Bedecked Brokers Precon Upgrade Guide

Scott takes a look at the Bedecked Brokers Commander Precon deck, and has some suggestions for how to give it a bit of an upgrade!

With Streets of New Capenna hitting the, er, streets, players are more excited than ever to test out the new legendary creatures in Commander. The set is full of potential commanders of all shapes, sizes, and power levels, so there’s something to suit any play style.

Today, I’ll be taking a look at the Bedecked Brokers deck, which looks to gain value through +1/+1 counters and taking advantage of creatures with different powers!

New Commander Cards

As with the other preconstructed decks from Streets of New Capenna, there are 17 new-to-Commander cards in Bedecked Brokers, which is to be expected with these releases now. Every one of them either puts counters on something, or uses counters to your benefit. There are countless different counter decks in Commander, so many of these will see play elsewhere. Here’s a breakdown of the most important new cards in this deck:

Perrie, the Pulverizer is a dedicated “counters matters” commander. He will make an attacker into a huge threat with ease, and you can easily present lethal commander damage in just a couple of attacks. Granting trample to the buffed creature is really what pushes Perrie as a commander, as power and evasion are both crucial in closing out games.

Kros, Defense Contractor is a very political choice as a commander, as they can use your resources to alter the landscape of battle. Generally speaking, goad can cause problems for the attacker and the other players at the table, but since Kros also gives shield counters to enemy creatures, you can minimize the downside for the attacker. This will give you much more influence and leverage, allowing you to control your opponents with ease.

Denry Klin, Editor in Chief is a unique commander in Azorius colors, which follows the trend of other recent additions like Shorikai, Genesis Engine and Tameshi, Reality Architect. There aren’t any other “counters matters” commanders in this color pairing, and Denry Klin is a great first addition to the archetype. You can load them up with counters, then play other creatures to really pressure opponents. This will likely be a powerful commander that will go under the radar for some time.

Brokers Confluence is a great new spell that will give you a lot of options at any point in the game. If you’re on the back foot, you can use it to phase out a few creatures and minimize combat; and if you’re ahead you can proliferate three times to simulate an Overrun style effect. It’s a little expensive to cast, but its flexibility definitely makes up for the mana value.

Any +1/+1 counters deck will want Damning Verdict in the ninety-nine, so this will probably see a lot of play in the future. Leaving your team of pumped up creatures intact while obliterating almost every other creature on board will often feel like more of a win condition than an emergency button, but it will work brilliantly no matter what way you use it.

Resourceful Defense is a fantastic card for any counters decks, as it gives you a way to minimize the impact of removal while also keeping your game plan on track. Its activated ability can be used as a combat trick as well, giving you a lot of different uses with just one card.

Contractual Safeguard can be an extremely efficient way for you to fill the board with counters. You can use it to protect your team from a board wipe by copying a shield counter, grow your creatures by distributing +1/+1 counters, or even replicate flying counters to ambush attackers! It has a long list of great uses, and that flexibility will really help it shine.

Bedecked Brokers Deck Review

As Bedecked Brokers is counters themed, it’s also quite creature oriented. It feels much more proactive than most decks in these colors; it’s a good deck for someone wanting a creature strategy that has a bit of complexity and longevity, while also being a safe choice for newer players to pilot. The curve is surprisingly low for a preconstructed deck: it’s got an average mana value of 3.19, with two thirds of the deck costing three mana or less. This is unusual for a preconstructed deck as they’re usually known for being a little on the slow or clunky side, but it’s a welcome change!

Looking at the deck from a value perspective, it’s fairly reasonable. At the time of writing, the deck is valued at around $110, which is about average for this kind of product. Some of the value is in the new cards like Resourceful Defense, so the price may fluctuate somewhat over the coming weeks. There are plenty of good value reprints between classics like Sol Ring, Arcane Signet, and Flooded Grove, as well as more niche cards that have been creeping up in price (Slippery Bogbonder, Steelbane Hydra, Devoted Druid)

Bedecked Brokers plays pretty well out of the box, as far as preconstructed decks go. The land count might be a bit high, but the ramp package is decent and the fixing is reasonable. The low curve lets you cast multiple spells sooner, and gives it a smooth feel. In terms of power level, I would say it’s roughly in line with Commander 2021 decks, and I’d have no issues bringing this to a casual pod.

Upgrading Bedecked Brokers

This is a well designed deck. There is nothing inherently “off” about any of the cards in the deck, and as I said above, it’s great to play as it is. There are certainly some improvements that could be made to help focus the deck a little bit however, by adding more counters and payoffs for them.

The main focal points for this upgrade will be:

• Extra Counters
• +1/+1 Counters
• Counter Payoffs

Extra Counters

Perrie, the Pulverizer rewards you for having as many different counters as possible, so it makes sense to add as many as possible that still work well with your game plan.

Depletion lands like Remote Farm and Saprazzan Skerry see play in decks that can easily proliferate the depletion counters. Not only do you have several ways to add more counters to them, but they count as a new counter type for Perrie! These are particularly good here, as they’ll help you get the Pulverizer on board a turn sooner too.

Component Pouch and Replicating Ring use component and night counters respectively, which are two new counters for the deck. They will also reward you with extra mana for giving them counters, helping to accelerate you even more!

Luminous Broodmoth is one of the best cards to add to the deck. Not only does it give evasion to your creatures, but it also gives counters while invalidating removal! These are all exceptional effects that help every aspect of your game plan; it’s the most expensive card in the upgrade, but it’s well worth it.

+1/+1 Counters

+1/+1 counters are the most prolific counter type in Magic, and there is already a lot of support for them here. There are a few affordable additions that can really turn the deck up a notch or two.

Mikaeus, the Lunarch will keep growing your board until someone deals with it. Considering the deck has a number of potent threats already, it’s going to be extremely taxing for your opponents to try and keep you in check.

Since you’ll have a lot of counters on creatures, Hamza, Guardian of Arashin is often going to cost you just two mana. Once he’s on board, you’ll almost always just be paying the colored costs in your creatures’ mana costs, thanks to his reduction ability. This will help you swarm the board even faster and apply pressure to the rest of the table.

Jiang Yanggu, Wildcrafter turns most of your creatures into mana dorks, giving you additional use for them. This will help you to play out more spells per turn, as well as activate abilities like Karn’s Bastion and Gavony Township. They also place counters on any creature, giving you additional ways to take advantage of cards like Kros, Defense Contractor.

Counter Payoffs

As you’re playing with countless counters, you should have a few additional ways to take advantage of them. Whether they’re granting evasion, helping the game to end sooner, or even just ending the game on the spot, these are all going to help establish your superiority over the rest of the table.

Kodama of the West Tree essentially gives all of your creatures trample, which is one of the best keywords for this deck. Your creatures will almost always be better equipped for combat thanks to the likes of +1/+1 and shield counters, so ensuring you can pierce defenses while potentially weakening them is invaluable. On top of that, you’ll be able to ramp when you connect in combat, which will pull you even further ahead.

Hadana’s Climb is trivial to transform into Winged Temple of Orazca here, since you’ll have so many counters on board. This works well as a backup to Perrie, the Pulverizer, but it also works beautifully with him. With both of these effects on board, players risk losing to commander damage in no time at all, or even regular damage!

If you can’t win through damage, like if a player has gained infinite life and Perrie has been removed too many times for a commander damage kill, then Simic Ascendancy is your plan C. It’s a great alternate win condition that might just win you the game quicker than combat will, but it’s also a great way to turn spare mana into power and counters.

The Full Upgrade

The total cost of this upgrade is roughly $50. This is the sweet spot in Commander to me: the power-to-dollar ratio is at its highest around this price point, and can be easily tweaked to increase or decrease in power as you see fit. If you like this deck, you can buy all the upgrade singles at the same time as the preconstructed deck, saving you time as well as money.

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Whether you buy the full upgrade, just the preconstructed deck, or some unique upgrades of your own, be sure to show off your awesome new cards to us on Twitter!