Derevi, Empyrial TacticianDerevi, Empyrial Tactician | Art by Michael Kormack

Changing Tactics

This week on Precon Remastered, where we take old precons and give them a modern makeover, we have quite a jump. Basically, I've been asked to skip the rest of the original precons and begin instead with the infamous Commander 2013 set of decks (I'll get to why it's infamous in a moment). For the other three precons from the original release, you can find them here, here, and here. Now then, shall we get started?

Lay of the Land

To give a brief overview of the decks, there's a reason for what I said above: all (except one) of the decks have quite the identity crisis, split between two very different themes. Not to mention, we're still contending with some...interesting card choices. What will this mean for our five decks? The answer's fairly simple: we're going to do all five of the main commanders for this cycle. The others have been built up well enough that I'd be beating a dead horse (to varying degrees; looking at you, Nekusar, the MindrazerNekusar, the Mindrazer). Besides, the main commanders need to be in the command zone for them to be truly effective. So, it will be those five I'll focus on.

The Leader of Legend

Our commander for this week has quite a storied history back in the day. Where everyone was building Stax decks for her (we won't do that here, I assure you: we gotta have friends!), I took a different approach for her. I saw her through an Arthurian lens, being the leader of a token deck, getting all those tap/untap triggers. The precon features them to a small extent, feeding into a Tap/Untap theme, but it does take on a Blink theme. That would be because of the deck's secondary commander, Roon of the Hidden RealmRoon of the Hidden Realm, printed so Blink decks had all the tools under one shed. Besides, that's boring! I'm asleep by the time those decks start going off.

The Rules of Engagement

As always, I'll post the rules for remastering precons, so those new to the series can get a grasp of what we're aiming to do, or if a reader ends up forgetting (that includes you). They are as follows:

1. The value of the deck cannot exceed $120. This will apply to the reprints only, which gets to my first personal quirk.

2. Every card unique to the precon stays in the deck. All those new cards that get released with precons remain in the list.

3. The land package should closely reflect what we get in precons these days (and, in my humble opinion, they're actually pretty good).

4. For at least until 2020, we're not tied to a particular set, so we're free to choose whatever we want. You can be assured I have ideas for 2020 and beyond, though.

5. Universes Beyond cards are not added. No exceptions, unless they have a in-universe variant.

With that out of the way, let's take a gander at the original list.

Evasive Maneuvers

The Current Stratagem

Like I said before, the decks from this precon cycle have an identity crisis, and this one's no exception. Here, we have a split between Blink and Tap/Untap. However, the card selection in both themes are pretty terrible. On the one hand, we have random stuff like Thornwind FaeriesThornwind Faeries and Leafdrake RoostLeafdrake Roost, whose effects are too minimal to make any difference. On the other, we have the likes of Acidic SlimeAcidic Slime and an old favorite in StonecloakerStonecloaker. That said, there is a clear winner between the two, and my choice will certainly raise some eyebrows.

The mana base, to the surprise of no one, needs a lot of work. The Ravnica bounce lands (ex. Selesnya SanctuarySelesnya Sanctuary) are terrible in decks with three colors or higher. Not to mention they'll make great Strip MineStrip Mine targets. The Gates enter tapped and were better off being basic lands. Looking at mana bases like this one shows us how far precons have come. So, what exactly am I planning to do here?

Evasive Maneuvers Remastered

Did I Blink?

When upgrading precons like this one, we pick a theme and run with it. Here, I leaned harder into the Blink theme but kept Derevi at the helm. Why? She gives the ETB (enters-the-battlefield) creatures more life by using them to get Derevi's trigger. That said, I also retained (and added) a few key pieces that make Derevi tick. I may have not done the Stax route, but I did add a couple cards that will be really mean with our commander out. Both Dismiss into DreamDismiss into Dream and WillbreakerWillbreaker will be backbreaking under the right circumstances. Perhaps they could outright win the game. However, their high mana cost, and Willbreaker being easy to remove, will keep them from being too horrifying.

A lot of the key pieces for Blink decks are not cheap (Who knew EphemerateEphemerate was around $7? Yikes!), but we still have some budget options. For example, Another RoundAnother Round will blink our board, and will do so as many times as we pay into it. In a similar vein, Yorion, Sky NomadYorion, Sky Nomad will blink everything but itself, but we can blink it to do the effect again. On that note, our suite of Blink targets have been improved to the best of my ability. Eternal WitnessEternal Witness will get something back, and we have the infamous Standard pair of Restoration AngelRestoration Angel and ThragtuskThragtusk. Further upgrades to the deck will mean moving all the way, adding the cards I couldn't add because they were out of our price range.

Successful Maneuvers

While we were able to get there, Derevi does seem to be at an odd place. That said, there are a brave 255 people (at time of writing) using her as a Blink deck.

Do you think Roon gets the nod over Derevi? Why or why not? In the meantime, come back next time were we return to the next commander in Commander Makeover, and start making some generic Goblin noises.