Living Energy Upgrade Guide: 14 Easy Changes You Can Make

Saheeli, Radiant Creator | Illustration by Ernanda Souza

Energy keeps creeping back into Commander, which is good for energy fans and probably bad for folks who don’t want infinite combos at the EDH table. Our last energy precons were Jeskai commanders (), with Fallout’s Science! deck still in search of reliable wincons and Creative Energy from the Modern Horizons 3 Commander precon lineup trying to balance the line between Thopters and big energy payoffs.

Does moving to a Temur commander () with Aetherdrift Commander’s Living Energy deck simplify things? How are we going to use green, one of the star colors of the Kaladesh block, to add to the winning formula?

Read on to see my plan for green energy! (At least in Magic.)

Living Energy Deck Overview

Aether Revolt | Illustration by Filipe Pagliuso

Usually Commander precons straddle the line between two plans. In some ways, that’s frustrating (and a good reason to upgrade them!), but in another way it’s a nice value. The secondary commander usually pushes toward a different deck, and with some singles purchases you can usually outfit two new decks this way.

Living Energy is a first for me. It’s a deck with not two, not three, but five different plans! You can see these in the commander, Saheeli, Radiant Creator, and the secondary legend, Pia Nalaar, Chief Mechanic. Saheeli supports three things: making energy, casting artificers, and casting artifacts. Pia adds artifactfall and artifact creature combat.

So Sahelli triggers off casting an artifact. Pia supports strategies that give you bonuses when your artifacts enter, which is different. Think about creating a Thopter token or the Vehicle that Pia makes. Those trigger some cards, like Reckless Fireweaver, but not Saheeli.

To add to the confusion, there’s no coherent artificer typal deck strategy.

It’s difficult to make cards that trigger off artifact casting and cards that just want artifacts to drop work together. You maximize the latter by generating artifact tokens and the former with cheap spells.

So how do we make sense of this? We lean into the green. Before Modern Horizons 3’s embrace of white, green was the color that ramped your energy levels. Blue was often used to add combos with Thopter bodies. Do we now have enough wincons in a Temur color identity after all the energy cards printed in 2024 to just go for big energy?

We do. That’s the plan.

Magic: The Gathering Aetherdrift Commander Deck - Living Energy (100-Card Deck, 2-Card Collector Booster Sample Pack + Accessories) Green/Blue/Red Deck

• READY, SET, CHARGE!—Join artificer extraordinaire Saheeli to stockpile energy, then charge up your artifact creatures for a big finish with this Red-Green-Blue Aetherdrift Commander Deck
• 2 FOIL BORDERLESS COMMANDERS—Every Aetherdrift Commander Deck includes 2 Traditional Foil Legendary Creature cards featuring Borderless art
• INTRODUCES 10 COMMANDER CARDS—Each deck introduces 10 never-before-seen Commander cards to Magic: The Gathering
• COLLECT SPECIAL TREATMENT CARDS—Each deck also comes with a 2-card Collector Booster Sample Pack containing 2 alternate-border Aetherdrift cards
• THRILLING MULTIPLAYER BATTLES—Commander is a multiplayer way to play Magic, an epic, free-for-all battle full of strategic plays and social intrigue

Buy on Amazon

Upgrade Plan

I’m going to add more big energy makers and more big energy payoffs, reducing cards that focus too much on the other four plans in the precon. I like this plan because it’s what you’re here for. No one buys an energy commander precon to dither around with a bunch of Thopter tokens. You have shock and awe in mind, and you want to go big before you go home.

Given that Saheeli copies things temporarily, it allows for maxing out on your big energy creators, like Aetherwind Basker, and your big energy payoffs, from the humble Rogue Refiner to some options I’ve added to the deck. I’ve also added some cards that play into energy synergies when leaving the battlefield, which is a new space to explore.

HELIOS One

Suggested Cut: Mountain

This is a 3-color deck that ships with underwhelming lands. Use this suggestion of HELIOS One as a prod to push you to fix the janky mana base here. The said, this deck ships with Academy Ruins, which is an absolutely amazing land!

Aether Revolt

Suggested Cut: Triplicate Titan

Aether Revolt is a long-awaited payoff for energy decks in Commander, and that card has got to be in this deck. And as I lean into energy, it makes sense to cut a 9-drop (!) artifact that you don’t have enough ramp to cast in Triplicate Titan. You’ve got another deck that wants that big guy.

Cyclops Superconductor

Suggested Cut: Adaptive Omnitool

Adaptive Omnitool is a cool little design that wants to be in whatever go-wide artifacts deck you’re running, with some flavor for Urza or Brudiclad, Telchor Engineer. It’s a much better card than Draft chaff Cyclops Superconductor in the abstract, but the ‘clops rocks with Saheeli. Pay 3 energy, get 3 energy, make a 5/5 copy of your cyclops, do stuff with haste and prowess so it grows, and then pay 3 energy and sac it for big damage to whatever. Rinse, repeat.

Blaster Hulk

Suggested Cut: Bootleggers' Stash

Saheeli does similarly nasty things with Blaster Hulk! There’s a deck for Bootleggers' Stash, but this is not it!

The Motherlode, Excavator

Suggested Cut: Stridehangar Automaton

Another great Fallout card to disrupt your steampunk immersion! The Motherlode, Excavator is another wicked Saheeli payoff for copying. Don’t feel too bad for Stridehangar Automaton. You wanted to snipe that for your thopter deck anyway, right?

Heroic Intervention

Suggested Cut: Commander's Sphere

While we’re talking about things that are good with Saheeli, let’s pause for a second and talk about the need to protect your commander. This is a creature-heavy deck as well, so some protection is good to have, and Heroic Intervention is cheap enough to spend just on your commander if you need to.

Robobrain War Mind

Suggested Cut: Solemn Simulacrum

One more card you want to copy with Saheeli, Robobrain War Mind gets you a card for your troubles, as well. I know I always boot the Sad Robot when I upgrade my precons, but it’s time to stop printing Solemn Simulacrum, WotC!

Unstable Amulet

Suggested Cut: Duplicant

It's extra helpful that a lot of these cards so far are artifact creatures for double synergy with the commander. Unstable Amulet fits that bill as well, grabbing you some impulse draw. And how has Duplicant not been downshifted in rarity by now? Not enough for 6 mana. I’d rather do many other things than copy this with Saheeli.

Roil Cartographer

Suggested Cut: Sai, Master Thopterist

A strong source of energy with a nice little payoff, Roil Cartographer is a good part of this balanced breakfast. And here’s another deck where I’m culling Sai, Master Thopterist. Doesn’t synergize with the direction we’re going.

Izzet Generatorium

Suggested Cut: Loyal Apprentice

Izzet Generatorium is too legit to quit. It’s solid value and it fits the strategy. Loyal Apprentice got lost in this box on the way to another deck.

Aether Refinery

Suggested Cut: Saheeli, Sublime Artificer

We’re really not doing enough with tokens to take a risk on this slot for a planeswalker like Saheeli, Sublime Artificer and the limited number of uses of its activated ability. Aether Refinery is the least flexible card I’ve added, but this deck is thirsty for energy wincons, even clunky ones like this.

Primal Prayers

Suggested Cut: Whirler Rogue

Now we’re talking! Primal Prayers is an awesome energy card from Modern Horizons 3, but being one of the only impactful green energy cards, it sees very little play. It’s a value train over time, which is where you want to go with this deck. The last thopter domino falls with Whirler Rogue.

Conversion Apparatus

Suggested Cut: Cultivator's Caravan

If you’re going to do mopey 3-mana rocks, at least do something that fixes your colors, given all the double-pipped and even triple-pipped cards in this deck. Sometimes you just want to spend your mana ramping up your energy. So Conversion Apparatus is better than Cultivator's Caravan.

Aurora Shifter

Suggested Cut: Pia and Kiran Nalaar

A nice curve-filler that’s flexible in the late game, Aurora Shifter synergizes well with Saheeli and this deck that’s full of good copy targets.

The Final Deck and New Cards

And with that, here’s the final decklist. You can also browse just the upgrades (and buy them using the handy shopping cart button above!).

Victory Lap

The Motherlode, Excavator | Illustration by Josu Solano

Energy still needs a few more payoffs, but there’s enough here to party. You also don’t have infinite combos like those that come in the box of other energy decks, so that’s something. I think this is a fun deck, with a lot of varied nonsense like a Mishra, Eminent One deck, where you can just go nuts copying.

For folks who have fond memories of energy from the Kaladesh block days and who are sad that’s not happening in Standard again, having a fun Temur energy deck for EDH seems like a welcome thing. There are a lot of cool new cards in this deck, and I think it’s going to shock you with how good it plays. 

Let me know in the comments or on Discord if there’s a Temur synergy card I’ve missed so folks can add it to their build.

Happy brewing!

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