Welcome back to another precon guide on EDHREC. Today we’re upgrading the Hail, Caesar precon from Universes Beyond: Fallout. 

In case you missed it, go check out my review of the precon, where I gave it a middling grade due to rough starts, some weak new cards, and an out-of-place backup commander. Can we speed this deck up and make it into a token powerhouse?

For the Emperor!

What’s in the Original Deck?

Hail, Caesar is led by Caesar, Legion’s Emperor, a 4/4 Human Soldier for four mana that lets you sacrifice a creature when you attack to choose two of the three options below:

• Make two 1/1 Soldier tokens tapped and attacking
• Draw a card and lose a life
• Caesar deals damage to an opponent equal to the number of creature tokens you control

So we’re looking to sacrifice creatures but also have as many creature tokens as possible. Sounds a bit contradictory, but we'll make it work.

Our backup commander is Mr. House, President and CEO. He’s a 0/4 artifact Human that makes you a 3/3 Robot creature token whenever you roll a result of four or higher on a die, plus a Treasure if you rolled six or higher. And you can tap him with four mana to roll a d6, plus an additional d6 if you spent Treasure mana to activate him. He’s one of only two cards in the deck that roll dice, and one of three that makes Treasure. Sadly, he'll be among the first cuts.

Here’s the original list:

Hail, Caesar Precon

View on Archidekt

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Commander (1) 1 Caesar, Legion's Emperor Instants (7) 1 Anguished Unmaking 1 Deadly Dispute 1 Entrapment Maneuver 1 Lethal Scheme 1 Secure the Wastes 1 VATS 1 Wear // Tear Creatures (31) 1 Aradesh, the Founder 1 Boomer Scrapper 1 Butch DeLoria, Tunnel Snake 1 Captain of the Watch 1 Colonel Autumn 1 Craig Boone, Novac Guard 1 Desdemona, Freedom's Edge 1 ED-E, Lonesome Eyebot 1 Elder Arthur Maxson 1 Gary Clone 1 General's Enforcer 1 Impassioned Orator 1 Keeper of the Accord 1 Kellogg, Dangerous Mind 1 Legate Lanius, Caesar's Ace 1 MacCready, Lamplight Mayor 1 Morbid Opportunist 1 Mr House, President and CEO 1 Mysterious Stranger 1 Overseer of Vault 76 1 Paladin Elizabeth Taggerdy 1 Pitiless Plunderer 1 Powder Ganger 1 Rose, Cutthroat Raider 1 Ruthless Radrat 1 Securitron Squadron 1 Sierra, Nuka's Biggest Fan 1 Thrill-Kill Disciple 1 Wasteland Raider 1 White Glove Gourmand 1 Yes Man, Personal Securitron Artifacts (9) 1 Arcane Signet 1 Charisma Bobblehead 1 Luck Bobblehead 1 Skullclamp 1 Sol Ring 1 Survivor's Med Kit 1 Talisman of Conviction 1 Talisman of Hierarchy 1 Talisman of Indulgence Enchantments (11) 1 Assemble the Legion 1 Bastion of Remembrance 1 Battle of Hoover Dam 1 Black Market 1 Fervent Charge 1 Intangible Virtue 1 Marshal's Anthem 1 Stolen Strategy 1 Vault 11 Voter's Dilemma 1 Vault 75 Middle School 1 Wild Wasteland Sorceries (5) 1 Heroic Reinforcements 1 Hour of Reckoning 1 Martial Coup 1 Ruinous Ultimatum 1 The Nipton Lottery Lands (36) 1 Ash Barrens 1 Canyon Slough 1 Clifftop Retreat 1 Command Tower 1 Desolate Mire 1 Diamond City 1 Dragonskull Summit 1 Evolving Wilds 1 Isolated Chapel 1 Memorial to Glory 5 Mountain 1 Myriad Landscape 1 Nomad Outpost 1 Path of Ancestry 5 Plains 1 Shadowblood Ridge 1 Smoldering Marsh 4 Swamp 1 Tainted Field 1 Tainted Peak 1 Temple of Malice 1 Temple of Silence 1 Temple of Triumph 1 Terramorphic Expanse 1 Windbrisk Heights

Let’s tune up.

What Budget Cards Can We Add to Hail, Caesar?

We’ll break our upgrade up into two parts: one budget ($5 or less) and one non-budget (>$5).

In playtesting I had a hard time finding cheap ramp and making black mana in the early game. So we’ll give the deck a Fellwar Stone and a Chromatic Lantern. I’m also adding a land, since the precon was a little skimpy at 36. Kher Keep seems the most on-theme with making a token for cheap. It also comes into play untapped, so that’s a big plus. I also felt that Caesar could use a bit of protection beyond General’s Enforcer, so Swiftfoot Boots will get added as well.

The coolest upgrade we can give this deck is Isshin, Two Heavens as One. This guy doubles all of your attack triggers, which covers a lot more than just Caesar. MacCready, Lamplight Mayor will drain opponents for four if they attack us with big creatures. The Training ability on Elder Arthur Maxson will trigger twice. Paladin Elizabeth Taggerdy will draw an extra card and potentially put another creature on the board. Fervent Charge will give your attackers +4/+4. And so on.

For even more tokens, we’ll add Call the Coppercoats and Finale of Glory for a quick hit of bodies for the Legion. The deck is overflowing with Humans, so Horn of Gondor is a great addition. We'll have a lot of nontoken attackers, so Mardu Ascendancy giving us a Goblin for each of them will pay off nicely. Requiem Angel will basically replace all of our dying creatures with another creature (except the Spirits it makes, of course). And Thalisse, Reverent Medium gives us a Spirit token for each token we make (including Junk!), which is as close as we're going to get to Anointed Procession on a budget.

Mirkwood Bats hits each opponent for one life whenever we make or sacrifice a token, which will speed us along to victory nicely. Neyali, Suns’ Vanguard gives our tokens double strike and adds some card advantage when our tokens attack. And Idol of Oblivion can draw us a lot of cards for just two mana.

These soldiers won’t be spared: Aradesh, the Founder, Black Market, Boomer Scrapper, Butch DeLoria, Tunnel Snake, Heroic Reinforcements, Legate Lanius, Caesar’s Ace, Luck Bobblehead, Mr. House, President and CEO, Mysterious Stranger, Ruthless Radrat, Sierra, Nuka’s Biggest Fan, Survivor’s Med Kit, The Nipton Lottery, Vault 11: Voter’s Dilemma, Vault 75: Middle School

Here’s the budget upgraded list:

Hail, Caesar Budget Upgrade

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Commander (1) 1 Caesar, Legion's Emperor Artifacts (12) 1 Arcane Signet 1 Charisma Bobblehead 1 Chromatic Lantern 1 Fellwar Stone 1 Horn of Gondor 1 Idol of Oblivion 1 Skullclamp 1 Sol Ring 1 Swiftfoot Boots 1 Talisman of Conviction 1 Talisman of Hierarchy 1 Talisman of Indulgence Instants (8) 1 Anguished Unmaking 1 Call the Coppercoats 1 Deadly Dispute 1 Entrapment Maneuver 1 Lethal Scheme 1 Secure the Wastes 1 VATS 1 Wear // Tear Creatures (29) 1 Captain of the Watch 1 Colonel Autumn 1 Corpse Knight 1 Craig Boone, Novac Guard 1 Desdemona, Freedom's Edge 1 ED-E, Lonesome Eyebot 1 Elder Arthur Maxson 1 Gary Clone 1 General's Enforcer 1 Impassioned Orator 1 Isshin, Two Heavens as One 1 Keeper of the Accord 1 Kellogg, Dangerous Mind 1 MacCready, Lamplight Mayor 1 Mirkwood Bats 1 Morbid Opportunist 1 Neyali, Suns' Vanguard 1 Overseer of Vault 76 1 Paladin Elizabeth Taggerdy 1 Pitiless Plunderer 1 Powder Ganger 1 Requiem Angel 1 Rose, Cutthroat Raider 1 Securitron Squadron 1 Thalisse, Reverent Medium 1 Thrill-Kill Disciple 1 Wasteland Raider 1 White Glove Gourmand 1 Yes Man, Personal Securitron Enchantments (9) 1 Assemble the Legion 1 Bastion of Remembrance 1 Battle of Hoover Dam 1 Fervent Charge 1 Intangible Virtue 1 Mardu Ascendancy 1 Marshal's Anthem 1 Stolen Strategy 1 Wild Wasteland Sorceries (4) 1 Finale of Glory 1 Hour of Reckoning 1 Martial Coup 1 Ruinous Ultimatum Lands (37) 1 Ash Barrens 1 Canyon Slough 1 Clifftop Retreat 1 Command Tower 1 Desolate Mire 1 Diamond City 1 Dragonskull Summit 1 Evolving Wilds 1 Isolated Chapel 1 Kher Keep 1 Memorial to Glory 5 Mountain 1 Myriad Landscape 1 Nomad Outpost 1 Path of Ancestry 5 Plains 1 Shadowblood Ridge 1 Smoldering Marsh 4 Swamp 1 Tainted Field 1 Tainted Peak 1 Temple of Malice 1 Temple of Silence 1 Temple of Triumph 1 Terramorphic Expanse 1 Windbrisk Heights

And some other cards to consider: City on Fire, Grafted Exoskeleton, Launch the Fleet

What Are Some Good Expensive Cards We Can Add to Hail, Caesar?

The Legion thrives, so let’s look at some cards to add that will require more denarius and aureus.

We’ll up our token game even more, with Adeline, Resplendent Cathar for more Humans, Bitterblossom to provide flyers, which is something the deck is lacking, and Myrel, Shield of Argive who is especially good with all the Soldiers we're making. Anointed Procession and Ojer Taq, Deepest Foundation double and triple our creature tokens, respectively. If you've got the money, they're a no-brainer.

I really want our tokens to be able to attack and survive, so we’ll add Iroas, God of Victory, which will prevent all damage dealt to our attackers, in addition to making them harder to block with menace.

Since we’re dropping so many creatures on the board, Purphoros, God of the Forge seems like an easy inclusion. His pump ability will also come in handy.

And last, I thought the deck could use a big combat finisher, so we’ll give it a Moonshaker Cavalry to send our army to glorious victory.

The weak will be left behind: Battle of Hoover Dam, Corpse Knight, Finale of Glory, Requiem Angel, Thalisse, Reverent Medium, Wasteland Raider, White Glove Gourmand, Yes Man, Personal Securitron

Here’s our non-budget upgraded list:

Hail, Caesar Non-Budget Upgrade

View on Archidekt

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Commander (1) 1 Caesar, Legion's Emperor Instants (8) 1 Anguished Unmaking 1 Call the Coppercoats 1 Deadly Dispute 1 Entrapment Maneuver 1 Lethal Scheme 1 Secure the Wastes 1 VATS 1 Wear // Tear Sorceries (3) 1 Hour of Reckoning 1 Martial Coup 1 Ruinous Ultimatum Creatures (29) 1 Adeline, Resplendent Cathar 1 Captain of the Watch 1 Colonel Autumn 1 Craig Boone, Novac Guard 1 Desdemona, Freedom's Edge 1 ED-E, Lonesome Eyebot 1 Elder Arthur Maxson 1 Gary Clone 1 General's Enforcer 1 Impassioned Orator 1 Iroas, God of Victory 1 Isshin, Two Heavens as One 1 Keeper of the Accord 1 Kellogg, Dangerous Mind 1 MacCready, Lamplight Mayor 1 Mirkwood Bats 1 Moonshaker Cavalry 1 Morbid Opportunist 1 Myrel, Shield of Argive 1 Neyali, Suns' Vanguard 1 Ojer Taq, Deepest Foundation // Temple of Civilization 1 Overseer of Vault 76 1 Paladin Elizabeth Taggerdy 1 Pitiless Plunderer 1 Powder Ganger 1 Purphoros, God of the Forge 1 Rose, Cutthroat Raider 1 Securitron Squadron 1 Thrill-Kill Disciple Enchantments (10) 1 Anointed Procession 1 Assemble the Legion 1 Bastion of Remembrance 1 Bitterblossom 1 Fervent Charge 1 Intangible Virtue 1 Mardu Ascendancy 1 Marshal's Anthem 1 Stolen Strategy 1 Wild Wasteland Artifacts (12) 1 Arcane Signet 1 Charisma Bobblehead 1 Chromatic Lantern 1 Fellwar Stone 1 Horn of Gondor 1 Idol of Oblivion 1 Skullclamp 1 Sol Ring 1 Swiftfoot Boots 1 Talisman of Conviction 1 Talisman of Hierarchy 1 Talisman of Indulgence Lands (37) 1 Ash Barrens 1 Canyon Slough 1 Clifftop Retreat 1 Command Tower 1 Desolate Mire 1 Diamond City 1 Dragonskull Summit 1 Evolving Wilds 1 Isolated Chapel 1 Kher Keep 1 Memorial to Glory 5 Mountain 1 Myriad Landscape 1 Nomad Outpost 1 Path of Ancestry 5 Plains 1 Shadowblood Ridge 1 Smoldering Marsh 4 Swamp 1 Tainted Field 1 Tainted Peak 1 Temple of Malice 1 Temple of Silence 1 Temple of Triumph 1 Terramorphic Expanse 1 Windbrisk Heights

And some more cards to consider: Divine Visitation, Dolmen Gate, Grand Crescendo, Inkshield, Mondrak, Glory Dominus, Sword of the Animist, Virtue of Loyalty, Warleader’s Call

For the Son of Mars!

That’s it for our upgrade of Hail, Caesar. What do you think? Did I make this deck better? Did I miss anything? Do you feel icky when you play decks led by bad guys? Let me know in the comments below. And keep checking back for more precon guides, here on EDHREC.

More Precon Fun:

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Scrappy Survivors Fallout Precon Upgrade Guide

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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.