Precon Remastered-Peer Through Time

Teferi, Temporal Archmage | Art by Tyler Jacobson

Through the Looking Glass

Greetings, and welcome to Precon Remastered! Here, we're taking precons from the past, and upgrading them with cards from today. Funny thing about that, because our precon this week features a commander who messes with time!

Before anyone questions why Teferi hasn't aged and is a planeswalker, this is him before he got desparked the first time during Time Spiral block. Anyway, that first ability's quite nifty, but he's at his strongest with the second one. Untapping four permanents (including lands!) has the potential for some really broken things. Infinite combos exist with stuff like this.

A Glimpse Through Time

As always (for new readers, welcome!), here are our rules for remastering precons:

1. The value of the deck cannot exceed $120. This will apply to the reprints only, which gets to my first personal quirk.
2. Every card unique to the original precon stays in the deck. All those new cards that get released with precons remain in the list.
3. The land package should closely reflect what we get in precons these days (and, in my humble opinion, they're actually pretty good).
4. At least until 2020, we're not tied to a particular set, so we're free to choose whatever we want. You can be assured I have ideas for 2020 and beyond, though.
5. Universes Beyond cards are not added. No exceptions, unless they have an in-universe variant.

With that out of the way, let's take a good look at what the precon looked like originally.

The Original List

A Point in Time

I'll be upfront with you: the deck's a mess. It reads like a ramp deck with a bunch of unnecessary subthemes. However, there is a control element here that will help keep Teferi, Temporal Archmage around. Though, we do have a few cards with morph for some reason. Maybe because one of the new cards is a morph creature in the form of Dulcet Sirens?

Interestingly, we also have a Game Changer in the list. This would also mark the first time that Cyclonic Rift was reprinted (though, it would go on to be reprinted a few more times as of writing).

Other than that, we have a bunch of big beaters to act as our win condition (wincon), like Sphinx of Magosi. Three mana to activate the ability is a lot, but Teferi can untap the mana we need to pay it. Perhaps multiple times, if we have the right mana rocks!

Perspectives in Time

Speaking of control, the new cards mostly align with this plan. Domineering Will is a fun example, messing with combat math or getting rid of meddlesome creatures. In addition, both Well of Ideas and Stormsurge Kraken are favorites of mine, both drawing cards to keep our hand full.

Meanwhile, heavy is the head that holds the Crown of Doom, which needs to be donated as fast as possible. Unstable Obelisk will help deal with blue's biggest weaknesses. In a similar vein as Crown of Doom, Reef Worm teaches us that there's always a bigger fish. Now, I wonder if there's a way to make multiple copies? Both Infinite Reflection and Rite of Replication help with this.

But, as much as our new cards love to teach us life lessons this week, our alternate commander, Stitcher Geralf, teaches us that he is not the perfect fit for this precon, as he needs to be heavily built around (and reprint option, Lorthos, the Tidemaker is better off in the 99).

Are We Altering Time?

A few weeks back, we gave Nature of the Beast a massive facelift. On top of that, I mentioned that this deck was a pile. Does this qualify as a total redo?

Not exactly.

When I altered the Marath, Will of the Wild precon, I scrapped the themes, and it became a +1/+1 counters theme. Here? I don't see any reason to go that far. Yes, we will have an entirely new theme in here, but it likely won't deviate from what the precon's already trying to do too much. So, what exactly did I decide to do?

Peer Through Time Remastered

Friends Across Time

...Ok, I know. Just hear me out a minute. People don't like Superfriends, and will go out of their way to murder us. That said, we did get such a precon a few years ago under Commodore Guff. We only have 12 planeswalkers in the deck, so I wouldn't go as far as to call this a true Superfriends deck.

In truth, it's a subtheme if anything. Yes, we do have that random morph creature in the 99, but that's easily the first card to cut when upgrading this list. However, we retain a lot of the control elements found in the original list, and those will come in handy in protecting our planeswalkers.

Beyond Time

All things considered, there aren't many planeswalkers in each given color. In fact, most Superfriends lists utilize at least two colors. So, upgrading the remastered list has a lot to do with personal taste. Don't like having many planeswalkers? Sure, scrap them for something you like. Regardless what we do, the control theme is likely to stick around.

Back to the Present Time

As I made the remastered list, I wondered if 12 planeswalkers was enough to constitute a Superfriends deck. What's the optimal number of them to make the theme viable? Sound off in the comments on what that number is (and if there aren't enough planeswalkers in the Remastered list). Anyway, tune in next time when we return to our other series, Commander Makeover.