(Kasla, the Broken Halo | Art by Martina Fackova)

Hello friends! And welcome back to EDHREC for another Scrap Trawlers precon upgrade guide. I’m Andy, and today I’m kicking the Divine Convocation precon from March of the Machine right in its slow rear end. In my primer we looked at how the deck moved at a crawl, hindered by its high average mana value and its poor ramp and card draw. So to upgrade this list we’re gonna kick out some high MV cards, and get this precon closer to the well-oiled machine that it should be. And since my LGS won’t accept “tapping our friends” to pay for things, we’re gonna budget for our upgrades. But don’t worry, I’ll recommend some more pricey cards as well for all you ballers out there. 

Fall From Grace

This precon is led by Kasla, the Broken Halo, a 5/4 Angel Ally with Convoke, vigilance, haste, and flying. And whenever we Convoke a spell, Kasla lets us scry 2 and draw a card.

Here’s the original decklist:

As you may remember from the Primer, I had some serious issues with this commander. Particularly, the six mana cost was too cumbersome for a white/blue/red deck with poor ramp. I know Kasla has Convoke, but the precon just wasn’t making enough early creatures to make that matter.

So we’re bringing in the relief pitcher for this upgrade! By switching over to Saint Traft and Rem Karolus, we’re getting our commander out more quickly, making tokens more consistently, and moving away from the deck’s reliance on Kasla for card advantage.

Must Go Faster

My main goal with the upgrade was to get creatures out faster. And for that I wanted to add some cheap token-makers. First up is a hot new staple from The Brothers’ War, Third Path Iconoclast. It doesn’t get much more efficient than this two-mana Monk who gives us a free creature whenever we cast any noncreature spell. Next is Saheeli, Sublime Artificer, one of the best planeswalkers from War of the Spark. And we can’t say no to Monastery Mentor, who is now, thanks to getting reprinted in March of the Machine, actually budget playable!

The precon also needed some more help in the card draw/advantage department, so in goes Rumor Gatherer, Faithless Looting, and Preordain. And, of course, we can’t forget one of the best Jeskai cards ever printed, Jeskai Ascendancy. Although we’re not going to be using it to combo off with this list, its ability to untap all your creatures is a no-brainer with all of our Convoke spells. Also, it makes our creatures bigger! Why wasn’t this in the precon?

The deck needed more color to its ramp spells, so I’ve added Fellwar Stone and Ornithopter of Paradise. The thopter is great as a mana source, or as a creature to tap for Convoke spells. 

And last, I added in Witty Roastmaster to dish out some extra pain when our tokens enter. Because what’s better than Impact Tremors? Two of them!

Cost Cutters

We’ve added 10 awesome cards to this list, so of course 10 not-so-awesome cards have got to go. For my cuts, I mostly focused on getting rid of cards that were either too high in MV, or just not effective in the deck.

For cards that I just don’t think are functional enough, I’m taking out Duergar Hedge-Mage, Improbable Alliance, Goblin Medics, and Angel of Finality. The Hedge-Mage is laughably ineffective in a deck that doesn’t do much fetching of basic lands. While Improbable Alliance is cheap, its token-making ability is terribly inefficient, as is its card draw (six mana?!) Angel of Finality is fine, and grave-hate is certainly a legit reason to include it in a deck. But without consistent flickering abilities in the deck it’s just not very useful. And Goblin Medics doesn’t deal enough damage.

For costly cards, I’ve cut Joyful Stormsculptor, Flight of Equenauts, Chant of Vitu-Ghazi, and Austere Command. Flight and Chant are both Convoke cards, and I really hated to cut them, since that’s the deck’s whole theme, and it’s already lacking in those cards. But they really just bloated the top end of the mana curve with very weak effects. Stormsculptor is five mana for three creatures, which isn’t a bad ROI, I just needed it to cost less. And Austere Command is a perfectly good card, it’s just too expensive for this list.

And last, I cut Battle Screech and Ichor Elixir. I know Elixir plays with the Planechase cards, but this deck really needed more colored mana. And cheaper ramp. Battle Screech was just not good enough, even with the Flashback potential.

Top Shelf

Looking to blow your tax return on upgrading this precon? I’ve got you covered. How about some Gods? Purphoros, God of the Forge doubles the Impact Tremors effect, and Heliod, God of the Sun gives all of our creatures vigilance (great with Convoke) while also being a mana sink for some token creation.

We’ve got a few pricier Convoke cards as well, with Bennie Bracks, Zoologist, Clever Concealment, and, from the main March of the Machine set, City on Fire.

There’s some low MV creatures like Esper Sentinel and Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer that give us some potential card advantage. And for extra card draw we can throw in Rhystic Study and Staff of the Storyteller. 

The manabase could also use a real boost, so add in some high-end lands like Raugrin Triome, Steam Vents, Spectator Seating, and Flooded Strand.

And let’s not forget to protect ourselves, with Teferi’s Protection and Meekstone.

Faster. Stronger.

Here’s the final upgraded decklist:

We added 10 cards, upping the card advantage and ramp, while lowering the mana curve and switching to our lower-cost commander, and we did it for less than $8. This just goes to show that this game is for everyone, whether your deck budget is $50 or $500, we can all play and have a good time. Our final list here is more streamlined, and will hold its own at more tables.

Make sure to check back for more precon guides from us Scrap Trawlers. Lenny and Bert are hard at work making the guides for the other decks from this set, so don’t miss those. You can also check out our budget content over on Twitch and YouTube and follow us on Twitter. 

Until next time, remember to budget…before you buy it.

Scrap Trawlers

Scrap Trawlers is a Magic: The Gathering budget EDH streaming and video group, with gameplay, deck techs, chats, and more. Catch our videos at youtube.com/scraptrawlers. Andy, Lenny, and Bert.