The Quandrix college in Strixhaven are the math nerds, the ones who like sacred geometry and fractals. The Quandrix Unlimited commander deck, with Zimone, Infinite Analyst at the helm, is the newest deck for X-spell enthusiasts.
Zimone offers us a scaling effect that makes your big spells cheaper as the game goes on, and the alternate commander, Primo, Unbounded, creates fractals whenever your base 0/0 creatures deal damage.
I was intrigued by the premise of the deck, and spent a lot of time puzzling over what cards to swap in to make it more efficient. At the end of the day, I found only 12 cards that I think would make improvements on a relatively modest budget. The Ozolith is the obvious include, but that’s a $70 card now, so unless you have one bumping around, I left it out of this list.
What We’re Removing
The main cards that I opted to remove were non-creatures. The hydras and other Simic creatures that come in the deck weren’t half bad, but I felt the other areas were a bit weaker. The deck clearly has a focus on X spells, but not all of our removal or ramp needs to have X in the mana value. In the early game, it’s important to have cheap, straightforward options for ramp and interaction.
Typically, I’d remove 4-5 lands from a precon, simply because Wizards loves stuffing your deck with extra lands. But, this deck has more utility lands than the other precons (stuff like Rogue’s Passage, Alchemist’s Refuge, and Opal Palace). I only decided to remove Temple of the False God out of principle, as well as the filter lands, Flooded Grove and Overflowing Basin.
Creatures
There are a couple of Zimone cards at this point, and Zimone, Quandrix Prodigy is one of the weakest, in my opinion. Altered Ego also had to go, it was a bit too expensive for the effect it offered us.
I also opted to take out Mana Bloom and Perplexing Test, as they just felt a bit redundant/unnecessary in the deck.
What We’re Adding
Finding cards to slot into this deck was a bit challenging, mainly because I’m not a Simic player by trade. However, I recognized some gaps in the deck once some of the original cards were removed.
Breeding Pool is the only land I’m adding back into the deck, keeping the land count at 35. There are a decent number of mana rocks, too, so if you feel the deck still has too much mana, I’d yank Terramorphic expanse or another tapped land.
Creatures
To replace Zimone, Quandrix Prodigy, I’ve added in Zimone, Paradox Sculptor, which synergizes nicely with all of the creatures that care about +1/+1, including the commander.
I’ve also opted to add in Vorel of the Hull Clade as another counter doubler, and Nexos as a way to quickly get a lot of mana to dump into X spells.
Altered Ego gave us a creature-copy effect, but it cost a lot of mana. Mockingbird gives us the same ability, but at a much lower cost.
And finally, I added Pollywog Prodigy for more card draw. While his Evolve ability isn’t particularly good in this deck, there are so many ways to add counters, double counters, etc., that make him a powerhouse for card draw in mid-to-late game.
Instants and Sorceries
Ripples of Potential is kind of like a Teferi’s Protection for our creatures. It gives us more counters, and keeps those creatures safe. The original list had a few spells that bounded all creatures to hand, which felt a bit counter-intuitive, considering our creatures are going to be accumulating counters throughout the game.
Repulsive Mutation felt like an auto-include in this deck because it deals with X spells, counters, and is a counterspell. In most cases, this can be a 2-mana counter anything because we will most likely have the largest creatures throughout most of the game. Tamiyo's Safekeeping is another card that just feels like it belongs in any deck that can run it.
And finally, I added Overwhelming Stampede as a finisher. The deck seems like it wants to grow creatures as big as possible and make them unblockable. This board-buff also gives them trample, and will probably massively change game, if not end it entirely.
Deck Upgrades
If you want to take a look at the price for each of the upgrades, here’s a look at what you’ll be spending:
I thought this deck had a better base than some of the other Secrets of Strixhaven precons. Obviously, you could take this deck up a notch with improvements like the Ozolith and more consistent card draw, but at this power level, I think this deck can put in the work. Hydras and X-spells have always been interesting to me, and I like the way this deck approaches the theme.
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