.
• Kulrath Knight stops any opponent’s creature with a counter of any kind on it from attacking or blocking. Wither hands out those counters.
• Spinerock Tyrant, from Lorwyn Eclipsed, copies your single-target instants and sorceries and gives both copies wither. A copied burn spell becomes two permanent shrinks.
• Village Pillagers pings every creature your opponents control for 1 with wither when it enters, then makes a tapped Treasure whenever a creature an opponent controls dies with a counter on it.
• Stigma Lasher stops a player from gaining life for the rest of the game once it deals them damage.

Cards that give wither

Twelve more cards don’t have the keyword themselves but give it to other creatures or sources. Two of them change how a whole deck plays: Massacre Girl, Known Killer, which gives wither to every creature you control, and Everlasting Torment, which makes all damage in the game wither damage and stops anyone from gaining life or preventing damage.

Everlasting Torment has a hybrid {B/R} cost, so its colour identity is black and red: it can’t go in a mono-black Commander deck. Corrosive Mentor is the only way for a mono-black deck to get wither on every creature if Massacre Girl, Known Killer leaves the battlefield, which is why it costs $6.98 for a 2008 uncommon.

Best wither commanders

Only one legendary creature gives wither: Massacre Girl, Known Killer ({2}{B}{B}, 4/4 menace). She leads 5,995 decks on EDHREC. Her last ability is the reason she’s a commander: “Whenever a creature an opponent controls dies, if its toughness was less than 1, draw a card.” Creatures killed by wither counters die at 0 toughness, so every one of them draws you a card. Creatures killed by -X/-X effects (Languish, Massacre Wurm, Tragic Slip) do too. Creatures killed by destroy effects or normal damage don’t.

The ruling on her matters for deckbuilding: wither covers “any damage dealt to creatures by creatures you control”, combat and noncombat. That turns every creature with a “deals damage to each creature” ability into a repeatable counter machine. It also means those creatures put counters on your own creatures, and those stay too.

Hapatra, Vizier of Poisons ({B}{G}, 6,109 decks as commander) doesn’t give wither, but it’s the best commander for wither cards in black-green. Her second ability, “Whenever you put one or more -1/-1 counters on a creature, create a 1/1 green Snake creature token with deathtouch”, triggers on wither damage, because the source’s controller is the one putting the counters on (rule 702.80a). Juvenile Gloomwidow, Noxious Hatchling, Rendclaw Trow and Woodlurker Mimic all fit her colours.

For black-red, any Rakdos commander can run Everlasting Torment with Kulrath Knight, Stigma Lasher, Hateflayer and Puncture Blast. Rakdos has no legendary creature built for wither, so that’s a shell for a goodstuff deck rather than a theme.

Budget Massacre Girl, Known Killer wither deck ($69)

This is a 100-card mono-black list built on one idea: every creature in the deck has wither while the commander is out, so anything that deals damage to creatures becomes a permanent -1/-1 counter, and every opponent’s creature that dies to those counters draws a card. We checked every card against Scryfall: 100 cards, singleton, all Commander-legal, all inside mono-black colour identity. The 100 cards cost $69.33 at the cheapest printings on 26 October 2026, commander included ($0.63).

How the deck wins

The engine is black creatures that deal damage to every creature at once. Eight creatures in mono-black colour identity can do it, and this deck runs four: Crypt Rats (X damage to each creature and each player), Plague Spitter (1 damage to everything every upkeep), Thrashing Wumpus and Pestilence Demon (both {B}: 1 damage to each creature and each player). Under Massacre Girl, Known Killer every point of that is a -1/-1 counter. Activate Thrashing Wumpus twice and every X/2 an opponent controls is dead, you draw a card for each one, and Blood Artist and Zulaport Cutthroat drain them as they go.

Nest of Scarabs turns that into a loop. It makes a 1/1 Insect for every -1/-1 counter you put on a creature, yours included. The next activation kills those Insects, which triggers Blood Artist again. Necroskitter, Blowfly Infestation and Lockjaw Snapper all care about creatures with -1/-1 counters on them, and Banewhip Punisher and Liliana, Death Wielder destroy creatures that have one.

The cost is your own board. These pingers hit your creatures too, and with wither the counters stay on them. Play the X/1 payoffs (Blood Artist, Zulaport Cutthroat, Needle Specter) when you want them to die, or keep the pingers for the turn you’re ready to wipe. Ascendant Evincar gives other black creatures +1/+1, which cushions the deck against its own pings.

The ten priciest cards

No other card in the 99 costs more than $2.22. The obvious upgrades are Cabal Coffers, Toxic Deluge and Yawgmoth, Thran Physician, about $50 together. The deck doesn’t need them to work.

Decklist

Commander: Massacre Girl, Known Killer. Buy on TCGplayer

Paste the list into the KrakenTheMeta deck analyzer to see its curve and mana, or look up any single card’s printings and prices in our card search. For a different take on the same commander, see this community Massacre Girl, Known Killer deck, or browse every public deck on the site.

Is wither legal in Standard, Modern and Pauper?

Counting all 38 wither cards (the 26 keyword cards plus the 12 that grant it), as of 26 October 2026:

No wither card is banned or restricted anywhere.

Frequently asked questions

What does wither do in MTG?

A source with wither deals damage to creatures as -1/-1 counters instead of marked damage. The creature shrinks permanently. Damage to players and planeswalkers works normally.

Does wither kill indestructible creatures?

Yes, if enough counters land to bring its toughness to 0. A creature with 0 or less toughness is put into the graveyard as a state-based action (704.5f), which isn’t destruction, so indestructible doesn’t stop it.

Does wither damage players?

Yes, normally. A wither creature that hits a player makes them lose that much life. Only damage to creatures turns into counters. Infect is the keyword that changes damage to players.

What’s the difference between wither and infect?

Both put -1/-1 counters on creatures. Infect also gives players poison counters instead of making them lose life. Wither leaves damage to players alone.

Does wither work with deathtouch?

Yes. A creature with both puts -1/-1 counters on the creature it damages, and deathtouch still destroys that creature. Wither makes the deathtouch kill stick if the creature is indestructible or regenerates: the counters stay.

Does wither stop persist and undying?

It stops persist: a persist creature that dies with a -1/-1 counter doesn’t return. It helps undying: the -1/-1 counter cancels the +1/+1 counter an undying creature returns with, so it can return again.

Is wither damage removed at end of turn?

No. That’s the whole point. Marked damage is removed during the cleanup step, but -1/-1 counters stay until something removes them or cancels them with +1/+1 counters.

Does a spell with wither work the same way?

Yes. Puncture Blast is the only instant or sorcery with wither printed on it. Its 3 damage to a creature becomes three -1/-1 counters. Spinerock Tyrant gives wither to the spells it copies, and Everlasting Torment gives it to all damage from every source.

What’s the best wither commander?

Massacre Girl, Known Killer is the only commander that gives wither: every creature you control has it, and you draw a card whenever an opponent’s creature dies at 0 or less toughness. Hapatra, Vizier of Poisons is the best black-green option, since her Snake trigger works off wither counters.

Is wither coming back?

It already has. Lorwyn Eclipsed (January 2026) printed Spinerock Tyrant and Barbed Bloodletter, and its Commander decks added Village Pillagers and reprinted Massacre Girl, Known Killer, Necroskitter, Midnight Banshee, Kulrath Knight and Everlasting Torment. Those reprints are why most of the best wither cards cost under a dollar right now.