Desert Bloom Upgrade Guide: 21 Easy Changes You Can Make

Last updated on April 17, 2024

Yuma, Proud Protector | Illustration by Matt Stewart

The Commander precon from the Outlaws of Thunder Junction MTG set are quite ambitious. They feel like primers on various EDH themes, so they seem like good places to start if you’re new to certain archetypes. The Desert Bloom deck fits that mold. It’s a landfall deck that also carries its own deserts-matter subtheme, and it might even be of interest to experienced lands players in Commander.

Let’s figure out how to jazz up this If you’re already an Izzet mage, you’re likely looking at this Outlaws of Thunder Junction precon to hit the ground running (see what I did there?).

Deck Overview

Field of the Dead | Illustration by Kev Walker

The deck wants to play extra lands, drop lands onto the battlefield for value, discard or mill lands for value, sacrifice lands for value, and then recur lands from the graveyard for value. That’s a lot, especially if you’re new to the archetype, so let’s look to two cards for guidance on these themes.

Your Naya commander (), Yuma, Proud Protector, wants lands in the graveyard to reduce its cost. It wants to cycle lands for card draw. And it spews plant–warrior creature tokens as your deserts hit your graveyard. Note that phrase, “from anywhere,” which means from any zone – self-milling, discarding, and sacrificing lands all work for Yuma's trigger.

One of your big sorcery spells, Vengeful Regrowth demonstrates how you might gain value from land recursion. Here, you’re making tokens.

Strengths and Weaknesses

As with all EDH precons, there’s a lot going, but in this case, it all sort of fits together. The fun part about a lands deck is that some of your stuff is pretty interaction-resistant. And you have ways to recur things that are destroyed, so that often feels pretty good.

Let’s say a strength is that the varied themes synergize better than usual for a precon. The weakness of the deck is that your payoffs are pretty creature-centric, and a lot of what you’re doing is pretty fragile to well-timed removal.

Field of the Dead

Suggested Cut: Forest

Let’s just get right to the point. If you’re going to be doing land-based nonsense, get a real payoff going! Field of the Dead is one of the GOAT lands decks payoffs, and you need it.

Cradle of the Accursed

Suggested Cut: Forest

I’m a bit nervous about adding too many cards that tap for colorless mana in a 3-color deck, but this is a nice land to do recursion loops with, especially if you can’t find Field.

Endless Sands

Suggested Cut: Forest

Endless Sands is a beautiful card that many decks don’t have room for, but since you’re a deserts deck, so much the better! It provides just a little bit of protection that can also serve to get more value out of your ETBs.

Dryad Arbor

Suggested Cut: Forest

Land recursion works nicely if a land is also a creature, like this dryad.

Glacial Chasm

Suggested Cut: Plains

This is a rage-inducing card in a lands deck like this. You can keep recurring Glacial Chasm to prevent dying for a long time. A long time.

Jetmir’s Garden

Suggested Cut: Plains

You want this triome, sure. Normally I’d say this is where you should think of replacing all your basic lands with better lands, but you do need a few basics in the deck to maximize some of your cards, not the least of which is Evolving Wilds. Keep it simple, add the Jetmir's Garden, and move along.

Ashaya, Soul of the Wild

Suggested Cut: Bovine Intervention

Ashaya, Soul of the Wild is amazing. In this deck this elemental means a lot of your triggers start triggering off everything. And practically, it often stymies removal that hits only nonland permanents. The Intervention isn’t a good card, so this is an easy change.

Aftermath Analyst

Suggested Cut: Electric Revelation

A green creature that’s made big waves in Standard, Aftermath Analyst just packs a ton of value. Having a Splendid Reclamation on a recurrable creatures that mills on ETB is everything you want. The Revelation isn’t my favorite effect, and this elven detective is much better.

Crop Rotation

Suggested Cut: Harrow

You need to tutor your Field of the Dead, and Crop Rotation does that! I don’t think there’s enough basics for Harrow.

Expedition Map

Suggested Cut: Chromatic Lantern

Expedition Map is another way to get Field or any other land you might need. I don’t like 3-drop mana rocks, and even with color fixing Chromatic Lantern doesn’t seem to be good enough.

Scapeshift

Suggested Cut: Perpetual Timepiece

If you haven’t had the joys of playing with Scapeshift, now’s your chance to play with this green sorcery. The Timepiece doesn’t do enough. Scapeshift does it all.

Life from the Loam

Suggested Cut: Marshal's Anthem

Another of the lands decks’ greatest hits, Life from the Loam just accrues an insane amount of value over the game for a deck like this. And I’m not buying the mana intensive recursion of the Anthem. Because you’re shuffling lands between zones, it’s not like you’re a classic land ramp deck that’s always going to have a stack of mana at your disposal.

Felidar Retreat

Suggested Cut: Heaven // Earth

Felidar Retreat can really start popping off in a deck like this, and I have no idea why the split card is here at all.

Zuran Orb

Suggested Cut: Angel of the Ruins

Boomer Magic! Zuran Orb is total nonsense in a deck where you can get the lands back. And I don’t think landcyclers are the way to go in this deck.

Conduit of Worlds

Suggested Cut: Elvish Rejuvenator

For similar mana costs, Conduit of Worlds gives you a lot more value than the Rejuvenator.

Crucible of Worlds

Suggested Cut: Genesis Hydra

I don’t understand why the Hydra is here, so drop it in a green ramp deck. But Crucible of Worlds is kind of key in this deck.

Tireless Provisioner

Suggested Cut: Springbloom Druid

Your tireless cards give you constant value from lands, and Tireless Provisioner is awesome, especially if you’re dropping a lot of lands at once.

Tireless Tracker

Suggested Cut: Explore

Explore is too little, but Tireless Tracker is, well, tireless in its commitment to card draw.

Elvish Reclaimer

Suggested Cut: Nantuko Cultivator

Just in case you still haven’t found Field of the Dead, Elvish Reclaimer can help you.

Spelunking

Suggested Cut: Winding Way

This is an awkward way to mill. Spelunking is just better green enchantment, given how many lands you have that come into play tapped.

Constant Mists

Suggested Cut: Scaretiller

Scaretiller is a super cool card, but since you don’t have any decent ways to manipulate the tapping, it’s just too slow and fragile. Constant Mists not only keeps you alive, but it also fuels lands where you want.

Round Up

Elvish Reclaimer | Illustration by Victor Adame Minguez

I know a few of these cards are a bit costly, but I’ve avoided adding super expensive stuff like Boseiju, Who Endures. If you have that, split it in! I’d argue that cards like Field of the Dead are pretty key if you want to get into lands-commanders space. Still, you can easily take what advice here you can afford and still have a fun deck!

I think this deck looks super fun to play. It’s got a lot of complicated stuff going on, but it’s all sort of in service to making a bunch of tokens and turning them sideways. I might not suggest this deck or my upgrade for a beginner, but this is a nice scaffold for players looking to move past simpler decks to stranger archetypes.

There’s a lot more great decks and cards out there, but this is a good foundation. Lands deck veterans, what have I missed? Hit us up with your must-haves in the comments or on Discord.

I’ll let you go before I let myself indulge in a bunch more overtilled land puns. Sorry. I know my humor can be rocky, but this is just a fertile area. If I don’t stop myself, I’m going to dig myself a rhetorical hole, and I don’t want you to desert me!