Eldrazi Unbound - Deck List, Card Predictions, And Possible Reprints

The announcement of Commander Masters and its four precons came as a very welcome surprise. Amongst these four precons, we’re getting a lot of archetypes and strategies we’ve never seen in preconstructed decks – An Abzan enchantress deck, a Jeskai super friends deck, a five-color Slivers deck, and finally a colorless Eldrazi deck. Today we’ll be taking a look at the Eldrazi deck, Eldrazi Unbound

Eldrazi Unbound is set to release on Augast 4th, 2023. It will contain 10 brand-new cards, including the commander, and is the first colorless commander precon to date.

Considering the release date is so far out, that’s about all we know for sure right now. However, we can make some educated guesses as to how it’ll work, what we may see in the deck, and what cards may be reprinted. Aside from strict speculation, we can look to past releases to help surmise some things. Let’s jump right in,

Deck Strategy

There are a couple of different ways that you can build Eldrazi – Big Mana, Exile, Tokens, and Sacrifice, to name a few. But unless the new commander enables one of these other strategies only one is reasonable for a completely colorless build and that’s Big Mana. What does this mean? Well, it’s usually built around casting expensive spells for a reduced price. I think this is a pretty safe bet that the deck will go in this direction. So, assuming it does, what might the deck look like?

Cost Reduction And Ramp

There are a ton of high-mana, high-power Eldrazi that you could look to power out. Before we get to those though, let’s look at some of the ways the precon might cheapen its spells. Eldrazi or other cards that can provide mana or make other creatures cost less would obviously make a lot of sense. Here are a few examples of things I expect to see:

Colorless Big Mana decks will also take advantage of the fact that all their spells can be cast with mana from things like Sol Ring, Thran Dynamo, and Hedron Archive. Mana rocks are going to be your friend in this deck. Aside from the few I just mentioned, almost any rock that produces colorless mana and has an upside would be good here.

Related: Best Green Ramp CardsFor EDH

On top of that, there are plenty of lands that put Eldrazi way ahead of curve as well. I expect that the precon will be quite powerful and I hope to see these four lands in the deck to power out creatures.

I don’t think it’s likely that these are included but the Urza lands would add quite a lot of power to the deck as well.

Furthermore, there are a ton of utility lands that tap for colorless/generic mana and have other abilities. These abilities are usually balanced by the downside that the lands don’t produce colored mana. However, that won’t a downside at all here. So, many of the lands in the precon will likely have some tech on them.

Large Creatures

So, you’ve got the mana, now what are you going to cast with it? Big Eldrazi, of course. Many of which will probably have some excellent benefits aside from their power and toughness. These are some cheap (money-wise) commonly played Eldrazi that would be logical to include.

I’m sure there will be a few high-dollar Eldrazi reprints as well, but we’ll go over my prediction for that later. For now, let’s move on.

Card Draw

There are a few things that every commander deck needs. They are card draw, ramp & removal. We’ve already been over some options for ramp/cost reduction but we still need the other two. And getting them in colorless means it’ll be through less common means. After all, even common colorless card draw like Skullclamp won’t be great here. Here are some options that I hope make their way into Eldrazi Unbound.

Infiltration Lens

You’re going to have some creatures that demand to be blocked. Equipping them with this is a great way to generate some card advantage with your attacks. It’s cheap to cast and equip and makes chump blocking a pain for your opponents.

Tome of Legends

Overall, you’ll be paying three mana to draw a card with this but in a colorless deck that’s acceptable. You’ll always get the first complementary counter and casting your commander and/or attacking isn’t too hard most of the time.

Idol of Oblivion

Considering this makes an Eldrazi token, I think that’ll be all the justification WOTC needs to include this in the deck. That said, how good it actually is in the deck depends on how many cards create tokens. I think this will be an all-star if they include a decent bit. If they don’t (and I have a feeling they won’t) it’s not going to be at its best.

Mind’s Eye

This is a little higher up on the curve but with other mana-rocks, it can still come down pretty early. You won’t always be able to pay the one mana to draw but in my experience, a lot of times you will. This helps to make sure no extra mana goes to waste and sorta lets you cash in on the draw spells of other players.

Lastly, I expect to see some card advantage stapled onto the lands in the mana base as well. Here are some examples:

Removal And Boardwipes

You have to have a way to answer opposing threats. Especially when a lot of your spells are costly, getting to the late game is very important. Here are some options that I think are likely to find their way into the deck.

These listed above are all very common for precons, so they’ll likely show up. Now let’s look at some of the less common stuff that I’m hoping to see.

Titan’s Presence

In my opinion, this is the best single-target removal spell the deck can run. If there’s one thing you can count on I’m Eldrazi, it’s that your creatures will be the biggest. If you’ve got a card in hand larger than what you want to remove, you get a three-mana exile effect at instant speed.

Spatial Contortion

Spatial Contortion has a few things I like about it. First, it’s cheap to cast. Second, it’s an instant. I’m probably sounding like a broken record at this point but if all the removal spells are expensive and/or have timing restrictions, the deck will be clunky.

Considering I think WOTC is going to bring the heat on these Commander Masters precons, I think Spatial Contortion is going to be a good include. There are a couple of things to note here – It can’t take down huge threats outright but if you hit them after combat, it can do the job. Next, it can be used as a pump spell on your unblocked Eldrazi and get a little boost.

Duplicant

This is a very interesting card for the deck. It’s a six-mana exile effect but it’s also a creature. This means that you’ll likely be able to reduce the casting cost at times. Furthermore, it also has power and toughness equal to the creature it exiled. This means that it can double as a threat as well and makes the value you get for six mana a lot better.

Scour from Existence

This is expensive but it’s clean – It can remove creatures, artifacts, enchantments, and even lands. All at instant speed. I’d rather have an expensive answer than no answer at all.

All Is Dust

I would be very surprised if this wasn’t in the deck. It’s a very powerful card and is often a one-sided board wipe. Furthermore, since it has the Eldrazi sub-type you’ll be able to reduce the cost pretty easily. At around $7, this will probably be one of the reprints that contribute some value to the deck.

Ratchet Bomb

Given that Eldrazi Unbound will likely have the highest average CMC of the Commander Masters precons, this will be quite good. It can come down early and build toward wiping the board of all the smaller things, likely leaving more of your board than anyone else’s. Once again, this offers the deck an answer to artifacts, enchantments, and planewalkers as well.

Possible Reprints

If you look at recent commander precons, you’ll find they usually have a reprint value of around $95, give or take. That said, I think the Commander Masters precons will be a little higher. For the sake of conversation let’s say around $100. Although, I think once everything is revealed, it’ll be slightly north of that. We know that 10 of the cards in the deck will be brand-new. Aside from these 10, some number of the cards will probably be new cards from Commander Masters itself.

I think it’s safe to assume that somewhere around 60 cards in the deck will be reprints – Keeping in mind that any new cards from the main set will also technically be a reprint. So, we’ve around 60 cards to make up around $100 worth of value. Everything I’ve mentioned so far would be somewhere in the neighborhood of $45. Here are my guesses for what the pricier reprints will be.

Cards You Should Pick Up Before Eldrazi Unbound Releases

If you’re going to pick up Eldrazi Unbound when it releases and are going to want to make it more powerful, you’ll want to add some of the top-tier Eldrazi cards. Each one of these are pretty expensive and may go up even more once the precon is out. Furthermore, given their price, they’re likely not to be reprinted in the deck itself.

Official Deck List

Whenever the official list is out, you’ll find it here.

End Step

Commander Masters has everyone talking and Eldrazi Unbound might be the most hyped precon from the set. We’ve still probably got quite awhile (assuming there’s no leaks) before we have any official spoilers. Nevertheless, I enjoy making some educated guesses based on precons past as to what we may see in the deck. Hopefully, you’ve enjoyed reading it. Until next time, get out there and play some Commander.