Prismari Artistry is one of the best Commander precon decks released with Secrets of Strixhaven and - incredibly - a new take on Magic: The Gathering's age-old spell-slinging strategy.
Rootha, Mastering the Moment rewards you for playing big spells, and the deck is full of high mana cost instants and sorceries, along with methods to play them more cheaply and get the most oomph out of them.
The deck is powerful out of the box - able to quickly assemble must-answer threats, not least of which is your commander, who can make gigantic, flying, hasty elementals to blat your foes in the face every turn.
That doesn't mean it can't be improved, however. In fact, there are some obvious inefficiencies to smooth out, along with some mighty synergies to take advantage of.
Below you'll find seven cards to add to your Prismari Artistry deck, along with our suggested cuts. And better yet, none of them cost more than $5!
Cut: Plargg and Nassari
Add: Full Throttle
Plargg and Nassari is a threatening card, fetching you two free spells a turn. But it's a bit too inconsistent for my liking, and since it only triggers on your upkeep, your opponents have a full turn cycle to wipe it off the board.
If losing this duo stings, just look at what we're getting in return…
Full Throttle - The most ridiculously broken card you can add to this deck. Rootha's ability triggers at the start of the combat step, and Full Throttle adds two more of these to your turn, untapping your creatures at the start of each one.
In a board state where you only have your commander on the field, casting Full Throttle creates a 6/6 flying elemental you can swing with, then another 6/6, and then another. In total you get to hit with 36 damage in the air, more than enough to. If you had a strong board presence when you cast Full Throttle, you're probably winning the game.
Really if you want to bump the power level of Rootha, you could make the case for stuffing in as many extra combat step spells as you can find. But be aware of the political game. Everyone will gun for you and instantly remove your commander if you play the deck like this.
You might be able to stave off destruction by truthfully promising that Full Throttle is the only extra combat spell in your deck. Then you can copy it with Renegade Bull. Ho ho, what japes.
Cut: Solemn Simulacrum
Add: Molten-Core Maestro
Solemn Simulacrum is a precon staple, but really doesn't make much sense in this deck. You're not doing anything with artifact creatures, ETBs, or sacrificing, so it makes more sense to find something more synergistic for our ramping needs.
Molten-Core Maestro is exactly that. It's a cheap creature that sits on the board growing slowly larger, and thanks to all our high mana cost spells, it can spit out an absolute ton of mana over the course of a game. Each spell you cast makes it more useful and more dangerous.
Cut: Galazeth Prismari
Add: Resonating Lute
While it's a decent little ramp card, we're not really a treasure-focused or artifact focused deck, so Galazeth is not at their best here. For the same mana cost we get Resonating Lute, an absolutely ridiculous new card for spell-slinging decks like this one. It effectively doubles the mana we can pour into our big instants and sorceries, and even comes with repeatable card draw!
Cut: Goldspan Dragon
Add: Ashling Rekindled / Rimebound
This card's getting cut for the same reason as Prismari - there were only a couple of cards that made treasure in the precon, so we can switch to more efficient ramp which isn't relying on treasure synergies.
In this case Ashling Rekindled / Ashling Rimebound is a cheap option that provides roughly the same benefit as Goldspan Dragon (two mana per turn) for a lot lower investment. We're mostly playing this for the Rimebound side, but the looting on Ashling Rekindled could come in handy if you find yourself mana-flooded.
Cut: Brazen Borrower
Add: Flashback
Brazen Borrower's two mana bounce adventure is a handy bit of interaction, but I'm not convinced it's worth a whole card in our deck, and the flier isn't doing anything for us. Far better to have Flashback, and the opportunity to recast any of the powerful spells left in our graveyard.
Admittedly, there's some anti-synergy here with the multiple Dredge cards in this deck. But even in games where I was casting several of these, I found I was making so much extra mana and casting so many spells that I didn't have to dredge very hard, and still had a useful yard.
Cut: Cursed Mirror
Add: Ashling's Command
I'm not super sold on an expensive mana rock and a temporary copy of one of our creatures, so I'm cutting Cursed Mirror. I really like Ashling's Command in this deck because it's a five mana instant with a ton of flexibility. Often, you'll mainly want this to clone a big elemental token, but you be complaining about drawing cards, wiping weenies, and making treasures as well.
Cut: Harmonic Prodigy
Add: Archmage of Ruins
Did Harmonic Prodigy help me draw 48 cards the first time I played this deck? Yes. Was it a dead card in my hand for the entire game up to the point where the stars aligned? Also yes.
You have to get lucky to make the best of Harmonic Prodigy because, not counting prowess, there are only five wizards/shamans with relevant abilities you can copy with this card: one that provides treasures, two that give card draw, and two that give us temporary copies of our tokens. Honestly, it feels like this card might be left over from an earlier draft, when Rootha was going to be a shaman like her Strixhaven card.
It's a little expensive at five mana, but I'd much rather have Archmage of Runes, which offers a consistent mana discount and draw engine, than gamble on finding just the right cards to gel with this Vivi Ornitier-boosting villain.
If you've got suggestions for cards to add to this deck, or want to call out others that aren't pulling their weight, share your opinion over on the Wargamer Discord.