School is in session now that MTG Secrets of Strixhaven has dropped, and I'm sure you're keen to teach everyone in your Commander pod a lesson they won't forget. Though, if you aren't sure which deck is best, this precon ranking is here to serve as the perfect cheatsheet for those wanting to dominate one of the best card games.
Secrets of Strixhaven's Commander precon lineup offers one of those rare (albeit very welcome) situations where there isn't a single 'dud' deck to be seen. Each and every in-universe college offers something different, and does it well too. So, choosing just one is quite the assignment. With that in mind, I'll be diving right into what makes for the best of the best, as well as giving some advice to get the most out of each of them.
Quandrix Unlimited is a Simic (blue-green) deck focusing on X cost spells and counter manipulation. Its face Commander, Zimone, Infinite Analyst, gains +1/+1 counters whenever you cast an X spell and as a result makes future X-cost spells cheaper to cast. This has the potential to create a formidable snowball effect where your spells become increasingly massive as the game progresses.
Some standouts in the deck that contribute the deck's game plan are Ozolith, The Shattered Spire (offering an extra +1/+1 counter for Zimone each time she's triggered) and Ownlin Spiromancer, a solid creature which copies the first X spell you cast each turn. When upgrading this deck, consider adding Simic Ascendancy for a cheeky instant win condition.
Witherbloom Pestilence is a Golgari (black-green) deck that focuses on an aristocratic strategy, sacrificing your critters for greater gain. That gain comes in many forms, but at the center of it all is the precon's Commander, Dina, Essence Brewer. Dina's an engine in and of herself, with an ability that allows you to draw a card once per turn when you sacrifice a creature, and another where you tap her and pay two mana to sacrifice a creature. What's more, when you use that second ability, you gain life and +1/+1 based on the power of the sacrificed creature.
Even outside of Dina herself, the deck has plenty of other methods of sacrificing creatures and gaining value from it. For example, there's Immoral Bargain, a new sorcery that has the dual benefit of allowing you to sac as many of your creatures as you fancy and destroying an equal number of your opponent's permanents too.
To get the most out of Witherbloom Pestilence, add cards like Queen of the Golgari. Given the pests that infest this deck are green and black, when you sacrifice one of them, you can pay 2 life to sacrifice an extra creature and then immediately gain it back, offering you more life as a resource to play with.
Prismari Artistry is a Izzet (blue-red) deck that has two main goals: generate token creatures and sling spells. Rootha, Mastering the Moment is the Commander in this precon, and her ability creates a X/X flying token with haste, where X is the mana value of the most expensive instant or sorcery you cast that turn. Given you (typically) only get one trigger of this ability per turn, Prismari Ability incentivises spell-slinging, but with a focus on higher cost spells to build the strongest possible board state.
When it comes to upgrading this deck, the rebound effect given by Cast Through Time could help a lot with managing high mana costs. Full Throttle is a worthy addition too as it provides two additional combat phases, potentially offering two extra triggers for Rootha, and two extra tokens to make your opponents suffer. Even if you don't cast a single other spell that turn, playing Full Throttle for six mana will trigger Rootha to create three 6/6 flying elementals with haste. That's a lot of value!
Lorehold Spirit is a Boros (red-white) precon that at its core is simply a Spirit-typal deck. Yet its graveyard interaction is what spices things up a notch. Quintorius, History Chaser, the deck's Commander, creates a 3/2 Spirit token whenever a card leaves your graveyard... whether that be through exile, reanimation, or recursion. These spectral tokens act as a growing army that plays well with Quintorius' loyalty abilities, which can mill your library to set up more graveyard triggers or double the damage dealt by your spirits.
Emeria, the Sky Ruin is a land that does some heavy lifting in this deck thanks to its recursion ability, and Currency Converter is a useful engine for triggering Quintorius' ability too. Of course, the classic Sun Titan makes an appearance too. Overall, there's a whole lot to like with Lorehold Spirit.
The lack of black in this deck’s color identity is somewhat limiting when it comes to doubling down on graveyard shenanigans, but there are still plenty of worthwhile additions that can be made to Lorehold Spirit’s decklist. Ghost Vacuum is a good fit in this deck: a low-cost artifact that can be tapped to exile a card from the graveyard and sacrificed to bring all those exiled creatures back as 1/1 spirits. Renewed Solidarity is another solid inclusion that can be used to pop +1/0 counters on your spirits and copy them.
Silverquill Influence is a Orzhov (black-white) deck that sports a kind of 'political Enchantress' archetype. Its Commander, Killian, Decisive Mentor has a versatile set of abilities that tap potential blockers, goad your opponent's creatures into fighting among themselves, and provide card advantage. The first of these two abilities trigger whenever you cast an enchantment, and with 26 of them in the deck, there's plenty to play with here.
Some picks that offer particular value in 99 include Flickering Ward, a low-cost aura which can be returned to your hand again and replayed again and again, and Eiganjo Dynastorian, whose prepared ability allows you to return all your enchantments from your graveyard to the battlefield. That said, almost every card in Silverquill Influence contributes to a deck that feels synergistic and intentionally-crafted, with lots of room for manipulating your foes and enjoying the peace of your pillowfort until the end game.
In terms of upgrades, the deck could benefit from a little extra help pinning down a clear win condition. Grim Guardian's constellation ability chips 1 point off each opponent's life total for each enchantment that enters under your control (and trust me, there will be a lot of them), so it's definitely a worthy inclusion. To make room for upgrades, consider cutting the chaff like Secret Rendezvous, Keen Duelist, and Tomik, Wielder of Law (a particularly odd inclusion in a deck with no Planeswalkers).
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