Attacking is the name of the game with the Tarkir: Dragonstorm preconstructed Mardu Surge Magic: The Gathering Commander deck. With a heavy emphasis on tokens and combat tricks, the deck is the most aggressive of the five decks from the set.
With this upgrade guide, we’re going to focus on making some key swaps with Zurgo Stormrender as the main commander, since he has an incredible way to make the most of your tokens and has some small token generation attached to him.
10 Combat Celebrant
Cut: Release The Dogs
There’s a natural Warrior kindred archetype in the Mardu Surge deck already so let’s lean in by adding another warrior that comes with a massive ability. Combat Celebrant has a fascinating ability that lets you keep it tapped for an extra turn after attacking and in exchange you get an extra combat step, untapping all your other creatures.
Cutting Release the Dogs is a natural choice since four creatures for four mana just isn’t great in a deck with such a low curve as the Mardu Surge one. The extra combat step lets you make the most out of your temporary creature tokens so it’s worth the cut.
9 Reconnaissance
Cut: Beetleback Chief
A truly weird card that can slot into a wide range of decks, Reconnaissance is a simple enchantment that has a ton of possibilities. You can pay zero mana to take an attacking creature you control, remove it from combat, and untap it.
The way you can use it is to attack with either your commander Zurgo or with another creature with an attack trigger and pull it from combat before damage is done so you don’t lose your creature. Beetleback Chief goes more in a Goblin kindred strategy, which is fine, but not synergistic with the rest of the deck.
8 Renewed Solidarity
Cut: Siege-Gang Commander
Kindred enchantments are a great way to get some extra damage through and Renewed Solidarity is a great way to push a lot of damage when spread across lots of little tokens. First, Renewed Solidarity gives your creatures of whatever type you want +1/+0, but that’s not where the power is.
At the start of your end step you get to make a token copy of each token you control of the chosen creature type that entered the battlefield this turn. This effect lets you capitalize on Zurgo Stormrender’s leave the battlefield trigger, while still maintaining a board presence and potentially setting up further token shenanigans.
7 Gornog, The Red Reaper
Cut: Loyal Apprentice
If you’re feeling like leaning into the Warrior kindred approach to your Mardu Surge upgrades, you can always get yourself a copy of Gornog, the Red Reaper. This Minotaur Warrior makes it so Coward creatures can’t block Warrior creatures.
You can probably see where this is going, Gornog makes creatures into Cowards anytime you have one or more Warriors attack. At the same time, Gornog acts like an anthem, giving your attacking Warriors +X/+0 equal to the number of Cowards your opponents control. Combine that with a few extra combat steps and you’ll be able to push through most defenses in no time.
6 Cathars' Crusade
Cut: Commander's Insignia
Hopefully, you brought some dice with you to your next Commander game cause Cathars’ Crusade is about to cover your board with counters. Anytime a creature you control enters, you get to put a +1/+1 counter on each creature you control.
While Zurgo wants you to sacrifice your tokens, you can still power up other creatures like Zurgo himself with all those tokens you have come in, letting you swing out with a massive Commander that will have to be blocked. You can get the most out of this card with cards like Adeline, Resplendent Cathar since she makes more and more tokens each turn.
5 Warleader's Call
Cut: Aron, Benalia's Ruin
One of the best anthems to come from Magic’s more recent era, Warleader’s Call isn’t just a flat anthem to grant +1/+1 boost to their stats. It also has a second ability to deal one damage to each of your opponents when a creature enters the battlefield under your control.
Since you’re making tons of tokens each turn, you can easily get 3-4 points of damage dealt to your opponents on top of whatever combat shenanigans you might have going on. Cutting Aron is an each choice since it is just a bit too slow for the type of deck Zurgo wants to be.
4 Toxic Deluge
Cut: Bone Devourer
The neat thing about Zurgo is that he wants your tokens to die, since he wants your creature tokens to leave the battlefield so you can either draw a card if that creature was attacking, or each opponent loses a life.
Toxic Deluge works well with this style of deck since you don’t really care if your creatures die and even might want those creatures to die outside of combat. Having to pay life into Toxic Deluge might not always be ideal, but since Zurgo will make it so your opponents will be losing life too, you can help mitigate the life you have to pay into it.
3 Mirkwood Bats
Cut: Eliminate the Competition
Since Zurgo cares about how your tokens die, you might want to play a card that cares about them entering. Mirkwood Bats is a neat common card that sucks one life from each of your opponents anytime you make or sacrifice a token.
Zurgo both makes and sacrifices tokens, pretty much anything with the mobilize mechanic will be draining your opponent for a total of three life for each creature. If you have a lot generated from mobilize abilities, you can easily put your opponents in the red in no time.
2 Zurgo, Thunder's Decree
Cut: Lingering Souls
What’s better than one Zurgo? How about two Zurgos? This one is Zurgo, Thunder’s Decree, and while he also comes with a mobilize mechanic, sitting at 2 instead of 1, it’s the second ability tacked on to him that makes him such a good addition.
On your end step, your Warrior tokens have the extra text “This token can’t be sacrificed.” While initially counter-intuitive to your main Zurgo’s draining ability, so long as you have another sacrifice effect, you can keep getting those triggers anytime you want them.
1 Caesar, Legion's Emperor
Cut: Grenzo, Havoc Raiser
Speaking of combat triggers, Caesar, Legion’s Emperor might be one of the best additions you can make to the deck thanks to his modular ability. Attacking with Caesar out lets you pick one of three triggers if you sacrifice another creature. You can:
- Make two 1/1 Soldier tokens with haste tapped and attacking
- Draw a card and lose a life
- Have Caesar deal damage equal to the number of creature tokens you control to a player.
Keep the combat triggers looping turn after turn, and at time across multiple combat steps in the same turn, and you’ll have yourself a victory in no time.
Magic: The Gathering
