With the new Tarkir set just around the corner, you may be thinking about upgrading your favorite commander deck. Upgrading a deck can be a complicated undertaking with many factors to balance. Using a few of my favorite decks as examples, we’ll walk through some considerations you may want to make when trying to upgrade your deck.
Whether you’re playing a spell focused deck, a creature heavy deck, or some other strategy entirely, there are some universal considerations to keep in mind when upgrading decks. As long as you keep these three facets in mind, you’ll be able to make discerning choices about what to keep in your deck, and what to cut.
Angry Jellybean: Stick to the Game Plan
I’ve previously discussed my Omnath, Locus of All deck when describing my failures as a player. The Angry Jellybean is one of my go-to decks that I still have the most fun playing. However, new cards come out all the time, and it’s always possible to make a deck stronger.
When playing a deck, it’s always important to see what’s working and what’s not. With the Angry Jellybean, I noticed that there were a few cards that weren’t seeing much use during games.
Firemind Vessel was good for mana, but was always too slow. Maelstrom Nexus could be fun, but it often wasn’t worth casting since it was only useful a turn later. To make matters worse, it didn’t usually allow me to benefit from casting my biggest spells.
Crosis’s Charm and Cultivate had similar problems of only being useful in limited situations. Finally, Rona, Sheoldred’s Chosen just wasn’t pulling its weight when it was out. Rona seeks to drain opponents’ life totals which was simply too different from the rest of the deck’s strategy.
Eyes on the Prize
To solve my problem, I focused down on the core themes of the deck: pla
ying spells with three mana symbols, removal, and multi-use spells. With this in mind, Crosis’s Charm and Cultivate were the easiest to fix. I replaced Cultivate with Archdruid’s Charm, a spell with three modes, one of which ramped like Cultivate, while offering relevant removal options in the late game. Additionally, Archdruid’s Charm has more mana symbols, allowing it to synergize with my commander.
Crosis’s Charm’s primary problem was that it didn’t offer any options besides removal. For this reason, Maestros Charm was the perfect replacement with other great options to get ahead.
Fixing my problem with Firemind Vessel and Maelstrom Nexus required a little more lateral thinking. In the end, I realized that this deck’s best strategies used cards that synergize with the multicolor non-creature spells I wanted to exhibit. For this reason, Widespread Thieving has taken the place of Firemind Vessel, while Jeskai Ascendancy has taken the place of Maelstrom Nexus.
In general, these two new permanents simply offer better payoffs for paying my deck. Widespread Thieving provides ramp in the form of treasures for almost every spell I cast. This provides far more mana that Firemind Vessel, while rewarding me for my deck building. Likewise, Jeskai Ascendancy does more for my strategy than Maelstrom Nexus, allowing me to pitch unneeded cards while searching for a better one rather than getting something random.
Mythic Madness: Better Version
One of my favorite decks I’ve created is Mythic Madness, a deck themed entirely around playing non-legendary mythic creatures. Mythic cards are some of the coolest in Magic: the Gathering, even if they’re not actually all that powerful. While this is primarily a gimmick deck, it can still be upgraded. The upgrade process just might be a bit different since the point of the deck is to play my favorite mythic cards in my Commander’s colors.
While many new mythic cards have come out, a few in particular have caught my eye. Namely, “Herald of Eternal Dawn,” “Quilled Great Wurm,” “Overlord of the Hauntwoods,” “Overlord of the Mistmoors,” and “Sire of Seven Deaths.” The art on these cards is phenomenal and each card perfectly integrates mechanics and theming.
In the case of Mythic Madness, our issue is actually the reverse of my problem with Angry Jellybean. Since new mythic cards have come out that I want to add into the deck, some have to come out. This means the painstaking process of making cuts. However, with a little bit of skill, we can make the best choices.
Growing Pains
A good rule of thumb when replacing cards for most decks is to perform cards that don’t perform as well as the new cards. While I still want to prioritize playing the mythic cards I like the most, I can start the replacement process by finding which cards aren’t as exciting and going from there.
Luckily, there are a few right off the bat that I’ve been dissatisfied with. Rootwire Amalgam has one of my favorite mechanics, prototype, but is held back by its second ability. This deck does not do well at activating abilities, so the Amalgam’s most powerful mode often goes unused. Archon of Coronation is also on the chopping block. I put this card in as a class of cards that stop me from losing the game. However, it is reliant on the monarch mechanic to work, and is just a big eagle. I know there’s something better out there.
I’ve decided to replace these two cards with Quilled Greatwurm and Herald of Eternal Dawn respectively. Herald neatly does what Archon does better while also being cooler. The Greatwurm functions much better than the Amaglam does and fits in with the mechanics of the deck better.
Two other mythics I’m less satisfied with are Titan of Industry and Cityscape Leveler. While I quite like Cityscape Leveler, I try not to play colorless creatures for this deck and it just feels like it doesn’t fit. Titan of Industry, on the other hand is just a big building. We can do better.
We’ll replace these cards with Overlord of the Mistmoors and Sire of Seven Deaths. While Sire of Seven Deaths is still a colorless creature, it fits the theme of the deck better by packing a ton of weird abilities. The Mistmoor Overlord on the other hand looks way cooler than a building and has a really powerful ability, arguably more powerful than the Titans’.
Finally, we come to Overlord of the Hauntwoods. While I generally like the rest of the cards in the deck, one card clearly underperforms in comparison. Cavalier of Thorns may be a fun creature, but it pales in comparison to the Hauntwood Overlord, who is storied on its home plane.
Sarkhan’s Menagerie: New Tech
New cards for Magic: the Gathering release periodically over the course of the year. With each new set comes new cards that could possibly grace your next deck. Every so often, I like to check in and comb through some search terms on Scryfall.com if anything exciting is releasing that could fit in my core decks. New cards mean new mechanics and new innovations or expansions on existing strategies.
My Ur-Dragon deck, Sarkhan’s Menagerie, is a great example of how new cards can invigorate a deck. This deck has a core list of dragons that comprise the most powerful version of the deck as well as an extended list. The extended list of dragons can be randomly switched out with the core list, or certain dragons that match a theme can be brought out and played.
Recently, dragons have been announced that would make a great fit for either the core list, or the extended menagerie. Using Sarkhan’s menagerie as an example, we can see how upgrading to innovative new cards can dramatically improve a deck.
New and Improved
Twinflame Tyrant is the standout addition for the core deck list of Sarkhan’s menagerie. While effects that multiply damage have been seen before, this is the first damage doubler on a dragon. With “Twinflame Tyrant,” dragon decks no longer need to take out a dragon for a damage doubler. This makes it an excellent tool for dragon decks.
While Twinflame Tyrant is a great example of a card with new mechanics that can alter a decklist, dragons with new iterations on old mechanics are also appreciated. One of the strategies in my extended decklist is an aristocrats strategy, focused around killing my own dragons for profit. However, I only had a few pieces that could enable this like “Ziatora, the Incinerator,” or “Malevolent Witchkite.” Some new pieces have recently been released that are great additions to this strategy.
“Herigast, Erupting Hellkite,” “Akul the Unrepentant,” and “Korvold, Fae-Cursed King” are some great new additions to my aristocrats strategy for the extended menagerie. While Korvold has been out for some time, new printings have made it more affordable and easier to get my hands on. Herigast and Akul, on the other hand, are new options that give new ways to sacrifice creatures and new payoffs for doing so. Both are very useful for the list. Finally, “Gluttonous Hellkite,” while not a legendary creature or extremely exciting, is just a solid new option to help an aristocrat’s strategy for dragons.
When it comes to replacements, the only card I need to worry about is “Twinflame Tyrant,” since the rest will be added to my extended list. In this case, I can swap out “Wasitora, Nekoru Queen” since Twinflame Tyrant is a better way to speedrun removing opponents’ creatures.
How Strong is Too Strong?
When upgrading your deck, it is possible to make a deck too strong. I’ve learned this lesson the hard way. It’s important to understand that some cards and strategies are simply too much for your table. The new commander brackets offer some guidelines in the form of game changers. However, there are other factors to keep in mind if you want to keep your friends after a game.
Aside from the game changers, there are many powerful cards that can disrupt a game. For example, “Sea Gate Restoration” would be excellent to add to my Omnath list, but I continue to hesitate on adding it to my deck.
Omnath’s ability means that at worst “Sea Gate Restoration” will gain me three mana while I play it on its backside as a land. Alternatively, this card also becomes a way to draw seven cards and ignore hand size for the game… effectively for four mana. This card is strong and it’s very important to not play it at every table.
Void Winnower is another example of a card I’ve chosen not to add to Mythic Madness. This is one of my favorite creatures in the game, and fits the theme of the deck as a weird mythic creature. However, it’s just too strong. This card can passively lock players out of the game, keeping them from casting spells and blocking attacks. This is just an incredibly unfun card to play against.
Finally, there’s one upgrade to my dragon deck arriving in the Dragonstorm set that I am frightened of playing. “Stormscale Scion” has the incredibly powerful storm mechanic printed on it. Storm is so powerful that WotC uses it as a metric to determine if they’ll use mechanics again. This metric is fittingly called the “Storm Scale.”
Over 9000!
Game Changers, newly released in commander brackets, are not the end all be all of what makes a deck powerful. Many Game Changers are actually generic value engines, such as “Rhystic Study” or “Smothering Tithe.” When playing a deck at a table, it is important to understand that there are cards and mechanics that lock people out of a game.
For example, storm is a mechanic that will typically cause a flight or fight response in players. It is so strong that Wizards almost never prints it. Likewise, cards with Annihilator or similar mechanics that cause players to lose their best cards without warning can be harmful for a table. One of the latest examples of powerful abilities are Commanders with eminence. These Commanders let you benefit from an effect without casting the card. When building a deck, try to determine if these powerful mechanics are right for your table.
Finally, I’d like to give an honorable mention to cards that change the rules of the game. Decks that include cards with alternate win conditions or remove victory conditions can be brutal to play against. This is one of the reasons that I decided not to physically build my victory condition deck. Likewise, cards that make it impossible for opponents to win, like Platinum Angel, can quickly get frustrating. Make sure to evaluate your decks carefully. Be ready to remove cards if they make it too frustrating to play against.
Better, Faster, Stronger
Upgrading a deck is a fun and important part of playing Magic: the Gathering, and especially commander. While new cards come out all the time, I usually like to do upgrades periodically for my decks all at once. As long as you keep the power of your table in mind while upgrading and make sure your new upgrades help your game plan and replace cards that are less effective, you should be able to put the finishing touches on your new deck!
