Wizards of the Coast's Secrets of Strixhaven Commander precons arrived with five distinct decks, but the Silverquill Influence build is the one generating the most sustained upgrade conversation — and for good reason. It's doing something genuinely unusual for Orzhov: instead of grinding opponents into dust through life-drain and attrition, it's playing politics. Aggressive, weaponized politics.
The face commander, Killian, Decisive Mentor, is the engine. Every enchantment you cast goads your opponents' creatures, forcing them to attack — just not you. And every time those goaded creatures swing into your other opponents, Killian draws you a card. In a four-player pod, that's a card-advantage engine that runs entirely on your opponents' aggression. The deck essentially converts the table's combat step into your personal draw engine. That's a sophisticated design, and it's one that rewards players who understand the political rhythms of Commander better than the average precon buyer.
The retail price point sits at $44.99 MSRP, consistent with the Strixhaven Commander wave. Secondary market copies have been trading between $38 and $55 depending on condition and seller, which is a reasonable floor for a deck with genuine upgrade potential. Unlike some precons that ship with a strong commander stapled to an incoherent 99, Silverquill Influence has a coherent identity — it just needs sharper tools to execute it consistently.
Where the Stock List Falls Short
The deck's biggest structural weakness is enchantment density. Killian's goad trigger only fires when you cast an enchantment, which means the deck needs a critical mass of them to function. The precon ships with a reasonable spread, but too many of those enchantments are either overcosted for their effect or simply outclassed by readily available upgrades in the $1–$5 range.
Ghostly Prison and Sphere of Safety are the obvious additions — both slow down the creatures you've goaded before they can swing back at you, and Sphere of Safety scales beautifully as your enchantment count grows. Neither card is expensive. Sphere of Safety hovers around $3–$4 for non-foil copies, and Ghostly Prison can be found for under $5 in most formats.
The mana base also needs attention. The precon leans on a predictable mix of tap-lands and basics that creates consistency problems in the early turns. Swapping in Isolated Chapel (currently around $4) and Caves of Koilos (under $2) meaningfully improves the deck's ability to operate on curve without a significant budget commitment.
Card draw beyond Killian's trigger is thin. Phyrexian Arena is the classic Orzhov solution — it's sitting around $6–$8 for the Apocalypse printing, though Commander Masters reprints have pushed prices down from their 2022 highs above $15. If the budget allows, Necropotence is the nuclear option, though its current price near $20–$25 puts it in the premium tier for this kind of upgrade project.
The Upgrades That Actually Move the Needle
For players looking to push the deck toward genuine competitive Commander (cEDH-adjacent, not full cEDH), the priority list looks like this:
- Solitary Confinement — Pairs obscenely well with Killian's draw triggers. You're drawing enough cards to sustain its discard cost, and it makes you effectively untouchable.
- Cunning Rhetoric — A newer enchantment that punishes opponents for attacking you, which creates a beautiful tension against your own goad effects.
- Ethereal Armor — If the deck wants to pivot toward a voltron subtheme with Killian himself, this is the card that makes that line viable.
- Swords to Plowshares — The stock removal package is serviceable but not efficient. STP is a dollar-bin staple in some printings and there's no reason not to run it.
- Smothering Tithe — Expensive at $25–$30, but it's the single highest-impact swap available. In a draw-heavy, politically chaotic pod, Smothering Tithe generates obscene value.
The total cost for a focused, budget-conscious upgrade — swapping roughly 15 cards — lands between $40 and $70 depending on how aggressively you pursue the mana base and whether Smothering Tithe makes the cut. That puts the fully upgraded deck in the $85–$125 range all-in, which is competitive value for a Commander build with this level of political complexity and replayability.
Killian rewards players who read the table, not just their own hand. In an era where Commander is increasingly dominated by fast combo and stax, a well-tuned goad-and-draw engine that operates at instant speed and generates political goodwill is, frankly, underrated. The precon gets you 70% of the way there. The remaining 30% is cheap, available, and worth every dollar.