Start from Scratch - Strixhaven - Low Power Upgrades
We hope you enjoy reading the writeup about the changes made in the 4 decks for our ‘Start from Scratch’ Twitch stream series - where we take 4 precon decks and play them as is, then upgrade them for Battlecruiser followed by Low and Mid power.
These games are streamed live:
Sunday the 2nd, 9th, 16th and 23rdof May
14:00 UTC / 10:00 ET at https://twitch.tv/playedh.
I’ve also read your feedback on the image previews and we’re experimenting with a new way to display the cards - they should show up more clearly for people on mobile and you can now click/tap on them to zoom in on the card. This also gets rid of those arrows to go left/right which didn’t always seem to work very well, and the cards are now spaced apart somewhat rather than being stuck together. Let me know if you prefer this new way of card display in our article on our Discord by tagging me.
~Exxaxl
Necronami - Lorehold
This week we’re looking to get the deck much lower to the ground than previous versions. I noticed last week two big issues with the deck despite it performing pretty well. We struggle to draw cards unless we draw an engine of some kind - no surprise given the color pairing -and the cards we do draw often cost so much mana we don’t have the ability to cast more than one spell per turn.
Both of these issues were exacerbated by literally not drawing one land beyond turn 4 but still we want to adjust the deck accordingly and hope for better draws. While making these changes we also want to stay on target with Alibou’s trigger in mind as it did a LOT of work last week, in total almost 50 damage from her trigger alone. We want that again and then some.
Out With the Old
Aritfacts:
We’re aiming to bring the average mana value down, so Hedron Archive and Myr Turbine have to go. I’m on the fence with cutting Shrine of Loyal Legions but it’s a slower card in general so let’s take that out as well.
Creatures:
Digsite Engineer will be replaced with another creature with a very similar effect but much cheaper. Ruin Grinder, Sun Titan, Hellkite Tyrant and Combustible Gearhulk all require some setup at too high of a mana value and we’re looking to speed up our deck so they get cut too.
I’m also cutting Triplicate Titan but only for this week’s Low version. It will surely be back next week with other things I have planned. Jor Kadeen, the Prevailer and Steel Overseer fill that go wide strategy we’re stepping away from so they’re getting cut. Solemn Simlacrum and Burnished Hart are not a terrible option for ramp in our colors for low power, but we can do better so let’s cut them for now.
Enchantments:
Tempered Steel is a personal favorite card of mine, but the go wide creature strategy didn’t work well for us last week, as power level increases I expect it to work even less. Darksteel Mutation gets axed because each game so far didn’t have that many creatures I’m scared of apart from Veyran or Felisa. Both are quick to eat removal from the rest of the table so I think this is a safe cut.
Instants:
Master’s Call - same explanation as Tempered steel, it's a shame but it’s time to shift gears. Return to Dust is quite high ,mana value for removal and the rest of the table especially Silverquill pack a lot of removal, so I feel safe cutting down a bit taking into consideration other additions which I’ll get to in a moment.
Sorcery:
Wake the Past - I want so badly for this card to be my ace in the hole, but it’s just too expensive and requires too much waiting. I had Excavation Technique in my hand for most of the previous game and even then I didn’t want to give anyone else treasures and didn’t want to shoot my own stuff so we’re taking it out.
Lands:
Lorehold Campus and Study Hall are too clunky and Phyrexia’s Core get’s cut since we’re no longer running Osgir, so we don’t really care about sacrificing our artifacts.
In With the New:
Ramp:
Talisman of Conviction and Smothering Tithe find their way into the deck for some more low to the ground color fixing. Iron Myr for another tapping artifact and Foundry Inspector for some additional cost reduction.
Utility/Synergy/Game plan enhancers:
Let’s add some tutors by means of Kuldotha Forgemaster, Goblin Engineer and Enlightened Tutor.
Inspiring Statuary will turn all our artifacts into pseudo-mana rocks. Mystic Forge will filter/cast cards off the top of our library, and Ghirapur Aether Grid is another way of tapping down artifacts at will to increase our potential Alibou damage. Adding to that, let’s include Unwinding Clock so we can tap down for a large Alibou trigger, and have blockers/mana open afterwards.
Due to Unwinding Clock, we open up the potential to tap out more often, so Saheeli’s Directive as a large X spell felt right. We have to be aware that our artifact base grows increasingly more synergetic and our opponents will catch on to that. A Leonin Abunas for some added board protection seemed in order. Let’s finish up the ‘cares about/makes artifacts’ plan with a Myrsmith and a Loyal Apprentice which will provide us with a higher artifact count.
I felt I lacked meaningful draw power, so Valakut Awakening, Thrill of Possibility, Wheel of Fortune and Wheel of Misfortune all find their way into the deck.
Lands:
We’re further improving the landbase with a Glimmervoid, Spire of Industry and Inventors’ Fair.
As you can see we have a big week full of big changes. I’m hoping these new cards/strategies are going to stabilize our draws and efficacy.
Deck with sideboard for cuts and considering for includes:
https://www.moxfield.com/decks/KuJR1CNJDkqQW_vdOG4jEA
Deck as a 100 card list:
https://www.moxfield.com/decks/GYCcxYrJgUKmsUzDxtTpFA
Smerz - Silverquill
Welcome back! This week my upgrades involve adding a lot more cards to synergize with Felisa and all the counters I’ll be trying to put on creatures while trimming some more of the forced politics cards.
We’ll need to make room for sacrifice outlets so we can get Felisa triggers more often, while at the same time trying to store and reuse the +1/+1 counters so they don’t go to waste.
Just like life is a resource in some decks, creatures are a resource in our deck as we recycle the creatures we cast from hand into card draw and more tokens on board. We make some big upgrades by taking control over how we interact with the table and giving us options even after our board has been established.
Out with the old:
Artifacts:
Bloodthirsty Blade, Spectral Searchlight, Tempting Contract and Victory Chimes all fall under a lot of the forced politics that I’m removing from the deck as we upgrade. There are better ramp pieces that I’ll be adding in to take replace these.
Creatures:
Angel of Serenity, Deathbringer Liege, Deathbringer Regent, and Teysa, Envoy of Ghosts are being cut to help lower our curve and open up slots for more utility and interaction. All of these are quite out there mana value wise.
Boreas Charger, Oreskos Explorer, and Orzhov Advokist again fit that forced politics category which is something I want to avoid as we upgrade the deck and these all benefit my opponents a bit too much. They will only really be good if my opponents are already ahead and having to rely on being behind is not the goal I’m aiming for with the Low upgraded version.
Enchantments:
The same can be said for Curse of Disturbance, Martial Impetus and Vow of Duty. These felt like forced politic cards that did not actively help the game plan I had set out for the deck, and did not actively work towards growing my own board or winning the game.
Instants:
Oblation feels too slow for what we’re going to be doing and I’m upgrading Stinging Study with some more consistent card draw that will still be able to benefit me.
Sorceries:
Ambition’s Cost is being cut as I upgrade the draw power in the deck while Infernal Offering often benefits my opponents too much for my liking.
Lands:
We’re replacing yet more lands with some upgrades to consistency with some of our adds. Say goodbye to Opal Palace, Rogue’s Passage, 1 Plains and 1 Swamp.
In with the new:
Ramp:
Fellwar Stone and Mana Vault are some good upgrades to help speed the deck up. Smothering Tithe lets us force our opponents to make a choice instead of letting us make a choice while letting us get ahead of the rest of the table.
Utility/Synergy/Game plan enhancers:
Yawgmoth, Thran Physician, Altar of Dementia, Ashnod’s Altar, and Phyrexian Altar are all free sacrifice outlets that will let us control when our creatures are dying and when we’ll be getting more Inklings to beat face with.
Blood Artist, Cruel Celebrant, Bastion of Remembrance, and Cathars’ Crusade are all going to benefit us when we sacrifice creatures and make tokens by dealing damage to our opponents or letting me just make my board bigger and bigger letting me go wide and tall at the same time.
Diabolic Intent is a great tutor that provides us a sacrifice as we find whatever is going to be the best for us at the time, while Village Rites lets me draw instant speed while turning a creature into more creatures and cards.
Altar of the Brood, Skullclamp, and The Ozolith provide a bit less obvious value by letting us attack the table outside of their life total, turning my creatures into cards, or by letting me reuse the counters I have on my board.
Lands:
City of Brass, Marsh Flats, Silent Clearing, and Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth are all some great upgrades to color fixing our deck even more so than last week.
Deck with sideboard for cuts and considering for includes:
https://www.moxfield.com/decks/gdNzKrEOUkSNy9n6SlbGJg
Deck as a 100 card list:
https://www.moxfield.com/decks/FWm2BqmiSk2_ltMWnxS6uw
Alchmyst: Prismari
This week’s Prismari Performance upgrades largely focused on cutting down on the large mana curve our Battlecruiser deck still clung onto, in order to pump out more efficient ramp and lower-to-the-ground spells that can help us trigger Veyran more often.
Overall, I have cut a lot of the creature-base that came with the precon in favor of additional ways to generate tokens from spellslinging, or dish out damage. With Veyran doubling each of these triggers, it becomes a lot easier to whittle down life totals and close out games - something this deck greatly struggled to do in the Battlecruiser variants.
Losing 5 mana value and up spells also helped to make the deck a bit more efficient- the average mana value of the upgraded BC list sat at 3.69 without lands, while the current Low list has slimmed down to an average mana value of 2.92. This new and improved list also greatly expanded on its draw power, something I felt previous versions greatly lacked. It seems the precon was designed to wait until one could cast a storm-enabled Mind’s Desire or something similar in order to dig through the deck, instead of relying on cheaper and more reliable wheels and draw cantrips.
Out with the old:
Artifacts:
Elementalist’s Palette and Letter of Acceptance were removed for the Low version of Veyran. While perhaps better in Zaffai, these artifacts leave something to be desired in our list, and are better replaced by cheaper rocks and additional ways to discount spells.
Creatures:
Lots of creatures were voted off stage this week! Dazzling Sphinx, Inferno Project, and Octavia, Living Thesis, though incredibly thematic, really did not fit with their enormous mana costs. Radiant Performer, as much as I love her and plan to use her in various builds going forward, simply isn't as good if you are not running a deck specifically designed with a large number of target effects you want to copy.
Crackling Drake, Erratic Cyclops, Humble Defector, Living Lore, Sly Instigator, and even Zaffai, Thunder Conductor himself are all very “meh” in the new version of our list and we can utilize those slots much better with instants and sorceries. Finally, Laboratory Maniac was also cut as we are no longer in danger of decking ourselves every game due to an uncontrollable storm!
Enchantments:
Sunbird’s Invocation and Swarm Intelligence met their end after last week’s BC matchup. Both enchantments are quite costly, and if you can’t immediately make use of them they will likely be removed. In addition, we really do not want to wait until we have one of these before we start manual storming with Veyran - therefore they are playing anti-synergistically to our deck.
Instants:
Aetherspouts was the only instant cut this week, as we have much better options for removing attackers in our new upgrades.
Sorceries:
For similar reasons Aether Gale was cut. As I previously mentioned, we also wanted to cut down on the overall high mana curve of the deck, so Brass’s Bounty, Creative Technique, Rousing Refrain, and Treasure Cruise were also left out of our Low power version.
Planeswalkers:
Jaya Ballard is one bad ass old lady, but is unfortunately just a bit too expensive in our list.
Lands:
Exotic Orchard is an excellent land normally, but is feels really unnecessary to me in a 2-color deck like this that already has plenty of color fixing.
In with the New:
Ramp:
Fellwar Stone and Thought Vessel provide us with some additional amp, while Primal Amulet discounts our spells and eventually builds towards a cool doubling effect.
Utility/Synergy/Game plan enhancers:
Guttersnipe and Electrostatic Field were added to give us non-combat ways to quickly burn through our opponent’s life totals, assuring our token army can swing in for the kill. Baral, Chief of Compliance found his way in as an additional method to discount spells, while Birgi, God of Storytelling can provide us with mana to keep storming all game long.
Bident of Thassa and Reconnaissance Mission were added for additional draw power. With all of the tokens we have on board, Storm the Vault//Vault of Catlacan’s front side will quickly provide us with a pile of treasures, while Thousand-Year Storm helps us unlock our full potential and copy spells for days.
Prismari Command is a great utility spell as well as a thematic masterpiece. Swan Song and Abrade for more control and removal, while Cyclonic Rift will provide us with a more efficient way to clear the board. Narset’s Reversal allows us to either deflect an opponent’s troublesome spell, hopefully forcing them to wait an additional turn before attempting again, or provides us with a way to bounce our own spell to keep storming.
Frantic Search helps to further bolster our draw power and Jeska’s Will provides us with a much more efficient ramp spell than those that we cut this round. The rest of our sorceries are dedicated to getting more cards into our hands, with Overmaster, Solve the Equation, Wheel of Misfortune, and Windfall finding slots in the deck. Let’s finish our non-land changes with Saheeli, Sublime Artificer for some additional token generation.
Lands:
Nothing fancy here, just a Cascade Bluffs to further help us with some better mana fixing.
Deck with sideboard for cuts and considering for includes:
https://www.moxfield.com/decks/_q6TXCatikelMHjKPkU0lA
Deck as a 100 card list:
https://www.moxfield.com/decks/9tsFj7dn9kmpPrQcquLVZg
Exxaxl - Witherbloom
For low power I’m dropping Willowdusk and shifting to Dina, Soul Steeper. Willowdusks activation cost being sorcery speed, needing to tap down and requiring open mana made her too clunky at the helm.
We’re also further lowering the curve, adding more one drops, slotting more staples here and there, and shifting focus to ‘several singular instances of gaining small amounts of life’ and adding more staple ‘life as a resource’ outlets.
Seeing how my face commander and gameplan are changing, my explanations will be somewhat longer for this deck, and you’ll notice quite a lot of cards getting changed around.
Out with the old:
Artifacts:
We’re focussing less on combat, so Haunted Cloak and Loxodon Warhammer need to go. Let’s keep Shadowspear around for now because of it’s low mana value, and the ability to get around hexproof for just a singular mana. Venser’s Journal has too much of a conditional ‘maybe useful maybe not’ trigger and at 5 mana is quite out there. Well of Lost dreams eats too much mana to keep in for draw.
Creatures:
Let’s completely take out Willowdusk, Essence Seer and the creatures that cared about getting counters. Goodbye Ageless Entity, Blood Researcher, and Bloodtracker.
We’ll be caring more about ‘instances of lifegain’ over ‘lifegain/loss through combat’ which means the ‘lifelink keyword matters’ cards got axed too. Exit Blossoming bogbeast, Sapling of Colfenor and Vampire Nighthawk.
Let’s cut some of the less interesting and less synergetic cards that could be replaced for better value bodies. Honor Troll and Sproutback Trudge, see you in my soon to be Battlecruiser Gyome deck.
Tivash, Gloom Summoner… I’m still not 100% sure I want this card cut. That’ll depend on the boardstate our opponents build most of the time. The reason to keep him around was ‘makes a beefy flier', which we have a tendency to not being able to block’, but I’d rather spend that life in another outlet that actually grows our board more significantly. Defiant bloodlord will get replaced with Vito, and we no longer need to ‘cheat’ on mana costs with Ezzaroot channeler because we’re slotting more ramp and further lowering our curve.
Enchantments:
Phyrexian Reclamation costing 2 mana and 2 life to return one card to hand felt too slow, taking into account you’re also hardcasting the creature you just brought back.
Instants:
Mortality spear is only ‘conditionally cheap’ and can likely not be cast for 2 mana not on our turn. We also already have Assasin’s Trophy so it’s likely not cheap enough to keep. Suffer the Past felt like too much of a mana commitment to be useful and we’re slotting other graveyard hate later.
Sorceries:
A lot of these got taken out. Let’s cut Command the Dreadhorde which I added in my first bc upgrade. This was more of my ‘haha Dimir things yes’ include over being actually worth it. Deadly Tempest at 6 mana value for a wipe felt quite steep and Essence pulse was too conditional of a boardwipe.
Feed the swarm has better counterparts in green already and to me feels out of place in a deck of these colors, and Willowdusk is no longer here to care about the lifeloss. Revival experiment will find a home in a deck that self-mills and will likely make it into a Nethroi/Kathril deck soon.
In Battlecruiser I didn’t mind Healing technique but as we move into Low power I expect opponents to always have cards in their graveyard I do not want them to get back. If Healing Technique allowed the caster to pick the graveyard target from the opponent, I’d keep it around.
Lands:
Myriad Landscape felt unnecessary, Sapseep Forest enters tapped and only makes 1 color mana and High Market felt like it worked better in the token/go wide part of the precon. We’re removed Witch’s Clinic since I don’t intend to risk to swing with Dina too often and it taps for colorless mana on top of that.
In with the new:
Ramp:
We’re not going overboard here. A Farseek, Thought vessel and Sakura-Tribe Elder should do. We’re lowering our curve but we’d still like to have mana available consistently. Mana dork elves will be something for the Mid power version.
Removal / Protection:
Let’s add Nature’s Claim which we can use on one of our own enchantments in an emergency for the lifegain trigger. The idea of seeing someone at 1 life and then nature’s claiming something on my own board to drain them with Dina sounds hilarious. Veil of Summer felt too good not to add. Infuse with Vitality and Malakir Rebirth to safeguard our high value targets should a boardwipe happen. Inscription of Abundance is this conditionally weird card I’ve had since my Zendikar Rising pre-release. I want it to be good but I know it’s likely too weird to keep around - ‘but it has options and more options is always good’ I keep telling myself - let’s keep it for the Low power version, it may stick around for Mid power, I’m not sure yet.
Utility/Synergy/Game plan Enhancers:
Let’s start with the obvious one - Bolas’s Citadel. If you need a staple life outlet, look no further. Why draw cards when we can simply play them from the top of our library. Let’s add a Courser of Kruphix to that - and I know some of you will go ‘but then people will know what you can cast off the top with Bolas’s Citadel’, which is true, but Courser of Kruphix is also a way of getting rid of that pesky potential land that’s on top which could hinder our Bolas’s Citadel plan. I considered slotting some Ixalan Explore effects to filter my top cards but eventually chose Course of Kruphix instead. Vito, Thorn of the Dusk Rose finds his way into our deck to replace Defiant Bloodlord. I’m not adding Exquisite Blood as Vito + Exquisite felt like too low mana of a combo to include here.
Seeing how this is Low power, let’s also stay away from Necropotence and Ad Nauseum in this deck.
We want more instances of small pips of lifegain to drain the table, so let’s find some ‘easy free value’ instances of lifegain. Retreat to Hagra, Kazandu Nectarpot and Jaddi Offshoot will get us free gain/drain effects off of land drops, and we significantly increased the amount of lands we can find in the deck versus the base precon, so let’s add an Avenger of Zendikar. We lacked a lategame ‘need boardstate to defend myself’ card, and it’s a nice bonus card on top of all the extra ‘find land’ ramp spells we included. Avenger with the new creatures I’m adding will also shoot several lifegain triggers to the stack.
Essence warden and Deathgreeter will gain life upon creature ETB/LTB and seeing how several opponent’s seemed to go wide in the previous two games, piggybacking off of their game plan will provide us with a nice life gain boost. Zulaport Cuttroath I added more for a ‘last hurrah’ lifegain/drain trigger when I get boardwiped - I realise he likely doesn’t work too well without a lot of go wide tokens but having a ‘don’t wipe now or we’ll die’ failsafe felt neat.
I don’t see Witch of the Moors failing to trigger at least every end step we get, and this replaces the Phyrexian Reclamation somewhat, while not costing us resources to activate. Seeing how we run a total of 24 instants and sorceries in the finished list, Witherbloom Apprentice fits the category of ‘free triggers’ too.
Gray merchant of Asphodel will work well in tandem with Vito and Sanguine Bond and will likely kill one (or two) opponent(s) should all three of them find their way on the same battlefield.
I already mentioned Vraska, Golgari Queen in the previous article, but our combat focussed deck didn’t have a spot to keep sacrificing bodies - the addition of Avenger of Zendikar and several one mana bodies likely means in the mid through late game we’d rather have that extra card in hand over having another lifegain body on board. The removal she can provide in an emergency is a nice bonus.
Let’s add some extra card draw via Read the Bones and Village Rites. Plumb the forbidden is yet again one of those cards that likely fits a go wide/token deck more, but simply having it as a response to a boardwipe to turn your creatures that are dying into card draw feels like safe enough of a strategy to at least try out the card in the deck. The idea of casting this and copying it for close my entire board with a Witherbloom Apprentice out … one can dream. Finish off non-lands changes with a Damnation so I can use that Seb McKinnon secret lair my girlfriend gifted me for my birthday. My deck seems boardwipe light overall and I’m unsure we need more at this point, I’m likely adding some for Mid power later.
Lands:
We’re further improving our landbase with Castle Locthwain, Reliquary Tower, Bojuka Bog and Nurturing Peatland. More changes seemed unnecessary looking at the ramp already present in the deck and will likely happen in the Mid power version where consistency matters way more.
We further lowered the curve from 3.61 to 2.97. We increased draw and slotted more singular instances of lifegain through free triggers such as playing lands and getting triggers when creatures enter and leave the battlefield, both of which will be happening during a regular game of Magic anyhow. We added more impactful life sinks and punishing cards that ping our opponents everytime we gain life while also stripping down some of their board. Next week will severely flatten the mana curve, increase the tutors and graveyard recursion for our most important cards and slot some combos for Mid power.
Deck with sideboard for cuts and considering for includes:
https://www.moxfield.com/decks/51ouGyMSWkCzZZhE4GWhyw
Deck as a 100 card list:
https://www.moxfield.com/decks/gnNRWhsTZkehlQSlZrVsng
We’ve made a bookmark on our Moxfield account where you can see all the decks in the Start from Scratch series - https://www.moxfield.com/bookmarks/EZNJm-start-from-scratch .
We hope this provides you with some insight into how we approach changing/upgrading a deck while still staying within the right power level on PlayEDH.
See you guys next week where we make further upgrades for our final episode: Mid power.
“This article is unofficial Fan Content permitted under the Fan Content Policy. Not approved/endorsed by Wizards. Portions of the materials used are property of Wizards of the Coast. ©Wizards of the Coast LLC.”
