Streets of New Capenna is officially here, and with a new set comes new Commander decks. These decks come with new cards and exciting gameplay right out of the box, but that doesn’t mean they can’t be improved. It’s common for players to upgrade their precons, and today we’re covering the one I find most interesting: Obscura Operation.
Obscura Operation is a combat-focused deck that tries to deal as much unblockable damage as possible. While this alone will appeal to many players, there’s a lot more going on in the deck and with the face commander. Kamiz, Obscura Oculus lets you loot and put +1/+1 counters on creatures, as well as give them evasion. When looking at how to upgrade Obscura Operation, it’s important to look at all of the themes and synergies already present. For about $100, I’ve swapped out over 20 cards to power up this deck for your next game night.
Upgrading one of today’s precons is a lot harder than just swapping out the “bad cards” and putting in staples. They’re generally well-built, and you can take the deck in whatever direction excites you most. So without further ado, let me take you my process and show you the new list for Obscura Operation.
Table of Contents:
- How Did I Upgrade Obscura Operation
- Deck List for Obscura Operation Upgrade
- New Strategy for Obscura Operation
- End Step
How Did I Upgrade Obscura Operation?
My first step in building any EDH deck is taking a look at the Commander. You’re going to have access to this card throughout the game, so I like to build around it to some extent, at least. Kamiz, Obscura Oculus definitely gives us lots of directions to choose from. She draws cards, discards cards, and buffs up your creatures. However, she can only affect two creatures each turn, so you really want to play the right ones.
Out of all these options, I’m most excited by making creatures unblockable, especially if they give you effects for hitting players. However, I’m also interested in using connive. Connive rewards you for discarding nonland cards, but normally that means you’re losing a resource. If you can utilize your graveyard, though, you can get all upside.
RELATED: MTG Connive: How It Works and What It Does
Looking at the original deck list, we can see a variety of themes in play. The most prevelant is definitely unblockable damage. There are multiple ways to make it so your opponents can’t block, and it has some creatures that give you value when they connect with a player. Some of the creatures, however, just care about having unblocked attackers, like Inkfathom Witch.
There are lots of subthemes present, as well. Some cards want you to draw, others care about +1/+1 counters, others still depend on your graveyard. A few cards also make creature tokens or work better with a wide
Upgrade Goals
My main goal for this upgrade was to focus Obscura Operation towards two strategies. First, I wanted more creatures with hit effects. Rather than just care about getting some cheap creatures through, I want to get value and damage.
Second, I want to add a more robust reanimation package. The deck already has some cards around this, but we can really leverage connive to fuel our graveyard. Plus, we can cheat in great finishers with powerful hit effects.
Lastly, I wanted to improve the foundation of the deck. When it came to the funadmentals of EDH decks (card draw and removal, especially), I found the deck somewhat lacking. It wasn’t terrible, but I felt that there were better options out there.
Deck List for Obscura Operation Upgrade
Now that we know what direction we want to take the deck, let’s take a look at where we’ve landed. Here’s the full list for my Obscura Operation Upgrade, as well as a list of the cards I’ve added and replaced.
These changes will cost you about $100, but feel free to make your own swaps based on your budget.
Upgrade List
New List
Additions
| Creatures (9) 1 Deranged Assistant 1 Dreamstealer 1 Ghastlord of Fugue 1 Millikin 1 Mindleech Mass 1 Necropolis Regent 1 Priest of Fell Rites 1 Sheoldred, Whispering One 1 Syr Konrad, the Grim Sorceries (5) 1 Living Death 1 Reanimate 1 Sevinne’s Reclamation 1 Unburial Rites 1 Victimize Instants (4) 1 Counterspell 1 Despark 1 Dovin’s Veto 1 Void Rend Artifacts (1) 1 Lightning Greaves Enchantments (2) 1 Reconnaissance Mission 1 Teferi’s Ageless Insight | Lands (4) 1 Caves of Koilos 1 Clearwater Pathway // Murkwater Pathway 1 Shipwreck Marsh 1 Tainted Isle |
These additions mostly fall into one of three categories. First, I’ve added more threatening creatures. If we’re going to try to reanimate big baddies and make them unblockable, they need to be worth all that effort.
Second, I’ve added a more robust reanimation package. There are seven new cards that bring creatures back from the graveyard, as well as more cards that take advantage of the yard. Cards like Syr Konrad, the Grim and Sevinne’s Reclamation especially come to mind.
Lastly, I’ve improved the base of the deck. Hopefully, these changes will help make everything run smoother. I prefer Counterspell over An Offer You Can’t Refuse, Living Death over Nightmare Unmaking, and so on.
Cuts
| Creatures (9) (9) 1 Alela, Artful Provocateur 1 Archon of Coronation 1 Custodi Lich 1 Daring Saboteur 1 Dragonlord Ojutai 1 Identity Thief 1 Inkfathom Witch 1 Nadir Kraken 1 Tivit, Seller of Secrets Sorceries (4) (4) 1 Dusk // Dawn 1 Nightmare Unmaking 1 Profane Command 1 Stolen Identity Instants (3) (3) 1 An Offer You Can’t Refuse 1 Commit // Memory 1 Obscura Confluence Artifacts (2) (2) 1 Commander’s Sphere 1 Quietus Spike Enchantments (1) (1) 1 In Too Deep | Lands (6) (6) 1 Ash Barrens 1 Creeping Tar Pit 1 Port Town 1 Thriving Heath 1 Thriving Isle 1 Thriving Moor |
I’ve cut a lot of cards that didn’t seem to pull their weight, or were better fits in other decks. Dusk//Dawn, for example, is a great card, but we don’t have many small creatures worth getting back.
You may have also noticed that we’ve lowered the deck’s land count. While 38 is fine, I think this deck draws enough cards that it should have less mana troubles than the average deck. This deck also doesn’t rely on big mana: it wants to cheat big creatures into play, not cast them. If you miss a land drop or two in the late game, it shouldn’t be a big problem.
RELATED: Streets of New Capenna Precons: Everything You Need To Know
New Strategy for Obscura Operation
The overall strategy for this deck is to win by making your creatures unblockable. This list runs lots of creatures that reward you for dealing combat damage to players, so they’ll serve as your main value engine (and damage source).
You’ll also try to use discard or mill effects to get finishers into your graveyard. Once you’ve got everything lined up, you can cheat them out with reanimation spells. Most of these big creatures also have abilities that trigger when they hit players, so connecting just once can give you a lasting advantage.
Early Game
At the beginning of the game, your plan is pretty similar to most EDH decks: gather resources and start building your value engine. In this case, you’ll be looking to ramp, fill up your graveyard, and get out some early creatures.
Ideally, your opening hand will have all of your colors, as well as at least one piece of ramp. Deranged Assistant and Millikin are excellent for fueling your graveyard, but many of your other ramp cards also fix your colors. Most of these cards are also two-drops, so you can play Kamiz on turn three if you have no other optiosn. Admittedly, though, it’s best to wait. Kamiz works much better when you already have creatures out, so you don’t need to get her out right away.
Plenty of your cheap creatures can also give you a head-start on your gameplan. Some cards, like Looter il-Kor, let you filter through your deck and fill your graveyard early. Other cards, like Dreamstealer, have nasty saboteur effects that can either spring you forward or set your foes back. Either way, you should look to get your plan going as soon as possible.
Mid Game
Once you’ve got some extra cards, some extra mana, and some potent creatures, it’s time to cast Kamiz, Obscura Oculus. Kamiz really ties the whole deck together, so it’s important to protect her. You’re really relying on her to fill up your graveyard with what you want, as well as sneak creatures past your opponents’ defenses.
You should also look to leverage your graveyard as soon as you can. Even if you’re not cheating Mindleech Mass into play immediately, lots of your cards interact with the graveyard. You should be mindful of what cards you’re discarding and how you can get the most out of them.
If you’re a political player, this deck gives you lots of chances to make deals. Since your opponents can’t block your creatures, you might be able to get favors out of them in exchange for sending your creatures elsewhere. This is especially true if you have cards like Ghastlord of Fugue out. Even just the threat of six or more damage might bring some players to the bargaining table.
Lastly, there are a few cards in this deck that steal from your opponents. Thief of Sanity and Fallen Shinobi, for example, let you play cards from the top of your opponents’ decks. These creatures give you tons of flexibility, so think about what you need the most when you attack with them. Want a removal spell? Hit the control player. Need some solid creatures? Go after the player running dinosaur tribal. You never know what you’re going to get, but you can try to make some educated guesses.
Late Game
At some point, you’re going to need to close out the game. Thankfully, swinging with big creatures that your opponents can’t block is a great way to do that. Giving something double strike is also pretty scary, especially if it has flying or trample already.
Once you’ve filtered through a good chunk of your deck, you’ll likely see one of your finishers. Whether it’s Silent-Blade Oni or Necropolis Regent, you have access to big creatures with big effects on the game. The deck’s suite of reanimation spells also make these threats resilient. Your opponents can only have so many answers before one of your threats stick around.
If you need that extra bit of reach, you might want to lean into your graveyard even more. Syr Konrad, the Grim has ridiculous finishing power, and even just chipping in for a few points of damage can help you close out games. Living Death can also turn a game on its head. As long as you have the best graveyard (or at least close to it), you can use this to overwhelm your foes.
End Step
By now, you should be armed with the cards and strategy to take this precon to the next level. Obscura Operation is a really interesting take on a combat deck, and I hope you’ve enjoyed this upgrade as much as I have.
