Deadly Disguise Upgrade Guide
January 30, 2024 by
Andy Zupke 
Welcome back to another precon guide here on EDHREC. Today we’re upgrading Deadly Disguise, the Commander deck from Karlov Manor. In case you missed it, go take a look at the Review for this deck, where we went over what the deck does and how to play it.
I gave this deck a really low score, mostly due to the poor card pool for Morph/Disguise in our colors and the low power of the commander. While I can’t create cards, I can try to smooth out some of the deck’s rough edges and see if we can speed things up a bit.
Let’s tune up.
What's In the Original Deck?
To recap, this deck is red, white, and green, and led by Kaust, Eyes of the Glade, a 2/2 Dryad Detective that costs two mana. Whenever a creature you control that was turned face up this turn deals combat damage, you draw a card, and you can tap Kaust to flip a face-down attacking creature you control. The backup commander is Duskana, the Rage Mother, a 5/5 Bear for five mana that draws you cards on entry for each 2/2 creature you control, and pumps your 2/2s +3/+3 when they attack.
Here’s the original decklist:
Deadly Disguise Precon
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What Budget Cards Can We Add to Deadly Disguise?
We’ll break our upgrade up into two parts, one budget ($5 or less) and one non-budget (>$5).
The deck has a focus on getting in for combat damage, as we see with Kaust, Toski, Bearer of Secrets, and Ohran Frostfang. But the precon didn’t give us a lot of ways to make our 2/2s have an easier time getting through blockers. So we’ll start there.
First up is Access Tunnel, an easy add that we can sub out one of the many low-quality precon lands for. Then there’s Primal Rage, which gives everybody trample. There are more powerful ways to do this, but I felt cheaper (mana value) was the way to go. I’ve also added Subira, Tulzidi Caravanner, which has some potential card advantage and can be activated on a creature before we pump it with various effects. Then there's Jasmine Boreal of the Seven. She makes our face-down Morph and Manifested creatures nearly unblockable, except in situations where you're facing token decks or the occasional Ruxa, Patient Professor. Sadly she does nothing for Cloak and Disguise, since those creatures have ward 2, which counts as an ability, but there's enough balance in the deck between the new and old abilities that I feel she's still worth an inclusion.
To make our Morph and Disguise creatures cheaper, we’re adding Dream Chisel and Ugin, the Ineffable. Ugin’s a bit costly, but his planeswalker abilities are relevant, and make up for it. I’m also adding Forsaken Monument, which makes us extra colorless mana when we tap cards like Access Tunnel or Sol Ring, turns our 2/2s into 4/4s (although this boost goes away when we flip face-up), and gains us some life when we cast our artifacts and face-down creatures.
There are a few cards from the main Karlov Manor set that I felt were worthy of addition here. Unyielding Gatekeeper is nice for instant-speed spot removal, Pyrotechnic Performer speeds the game along by lowering our opponents’ life totals, and Essence of Antiquity provides a bit of quick protection and surprise blockers. I’m also adding Expose the Culprit as a neat trick for flipping expensive Morph creatures or resetting some flip effects on Disguise creatures.
Cybership is a really cool addition, with a lot of potential if we nab a good creature card that we can flip with Kaust or other effects. Also, an 8/8 flyer is solid, especially if we have 2/2s sitting around to Crew it.
Saradoc, Master of Buckland can give us a bunch of Halflings to block while we send in our bigger creatures for attacks. And Reinforcements gets us some creatures back from the grave, which is especially nice if we can Cloak our top card. (“Stop trying to make Reinforcements happen, Andy!” No. I'll make you all love Reinforcements as much as I do, or die trying.)
We’re showing these cards the door: Austere Command, Decimate, Fell the Mighty, Imperial Hellkite, Krosan Cloudscraper, Krosan Colossus, Mosswort Bridge, Neheb, the Eternal, Ransom Note, Root Elemental, Scourge of the Throne, Seedborn Muse, Temur War Shaman, Tesak, Judith’s Hellhound
Before you all get on me in the comments about Seedborn Muse, yes, I’m aware it’s an extremely powerful card. But this deck is really not doing a whole lot on other players’ turns. You can’t activate Kaust unless you’re attacking, so…I just don’t see the need for it.
Here’s our budget upgraded decklist:
Deadly Disguise Precon Budget Upgrade
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What Are Some Good Expensive Cards We Can Add to Deadly Disguise?
Sadly, this section’s a bit short. The card pool for Morph/Disguise in Naya colors just isn’t in high demand, so there’s not much that’s expensive. We do have a couple of cards from the new set, but at this point, which is before the set releases, most card prices are inflated. By the time the set comes out these could both be a couple bucks each. Regardless, we’ll include them here. Aurelia’s Vindicator doesn’t really do much if we free-flip it (with Kaust, for example), but can provide some needed removal. And Delney, Streetwise Lookout gives our 2/2s a better chance of survival, while also doubling a few triggers in the deck. Most likely this card’s trigger doubling effect will be powerful in other eternal formats, but might be seen palling around with a certain Treasure-making Goblin in the more competitive circles.
The rest of the cards are expensive staples that can give the deck a bit more punch, like Akroma’s Will, a solid inclusion in any aggro deck. Heroic Intervention saves our creatures in most board wipe scenarios. And last is a card I’ll almost never add to a deck because of its price, but with the few non-budget additions we’re making here, I felt okay to splurge a little. Mana Crypt is the most efficient way for us to get more Morph/Disguise creatures on the board and establish a presence early on in the game. If you’ve got one laying around getting used as a coaster or a bookmark, go ahead and try it out here.
These cards can’t hang: Dream Chisel, Essence of Antiquity, Expose the Culprit, Reinforcements, Saradoc, Master of Buckland
Here’s the non-budget upgraded deck list:
Deadly Disguise Precon Non-Budget Upgrade
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Buy this decklist from TCGplayer
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Flip the Script
That’s it for our Upgrade Guide for Deadly Disguise. What do you think? Did I make this deck any better? Any cards I missed? What’s your favorite mystery? Let me know in the comments. And keep checking back for more precon guides, here on EDHREC.
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.
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