Salvete, friends! And welcome back for some more precon feasting here on EDHREC. We’re continuing our journey through the wastelands of Universes Beyond: Fallout, searching for scraps, and maybe a Nuka-Cola or two. Today we’re looking at Hail, Caesar, the red, white, and black deck led by Caesar, Legion’s Emperor.

Who Are the Commanders for Hail, Caesar?

Caesar is a 4/4 Human Soldier for four mana that lets you sacrifice another creature on attack to get two of these three effects:

• Two 1/1 Soldier tokens tapped and attacking
• Draw a card and lose a life
• Deal damage to target opponent equal to the number of creature tokens you control

This is a pretty stellar ability, especially with the first mode feeding into the third, and tells us that this deck will lean into a go-wide combat strategy, with a bit of aristocrats thrown in for fun.

Our backup commander is Mr. House, President and CEO, a 0/4 Human artifact for three mana that wants you to roll dice. You can pay four mana to roll a d6, plus an additional d6 for each Treasure you used to activate the ability. And whenever you roll a four or higher you get a 3/3 Robot token, plus a Treasure if you rolled six or higher. There’s not a lot of strategy here, but the gambling aspect of it is incredibly fun and flavorful.

Here’s the full deck list for Hail, Caesar:

What Are the New Legends in Hail, Caesar?

There’s an obscene number of new legends in this deck (15, in addition to the two that can lead the deck), so bear with me here. 

Most of these new legends have attack triggers. Kellogg, Dangerous Mind creates a Treasure on attack, then lets you permanently steal a creature for five Treasures. Prosper, Tome-Bound is obviously the king of Rakdos Treasure builds, and I think Kellogg will end up in the 99 of those more often than leading his own deck. However, Prosper does have a bit of a reputation, so maybe Kellogg, will lure more people away. Paladin Elizabeth Taggerdy needs two other creatures to attack with her, but gives you the ability to drop a creature tapped and attacking from your hand. Nothing new here, as we’ve seen similar effects with Kaalia of the Vast, Ilharg, the Raze-Boar, Shadowfax, Lord of Horses, and more. 

Butch DeLoria, Tunnel Snake could be a powerhouse in an Anowon, the Ruin Thief deck, but with his ability to turn anything into a Rogue, he might also find a home in Party decks like Nalia de’Arnise. Desdemona, Freedom’s Edge gives artifact creatures or low-mana creatures in your grave Escape when she attacks. The trouble is filling your graveyard, so you'd need a lot of ways to sacrifice things or mill. And there's no discount on the creature, so it doesn't feel overly powerful. MacCready, Lamplight Mayor is just looking out for the little guys. He gives your creatures with power two or less Skulk when they attack, and drains your opponents when they attack you with big creatures. Obviously you can run the Sanguine Bond + Exquisite Blood combo here to really make things difficult for your opponents.

Aradesh, the Founder brings back the Enlist mechanic from Dominaria United, giving your creatures double strike if they Enlist another creature, plus a card drawn if its power is four or higher. Seeing as he’s the only creature in the deck with Enlist, and there are only four other white creatures in existence with the ability, this guy is easily forgettable. Rose, Cutthroat Raider, makes you a Junk token for each opponent you attack, and turns your sacrificed Junk into red mana. This would’ve been better in the Scrappy Survivors deck under Dogmeat, Ever Loyal, but could be a lot of fun as a commander itself. Would also be great in the 99 of Daretti, Scrap Savant decks, since you can sacrifice the Junk tokens for Daretti’s -2 ability, and still get the red mana. 

The deck has a few legends that work with Quest counters, which were introduced in Zendikar on classic cards like Beastmaster Ascension and Quest for Renewal. Craig Boone, Novac Guard requires multiple attackers, and he serves up damage equal to the number of Quest counters on him. The lifelink ability is nice, and obviously he’s begging for a Grafted Exoskeleton. Ed-E, Lonesome Eyebot also uses Quest counters, gaining them on attacks, only to be sacrificed later for card draw. Some decent value for Proliferate decks. Sierra, Nuka’s Biggest Fan gets Quest counters and Food when your creatures deal combat damage to opponents, then can pump your creatures when you sacrifice the Food. Sadly she can't be played with Gyome, Master Chef, and already feels outclassed by another white legend, Apothecary White. Overseer of Vault 76 gets a Quest counter when small-mana creatures enter your board, and lets you pay three counters to add +1/+1 counters to your team. Also potential for Proliferate decks, but unlikely to lead their own. And last is Yes Man, Personal Securitron, which gets passed around like a Humble Defector with Quest counters, and makes you 1/1 Soldier tokens when it leaves the battlefield. Doesn’t have to die, just leave. So blink to your heart’s content. Don’t forget to pack your Resourceful Defense or The Ozolith for these Quest commanders.

We’re not done (egad, this is a lot of legends)! We’ve got three more legendary dudes to talk about, and they all care about making sacrifices. Legate Lanius, Caesar’s Ace takes the word “decimate” literally, and makes your opponents sacrifice one-tenth of their creatures when he enters. Thankfully, this is rounded up, otherwise he wouldn’t do nothing. As is, he's basically a non-symmetrical Fleshbag Marauder. And he gets a +1/+1 counter when your opponents sacrifice creatures. Since all the best sacrifice effects are in black, I don’t think anyone is picking this guy over Mazirek, Kraul Death Priest, or even Carmen, Cruel Skymarcher. Colonel Autumn, however, might get a few people excited. He’d be really strong in a legends-matter deck with a token sub-theme, which hasn’t really existed in these colors until this deck. And last is Elder Arthur Maxson, who gives creatures tokens Training, but strangely doesn’t make tokens himself. 

What Are the Themes and Strategies of Hail, Caesar?

Very similarly to Scrappy Survivors, this deck is all about combat and tokens. But where it differs is that we’re ditching the voltron strategy of the other deck and replacing it with go-wide/aristrocrats. Less Junk, more nameless minions (although, as we’ve already seen, there’s still some Junk too).

We’ve already got Caesar, Mr. House, and Yes Man making creature tokens. Let’s see what our nonlegendary cards are up to. First, let’s bring back the Squad mechanic from Warhammer 40K, which lets you pay an additional cost to get extra copies of the creature when it enters. We’ve got Powder Ganger, who demolishes an artifact on entry, Gary Clone, whose power grows on attacks for each copy of him, Securitron Squadron adds a +1/+1 counter to all token creatures (especially good if you have more than one), Thrill-Kill Disciple creates a Junk on death, Wasteland Raider pulls a Fleshbag Marauder on entry, and Ruthless Radrat is just a cute little 2/2 with menace. 

For more creature tokens, we’ve got Charisma Bobblehead, White Glove Gourmand, who turns people into Food (uh, what?), and Vault 11: Voter’s Dilemma, which makes a Soldier for each opponent in the first stage, then turns into a fun voting game for the second and third stages. For other token fun there’s Boomer Scrapper, who makes Junk tokens and gets a +1/+1 counter whenever a token you control leaves the battlefield (could get big really fast in Treasure decks), and Luck Bobblehead which can make Treasure (maybe). There’s even some reprints getting in on the token fun, with General’s Enforcer, Keeper of the Accord, Pitiless Plunderer, Captain of the Watch, Secure the Wastes, Martial Coup, Entrapment Maneuver, Heroic Reinforcements, and Assemble the Legion.

We’ve also got some counters effects to grow our token army, with Vault 75: Middle School, Diamond City, and Battle of Hoover Dam, in addition to Overseer of Vault 76 and Elder Arthur Maxson. 

Our last few new cards are a bit all over the place - like Mysterious Stranger, who copies an instant or sorcery at random from a grave. The Nipton Lottery is another in a long line of chaotic Rakdos board wipes that won't see much play. Wild Wasteland skips the need for Junk tokens and just exiles your top two cards every turn and makes you skip your draw step. Is this better or worse than Outpost Siege and similar cards? Survivor’s Med Kit does some…stuff. And then there’s V.A.T.S., one of the coolest mass kill spells we’ve seen, and a surprisingly anti-token card to include in a token deck. But really, anything with Split Second is good in my book.

How Do You Play Hail, Caesar?

Ramp is an issue in this deck. Of the 12 cards I see as ramp in this list, only seven of them are non-conditional. The rest are cards like Black Market, Pitiless Plunderer, and Keeper of the Accord, which are all higher mana cards that require a little extra something to really give you more mana. This means your first few turns will frequently be a slog if you don’t mulligan aggressively. Also, there are only 36 lands in the deck, which is a bit low (you can fight me in the comments on this if you’d like).

Caesar is extremely strong, and you’ll want to get him out as quickly as possible, but not without another creature ready to be sacrificed for his ability. If Caesar’s the only creature you have, he’s not worth putting on the board. Obviously the more creature tokens you get on the board, the better his third mode becomes. Which is why you should treat the deck as more of a go-wide aggro deck than a dedicated aristocrats deck if he’s in play.

Our backup commander, Mr. House, President and CEO, is fun, but extremely out of place here. He’s one of only two cards in the deck that roll dice, and only one of three cards in the deck that make Treasure (Luck Bobblehead and Pitiless Plunderer are the other two). Since you have to roll a four or higher, he effectively only does anything 50% of the time. So he’ll often just be a 0/4 blocker.

In playtesting, I found that the biggest key to the deck’s success is getting as many tokens on the board as possible. Cards that do this efficiently will be your MVPs. In particular, Assemble the Legion, Secure the Wastes, Entrapment Maneuver, and any of the Squad creatures.

The deck has an overabundance of removal, in particular a ridiculous five board wipes. Since this is a go-wide deck, wiping the board is frequently against your best interests. But thankfully some of these wipes are one-sided, or leave your tokens alone, such as Vault 75: Middle School and Hour of Reckoning. But keep in mind that these wipes also kill Caesar, which is a rough spot to be in with a commander that costs four mana to start.

Is Hail, Caesar Worth Buying?

Should you spend your caps on this precon? Here’s my final grade:

C-

Once the deck gets going, it plays well. You’ll have no problem getting a ton of tokens to the board, but you’ll frequently find yourself having a rough start with mana. Caesar is crucial to the deck, but sadly there’s no Swiftfoot Boots or Lightning Greaves in the deck to protect him, just General's Enforcer.

There are a few cards that stand out as questionable inclusions, in particular Mysterious Stranger and, sadly, Mr. House, President and CEO. These felt like cards that were designed for the set and dropped in whatever deck could fit them. Also, the number of board wipes in the deck is just poor design. More than three wipes and you’re just asking for an unfun game. 

The reprint value on this deck is pretty decent, with Ruinous Ultimatum, Fervent Charge, and Pitiless Plunderer being the standouts. And, of course, Skullclamp is always welcome.

Can I make this deck better? Find out in my Upgrade Guide. And keep checking back for more precon guides, here on EDHREC.

More Precon Fun:

Scrappy Survivors Fallout Precon Review

Scrappy Survivors Fallout Precon Upgrade Guide

Political Puppets Precon Upgrade

Andy Zupke

Andy's been playing Magic on and off since Fallen Empires. He loves to travel, drink, eat, and spend time with family and friends.