Welcome to the Nitpicking Nerds Precon Upgrade Guide for the Silverquill Statement deck, where we cut the chaff and supercharge precon decks! This time around, we’re looking to transform this deck into a political powerhouse.

When upgrading any Commander precon, it’s important to adhere pretty closely to this simple checklist:

• Focus on the strengths of your commander.
• Stick to one main strategy to avoid having an unfocused final product.
• Cut the cards that belong to other strategies altogether.

• Increase the deck’s overall power by including win conditions that don’t rely solely on combat.

This deck’s game plan is going to revolve around a true midrange strategy: grind opponents out with fantastic removal and use Breena to create favorable combat steps and push through continuous damage against opponents.

Before we can go about adding cards though, we have to make plenty of room for them, and there are always a handful of cards that fall into a miscellaneous category that don’t fit in very well with the deck’s overall game plan.

• Zetalpa, Primal Dawn and Sunscorch Regent are big giant flyers, but this deck doesn’t have much interest in that, especially since Breena grows creatures nicely herself.
• Stinging Study is a good card, but is meant for decks with more expensive commanders.
• Citadel Siege, Selfless Squire, Bold Plagiarist, Debtors’ Knell, Oreskos Explorer, and Gideon, Champion of Justice all seem like a random assortment of below average cards meant to meet certain precon requirements, and we don’t need them.
• Elite Scaleguard works with +1/+1 counters, which is the right idea, but it’s too weak of a card to keep in.

This deck also contains a pile of political cards, and while thematic, they can be improved upon.

• Ghostly Prison and Windborn Muse get cut from almost every Nitpicking Nerds deck, and even though this deck loves politics and forcing opponents to make tough decisions, these cards still don’t help out enough, and mostly provide easy choices. Sometimes opponents can ignore them completely. Nils, Discipline Enforcer is actually worse than these cards, so he comes out as well.
• Hunted Lammasu, Scholarship Sponsor, and Spectral Searchlight don’t do much besides hand out free resources, and they take up valuable deck space. Keen Duelist falls into a similar category, where it hands out too many free cards, putting us behind.
• Incarnation Technique is made for a reanimation deck, and it’s easier to cut it than to try and build around it. Guardian Archon and Teysa, Envoy of Ghosts have cool effects but are too costly to get onto the battlefield.

The last thing to look at for nonland cards is the bread and butter of Commander decks: the ramp, removal, and card draw.

• Utter End and Fracture have been improved upon too many times to earn spots in this deck, which will end up having an insane suite of removal. Martial Impetus, Parasitic Impetus, and Vow of Duty are frankly too low-powered for this particular deck.
• Angel of Serenity and Deathbringer Regent can go well in the right decks, but this one doesn’t play to either of their strengths.
• Secret Rendezvous gives away more cards than it gives, and we most likely can’t even use them first. Yikes.
• We didn’t cut any ramp cards!

Finally, it’s time to free up some land spots! This deck had a whopping 40 lands in it, so our overall count will be lower when this is all said and done.

• First and foremost, we trimmed 5 Plains and 5 Swamps, and there are still plenty left. No deck wants this many basic lands!
• The non-basic lands we cut either enter tapped or have a high opportunity cost compared to better utility lands we could play. They are: Temple of the False God, Study Hall, Opal Palace, Orzhov Basilica, and Silverquill Campus.

Now to add some amazing cards and really flesh out the themes of this deck, starting with the political theme.

• Court of Grace and Archon of Coronation will introduce the monarchy into the game, which creates incentive for players to attack each other, which is exactly what Breena wants to happen. Crown of Doom accomplishes this as well, and it even sucks up mana from opponents when they give it away to each other.
• With the monarch token flying around and more attacking happening, we need creatures that can reliably get through defenses. Dauthi Voidwalker, Nether Traitor, and Changeling Outcast wear +1/+1 counters very well, and will always connect.
• Bladegriff Prototype is an interesting card, since each trigger seems beneficial for the table, while overall, the card heavily benefits you. It will often overstay its welcome and cause some damage.
• Benevolent Offering can bolster your life total and create evasive tokens that attack quite well, and to help keep Breena out long enough to keep handing out counters, Lightning Greaves is here. Interestingly enough, Breena’s ability doesn’t target, so she can place counters on shrouded creatures.

Next, we wanted to include a few cards that get better the more +1/+1 counters they have, so we can snowball our advantage with Breena out.

• Walking Ballista will be dishing out damage and picking off threats, Bloodtracker beats in and draws lots of cards when it leaves the battlefield, and Etched Oracle sits in play along with Mindless Automaton and Nikara, Lair Scavenger to score us lots of card draw, ensuring we can keep up with the threats opponents present.
• Felidar Retreat ties everything together, providing bodies and counters to our entire team.

Next, let’s see how much awesome ramp, removal, and card draw can fit into our remaining slots.

• Generous Gift and Deadly Rollick are perfect examples of versatility and efficiency respectively and are some of the best spot removal spells in EDH. Aura of Silence falls here too, but taxes opponents before it hits its target.
• Soul Shatter, Kaya’s Guile, Heliod’s Intervention, Vanquish the Horde, and Toxic Deluge will give you boatloads of card advantage when they sweep away whatever threats opponents throw at you. Blind Obedience isn’t exactly removal, but it slows down opposing forces and buys time with life gain.
• Smothering Tithe, Talisman of Hierarchy, Wayfarer’s Bauble, Sword of the Animist, Thaumatic Compass expand on the already decent ramp package included in this precon.
• Mangara, the Diplomat punishes double-spelling and opponents attacking you, leading to card advantage as well as on-board advantage. Bolas’s Citadel is a literal and figurative house, cheating mana and spilling threat after threat onto the battlefield. Esper Sentinel is already a format staple, but this deck can augment its power and utilize it even better than most others.

Finally: the land upgrades!

• Agadeem’s Awakening and Emeria’s Call are basically mandatory in this two color deck. Mythic rare MDFCs are extremely strong.
• War Room and Silent Clearing will provide a little extra card draw in our land slot.
• Marsh Flats, Vault of Champions, Godless Shrine, Shattered Sanctum, and Fetid Heath round out the excellent fixing this deck will have.

That concludes our upgrade guide for Silverquill Statement! Make sure to take advantage of Breena, the Demagogue at every opportunity, and use your massive removal arsenal to stay ahead as you crash in with giant creatures to achieve victory!

Nitpicking Nerds

The Nitpicking Nerds are two Commander-loving best friends who make awesome Youtube videos. Every fiber of their being is committed to helping people power up their decks, gain percentage points, and have more fun playing the best format in the world!