Upgrading Commander Precon - Eldrazi Incursion (Ulalek, Fused Atrocity)

Modern Horizons 3 gave us something no one expected: 4 new… Commander precons? That's right! We were gifted 4 new precons and incredible cards for Commander, isn't that great? At least for anyone who plays this beloved format…

These new commanders also had incredibly fascinating themes: land interaction, Lhurgoyfs, energy counters, and, the heaven for some and hell for others: another precon that focuses on Eldrazi! This creature type is quite polarizing, but one thing is true: this precon will, undoubtedly, heavily impact Commander as a whole.

Today, we'll show you how to upgrade Eldrazi Incursion, with Ulalek, Fused Atrocity leading the Eldrazi swarm!

This deck does use 5 colors, but it also uses many Devoid creatures, which are considered colorless despite having a color identity. This will be useful for many effects in this strategy, like Forsaken Monument and Glaring Fleshraker, for instance. Think of this deck as an Eldrazi Kindred deck that plans to grow more and more as the match goes on.

In terms of commander, you can use either Ulalek, Fused Atrocity or Azlask, the Swelling Scourge. This time, we'll use Ulalek because we want to make the most out of its effect, which copies spells, and our Eldrazi's triggered abilities, and because Azlask focuses more on Eldrazi Scion and Eldrazi Spawn tokens (despite costing less). We'll show you a list entirely centered around Azlask, its experience counters, and Eldrazi tokens at the end of this article, so don't worry.

The Eldrazi have always heavily impacted the board, and, with Ulalek, they're even more powerful. We'll work with a few famous Titans from this format to defeat our opponents and show them the true force of the Eldrazi Incursion. Without further ado, let's dive right in!

Cards We Removed

We changed almost a quarter of the deck, which is quite a lot. The original list included a few Eldrazi just to fill empty spots and no other purpose, so we removed them to add more powerful cards. Some cards that seemed great could be even better, so we also removed them, like Idol of Oblivion, Eldrazi Conscription, and Eldrazi Monument. Then, we also cleared some space by removing Ugin's Insight, Ancient Stirrings and a few other less impactful cards.

We brought our lands down from 38 to 36, and removed several Eldrazi which, in practice, don't work all that well. After all, if we're going to spend a lot of mana just to cast an Eldrazi, we need to make it count. Cards like Ulamog's Nullifier, Ulamog's Crusher, Angelic Aberration and others needed to come out so we could add our new Titans. We also removed our alternative commander, Azlask, the Swelling Scourge, as we'll focus more on big creatures, rather than using Spawn and Scion tokens for combat.

Smaller Eldrazi and Resources

Basically, Ulalek creates Eldrazi "clones" for 2 extra colorless mana, and also copies all other activated and triggered abilities you control. Many Eldrazi abilities trigger when you cast them, so Ulalek's ability makes a lot of sense. However, we also added Skittering Cicada to access Flash, and thus use Ulalek's ability to copy creatures and other abilities multiple times.

And, of course, to cast these insanely expensive creatures more easily, we'll have help. After all, besides the mana we'll need to cast them, we'll need to set some mana apart for Ulalek's ability.

So, we added Urza's Incubator and It That Heralds the End to discount the cost of our cards. Having It That Heralds the End early on is great, particularly if you clone it with Ulalek. Darksteel Monolith was essential to make this process easier, and it also works really well with the aforementioned Skittering Cicada.

As for ramp, we added a few new cards. Thran Dynamo is the only mana rock we added, but we also brought some unconventional ramp to our game strategy. For instance, with cards like Kozilek's Unsealing, we'll create several Eldrazi Scion tokens, and also draw cards by playing creature spells that cost 7 or more.

Please note that Ulalek can also copy this triggered ability. Next, Path of Annihilation makes our Scion and Eldrazi Spawn tokens even more useful, as it basically lets us create 2 mana from each one because of its effects: one lets us sacrifice a token to create mana, and the other gives our tokens themselves the ability to create mana. As all our Eldrazi will get this ability, even our own commander will be a mana dork. Path of Annihilation also creates 2 Eldrazi Spawn tokens when it enters the battlefield, so it will give us at least 2 or 4 mana straight away.

The last ramp we added was Sowing Mycospawn. When we cast it, we'll be able to get important lands from our deck, like Eldrazi Temple, Shrine of the Forsaken Gods, or any other land that fixes our mana curve. If you use it with its Kicker, you can remove problematic enemy lands: Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx, Cabal Coffers, Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth, Field of the Dead, for instance, as well as many other popular lands in Commander that are quite useful and give your opponent a big advantage. With Ulalek, for 6 total mana, you can get not one but two lands, and put two Sowing Mycospawn in play.

Kozilek's Command can be considered a sort of ramp, if you pick its first mode, which creates Eldrazi Spawn tokens. As this is a Kindred instant, you can copy it with Ulalek, and create even more tokens, or just use one of its other modes, which are quite useful. One lets you fix your top deck and draw a card, the other lets you exile a problematic creature, and the last one lets you exile cards from graveyards. This last mode in particular can target multiple graveyards, so it is great to remove resources from multiple enemy graveyards all at once.

Kozilek's Command's versatility only improves as the match goes on, as does this deck.

To make sure we won't be too dependent on Ulalek to constantly trigger abilities extra times, we also added a few great alternatives. Roaming Throne is clearly a great card in any Kindred deck, and this is also true for this build. Furthermore, what makes the Eldrazi Kindred different is that they give us access to Echoes of Eternity. This enchantment is almost a second commander in this deck, and is often quite destructive, particularly if you copy it with Ulalek. After all, it isn't a legendary enchantment, and has the Eldrazi subtype. These two cards can easily change the course of the game, specially as this strategy is better in long games, when you can hoard resources and set up devastating plays.

And, of course, we couldn't forget our answers. The original list had great removals, like Eldritch Immunity, Warping Wail, and Eldrazi Confluence, but we needed more.

Hope-Ender Coatl easily catches opponents that spent all their mana off-guard, and you can play it just to use Ulalek's ability more times because of its flash. Not of This World protects our Titans well, and, as it is also a Kindred instant, triggers many abilities we already listed in this article.

Finally, we have Ugin's Binding. Even though it's not a Kindred card, it is quite impactful on the board, as it is basically a free Cyclonic Rift if it's in your graveyard. This can be a way to resolve the board, considering that, after you put several gigantic Eldrazi in play, clearing anything in your path to deal damage could be a lethal play depending on the game state.

And, last but not least, we have Rise of the Eldrazi. This fusion of the first three Eldrazin Titans and their effects is quite a card, and makes many absurd plays possible. For instance, if you play it for 0 with the aforementioned Darksteel Monolith, and then play any Kindred or Eldrazi instant with flash, Ulalek can copy it. This can give you two or more extra turns, which could lead you to a great end game if you have a strong board.

Big Eldrazi

And, of course, an Eldrazi deck without the most iconic Titans would be heresy. Ulamog, the Defiler, Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger, and Kozilek, the Great Distortion will annihilate our opponents. Even though you can't copy them, there is something you can do with them that will be quite satisfying. I'm talking about copying Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger's ability to exile 4 permanents at once, and then make two opponents exile half their deck at once with Ulamog, the Defiler. It will be quite unpleasant for your opponents, but quite satisfying for you.

Kozilek, the Great Distortion will put us back in the game by drawing us cards, and let us control the board a bit better because of its counter ability. Undoubtedly, it honors the Titan name, and will shake up the battlefield.

And that's not all: we have many other gigantic Eldrazi that will impact the game just as much as our Titans. Zhulodok, Void Gorger, for instance, will give two cascade to all our colorless spells that cost 7 or more. With Ulalek and this card, you'll have many cascade triggers, as they'll go on your stack, and you'll be able to copy them with Ulalek.

It That Betrays will let us steal many permanents, considering how many creatures with Annihilator we have in this build. And, speaking of Annihilator, Flayer of Loyalties is also in this list, and can steal two creatures with Ulalek's ability.

Finally, we added Conduit of Ruin to get these Titans from our deck and discount the cost of the first creature spell we play each turn by 2 mana. Nulldrifter will draw us cards, and Void Winnower will be a nightmare for our opponents. Preventing them from casting or blocking with creatures with even mana values will be quite disruptive throughout the game. It will be dreadful for any player with lots of tokens, which ordinarily would be great for blocking.

This is how our upgraded list turned out! Clearly, these upgrades are a bit pricier than usual, but Eldrazi decks nearly always cost more because they play stronger cards. Ulalek enables many powerful plays and, the longer the game is, the better it will be for anyone piloting Eldrazi Incursion!

Alternative List with Azlask, the Swelling

As we said before, we also built a list for Azlask, the Swelling Scourge and its army of Eldrazi Scions and Eldrazi Spawns. This deck focuses on creating as many tokens as possible to get more experience counters and kill your opponents. We added some creatures in this deck that interact with these experience counters and are quite famous, like Ezuri, Claw of Progress, Meren of Clan Nel Toth, and Minthara, Merciless Soul. They'll make the most out of these counters for us.

An Eldrazi deck is always an investment, but you'll always get your money's worth in the end. They're very popular because they are "the strongest beings in the multiverse", as mentioned by many characters. Their entire design and alien aesthetic indeed stands out a lot, and honors the terror they bring to different planes and tables across the world.

Did you like this list? Do you prefer Azlask? How about Zhulodok? Tell us your thoughts in our comment section below!

Thank you for reading, and see you next time!