“Desert Bloom” Precon Upgrade | Outlaws of Thunder Junction | The Command Zone 601 | MTG EDH Magic

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Show Notes:
The desert can be merciless, empty, and unforgiving. But if you know where to look, there’s beauty to be found… in our mighty-fine Thunder Junction “Desert Bloom” (white/red/green) precon upgrade guide!
As always we’ll bring you 10 cards to add to your travel pack, and 10 that you should desert in the desert, all for under $50. With these upgrades at your side, we reckon it’ll be your opponents who are left high and dry at your next game night.
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Relevant Links:
"Desert Bloom" Precon Upgrade Deck List:
archidekt.com/decks/7308667/c...
Murders at Karlov Manor w/ Arin Hanson | Game Knights 67:
• Murders at Karlov Mano...
The End Step:
Pie Break! Robots with Jim LaPage:
commandsphere.libsyn.com/robo...
Battlebots:
battlebots.com/
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Commander Rules and Ban List:
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Timestamps:
00:00:00 - Intro
00:03:41 - Extra Turns Fan Auditions
00:04:23 - "Desert Bloom" Precon Upgrade
00:04:40 - Possible Commanders
00:08:28 - Best Cards
00:12:53 - Notable Reprints
00:13:36 - Reprint Value
00:16:02 - Deck Stats
00:17:08 - Upgrade Goals
00:24:03 - Cards to Add
00:45:54 - Cards to Cut
00:53:40 - How the Deck Plays
00:58:22 - To the Listeners
01:01:00 - Rachel & BattleBots
#magicthegathering #mtg #commander #mtgcommander #edh #podcast #commandzone

[@commandcast]

What do you think of this precon? Any cards we missed? Any cards we suggested to take out or add that you disagree with?

[@salvadorroldan5215]

Spelunking. Most of the deserts enter tapped as well as most thing bringing back lands say enter tapped.

[@jinxjachi9579]

I really hoped to see an “honorable mentions” section with some non budget options. Surprised to not see Scapeshift mentioned

[@Gorcyca]

Y’all missed constant mists. The card is a monster in this deck.

[@tylerbrooks6063]

Garruk's Uprising loves all of the 4/2s entering the battlefield! Also Tribute to the World Tree for a bit more $$$.

[@camoyuki]

Valakut Exploration is great because it is essentially card draw, mill, and burn in one card. On landfall you impulse draw, but then at the end phase if you didn't play any impulse drawn cards, they go to the graveyard instead of staying in exile, and it burns opponents for each card that goes to the grave

[@owendananmartin9492]

"A well oiled desert" THE UNITED STATES MILITARY HAS ENTERED THE CHAT

[@oneangrydwarf1981]

Outstanding

[@SupremeChalupaSnoke]

12:08 “These are my Deserts. My Karakas. MY DUNE.”

[@Jamesemcnairofficial]

DOON

[@olivierdebilde4292]

For everyone's info, there are new deserts that are not included in the precon : Arid Archway and Sandstorm Verge. Just in case you want to maximize their number into your deck.

[@sebastionmiller7281]

I quit Yugioh for Magic and this is going to be my choice for my first commander deck

[@banditcroco9014]

good choice man, i got back into magic from ygo and it feels better already

[@murlocmasher3368]

He reminds me of the Mandalorian & baby yoda. With the green baby in his arms

[@Beerbones928]

I'm from Yuma, AZ. This deck makes me smile

[@camoyuki]

This is the most exciting precon to me personally. I have been wanting to build Hazezon, but it was difficult because there were so few deserts. This set and precon especially adds a ton of support for Hazezon specifically with more deserts and ways of getting deserts in the grave

[@Nr4747]

The new deserts are definitely a huge help, but there are still only 27 unique deserts in Naya colors - and some of them a pretty terrible in a 3-color deck. This precon is a really neat start for a Hazezon deck, for sure, but I actually tried to brew around Yuma and the results were pretty bad (at least from my online goldfishing). I tried going the looting + dredge route, and even with 24 discard spells, it just wasn't enough to reliably get deserts into the yard after Yuma was on the board. Leaning more into sacrificing and re-playing deserts might work better, but then you'd probably also need to lean quite heavily into the same old same old landfall goodstuff cards. Still, a big boon for Hazezon for sure. Glad you like the precon, I'm excited about the new deserts aswell and might build Hazezon soon.

[@victorbourguignon6897]

There is an article for Yuma on edhrec that was posted before the deck was revealed. Their take ran relatively well in goldfishing sessions.

[@gnomeomontague]

It's funny, too, that you can pretty much swap Yuma out for Hazezon and the deck works almost just as well

[@royal-wolf]

I'm using this as a base for Dune-Brood Nephilim. Adds Black to the mana pool, giving a larger selection of cards and all the best for self mill and land recursion

[@hAxZa100]

y'all must be building Hazezon bad then 😂 there's plenty enough deserts, especially now - the deck slaps hard

[@lenny-822]

"Everybody's quoting me, oh noooooo!" --Rachel Weeks

[@shadowstargaming7186]

Thank you so much for going back to one deck per episode. I enjoy these full deep dives into each deck so much better. As for the deck itself, this was the only one that interested me and my basic outline for building it ended up shifting into a Landfall and land recursion strategy. One of the more interesting additions i made is Dust Bowl as both a land sac outlet and a way to deal with the many problematic nonbasics that are starting to really become problems in my playgroup and somewhat in commander overall. I'm not gonna hit someone's Command Tower or shockland with it, but you better believe I'm killing the Cradles, the Nykthos, the Coffers and such asap.

[@zeichenfieber4401]

you saved my day.... i got back from work and have to get to sleep for work again tomorrow (i live in germany and i had a night shift followed by early shift) and atleast i acn enjoy some command zone before drifting into the aether also i have treated myself to the secret lair azusa lost but seeking :D

[@moosecampbell]

Hope your day went well enough today.

[@MalteLewandowski]

Maybe add spelunking and tiller engine as a lot of the lands come in tapped. And as draw engine I like elemental bond and garruk's uprising.

[@paradoxlegionarre2619]

Spelunking was the first thing that came to mind when I saw this deck even ramping gets better since it all comes in tapped

[@codyrhodes2]

I actually use the planeswaker so I can possibly get more than one draw spell off of one cast

[@ArteausArtane]

Seeing this deck in play and watching this upgrade guide has really got me excited! An auto include in any lands deck IMO would be Spelunking. It’s a green enchantment that makes it where your lands don’t come in tapped. So any land that would come in tapped whether cause it says it does or you ramp it onto the battlefield, it comes in hot and ready!

[@marystrong4156]

You guys did such a great job on taking the time to explain the mechanics of this deck, talk through some great additions to the deck (and most importantly, the (*why* behind your choices), and overall just made me even more psyched to build out this deck and add in some upgrades. I'm from AZ, so desert themed is *so* perfect and I was so excited to see that the desert deck was actually great both thematically and gameplay. Great job!

[@christophervennix9861]

Given the decks theme and the extremely low reprint value, I am amazed they did not already include 'Life from the Loam', 'Undergrowth Recon', and 'Blossoming Tortoise'. An extra ~$20 reprint value would be a well needed buff to the packs overall value and they are absolutely on theme for the commander.

[@AllTheNerdThings]

I loved this deck! Was very fun to play and def. Looking to upgrade so thank you for this! I also welcome the full art commanders in the pre cons.

[@jaguarlineman]

I think Spelunk is a fantastic budget card for this set and also is SO fun with Nahiri’s Lithoforming!

[@maxarcanum5309]

Wooo! Mando and Grogu let’s go!!

[@blakealvarez3604]

I'm so glad someone else had the samd thought!

[@k-dawg2104]

uploaded seconds ago... and i actually was just looking for this guide what timing

[@austinbeck4477]

I think that Tato Farmer would be an excellent in that deck

[@cleetusi9559]

INTERESTING.

[@tomdoetsch8603]

Arthur is an absolute GIGACHAD! Can’t wait to see him thrashing everyone with this deck 😎

[@ultimentra]

Anyone else laugh when Rachel says "Tuuuuuurtle" at 37:43? XD

[@10AngryBananas]

I love Rachel’s hair! Looks so good

[@clockworktophat542]

This is my first deck that I've had to play commander with my friends. In the last match I had the saga complete with Yuma on the board. Was able to go Titania into Nantuko Cultivator and sacked all my lands. 18 lands with 8 deserts later and everyone was shocked at what the deck could do. Was board wiped the next turn but when you get the chance you've gotta go all out 😂

[@gabrielabdul]

While Scapeshift is pricey, it synergizes very well with this commander. It's reprinted in the new OTJ set as well. Scapeshift 2GG: Sacrifice any number of lands. Search your library for up to that many land cards, put them onto the battlefield tapped, then shuffle."

[@craftmasterasaga]

We all love Arthur Meadowcroft. He's just the best.

[@tiantuatara]

Loved Dune and Dune 2. I just played this precon and had a lot of fun with it. I'm going to do your upgrades. I definitely had a couple cards where I thought "what is this doing here?" and they were on your list to remove.

[@Medicinalmagic911]

Yuma Arizona!! Shoutout! 🎉🎉

[@raymondchristopher80]

Finally a place where I can feel okay about playing ravages of war 😁😎😶‍🌫️

[@cleetusi9559]

I’m VERY interested in this deck. Already picked up half the Cards to Add at my local LGS 🙂

[@olivierdebilde4292]

Sweet ideas. I put a penny on Felidar Retreat, Crucible or Warstorm Surge but you picked new or neat cards instead. Cool 🎉

[@codyrhodes2]

I actually used crucible and felidar retreat but subbed warstorm for impact tremors

[@destinyhero]

Angel of Indemnity brings back more than just lands. I question the choice to cut it, especially since having Encore you won't mind it getting milled.

[@BumfuzzleTTV]

I've entered the command zone

[@stephenbradford8524]

This is the precon I'm most interested in. Yes, I've wanted a lands deck, but more importantly, the face commander is a DAD. That's important for my purposes. Dads rule.

[@alexandermeyer7258]

Rachel, thank you so much for that end step. Ive never heard of it but now i know what im binging this week 😂 lets go battle bots

[@commandcast]

It is so addictive! - Rachel

[@BARadiantDawn]

Battlebots is amazing, love that show. Been watching since the original in like the 90's? Early 2000's?

[@robertjohns106]

Yeah Battlebots! I'm a fan of Rusty too, but my new favorite is pizzabot.

[@shino7643]

Never made a land master deck before so this was my precon pick for the set my beain is going to wheels for shenanigans

[@Z-S-H]

I preordered this deck and the first card I added to my upgrade list was Amulet of Vigor to get those land in untapped if I draw it early. Edit: My swap out list has several y'all picked also heh

[@alexkulis7295]

Very surprised Splendid Reclamation was not mentioned. This card feels so good if you like moving lands in and out of the graveyard.

[@radioactiveezero7069]

I definitely took all the upgrades to my Yuma deck but put more cards in to make it run easier, like Glacial Chasm, and gurriks uprising. With the Dune man and uprising with Yuma it basically is Discard make 4/2s and draw a discard making 4/2s till u stop discarding lands at clean-up.

[@lapinrouge8876]

what do you think about greater good? sac a plant, 4 cards maybe discard desert get back that plant or more

[@alexanderpayne4652]

Come for the precon upgrade, stay for Rachel excitedly explaining BattleBots =P

[@loganhendershot7402]

Spelunking from LCI is a godsend here, having untapped deserts is so powerful

[@TheBigPenguu]

I'll probably be adding about 5 desert lands in place of some basics.

[@esbaritenor]

Ramunap Excavator, Crucible of Worlds, and Azusa are some I'd add. You're also making so many tokens I'd proxy a Parallel Lives for this.

[@SardonicVida]

Excavators already in the deck friend

[@benjamingermain4307]

Super surprised Yedora was not put into this deck that would make it super powerful especially with yalls add ins

[@VinceOfAllTrades]

Doesn't Yedora only work for non-token creatures? Seems like it's missing the mark here (although it might synergize well with the alt commander)

[@bc6292]

Dune 2 was amazing

[@Rabid_Wombat]

No shields in the duel kinda sucked but yeah, amazing movie

[@danielaguirre5949]

Would it be better to drop Bitter Reunion for Mass Hysteria? Or add mass hysteria in cut of another? Debating on adding mass land destruction or self land destruction like Hew the Entwood, Borborygmous and Life from the Loam in my deck

[@joshuaburnette1684]

I like the swiftfoot cut cause rhythem of the wild is an option if u wanna haster things

[@royal-wolf]

There are a lot of Deserts that want you to sac another Desert for value. Using this as a base for a 4 colored Desert deck. Im excited to try this first before taking it apart

[@victorbourguignon6897]

Think I saw you somewhere here saying you were building dunebrood Nephilim. Do give us a heads up on how it went!

[@Znivekr]

Arthur is the perfect person for this upgrade! So glad to see him doing a pre-con upgrade episode. He thinks outside the norm, and makes really interesting and fun additions. Bravo 🎉!

[@vegetabroly1030]

If you want to over run the filed with tokens then I think you should add Mondrak, Glory Dominus

[@Medicinalmagic911]

Shoutout to Yuma Arizona. 🎉🎉 also this decks wants Cataclysm ❤❤ 32:38

[@danielklein5829]

this deck would love worldsoul's rage, early game its ramp and graveyard recursion, late game its a one card finisher.

[@camoyuki]

The only card I can think of that wasn't mentioned here that could be great is Valakut Exploration, and maybe a soul warden because of all the tokens, but I think that's better with Hazezon as the commander. Valakut Exploration might seem bad at first since it impulse draws. You don't really want to end up having lands and expensive cards stuck in exile, but after a turn, any cards exiled with Valakut Exploration go to the graveyard and burn opponents, so it essentially says: landfall, mill one, you may play it, if you don't, burn opponents for 1, so it's a bit of mill and card advantage in one, and I guess if you somehow can play 40 lands in a turn, it's a wincon XD

[@jacksonhall2334]

Valakut Exploration is a card I'm kinda convinced is good pretty much everywhere. Obviously it's insane in landfall and that's where I have it, but just making all of your ramp late game also be card advantage is kinda stupid good.

[@Bobbybillybillbob]

Yuma will be very beneficial against mill decks like Mothman, N'gatharod, Brucav etc

[@scarletohary]

Tectonic reformation, ayula’s influence, case of the locked hothouse, Wrenn and realmbreaker, courser of kruphix, abundance, ruination rioter and constant mists

[@Caolboy]

Hasezon is to Stilgar, as Yuma is to the Lisan Al Gaib. Time to run so many wurms in this deck LOL

[@jacobguy3343]

Lol talking about cards in the mail. Every time I get a big shipment of cards in it always rains cats and dogs 😂

[@unanon_user]

I love Decks that rely less on lands than others, like Divine convocation for example. so, I would probably pick this deck up and put in something like conduit of worlds and cards capable of destroying all lands.

[@maxbodifee3263]

Anger and Concordant Crossroads seem legit to close out the game out of nowhere

[@alexweaver2078]

I run Titania Protector of Argoth as my land sacrifice deck and Spitting Spider is definitely and all star. Mending dominaria on chapter two, sacrifice your lands the turn before, wipe board of flyers, make tokens, get lands back with the saga. SO GOOOOOOOOOD

[@HoangKhiemHa]

Blossoming tortoises all the way down!

[@jmbearcub1013]

I just got my Blooming Desert deck. I know y'all don't usually upgrade for flavor, but how could you not add a few giant wurm creatures in the mix? LoL 😆

[@truegrit2060]

(32:50) I would probably sack as many lands as I have in my hand. That way I break even on my board state but still get the most benefit of landfall and sack lands.🤔

[@Lumautis]

Decaying time loop. A self wheel with retrace. It's just a little over $5

[@user-us7ox3sw7y]

Should have added Armageddon

[@jamesdavidson6976]

🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣😥

[@DaKareerKilla]

Skullwinder is a great card in commander. You can use it as a political tool, or to buy back an opponent's removal to use on the problem card of another player. But if people want to cut it, I'm not gonna argue. More Skullwinders for my green decks :) I'm also sad they brought back Battle Bots, but BBC are cowards and won't bring back Robot Wars in the UK.

[@gabemango]

would crucible of worlds be a good add?

[@KellyGraves666]

How do I make this deck focus on cactus dudes?

[@UnreasonableOpinions]

The ideal inclusion for Yuma would be Altar of Dementia. For just two mana with him out, sacrifice a cactus to mill four, and every land that flips bits you another token for more mill. You’re going to exceed Hermit Druid levels of mill, and with token doublers you’ll have enough bodies to turn the Altar on other pkayers and just remove them too.

[@nulljaeger3850]

I was really hoping that this would be Naya land animation when it was announced and was kind of sad that it was just land sacrifice/graveyard shenanigans. It's much more interesting in Naya than it would be in Simic+ but it's still mostly just Naya tokens. Natural Emergence, Kamahl's Will, Embodiment of Insight/Fury, Rude Awakening, Any/All Kamahl commanders, Planar Outburst would have been cool.

[@chamucoliz]

Rachel weeks do you have a link to your hazezon decks. If you do please link and thank you.

[@tomcourtney4206]

This video just made me want to embrace my inner villain and build a Sylesnia "Destroy all lands and then recur my own" deck xD

[@jamesdavidson6976]

Why not just destroy everyone else's. Kamahl and Elesh together is too funny.

[@NickGalvin]

So is it worth it to replace any of the lands in this deck with additional deserts? Most of them seem fairly affordable, so I was debating on whether I should pick some up.

[@rainx381]

The reprints for these OTJ precons are too tame.

[@theluckyone6807]

This is my first ever commander deck the game is being taught to me by an demonic person with evil decks so I must now be evil and add destroy all lands into the deck

[@themightygunthorian]

Weird that you say to take out Angel of Indemnity over Sun Titan. I think Angel of Indemnity is just a better Sun Titan

[@TheSpiritombsableye]

23:40 imagine having a collection of 10,000 cards and uploading them.

[@harrypowell6926]

Chuck in Titania voice of Gaea and Argoth sanctum of nature for that meld madness land recursion

[@anthonyhalinski768]

Rachel’s hair is serving

[@viscarious1]

Catastrophe and devastation sound like ideal “sac outlets”. With Yuma they read: destroy all creatures and lands, then create a 4/2 for each desert you control.

[@joewhite4456]

I don't think they read like that, if you destroy all lands then create a 4/2 for each desert you control it'd be 0 since you've already destroyed all lands

[@viscarious1]

@@joewhite4456yea, but Yuma says whenever a desert is put into your graveyard create The token. The only question is would Yuma see the cards being put there if he gets destroyed as well.

[@joewhite4456]

@@viscarious1 I'm not saying they don't work with Yuma, I'm saying they don't read like that.

[@somegamer4071]

Damn it, just when I thought I was done with precons, they throw something interesting like this at me...

[@jebron319]

think i found a home for my Vinelasher Kudzu, Phytohydra, utopia ttree, and Sprouting Phytohydra cards

[@BioPsycho24]

Is this a non-Avacyn armageddon deck? 😏

[@garetthartman5014]

Wait, why dont the cards that depict guns have reach?

[@vee7586]

okay im buying this and calling it my "dune" deck

[@danielburton295]

Wizards took good care not putting black into the commander, dredge would gave gone nuts in this.

[@OverlyCriticalAnime]

Aggressive mining is to much of a down side if you ask me. If you are making 1/1's just get skull clap for draw power.

[@AkodoNoEyes]

I kinda want a normal face version. Hahah.

[@buckeyemanboy]

Step 1: Make Stilgar of Sietch Table (Hazezon) your commander. Now make a vorthos dune deck. Oh wait I already did that!

[@jamesdavidson6976]

Decklist?

[@murasame8939]

So time to play Armageddon?

[@TelesphoreArt]

When did magic add PENGUINS?!

[@Jamesemcnairofficial]

It's SHENANILANDS

[@somepersone0998]

im little upset that its has white I HAVE TOO MAY WHITE DECKS

[@gavinschmitt8592]

i know partner is a mess but i so wish the two commander picks had partner..

[@tldrq2456]

Stilgar: LISAN AL-GAIB

[@solarblades3831]

"you deserve it" Me ignoring my bank account and listening to Rachel. I DO DESERVE A BORDERLESS FOIL LIFE FROM THE LOAM.

[@wobblycobbly3562]

I think little plant homie is a better commander than Yuma. Not for this deck specifically, but I think it could be built at a really high power level seeing that it goes hand in hand with dredge. Life From The Loam Avenger of Zendikar, and little plant dude are a game ending engine

[@Negative_NBG]

why did ya'll say hazEHzon like that?

[@JasonOshinko]

How else would you pronounce it? It's not like it's an obviously common word, and English speakers don't generally know Hebrew linguistics.

[@enordentoft]

Hold up, Penguins don't live on the North Pole!

[@joewhite4456]

I'm really confused by your math. You said there's $90 worth of reprints so if you buy it for $45 you're getting $1.39 per $1 spent. I might be stupid but even I know getting $90 for $45 is doubling your money.