Exceedingly EEEEEEVIL!
Doctor Doom Precon Upgrade: ALL HAIL DOOM
Doctor Doom has a problem. And surprisingly, it’s not Reed Richards. It’s his precon.
Because this deck is trying to do way too many things.
We’ve got Villains. We’ve got tokens. We’ve got cards that want us to play from exile. We’ve got Threaten effects. We’ve got expensive creatures that need to survive an entire turn before they actually do anything.
And somewhere underneath all of that is a commander that’s practically screaming:
“DISCARD CARDS. CONNIVE. DO VILLAIN SHIT.”
So that’s what we’re doing.
This isn’t going to be one of those “swap ten cards and call it an upgrade” articles. We’re performing surgery.
We’re cutting a lot.
The goal is to lower the curve, improve the mana, upgrade the interaction, and focus the deck around three things:
Conniving. Discarding cards. And getting paid for doing both.
But I don’t want to optimize all of the personality out of the deck, either.
This is still Doctor Doom.
We’re stealing spells. We’re forcing people to make Villainous Choices. We’re taking extra turns. We’re reanimating things.
And we may or may not accidentally assemble an infinite combo.
So…
Let’s start firing people.
THESE VILLAINS HAVE BEEN FIRED
There are a lot of cool cards in this precon.
Unfortunately, “cool” and “belongs in this deck” are two completely different things.
And if we’re firing Villains, there’s only one place to start.
Molecule Man
Yes. Miracle Zero is awesome. I’m not debating that. But Molecule Man costs six mana, and when this thing hits the battlefield everybody immediately looks at you like:
“Oh. So you’re the problem now.”
And I’m not convinced the payoff is worth that attention, especially because this deck isn’t particularly good at consistently drawing cards on our opponents’ turns.
Six mana for a creature that unnecessarily makes me the threat?
That’s gnarly. And not in the good way.
Molecule Man has been fired.
But he’s far from the only Villain cleaning out his desk.
The Exile Department Has Been Eliminated
One of the biggest decisions I made with this upgrade was abandoning the precon’s exile subtheme.
That means Klaw, Master of Sound; Lady Loki, Agent of Chaos; and Kang Prime all become pretty easy cuts.
Klaw actually made me think, “Oh, you might be cool in a Zuko deck.” Which is probably a pretty good indication that he doesn’t belong in a Doctor Doom deck.
Lady Loki is expensive and cares about exile. Kang Prime cares about exile and needs to attack before generating the value I really want.
These aren’t necessarily bad cards.
They’re just working for a department that no longer exists.
Fired. Fired. Fired.
The “Maybe Next Turn” Villains
This might be my biggest problem with the original deck. There are a surprising number of cards that essentially say:
“Spend a bunch of mana now, and if nobody screws with you for an entire trip around the table, something cool might happen.”
No.
If I’m spending six, seven, or eight mana on something, I want it to matter.
Living Laser is expensive and still needs to attack. Titan of Littjara costs six, sits there looking menacing, and then hopefully gets to attack later. Red Ghost, Intangible Genius can eventually open an Ape factory, but it’s slow, expensive, and tied to a token plan we’re already reducing. Abomination, World Ravager is eight mana for a giant creature.
Yes, it has menace. Yes, it has trample.
“But the Mayhem cost!” “But the discard synergy!”
Still no.
Then there’s Batroc the Leaper, who I really only want when I’m kicking him. And if I’m spending that much mana on Batroc, I’d rather be casting Doctor Doom. The same general problem hits The Frightful Four. I don’t actually hate what the card does. I hate what it costs. If it had flash, maybe we could have a conversation.
You’re all fired.
Expensive Villains Without Expensive Payoffs
Then we have the cards that technically do something. They just don’t do enough for what we’re paying.
The Squadron Sinister is seven mana for an anthem. Tri-Sentinel, Act of Vengeance is seven mana for nine damage – in Commander. Moonstone, Harsh Mistress isn’t quite as egregiously expensive, but four mana for its effect just isn’t strong enough for where we’re taking this deck. Superior Foes of Spider-Man joins them because we’re deliberately cutting down the top end. I don’t want a hand full of awesome Marvel Villains that I can’t actually cast.
I want to be doing things.
Villains From Strategies We’re Not Playing
The other cuts are casualties of Doom finally deciding what his deck is supposed to be.
Stilt-Man, Towering Terror cares about the Threaten plan we’re abandoning. Puppet Master, String Puller gives us a cute goad effect, but I’d rather dedicate that slot to something that interacts with our discard engine. Helmut Zero, Mastermind wants a spellslinger deck. Meanwhile, Titania, Proud Pummeler isn’t even necessarily bad. I’m simply replacing her with cheaper creatures that have stronger synergy with connive and discard.
And I think that’s important when upgrading a precon:
A card doesn’t have to be bad to get cut.
Sometimes another card just does more for your deck.
That even applies to Awesome Android — AKA Containment Construct. It technically is a discard payoff. We’re just adding better ones. Madame Hydra has a similar problem. She’s slow without providing the kind of discard payoff we’re looking for. The original deck has plenty of Villains.
My version wants Villains with jobs.
THE REST OF THE CHOPPING BLOCK
The creatures aren’t the only part of the precon suffering from Doom’s corporate restructuring.
The artifacts, enchantments, instants and sorceries are getting the same treatment.
We’re Not A Token Deck Anymore
This decision knocks out several cards at once.
Endless Ranks of Hydra isn’t compelling enough to make me preserve the token subtheme. Patchwork Banner loses much of its appeal because we’re watering down Villain typal, which makes its anthem less relevant.
And then there’s the one that is probably going to get me yelled at:
Skullclamp.
Yes. I cut Skullclamp. Skullclamp is an incredible Magic card. That doesn’t mean it automatically belongs in every deck capable of producing a 1/1. We’re cutting many of the token generators that make Skullclamp ridiculous, so I’m willing to commit the Commander sin and take it out.
I’ll await my trial.
We’re Not Stealing Creatures Either
Loki’s Scepter hurts a little because I really like the card. But the Threaten effects just aren’t what this version of Doom wants to be doing. The same logic that got Stilt-Man fired gets Loki’s Scepter tossed into the box.
Great card. Wrong deck.
Artifacts That Aren’t Part of the Machine
Damocles Base and Sword of Kang aren’t necessarily awful cards. They’re just getting replaced with actual engine pieces.
That’s the recurring theme of this upgrade. I’m not asking whether a card is playable.
I’m asking:
Does this make the Doom machine better?
If the answer is no, Doom has no room for sentimentality. Progenitor’s Icon is another three-mana rock in a deck where I’m trying to make the mana more efficient. And while we’re talking mana rocks, the regular Sol Ring got a cosmetic promotion rather than a firing: mine is now the Iron Man Arc Reactor version. Because Robert Downey Jr. playing both Iron Man and Doctor Doom means Doom having an Arc Reactor is simply too perfect to pass up.
Good Cards I Just Don’t Need Here
Propaganda is incredibly flavorful. Doom sitting behind a pillow fort while everyone else beats the hell out of each other? Extremely on-brand. But we’re replacing flavor pieces that don’t advance the engine with flavor pieces that actually do. Swiftfoot Boots is another card people may question. Boots is great, but I don’t particularly care about the haste, and we’re adding protection that interacts more directly with our game plan.
Again: Good card. Wrong job.
Expensive and Inefficient Spells
The spell package gets leaner, too.
Age of Ultron is a slow Saga with a slow payoff, and five mana is more than I want to spend for that kind of removal. Extract Power costs six and belongs to the exile plan we’re dismantling. Kindred Dominance made more sense when the deck was heavily committed to Villain typal. Once we start firing half the Villains, seven mana for a supposedly one-sided wipe becomes a lot less appealing. Chaos Warp and Bedevil are perfectly playable Commander cards, but removal has gotten incredibly efficient. We’re upgrading into cheaper interaction so answering a problem doesn’t consume an entire turn. And Night’s Whisper and Syphon Mind aren’t bad, either. We’re simply replacing generic card advantage with cards that participate in what this deck is actually doing.
That’s the difference.
I don’t just want to draw cards.
I want drawing, discarding, conniving and filling the graveyard to become pieces of the same machine.
FIXING DOOM’S MANA
And yes.
We’re cutting lands too.
Choked Estuary, Foreboding Ruins, and Frostboil Snarl are all gone. The Snarl-style lands just aren’t reliable enough for me. Scavenger Grounds is graveyard hate in a deck where I’m actively trying to turn my graveyard into a second hand. That’s awkward.
Crumbling Necropolis and Path of Ancestry enter tapped, and we’re no longer dedicated enough to Villain typal for Path’s upside to justify it. And Terramorphic Expanse? At that point, I’d rather just play a tapped dual.
We’re also trimming the basic land package.
Coming in are Abundant Countryside, Blazemire Verge, Dark Fortress, Watery Grave, and one utility land I’m especially excited about:
Spymaster’s Vault.
Spymaster’s Vault gives us another way to connive. We don’t want this entire deck to fall apart the third time somebody removes Doctor Doom.
If your commander is the only card that makes your strategy work, you don’t have a deck.
You have a commander with 99 accessories.
Spymaster’s Vault helps keep the machine running.
NOW WE BUILD THE MACHINE
Okay. We’ve murdered a substantial portion of the precon.
What exactly are we putting in?
This is where the deck starts becoming Doctor Doom.
Turn Discarding Into an Engine
Brass’s Tunnel-Grinder is fantastic here because we’re naturally going to descend while conniving and discarding permanents. It gives us selection, fuels the graveyard, and can eventually flip into a land that Discovers. Then there’s Crucible of Worlds, which quietly amps up how we use Doom.
Lands become incredibly easy cards to discard. Normally that feels bad. With Crucible? Connive. Discard a land. Trigger everything that cares about us discarding. Then play the land from the graveyard anyway.
We didn’t lose anything.
Doom just turned that land into value.
And Tectonic Reformation makes this even nastier by giving every land in our hand cycling. Late game and I don’t need my ninth land? Cycle it. Trigger the discard payoffs.
Draw something else.
Then, if Crucible is out, play the damn thing anyway. Cycle the land. Get paid. Play the land. That’s disgusting. Which means it’s probably perfect for Doctor Doom.
Get Paid for Discarding
This is the heart of the upgraded deck.
Cryptcaller Chariot makes Zombies when we’re already doing what the deck wants to do. I don’t need a separate token strategy when my token generator is attached to my primary game plan. Monument to Endurance basically asks:
“Oh, you’re discarding cards anyway? Would you like more stuff?”
Yes.
Yes I would. Queue Bone Miser, Captain Howler, Cool but Rude, Magmakin Artillerist, Green Goblin, Nemesis, and Glint-Horn Buccaneer.
The individual rewards change—cards, mana, bodies, damage—but the philosophy doesn’t. Discard a card. Get rewarded. Now Doom’s connive ability isn’t just card selection: it’s an engine.
And there’s absolutely nothing else suspicious happening with Glint-Horn Buccaneer. We’ll come back to that.
CONNIVE LIKE DOOM MEANT IT
We’re also adding cards that specifically care about the other half of Doom’s engine. Leader, Super-Genius is a cheap connive payoff that can get involved early. M.O.D.O.K. lets our conniving start shrinking opposing boards. And M.O.D.O.K., Evil Intellect gives us yet another reason to turn every connive into something bigger.
That’s where I want this deck to get scary. When Doom tells me to connive, we don’t want one thing to happen. We want four things to happen.
One basic game action suddenly triggers your entire battlefield.
THE GRAVEYARD IS JUST ANOTHER HAND
Of course, if we’re going to discard this aggressively, we need to exploit everything we’re throwing away.
Animate Dead and Reanimate make that pretty straightforward. Maybe I connive away something expensive early because I desperately need to hit my land drops. That’s fine. I’ll just cheat it back later. The graveyard isn’t where our cards go to die.
It’s storage.
Then there’s Tortured Existence. One black mana. Discard a creature. Return another creature from the graveyard to your hand. Which means we’re triggering our discard payoffs, retrieving something we previously discarded, and putting another creature into the graveyard that we might want later. It’s a tiny little value loop sitting there for one mana.
And Marchesa, the Black Rose ties another piece of the machine together. We’re naturally putting +1/+1 counters on creatures by conniving. Marchesa sees those creatures die and essentially says: “That’s fine. Bring it back.” Now the counters we’re making aren’t just making creatures bigger. They’re protecting our board.
Synergy!
VILLAINS WHO ACTUALLY HAVE JOBS
We’re not abandoning Villains.
We’re making them earn their spot. Ares, God of War is cheap and can return creatures that die attacking to our hand. Kid Loki provides protection for the creatures we’re conniving onto. That’s the kind of protection I want—not just “put Boots on Doom,” but protection that participates in what the deck is doing.
Norman Osborn is especially fun because he can become Green Goblin and help set up Mayhem. Now cards we’re discarding aren’t necessarily gone; they can become another resource. Green Goblin, Nemesis gives us yet another discard payoff.
And then there’s Kang the Conqueror. Because you know what’s more villainous than stealing somebody’s creature? Taking their turn away from them. Extra turns. Doctor Doom approves.
DOOM SAYS NO
Interaction is another place where this upgrade gets significantly stronger. And I don’t just want powerful interaction. Where possible, I want interaction that fits the plan.
Circular Logic might be my favorite example. We’re naturally filling our graveyard, which makes it better, and Madness means discarding it doesn’t necessarily mean losing access to it. And Bone Shards might be even more at home here. One mana removal. Additional cost? Discard a card. Oh no.
Anyway.
Then there’s Counterspell. Sometimes you don’t need to get cute (well maybe a little, get the Ironman alt art from the set. You know, cause it’s RDJ). Two blue mana. No.
And, yes, I went with the staples: Fierce Guardianship and Force of Will give us ways to protect our engine without tapping out of our own game plan. Deadly Rollick does the same thing on the removal side.
Untimely Malfunction gives us flexible disruption and protection depending on what the table throws at us.
The idea is simple: Doom should be able to build his machine while still having enough mana—or occasionally no mana at all—to tell everybody else:
No.
EXPEDITED INHERITANCE: BECAUSE I’M THE VILLAIN
Originally, I had Flare of Duplication in this upgrade. I’ve since replaced it with Expedited Inheritance. Because I’m the villain. And I love what this card adds to the deck. Whenever a creature is dealt damage, its controller exiles that many cards from the top of their library and can play those cards until the end of their next turn.
Which sounds almost generous.
Until somebody at the table has built themselves a beautiful little token army. Congratulations on your board state. It would be a shame if somebody cast Blasphemous Act. That’s also why Blasphemous Act found its way back into the deck (I nearly foolishly cut this little gem).
Say Player A has developed a massive token board. Doom casts Blasphemous Act. Now all of those creatures take thirteen damage. Expedited Inheritance sees all of it.
Suddenly that player’s carefully constructed battlefield has become an extremely Doom-shaped problem involving a whole lot of exiled cards. They may have come to regret that board state.
Powerful. Chaotic. Slightly cruel. Villainous.
ACTUAL VILLAINY
Not every addition needs to be the most mathematically efficient card available. At some point I stopped asking:
“Is this optimal?”
And started asking:
“Would Doctor Doom do this?”
That’s how Riddles in the Dark and Hunted by the Family survive the optimization process. Villainous Choice is just a fun mechanic. I give you a choice. You get to decide. Except both choices exist because I told you to choose.
That’s villainy.
Then there’s Arcane Heist. Does stealing somebody else’s spell advance the connive package? No. But I’m stealing your spell. I’m going to cast your spell. And then I’m going to hit you.
That’s villainy.
And finally:
Time Warp. Take an extra turn. Why? Because Doctor Doom has decided that it is still Doctor Doom’s turn. That’s the entire explanation. We’ve already got Kang. Apparently taking one turn at a time is for heroes.
A FEW MORE PIECES OF THE MACHINE
Key to the City gives us another discard outlet while also giving something evasion. If Doom needs to connect, congratulations, Doctor—the door is open.
Malcolm, Keen-Eyed Navigator gives the deck something it desperately wants: ramp that isn’t another boring three-mana rock. We’re dealing damage. We’re making Treasures. We’re accelerating Doom. Perfect. But he needs pirates, not villains to hit. Yeah, we have that. And there’s absolutely no other reason Malcolm is here.
None.
Moving on. Finally, there’s Roaming Throne—specifically the Doctor Doom variant, because come on. It’s Doctor Doom. Of course I’m playing the Doom version. But it isn’t just here because the art is perfect. We’re still playing enough Villains for Roaming Throne to matter, and it can double some extremely important triggered abilities.
Including Doctor Doom’s.
If Doom is already the engine making the deck work, why wouldn’t I want two Dooms?
That’s just math.
Probably.
Why not throw in a few wheels too. Windfall and Snort are going to do wonderful things here.
THE MALCOLM PROBLEM
Remember when I said there was absolutely nothing suspicious about Glint-Horn Buccaneer?
I lied.
Because individually, I legitimately like both cards.
Malcolm is cheap, makes Treasures, and gives us ramp without forcing us to play mediocre mana rocks. Glint-Horn Buccaneer rewards us for discarding cards. Perfect. Completely innocent. Except…
Together?
They go infinite. Whoops. I’m not building this as a dedicated combo deck. I’m not loading it with tutors so every game becomes: “Find Malcolm. Find Buccaneer. Good game.” I don’t want that.
But I’m also not going to pretend I didn’t notice the interaction. If Doctor Doom assembles the correct pieces and suddenly unveils a machine that kills everybody?
That’s canon. I’m keeping it.
WHAT THIS DOCTOR DOOM DECK ACTUALLY DOES
After all these changes, the biggest upgrade isn’t any individual card. It’s that the deck finally has a job. The precon was trying to be Villain typal, exile, tokens, Threaten, combat, goad, and big splashy Marvel nonsense all at the same time.
This version establishes cheap permanents that reward us for discarding. Then Doom starts conniving (and hopefully monologuing).
We discard lands and replay them with Crucible of Worlds. We cycle them with Tectonic Reformation.
We make Zombies with Cryptcaller Chariot. We get paid by Bone Miser and Monument to Endurance. We deal damage with Glint-Horn Buccaneer.
Our M.O.D.O.K.s reward us for conniving. Our creatures get bigger. Marchesa can bring those creatures back if they die.
If we discard something we actually wanted, Animate Dead, Reanimate, and Tortured Existence can recover it.
Norman Osborn can turn discarded cards into Mayhem opportunities.
Malcolm makes Treasures.
Our interaction gets cheaper. Our curve gets lower. And suddenly one Doom activation isn’t just: “Draw a card, discard a card, put a counter on something.”
It’s:
“Draw a card, discard a land, trigger three permanents, make a Zombie, deal some damage, replay the land, put a counter on something, and by the way, Marchesa is going to bring that creature back if you kill it.”
That’s a Doctor Doom deck.
WHY I LIKE THIS UPGRADE
This gets to my philosophy with precon upgrades.
I’m not interested in going: “Here are the ten worst cards. Here are ten Commander staples. You’re welcome.” You can absolutely make a deck stronger while leaving it unfocused.
And I’m not interested in replacing 40 cheap cards with 40 expensive cards and pretending that’s deck building.
Instead, I want to ask: What is the coolest thing this commander does? And then: How many cards can I make care about that exact thing?
Doctor Doom lets us connive. Great. What happens when discarding a card doesn’t actually cost us anything? What if it makes a Zombie? Draws another card? Deals damage? Generates mana? Puts something in the graveyard that we can replay? Turns on Madness? Lets us reanimate a giant creature for one mana? That’s when a pile of individually powerful cards becomes a deck.
And, just as importantly, it still feels like Doctor Doom. We’re stealing spells with Arcane Heist. We’re forcing Villainous Choices. We’re taking extra turns. We’re countering spells for free. We’re reanimating creatures. We’re manipulating our graveyard like it’s another hand. We’re wiping out token armies and making their controllers deal with Expedited Inheritance.
And yes…
We can potentially assemble an infinite combo. We’re not just playing a pile of cards with Villain printed on them anymore. We’re actually behaving like one.
The original deck had a bunch of Villains.
This deck has a plan.
And unfortunately for everybody else at the table…
That plan belongs to Doctor Doom.