Many years ago my daughter and I went to a prerelease. I don't remember if I studied up on the set or even what the set was, but I distinctly remember how it went. I had been playing a lot of EDH and my threat assessment was so wildly off that it was nearly comical. I'd look across the table at a 5/5 and I'd think to myself "that's no big deal - it's just a 5/5". I had gotten so used to ridiculous boardstates and a doubled starting life total that I was very much out of my element.

We lost. We didn't just lose a little. We lost every single game either of us played and we didn't even have the sense to drop out early. I could be wrong, but I'm pretty sure we went a combined 0-8, with neither of us winning a single game. Ever since that day, I've had it in my head that I was good at EDH, but genuinely terrible at limited formats.

I have often picked up prerelease kits to take home both to open cards early and to support the LGS I play at. For some reason I decided that Tarkir: Dragonstorm was the time to dip my toes back into the shallow but perilous waters of Magic prereleases. There may not have really been much on the line, but the potential to have an epic disaster of a day of Magic was looming over me. I had a few more years of experience under my belt as a Magic player, but that experience was exclusively from playing Commander.

The Prerelease

I decided that I would pick Mardu. I used to have a Zurgo Helmsmasher deck back in the day, and I had a feeling I'd do best if I took a simple approach. There are few things simpler than playing creatures and smashing them together until someone emerges as the victor. I hadn't studied up too much on the Dragonstorm limited environment, and I fully expected to go 0-2 and drop to play some EDH.

As I opened my prerelease kit, I noted that I had four rares that weren't in my colors. Someone suggested that I didn't have to stay with Mardu and that I should build to what my card pool gave me. They were correct, but I decided to keep things simple and put all of my Green and Blue cards to the side. Analysis paralysis is fine when you're building an EDH deck over a weekend. We were all on the clock, and I wanted time to sleeve up my deck and maybe even play a test game or two.

The key cards I saw that informed my build were these guys.

I knew I wanted to have a low mana curve with lots of things to play early and attack with. When I saw not one, not two, but THREE copies of Shock Brigade, I decided that I was going to play as many cards with Mobilize as I could get my hands on. My Shock Brigade trio was joined by Dalkovan Packbeasts, Nightblade Brigade, and Dragonback Lancer.

Mardu Siegebreaker caught my eye because of its deathtouch and haste keywords. The ability to create a tapped and attacking copy of a card exiled with it seemed neat but not great with Mobilize, as I wouldn't get my Mobilize trigger. I did have at least one Underfoot Underdogs, so I could make Red Goblin creature tokens, but those keywords were really what caught my attention.

I left Sonic Shrieker out of my first version of the deck but added it in when I saw that I was reliably getting five or more lands out. I had been nervous about not being able to cast it, but I was also nervous about needing flying blockers and my lone Sinkhole Surveyor didn't feel like enough in a set with "Dragon" right there in the set's name. I also liked that Sonic Shrieker could deal 2 to any target and gain me 2 life. In a 20 life 1v1 format I figured that might matter.

I also had the good sense to load up on as much removal as I could find in my prerelease pool. Removal is incredibly important, and with a fast start and ways to kill your opponents' creatures, it's not hard for a game to end up being very one-sided.

Nervous, but with hope in my heart, I sleeved up my disturbingly small 40 card deck. I then shuffled up and played a couple of test games with one of my regular EDH tablemates. My deck slapped. It won two test games and Shock Brigade was a factor in both, hitting the table on turn two and letting me keep the pressure on throughout the game.

For three rounds in the actual prerelease the deck continued to do its thing, and do it well. Round one I was matched up with a brand new player who wasn't able to keep up with how fast my warriors deck played. Round two I matched up with the friend I played those test games against. He got another few visits from Shock Brigade, which at that point had appeared in every match I had played with the deck. Round three was closer, but I was still able to go 2-0, this time with help from Mardu Siegebreaker and Sonic Shrieker.

I didn't know if I was just lucky, or maybe I had learned a few things since my early bad experiences in limited play, but my final round brought me crashing back down to earth. A Temur deck piloted by a very experienced limited player was able to spend nearly all of his early game energy keeping me from establishing a board presence. Where in my earlier matches I was often winning with a life total over 15, this time I was on the other side of things.

As it turns out, a creature-based combat deck needs creatures to resolve and stick around to do well. I went 0-2 in that last round but managed to be gracious in defeat. One of the games was close and the second was a blowout, with my mulligans and draw giving me nothing to work with.

My tablemate even shared that he knew his deck was going to be miserable to play against, and had hoped he'd have someone he'd enjoy crushing in that final round. I sensed that he enjoyed my company but he didn't get that distinct pleasure of blowing away someone who was a cocky, over-confident jerk. I was just delighted I had won even a game that day!

While you might wonder what my list looked like, I pulled it apart without giving it a second thought. I knew that the very next day I'd be getting a collector booster box and a set of 5 precon decks in the mail from CoolStuffInc.com!

Converting Mardu Warriors to EDH

I had already built and played (online) a Neriv, Heart of the Storm deck, and after my success with Mardu Warriors in limited, I decided to rebuild the Mardu precon as a dedicated Warriors deck. Zurgo would be a natural choice as the commander, but which Zurgo would be the best choice?

Zurgo Stormrender might seem like an obvious choice, as this Orc Warrior has a lot going for it. I wanted to lean into the Mobilize ability and he has Mobilize 1. He'll also either give me card draw or let me ding everyone for 1 life, depending upon whether my Warrior tokens leave play in combat or by being sacrificed at the beginning of the end step.

Zurgo, Thunder's Decree is also a tempting option. They both cost 3 mana, which means I should be able to bounce back from removal and boardwipes. This Zurgo has Mobilize 2 and will let me keep my Warrior tokens as they can't be sacrificed when he's under my control.

I briefly considered Zurgo Helmsmasher, but I ran that deck years ago and OG Zurgo is built for a voltron gameplan, not for a Warriors deck. It's worth noting that the two new Zurgo cards would be great for a casual Najeela, the Blade-Blossom deck, but Najeela is never that casual. Even when you build her without combos, she can really slap a table around.

I may pivot today's deck to Najeela eventually, but for my Warriors deck I decided to go with Zurgo Stormrender. The fact that it has card draw right there in its text box made it an easy decision, but I definitely wasn't going to stay with the precon decklist.

Step one was easy. I took the precon apart and set up my 8 x 8 build pattern.

I set up an 8 card slot of ramp that was loaded with mana rocks. I set up an 8 card slot for card draw, including cards like Esper Sentinel, Mentor of the Meek, Slate of Ancestry, and instants like Deadly Dispute and Village Rites that can be used during combat to give me an extra draw when used on an attacking Warrior token. I then set up an 8 card slot of removal with old commander staples like Crackling Doom and Deadly Rollick. I also included Tragic Slip, as I can depend on seeing creatures die. Giving -13/-13 to target creature puts it on par with Swords to Plowshares and Path to Exile, both of which were auto-includes in this list.

Once I had three of my core "slots" set up, I set up a slot with a few wraths, some ways to make my creatures indestructible, and a copy of Inkshield because I've seen plenty of games turn on the casting of a fog to stop an alpha strike. When that fog can give you an army of flying 2/1 Inklings, that's even better.

From here, the "slot" system breaks down a bit. I loaded up the list with nearly every card I could find with Mobilize on it. I then turned my attention to other Warriors. Ogre Battledriver was in the precon and had to stay in the mix. Brighthearth Banneret was added in to cut the cost of my Warriors by 1 mana. I don't love "force-sacrifice" decks, but Merciless Executioner is an Orc Warrior and made sense to include for those pesky hexproof indestructible voltron commanders that occasionally pop up.

Blood-Chin Rager has the kind of attack trigger this deck will really like, giving my Warriors menace when it attacks. If I stack my triggers correctly, I can resolve my Mobilize triggers first to create my 1/1 Warrior tokens, and then I can resolve my  Rager trigger to make them all unblockable except by two or more creatures.

Evasion is really important in any combat oriented deck, so Starry-Eyed Skyrider should also be worth a slot. When it attacks it can give another one of my creatures flying, but more importantly it will give attacking tokens I control flying even if it doesn't attack. I don't know if I'll ever have big armies of Warrior tokens, but if I do, I'll be glad to have them fly. I'm also running Reconnaissance as a way to pull back key attackers before damage if they'd die, and after damage if they're not tokens and I want them up as blockers.

This last Warrior is so good, she's a game changer. Winona, Joiner of Forces will have me look at the top six cards of my library whenever a non-Human creature I control attacks. I'll then be able to put a Human creature card from among them onto the battlefield tapped and attacking. That creature will gain indestructible until end of turn. I've only got seven humans in today's list, but there's still a decent chance I'll get some hits, even if this is a far cry from a tuned Winota list.

How We Win

That might seem like a dumb question. We win by going to combat. We win by beating our tablemates to death with Warriors. We win the old fashioned way, in the trenches.

Going to the red zone might seem obvious, but making 1/1 Warrior tokens isn't the kind of strategy that scales up from limited to multiplayer EDH that easily. These guys are going to need some help if they're going to get the job done.

Anointed Procession is in the list and will double the number of creature tokens I create. I'm also running a few anthem effects to help out. All-Out Assault gives +1/+1 and deathtouch, and if played in my main phase I'll get an extra combat phase. Inspiring Leader is a background enchantment that gives my commander an ability that pumps creature tokens by +2/+2. Raiders' Spoils gives my creatures +1/+0 and when a Warrior I control deals combat damage to a player I may pay 1 life and draw a card. Lovisa Coldeyes, a Human that gives Warriors +2/+2 and haste, rounds out my anthems.

There are few better ways to wrap up a game than to wipe the board and have your army survive. With Valkyrie's Call in play, my nontoken creatures will come back from the graveyard with a +1/+1 counter, the ability to fly, and the Angel subtype for good measure.

Windcrag Siege may not be able to go into my Wulfgar deck, but in this list it will give me an extra attack trigger for all of my creatures with Mobilize. If I've got Cathars' Crusade in play, that's where things will really go crazy. Whenever a creature I control enters, I'll put a +1/+1 counter on each creature I control. I'll stack my Mobilize triggers to try to take as much advantage of this as possible, but I fully expect this card to win me some games if I play the deck long enough.

Decks that want to attack are likely to have a lot of tapped creatures at the beginning of the end step. Throne of the God-Pharaoh will push out damage to each of my tablemates equal to the number of tapped creatures I control. When combined with an Impact Tremors pushing out damage for each creature that enters the battlefield under my control, this deck should be able to push out a decent amount of damage each turn.

While cards like Shared Animosity only pump my creatures when they attack, Jazal Goldmane has an activated ability I can trigger during combat to give my creatures +X/+X where X is the number of attacking creatures. With a wide enough board, that could amount to a lot of damage even if I can only pay for it once.

I've got a few other tricks up my sleeve, like Akroma's Will, which can turn a slightly scary army into a lethal alpha strike if my commander is in play and I'm able to use both modes. That will give my creatures flying, vigilance, double-strike, lifelink, indestructible, and protection from each color until end of turn. I'd expect to knock at least one person out and gain upwards of 20 life if this resolves and I'm able to swing with a decent number of creatures.

Early Results

I was able to get this list into a game and while I was the first knocked out, it was because I had knocked everyone else down in life so quickly. I had Throne out and was making five Warrior tokens each turn. The player I was swinging my tokens at refused to block and kill them as he didn't want me drawing cards, so everyone was losing buckets of life every turn. When I played out an Impact Tremors they decided it was time for me to stop my nonsense.

Getting knocked out first isn't fun but this is the kind of deck that wants to play very aggressively, and that can sometimes result in tables removing you first if they can. I expect this deck will continue to seem aggressive and scary, but might not win an outsized percentage of the games I play it in.

I got this list, or a version close to it, into a second game and I was again struck by how fast and aggressively it got the job done. I was able to take the win and the all-star in that game was Windcrag Siege (on Mardu). The finisher was Mirkwood Bats, a card that is so good in this deck I think it's malpractice not to include it unless you're genuinely aiming at low powered play.

It's possible I played this at a deck that wasn't high enough power for it, but when you're playing new lists it's easy to be unsure on exactly where a deck falls in the power scale. It might be bracket 4, but before I had played it I think I would have considered it a high 3.

Mardu Mobilization

It turns out you can put a lot of pressure on a table with just one other creature with Mobilize and enough support cards in play. Getting those support cards out and making them stick is another matter, and I'm very confident this list will eventually need ways to protect Zurgo, as he's a huge part of how the deck functions.

In a theoretical scenario where you're making two Warriors and adding another two with Windcrag Siege, if you had Throne of the God-Pharaoh, Impact Tremors and Mirkwood Bats all in play, you'd have the table on a two turn clock. It breaks down to four damage from Impact Tremors and four from Mirkwood bats when the tokens enter, four from Throne because they'll be tapped at the end of the turn, four from Bats and a final four from Zurgo when they get sacrificed, and 4 x 5 = 20 less life for your tablemates.

Insane, right? This might not be the mid-powered aggro Warriors deck I thought it was, and I have seen some talk of how Zurgo Stormrender might play in cEDH. That wasn't my intention, and this deck isn't a cEDH list, but it's always eye-opening when you learn that your fun new commander has such a high ceiling.

Zurgo Stormrender EDH | Commander | Stephen Johnson

• Commander (1)
• 1 Zurgo Stormrender

• Creatures (19)
• 1 Blood-Chin Rager
• 1 Bone-Cairn Butcher
• 1 Brighthearth Banneret
• 1 Dalkovan Packbeasts
• 1 Dragonback Lancer
• 1 Esper Sentinel
• 1 Jazal Goldmane
• 1 Lovisa Coldeyes
• 1 Mentor of the Meek
• 1 Merciless Executioner
• 1 Mindblade Render
• 1 Mirkwood Bats
• 1 Nightblade Brigade
• 1 Ogre Battledriver
• 1 Shock Brigade
• 1 Stadium Headliner
• 1 Starry-Eyed Skyrider
• 1 Winota, Joiner of Forces
• 1 Zulaport Cutthroat

• Instants (15)
• 1 Akroma's Will
• 1 Bitter Triumph
• 1 Boros Charm
• 1 Chaos Warp
• 1 Crackling Doom
• 1 Deadly Dispute
• 1 Deadly Rollick
• 1 Duty Beyond Death
• 1 Enlightened Tutor
• 1 Flawless Maneuver
• 1 Inkshield
• 1 Path to Exile
• 1 Swords to Plowshares
• 1 Tragic Slip
• 1 Village Rites

• Sorceries (3)
• 1 Damn
• 1 Kindred Dominance
• 1 Ruinous Ultimatum

• Enchantments (11)
• 1 All-Out Assault
• 1 Anointed Procession
• 1 Cathars' Crusade
• 1 Impact Tremors
• 1 Inspiring Leader
• 1 Raiders' Spoils
• 1 Reconnaissance
• 1 Shared Animosity
• 1 Tocasia's Welcome
• 1 Valkyrie's Call
• 1 Windcrag Siege

• Artifacts (14)
• 1 Arcane Signet
• 1 Boros Signet
• 1 Eldrazi Monument
• 1 Idol of Oblivion
• 1 Infantry Shield
• 1 Orzhov Signet
• 1 Rakdos Signet
• 1 Skullclamp
• 1 Slate of Ancestry
• 1 Sol Ring
• 1 Talisman of Conviction
• 1 Talisman of Hierarchy
• 1 Talisman of Indulgence
• 1 Throne of the God-Pharaoh

• Lands (37)
• 7 Mountain
• 7 Plains
• 7 Swamp
• 1 Blood Crypt
• 1 Bojuka Bog
• 1 Clifftop Retreat
• 1 Command Tower
• 1 Dalkovan Encampment
• 1 Dragonskull Summit
• 1 Exotic Orchard
• 1 Godless Shrine
• 1 Haunted Ridge
• 1 Isolated Chapel
• 1 Nomad Outpost
• 1 Path of Ancestry
• 1 Reflecting Pool
• 1 Sacred Foundry
• 1 Shattered Sanctum
• 1 Sundown Pass

Buy This Deck Export text

If you want to tune this up, there are definitely cards you can throw in before you go to extremes and pivot to a better commander. I think the nastiest upgrade would be to throw in Grave Pact, Dictate of Erebos, Butcher of Malakir, Black Market, and Mahadi, Emporium Master into the list. When you know you'll be losing creatures every turn, a single Grave Pact effect forcing your tablemates to sacrifice creatures can be backbreaking. It's not my style, but it's definitely where you'd want to go if you were looking to play at higher power tables.

To move this list down in power, you'll want to drop out Mirkwood Bats, Winota, Enlightened Tutor, and probably Cathars' Crusade as well. It's already playing a fair game and trying to win games on the back of 1/1 Warrior tokens, so I don't think there's a ton of room to make it much fairer than it already is. Removing ways to amplify the damage / life loss from your Warriors entering and being sacrificed will effectively lower this deck in power. If you'll be playing against jank, you'll probably want to switch to Zurgo, Thunder's Decree and just focus on loading the deck up with warriors.

Final Thoughts

I don't know that this will be able to hang at high powered tables, but I'd definitely give it a try. The trouble is that as the density of removal increases in higher powered games, the more you'll find that just those 1/1 Warriors really do need help to get the job done. If you lose your commander enough times, that will also make it very hard to put a dent in anyone's life total. I did find that against experienced players the prospect of having you draw cards is enough to make them simply let those 1/1 Warrior tokens through blockers.

Instant speed combat tricks in red might make for an interesting and fun wrinkle to add to this list. There are plenty of three mana instants that give your creatures +2/+0 or some variation of that, and might give your tablemates pause in the future when they consider letting your attackers through just to deny you card draw. Ambitious Assault, Burn Bright, Dynacharge, and Pack Attack are good starting points if you want to move this list in that direction.

These decks should be looked at as starting points. I tweaked my paper list a bunch when I played it online, and I will tweak my stack of cardboard some more thanks to the stuff I learned from those games. Decks for me are always evolving because brewing is a huge part of the fun.

While I got bogged down and my story devolved into a bit of a deck tech I wanted to take a moment to share my biggest takeaway from this experience. I thought I was terrible at prereleases. It's possible I'm still not very good at limited play, but I really surprised myself when I went back and gave it another try. Variance is very real in EDH, and it stands to reason that it's just as real everywhere else.

If you had a bad time doing draft, sealed, or any other format, it might be worth circling back and trying it again sometime. I'm still not planning on making prereleases a regular thing, but I'm glad I did the Tarkir: Dragonstorm prerelease and I'm really glad I turned my warriors prerelease kit into the Zurgo Stormrender deck I have now.

That's all I've got for today. I hope I gave you something to think about for your own Mardu Warriors brew. Thanks for reading and I'll see you next week!