Secrets of Strixhaven releases on April 24th. In addition to the main set, there are also five precons – one for each of Strixhaven’s colleges. This article is going to take a look at the Silverquill Influence Precon and discuss the best ways to upgrade it.

Silverquill mages can use the magic of words better than anyone, and they can convince people to do just about anything. This precon embodies that in a big way, because it’s all about making your opponents fight amongst each other while you sit back and watch. This unique deck leverages auras and goad to make sure you always have the game under control.

THE COMMANDERS

As is usually the case, we’ve got two brand new legendary creatures in the deck who can be the Commander. Unsurprisingly, they’re both good with enchantments and can really make it difficult for your opponent to attack you.

Scriv has an “enters or attacks” trigger that spits out a sweet Aura token that you can put on an opposing creature. That creature gets a +2/+0 buff when it attacks one of your opponents. Unlike Goad, a creature with that Aura can still attack you, bur your opponent doesn’t get the buff and loses life if they go that route. Combine Scrive with Enchantment payoffs and you have quite the value engine, since it can spit them out so easily.

As great as Scriv is, I’d rather have it in my 99. I think Killian makes the better Commander for the deck. That’s because he doesn’t have to put himself into harm’s way to get his triggered ability, which will goad something any time you have an enchantment enter. 

Furthermore, he pays you off for Auras in a big way – wherever you choose to put them – because you draw a card when a creature that is enchanted with one of your Auras attacks. And, while putting Auras on your own creature is one way to trigger this, it’s not the only one.

That’s because it doesn’t matter who the enchanted creature is attacking! This gives you even more political options than Goad does on its own, as you can even put offensive auras on opposing creatures while also goading them. Basically, you can sit back and draw cards while your opponents mess each other up.

NEW CARD OVERVIEW

In addition to Killian and Scriv, there are 10 other brand new cards in this precon. Let’s start with a look at a couple of the enchantment payoffs. 

When it’s prepared, Eiganjo Dynastorian can let you cast one of the best Enchantment payoffs of all time – Replenish. Reanimating all of your enchantments all at once is a huge deal, and getting the Dynastorian prepared isn’t overly challenging. The fact it’s potentially a repeatable Replenish is where things can get especially ridiculous. Remember, any time an Enchantment orders you get to tap something and Goad it, so this can give you several triggers.

Herald of Amity has a powerful “enters” trigger that lets you cast an Aura for free in your top 8 cards. In this deck that will always give you a hit. Once again, that’s something that will trigger Killian in addition to getting a great discount.

Unsurprisingly, this deck also comes packing a couple of new, powerful Auras. Coercive Impetus is the one that works the best with this deck’s particular focus, as it lets you goad an opposing creature and draw cards when that creature attacks. It’s a good representative of how flexible Killian can be, because you can also put it on your own creature and still draw cards off of it.

Changing Loyalty is like a lot of Auras we’ve seen before. It can save a creature from death at instant speed. However, it has a couple of things that make it better than its predecessors. First, because it has Replicate, you can use it to save many more creatures. Second, you can also put this Aura on opposing creatures to steal them when they die.

It’s going to be especially nasty against board sweepers, but there are many situations where it’s incredibly nasty. It’s also potentially a way to just trigger Killian a whole bunch of times, while also making sure your creatures will be protected in the future.

Intermediate Chirography and Forum Filibuster are both Enchantment payoffs that help you go wide with Inkling tokens. While this deck can potentially just make everyone else kill one another, sometimes you’re going to need to enter the fray yourself, and all of these evasive bodies can definitely help you do that.

Intermediate Chirography gives you a body up front, and once it’s all the way leveled up, it spits out another Inkling any time a modified creature dies. Meanwhile, Forum Filibuster churns out a 2/1 Inkling during your upkeep and also reanimates an Aura and attaches it to the token. In other words, those tokens can quickly become both plentiful and very scary individually.

Defacing Duskmage doesn’t do anything super synergistic in this deck. I suppose his deathtouch helps deter creatures from attacking you even more, but that’s fairly minor. However, it’s just a powerful card in a vacuum. This is because of its prepared spell, which gives you a repeatable way to draw extra cards. In a typical game of Commander, your opponents are going to end up preparing the Duskmage for you on the regular.

Perhaps most importantly for the Commander format on the whole, the deck features three new dual lands, all of which even come with dual typing, making them extra appealing because you can grab them with fetch lands and similar effects. 

$50 UPGRADES

While the precon is definitely quite powerful without making any alterations, there are some changes you can make to the deck to make it even stronger. These changes look to maximize the number of enchantments (and especially Auras) in the deck, while also giving you a variety of ways to take advantage of goaded creatures.

Lightmine Field, Mystic Barrier, and Black Market are Enchantments that will work with this deck’s payoffs, and they work great in a deck where you have so much control over how your opponents attack. The Field will damage attacking creatures, and that means on turns where you can Goad multiple things – which is very doable here – you can end up wiping out a bunch of attacking creatures. 

Mystic Barrier gives the deck some redundancy. You aren’t always going to execute your Plan A of goading stuff with Killian. Mystic Barrier gives you complete control over how your opponents can attack during every turn cycle. You can’t force attacks the way Goad can, but it’s the next best thing.

Black Market is going to rapidly gain charge counters in this deck. It gives you another way to profit off of your opponents attacking one another, and the mana boost it can give you can snowball in a big way, allowing you to continue to control the game.

There are also some great Enchantment payoffs out there that will let this deck pop off even more effectively. Mesa Enchantress will draw you tons of cards, Ondu Spiritdancer will copy your Enchantments, and Light-Paws lets you tutor up more Auras to keep the ball rolling.

The deck could also use some more offensive Auras, as eventually you’re going to have to do some attacking yourself. Ethereal Armor and All That Glitters can make virtually any creature into a very powerful threat.

You can find the upgraded deck here.

These are the cards I removed to make room for these changes:
Fallen Ideal
Raffine’s Guidance
Sage’s Reverie
Screams from Within
Eidolon of Countless Battles
1 Plains
Sentinel’s Eyes
Shadrix Silverquill

FURTHER UPGRADES

While the above upgrades can make the deck significantly more competitive, there are some other more expensive cards out there that can bump the deck up another level. The introduction of more tutors can make the deck significantly more consistent, and Idyllic Tutor and Academy Rector are great for that. The Rector in particular is a real nuisance, and gives you another deterrent to your opponents attacking you, since if she ever dies you get the best Enchantment in your deck on the battlefield.

Hall of Heliod’s Generosity is a great utility land that can make sure you can always get back Enchantments from your graveyard, making this deck a lot more resilient.

GAME CHANGERS

If you’re playing at a higher bracket and have a big budget, there are some additional cards that you’re really going to want for this deck.

Serra’s Sanctum can give any Enchantment deck explosive mana unlike pretty much any other card, Enlightened Tutor is the best Enchantment tutor there is, and Smothering Tithe is a powerful White staple that you can get even more value out of in this deck thanks to it’s Enchantment typing. 

END STEP

Silverquill Influence is a really cool precon. I think it’s one of the most unique ones we have seen in awhile, since it’s simultaneously an enchantment deck and a forced attack deck. It really fits the Silverquill theme, making you feel like a graduate of the college, just like Killian!

What do you think of the deck? Let me know over on X or Bluesky.