Tricky Terrain Upgrade Guide: 19 Easy Changes You Can Make

Last updated on June 12, 2024

Omo, Queen of Vesuva | Illustration by Alex Brock

EDH precons have a reputation for being weak and unfocused, which I can’t deny, but I still enjoy them. I’ve really liked getting new precons with each Magic set and studying them, not to mention all the sweet cards they add to Commander.

Modern Horizons 3 has some particularly interesting decks. Given the high power level of Horizons sets, we can expect the same from the decks. The Tricky Terrain Commander precon relies on the power of Omo, Queen of Vesuva to gain the power of everything (counters).

How can we improve this land-based strategy? Let’s reflect on it.

Deck Overview

Planar Genesis | Illustration by Liiga Smilshkalne

Tricky Terrain, one of the four Commander precons from Modern Horizons 3, has a solid gameplan as a lands-based deck that focuses on exploiting your Simic commander’s ability to make your lands gain every land type with a scattering of cards that care about gates, locus, Tron lands, and a focus on deserts, plus a bunch of top-end.

The general game plan is to ramp out early, either with ramp spells or with Omo, Queen of Vesuva enabling cards like the Tron lands and Cloudpost for bursts of mana. Once you have a mana advantage, top-end threats like Rampaging Baloths, Avenger of Zendikar, and Apex Devastator take you home for the win.

The land synergies give you something to do in the meantime. They extend further than simply ramping, with cards like Tatyova, Benthic Druid and Seer's Sundial that turn all that mana into card draw and utility lands like Basilisk Gate giving us something to do with your mana. And you can’t overlook the killer combination of Dark Depths and Thespian's Stage to unleash Marit Lage upon your foes. I’m pleasantly surprised to see the Depths combo in a precon.

Upgrade Plan

First up on the chopping block is that desert subtheme. The archetype requires a critical mass of that card type and plenty of ways to get them into the graveyard, neither of which this deck provides. Omo helps but can only do so much. I’m cutting the cards that care about deserts and the deserts themselves—except for Lazotep Quarry, which stands alone as a fine utility land.

Though this deck styles itself as a ramp deck, I found the ramp package lacking, which is hardly new to precons. Precons are often lackluster with ramp as well as interaction. Both suites get a touch-up here.

The deck has a very, very subtle graveyard theme that I expanded. It’s very much a subtheme still, but I added cards to help justify inclusions like Ramunap Excavator and Uro, Titan of Nature's Wrath. I thought about cutting them, but recent Magic sets have fleshed out the intersection of graveyard synergies and lands.

Finally, I’ve added more general land payoffs. The changes to the ramp package and graveyard subtheme also strengthen the land strategy to make the deck into a cohesive ramp-landfall strategy without the extraneous desert theme. I’m also cutting a handful of the weakest cards in the precon for better staples that should have been present in the first place.

Nature’s Lore

Suggested Cut: Fog Bank

Fog Bank is terrible. I’m astonished it made it into the precon given its power level of -20. Nature's Lore is the kind of green sorcery this deck wants to spend 2 mana on.

Three Visits

Suggested Cut: Poison Dart Frog

I’m playing Three Visits over Poison Dart Frog for basically the same reason. The Frog isn’t unplayable, but the landfall cards mean this deck wants as much land-based ramp as possible.

Farseek

Suggested Cut: Magus of the Candelabra

Magus of the Candelabra enables incredibly explosive turns with Cloudpost or Tron lands but does nearly nothing without those cards. Farseek is a more reliable choice.

Open the Way

Suggested Cut: Hour of Promise

Hour of Promise isn’t hard to enable since you need just one counter from Omo to search for two deserts to get the zombies, but it’s all low impact, and I don’t want the deserts. Open the Way hits two lands at a cheaper mana cost and can ramp even harder. You lose out on the tutor, but triggering Scute Swarm and Tatyova, Benthic Druid three or four times makes up for it.

Omenpath Journey

Suggested Cut: Desert Warfare

Desert Warfare is a fantastic card! For the Desert Bloom precon from Outlaws of Thunder Junction. I like this card, but you’ll rarely see its full potential the way you would with Yuma, Proud Protector or another desert commander.

Omenpath Journey does everything this deck wants: It ramps you, triggers landfall, and tutors for your best lands. You can assemble Tron, Dark Depths combo, or grab Field of the Dead and discover lands for additional value.

Planar Genesis

Suggested Cut: Desert of the Indomitable

This deck can afford to lose a few lands, and Desert of the Indomitable was already on the way out. I can’t wait to play with Planar Genesis. An Impulse with the option for ramp is very much my kind of card and looks right up this deck’s alley.

Shigeki, Jukai Visionary

Suggested Cut: Floriferous Vinewall

Floriferous Vinewall is another of those bewilderingly weak cards that find their way into precons, to the deck’s detriment. Shigeki, Jukai Visionary, fits this deck far better as a ramp piece that synergizes with your graveyard effects. The channel ability makes this green creature a fine top deck later in the game, which few ramp spells can say.

Blossoming Tortoise

Suggested Cut: Jyoti, Moag Ancient

Jyoti, Moag Ancient is the deck’s alternate commander, but it’s utterly unsynergistic given that the deck doesn’t care about land creatures at all. Blossoming Tortoise, on the other hand, belongs in this deck with its ramp and cost reduction for your lands’ activated abilities.

Aesi, Tyrant of Gyre Strait

Suggested Cut: Seer's Sundial

This upgrade simply swaps a weak card for a strictly better EDH staple, which you can often do with precons. Seer's Sundial pales in comparison to Aesi, Tyrant of Gyre Strait as land-based card advantage. It takes the Sundial 6 mana to draw one card, while the legendary serpent costs the same and can ramp/draw the same turn without requiring further mana investments.

Xolatoyac, the Smiling Flood

Suggested Cut: Hydra Broodmaster

Hydra Broodmaster doesn’t interact with the deck’s game plan and isn’t powerful enough to make up for it. Xolatoyac, the Smiling Flood works magnificently with Omo, Queen of Vesuva by untapping the permanents with everything counters.

Titania, Protector of Argoth

Suggested Cut: Desert of the Mindful

This card swap isn’t a clean 1-to-1. Desert of the Mindful needed to come out because we’re trimming the desert theme, and Titania, Protector of Argoth deserves a spot in a deck with this much self-mill and utility lands that sacrifice themselves. You can set up a powerful loop with Titania, Ramunap Excavator, and either Hidden Cataract or Hidden Nursery to grind through stalled board states.

Breeding Pool

Suggested Cut: Lush Oasis

Cutting budget lands for untapped lands might be the most basic precon upgrade advice you can apply to any of them. For this deck specifically, you need to add at least one dual land with the forest and island types for Nature's Lore and Three Visits. I already want to cut deserts, so removing Lush Oasis for Breeding Pool makes perfect sense.

Field of the Dead

Suggested Cut: Hashep Oasis

Hashep Oasis is the last desert-related cut. I’m upgrading to Field of the Dead, one of the best land-centric win conditions in Commander. I’m rather surprised it wasn’t in the precon to begin with, but you’ll make excellent use of it post-upgrade, especially with Vesuva and Thespian's Stage to copy it.

Eternal Witness

Suggested Cut: Skullwinder

Many precons run strictly worse versions of other cards because of… reasons? You shouldn’t run Skullwinder over Eternal Witness unless you’re a group hug deck. This isn’t, so I’m rectifying the mistake with this swap.

Lord of the Unreal

Suggested Cut: Chromatic Lantern

The original precon didn’t include any synergies with Omo, Queen of Vesuva’s ability to give creatures all creature types, which I understand; going too deep on that would require reworking the deck. But you can get away with Lord of the Unreal. It’s a 2-mana spell that gives Omo hexproof and occasionally protects other creatures.

As for cutting Chromatic Lantern, this deck doesn’t need a 3-mana rock because it prefers land-based ramp, and the Lantern’s 5-color fixing doesn’t matter in this list so you can do better.

Druid of Purification

Suggested Cut: Finale of Revelation

This deck has plenty of card advantage to handle losing Finale of Revelation. I’ve always found it suspect in the first place; tapping out on your turn to draw five or six cards invites the rest of the table to deal with you before you can play them.

Druid of Purification bolsters the deck’s interactive suite which, like with most precons, is lacking. It generally kills two or three cards, and any card that makes all players engage with this game makes a good inclusion.

Decisive Denial

Suggested Cut: Summary Dismissal

I’ve never seen the light on Summary Dismissal. The ideal scenario is casting this and exiling multiple spells, but I’ve never seen it happen, leaving Dismissal as an expensive counterspell. Decisive Denial splits the difference between a counterspell and spot removal for a better card.

Flood of Tears

Suggested Cut: Evacuation

Precons rely heavily on board wipes for their interactive suite, which I could bemoan for days. For now, let’s replace Evacuation with Flood of Tears. You lose out on flexibility, but this blue sorcery has a larger impact on the board and lets you rebuild instantly instead of replaying everything from hand.

Ezuri’s Predation

Suggested Cut: Oblivion Stone

This swap relies on the same logic as above. Why does our creature-token deck want to reset the game with Oblivion Stone? I don’t think it does. Ezuri's Predation won’t wipe everything away, but it kills most small to mid-sized creatures and leaves you with a compelling board state afterward.

The Final Deck and New Cards

Lord of the Unreal | Illustration by Jason Chan

And that's the full deck once upgraded. If you want to use them yourself, you can use the shopping cart button to auto-fill your cart on TCGplayer.

Commanding Conclusion

Xolatoyac, the Smiling Flood | Illustration by Campbell White

These upgrades remove the under-developed desert subtheme and the weakest cards to strengthen the deck’s central idea: A lands-based strategy that uses Omo, Queen of Vesuva to extract the most value possible. I’ve also bolstered the graveyard subtheme that naturally plays alongside many lands cards. If you want more advice on upgrading precons, check out our general precon upgrade guide!

If lands aren’t your thing, you could also skew the deck towards Omo’s ability to give all creature types by including a bunch of lords like Lord of Atlantis and Elvish Archdruid to buff your team and get more value.

How would you upgrade the Tricky Terrain deck? Which Modern Horizons 3 precon are you looking forward to playing? Let me know in the comments below or on the Draftsim Discord, and if you'd like more ideas, check our full guide on how to upgrade Commander precons.

Stay safe, and stay tricky!