Hello, friend! It’s been a while since Secrets of Strixhaven precons released, but due to a busy schedule our Upgrade Guides are a bit late this time around. Anyhow, if you want to make this black-white deck better and more fun, our Silverquill Influence Upgrade Guide is here to help with that.
Below you’ll find 10 suggested card swaps, with the goal of making the deck run more smoothly and on-theme. The end result should be a deck that wins more games, but even more importantly — enables enjoyable and exciting play patterns.
Before we start with upgrades, let’s check the deck’s theme.
Silverquill Influence Game Plan
The main focus of this deck are enchantments, mainly auras. Quite a few of them are negative auras (this feels like a Gen Z slang), which you’ll want to attach to opponents’ creatures.
Between the two commanders, Killian feels like a much better option, while Scriv will probably work best as a part of the 99. For the purpose of this article, we’re going to assume you’ll keep Killian as your main commander.
He’ll allow you to mess with your opponents’ plans, while providing card advantage. If you can enchant opponent’s creatures, you’ll be able to draw cards on their turns too. So, let’s see how well the original decklist supports this plan.
Silverquill Influence Decklist
All in all, this is a pretty solid decklist for a precon. However, there are some odd cards included, that don’t make that much sense. It shouldn’t be too hard to replace those with powerful cards that support enchantments (auras) synergies.
Additionally, more ways to enchant opponent’s stuff would also be welcome. This way, you’d have more ways to trigger Killian’s card draw effect, further maximizing its power.
#1 Light-Paws, Emperor’s Voice
We’re starting off with an extremely powerful card for any deck playing Auras. Not only does it tutor for an Aura (whenever you cast a more expensive one), but it also casts it for free. Sure, you need to attach it to Light-Paws, but that’s still good enough.
Replaces: Keen Duelist
This two drop doesn’t really work on theme. It’s a card advantage effect, but Light-Paws does that much better, while also only benefiting yourself.
However, if your play group is really into politics mini-games, you might cut something else instead.
#2 Eye of Nidhogg
A great negative Aura to put on your opponent’s creature. With Killian in play, you’re goading two creatures, and hopefully drawing two cards before your next turn.
On top of that, Eye comes back when it’s put into a graveyard, which is pretty neat.
Replaces: Tomik, Wielder of Law
Tomik really feels out of place. You’re encouraging your opponent to attack other players and not you, so you’ll rarely draw cards off of its ability. So, you’re essentially playing a three mana vanilla 2/4 flyer. An extremely bad rate, which makes this a pretty easy cut.
#3 Nurgle’s Rot
A very cheap negative Aura that eventually returns to your hand. It doesn’t get more efficient as this, and this is a great way to make your deck play out more smoothly.
Replaces: Raffine’s Guidance
Guidance kinda fills the same role of a cheap Aura with recursion. However, paying three mana for it is extremely clunky, and that’s why it needs to go.
#4 Retether
A poor’s man version of Replenish (an expensive, almost $200 card from the Reserved List) is still perfectly good, especially in a deck full of Auras.
You aren’t playing any self-mill, so you’ll just want to play a long game where your Auras naturally end up in your graveyard. Then in the late game, you pull them all back for a flashy turn.
Replaces: Firemane Commando
This Angel feels somewhat clunky. It’s not particularly great creature stats-wise and its card draw is very slow. It encourages your opponents to attack each and kinda protects you. However everything it does just feels mediocre.
There are many better options out there for each thing Commando tries to do.
#5 Mesa Enchantress
Given that you’re basically playing an enchantress-type deck, you should also include Mesa Enchatress in there. It’s an awesome way to not run out of gas. Plus, you can always put your Auras on it to make it into a relevant creature.
Replaces: Secret Rendezvous
Another one of those cards that is good only if you’re playing politics. If you aren’t it should be one of the first cuts you make.
#6 Lurrus of the Dream-Den
Lurrus might look a bit out of place at first, but it’s actually a really good way to rebuy your cheap Auras, and there’s no lack of those. Plus, thanks to the lifelink it’s actually a neat targets for those Auras itself.
Replaces: Breena, the Demagogue
This is way to much conditions for two counters and a card draw. You’re not even the one drawing the card most of the time here. Just get rid of this Bird, it’s not good and it also doesn’t particularly work with the deck’s theme.
#7 Ondu Spiritdancer
Doubling stuff is always fun, and Spiritdancer does exactly that with your enchantments. It’s true that it only triggers once per turn, but just play your best enchantment first and you’ll be pretty happy with the card.
Replaces: Shadrix Silverquill
Besides being a signature Silverquill card, the card doesn’t actually fit in the deck mechanically. As far as five drops go, Ondu Spiritdancer is a much better payoff for your deck full of enchantments.
Now, if you want to keep the Dragon, you can easily make an argument for that. Perhaps you want to Combat Calligrapher or Eldrazi Conscription instead.
#8 Kaya’s Ghostform
Ghostform is a cheap way to protect one of your key creatures. It’s also an Aura, so it works with all of your synergies. It’s hard to ask for more for a single mana investment, and you’ll likely be pleasantly surprised by how this card performs.
Replaces: Fallen Ideal
This Aura is pretty clunky at three mana, as it doesn’t really do much without sacrifice support, which isn’t present in this precon.
#9 Vampiric Link
Another one mana Aura, but you’ll want to put this one on an opponent’s creature. While it will still be able to block and use its abilities, it will gain you life whenever it deals damage.
This will provide you with some extra buffer, but for the most part the goal here is to include an additional cheap negative Aura first and foremost. Another card that serves pretty much the same role would be Spirit Link. Feel free to add both of these, if you like this effect.
Replaces: Intermediate Chirography
You are putting a lot of mana into this enchantment for not much of a payoff. It’s not unplayable by any means, it just doesn’t quite gel with the rest of the deck.
#10 Visions of Brutality
Our tenth and final card is yet another negative Aura. This one makes a creature unable to block, and whenever it deals damage its controller losses that much life.
Paired with Killian this will work in your favor, as you’ll also goad the enchanted creature, forcing it to attack and consequently deal damage, triggering Visions of Brutality.
Replaces: Nils, Discipline Enforcer
This is a playable card only if you’re playing against a deck full of creatures with counters. But that’s very specific and giving counters to your opponent’s stuff doesn’t seem like a winning strategy, particularly since Silverquill Influence precon isn’t about that at all.
Silverquill Influence Upgrade Recap
Here’s a quick recap of the suggested changes.
Cards to add:
Don’t feel like you need to exactly follow these recommendations. Add the cards that are fun to you and make sense give your preferences and play groups. If you like a card that we recommended you cut, simply remove something else.
Just don’t get greedy and start removing lands. That’s a sure way to end up being unable to cast your spells, and those games are pretty boring.
Speaking of lands, let’s check on the mana base too, as we didn’t talk about it yet.
Mana Base
The mana base is playable, but there’s plenty of room for improvement. As far as utility lands go, the deck could benefit from Hall of Heliod’s Generosity, Ishgard, the Holy See, and Adagia, Windswept Bastion.
For mana fixing, you can find various black-white dual lands here. Remove the ones that always enter tapped with minor benefits (like Silverquill Campus). In their place include some that can enter tapped under certain conditions. (Obviously Godless Shrine is a great.)
If you want to make the deck more consistent, you could always add a land or two over some of the weaker nonland cards in the deck. There enough card advantage in this deck that you could even run up to 40 lands — especially if you’re adding utility lands.
Bonus Recommendations
There are so many cards to choose from, that it’s been pretty hard selecting just ten. The recommendations above lean slightly more into enchanting your opponent’s creatures. However, you could take this deck in a different path.
Perhaps some of the following 26 recommendations might help you get some ideas of various possibilities.
Turning Removal Into Synergy Pieces
Here’s one more tip, that we couldn’t quite include in among the ten card swaps, as it affects multiple cards in a similar way.
You should likely do is to remove your instant and sorcery removal spells. (Such as Anguished Unmaking, Fracture, and Vanishing Verse.) Replace them with enchantment based removal instead. (Think Grasp of Fate, Quarantine Field, Consulate Crackdown, and Seal of Cleansing for example.)
While these might be worse against opposing enchantment removal, they work with your synergies, which is a massive benefit.
Want to Influence Other Players?
Do you have a cool addition that we missed in the article? Feel free to leave a recommendation below. Perhaps some of our other readers will like it and add it to their decks thanks to you.
If you want information about other decks coming with this set, check our Secrets of Strixhaven Commander precons article.
Until next time, have fun playing with your upgraded Silverquill Influence precon, and may your Auras always succssefully resolve.