It might be a bit hard to believe, but it's been roughly eight years - if not longer - since we saw the release of Kaladesh and Aether Revolt. These two sets caused a bit of a firestorm among competitive Magic players, with both causing a myriad of issues in the format. This reared its head with Smuggler's Copter, then Saheeli/Cat Combo, and finally a slew of energy related decks. The dominance of these energy decks in particular led to energy gaining a reputation as a rather broken mechanic - something that arguably bore out with Modern Horizons 3.

Modern Horizons 3 enabled a new host of energy decks - primarily Boros Energy - to run rampant before it too needed cards banned from it. Amped Raptor joined its Kaladesh and Aether Revolt brethren Attune with Aether, Rogue Refiner, and Aetherworks Marvel as yet another energy card added to a ban list. Those three cards, coupled with a myriad of other powerful spells, made Temur Energy variants a menace to the Standard of the past. Now with Aetherdrift, Wizards is paying homage to the archetype with its own Commander preconstructed deck.

This Living Energy deck brings the third energy Commander deck in a year, though this one brings with it the more classic Avishkar slant. All the classics are here and they're coupled with some outstanding new designs like Nissa, Worldsoul Speaker and Aetherflux Conduit. Best of all, it's helmed by the old Avishkar favorite of Saheeli Rai herself with an all-new legendary creature card Saheeli, Radiant Creator.

When this deck was first previewed, I was worried what it could mean for energy cards entering Standard once again. While it was revealed that this was attempted, Wizards thankfully scrapped that and instead left us with just this one lone deck. With only so many energy options, though, I think it's worth going through the deck and seeing what cool cards can be used to upgrade it and take it further. Let's have a look at the list and get straight to it!

Living Energy Precon | Commander | Wizards of the Coast

• Commander (1)
• 1 Saheeli, Radiant Creator

• Creatures (27)
• 1 Aethersquall Ancient
• 1 Aethertide Whale
• 1 Aetherwind Basker
• 1 Architect of the Untamed
• 1 Combustible Gearhulk
• 1 Druid of Purification
• 1 Duplicant
• 1 Elder Gargaroth
• 1 Lightning Runner
• 1 Loyal Apprentice
• 1 Nissa, Worldsoul Speaker
• 1 Ornithopter of Paradise
• 1 Peema Aether-Seer
• 1 Peema Trailblazer
• 1 Pia and Kiran Nalaar
• 1 Pia Nalaar, Chief Mechanic
• 1 Rampaging Aetherhood
• 1 Reckless Fireweaver
• 1 Rogue Refiner
• 1 Sai, Master Thopterist
• 1 Servant of the Conduit
• 1 Solemn Simulacrum
• 1 Stridehangar Automaton
• 1 Territorial Aetherkite
• 1 Triplicate Titan
• 1 Whirler Rogue
• 1 Whirler Virtuoso

• Planeswalkers (1)
• 1 Saheeli, Sublime Artificer

• Instants (5)
• 1 Arcane Denial
• 1 Chaos Warp
• 1 Disallow
• 1 Glimmer of Genius
• 1 Reality Shift

• Sorceries (6)
• 1 Attune with Aether
• 1 Blasphemous Act
• 1 Chain Reaction
• 1 Confiscation Coup
• 1 Explosive Vegetation
• 1 One with the Machine

• Enchantments (2)
• 1 Era of Innovation
• 1 Thopter Spy Network

• Artifacts (20)
• 1 Adaptive Omnitool
• 1 Aetherflux Conduit
• 1 Aetheric Amplifier
• 1 Aetherworks Marvel
• 1 Arcane Signet
• 1 Bespoke Battlewagon
• 1 Bootleggers' Stash
• 1 Chromatic Lantern
• 1 Commander's Sphere
• 1 Conjurer's Closet
• 1 Cultivator's Caravan
• 1 Decoction Module
• 1 Lightning Greaves
• 1 Midnight Clock
• 1 Panharmonicon
• 1 Retrofitter Foundry
• 1 Solar Transformer
• 1 Sol Ring
• 1 Soul-Guide Lantern
• 1 Talisman of Curiosity

• Lands (38)
• 5 Island
• 5 Mountain
• 6 Forest
• 1 Academy Ruins
• 1 Aether Hub
• 1 Command Tower
• 1 Evolving Wilds
• 1 Exotic Orchard
• 1 Frontier Bivouac
• 1 Frostboil Snarl
• 1 Hinterland Harbor
• 1 Karplusan Forest
• 1 Overflowing Basin
• 1 Path of Ancestry
• 1 Rootbound Crag
• 1 Sheltered Thicket
• 1 Shivan Reef
• 1 Slagwoods Bridge
• 1 Spire of Industry
• 1 Sulfur Falls
• 1 Tanglepool Bridge
• 1 Temple of Epiphany
• 1 Treasure Vault
• 1 Vineglimmer Snarl
• 1 Yavimaya Coast

Buy This Deck Export text

When looking at this list, the first thing that jumps out to me is just how many notable energy cards from the original Kaladesh block are already in here. Just about any big Commander-esque card that could fit in this deck is here. Aethersquall Ancient, Aethertide Whale, Aetherwind Basker, Architect of the Untamed, Whirler Virtuoso, Aetherworks Marvel - all here. It's honestly somewhat remarkable that all of these cards made it in here, so the question then becomes, what's left?

There's quite a bit from your classic Temur Energy lists that's been left to the wayside. Cards like Longtusk Cub, Voltaic Brawler, Greenbelt Rampager, and Bristling Hydra all may have been rather impactful in that deck, but they're much harder to pay off in long games of Commander. Other old classics like Empyreal Voyager and Electrostatic Pummeler are still quite decent, though. The Voyager offers a good source of energy that you can scale up as needed, while Electrostatic Pummeler can easily one-shot people with a single attack - provided you have enough energy to do so. I'm also a pretty big fan of Dynavolt Tower, though it's harder to make that one pay off in a multiplayer game where everyone has 40 life.

The one card that stood out to me as being a potential miss is Harnessed Lightning. This classic removal spell goes as big as you want it to, provided you have the energy to do so. There's two major issues with this one, though. First, spot removal is hit and miss, and odds are you'd rather just run a regular old removal spell as opposed to the thematic one because of how much more valuable the energy is elsewhere. The other reason is that Galvanic Discharge exists, which is the same exact card except 1 mana cheaper.

That makes for a great segue into the next area I want to focus on: the Universes Beyond: Fallout and Modern Horizons 3 energy cards. Pretty much every reasonable Temur-based energy card from Kaladesh and Aether Revolt was noted above and it's not much. Past that, however, there's only two real other sources to pull from, which are the energy Fallout deck and the energy archetypes that made up a modest chunk of Modern Horizons 3.

The problem with these is that they too are rather limited in scope. Based on what I could find, there's 39 energy-related cards that can be put into this deck that appeared in those sets. Given the fact that energy was focused on Jeskai colors almost exclusively, this does mean there's no Green cards to pull from aside from Primal Prayers, which arguably isn't a great fit for a deck like this. However, it is interesting to note that no cards from either set appear in this precon. That makes sense for Fallout given the license, but it is a little odd to not see any of the Modern Horizons 3 cards make it in.

I'm especially partial to the Modern Horizons 3 cards among the bunch myself. Many of these cards were pushed harder than Fallout, both because some were meant for competitive Constructed play or else were designed with higher power Commander in mind. Fallout is still good, but on average the designs are going to be better to pull from in Modern Horizons 3.

One thing I find particularly notable about the set is just how many energy generators it has that weren't tapped into for this set. Cards like Roil Cartographer and Phyrexian Ironworks are great examples of this, as they fuel you up simply by taking basic game actions. Cards like Izzet Generatorium and Aether Refinery take this further, making each of your energy generators give you a higher energy output. Best of all, each of these cards also provides you with a great way to make use of your energy, or in the Generatorium's case, if you found a way to use the energy already.

Aurora Shifter is a card I found that I felt takes this to even greater extremes. If you have a large creature, the creature attacks in for huge damage and in turn provides you with massive amounts of energy. This is especially good when paired with Aetherworks Marvel, since that can provide you with a massive threat that you can then copy off of. Additionally, one last card from Modern Horizons 3 that doesn't necessarily use or generate energy that I like is Aether Revolt. The set namesake card is more of a payoff for using your energy to its fullest and providing you a way to pick off opponents with far more effectiveness than something like Dynavolt Tower could ever hope to do.

Universes Beyond: Fallout provided far less options compared to Modern Horizons 3. It's not just that there's less ones that I feel are of a worthy Commander calibur, but rather there's only ten new designs here that work in a Temur deck compared to Modern Horizons 3's 29. A big problem with these designs in my opinion is that most of them don't do anything to provide a meaningful amount of energy and instead only act as payoffs - and low powered ones at that. For example, Behemoth of Vault 0 requires it to die and for you to spend energy to blow up a permanent. Why not just run a Meteor Golem at that point and call it a day?

There are a few cards I like, though. Synth Eradicator and Plasma Caster are great options for providing you with more energy by simply attacking. Plasma Caster lets you pick off blockers too, allowing you to keep it going, while Synth Eradicator gives you the option to get more energy or "draw" a card. The flexibility there is nice, allowing you to get more of whatever you need to be prioritizing at that point in the game. Electrosiphon acts as both a great counterspell and energy resource, and HELIOS One provides a continual energy outlet in a low opportunity cost source: a land.

There's two other areas I want to focus on. The first is a rather simple one: proliferation. The proliferate mechanic works incredibly well with energy and the complete lack of it in this deck is somewhat baffling to me as a result. Cards like Evolution Sage and Flux Chamber are pretty much no-brainers for how much value they passively generate, and Inexorable Tide makes things get particularly out of hand fast.

Perhaps most important is the likes of Contagion Engine and Sword of Truth and Justice. The former of those two is especially incredible when paired alongside Saheeli in the command zone, as getting a potential repeatable board wipe plus double proliferate every turn is simply no joke. Also, just stick a copy of Karn's Bastion into the deck. Like HELIOS One, it's pretty much just free with little to no opportunity cost to run it.

The last thing I want to mention is Aetherworks Marvel. I mentioned it earlier, but I do think it's worth mentioning that you might want to try finding ways to lean into this card just a bit. Stick in a massive threat of a creature like a big eldrazi or generic artifact creature (maybe that Meteor Golem I mentioned earlier?). Not only will this provide you with a good payoff for the card, but it also gives you mighty threats to copy with Saheeli. Slip in a copy of Fabricate or Transit Mage to make sure you can dig it up and go to town!

I think this is one of the easier precons of recent years to upgrade. The vast majority of cards that I've recommended in this article are dirt cheap, thanks in no small part to how niche energy is as a mechanic in Commander. I love this deck's take on the mechanic, though, and while I think it could do with upgrading a few cards, it's a great deck to break out and have a good time with at your next Commander night. Just make sure you're not playing against any opponents who might have bad memories of Kaladesh Standard.

Paige Smith

Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/themaverickgirl.bsky.social

Twitch: twitch.tv/themaverickgirl

YouTube: TheMaverickGal