MTG Thunder Junction: How to upgrade Quick Draw Commander Deck

Looking for how to upgrade your Quick Draw Commander Deck for MTG Outlaws of Thunder Junction? We’ve got all the essential cards and strategies you need to know.

Quick Draw is one of the most potent pre-con decks to release for MTG since the days of The Ur-Dragon and Edgar Markov. While the rest of the deck’s contents are powerful enough, it’s the Commander that really shines. Stella Lee, Wild Card has huge potential and can build up to game-winning combos with ease. 

We’ll show you how to make the most of this MTG Outlaws of Thunder Junction Commander Deck, giving you options for additions and cards to cut, whether you’re trying to build Stella Lee up to a competitive level or simply turn some heads at your next Commander night. 

Must haves: Twisted Fealty & Cerulean Wisps

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Twisted Fealty 

No other card can have such a dramatic impact in this deck. When combined with Stella Lee, Twisted Fealty can win you the game in one fell swoop. 

Using this card, untapping Stella repeatedly by copying the spell repeatedly forms a loop that you can keep on activating. When you do so, each Wicked Role hits the grave, burning opponents’ life totals until they reach 0. 

The only situation where this card isn’t recommended is if you aren’t looking to win via infinite combos, which can be a valid restriction to impose, depending on your playgroup’s power level. In that case, Stella Lee probably isn’t the Commander for you. Quick Draw’s alt Commander, Eris, Roar of the Storm is a fun alternative for power casual tables. 

Cerulean Wisps 

Cerulean Wisps is another untap-based card that will allow you to draw as many cards as you want from your deck, provided Stella Lee is on the field and you’ve fulfilled her conditions for copying a spell. While this won’t win you the game on its own like Twisted Fealty, it can allow you to fill your hand with all the pieces you need to pull off a win afterward. 

Budget cards to upgrade your deck

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When upgrading Quick Draw and aiming to keep costs to a minimum, these options can power up the deck without breaking the bank. 

Chrome Host Seedshark 

Spellslinger decks can often lack bodies and blockers, and the Seedshark helps sure up that weakness in Quick Draw. Your opponents will have a hard time overrunning your defenses when you can Incubate an army by simply continuing to cast spells. 

Thousand-Year Storm 

While its initial casting cost can be steep, it’s well worth playing Thousand-Year Storm for the sheer increase in power it can provide your arsenal of Instant and Sorceries. 

Frantic Search 

This reliable Instant can help you filter through for your best options, load up your grave with spell for later interaction, and give you the mana needed for further casting all at once. 

Blasphemous Act 

A contender for the best Board Wipe in the game, Blasphemous Act can help you set things back to a reasonable pace when opponents have overextended. Given your focus on spell-slinging, you’ll usually have less to lose from this card than other players at the table. 

Premium cards to upgrade your deck

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While they may be on the pricier side, these cards can add some real oomph to Quick Draw. 

Jeska’s Will 

The quintessential red-mana boosting card for spellslinging. Jeska’s Will still comes with a hefty cost in spite of its recent Karlov Manor reprints. Still, it’s difficult to pass up the advantages that come with playing this card in the Commander format. It gives you a wide variety of options, and the mana to cast them, too.

Mystical Tutor 

One-mana tutors rack up a real price tag for a reason. For an extremely minimal cost, Mystical Tutor can fetch out the perfect card for any stage of the game. 

Urabrask // The Great Work 

Both sides of this Phyrexian Creature/Saga do incredible work in this deck. Urabrask pays back mana and outputs damage for every spell you sling, enabling big turns and synergizing nicely with Stella Lee’s conditions. It’s also a cinch to flip the card into its Saga side in this deck, allowing you to once more cast Instant and Sorceries in graveyards. 

Ojer Pakpatiq, Deepest Epoch // Temple of Cyclical Time 

An option from the excellent Lost Caverns of Ixalan set, Ojer Pakpatiq is worth considering for most blue mana decks that rely on Instants. Rebound is a useful ability, and another way besides Stella Lee to double up on your spells’ value. Plus, it’s hard to remove this card altogether thanks to its ability to flip into a land rather than be destroyed. 

Cards to cut

While Quick Draw comes with a good base selection of cards, no pre-con deck is ever going to be perfect. Whether they’re off-theme or simply can be replaced by better options, here are the easiest cuts to make in order to find space for upgrades to Quick Draw. 

Pteramander 

A bulky flier is always good for cleaving into your opponents’ life totals, but Pteramander requires too much set-up for too little payoff. 

Leyline Dowser 

With the abundance of card draw options provided by Blue Mana, there’s simply no reason to rely on this costly, janky method of adding spells to your hand via mill. 

Kaza, Roil Chaser 

Easily at home in decks that work around wizard Creatures like Inalla, and Archmage Ritualist, there are too few Wizards in this deck – eight in total – for Kaza to work as effective support, making them an easy cut. 

Radical Idea 

Jump-start can be an effective ability in the right circumstances, but you have much better draw power available for two mana. 

Temple of the False God 

Absolutely infuriating to draw into early on, without enough mid-late game payoff to justify the hassle. 

Curse of the Swine 

This piece of removal can find a home in many big-mana decks, but it’s a poor fit for quick draw. The hefty mana investment doesn’t gel with Stella Lee’s abilities, and leaving opponents with a crowd of blockers is more of a detriment than is worth it. 

Winged Boots 

Ward four offers decent protection, but there are better boots available in Commander that flat-out prevent targeting. 

Tezzeret’s Gambit 

Proliferate doesn’t have the payoff here that it does in decks tailored around it like Universes Beyond: Fallout’s Mutant Menace, making this a sub-standard draw card. 

Rousing Refrain 

While it can potentially grant you a big burst of mana at the right time, Rousing Refrain’s initial excessive cost and the slowness with which it returns make this just not good enough for the point in the game at which you can reliably cast it. 

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