"Call for Backup" Precon Upgrade Guide | +1/+1 Counters & Burn | $30
March of the Machine Commander preconstructed decklists have been revealed and with it comes another round of my precon upgrades. We're going to do a thorough analysis of each deck, highlighting its goals and how well it accomplishes them, check out its deckbuilding fundamentals, identify its strongest and weakest cards, then use all that information to make an optimized $30 upgrade path!
*Note that all the new MOM precons come with a bonus 10 planechase cards (5 new and 5 reprints) that can be used if you run the planechase variant of Commander. They are 100% optional and can be completely ignored if you don't want to use them, and we won't be covering them in this series.
Call for Backup is a White/Red/Green +1/+1 Counters deck that showcases the brand new keyword "backup," enhancing your creatures with +1/+1 counters and abilities that last until end of turn. +1/+1 Counters is a theme we've seen a thousand times before in White/Green, but the backup cards provide a little bit of freshness to a stale archetype. We utilize +1/+1 counters to generate mana with cards like Rishkar, Peema Renegade, give our team flying with Abzan Falconer, double our counters with Kalonian Hydra, and double our damage with Uncivil Unrest!
So if you love +1/+1 counters and want a Naya precon with a ton of upgrade options, Call for Backup is the deck for you!
The Precon List
Before we talk upgrades, let's take a look at the stock list to see what we're working with:
Call for Backup is first and foremost a +1/+1 Counters deck, because that archetype has a ridiculously large card pool to build a precon from: I count a whopping 47 cards that either add +1/+1 counters to creatures or care about them in some way -- nearly half the deck! Of those, 6 cards have the new backup keyword, which is a bit disappointing. The deck really is a generic +1/+1 Counters decks and not really anything new.
What I look for personally from Commander precons are WOTC fleshing out an archetype that previously didn't have enough support to be viable in the format. Call for Backup is the opposite: it takes one of the most generic and popular archetypes, +1/+1 Counters, and seasons it lightly with their new backup mechanic, which doesn't suit my tastes at all. But then again I am a veteran player who has 11+ years experience playing Commander regularly; for someone new to the format or simply not craving variety like I do, there's a lot to like about this precon.
Honestly I'm much more interested in +1/+1 Counter plus Burn which Shalai and Hallar offer. Coming from a veteran Hallar, the Firefletcher player, the two archetypes can overlap in really cool ways!
Choosing Our Commander
There's only two potential precon commanders found in this deck: Bright-Palm, Soul Awakener and Shalai and Hallar. They share a lot of overlap as they both care about +1/+1 counters but have some key differences that will affect the 99:
- Bright-Palm, Soul Awakener is a powerful enabler for the deck, adding counters with each ETB and doubling counters with each swing. Having backup means that Bright-Palm benefits more from haste enablers and blink cards to take full advantage of backup. Bright-Palm is a strong enabler in the command zone.
- Shalai and Hallar meanwhile is a finisher for +1/+1 counters, adding a burn element to close out games. This commander can mix in cards that benefit from repeatable burn like Keen Sense to draw cards and damage amplifiers like Chandra's Incinerator.
While both make fine commanders for the precon, I'm actually going with Shalai and Hallar for this one. Bright-Palm might bring a "new" mechanic to the command zone but the mechanic is very shallow and not interesting to me. Meanwhile I do like burning stuff and S&H bring the heat, so I think I can do them justice.
Analyzing the Precon & Identifying Weaknesses
Now that we've glanced at the stock list and settled on our commander, let's take a closer look at the deck itself to identify what parts benefit the most from upgrades.
As I often explain in my Budget Commander articles, every time I build a rough draft of a deck, I make sure I have a certain ratio of mana, interaction, card advantage, etc. This gives me a reference point to compare to the deck and see which areas may need improvement. My general ratio is:
- 50 mana; lands and ramp, usually a 37–13 split
- 10 card draw; cards that net you 2+ cards in hand
- 8 targeted removal; split between creature / artifact / enchantment removal and countermagic
- 3 board wipes; creature-light decks might want one more, creature-heavy decks might want one less
- 2 graveyard recursion
- 2 flexible tutors; higher budgets I recommend more tutors
- 1 graveyard hate; since you need to keep Graveyard decks honest
That's always my starting point, which is then tweaked to suit the individual deck's strategy and further tweaked with playtesting. I always find it immensely useful to figure out some quick ways to improve the deck in question.
Let's see what the rough ratios are for Call for Backup and how it compares. I count:
- 50 mana; 38 lands and Gyre Sage, Incubation Druid, Fertilid, Rishkar, Peema Renegade, Wood Elves, Cultivate, Kodama's Reach, Sol Ring, Arcane Signet, Fractured Powerstone, Commander's Sphere, Ichor Elixir
- 4 card draw; Armorcraft Judge, Mindless Automaton, Inspiring Call, Emergent Woodwurm, wait that's it????
- 9 targeted removal; Falkenrath Exterminator, Constable of the Realm, Triskelion, Swords to Plowshares, Inscription of Abundance, Dromoka's Command, Return to Nature, Generous Gift, Ion Storm
- 1 board wipes; Heaven // Earth, that's it???
- 1 graveyard recursion; Guardian Scalelord
- 0 flexible tutors;
- 1 graveyard hate; Return to Nature
Why are there only 4 card draw spells in the entire deck?? Am I missing something here? And why only 1 bad board wipe? This is incredibly disappointing. There's a lot of solid cards here, but a ton of questionable stuff like Ion Storm. Overall I find this stock list to be far lower quality than typical precons in current year.
Upgrade Goals
I have some specific goals when upgrading Call for Backup:
- Switch our commander to Shalai and Hallar
- Add more +1/+1 Counter and Burn synergy cards
- Add more card draw
- Add another board wipe
- Add a powerful finisher
I have a lot of experience making +1/+1 Counter decks and I've also got a paper Hallar, the Firefletcher that deals with both +1/+1 and Burn so I'm pretty familiar with the fun stuff these two overlapping archetypes can do. Switching to Shalai and Hallar means that in the 99, Keen Sense and Snake Umbra can draw us a ton of cards, and Chandra's Incinerator becomes repeatable removal at a super efficient rate!
We're adding more ways to put counters on stuff, like Ruinous Intrusion and Halana and Alena, Partners (roommates!), ways to add more counters with Ozolith, the Shattered Spire and Lae'zel, Vlaakith's Champion, and more ways to utilize counters like Dusk Legion Duelist and Kami of Whispered Hopes. My favorite use of counters though has to be Damning Verdict, essentially a one-sided wipe in this deck that is too good not to add despite being pricey.
I also splurged for an easy finisher for the deck: The Red Terror. Paired with Shalai and Hallar, the moment a red source we control deals damage (like our commander), Terror gets +1/+1 counters, which triggers Shalai and Hallar to burn someone, which triggers Terror again, rinse repeat for infinite burn. You can pull off the same combo a couple other ways such as Heliod, Sun-Crowned, but that's out of the scope of this $30 budget.
$30 Upgrades
Disclaimer: Card prices are volatile and may be different at the time you read this article.
Here's the proposed adds and cuts.
Additions:
Cuts:
Here's how the deck looks with the upgrades added:
Further Upgrades
+1/+1 Counters is one of (if not) the most supported archetypes in the entire game, so there's no end of sweet upgrades for this deck depending on your budget:
- More Counters on Others: Cathars' Crusade, Hardened Scales, Benevolent Hydra, Branching Evolution, Vorinclex, Monstrous Raider, Evolution Sage if you add fetchlands and more land ramp; I don't actually recommend Doubling Season because it's overcosted if you only use half the card
- More Counters on Themselves: Avenger of Zendikar especially if you add more fetchlands and land ramp, also Taurean Mauler is a worse Managorger Hydra but still amazing with our commander
- Draw: The Great Henge, Tribute to the World Tree, Esper Sentinel
- Ramp: Kodama of the West Tree, Defiler of Vigor, Biophagus
- Protection: Shalai, Voice of Plenty, Deflecting Swat, Bolt Bend, Heroic Intervention, Teferi's Protection, Clever Concealment, Silkguard
- Combos: Heliod, Sun-Crowned and War Elemental do the same thing as The Red Terror; also All Will Be One can serve as a backup Shalai and Hallar if you want one
- Tutors: Eladamri's Call, Chord of Calling, Survival of the Fittest, Worldly Tutor, Gamble
- Mana: Fetchlands, Shocklands, Painlands, Checklands, Jetmir's Garden
All Done!
Sorry for the wait on the last two articles. Lots of traveling was happening the last two weeks so these got pushed back. Hopefully it was worth the wait! Thanks for reading and check back next week for more Budget Commander!
