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

Hungry Like the Wolf

Hey friends! It’s time for another precon upgrade guide, courtesy of your favorite budget team, the Scrap Trawlers. I’m Andy, and today I’m showing you how to pump up your wolf pack in the Exit from Exile deck, from Commander Legends: Battle for Baldur's Gate. We’re adding more wolves, dealing more damage, and making sure our bite is worse than our bark. Let’s go!

Here’s the original decklist:

Smell Like I Sound

Our wolf pack alpha is Faldorn, Dread Wolf Herald, a 3/3 Human Druid that gives you a 2/2 Wolf whenever you cast a spell or play a land from exile. She also has an activated ability to exile your top card. The original list for this deck packed a solid punch, and I was mostly happy with it. The ramp and draw packages were both very large, but mostly thematic as well, so I didn't want to mess with them too much. I didn’t see any real weaknesses with the deck overall, so the main goal with this upgrade is to just beef it up a bit, and ditch any cards that don't fit. And there are always cards in a precon that don’t fit, no matter how good it is. 

The deck didn’t really need more ways to exile cards, but screw it. Let’s give it more anyway. We’ll start with Commune with Lava. This card should’ve been in the original list, and I thumb my nose at the designers for missing it. There’s literally no drawback to this card. It’s a perfect inclusion because it’s instant speed, so you can hold up your mana for interaction, and if none is needed you tap out on the prior player’s end step to put everything into the X cost and have a world of options for play when you untap.

Containment Construct is another no-brainer, as it works beautifully with Faldorn’s activated ability, which requires you to discard a card. Valakut Exploration works great for giving you an extra card when you drop a land, while also dishing out a bit of damage if you don’t use that card. It also puts the exiled card into the grave rather than keeping it in exile, which is really nice if you have some recursion. We’re also throwing in the new Urabrask, since it actually makes more sense in the deck than the old one. Urabrask, Heretic Praetor not only gives you an extra card in exile on your turn, it also helps to shut down your opponents from getting instant speed interaction to play outside of their own turn.

I’m also adding You Find Some Prisoners, because I love modal cards and this one will never not be good, especially with the rising popularity of artifact decks.

Discord and Rhyme

We’re not done adding! I wanted to throw in a couple of cards to beef up our Wolf tokens, as well as make more of them. First up is Hollowhenge Overlord, which doubles your Wolf pack on your upkeep. There’s also Nightpack Ambusher, which pumps your wolves and gives you another if you don’t cast any spells on your turn (not likely, since our whole thing is casting spells). 

I mentioned Rousing Refrain in my primer article, so I figured I may as well add it to the deck. The extra mana boost can be stellar if you’ve got a turn where you’re exiling a lot of cards, or if you want to pump that mana into Commune with Lava or a big spell like Sandwurm Convergence. I also wanted a bit more recursion in the deck to get back some of the stuff we discard with Faldorn, so we’re adding the classic Eternal Witness.

New from the Warhammer 40K decks, Keeper of Secrets is a redundant effect for Passionate Archaeologist, but it also triggers off spells from the grave or command zone. Not to mention, it’s a big beater as a 6/4 with first strike. 

And last for additions, I felt the deck needed a couple more finishing moves. In goes Overwhelming Stampede to enlarge the Wolf pack for an alpha strike, and Champion of Lambholt to make them unblockable.

I’m Lost and I’m Found

You know the drill. It’s a 100 card format; cards go in, other cards must go out. We’ll start with my least favorite new card from the precon, Journey to the Lost City. This card is just not good, so it’s an easy cut.

Thankfully, all my other cuts are reprints. We’ll start with the ones that focused on +1/+1 counters, which felt like an unnecessary addition to the deck. Grumgully, the Generous is a very good card, don’t get me wrong. And yes, having your Wolf tokens be 3/3s instead of 2/2s is probably a very good thing. But I just want to do other stuff with this deck. Managorger Hydra is out for the same reason.

I’m cutting several other creatures as well, including: Lovestruck Beast, Sweet-Gum Recluse, Aurora Phoenix, Battle Mammoth, Bloodbraid Elf, Dire Fleet Daredevil, Embereth Shieldbreaker, and Greater Gargadon. Some of these are just generally good, but not right for the deck, like Sweet-Gum Recluse and Dire Fleet Daredevil. Some aren’t impactful enough, like Bloodbraid Elf and Greater Gargadon. And some just suck, like Lovestruck Beast.

The only other noncreature spell we’re cutting is Terramorph. Yeah, it’s decent ramp, and the Rebound is nice. But I’d like my land ramp to come a bit earlier than turn 4. It’s not a bad card, it’s just not quite good enough.

Juices Like Wine

If pumping fat stacks of cash into a precon is your thing, then this section is for you, my friend. First up, let’s double those Wolf tokens with Doubling Season and Parallel Lives. Then let’s make those tokens hurt some more with Purphoros, God of the Forge. And if you like Purph's pump ability, then throw in Shared Animosity as well.

For extra mana, you can’t go wrong with Growing Rites of Itlimoc, or maybe you’re just crazy enough to add the OG, Gaea’s Cradle. You do you.

We can also throw some money at protecting our stuff, with Heroic Intervention and Deflecting Swat. And if you’re looking to close the game in high fashion, look no further than Craterhoof Behemoth and Triumph of the Hordes.

And there's a couple of fantastic newer cards for the list as well, Professional Face-Breaker and Brazen Cannonade.

I Break from the Crowd

Here’s where the final decklist ended up:

We changed out 12 cards, cutting out some chaff and beefing up our Wolf pack for more bite, and we did it for under $15. I’d call that a success, especially since we started with such a strong list. 

So that’s it for Exit from Exile. What cards did I miss? What should I put back in? Where is fancy bread, in the heart or in the head? How much do you love Duran Duran? Tell us in the comments! Don’t forget to keep your eyes peeled here for more precon guides from your discount buddies, the Scrap Trawlers. And remember to budget… before you buy it.