This is the complete guide to successfully piloting the Silverquill Statement preconstructed deck, commanded by Breena, the Demagogue. This guide holds all the information needed to maneuver the deck to victory straight from the box!

Silverquill Statement is a political deck that dabbles more into politics than any other precon released to date. It wants to land Breena as soon as possible, and use combat, evasion, and +1/+1 counters to finish opponents off.

Despite the fact that Breena is the most important cog in this machine, many players have misunderstood the wording of its ability. Breena’s controller can trigger Breena’s ability twice on their own turn, by attacking two separate opponents, each with a higher life total than the third opponent not being attacked. In this instance, Breena’s controller will draw two cards and place two sets of two +1/+1 counters on creatures they control. On any opponent’s turn, that player can trigger Breena once if their life total is higher than the other two opponents, and twice if their life total is the lowest among opponents. To resolve these triggers, the opponent attacking will draw a card for each trigger, and Breena’s controller will then get to put two +1/+1 counters on a creature they control. This is the crux of the deck’s strategy: Breena, or some other evasive flying creature, will grow to enormous size and be able to take out opponents in a few swings.

To supplement Breena’s ability, the deck has political aspects that will encourage attacking and create more Breena triggers while keeping itself ahead.

• Combat Calligrapher actively rewards opponents for attacking each other, leading to extra damage dealt and more Breena triggers. Soul Snare and Duelist’s Heritage will incentivize attackers away, either with potential bonus or potential harm.
• Pendant of Prosperity allows alliances to be formed and deals to be made, but only between this deck and one of its opponents.
• Martial Impetus, Parasitic Impetus, and Vow of Duty effectively remove creatures and also force them to attack elsewhere. They aren’t the best rates in terms of interaction, but they will accomplish this deck’s goal.

Silverquill Statement isn’t a deck that closes out games quickly. It has to leverage its advantages and continue to apply pressure over several turns in order to eliminate a player. Its primary threats are much slower than those of the average deck.

• Debtors' Knell, while painfully slow in regular Commander, can return threats over and over, providing a steady stream of pressure that can eventually overwhelm other precon-level decks.
• Zetalpa, Primal Dawn is a giant flying monster that is the fastest clock this deck can muster. Trample is the key ability on this creature, as it prevents chump blocking when Breena stacks counters on it.
• Necropolis Regent will double the power of creatures that connect, making them much more dangerous for the next turn. Ideally, one combat trigger will be enough to take out a player the turn after, potentially with Commander damage.

For a deck that aims to control the pace of the game, Silverquill Statement is actually light on removal. Unfortunately, this deck will be unable to police every threat at the table and will have to instead resort to going over or around them.

• Deathbringer Liege can dominate board states if left unchecked for long enough, tapping down creatures and destroying them afterwards. It requires time and spells, but it will do the job.
• Angel of Serenity makes for a nice combination of temporary creature removal and recursion for the deck’s bigger threats in the graveyard.
• For instant-speed spot removal, which is normally a critical part of political decks, there is only Fracture, Utter End, and Oblation. As a result, the deck won’t be able to interact very much outside of its own turn, so it will have to rely more heavily on creatures.

Every preconstructed Commander deck will have overperformers and underperformers, and there are a handful of cards in this deck that won’t be pulling their weight.

• Bold Plagiarist is either a specific response to a particular meta, or a very niche payoff, but it will be almost entirely useless in this deck. At first glance it seems to work with Breena, but she only places counters on her controller’s creatures.
• Hunted Lammasu is essentially a vanilla creature; donating a 4/4 token has some political value, but this card just has little to no impact on the game.
• Nils, Discipline Enforcer not only hands out value to opponents, but it doesn’t deter attacks enough to warrant an inclusion or even a casting in most games.

While the deck does have its glaring weaknesses, there are some overperformers that will help make up for them.

• Together Forever comes down and continuously protects the deck’s entire board. Breena will be taxless to cast as long as this card is in play. It will be difficult to lose most games where Together Forever remains in play.
• Incarnation Technique doesn’t exactly synergize with this deck, but it’s a powerful spell that can have a huge impact on the game. It does gift out a little bit of political value, but the ability to cheat out giant creatures like Zetalpa, Primal Dawn early, or to bring them back after they die, is some of the best value in the deck.
• Felisa, Fang of Silverquill works very well with +1/+1 counters, which Breena will hand out plenty of. Because of that, creatures will die into multiple Inklings with Felisa out, giving the deck board wipe insurance and nice evasive beaters. Felisa paired with Together Forever functions as a combo that needs to be stopped.

Overall, Silverquill Statement is rough around the edges, but can generate lots of power and toughness through Breena, and does have decent means to close a game out, as long as the deck can apply that pressure long enough to take out three plays. Knowing its weaknesses and playing towards its strengths can make the difference between a loss and a victory in Commander!

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