Table of Contents
Welcome back, maybe even from the grave. We are looking at the Eternal Might Commander deck.
Based on the Amonkhet Egyptian theme, we have mummies/zombies. This deck aims to amass an army of the undead to overwhelm your opponents.
Leading this, we have Temmet, Naktamun's Will.
This is an Esper coloured (White/Blue/Black) zombie deck. This allows you to use both the Black/White zombies of Amonkhet and the Blue/Black zombies of Innistrad. It’s the best of both.
While I could fill this upgrade list with generally good kindred cards, such as Herald's Horn or Banner of Kinship, I will try to avoid this and pick focused cards that either fit the theme or work with the face commander.
I'm not even including Vanquisher's Banner, which does fit well with both the kindred elements and the card pump effect from the commander.
So what am I including? Let's find out.
Budget Upgrades
Upgrade 1
OUT: Archfiend of Ifnir, IN: Varina, Lich Queen (£0.20)
My first addition is the Esper zombie Commander, Varina, Lich Queen. The only other Esper zombie commander was Nevinyrral, Urborg Tyrant. After that you had to lose a colour. Varina reads:
Whenever you attack with one or more Zombies, draw that many cards, then discard that many cards. You gain that much life.
(2), Exile two cards from your graveyard: Create a tapped 2/2 black Zombie creature token.
Varina works so well in this deck. It draws you cards equal to the number of zombies you attack with, providing a significant buff to all those attacking zombies.
It’s worth mentioning that this is a loot effect, meaning you have to discard as many as you drew, hence netting you zero extra cards.
The benefit of this is that it works well with both the face commander and the alternative commander, Hashaton, Scarab's Fist. Hashaton reads:
Whenever you discard a creature card, you may pay (2)(U). If you do, create a tapped token that’s a copy of that card, except it’s a 4/4 black Zombie.
While Archfiend of Ifnir works really well with Varina, Lich Queen, I just don't think there is enough other support for it.
Archfiend is a very strong card. If you want to keep it in, I wouldn't blame you. But I would recommend adding some more support to supplement it.
Archfiend really needs discard or cycling cards to pair with it so it can do its effect, otherwise it's only a medium sized flying creature.
Upgrade 2/3
OUT: Plains, IN Undead Warchief (£3.85)
We have a double upgrade. And with that comes a double cut; a Plains and an Island.
There are too many lands in the precon decks. Eternal Might out of the box is even worse than usual as it has 39 lands.
While the deck technically has a 9-drop card, it's a split card so you wouldn’t cast it for that much.
The next highest are two 7-drop cards. Going down to 37 lands is fine.
While it does also have one X spell, I can't see this deck needing any more lands.
I would even consider swapping two more lands for more card draw spells, as the additional card draw should help draw you into more lands.
The two cards I am adding in are representatives of the other Lords you could add in. Lord is a term in magic given to a permanent that gives +X/+X to your team, usually +1/+/1 as seen on Diregraf Captain.
OUT: Swamp, IN: Diregraf Captain (£0.20)
I like Diregraf Captain over the others as it gives you sudo board wipe protection. If anyone does Wrath your board, you at least get to deal damage equal to the number of zombies you controlled.
Some of the other zombie lords are Death Baron and Lord of the Undead.
With zombies being a supported tribe for so long, you get a lot of different ones. Each have their own added benefits. Liliana's Mastery, for example, is an enchantment card, so it's even harder to remove.
My final one, which is my other actual addition, is both old and weird. Though arguably, it’s the best pick.
Undead Warchief is weird as it gives an unsymmetrical buff to your team. +2/+1. Wizards printed the warchiefs in a cycle. The blue version, Mistform Warchief, is an illusion that can change its creature type, so you could run it as well.
The reason why you might want to run both is because all the Warchiefs give a one mana discount to their creature types. So Undead Warchief always gives you one mana discount for zombies, but you can make Mistform Warchief a zombie to get another discounter.
Upgrade 4
OUT: Maskwood Nexus, IN: Diregraf Colossus (£2.00)
Maskwood Nexus seems like a bit of a waste in this deck. It is an artifact that reads:
Creatures you control are every creature type. The same is true for creature spells you control and creature cards you own that aren’t on the battlefield.
There are only seven non-zombie creatures in the stock list. One of which I have already cut.
Of the remaining six non-zombie creatures:
- One is a clone, Vizier of Many Faces, which you are likely to make a copy of one of your own zombie
- Three have eternalize, so can come back as zombies
- Two are Grave Titan and The Scarab God, which both make zombies
I feel like they did Grave Titan dirty by not making it a zombie, but then it wouldn’t be as clean a cycle of Giants.
But back to Maskwood Nexus. The main benefit to this is to make all the other utility creatures you have into your chosen creature type to benefit from all the synergies, but with so few non-zombies, it's worthless.
Additionally, second ability on Maskwood Nexus to make the shapeshifting tokens is too expensive to be running for just that effect.
If we want tokens, Diregraf Colossus does it so much better. It reads:
Diregraf Colossus enters with a +1/+1 counter on it for each Zombie card in your graveyard.
Whenever you cast a Zombie spell, create a tapped 2/2 black Zombie creature token.
You don’t have to spend any extra mana on it. You just gain extra value every time you cast a zombie.
This also has the upside of being a large treat later in the game if your graveyard gets full of your Zombies.
Upgrade 5
OUT: Corpse Augur, IN: Graveborn Muse (£1.25)
Now it's time to get into the other side of Temmet, Naktamun's Will. The card draw side.
I am cutting Corpse Augur. While it has a card draw effect, this only works on death. With a distinct lack of sacrifice outlets in this deck, the timing for this would be challenging. You would ideally want it to trigger before combat.
Instead, I'm adding in Graveborn Muse, which reads:
At the beginning of your upkeep, you draw X cards and you lose X life, where X is the number of Zombies you control.
Not only is this a repeatable source of card draw, it also triggers on your upkeep, meaning you get the buff to your zombies from Temmet before you attack.
Graveborn Muse is an amped up Phyrexian Arena for zombie decks. It draws you more cards at the cost of 1 life for each zombie you control.
Keep in mind that this effect is not a ‘may’ ability, meaning you can die to this effect if you're not careful.
Upgrade 6
OUT: Lazotep Chancellor, IN: Brainstorm (£0.10)
As this deck has access to blue, which gives access to some powerful card draw spell, for example:
- Typical card draw spells like Treasure Cruise, Braingeyser and Mind Spring
- ‘Sort of free’ spells like Frantic Search or Gush, which can allow for some nasty mid-combat blowouts from Temmet
- ‘Wheel’ effects like Whispering Madness and Windfall, which allow for some big buffs for your zombies army
- Kindred card draw spells, similar to Graveborn Muse or Distant Melody
I have chosen Brainstorm as an extra card draw spell.
It's very cost effective if you want to be tricky and trigger the commander’s effect. One mana to get +3/+3 to your zombie team is incredibly efficient.
It’s also instant speed, so your opponents may not see it coming.
I did want to add in all the other ones like I talked about, but there are only 10 cards I can add and I like to highlight more unique cards.
Upgrade 7
OUT: Wizened Mentor, IN: Zul Ashur, Lich Lord (£0.60)
Wizened Mentor is a nice call back to Harsh Mentor, but it stumbles as a card.
While it has synergy, It's the once per turn clause that really stops me keeping this card. It's inherently a punisher card and relies on your opponent(s) to play into it.
In a game, you might get one or two tokens per turn cycle. These are just 1/1 tokens, so nothing too impressive.
Zul Ashur, Lich Lord allows you to replay your best zombies. It enables zombies to do what they do best and come back from the graveyard. Zul reads:
Ward—Pay 2 life. (Whenever this creature becomes the target of a spell or ability an opponent controls, counter it unless that player pays 2 life.)
(Tap): You may cast target Zombie creature card from your graveyard this turn.
I would rather pay the cost again and only get one zombie per turn cycle, as these are going to have more impact on the game.
Upgrade 8
OUT: Gravecrawler, IN: Zombie Apocalypse (£0.25)
Gravecrawler is another great graveyard recursion card, but the reason I'm cutting it is it's only a 2/1 creature.
When I see this in lists, it's usually a combo piece. Combined with Ashnod's Altar and either an enters or dies trigger like Blood Artist, you get a game winning combo. Without this additional support you just get a very poor attacker., as Gravecrawler can't even block.
If you're looking for recursion, then Zombie Apocalypse has you covered. It reads:
Sorcery
Return all Zombie creature cards from your graveyard to the battlefield tapped, then destroy all Humans.
It’s able to bring back almost all the creatures while also having a possible upside of killing some of your opponents creatures. There are a surprising amount of incidental humans.
Upgrade 9
OUT: Gate to the Afterlife, IN: Endless Ranks of the Dead (£1.10)
Gate to the Afterlife is another card draw engine that suffers from timing.
As I have already mentioned, this deck doesn't have sacrifice outlets. Hence, Gate to the Afterlife can't draw your cards before your creatures deal damage in combat.
While it pairs with God-Pharaoh's Gift by tutoring it from the library, God-Pharaoh's Gift doesn't have the same power level it once had in Standard.
In EDH it’s more limited. Not only due to its higher power level, but also the multiplayer nature where there are even more turns before you get another trigger. It has even been powercrept by cards like Portal to Phyrexia.
If you want inevitability, Endless Ranks of the Dead has you covered. It reads:
Enchantment
At the beginning of your upkeep, create X 2/2 black Zombie creature tokens, where X is half the number of Zombies you control, rounded down.
If the game stalls out and players aren't doing much, this card can help you run away with the game. It exponentially grows the amount of tokens being made.
Even just a couple of turns should allow you to build a reasonable army if you already have some zombies.
Upgrade 10
OUT: Fleshbag Marauder, IN: Teferi's Ageless Insight (£1.60)
My final cut is Fleshbag Marauder.
It's a little weird to just see this by itself. There are now around five other cards which give similar effects and you would want a critical mass of these cards to have an effect on the game.
If you pair cards like Fleshbag Marauder with cards like Grave Pact or Dictate of Erebos, you have a reasonable shot at controlling the board. It keeps the battlefield locked down and your opponents creatures off the table.
Without the extra synergy, a random ‘everyone sacrifices a creature’ in the form of Fleshbag Marauder isn't likely to do much.
The final addition is also a bit of a weird one; Teferi's Ageless Insight. This allows you to double up on card draw, getting extra triggers from the Temmet, Naktamun's Will.
It is also an enchantment, which makes it harder to remove, allowing you to repeatedly reap the benefits.
Final Thoughts
Eternal Might brings a cool spin on the zombie Kindred deck. It follows on from the theme of kindred based decks that we have seen throughout 2024.
There were so many more cards that I wanted to talk about such as Pact of the Serpent and Gray Merchant of Asphodel. Having such an old tribe means it has had lots of support and potential upgrades.
Out of the box, it doesn't lean heavily into the card draw effect of Temmet, Naktamun's Will. But that is a space you can explore. Trying to find the balance between card draw and having enough zombies to buff is the key to this deck.
The end is now but it is not goodbye. Only see you later till the next one. So good luck and remember to have fun.
PS. All the card prices were accurate at the time of writing.
Non-budget Upgrades
Looking for even more upgrades? Try these 9 cards that didn't meet our budget requirement, but synergise with this deck:
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