“And winter was hot.”
Art:Eshki, Temur's Roar
by Billy Christian
Table of Contents
Temur has one of the coolest color combinations in the game; you truly get a lot of the best elements out of the colors of magic in Temur. Eshki is no different since you get a very well-stat’ed commander combined with card draw and non-combat damage. Like most precons, even with just a small investment, we can make some massive improvements to this deck. Today, we have five cards that we can add to the deck that are all under ten dollars and allow us to improve the deck quite a bit. Without further ado, let’s get it!
Original Precon Decklist:
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Temur Roar Precon Decklist!
Budget Upgrades:
Add:
Most copies on TCGPlayer range from 2 to 5 dollars.
Cut:
Gwenna is a card that I am shocked wasn’t included, you can loop this card quite a bit in this deck and produce a shocking amount of mana and counters in one turn. This deck can pump out dragons at an amazing rate, and Gwenna helps a ton with that. They can also be a decent attacker/blocker. Nesting Dragon is not a bad card, but it is one that I don’t think is nearly as good as Gwenna for the overall gameplan. We don’t really need additional token production in the deck since the creatures we commit to the board are already good enough.
Add:
Cut:
Surrak is a pretty cheap card overall, and I’m surprised it didn’t make it into the precon. They provide a ton of utility for the deck; being uncounterable can be amazing in certain metas but is quite decent at pretty much all tables. Preventing our creatures from being countered is really strong as well. While all of these things are nice, the most important thing we get from Surrak is giving all of our creatures trample. This turns us from being at good combat to a nuclear level threat to our opponents. Trample really is a game-changer in this deck, and on a 6/6 with all of these awesome abilities, it really helps. Keiga is not a bad card by any stretch, but it is a card that I find to be pretty underwhelming. Since they are both at the same mana cost, I find them to be a pretty easy swap. Surrak is far better and will not break the bank.
Add:
Most copies of Xenagos run from 5-7 dollars
Cut: 
Xenagos needs no introduction. This card is a powerhouse and can turn pretty much any creature into a very big threat; they also are indestructible and often not a creature, so they are not that susceptible to removal. I think they are a true slam dunk in this deck; I cut Courser because it’s just an ok dragon, and in this deck, it just isn’t that great. In testing, Xenagos performed much nicer at the five mana slot. I cut Hellkite Courser mostly because we only have a three-mana commander, and bringing them out for one turn just really doesn’t do anything.
Add:
Cut:
Goreclaw is a powerhouse in this deck. Even though it’s not a dragon, it discounts a large portion of our deck, and the buff and trample are just a lot of heavy lifting for a card that only costs four mana. Gadrak is just a bad card in my eyes. The treasure token is not as good as Goreclaw’s ability, and their inability to attack or block if we are behind is just terrible. Gadrak is an easy cut in my eyes.
Add:
Most copies range from 1-3 dollars.
Cut:
Bolt Bend is a card that I am a big fan of mostly because it only costs one a good majority of the time and it can protect us from removal or a whole host of other bad things, this card is pretty similar to a budget Deflecting Swat
and this is an effect that can be quite strong. We really don’t need a board wipe effect that is really only effective against small decks or in the early-game, Im not a big fan of Storms Wrath at all.