Shiko and Narset, UnifiedShiko and Narset, Unified | art by Chris Rallis

It's time to sling some spells and make some tokens with "Jeskai Striker," the first of five brand-new preconstructed Commander decks fresh from Tarkir: Dragonstorm. 

Package Contents

Inside the box, we've got 10 brand new cards, 76 reprints, and 14 basic lands.

Once you crack open the box, you'll be greeted with:

• 1 Ready-to-play 100-card Commander deck with:
• 1 Traditional foil face commander with borderless art
• 1 Traditional foil featured commander with borderless art
• 10 Double-sided tokens
• 1 Collector Booster Sample Pack
• 1 Deck box

Those 10 double-sided tokens are as follows:

• 2x Dragon IllusionDragon Illusion // Monk tokens
• 2x ElementalElemental // Gold tokens
• 2x Soldier // Copy tokens
• 2x Monk // ElementalElemental tokens
• 1x First Mate RagavanFirst Mate Ragavan // Treasure token
• 1x Monk // Treasure token

Commander

Alternate Commander

Decklist

New Cards

We've got eight new cards beyond the two commanders coming to us by way of Jeskai Striker; but do they fit with the gameplan? We'll take a look at the three new creatures, followed by a pair of new enchantments, then one each of an artifact, instant and sorcery.

Six mana for a flash, flying dragon seems pretty par-for-the-course, but it's the rest of the text that really gets interesting. Remember DesertionDesertion? What if for one extra mana, you were able to swipe any countered spell, instead of just an artifact or land? And also get a 4/3 flying dragon? And don't even get me started on SpelljackSpelljack.

We've got another blue Dragon, this time a 3/3 for four mana with flying and vigilance. Every cent of that four mana is a worthwhile investment, though, as our book-gobbling Dragon is going to turbo-charge our spell-slinging by turning every multi-target spell into an incidental Ancestral RecallAncestral Recall. Some of those prime multi-target spells were even included in the 99 of this very deck, like Curse of the SwineCurse of the Swine.

Surprise, it's another Dragon, this time in the form of a 3/3 flyer for five mana. It's also the first new card we're looking at that fits snugly with our pair of commanders, as it cares about slinging those instants and sorceries. In practice, it's a big, scaly GuttersnipeGuttersnipe that foregoes hitting every opponent for a static two damage and replaces it with hitting one opponent harder and harder.

We're seeing Flurry again, this time asking us to cast a second spell for more and more "rally counters." It's like Assemble the LegionAssemble the Legion, except it takes a bit more effort for the potential to ramp up in power four times as quickly, as you can trigger Flurry on every turn, not just yours. And since those Monks, like Elsha's, have Prowess, we're streamlining our strategy with Aligned Heart.

If we can manage to create even three copies of Tempest Technique thanks to its Storm ability, that's a solid +9/+9. Enchantress decks are going to love this for that reason, but for our purposes here, just remember that each copy can target a different creature you control, so be sure to spread the wealth.

Fans of SaprolingsSaprolings might be hearing "remove three counters" in their nightmares, though, reminding them how slow accruing those counters can be. Adaptive Training PostAdaptive Training Post copying every fourth spell might not be as impactful as we want it to be. Don't forget, though, that you can store those charge counters on it in order to save them for the right spell to copy.

Time for a quick refresher on Demonstrate. This is only the eighth card to have the ability, last seen on Modern Horizons 3 Commander's Silverquill LecturerSilverquill Lecturer. This is a more restrictive Chaos WarpChaos Warp. In a pinch, you and an opponent can team up to remove a trio of troublesome artifacts/creatures, but it might do more harm than good, depending on the owners of said trouble flip off the top of their libraries.

Will of the Jeskai is a good, and possibly even great, card. Look at both halves: We've got a Wheel of FortuneWheel of Fortune (minus two cards for each player, and a pesky "may" giving everyone the option to decline) and a Past in FlamesPast in Flames, all on one card. All for only four mana.

How The Deck Plays

First up, we've got the combo of Shiko and Narset, Unified. A 4/4 with flying and vigilance for only four mana, Shiko and Narset are solidly positioned to make an early impact — however, slamming them down as soon as you're able to might not be the best course of action.

Rather, we can see some patience rewarded, in order to make use of new mechanic Flurry. Casting this commander followed immediately by one of the many targeted spells in the deck is certainly the way to go.

If you head over to EDHREC's "Spellslinger" tab and scan through cards in Jeskai colors that say "noncreature spell," chances are good you'll see most of the reprints of this deck right off the bat.

And that's a good thing. We're looking for synergy here, and this deck has plenty of it. As any spell-slinging, Kykar, Wind's FuryKykar, Wind's Fury-loving Commander player will tell you, we want to figure out the perfect balance between cards that pay off spell slinging, and the spells we're slinging in the first place.

For Spellslinger payoffs, we see the return of a number of creatures, including the aforementioned Monastery MentorMonastery Mentor, along with Archmage EmeritusArchmage Emeritus, Manaform HellkiteManaform Hellkite, GuttersnipeGuttersnipe, Young PyromancerYoung Pyromancer and Third Path IconoclastThird Path Iconoclast.

The inclusion of Whirlwind of ThoughtWhirlwind of Thought is excellent, helping us replace the spells we're slinging, as well as a trio of legendary creatures who'll help fuel our spell-slinging fire:

Speaking of which, what spells are we casting to rake in all these delicious triggers? Well, it wouldn't be a blue-based Spellslinger deck without the holy trinity of PonderPonder, PreordainPreordain and OptOpt.

We've got a number of cheap cantrips beyond that as well, like ConsiderConsider, Think TwiceThink Twice, Faithless LootingFaithless Looting and a precon favorite, Deep AnalysisDeep Analysis.

Whether we're playing with Shiko and Narset as our commander, or Elsha, our playstyle will remain largely the same: cast as many spells as possible.

However, Shiko and Narset want us to cast two spells each turn, while Elsha would prefer as many as possible, all at once. How you approach that nuance will be up to you — something like Expressive IterationExpressive Iteration is a particular favorite of Shiko/Narset, while the big swing of Mana GeyserMana Geyser fits right into Elsha's wheelhouse.

We've got a full suite of cards to help keep us alive as we assemble our one explosive turn (or series of tiny explosions, like firecrackers):

We've got these defensive cards, but largely we want to be aggressive, especially with Elsha at the helm.

In this way, we see a bit of ideological conflict between the two commanders, so you'll have to prioritize your strategy depending on which you're playing as a commander.

Thanks to reprints like Goblin ElectromancerGoblin Electromancer and Haughty DjinnHaughty Djinn we can source a bit of a discount on our spells, and we can eke out additional value with cards like ElectrodominanceElectrodominance.

This particular precon contains plenty of interaction, so don't be afraid to start using your removal early and often as a way to trigger Magecraft and similar abilities.

Combos and Synergy

Running the decklist through Commander Spellbook's Combo Finder, we see that Jeskai Striker contains a grand total of zero combos.

It does, however, suggest a number of combos we could add to go along with the cards we've already got, like adding a ReiterateReiterate to go with our Mana GeyserMana Geyser, or a Haze of RageHaze of Rage to go infinite with Storm-Kiln ArtistStorm-Kiln Artist. But that's all speculative, as none of that is present straight out-of-the-box with Jeskai Striker.

Instead, synergy is the name of the game. For the most part, everything we've got in the deck is in service to Spellslinging, but nothing's too egregious to be considered too powerful on its own.

Lands and Mana Rocks

With only 14 basic lands present in the list — specifically, four PlainsPlains, five IslandIslands and five MountainMountains — our three-color deck sees plenty of color fixing thanks to lands tapping for multiple colors.

Speaking of which, there are a ton of options for color fixing via our lands.

We've got check lands like Glacial FortressGlacial Fortress, filter lands like Cascade BluffsCascade Bluffs, pain lands like Adarkar WastesAdarkar Wastes, and the trio of TemplesTemples in our colors.

There's also the first-ever reprint of Perilous LandscapePerilous Landscape, tailor-made for three-color precons and a strict upgrade over the old PanoramasPanoramas unavailable to our wedge-colored deck.

And of course, with the deck being a precon, we've got Command TowerCommand Tower and Evolving WildsEvolving Wilds, the latter of which is seeing its 29th inclusion into a preconstructed deck in the past 14 years. It could be much worse, but it could be better, too.

As for the lands with a bit more emphasis on utility over color fixing, we've got Reliquary TowerReliquary Tower and Path of AncestryPath of Ancestry. A solid mana base in terms of color fixing was the priority here, at the expense of lands that do more outside of helping cast your spells. But with a precon, that priority is appreciated.

In terms of color fixing from nonland sources, we've got eight artifacts in the deck, and seven of them are mana rocks.

Three Signets alongside a Talisman of ProgressTalisman of Progress (but no ConvictionConviction or CreativityCreativity), in addition to Sol RingSol Ring, Arcane SignetArcane Signet and Fellwar StoneFellwar Stone.

Upgrading the Deck

Budget Alternatives

Each of these inclusions, at the time of writing, is under $1.

Out

Yes, we'd recommend you take out Tempest TechniqueTempest Technique. It's good on its own, but we can do better in terms of Spellslinging, regardless of which of our two commanders you're hoping to play.

As for the others, the logic's similar to Tempest TechniqueTempest Technique. None of them really advance our goal of either accruing a ton of spells, or casting those spells for value.

In

Dig Through TimeDig Through Time is very good here for when our graveyard's filled up with spent spells.

Slot in Jeskai AscendancyJeskai Ascendancy as well, especially if you're opting to run Elsha as your commander.

Stormcatch MentorStormcatch Mentor and Coruscation MageCoruscation Mage make spells easier to cast, and make them more impactful beyond what each one does individually.

Thousand-Year StormThousand-Year Storm is the perfect card for doubling, tripling, and beyond for our spells.

Value Alternatives

But what if we had even more bucks, and wanted to add a few cards that feature a higher price tag? Let's take a look:

Birgi's here for that extra bump in mana. However, since that's red mana, we might want to look at swapping some of the blue and white spells we've got into red as a result.

As it stands right out of the box, there are more blue pips than any other, so we need to be aware of that when doing any upgrades.

To that end, I'd look at swapping out some of the higher-cost blue spells like Rite of ReplicationRite of Replication and Baral's ExpertiseBaral's Expertise for things like Mizzix's MasteryMizzix's Mastery or UrabraskUrabrask.

We're adding the rest of these options to make sure we're getting value from our noncreature spells in the event our commander is toast.

Which, as you might surmise, will be likely, as both Shiko/Narset and Elsha are very powerful if left unchecked. Your opponents will want to check them.

Bracket Upgrades

As for bumping up a bracket or two, there are definitely a few Game Changers we might look to add:

Beyond them, some cards you might want to add if you're hoping to hang in higher brackets are:

We want to disrupt, and we want to either find or recur that disruption. In the event we're looking at planning for one explosive turn, then we want as many cheap counterspells as we can find in order to protect our payoffs.

Archetype Change

If we want to change our Spellslinging identity, then we are better off just playing a completely different deck than trying to swap out enough to truly change our deck's trajectory.

However, our alternate commander is right there pointing us in a slightly different direction.

Elsha makes Monk tokens via combat damage, so we can easily swap our strategy to increase that damage as well as help out in the creation of those Monks in other ways.

More Damage

More Evasion

More Monks

Better Monks

You could also always play The ArchimandriteThe Archimandrite somewhere in the 99 for that extra card draw.

This wholesale swap to a token/combat focus will require us to take out a ton of cards currently in Jeskai Striker. We've already identified five cards above that can come out, but what else can go?

Into The Bin

In essence, we're looking to reduce the overall mana value of our spells where we can, and pitch anything that doesn't fit in with our gameplan. Keep in mind, though, that if you're going to be adding all those white cards in the "More Monks" subcategory up there, then you'll want to adjust your mana base to accommodate that change.

Value vs. MSRP

With a $45 MSRP, whether you're getting your money's worth is entirely dependent on the price of the deck's ten new cards.

But if you're in the market for a straight-out-of-the-box Spellslinging Jeskai deck with enough synergy to put up a fight at your average Core Bracket (Bracket 2) table, then you can do much worse than Jeskai Striker.

We haven't really seen a precon in that vein since the previously mentioned "Mystic Intellect" from 2019, which was more focused on flashback (and also had a certain carda certain card carrying the value of the entire precon). That deck, you may be surprised to hear, is already six years old.

If you're looking at this deck in terms of monetary value carried by choice reprints, you'll likely be disappointed, however. Nothing included leaps out as particularly interesting in that regard, outside of a few selections like Narset's ReversalNarset's Reversal and Lier, Disciple of the DrownedLier, Disciple of the Drowned.

As of the deck's reveal, the priciest card is Veyran, Voice of DualityVeyran, Voice of Duality, but don't count on these prices to stay where they are.

Overall Rating and Final Thoughts

Overall, I'd give Jeskai Striker a B.

Elsha at the helm seems much more fun than Shiko/Narset, but that's a matter of personal preference.

Jeskai Striker is a great starting point for a Spellslinger deck in white-blue-red colors, but leaves plenty of room for upgrading and tweaking. That's a hallmark of a solidly crafted preconstructed deck.

The reprint value by itself simply isn't there, however, and outside of the convenience of grabbing these ten new cards in one box, it might be wiser to head over to something like Cardsphere in the next couple weeks to acquire them as singles.

Nick Wolf

Nick Wolf is a freelance writer, editor, and photographer based in Michigan. He has over a decade of newsmedia experience and has been a fan of Magic: The Gathering since Tempest.