(Tegwyll, Duke of Splendor | Art by Ekaterina Burmak | Alela, Cunning Conqueror | Art by Livia Prima | Obyra, Dreaming Duelist | Art by Evyn Fong )

Hello Friends. I'm Beth, Queen of Cardboard, and I'm here to review the new Wilds of Eldraine Commander precon deck, Fae Dominion. This is a Faerie typal deck, and the face commander, Tegwyll, Duke of Splendor, not only pumps your Faeries, but rewards you with card draw when your Faeries die, at the cost of one life.

As one of two precons from Wilds of Eldraine, this deck features a well known creature type and is strong straight of the box, with plenty of flyers and ways to get in for combat damage. It also features over 20 instant and sorcery cards to thwart your opponents, compared to a measly eight in its partner deck, Virtue and Valor.

Glamorous Fae

Tegwyll, Duke of Splendor is a three-cost Dimir (blue/black) 2/3 Faerie Noble. This relatively inexpensive commander is easy to cast, pumps your other Faeries, and with flying and deathtouch he can be difficult for opponents to deal with. Though he's not very large, he can get in early game for several points of commander damage, or if you'd like to build a board state, he's a creature that can protect your own life total by becoming a deterrent to combat by your opponents. In addition, he lends to great card advantage by providing a card draw for every Faerie death. Since most Faeries are rather cheap to cast, this can be a huge help both early and mid-game.

It's safe to say that this commander does everything you could want in a typical Faerie deck, but if losing life isn't your style, it's an easy swap for the alternate commander, Alela, Cunning Conqueror. I'd say my only complaint at this point is that there's not a lot of recursion, so you're going to need to rely on your ability to create Faeries to maintain a board state.

Check out the decklist below:

The deck features many reprints, bringing back several favorites featured in Throne of Eldraine. And new cards like Obyra, Dreaming Duelist, Spell Stutter, and Misleading Signpost are just a few fun additions that give you plenty of tricks to overcome your opponents both on the battlefield and off.

Let's check out the strengths of this deck together.

Fae Tricksters

This deck is full of tricksters and attempts to win by surprising your opponents. Most of the creatures aren't terribly big, so playing it well means tricking your opponent into a disadvantageous play.

If you've been asking for more removal in your Commander precons, this is the deck for you. The deck features one-sided board wipes, counterspells, and other removal. With cards like Kindred Dominance, Nightmare Unmaking, Reality Shift, and Snap, you'll always have a way to remove a problem.

Adventure cards are also found here, giving extra value with both a non-permanent and permanent spell in one card. Going on an Adventure might not happen often in this deck, but the four included are full of value, with only Hypnotic Sprite being a fairly vanilla Faerie and providing little to no extra value as a creature. Brazen Borrower can come in handy at any time, as its flash ability makes it easy to cast and provides a body on the field in a time of need.

I'll be honest, this deck has a lot going for it. My only complaint is that for a new player, it might have too much going for it. You've got copy spells, combat tricks, life gain, life drain, and a whole lot of cards to play during your opponents' turns. This isn't a bad thing, just something to keep in mind, and when teaching a new player this might not be the deck I reach for. For those who love Faeries or lots of interaction, it's easy to see why this deck has become so popular.

Let's take a look at the other cards that you can use as a commander in this deck.

Cunning Combat

The alternate commander is Alela, Cunning Conqueror. While she's a little more expensive than Tegwyll, Duke of Splendor, she rewards you both for casting spells during your opponents' turns and also for dealing combat damage with Faeries. She's a four-cost 2/4 Faerie Warlock that gives you a 1/1 Faerie Rogue for each spell you cast during each opponent's turn and Goads creatures on your opponent's board when your Faeries deal combat damage to them. Supporting her, you have several Faeries with flash, and did I mention the 17 instants in the deck?

This deck is begging you to play cards during your opponents' turns, and the rewards for doing so can completely disrupt any strategy that's thrown your way. If that's not enough, you've got a little surprise in the one non-Fae creature in the list, Hullbreaker Horror. While I'm not a huge fan of cards showing up just because they're good, Hullbreaker Horror is going to give you lots of value for doing what the deck is trying to do, pester your opponents and distract from your tiny pokes along the way.

In addition to Alela, Cunning Conqueror, you're provided with three other creatures that you could swap in for the commander, Obyra, Dreaming Duelist, Nymris, Oona's Trickster, and Oona, Queen of the Fae. In my opinion, the only other good option is Obyra.

Obyra is simple, with the ability to drain your opponents when Faeries enter your battlefield. While there are options outside of the deck for this commander that would be smooth, within the precon there are only five cards that deal with life loss. Most of them make you lose life, not your opponents. Only Faerie Bladecrafter helps you gain life and, simply put, this strategy is too slow without upgrading or changing the deck entirely. The other two options, Nymris and Oona, are much more expensive mana wise and don't have as much value as either Tegwyll, Duke of Splendor or Alela, Cunning Conqueror.

Conclusion

Faeries are easily one of the favorite typal decks to play, and this precon's popularity has proven that. It far outsells the other Wilds of Eldraine precon deck, Virtue and Valor, at my local game store.

Having played against the deck, I can say that it presents a threat and has a lot of responses for just about any situation. However, without a solid life-draining strategy, and little recursion, I find this deck to be annoying without an easily defined win condition. Yes, it has counterspells, and yes it has removal, but against a deck that also has those things and large creatures or board wipes, these little guys will be stuck in your graveyard, and there's not much to do after that. I write this knowing full well I'm in the minority here, but that's okay.

If you like this deck but you'd like it to be a little more synergistic, you can check out my Precon Upgrade guide here.

Beth Queen of Cardboard

Beth is an casual Commander player who's passionate about silly decks, creating safe community spaces, and crowns. She loves to travel and play magic with friends. When not playing Magic, she's probably snuggling her dogs or playing some video games.