Do you want to make your new energy Commander deck even better? If so, you we’ve come to the right place. Our Living Energy Upgrade Guide will help you make this precon not just better, but more fun as well!
Before we go to the upgrades, let’s first check the main commander and the decklist to see which areas need improvement.
Saheeli Radiant Creator
If you have Saheeli in play, you’ll get one energy counter whenever you cast an Artificer or artifact spell. So, naturally you’ll want to have a lot of those card types in your deck.
Saheeli also allow you to spend energy at the beginning of combat on your turn. You can pay three energy to create a copy of a target permanent you control. It becomes a 5/5 artifact creature with haste, but you must sacrifice it at the beginning of next end step.
This means you need permanents worth copying. Additionally, having a way to get around the “end step sacrifice” is also a nice bonus.
Let’s see how well does this decklist meet these criteria.
Living Energy Original Decklist
Artifacts & Artificers
There are 29 artifacts in the deck, and 8 Artificers (without counting Saheeli). Given that there are 61 nonland cards in the deck this means that 60.6% of spells in your deck will trigger Saheeli’s first ability.
That’s okay, but when you start swapping cards you should try to not get below that ratio. Preferably you should rather increase the amount of artifacts and Artificers in your deck.
Permanents to Copy
Sure, it’s always a benefit to copy a permanent, but there’s a difference in whether you copy a Reckless Fireweaver or Triplicate Titan. The latter will give you value even when you need to sacrifice it at the beginning of your end step.
Some other fun cards in the deck to copy include Duplicant, Peema Trailblazer, and Panharmonicon. As you can see, there are some nice options, but you’d probably benefit from adding some more to the mix.
Mana Base
Finally, if we check the mana base it’s better than some of the previous 3-color precons. However, there’s still some work that could be done there. There are even some budget upgrades that it would benefit from.
So, we want to add some more artifacts, good permanents to copy, and improve the mana base. Also, we might want to add some cards that generate energy, but most of the useful ones are already in the deck, which is neat.
Before we start with in-depth upgrade suggestions, let’s first check just three cards that should be the ones you add first.
Top 3 Additions to Living Energy Precon
These cards are the ones that fit the general theme of the deck the most. (In my opinion, obviously. So feel free to disagree in the comments.) These aren’t necessarily the most generically powerful cards, but play with your commander perfectly and enable fun play patterns.
Izzet Generatorium
A lot of the best energy cards are already included in the Living Energy deck. However, this two-mana artifact is surprisingly absent from the original decklist.
You’ll be gathering a ton of energy from this deck, and Generatorium will grant you an extra counter whenever you do so. This can quickly add up, allowing you to always have enough energy to pay for your costs.
Finally, it’s second ability could also be activated fairly regularly, providing a steady stream of card advantage. Plus, the card is an artifact, which, as we mentioned, is a card type we want more of.
Aether Refinery
This card is like a super powered version of the previous one. Sure it costs six mana, which isn’t cheap, but instead of +1 energy you’re now getting double counters.
If that wasn’t strong enough, imagine getting a copy of it with Saheeli. With two of these in play, your energy multiplier is now 4x. This can enable you to gather enough energy to pay even some extreme costs. (Example: Aetherflux Conduit)
Or you could just make a massive Aetherborn token, if you aren’t able to spend that energy on something better.
There’s just one thing to keep in mind here. If your playgroup is really competitive, this card might be too slow. In that case, you might opt for something more effective, although Aether Refinery will be extremely fun in a more relaxed environment.
Clever Impersonator
Whenever I build a Commander deck, or upgrade a precon, I always want to add some effects that mimic my commander’s effect to the mix. Why?
Because the decks are built around the commander and rely on casting it. Sadly, sometimes you can’t use your commander, because it’s enchanted with Kenrith’s Transformation or simply because it was removed so many times the Commander tax is now too high. When that happens, it’s cool to be able to still access its effect with some other cards.
Given that Saheeli copies permanents, you want a way to copy permanents. One way to do so is with Clever Impersonator. For four mana, you can get a copy of any nonland permanent. Mostly you’ll target something of yours, but if your opponent has something better, you can go for that too. (Contrary to Saheeli’s effect.)
Now, if you want to have a repeatable effect, and six mana isn’t too much for you, you could go with Extravagant Replication instead.
Which Cards to Add to Living Energy?
We’ve checked the best three cards, but what about other options? In the following sections, I’ll list more of them, but don’t feel like you need to play all of them. Ideally, you’ll pick the ones that fit your vision of the deck best.
Artificers & Artifacts
This deck isn’t your typical tribal deck. Sure, Saheeli and Era of Innovation benefit form playing Artificers, but that’s about it. This means you don’t want to play random Artificers just because of their creature type. However, the ones that work with the general theme of the deck are pretty useful. Here are three such cards.
Adric, Mathematical Genius can copy your activated or triggered abilities. Mostly, that can be used to get two Saheeli triggers, but you can certainly imagine situations where that would also come in handy.
Another way to copy your artifact spells is with Drafna, Founder of Lat-Nam. Plus you can bounce your artifacts, which is certainly a useful effect.
The third Artificer is a big pricier at four mana. Arcum Dagsson can tutor an artifact from your deck directly onto the battlefield. Plus, you could sacrifice the token that Saheeli created, which you’d need to get rid of on your end step anyway.
Artifacts
However, if you want to skip all that sacrifice stuff, you can do that by including a copy of Sundial of the Infinite in your 99. Yes, you can keep the token around forever with this cheap artifact.
We’ve talked about artifacts that work with energy, and there are a couple more missing from the deck. Gonti’s Aether Heart can provide you a lot of energy over the course of the game, and can also be exchanged for an extra turn.
On the other hand, The Motherlode, Excavator is strong when your opponents run a lot of nonbasic lands.
If your deck ends up with a lot of Artificers, you could include Roaming Throne too. Those triggers can quickly go nuts, especially once you start making multiple copies of it with Saheeli.
Speaking of copying here are some other fun synergies you can do with it.
Copy Synergies
The old classic, Wurmcoil Engine is similar to Triplicate Titan, but comes into play much sooner. A great target for Saheeli’s copy ability.
Now, if you want more tokens, there are also a few cards that can help you with that. You can choose among Adrix and Nev, Twincasters, Parallel Lives, and Doubling Season. Or just play all of them, as their multipliers will stack. If you’ve got all three of them in play, you’re getting 8 tokens from a single Saheeli trigger.
Another fun card is Brudiclad, Telchor Engineer. It plays nicely with your commander, and can create some unique play patters.
Mana Base
There’s no worse feeling in Magic than being stuck with powerful hands in your hand due to bad mana base. As mentioned, Living Energy precon comes with a serviceable mana base, but there’s still room for improvment.
If you just want some cheap additions, you pick up some cards from the following three cycles:
- fast lands (Copperline Gorge, Botanical Sanctum, Spirebluff Canal)
- slow lands (Rockfall Vale, Dreamroot Cascade, Stormcarved Coast)
- filter lands (Fire-Lit Thicket, Flooded Grove, Cascade Bluffs)
There’s also a cheap energy land, that’s missing from the deck. HELIOS One can certainly be useful in this kind of a deck.
Additionally, if budget isn’t a concern, you might opt for some more expensive lands, such as:
- shock lands (Stomping Ground, Breeding Pool, Steam Vents)
- fetch lands (Wooded Foothills, Misty Rainforest, Scalding Tarn)
- multiplayer lands (Spire Garden, Rejuvenating Springs, Training Center)
- Ketria Triome
Finally, while signets aren’t lands, they do make it easier to cast your spells. Plus, they are artifacts, so you’ll get energy from them with Saheeli. In your colors, you have access to Simic Signet, Izzet Signet, and Gruul Signet. You don’t necessarily need to add all of them, but they are certainly fine options
Which Cards to Remove From Living Energy?
With these upgrades, sometimes the hardest question isn’t what to add, but what to remove. You could find a reason why you could keep almost every card in this precon. However, something has got to go.
Usually it’s best to remove cards that aren’t on theme or are just too weak.
Here are some of the card that I’d remove first:
- Soul-Guide Lantern
- Loyal Apprentice
- Bootleggers’ Stash
- Whirler Rogue
- Stridehangar Automaton
- Soul-Guide Lantern
A lot of those come from the Thopter theme, and their removal will result in a more focused game plan.
Living Energy Upgraded Decklist Example
The following is just one example of what an upgraded decklist could look like. Don’t feel like you need to copy it exactly, make it your own!
Conclusion
And that’s it for the Living Energy Upgrade Guide! Hopefully, you now have a good idea of what to expect from this deck, so you’ll be able to improve it and make it more fun.
If you have some upgrade ideas of your own, leave a comment below and share them with me and our readers. There’s just so many Magic cards being released nowadays, that I surely missed some great ones.
Finally, if you’re looking for more precons, check our article with all MTG precons. There you’ll find every Commander deck ever released, so you’ll certainly get a perfect one for you.
Until next time, have fun and enjoy generating and spending those energy counters!