Wakanda Forever Upgrade Guide: 20 Easy Changes You Can Make

T'Challa, the Black Panther | Illustration by Eli Minaya

Greetings, fellow Commander players! When we think of artifacts in MTG and EDH, we usually think Azorius () or Izzet () color identities. Green usually doesn’t have artifact synergies, and the theme wasn’t ever explored in Selesnya Commander decks, but that’s about to change with Wakanda Forever.

Wakanda Forever is the green-white Marvel Super Heroes Commander precon that features none other than Black Panther and the technological kingdom of Wakanda. Vibranium powers up Wakanda and Black Panther, and they depend heavily on their advanced technology, so going heavy on artifacts is a logic choice.

Today, I take a look at this precon and what makes it tick, and I’ll suggest some easy changes to make the deck more consistent overall. These suggestions will mostly be on a budget, and I want it to be more focused on the king, T'Challa, the Black Panther.

Wakanda Forever Deck Overview

Wakanda Forever is a green-white Commander precon built around T'Challa, the Black Panther. Its main focus is on artifacts, specifically ones with mana value 4 or higher. T’Challa creates Vibranium tokens when it enters or attacks, which are like Powerstone tokens except indestructible. These Vibranium tokens tap for a colorless mana that you can use to pay for anything except nonartifact spells. So you can activate abilities of creatures or lands, for example. T’Challa has another relevant ability: When you cast an artifact that costs 4 or more, it gets two +1/+1 counters.

I want to make Voltron T’Challa the name of the game–that is, invest heavily in this commander’s attack prowess. You want to cast a lot of artifacts, preferably expensive ones, and you also want to create avenues for T’Challa to attack, often using good equipment. Right now, we have 24 artifact cards plus four artifact creatures, and only a few cost less than 4 mana.

Let’s take a look at the other possible commanders for this deck and in which ways they change what matters:

• Bast, Panther Goddess is an indestructible creature that requires you to have at least three creatures to attack and block, and it passively boosts attacking creatures by the number of creatures you control. That’s a go-wide + tokens direction.
• Okoye, Mighty and Adored cares about the monarch mechanic. It gives you the monarch, and it helps you to get it back when you lose it, not to mention the extra card draw. There are many cards in this precon that reference the monarch mechanic.
• Shuri, the Black Panther is an interesting one. It’s cheaper at 2 mana, and it gets better bonuses as you control more artifacts, of which this deck has a lot, but it focuses on the expensive ones. To build around Shuri, I’d like more cards that make artifact tokens.

I see these other legendary creatures as more of a support to what our deck is doing than the real commander of the deck. So, let’s keep T'Challa, the Black Panther as the rightful Wakandan Leader, worthy of the Black Panther title for now.

Upgrade Plan

We have some conflicting themes going on. Some legendary creatures in this deck care about the number of artifacts or creatures you have, while others give you benefits via the monarch mechanic. Yes, a Black Panther deck focusing on the monarch mechanic is a flavor win, and it’s a powerful mechanic that gives you card draw, but the artifact focus is still central to winning with this deck.

To upgrade this deck on a budget, I’m looking towards MV 4 or greater artifacts that pull their weight in the deck and that help you either to get card advantage or to attack with your commander. It gets stronger with expensive artifacts, which in turn could be used to help it get in the red zone or protect it from harm.

It’s a little bit problematic that mechanics like Powerstone tokens, improvise, and affinity for artifacts usually have the best support in blue, the MTG color that’s more related to having expensive artifacts in play, but we'll make do with what we have available in green and white.

Lands

Suggested Cuts: 3 Forest, 2 Plains

Here, I want to suggest a five-land package, so you can take away three Forest and two Plains to make room for them. Darksteel Citadel and Thornglint Bridge have some synergies here and there as indestructible artifacts. Rogue's Passage lets your commander attack, and you can activate it via Vibranium tokens. Branchloft Pathway / Boulderloft Pathway can help you to fix for the mana we need most, especially in the early game. Finally, in a 2-color deck, a land like War Room that lets you pay 2 life to draw a card is very useful.

Swordsman’s Steel

Suggested Cut:

Swordsman's Steel is actually in the Avengers Assemble precon, and I like it a lot in this deck. It’s a 4-mana artifact, it draws cards based on your equipment, and it has an okay equip cost. I’ll cut Divine Visitation because although this deck creates some tokens, it’s a clunky 5-mana card, and this spot is better used on artifact support. I like this enchantment in go-wide decks that create many tokens each turn.

Thought Vessel

Suggested Cut:

Thought Vessel is a simple card that’s ramp on turn 2. It helps make the jump from 2 to 4, which this deck wants, and sometimes its removal of the hand size restriction matters. I’m cutting most of the monarch cards, and while King Solomon's Frogs offers removal, this isn’t that kind of deck.

Terrasymbiosis

Suggested Cut:

The whole idea of the deck is to put +1/+1 counters on a specific creature, and Terrasymbiosis makes it deck stronger going into the late game. Putting two counters on T’Challa is nice, but drawing two more cards is even better. I don’t see this deck as a Regrowth/graveyard deck, and that’s why I’m cutting Ancestral Communion.

Brightglass Gearhulk

Suggested Cut:

Brightglass Gearhulk is a good card to fetch trinkets like Sol Ring or artifact lands. Loyal Guardian is a creature that’s not that interesting in this deck because it doesn’t follow the go-wide plan and there isn’t too much synergy with spreading +1/+1 counters around.

Verdurous Gearhulk

Suggested Cut:

I know what I just said about +1/+1 counters, but Verdurous Gearhulk can stack them all up on one creature, and it's a big artifact itself. Playing this card after the commander makes it huge in no time. Sword of the Animist is a cool equipment, but this deck’s ramp comes from other sources; you don’t have synergies with landfall, and the attack bonus isn’t that great. 

Jhoira’s Familiar

Suggested Cut:

Jhoira's Familiar, while fragile, offers a nice mana discount on your artifacts. Royal Talon Fighter Jet is clearly a better card, but it takes a deck in a go-wide direction that could work with other commanders like Shuri, the Black Panther better.

Avacyn’s Pilgrim

Suggested Cut:

Avacyn's Pilgrim gives you more stuff to do in the early game, and it fixes your white mana, allowing you to cast your commander on turn 2 more reliably. This deck only has Birds of Paradise to do that consistently. Nakia, Wakandan Operative is a reminder that one of the themes for this precon is monarch, and I’m not leaning that heavily into that.

Steel Seraph

Suggested Cut:

This card fits the build’s themes and allows your commander to attack. Casting a Steel Seraph for 6, putting counters on your commander, and attacking with lifelink, vigilance, or flying is very strong. And it’s not even bad if you cast it for 3. M'Baku, Jabari Chieftain is a nice political card and can be a neat commander as well, but the idea is to incentivize players to attack the monarch when it’s not you.

Harrow

Suggested Cut:

Harrow is good old ramp. You sacrifice a land to get two, thinning the deck and getting to cast more expensive stuff. It also allows you to keep land-light hands. I love Wakandan War Panther (Fleecemane Lion) as a card, but I’m focused on making T’Challa stronger, and a 3/3 with some upside in the late game isn’t what I’m looking for.

Michiko’s Reign of Truth / Portrait of Michiko

Suggested Cut:

In a deck filled with artifacts, each chapter from Michiko's Reign of Truth gives a creature you control around +3/+3 or higher. Like M’Baku, I see Everett K. Ross, Hapless Attaché as more of a political card, and this deck has enough sources of card draw already.

Reprieve

Suggested Cut:

Reprieve is a powerful tempo play, especially if your opponent casts an expensive wrath. Green and white usually don’t recover well from these effects, unless you want to play a bunch of expensive Game Changers. Gilded Lotus is interesting in this deck, but if I want to put an artifact in play, I want it to help with combat and not with more mana generation.

Mystic Forge

Suggested Cut:

In a deck that’s full of artifacts and that specifically cares about MV 4 or greater, Mystic Forge is a nice include, and it’s not even an expensive card anymore. Trading Post is good if you’re grinding, and I get it’s a mana sink for your Vibranium tokens, but I don’t see this deck needing one.

Batterskull

Suggested Cut:

Batterskull has legs, but in the late game you can equip it on T’Challa and swing. It’s an MTG classic, and you can cast it, return to your hand, and cast it again if you have a lot of Vibranium and not much to do with it. Coveted Jewel gives you three cards, but you can lose it later, and the extra mana often won’t be that useful.

Altar of the Goyf

Suggested Cut:

Altar of the Goyf makes a lot of sense in this deck. It’s a card that encourages attacking alone, it costs 4+ mana, and even if your graveyard doesn’t have that many card types, the other ones will. Heart-Shaped Herb is one of those monarch cards that help you retain the monarch, and that’s the cut here.

Shadowspear

Suggested Cut:

This is the only expensive card I want to include. It’s fetchable with Brightglass Gearhulk, and it gives your creatures trample and lifelink. And all for 1 mana. By cutting Overwhelming Stampede, I’m focusing on one good striker and less on going wide.

The Final Deck and New Cards

Here’s the final decklist with all the alterations, along with a second list below with only the new cards I suggested. If you want to pick them up, click the shopping cart icon in the decklist below, which will take you to TCGplayer.

Commanding Conclusion

T'Challa, the Black Panther | Illustration by Eli Minaya

The Wakanda Forever precon is very nice, and it lets you play a lot of different games. We can see that a lot of care was put into this precon to get the flavor of Wakanda right. You can go wide with Bast, Panther Goddess; you can focus on one strong attacker, like I did with T'Challa, the Black Panther; or you can play a more political game with the monarch mechanic, and slow, grindier cards. In precons, just by changing a few cards, it’s easier to focus on the de facto commander for the deck, but boosting other commanders like Shuri, the Black Panther or Okoye, Mighty and Adored would require more changes and probably more expensive Commander staples. One theme I haven’t touched is vehicles, but it would be funny to see something like Parhelion II in this deck.

Anyway, I hope you’ve enjoyed my take on this precon, and feel free to suggest more cards that would strengthen this deck in the comments below. We’re also discussing all things Marvel Super Heroes and Commander in the Draftsim Discord, or over on our YouTube Channel, The Daily Upkeep, so check that out, too.

Until next time, stay safe!

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