Prismari Artistry Is a Mess (Here's How to Fix It)
Secrets of Strixhaven brings with it five new Commander precons, so it's time once again for my precon upgrade guides!
You can find the previous upgrade guides here:
Prismari Artistry is a surprisingly disappointing precon. Let me explain.
This is a Red/Blue Spellslinger ("instants and sorceries matter") deck with two main subthemes: "High Mana Value Matters" and Creature Tokens. The goal of the deck is to cast a bunch of instants and sorceries, especially high mana value ones with cost reducers like Dig Through Time and ones that create tokens like Replication Technique. This will trigger our Spellslinger payoff cards to do stuff like make treasure tokens with Storm-Kiln Artist and big creature tokens with Manaform Hellkite, and trigger our Token payoff cards like copying our tokens with Determined Iteration or transforming our tokens with Brudiclad, Telchor Engineer.
Now this is a great concept for a precon: Izzet Spellslinger w/ Tokens is a classic archetype that has an enormous card pool to work with. We've seen multiple variations of Izzet Spellslinger Tokens with popular commanders like Ovika, Enigma Goliath, Magnus the Red, Eris, Roar of the Storm and so on. Prismari Artistry doing the same thing but with a focus on High Mana Value Matters takes a beloved classic archetype and adds an interesting new twist to it, which is awesome!
I love the concept. But I don't love the execution. To explain why, let's take a look at the stock list:
Prismari Artistry is a Spellslinger deck trying to juggle two subthemes, Creature Tokens and High Mana Value Matters. How well does it stick to that game plan? Let's look at ratios:
For the main Spellslinger theme we've got:
- 33 cards that cast instants/sorceries: 19 sorceries, 10 instants, 3 creatures with prepared like Inspired Skypainter, and 1 creature with adventure Brazen Borrower. That's a good number to consistently cast one or more each turn.
- 20 Spellslinger payoff cards: I'm counting every single one here, from the generic Stormcatch Mentor to the extremely narrow Mirrorwing Dragon
For "High Mana Value Matters" subtheme, of the cards listed above there's:
- 17 cards that cast instants/sorceries that are 5+ mana value spells like Dirgur Focusmage, and only 6 of those can be cast for less than 5 mana like Volcanic Salvo
- 7 High Mana Value payoff cards, either the "5+ mana matters" cards like Leitmotif Composer or cards that scale up in power like Renegade Bull
For the Creature Tokens subtheme:
- 13 cards that make creature tokens like Prismari Pianist
- 5 Creature Token payoffs like Redoubled Stormsinger
The main theme of Spellslinger looks fairly well-supported, but both subthemes aren't doing great, especially the Creature Token theme. Which leads us into the first problem with the deck:
The Precon Is Unfocused
Prismari Artistry wants to be Spellslinger with an emphasis on High Mana Value Matters and Creature Tokens, but the subthemes lack adequate support. Yes, the deck casts a lot of instants and sorceries and yes, generic good payoffs like Storm-Kiln Artist will work great here like they do in all Spellslinger decks, but the 99 is also full of more narrow cards that will be very inconsistent and often underperform.
Since there's not actually that many high mana value spells, and barely any of those can be cast for cheaper than their mv, highly specific payoffs like Leitmotif Composer will rarely trigger, and if you aren't triggering them each turn they're just bad cards.
Same thing goes with the narrow Creature Token payoffs like Redoubled Stormsinger. If you aren't making creature tokens each turn it's doing stone-cold nothing, and since we only have 13 cards in the deck that make creature tokens this will happen more often than it should. We don't even have any way to give it haste or evasion either, so expect it to die when it swings too!
Not only are the subthemes under-supported, but there's also a bunch of one-of narrow support cards that are even less supported! Harmonic Prodigy is here, and it's an incredibly powerful card don't get me wrong, but there's only 9 other Shaman/Wizards in the deck, which doesn't even include our commander! Some games you'll get lucky and pop off with this plus an Archmage Emeritus, other times it'll do nada! Galazeth Prismari is here and there's uhhh 5 other cards that make non-mana rock artifacts to use with him, so he's essentially an overcosted Arcane Signet. It's bad, bad!
Okay one last example, this is the worst one of all: Dance with Calamity. In a High Mana Value Matters precon! What is going on???
This precon is such a mess, I'm sorry
The Face Commander Can't Carry Us
The commander is obviously the most important part of any deck. It's the only card you're guaranteed to always have access to every game, which is why a busted commander can carry a garbage pile of 99 cards on its shoulders, since the garbage deck can always rely on doing one busted thing.
Busted face commanders have salvaged many lackluster precons in the past, such as Valgavoth, Harrower of Souls, or Ureni of the Unwritten. These commanders single-handedly turn their subpar precons into legit powerhouses with the power of card and mana advantage -- as long as they aren't immediately hated off the table. I call these "Duct-Tape Commanders" since they hold together otherwise horribly built decks.
Rootha, Mastering the Moment is not a busted commander. In fact, of the five new Strixhaven precons, she's actually the weakest of the cycle.
I'm not saying Rootha is a weak commander -- she can do some very powerful things with the right cards, we'll cover that in the upgrades -- but she doesn't provide what the stock list is lacking, which is a busted value engine to smooth over all the cracks and inconsistencies in the 99.
It's common knowledge that the most important things in Commander are card advantage and mana advantage, or the simplified slogan "Draw and Ramp." The format is all about accumulating these resources as quickly as possible in the early and midgame, then deploying your finishers to win in the late game. This is why most of the popular commanders either provide card advantage or mana advantage (sometimes both!), because you are guaranteed to play them early-midgame.
That's also why almost every single precon's face commander does the "draw or ramp" thing these days. Literally every other face commander from the new Strixhaven precons falls into this category: Killian, Decisive Mentor, Dina, Essence Brewer, and Quintorius, History Chaser all draw, Zimone, Infinite Analyst ramps. They're all early-midgame value engines that smooth out their precon's gameplay experience, making them more consistent.
Rootha, Mastering the Moment is the only one that doesn't draw or ramp. She's not a value engine. She's a finisher. She makes big, hasty, flying creatures to smash people's faces with. Which is fine! It's not optimal, but it's fine. HOWEVER! This stock list is an inconsistent mess, so it desperately wants a value engine in the command zone to duct-tape it together, and Rootha is not that.
The secondary commander, Muddle, the Ever-Changing can't carry it either.
I love Muddle, I think he's a way more interesting commander than Rootha personally. I built a budget brew with him and played it on Commander Clash recently, I'll link my list at the bottom of this article. But he's a bad fit for the stock list too. The support isn't there for him outside of a handful of cool cards like Curiosity Crafter and stuff.
I think the game plan for the stock Prismari Artistry is hope you draw the right half of your deck, keep a low profile while the other Strixhaven precons pop off early/midgame, try to sweep their value engines early with a Blasphemous Act and hope they don't recover. Or if that doesn't work, hope they focus on killing each other and then try to finish someone off with an 8/8 flying token thanks to Rootha plus a Treasure Cruise or similar. It's not a good strategy but it is a strategy.
Add These
Prismari Artistry is trying to juggle too many themes and too many narrow payoff cards, which is why it fails as a precon. So the first step in upgrading the deck is to focus entirely on just one theme and cut the rest. Because Rootha, Mastering the Moment cares about High Mana Value Matters and not about Creature Tokens, we'll drop the Tokens subtheme and shift the focus entirely on High MV.
As I've mentioned, Rootha is not a value engine but rather a finisher. There are two types of cards we need in the deck to maximize Rootha's lethality, so let's add those first:
- Seize the Day, Full Throttle, Fury of the Horde. Since Rootha's ability triggers each combat, extra combat spells are undoubtedly the best way to maximize her finisher potential. Simply casting Full Throttle before combat is 36 damage just from the 6/6 flying elementals she's making.
- Submerge, Pyrokinesis. In my opinion, these are two of the best cards to pair with Rootha because you can cast them before combat to net you a 5/5 or 6/6 for zero mana, while also working great with your other "High MV Matters" cards.
- March of Swirling Mist, This Town Ain't Big Enough, Rapturous Moment, Divergent Transformations. These cards can be cast at a significant discount (Moment refunds the mana) to make a 5/5+ elemental with Rootha while still being good spells. Transformations is cool with Rootha because you can target your own tokens to turn them into creatures.
- Improvisation Capstone. No mana discount here, but it's a good top-end spell and it guarantees that Rootha gets a 7/7 elemental trigger for the rest of the game.
The next upgrade is shifting the interaction package to focus on proactive removal, especially sweepers. Since nearly every commander you'll come across these days are early/mid value engines and Rootha is not, we are likely to fall behind the rest of the table early/mid. The best way to turn this disadvantage into an advantage is to hit them with an early/midgame sweeper, knocking out their engines before they get too much value from them.
- Ill-Timed Explosion, Splatter Technique, Volcanic Vision. Two great early/midgame sweepers (love Splatter's flexibility!), one later game one-sided wipe tied with recursion, very nice!
- Ashling's Command, Baral's Expertise. Not true sweepers, but both can remove multiple threats while refunding us mana.
Again, since our commander isn't providing card or mana advantage, it's extra important to run more of both in our 99. We have some truly excellent options in Izzet Spellslinger:
- Resonating Lute, Tablet of Discovery, Abstract Paintmage, Archmage of Runes. Some Spellslinger-specific ramp. The Lute is a truly insane Magic card.
- Ashling, Rekindled. High-Mana Value absurdly good ramp and rummager.
- Izzet Signet. No idea why it's not in the stock list?
Another thing that works extremely well in this style of deck is a Rummage/Graveyard Package:
- Pirate's Pillage, Unexpected Windfall. Two more ways of filling our graveyard, card selection, and delayed rituals.
- Mizzix's Mastery. One of the best cards in any Spellslinger deck. It's the reason to have a graveyard.
- Impulsivity, Subterfuge. Good when cast from the hand, even better when cast from the yard!
- Anger, Wonder. It's free real estate!
Finally, the last recommendations are adding a bunch of land MDFCs, especially the instant/sorceries. They're generally good cards but much better here since they synergize with all our Spellslinger payoffs and they can be pitched to cards like Pyrokinesis and March of Swirling Mist: Pinnacle Monk, Hydroelectric Specimen, Kazuul's Fury, Silundi Vision, Sink into Stupor, Sundering Eruption, Valakut Awakening, Sea Gate Restoration, plus the honorary MDFC Lorien Revealed.
All my suggestions in a list:
Cut These
As mentioned, I've cut all Creature Tokens matter stuff from the deck. Then I cut some interaction for better options. Finally, there were some cuts for cards that fit the theme but I upgraded into better versions (e.g. Creative Technique is fine, but Improvisation Capstone is better).
Here's a list of all of them:
The Upgraded List
Here's what it looks like with the swaps made:
Generic Upgrades / Game Changers
To take the deck further I'd start by upgrading the lands. Put in dual lands that enter untapped, take out lands that enter tapped and then some basics. You know the drill: Training Center, Steam Vents, etc.
For game changers, the ones you think are good are probably good here. I don't need to tell you that Cyclonic Rift or Rhystic Study will make the deck better.
"I Considered It" Pile
These are all the cards I considered adding to the deck but didn't make the cut. As you can see, I spend way too much time on these articles!
The last cards I ended up not including were Ovika, Enigma Goliath (I felt the deck didn't need a second Rootha-type of finisher), Soulfire Eruption (super cool but I was worried about hardcasting it), and Soul Immolation (really good one-sided wipe with Rootha, but did the deck need another wipe? Is it better than the other wipes? IDK).
Bonus List: Muddle!
I think Muddle is really cool and interesting. I built an $80ish version of him from scratch for an upcoming Commander Clash episode. It's an Elemental deck with the main focus being copying Elementals with Muddle that work really well with myriad like Mulldrifter and best of all Champion of the Path which turns into a billion damage when Muddle copies it. Plus some bonus non-Elemental spice like Professional Face-Breaker to make a billion treasures or Rionya, Fire Dancer to make Muddle copies once it turns into a nonlegendary.
Here's the list:
Two Down, Three To Go!
I'm getting ready for a long trip in a week so I gotta pick up the pace on these. Hopefully I can get through the next three quicker! Thanks for reading!
