Hello Everyone! This is Bert from the Scrap Trawlers where we do Commander on a budget. Today we are looking at upgrades for the Party Time Preconstructed from Commander Legends: Baldur’s Gate. Like always we have a primer that lists the strategies and synergies that the deck feeds off of and here we are going to try to add a few cards to give the deck a bit more stopping power on the table. Let's go ahead and get into it.

Here is the Original decklist:

Party Time Precon

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Commander (1) 1 Nalia de'Arnise Artifacts (7) 1 Arcane Signet 1 Maskwood Nexus 1 Multiclass Baldric 1 Orzhov Signet 1 Skullclamp 1 Sol Ring 1 Talisman of Hierarchy Creatures (44) 1 Archpriest of Iona 1 Aven Mindcensor 1 Bloodsoaked Champion 1 Burakos, Party Leader 1 Butcher of Malakir 1 Bygone Bishop 1 Calculating Lich 1 Changeling Outcast 1 Corpse Augur 1 Deep Gnome Terramancer 1 Dire Fleet Ravager 1 Eight-and-a-Half-Tails 1 Felisa, Fang of Silverquill 1 Frontline Medic 1 Galepowder Mage 1 Glorious Protector 1 Gonti, Lord of Luxury 1 Grim Haruspex 1 Grim Hireling 1 Harper Recruiter 1 High Priest of Penance 1 Irregular Cohort 1 Jazal Goldmane 1 Mage's Attendant 1 Magus of the Balance 1 Malakir Blood-Priest 1 Mardu Strike Leader 1 Mikaeus, the Lunarch 1 Mindblade Render 1 Mirror Entity 1 Mother of Runes 1 Nighthawk Scavenger 1 Order of Whiteclay 1 Pontiff of Blight 1 Priest of Ancient Lore 1 Puppeteer Clique 1 Rumor Gatherer 1 Seasoned Dungeoneer 1 Selfless Spirit 1 Solemn Doomguide 1 Solemn Recruit 1 Squad Commander 1 Valiant Changeling 1 Zulaport Cutthroat Lands (37) 1 Ash Barrens 1 Bojuka Bog 1 Castle Locthwain 1 Command Tower 1 Mortuary Mire 1 Mutavault 1 Myriad Landscape 1 Orzhov Basilica 1 Path of Ancestry 10 Plains 1 Shambling Vent 1 Snowfield Sinkhole 1 Starlit Sanctum 10 Swamp 1 Tainted Field 1 Temple of Silence 1 Vault of the Archangel 1 War Room 1 Windbrisk Heights Sorceries (5) 1 Austere Command 1 Dusk // Dawn 1 Sevinne's Reclamation 1 Stick Together 1 Thwart the Grave Enchantments (3) 1 Black Market Connections 1 Firja's Retribution 1 Folk Hero Instants (3) 1 Crib Swap 1 Despark 1 Unbreakable Formation

Prepping for the Party

Our commander of this deck is none other than Nalia de’Arnise. She is a rogue that powers up our board when we have met the requirements of the Party mechanic. This means that early on we can put out our low cost utility creatures that fall into the creature type categories and then have them grow through our commander's effect. The sections of the deck that I feel are lacking a bit are going to be that all important card draw as well as a bit of ramp. So we will be looking for ways to shore this up while adding to our overall power.

Making the invite list

To get this started we will be adding some utility creatures that will give our board a more effective presence. I would like to begin by talking about Oona’s Blackguard. It is a powerful creature that not only empowers our rogues but also removes a few cards from our opponents hands. We are not a dedicated rogue deck so it won't be so oppressive to the point where our opponents can’t play the game but it definitely will sting a bit when they have to discard their favorite card. Next is a card that comes from the Warhammer decks that I feel has a great place among the many warriors we have at our disposal. The creature in question being Assault Intercessor. It already has First Strike and Menace making it tough to block but also has the added effect of making our opponent lose two life every time a creature they control dies making for some deep thought for our opponents when it comes to combat. So the fact that Nalia will give this creature Deathtouch and a +1/+1 counter is just icing on the cake. Last in this small piece on bolstering our army is that of Oketra’s monument. This is an awesome card that gives us a two for one whenever we cast a creature making it so that the warrior slot is always full in our deck. After our party is full then we just have the benefit of having a board of warriors ready to fight for us.

Here we are adding some cards that will help the overall flow of the deck. Varragoth, Bloodsky Sire is a powerhouse that can provide us with some awesome card selection as well as fitting in the rogue slot of our party. This works amazingly in conjunction with Nalia’s static effect of letting us cast a party creature from the top of our deck. Weathered Wayfarer is just a great creature that has a low cost and will help us fix our mana for the rest of the game essentially. It happily fits in the cleric slot so it will also help our party come together while ensuring that we will hit our land drops for turns to come. Lastly is a card that I have been high on for a bit now and that's Tocasia’s Welcome. In a decklist where we have a ton of creatures that fall under mana value three this card will just provide us with an absorbent amount of support. We can cast part cards from the top of our deck and then draw the noncreature spells to our hand so that we can keep the creature machine running providing our board with some amazing power.
Off the Guestlist

Since we have who was invited to the party now let's talk about a couple cards that are off of the guest list. Folk Hero is an amazing card in its own right but here where we only have a rogue in the command zone it doesn't carry as much weight as it would if we were dedicated to just one creature type in particular. High Priest of Penance is a good card but just does not have a big enough effect for me as it just serves as a fancy rattlesnake. Butcher of Malakir is a card that I used to play a lot when I first began to play Commander but in my opinion has fallen to the wayside as it creates some undesirable play patterns that can be less than fun for our opponents. Another card on the chopping block is going to be Galepowder Mage. It gives us a chance to reuse an ETB effect on our board but since our deck rarely abuses those we definitely can find something more useful that can fit into the slot. Solemn Recruit is a creature that I find to be a bit lackluster. The floor for this card is mediocre while the ceiling for it is amazing. After a few turns of triggering revolt we would have a powerhouse on our hands but we don't really have a ton of ways to trigger this effect ourselves so I feel that it would leave a bit to be desired.

VIP List

As you know by now we at Scrap Trawlers are budget conscious but we set aside a section in our articles to discuss some of the more expensive cards that we will fit into our decks. Starting out with the usual spicing up the mana base is an easy way to get the budget out the window. Adding a nice Godless Shrine would help out with mana a bit.
Some other cards that we can add to help out the deck would be something like Tymna the Weaver an amazing card if not a bit pricey. She can benefit from the counters that Nalia provides as well as giving us more of that juicy card draw as well as fitting into that cleric slot making her a triple threat. I am a fan of Dark Confidant as it gives us another opportunity to draw cards while also fitting in the wizard slot that Orzhov has slim pickings in. To help Nalia’s ability of casting from the top we will use the best top Sensei’s Divining Top to be precise. It will allow us to order our cards to get rid of the undesirables and ensure that we have a party casting from the top. Also since we have so many creatures on board we have to have at least one way to protect them. My bid this time is that of Flawless Maneuver providing us with a get out of jail free card when we are graced with Nalia’s presence.

Party Recap

So our final list looks like this:

Party Time Precon upgrade

View on Archidekt

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Commander (1) 1 Nalia de'Arnise Artifacts (7) 1 Arcane Signet 1 Maskwood Nexus 1 Oketra's Monument 1 Orzhov Signet 1 Skullclamp 1 Sol Ring 1 Talisman of Hierarchy Creatures (45) 1 Archpriest of Iona 1 Assault Intercessor 1 Bloodsoaked Champion 1 Burakos, Party Leader 1 Bygone Bishop 1 Calculating Lich 1 Changeling Outcast 1 Corpse Augur 1 Dire Fleet Ravager 1 Eight-and-a-Half-Tails 1 Felisa, Fang of Silverquill 1 Frontline Medic 1 Glorious Protector 1 Gonti, Lord of Luxury 1 Grim Haruspex 1 Grim Hireling 1 Harper Recruiter 1 High Priest of Penance 1 Irregular Cohort 1 Jazal Goldmane 1 Keen Duelist 1 Mage's Attendant 1 Magus of the Balance 1 Malakir Blood-Priest 1 Mardu Strike Leader 1 Mikaeus, the Lunarch 1 Mindblade Render 1 Mirror Entity 1 Mother of Runes 1 Nighthawk Scavenger 1 Oona's Blackguard 1 Order of Whiteclay 1 Pontiff of Blight 1 Priest of Ancient Lore 1 Puppeteer Clique 1 Rumor Gatherer 1 Seasoned Dungeoneer 1 Selfless Spirit 1 Solemn Doomguide 1 Solemn Recruit 1 Squad Commander 1 Valiant Changeling 1 Varragoth, Bloodsky Sire 1 Weathered Wayfarer 1 Zulaport Cutthroat Lands (37) 1 Ash Barrens 1 Bojuka Bog 1 Castle Locthwain 1 Command Tower 1 Mortuary Mire 1 Mutavault 1 Myriad Landscape 1 Orzhov Basilica 1 Path of Ancestry 10 Plains 1 Shambling Vent 1 Snowfield Sinkhole 1 Starlit Sanctum 10 Swamp 1 Tainted Field 1 Temple of Silence 1 Vault of the Archangel 1 War Room 1 Windbrisk Heights Sorceries (5) 1 Austere Command 1 Dusk // Dawn 1 Sevinne's Reclamation 1 Stick Together 1 Thwart the Grave Enchantments (2) 1 Black Market Connections 1 Tocasia's Welcome Instants (3) 1 Crib Swap 1 Despark 1 Unbreakable Formation

Looks like we have added some pretty sweet cards to our awesome party! Are there any cards that you would add for some upgrades? Let me know in the comments!

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