Aetherdrift is right around the corner, and with it comes a new pair of commander precons to give new players an easy way to jump into the game and to give existing players sweet new cards and reprints. One of these precons is Eternal Might, an Esper Zombie deck helmed by Temmet, Naktamun's Will. This deck's game plan is to create an army of Zombies, boost their power and grant them evasion with Zombie lords, and use Temmet to go for the win by drawing a bunch of cards. But how well does the deck accomplish these goals, and how can it be upgraded to pack an even bigger punch? In this guide, I'll tell you how to do just that on a budget of just $50. Though stay tuned to the end if you want some suggestions on breaking the budget.

Like all precons these days, this deck comes with a newly printed back-up commander for players to swap in if they prefer. Hashaton, Scarab's Fist is a really cool commander that lends itself well to a cycling or reanimator deck, but I think Temmet is a better commander for a pure Zombie typal deck. The choice is up to you, but for this guide I'll be keeping Temmet in the command zone.

Eternal Might | Commander | Preconstructed Deck

• Commander (1)
• 1 Temmet, Naktamun's Will

• Creatures (35)
• 1 Angel of Sanctions
• 1 Archfiend of Ifnir
• 1 Binding Mummy
• 1 Cemetery Reaper
• 1 Champion of Wits
• 1 Corpse Augur
• 1 Corpse Knight
• 1 Cryptbreaker
• 1 Eternal Skylord
• 1 Fleshbag Marauder
• 1 Forgotten Creation
• 1 Gempalm Polluter
• 1 Gleaming Overseer
• 1 God-Eternal Oketra
• 1 Grave Titan
• 1 Gravecrawler
• 1 Hashaton, Scarab's Fist
• 1 Lazotep Chancellor
• 1 Lord of the Accursed
• 1 Lost Monarch of Ifnir
• 1 Midnight Reaper
• 1 Murderous Rider
• 1 Plague Belcher
• 1 Priest of the Crossing
• 1 Prophet of the Scarab
• 1 Rhet-Tomb Mystic
• 1 Rot Hulk
• 1 The Scarab God
• 1 Timeless Dragon
• 1 Twisted Abomination
• 1 Undead Augur
• 1 Vizier of Many Faces
• 1 Wayward Servant
• 1 Wizened Mentor
• 1 Zombie Master

• Planeswalkers (1)
• 1 Liliana, Death's Majesty

• Artifacts (12)
• 1 Arcane Signet
• 1 Bontu's Monument
• 1 Commander's Sphere
• 1 Crowded Crypt
• 1 Dimir Signet
• 1 Gate to the Afterlife
• 1 God-Pharaoh's Gift
• 1 Maskwood Nexus
• 1 Orzhov Signet
• 1 Sol Ring
• 1 Talisman of Dominance
• 1 Talisman of Hierarchy

• Enchantments (1)
• 1 Dreadhorde Invasion

• Instants (5)
• 1 Cast Out
• 1 Commence the Endgame
• 1 Damn
• 1 Despark
• 1 Swords to Plowshares

• Sorceries (6)
• 1 Dread Summons
• 1 Dusk // Dawn
• 1 Never // Return
• 1 On Wings of Gold
• 1 Pull from Tomorrow
• 1 Renewed Solidarity

• Lands (39)
• 1 Accursed Duneyard
• 1 Adarkar Wastes
• 1 Arcane Sanctum
• 1 Ash Barrens
• 1 Caves of Koilos
• 1 Command Tower
• 1 Desert of the Glorified
• 1 Desert of the Mindful
• 1 Desert of the True
• 1 Drowned Catacomb
• 1 Evolving Wilds
• 1 Exotic Orchard
• 1 Fetid Pools
• 1 Glacial Fortress
• 4 Island
• 1 Irrigated Farmland
• 1 Isolated Chapel
• 1 Orzhov Basilica
• 1 Path of Ancestry
• 5 Plains
• 1 Prairie Stream
• 1 Sunken Hollow
• 5 Swamp
• 1 Temple of Deceit
• 1 Temple of Silence
• 1 Terramorphic Expanse
• 1 Underground River
• 1 Unholy Grotto

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Upgrading Eternal Might with Temmet, Naktamun's Will as Commander

Now that we've chosen our commander, what does it do? Temmet, Naktamun's Will is a 5-mana 4/4 with vigilance and menace and that allows you to draw a card and discard a card whenever you attack. It also has an ability that pumps each of your Zombies by +1/+1 whenever you draw a card, which has the potential to deal massive amounts of damage once you've established your board of the undead. I really like how fresh this design feels for Zombies, leaning more into the concept of a Zombie hoard rather than encouraging another aristocrats or reanimator strategy.

This precon's reprints are great, featuring Zombie staples like Cryptbreaker, Cemetery Reaper, and Plague Belcher along with some pricier cards like The Scarab God, Zombie Master, and Rot Hulk. The new cards are also awesome, with the standout of the bunch being Renewed Solidarity. Token doublers are always great, and while this one is limited to just one creature type it only costs three mana and has an anthem attached. While there are a couple cards missing that I'll go into later, the stock list is the perfect starting point for anyone wanting to play Zombies.

Improving this deck with a $50 budget is actually not too difficult, since this is the third Zombie precon we've had in recent memory and a lot of the excluded staples are fairly cheap. My main problems with the deck are the interaction suite, the mana base, and the surprisingly lack of burst card draw, but all of those can be fixed pretty easily while keeping the spirit of the original list.

Before we start adding cards, let's talk about the cuts. I ended up cutting 22 cards in total, many of which played into the deck's discard subtheme. This strategy works well if you swap to the backup commander, but a lot of these cards ended up getting cut as I moved away from that. This includes Gate to the Afterlife and God-Pharoah's Gift, Archfiend of Ifnir, Lazotep Channeler, Twisted Abomination, and all the non-Zombie creatures with embalm or eternalize. There were also a few cards that were cut simply because there are better options, like four lands, Despark, Cast Out, Commander's Sphere, Crowded Crypt, Commence the Endgame, Dusk // Dawn, and Never // Return. Finally, Dread Summons is a card I personally don't love for requiring a lot of mana to be good and being inconsistent, and Maskwood Nexus is almost useless now that there are only two creatures in the upgraded list that aren't Zombies.

The mana base is the easiest problem to fix, so I'll start there. Like most precons released since the Dr. Who decks, the mana base out of the box is pretty solid, but nothing to write home about. The cycling lands are a cute include with Temmet, there are two utility lands that are great for Zombies in Accursed Duneyard and Unholy Grotto, and the check lands and pain lands are always welcome includes. I think 39 lands is a little high for a deck where most of your best cards are 1-3 mana, so I'd recommend cutting Orzhov Basilica and Ash Barrens, and I think there are enough swamps to justify cutting the two temples for the tainted lands. The ramp package can also be easily improved by swapping Commander's Sphere and Crowded Crypt for the missing talisman and signet.

Fixing the interaction suite is a little more difficult, but in this color combination it's not because of a lack of options. By my count, there are eight pieces of targeted removal in the stock list that includes staples like Swords to Plowshares, a couple of on-theme removal spells like Murderous Rider and Fleshbag Marauder, and some weaker options like Never // Return or Cast Out. These weaker options can be cut, along with Despark for being a little too narrow for my taste, and instead I'd like to add two more Zombie edicts in Accursed Marauder and Ravenous Rotbelly, and Grimgrin, Corpseborn, which destroys creatures when it attacks. I would also add in a few instant-speed interaction spells like Anguished Unmaking, Overcharged Amalgam, Counterspell, and Arcane Denial. Finally, I would swap out Dusk // Dawn for Everything Comes to Dust, as the latter is more likely to be a one-sided wrath than the former.

With Temmet as the commander, I'm surprised that there were only four sources of burst card draw in the original list. Temmet buffs all of your Zombies by +1/+1 for every card you draw, so having one spell draw you five to six cards at once before combat can be game ending with the right board state. To fix this deficit I've added Read the Runes, Distant Melody, God-Eternal Bontu, Titan of Littjara, and Kindred Discovery.

Finally, I added a little more recursion to help the deck recover from wraths. Zul Ashur, Lich Lord and Lord of the Undead both bring Zombies back from the graveyard, with Lord of the Undead also providing yet another anthem. I also added Diregraf Colossus to help the deck go even wider while boasting some incredible Vincent Proce art. And of course, no list of mine would be complete without an inclusion from Fallout, and I'm happy to say that Jason Bright is a perfect fit for this deck. It can provide a bit of evasion, a sacrifice outlet in case of emergencies, and some more card draw when combined with the deck's Zombie lords.

Upgraded Eternal Might | Commander | Christopher Lai

• Commander (1)
• 1 Temmet, Naktamun's Will

• Creatures (38)
• 1 Accursed Marauder
• 1 Binding Mummy
• 1 Cemetery Reaper
• 1 Corpse Augur
• 1 Corpse Knight
• 1 Cryptbreaker
• 1 Diregraf Colossus
• 1 Eternal Skylord
• 1 Fleshbag Marauder
• 1 Forgotten Creation
• 1 Gempalm Polluter
• 1 Gleaming Overseer
• 1 God-Eternal Bontu
• 1 God-Eternal Oketra
• 1 Grave Titan
• 1 Gravecrawler
• 1 Grimgrin, Corpse-Born
• 1 Hashaton, Scarab's Fist
• 1 Jason Bright, Glowing Prophet
• 1 Lord of the Accursed
• 1 Lord of the Undead
• 1 Lost Monarch of Ifnir
• 1 Midnight Reaper
• 1 Murderous Rider
• 1 Overcharged Amalgam
• 1 Plague Belcher
• 1 Priest of the Crossing
• 1 Prophet of the Scarab
• 1 Ravenous Rotbelly
• 1 Rhet-Tomb Mystic
• 1 Rot Hulk
• 1 The Scarab God
• 1 Titan of Littjara
• 1 Undead Augur
• 1 Wayward Servant
• 1 Wizened Mentor
• 1 Zombie Master
• 1 Zul Ashur, Lich Lord

• Planeswalkers (1)
• 1 Liliana, Death's Majesty

• Artifacts (9)
• 1 Arcane Signet
• 1 Azorius Signet
• 1 Bontu's Monument
• 1 Dimir Signet
• 1 Orzhov Signet
• 1 Sol Ring
• 1 Talisman of Dominance
• 1 Talisman of Hierarchy
• 1 Talisman of Progress

• Enchantments (3)
• 1 Dreadhorde Invasion
• 1 Kindred Discovery
• 1 Necroduality

• Instants (6)
• 1 Anguished Unmaking
• 1 Arcane Denial
• 1 Counterspell
• 1 Damn
• 1 Everything Comes to Dust
• 1 Swords to Plowshares

• Sorceries (5)
• 1 Distant Melody
• 1 On Wings of Gold
• 1 Pull from Tomorrow
• 1 Read the Runes
• 1 Renewed Solidarity

• Lands (37)
• 1 Accursed Duneyard
• 1 Adarkar Wastes
• 1 Arcane Sanctum
• 1 Caves of Koilos
• 1 Command Tower
• 1 Desert of the Glorified
• 1 Desert of the Mindful
• 1 Desert of the True
• 1 Drowned Catacomb
• 1 Evolving Wilds
• 1 Exotic Orchard
• 1 Fetid Pools
• 1 Glacial Fortress
• 4 Island
• 1 Irrigated Farmland
• 1 Isolated Chapel
• 1 Path of Ancestry
• 5 Plains
• 1 Prairie Stream
• 1 Sunken Hollow
• 5 Swamp
• 1 Tainted Field
• 1 Tainted Isle
• 1 Terramorphic Expanse
• 1 Underground River
• 1 Unholy Grotto

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The best part about all of these upgrades is that even if I took away the $50 budget restriction, I think most of my swaps would remain. I would definitely overhaul the mana base by adding slow lands, verges, and shock lands, but that would be the case with any precon upgrade. There are two cards, however, that I was devastated to exclude due to budget. Varina, Lich Queen and Wilhelt, the Rotcleaver are both incredible Zombie cards that sadly spiked in price after the decklist got revealed. Varina is essentially a one-sided Coat of Arms in this deck, while Wilhelt makes the deck much more resilient against wraths by leaving behind decayed Zombies whenever non-decayed Zombies die. If you don't care about the budget, I'd swap out Pull from Tomorrow for Varina and Midnight Reaper for Wilhelt.

That's all for now, I hope you enjoyed this guide!