The new black-white Commander deck from Secrets of Strixhaven is looks extremely exciting. It might just be the most unique build among the five precons. If you want to know more about this deck, keep on reading.
We’ll take a look at the full decklist, examine all of the new cards, and even discuss some early upgrade ideas. But before we get to all that, let’s check what the deck is about.
Auras Make Opponents Fight
If you like playing enchantments, and mess up with your opponents at the same time, you’re going to enjoy Silverquill Influence.
About that enchantment part — the deck contains over 30 of them, and there is a small enchantress theme to it. However, there’s a large focus on auras that you’ll want to put on opponents’ creatures. These are negative effects, such as like Ghoulish Impetus and Darksteel Mutation.
Such cards can be pretty annoying by themselves, but there are additional ways to benefit from them, as you can see from the decklist and your main commander. Speaking of which, let’s check those out.
Silverquill Influence Decklist
New cards’ images might not be showing yet, but you can find them in the following section.
Silverquill Influence Spoilers
Killian, Decisive Mentor
Perhaps Killian isn’t the strongest three mana commander, but it still does a lot of work. But most importantly looks pretty fun and unique card. (And plays extremely well with Eriette of the Charmed Apple, which is also included in the deck.)
In order to maximize it, you’ll want to play lots of enchantments, but namely negative auras to put on your opponents creatures. This will force your opponents to attack one another thanks to goad, and also draw you some cards in the process. Pretty neat.
Other New Cards
Besides the main commander, this deck also features 11 brand-new cards. All of them are featured below.
There are two cards using the new prepare mechanic. If you want to know more about it, you can find details about Prepared rules here.
Silverquill Influence Upgrade Ideas
As we’ve seen with recent releases, cards that aren’t reprinted, but fit well within a deck’s theme often spike in price. Thus, I wanted to do a mini upgrade guide with just three recommendations. (A full upgrade guide is coming next week.)
If you plan to get this deck, now might be a good time to pick these up to avoid potential price spikes.
Eye of Nidhogg
First, up here’s a neat aura to put on your opponent’s creature. It makes it into a Demon that’s permanently goaded. It works great with all parts of your commander.
It’s an enchantment, so it triggers its first effect, allowing you to goad another creature. It’s also like to draw you a card with Killian’s second effect. Finally, you get Eye back when it’s put in a graveyard. What’s not to like?
Retether
Even without graveyard support, this card can still be powerful. In the late game, you’ll put all of your negative Auras back on your opponent’s creatures to their demise.
On the Reserved List, there’s also Replenish, which is strictly better, but also significantly pricier. One of the new cards, Eiganjo Dynastorian actually features it as its prepare spell, but you need to jump through some hoops to get this effect.
Thus, Retheter is a fine and reasonably priced option.
Nurgle’s Rot
Another useful negative aura is Nurgle’s Rot. It doesn’t do that much, but it’s as cheap as it goes, and you eventually get it back. It’s easy to play it in the same turn as Killian, to gurantee you get at least some value out of it.
Before we wrap up, here’s one bonus pick: Lurrus of the Dream-Den. It works well with cheap auras like this one, even though it’s not particularly synergistic with Killian on its own.
Do You Like Messing With Your Opponents?
So, what do you think about this precon? Will you buy a Silverquill Influence, and try to mess up your opponents’ plans? Or do you perhaps prefer another precon with fewer enchantments? Let us know in the comments below.
If you enjoy this set, you might want to lock in that preorder price and get the whole bundle of the five new Strixhaven decks. Hopefully, you might even get a discount.
Need additional info? Check our article about Secrets of Strixhaven Commander precons and find out everything there is to know about them.
Until next time, have fun not allowing your opponents to have any.