(Faldorn, Dread Wolf Herald | Art by Jason A. Engle)

Hey friends! Andy here from the Scrap Trawlers, where we do EDH on a budget. We’re hopping into the precon time machine and punching in the coordinates for Commander Legends: Battle for Baldur’s Gate so we can give you the lowdown on the amazing precons that came from that set. And today we’re heading into Gruul Turf to check out the Exit from Exile deck, led by Faldorn, Dread Wolf Herald. 

Wolf it Down

If you’re looking to dominate the game with snarling creature tokens and set the world record for most card advantage in a Commander deck, then this precon is for you. The commander is Faldorn, a 3/3 Human Druid for three mana that gives you a 2/2 Wolf whenever you cast a spell or play a land from exile. She also has a tap ability to exile the top card of your library, with the option to play it that turn.

Here’s the full decklist:

As with most precons, Exit from Exile comes with a backup leader, or, in this case, a background leader. Durnan of the Yawning Portal is a green 3/3 Human Warrior. Whenever he attacks, he lets you look at your top 4 cards and exile a creature card from among them. You can then cast that creature from exile with an Undaunted discount. But wait, there’s more! He also comes with a Background. The box only gives you one, but it’s very good. Passionate Archaeologist makes your commander deal damage to an opponent equal to the mana value of spells you cast from exile. Every spell, no once-per-turn limit. Like all Backgrounds, its effects are only active when you control your commander. Whether you’re running Faldorn or Durnan, this is a fantastic enchantment to have in play. 

It’s Wolfie. Let Him in / Now the Fun / Will Begin

This deck is mainly about two things: playing cards from exile, and making tokens. Our end goal is to amass a large army, wolves and otherwise, and swing them to victory. Thankfully the deck doesn’t rely on Faldorn alone to provide the exile effect, because she’s not terribly effective at it. The list has a cornucopia of impulse draw spells (effects that exile cards for you to play). In addition to Durnan, we’re running Dream Pillager, Escape to the Wilds, Ignite the Future, and several more. 

This list also provides card advantage by playing cards exiled from other players’ libraries. There’s Stolen Strategy, which flips a card from each opponents’ library at your upkeep, Chaos Wand that digs through their library for an instant or sorcery, and perennial precon favorite Etali, Primal Storm, which exiles the top card of each library when it attacks and lets you cast those spells for free.

We’re also biting into several mechanics from years past that play spells from exile, such as: Adventure (Beanstalk Giant, Tlincalli Hunter, Embereth Shieldbreaker), Cascade (Wild-Magic Sorcerer, Volcanic Torrent, Bloodbraid Elf), Foretell (Green Slime, Demon Bolt, Battle Mammoth, Delayed Blast Fireball), and Suspend (Search for Tomorrow, Greater Gargadon, Venture Forth).

So all this casting stuff from exile is gonna get us a ton of wolf tokens, but is that enough to win the game? Probably not, so we’ve got a few more cards to pack some extra combat punch. Sandwurm Convergence, Arasta of the Endless Web, Hornet Queen, and Primeval Bounty are all joining the token party as well. And to make sure they’re making an impact, Warstorm Surge deals some damage when they enter, Urabrask the Hidden gets them swinging on their first turn, and End-Raze Forerunners acts as our budget Craterhoof Behemoth, closing out the game in a glorious Gruul bloodshed. The Overwhelm mode on Return of the Wildspeaker can also accomplish this.

Wolf Cubs

Now it’s time to talk about the most exciting part of precons: the new cards! This deck’s offering is a bit of a mixed bag, but some of the good ones are so good that they outweigh the bad. We’ll start in the middle of the road, with Sarevok’s Tome, which introduces Initiative and Dungeons into a deck that doesn’t otherwise use them. It’s a 4-mana rock that gives you two mana, but only sometimes. Then if you’ve completed a dungeon you can pay 3 mana to get a free spell from the top of your library. It’s middling at best in this list that doesn’t care about dungeons, but probably a great addition to dungeon delver decks. Next up is Venture Forth, a repeatable version of Search for Tomorrow for one extra mana. We’ve seen effects like this before on cards like Rousing Refrain, and they’re always great for value.

Over to the bad cards, starting with one of the biggest stinkers I’ve seen in a precon recently, Journey to the Lost City. I love variability, possibly more than most Commander players, but the drawbacks on this enchantment are just too much to overcome. It’s like milling yourself for 4 each upkeep, except most of those cards will leave the game forever. One extra land per turn would be a decent return on the 4 mana cost, if it weren’t for the fact that you’re losing the other 3 cards. You might also get a wolf token that’s somewhere between a 2/2 and a 6/6. And if you roll 20 you get all permanent cards back, which sounds great…until you roll it on the first turn. Or not at all. Then there’s one of our new Foretell cards, Green Slime. I’m not totally hating on this one; in fact I think there are many situations where it could be great (Have you ever countered an Aetherflux Reservoir activation? It’s bliss). I just really wish I ended up with something more interesting than a 2/2. Probably a home run for Ruric Thar, the Unbowedand Nikya of the Old Ways decks.

Delayed Blast Fireball is such a fun board wipe. Granted, it doesn’t kill everything, and it’s not as efficient as Blasphemous Act, despite being instant speed. But it also doesn’t hurt you or your stuff. Combine this with Repercussion and you’ve got a mighty fine stew going. Tlincalli Hunter is very niche, but oh-so-good in this deck. And keep in mind it says each turn, so if you’re rocking Vivien, Champion of the Wilds and you’ve got a ton of creatures in exile…yeah, that’s the good stuff.

Last, and probably the second best new card in the deck after Passionate Archaeologist, is Nalfeshnee. This Beast Demon mama absolutely owns. Getting hasty creature tokens of big dudes you cast from exile can make for a surprise ambush. Not to mention the extra mana rocks, or the extra ramp or removal. I love this card.

Leader of the Pack

This deck was built to dominate. With 16 ramp spells and almost 20 card advantage spells, your opponents are gonna have a hard time keeping up. I had the pleasure of playing this deck recently and was killed first. Not because the deck is bad, but because it’s so good, and the amount of value it generated made me a threat and a villain by turn 5. The deck quickly popped off and showed me how valuable Tlincalli Hunter is when you’re exiling multiple cards per turn and don’t have the mana to cast it all.

But the real MVP was Nalfeshnee. I could go on and on about this card. The moment when I became the arch-enemy was when I got Nalfeshnee and Etali, Primal Storm on the board at the same time. I swung with Etali and got, not just free spells, but also copies of all those free spells. The creature copies weren’t very valuable since they couldn’t attack and had to be sacrificed, but plenty of other spells were great. On one turn Etali flipped two mana rocks, which meant I had 4 extra mana available that turn, enough for me to cast an extra spell that I otherwise couldn’t have afforded.

So if things were going so well, how did I die first? Flyers. I was up against 3 decks with armies of flyers and just couldn’t block enough to save myself. C’est la vie.

With 39 lands and 16 ramp spells, you won’t be hurting for mana at any point. And with Faldorn’s low cost of just 3 mana, you’ll do fine with an opening hand of 2 lands and a 2-mana ramp spell. And don’t be afraid to pitch stuff into the grave with Faldorn. You have a few ways of getting them back, including Tlincalli Hunter and Izzet Chemister, but there’s enough good stuff in the deck that you’ll draw into other powerhouses if you have to pitch a few to get the deck going.

The Final Howling

I had a blast playing this deck, and would be very happy to keep it as is, or lightly upgrade it to clear out a few of the deck’s duds. 

Verdict: Buy it!

This one is a very enthusiastic thumbs up from me. There’s so much fun and synergy packed into this deck, and it scratches a lot of itches for what players, new and old, like to do in Magic. Also, there’s a freaking Jeska’s Will in here! Did I forget to mention that earlier? Oops. One of the best red cards printed in the last 5 years is coming along for the ride here to give you a bunch of mana and 3 cards into exile. This card peaked in the middle of 2021 at almost $30, but thanks to this reprint, you can now find a single for about $15. Trust me, you’re better off just buying this whole deck. It’s worth it.

We’re not done with Exit from Exile just yet. That’s right, I’ve got another article coming your way for upgrades, so stay tuned! Don’t forget to check out the Scrap Trawlers on YouTube and Twitch. And remember to budget…before you buy it.