Though we only have two preconstructed Magic: The Gathering Aetherdrift Commanders in this set, and there are a shockingly small number of vehicles, both offer a fairly unique playstyle that compliment each other well.
You may know how to play the singleton format, but there's a subtle complexity to both decks that make them an interesting grab for both experienced and new Magic: The Gathering Aetherdrift Commander players. We have seen zombies before and this is our third time revisiting energy in a Commander deck in the past year, but there are some fun additions and reprints worth watching out for.
If you're looking to pick them up and wipe the floor with your friends, this is what you need to know about the MTG Aetherdrift preconstructed Commanders.
How to play the Magic: The Gathering Living Energy
- Energy-focused deck
- Build up energy, then swing all out
- Worth adding Aether Refiner for energy duplication
We saw an energy-focused precon Commander deck in both MTG Modern Horizons III and MTG Fallout: Universes Beyond so, if you managed to try them, you likely know how energy works. Build up energy with building block cards and dump them all into some big effect to storm the game. Saheeli, Radiant Creator, the face Commander for Living Energy, gets energy whenever you cast an artificer or artifact spell. Then, at the beginning of your combat step, you can pay three energy to create a copy of one of your permanents, make it a 5/5, and sacrifice it at the beginning of the next end step.
This deck isn't just about getting in big creatures to fling at your opponent, it's about triggering extra 'enter the battlefield' effects to stockpile more energy and outvalue your opponents. Simple artifact creatures like Solemn Simulacrum and Triplicate Titan can both build energy and work as viable duplication targets.
If you want to add some cards to this deck, here's what I'd suggest.
- Brudiclad, Telchor Engineer:
App. $0.30 at TCGPlayer
- Aether Refinery:
App. $0.45 at TCG Player
It's important to note that you get energy for casting artifacts, so cheating them in is inefficient. This cuts off some of how you might upgrade the deck. The legend rule still applies too so try not to add in too many legendary cards, unless you are specifically betting on death triggers. However, one legendary creature worth instantly adding to your deck is Brudiclad, Telchor Engineer. It makes a blue Myr at the beginning of your combat, and can then change all your tokens into a copy of a different token you own. This effectively means you can stack the generation of tokens to copy something like Triplicate Titan, then make every other creature you own into that, creating a lethal board state in a single step.
It's also worth considering adding budget energy staples like Aether Refinery, which duplicates energy you gain, and can dump all energy into one big creature.
Your goal with the deck and any subsequent upgrades is to create energy on pace, store it up whilst establishing a board presence, and swing all out. You should be getting enough card draw and power from all those ETB triggers that your opponents can't keep up, letting you dominate one of the best card games.
Our third energy deck in just a single year, this takes what works about cards like the Jolly Balloon Man, makes it a bit harder to pull off, but much beefier when you do. Like Science! from the Fallout Universes Beyond set, it could benefit from a few extra synergy pieces but it's a good introduction to energy, and fits Aetherdrift's focus on speed and machinery well.
How to play the Magic: The Gathering Eternal Might
More so than I think I've seen in recent precon history, the alternate Commander for Eternal Might is just as strong with the right deck building. Hashaton, Scarab's Fist is a 1/3 Commander for just one white and one black that can duplicate creature cards you discard for just three mana. With cards like Rhet-Tomb Mystic giving cards in your hand cycling, you can throw out your entire hand and reanimate them for three mana. When you pair this with traditional reanimate cards, you can effectively play the same creatures multiple times.
Our face Commander, Temmet, Naktamun's Will, draws and throws away a card when it attacks and even pumps all zombies with +1/+1 until the end of turn when you draw. Considering you draw at the start of every turn, having it on the field is sort of like a potential 1/1 anthem effect. In a zombie deck focused on overwhelming your opponents with the sheer volume of bodies, this is a match made in heaven hell.
In terms of cards that are worth adding to this deck, I'd recommend the following.
- Ghoulish Procession:
App. $0.30 at TCGPlayer
- Open the Graves:
App. $0.40 at TCG Player
To play this deck, you want to throw your cards into your graveyard to bring them back and hit your enemies hard and fast. Zombie decks can be particularly vulnerable to board wipes and graveyard hate so always make sure to keep a little firepower behind. This precon can struggle a little when it comes to card draw so swap in some effective value in the form of Graveborn Muse, or even a simple Brainstorm. I'd also replace Maskwood Nexus, which makes all creatures you control every type, with some sort of anthem zombie like Diregraf Captain. Maskwood Nexus feels a little strange here as a well-oiled zombie deck will almost solely rely on zombies, and it's not worth a spell like this to fix one or two remaining creature types.
You could also throw in a Ghoulish Procession or Open the Graves, which gives you zombie tokens when non-tokens die, to help with board wipes. However, given the token-heavy focus of this deck, this may be better in a sideboard to swap in against an opponent who is perhaps a little too fond of a Blasphemous Act. Finally, if you're bleeding yourself dry, you could also put a couple of simple lifelink enchantments into your sideboard to give you a little extra life.
Eternal Might is a mid-range aggressive deck that signposts much of its plays through the graveyard so, as long as you can keep just enough firepower to rebuild a board, and take every single chance you can to draw cards, the undead masses should put up a deadly fight at any table.
A simple archetype done well, Eternal Might is as pure a zombie deck as you can get from its pool of colors. You could strengthen it with a few extra big hitters and remove some redundancies, but this is the best zombie commander we've had in a while. The Egyptian theming just adds even more flavour.
Want something else to play? Try the best board games, or the best adult board games.
