Commodore Guff | Art by Matt Stewart

These Boots are Made for Walkin'

Hello from the blind eternities. This is Lenny from the Scrap Trawlers channel, where we do EDH on a budget, and I'm back with another Precon Primer. This time, I'm walking you through the Planeswalker Party deck from Commander Masters. The illustrious host for this party is a blast from Magic's past, Commodore Guff.

Commodore Guff is another entry in the exclusive club of planeswalkers that can be your commander. He comes down for four mana, starts at five loyalty, and puts a loyalty counter on another planeswalker you control as a passive effect. He can add one loyalty to make a 1/1 Wizard token that taps for red mana that can only be used for planeswalker spells. At the cost of three loyalty he draws you cards and deals damage to each opponent equal to the number of planeswalkers you control.

Guff's abilities are very specific and don't suggest anything outside of a planeswalker deck, unless you want to bifurcate your strategy and use the planeswalkers to support something else. I could envision a Spellslinger deck built this way. As far as commanders go, I don't think he's particularly powerful even for his theme. I can appreciate a walker that protects itself, but having to choose between blocking or making mana with those tokens can be awkward. His -3 ability seems good, but you need a few walkers on the field to make it worthwhile, and that might be difficult to manage.

It's hard not to draw comparisons to Atraxa, Praetors' Voice, the preeminent Superfriends commander of the format with over 7,000 decks on EDHREC with the planeswalker theme. Her proliferate effect hits all your walkers at once, she's quite a deterrent for attackers, and she comes in more colors. If we want to compare commanders in Guff's own colors, Pramikon, Sky Rampart has 514 decks on EDHREC with the planeswalker theme, and it's great for keeping them on the field by restricting where players can attack. All that said, you might find it easier to develop your game plan with a weaker commander on the field drawing less attention from your opponents.

I think that's enough about Commodore Guff, so let's take a look at the rest of the party.

We've got two cohosts tucked away in the 99 of this deck. Newly printed for this release is Leori, Sparktouched Hunter. Whenever it deals combat damage to a player, Leori lets you copy the activated abilities of a planeswalker type of your choice. It's also a 3/3 flyer with vigilance, so it can protect against minor attackers. I like this commander as an option for folks who want to focus on a specific character, but this deck only has multiple instances of Chandra, Jace, and Narset, so I'm not confident that Leori will really shine as the commander of the deck as it is.

Another potential commander is a bogeyman from the days of Commander-past, Narset, Enlightened Master. Narset is easily the most powerful option to lead this deck out of the box, but she carries the weight of her reputation. You might be able to to get your opponents to cool off if you tell them you're playing the precon with Narset at the helm, but this deck is not prepared for the heat if people think you're playing that Narset deck.

Walk the Line

This deck is looking to outvalue its opponents with planeswalker abilities. Each loyalty ability is effectively a spell, so if you're able to use them turn after turn, you can build up a level of virtual card advantage that your opponents can't match. This is especially true if you can use an "ultimate" ability, which often provides an overwhelming advantage.

Gatewatch Beacon is a new mana rock that can put loyalty counters on planeswalkers when they enter the battlefield. This helps keep them alive and gives you easier access to their more powerful abilities. Vronos, Masked Inquisitor is a great new walker, who can protect up to two other planeswalkers, perhaps right after you activated a plus ability so that you have enough loyalty to activate an ultimate ability on your next turn, when your opponents thought they'd have a chance to deal with the problem on their turn. He can bounce a nonland permanent from each opponent. He also has an ultimate ability that turns one of your artifacts into a 9/9 unblockable, indestructible creature with vigilance, which will most certainly make your opponents nervous.

Planeswalkers need space to do their thing, so this deck also employs a pillow fort strategy to reduce the number of oncoming attackers. Cards like Silent Arbiter and Kazuul, Tyrant of the Cliffs have been blunting attacks for a while now, but we got some great new toys to buy our planeswalkers some time. Onakke Oathkeeper adds a mana cost to attacking your planeswalkers, and while opponents will certainly pay it for a big creature, "go wide" players will struggle to make a meaningful swing. It's got four toughness as well, so it's a solid blocker, and once it dies, you can pay six mana to exile it to bring back a planeswalker. Teyo, Geometric Tactician brings a 0/4 flying wall with him, and he makes a good bargaining chip with his card draw effect. If opponents don't want to bargain, you can also use him to control the direction of combat and cut off your most dangerous opponent similar to Pramikon, Sky Rampart. Finally Jaya's Phoenix presents itself as a way to copy loyalty abilities, but it's quite useful as a flying blocker that keeps coming back.

The deck wins primarily through a combination of burn and combat damage. Stacking damage emblems with Chandra, Awakened Inferno will eventually end the game unless you have a lifegain player. Chandra, Torch of Defiance gives you a bit of slow burn from her exile ability, and if you hit that emblem, five damage is a lot to throw around with every spell. The tokens made by Elspeth, Sun's Champion can become a serious threat if you manage to get the emblem from her ultimate ability. If you have a lot of planeswalkers, Commodore Guff and Chandra, Legacy of Fire can do quite a bit of damage or you can mount a surprise attack when your walkers become flyers with Sarkhan the Masterless or Sparkshaper Visionary. Finally, I count Deepglow Skate as a win condition, as it puts you in range of a lot of high cost planeswalker abilities out of nowhere.

Walk this Way

This deck is primarily looking to play a defensive game; you want to deploy your planeswalkers and keep them protected turn after turn to continually benefit from their effects. In your starting hand look for at least three mana sources, preferably in all your colors. The deck is split pretty evenly among all colors, but if you have to prioritize one color, it should be blue since those cards will help you find what you need with cards like Jace Beleren. Ideally, your starting hand should contain an early blocker like Wall of Denial or Fog Bank. Teyo, Geometric Tactician is especially good early, since he provides a flying blocker and you can likely talk off early attacks on Teyo with the promise of card draw. Don't be afraid to pick off creatures when you can. The Wanderer, and Nahiri, the Harbinger aren't really doing a whole lot else for you, so use them for that. You don't have to get everyone to their ultimate.

Aggro decks, especially ones that go wide, are a big problem for this deck. You also want to keep an eye out for big ceatures with trample as your defenders only have so much toughness. With so many available activated abilities, this deck can be a lot to keep track of and can take a lot of time on its turns. I don't recommend busting this deck out for the last game of the night.

Reputation is another big weakness for this deck. Planeswalker decks are notorious for locking opponents out of the game and many Commander players have had bad experiences with these kinds of decks. Because of this, you can expect attacks to come at any undefended walker. Furthermore, your opponents will monitor your activities far closer than they usually do for other strategies. I don't think this particular deck warrants that level of scrutiny, but in my experience, it doesn't matter how mediocre your planeswalkers are, your opponents WILL go after them.

Walkin' on the Sun

I might be spoiled from my time with the Commander decks from Tales of Middle Earth, but it feels like the new cards are somewhat lacking in this deck. I counted only nine new cards, which seems pretty low. That said, there are some standouts. Guff Rewrites History is a new spin on Chaos Warp that hits each player. It's a bit more dangerous since your opponents are guaranteed to get something, and sadly it doesn't deal with enchantments, but it costs the same amount of mana. I suspect this is going to be quite entertaining to resolve as well. Chandra, Legacy of Fire is an excellent addition to red planeswalker decks; dealing damage as a passive effect is great, she can provide a lot of mana, and her ability to remove loyalty counters off of permanents to impulse draw effectively gives you another use for any planeswalkers you don't plan to activate.

While I would have liked more new cards, they killed it with the reprints this time around. I don't think anyone was expecting a reprint of The Chain Veil, even though we were hoping for it. There are over 27,000 decks on EDHREC with the planeswalker theme and this card is in 60%, despite commanding a price tag over $20 and not seeing a reprint outside of The List. It's a powerful card in this kind of deck and is the centerpiece of numerous combos. I'd say it's far and away the best reprint in the deck. Chandra, Awakened Inferno is an excellent damage effect that never goes away, and is useful as a low grade damage board wipe. Spark Double is great for copying planeswalkers, but it's useful in a variety of decks looking to clone their commander or other legends. It's currently showing up in over 11,000 decks. I don't think they're the best reprints, but I want to give a shout out to Honor-Worn Shaku being in the deck since it can generate a ton of mana here, and to Urza's Ruinous Blast for getting awesome new art.

Walkin' After Midnight

While I can appreciate the attempt that was made to make a "Superfriends" deck that isn't a miserable experience for the table, I think they fell a bit short. I don't think there are quite enough planeswalkers included, and some of the ones there are pretty lackluster. I also think it needs a few more effective ways to close out the game, since you won't be attacking too often. The deck has some great reprints and a few interesting new cards, but I can't really recommend purchasing it at the $80 price tag I'm seeing at the time of writing. Usually I give the caveat that a precon is still great for new players who just need a deck, or need to build their collection of the basics, but with the heavy bookkeeping required by planeswalker decks and generally unfavorable table response they get, I don't think this would provide a good experience for them. If you still want to own this deck, I've got you covered on upgrades in my next article. Until then, remember to budget before you buy it.

Scrap Trawlers

Scrap Trawlers is a Magic: The Gathering budget EDH streaming and video group, with gameplay, deck techs, chats, and more. Catch our videos at youtube.com/scraptrawlers. Andy, Lenny, and Bert.