We're back with yet another Commander precon update for the new Magic set Streets of New Capenna! Earlier this week we went on a counters spree with Bedecked Brokers, but now we're going for a bit of a more subtle approach with the Obscura Operation list. This deck's actually been one of the more popular choices to pick up with this round of precons. In truth, that's most likely due to the inclusion of the powerful new card Smuggler's Share. It could also be that it's one of the more interesting decks in a while now.

When you first read the face card, Kamiz, Obscura Oculus, the first thing you probably think is "...huh?" That's what went through my head when I first took a look at this card. This is far from the kind of cool and splashy effect that I think most of us have come to know from your average Commander precon. None of the abilities or keywords are all that flashy and it doesn't really feel that out of place from what you might expect of a normal set rare or even possibly an uncommon. So, a precon face mythic? That just feels really strange.

But when you look at the context of the list, well, it gets a little easier to understand what Wizards' casual R&D is going for here. Let's take a look at the precon and you'll see what I mean:

Obscura Operation Precon | Commander| Wizards of the Coast

• Commander (1)
• 1 Kamiz, Obscura Oculus

• Creatures (28)
• 1 Aerial Extortionist
• 1 Alela, Artful Provocateur
• 1 Archon of Coronation
• 1 Cephalid Facetaker
• 1 Champion of Wits
• 1 Chasm Skulker
• 1 Custodi Lich
• 1 Daring Saboteur
• 1 Daxos of Meletis
• 1 Dragonlord Ojutai
• 1 Drana, Liberator of Malakir
• 1 Fallen Shinobi
• 1 Ghostly Pilferer
• 1 Graveblade Marauder
• 1 Identity Thief
• 1 Inkfathom Witch
• 1 Looter il-Kor
• 1 Misfortune Teller
• 1 Nadir Kraken
• 1 Oskar, Rubbish Reclaimer
• 1 Shadowmage Infiltrator
• 1 Silent-Blade Oni
• 1 Skyway Robber
• 1 Sun Titan
• 1 Thief of Sanity
• 1 Tivit, Seller of Secrets
• 1 Whirler Rogue
• 1 Wrexial, the Risen Deep

• Instants (8)
• 1 An Offer You Can't Refuse
• 1 Change of Plans
• 1 Commit // Memory
• 1 Lethal Scheme
• 1 Obscura Charm
• 1 Obscura Confluence
• 1 Swords to Plowshares
• 1 Utter End

• Sorceries (8)
• 1 Austere Command
• 1 Dusk // Dawn
• 1 Jailbreak
• 1 Nightmare Unmaking
• 1 Profane Command
• 1 Stolen Identity
• 1 Treasure Cruise
• 1 Writ of Return

• Enchantments (3)
• 1 In Too Deep
• 1 Life insurance
• 1 Smuggler's Share

• Artifacts (14)
• 1 Arcane Signet
• 1 Azorius Signet
• 1 Commander's Sphere
• 1 Currency Converter
• 1 Dimir Signet
• 1 Fellwar Stone
• 1 Mask of Riddles
• 1 Mask of the Schemer
• 1 Orzhov Signet
• 1 Quietus Spike
• 1 Sol Ring
• 1 Strionic Resonator
• 1 Swiftfoot Boots
• 1 Wayfarer's Bauble

• Lands (38)
• 5 Plains
• 6 Island
• 6 Swamp
• 1 Arcane Sanctum
• 1 Ash Barrens
• 1 Choked Estuary
• 1 Command Tower
• 1 Creeping Tar Pit
• 1 Darkwater Catacombs
• 1 Esper Panorama
• 1 Exotic Orchard
• 1 Fetid Heath
• 1 Myriad Landscape
• 1 Obscura Storefront
• 1 Path of Ancestry
• 1 Port Town
• 1 Prairie Stream
• 1 Rogue's Passage
• 1 Skycloud Expanse
• 1 Sunken Hollow
• 1 Temple of Silence
• 1 Thriving Heath
• 1 Thriving Isle
• 1 Thriving Manor

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Kamiz's simple abilities actually work extraordinarily well in tandem with many of this deck's creatures. Oftentimes, these creatures tend to have abilities that rely on them attacking or better yet dealing damage to a player. As such, if you're able to make them unblockable, you're easily able to ensure you get a trigger off those creatures. Some, though, already have excellent evasion on them. Cards like Shadowmage Infiltrator, Thief of Sanity, and Looter il-Kor come with it built in, so you don't really need to make them unblockable and so you give them double strike to double up on your triggered abilities.

Once you catch on to how the deck functions, Kamiz makes so much more sense as a face legend. It still feels a little weird when compared to many others we've seen in the past, but it makes perfect sense in the context of this specific kind of deck. That does make the options for upgrading a little bit minimal considering there's already a ton of great cards that utilize damage triggers in the preconstructed version of the list. There're a couple obvious options that come to mind like Nightveil Specter, Ninja of the Deep Hours, and the various Swords of X and Y but instead I want to focus on a slightly different angle.

Both the unblockable and double strike aspects of Kamiz are more apparent, but what about the connive ability? Sure, looting's always solid, as is beefing up your creatures, but I feel like there should be a bit more payoff to actually discarding your cards. It feels like an incredible setup to an actual reanimator strategy that's ultimately hampered by the deck simply being a precon. You get smaller options for targets and your reanimation spells aren't quite as good, although Writ of Return is certainly an excellent new option.

With all that in mind, let's see what an updated version looks like:

Obscura Operation Revamped | Commander | Paige Smith

• Commander (1)
• 1 Kamiz, Obscura Oculus

• Creatures (26)
• 1 Aerial Extortionist
• 1 Ashen Rider
• 1 Cephalid Facetaker
• 1 Champion of Wits
• 1 Chasm Skulker
• 1 Daxos of Meletis
• 1 Dimir Cutpurse
• 1 Dragonlord Ojutai
• 1 Drana, Liberator of Malakir
• 1 Fallen Shinobi
• 1 Ghostly Pilferer
• 1 Looter il-Kor
• 1 Misfortune Teller
• 1 Nadir Kraken
• 1 Nightveil Specter
• 1 Ninja of the Deep Hours
• 1 Oskar, Rubbish Reclaimer
• 1 Reffine, Scheming Seer
• 1 Reya Dawnbringer
• 1 Shadowmage Infiltrator
• 1 Sheoldred, Whispering One
• 1 Silent-Blade Oni
• 1 Skyway Robber
• 1 Sun Titan
• 1 Thief of Sanity
• 1 Wrexial, the Risen Deep

• Planeswalkers (1)
• 1 Kaito Shizuki

• Instants (8)
• 1 Change of Plans
• 1 Commit // Memory
• 1 Counterspell
• 1 Forbid
• 1 Lethal Scheme
• 1 Obscura Confluence
• 1 Swords to Plowshares
• 1 Utter End

• Sorceries (9)
• 1 Austere Command
• 1 Dusk // Dawn
• 1 Jailbreak
• 1 Profane Command
• 1 Reanimate
• 1 Stolen Identity
• 1 Unburial Rites
• 1 Vindicate
• 1 Writ of Return

• Enchantments (4)
• 1 Animate Dead
• 1 Bitterblossom
• 1 In Too Deep
• 1 Smuggler's Share

• Artifacts (14)
• 1 Arcane Signet
• 1 Azorius Signet
• 1 Currency Converter
• 1 Dimir Signet
• 1 Elixir of Immortality
• 1 Fellwar Stone
• 1 Mask of Riddles
• 1 Mask of the Schemer
• 1 Orzhov Signet
• 1 Quietus Spike
• 1 Sol Ring
• 1 Swiftfoot Boots
• 1 Sword of Truth and Justice
• 1 Whispersilk Cloak

• Lands (37)
• 3 Plains
• 4 Island
• 4 Swamp
• 1 Arcane Sanctum
• 1 Bojuka Bog
• 1 Castle Ardenvale
• 1 Castle Vantress
• 1 Command Tower
• 1 Creeping Tar Pit
• 1 Deserted Beach
• 1 Drowned Catacomb
• 1 Exotic Orchard
• 1 Fetid Heath
• 1 Fetid Pools
• 1 Glacial Fortress
• 1 Godless Shrine
• 1 Hallowed Fountain
• 1 Irrigated Farmland
• 1 Isolated Chapel
• 1 Morphic Pool
• 1 Path of Ancestry
• 1 Raffine's Tower
• 1 Reliquary Tower
• 1 Rogue's Passage
• 1 Sea of Clouds
• 1 Shattered Sanctum
• 1 Shipwreck Marsh
• 1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
• 1 Watery Grave

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Most of these are changes you'd expect. I started off by thinking about ways to improve the quality of creatures with abilities when damage is dealt. This included the aforementioned Ninja of the Deep Hours, Nightveil Specter, and a sword in Sword of Truth and Justice but also included a handful of others. Dimir Cutpurse was the main one in that it can easily wipe out opponents' hands while filling yours. The Obscura family head Raffine is excellent here too, allowing you to supercharge attackers as you go in while also setting up a perfect hand with ease. Lastly, Whispersilk Cloak just helps as another unblockable enabler. It's almost baffling that it wasn't in the precon from the start to be honest.

Beyond these came the reanimation package. Here I kept it somewhat simple and only added in a couple targets. Sun Titan, Wrexial, the Risen Deep, Dragonlord Ojutai, Silent-Blade Oni, and Fallen Shinobi all already make for solid options, but it's still possible to go a little further. Ashen Rider is basically a staple for Esper-colored strategies and is one of the most affordable options that just does a ton. Sheoldred, Whispering One and Reya Dawnbringer also are large creatures that let you continually bring back creatures from the dead - something you can expect as you continually swing in. There're other huge options like eldrazi titans, Archon of Cruelty, and Hullbreaker Horror, but I thought these were some of the better fits for a list like this and works nicely in regards to what the deck is trying to do.

I tossed in a couple reanimator spells to help make sure we can get these creatures out more easily with the aid of connive. Reanimate and Animate Dead are great options here, having had several printings over the last number of years making them ever more accessible. Similarly, Unburial Rites is great not just as a spell you can cast from your hand, but your graveyard as well. I also added in a bunch of extra utility spells, such as Vindicate, Counterspell, Forbid, and Kaito Shizuki. Elixir of Immortality also helps just fill your deck back up so you can keep conniving away, while Bitterblossom can ensure that you get a continual swarm of evasive creatures. You can probably find a cheaper token generator with ease if you're on a budget, however, but I felt there had to be something better than Alela, Artful Provocateur in a deck like this with so few artifacts and enchantments.

Speaking of, let's talk about some of the cards I cut. Some of the newer ones here were pretty easy cuts. Obscura Charm and An Offer You Can't Refuse were fine to add in and clearly meant to show off aspects of the main set, but they're really just not that great here. Similarly, Tivit, Seller of Secrets is a really cool top end creature, but he feels like he'd be much more at home in a deck of his own than in the main deck here. Life Insurance also feels like a card that isn't quite the best fit here, as you're not really looking to trade creatures very much and there isn't a ton of lifegain to offset the life loss this card offers. Whirler Rogue, Identity Thief, Daring Saboteur, Graveblade Marauder, and Inkfathom Witch just feel like mediocre ways to go in on the evasive creature enabler strategy and were removed to make room for the better choices. Lastly, Custodi Lich and Archon of Coronation just felt kinda meh here, as monarch isn't great when you already have so many better ways to draw cards as is.

What you ultimately get is a deck that's great right out of the box and is easy to update. What I provided here was less of how you should update it and more of how one example might look. It's more of a suggestion for directions you might want to take. How can you capitalize on the abilities triggering with attacks/combat damage and how can you make reanimation work best? There's so many more potential options that you have out there that you can truly make the list yours. No matter what way you choose, though, it'll no doubt make for an excellent time at your next Commander night.

Paige Smith

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