Desert Bloom decklist and key spoilers – MTG Outlaws precon

The full decklist for the Desert Bloom precon is here, and it looks like the most promising Commander deck from the Outlaws of Thunder Junction set.

“Yuma Proud, Protector” is the main Commander for the shell, and is of the Naya archetype. There’s plenty of lands in this deck, and laying enough of them down is going to give you a huge advantage in the late-game. Let’s dig into all of the cards in this deck, alongside how to use and upgrade them.

✓ Amaar’s Advice

Kill your darlings

This set is all about sacrificing lands to the graveyard. Doing so is going to encourage the generation of 4/2 Plant tokens, and you’re going to have a pretty immovable wall of cards to defend your Commander with.

Full Desert Bloom decklist

Creature	Artifact	Sorcery	Enchantment	Instant	Land	Other
Sun Titan	Chromatic Lantern	Baral’s Expertise	Marshal’s Anthem	Return of the Wildspeaker	Scavenger Grounds	Yuma, Proud Protector
Omnath, Locus of Rage	Swiftfoot Boots	Tezzeret’s Gambit	The Mending of Dominaria	Valorous Stance	Sheltered Thicket	Kirri, Talented Sprout
Scute Swarm	Sol Ring	Finale of Revelation	Crawling Sensation	Unholy Heat	Scattered Groves	Ancient Greenwarden
Oracle of Mul Daya	Perpetual Timepiece	Curse of the Swine	Bitter Reunion	Electric Revelation	Sunscorched Divide	Perennial Behemoth
Ramunap Excavator	Arcane Signet	Mizzix’s Mastery		Harrow	Terramorphic Expanse	Hazezon, Shaper of Sand
World Shaper		Rousing Refrain		Path to Exile	Evolving Wilds	Sand Scout
Nesting Dragon		Finale of Promise			Command Tower	Embrace the Unknown
Turntimber Sower		Epic Experiment			Krosan Verge	Dune Chanter
Titania, Protector of Argoth		Treasure Cruise			Desert of the True	Cataclysmic Prospecting
Avenger of Zendikar		Preordain			Desert of the Indomitable	Vengeful Regrowth
Genesis Hydra		Ponder			Jungle Shrine	Angel of Indemnity
Satyr Wayfinder		Deep Analysis			Desert of the Fervent	Cactus Preserve
Skullwinder		Vandalblast			Dunes of the Dead	Rumbleweed
Elvish Rejuvenator		Serum Visions			Shefet Dunes	Painted Bluffs
Springbloom Druid		Faithless Looting			Hashep Oasis	Magmatic Insight
Eccentric Farmer		Volcanic Torrent			Ramunap Ruins	Requisition Raid
Angel of the Ruins		Windfall			Plains	Bovine Intervention
Scaretiller		Expressive Iteration			Mountain	Map the Frontier
Nantuko Cultivator					Forest	Conduit Pylons
						Mirage Mesa
						Bristling Backwoods
						Creosote Heath
						Abraded Bluffs

As we’ve already discussed, this deck is all about Mana. With enough lands to ramp into any direction: Red, Green, or White, you’re also going to be stocked up on sorceries and enchantments that perpetuate your growing mass of Land.

It’s a set hailing from the the Outlaws of Thunder Junction’s Wild West and the deck is called Desert Bloom. And so it will. One of the standout cards is “Dune Chanter,” with the following effect: “Lands you control and land cards you own that aren’t on the battlefield are Deserts in addition to their other types.” Additionally, it essentially doubles the worth of Land cards in your Commander deck by letting you mill them in return for health.

While it might have seemed like this card would kneecap your mana ramping ability, its secondary ability negates the drawback of the first, and it’s going to open up upgrade potential in any direction – Green and Black included. We expect this card to be a no-brainer in Rainbow decks from now on.

✓

Desert Power

It’s no secret that Wizards of the Coast are fans of Frank Herbert’s Dune series, having teased Arrakis-themed cards ahead of the recent movie release.

The Dune Chanter will join Canyon Jerboa and Sandwurm Convergence in future decks cultivating desert power.

With this deck, you’re going to be discarding Lands into your graveyard often. This is going to empower the latent abilities of the deck, which encourages you to do so to empower the rest of your cards.

How to use Yuma Proud, Protector

It’s going to cost you eight mana spread across a minimum of three different types to summon Yuma Proud, though the Lands in your graveyard will reduce this number quickly. Yuma’s passive ability puts Lands in the graveyard in return for you drawing another card to your hand, and while you thing you might be at risk of mana screwing, you’re also going to be transforming these cards into monstrously powerful 4/2 Plant Warrior tokens if they were originally a Desert.

As previously mentioned, the Dune Chanter turns Lands into Desert Lands, so make sure to utilise this ability to empower your Commander.

Desert Power upgrade suggestions

Upgrades to the Desert Power deck can totally transform it from a standard precon into one of the best competitive EDH decks pretty quick. Here’s what we would recommend.

Desert Bloom decklist: Lighting Storm – “Lightning Storm deals X damage to target creature or player, where X is 3 plus the number of charge counters on it.”

Nahiri’s Lithoforming

One of the most obvious upgrades to this deck would be to incorporate Nahiri’s Lithoforming into the Land to Graveyard pipeline. For each Land sacrificed by Nahiri’s Lithoforming you can draw an additional card, while playing the same amount of additional Lands in the same turn. Alongside Yuma Proud’s abilities, you’re going to have amassed plenty of Mana by the late stages of the game, most of which can be discarded in return for your late game creatures, enchantments, and artifacts.

Lightning Storm

Keeping one of these cards lying around in your deck could give you powerful late-game attack capable of wiping out any card on the battlefield. Essentially, if you discard a Land, it adds a charge counter on Lightning Storm, which deals X + 3 damage (X being the number of charge counters) to your opponent.

Desert Bloom FAQs

Is Desert Bloom worth it?

As far as the Outlaws of Thunder Junction precon goes, Desert Bloom certainly feels like the most adaptable. You’re going to be able to upgrade it into a competitive EDH deck if you’ve got the right cube behind it. One thing worth noting is not to get too carried away with Land sacrifices, as while the potential for churning out Token is high, you’ve also got to maintain a strong hand too.

Can you ramp Desert Bloom into other Naya decks?

When it comes to Yuma Proud, Protector’s adaptability, it’s got to go hand in hand with the Dune Chanter, which can easily turn it into a Rainbow deck. So, yes, you will definitely be able to ramp Yuma Proud into other Naya decks easily, on top of any deck with mass of Desert lands.