Family Matters precon upgrade guide

Ten of the thirty-six creatures in this box cost five mana or more, and Zinnia adds {2} to every creature you cast. Most of this guide is about making the deck cheaper.

Zinnia, Valley's Voice has two abilities that turn out to be one ability. She gets +X/+0 for every other creature you control with base power 1, and she gives every creature spell you cast offspring {2}. An offspring token is a 1/1 copy of the creature it came from, so its base power is 1, so every token you pay for makes her bigger. The box knew what it was doing here: Rapid Augmenter is in the deck specifically to hand haste to base-power-1 creatures as they arrive.

The invoice is the problem. {2} per creature, every time, on a list whose average mana value is 3.56 and whose ten most expensive creatures cost five or more. Casting Sun Titan with offspring is an eight-mana turn. Angel of the Ruins is nine. Those cards are not merely slow here. They are the cards that can never use the commander at all.

Underneath that, the count is thin. Ten creatures in the stock ninety-nine have base power 1 besides Zinnia herself, and eight of the deck's thirty-eight lands enter tapped no matter what you do. So the deck asks you to pay a surcharge on turns four through six with a mana base built to stumble on exactly those turns.

Thirteen swaps, at about $57. They take average mana value from 3.56 down to 3.05, the five-plus creature count from ten to four, and always-tapped lands from eight to five.

What are the best Family Matters upgrades?

In the order I would buy them. The reasoning is in the sections below.

1. Skullclamp ($5.83). Every offspring token is a 1/1, and a 1/1 holding Skullclamp draws two cards for one mana.
2. Third Path Iconoclast ($0.29). Makes a 1/1 whenever you cast a noncreature spell, so it builds Zinnia's count without paying her surcharge.
3. Monastery Mentor ($1.04). The same trick in white, on a body that grows.
4. Adeline, Resplendent Cathar ($2.87). One 1/1 per opponent every time you attack, again with no {2} attached.
5. Swords to Plowshares ($1.31). The box ships four pieces of spot removal against a normal five to ten.
6. Impact Tremors. Every token entering pings each opponent, and one creature spell with offspring triggers it twice.
7. Mother of Runes ($12.63). Protects the engine, and her base power is 1, so she adds to the count she is protecting.

The three lands sit further down the page because they are dull, and because they matter more than items five through seven. The cut list is where the argument actually is.

Ten spells that can never pay the surcharge

Out: Calamity of Cinders, Angel of the Ruins, Sun Titan, Inferno Titan, Illusory Ambusher, Shield Broker, Boss's Chauffeur, Helm of the Host, Aetherize and Cut a Deal.

The first six are the top end. Each costs five or more, which puts offspring out of reach for the rest of the game, and none of them does something this deck cannot get cheaper. Inferno Titan and Calamity of Cinders also want RR, against 26 red sources where a double pip on turn five asks for 30.

Boss's Chauffeur is the one worth pausing on. It makes tokens when it dies, it grows with the board, and it reads like a Zinnia card. It is printed as a 0/0. Base power zero, so Zinnia never counts it, however many +1/+1 counters it collects.

Helm of the Host costs four and equips for five. Nine mana to copy one creature, in a deck whose commander copies creatures for {2}.

Aetherize and Cut a Deal both point the wrong way. This deck is the one attacking, and Cut a Deal hands three opponents a card each so that you can draw three.

Three lands, and why Path of Ancestry is the worst of them

Temple of Enlightenment and Temple of Epiphany buy a scry for a tapped land, which is a fair trade in a deck that is not paying a surcharge on turn five. Path of Ancestry is worse than either. Its payoff is a scry when you cast a creature of a chosen type, and this deck has no type: nothing reaches even a fifth of the creature base, and the best of them is Human at six of thirty-six. You name a type, enter tapped, and trigger it on one creature in six.

Four cards the top-end argument does not reach

Junk Winder costs seven and stays. Affinity for tokens is live on almost every turn in this deck, so with four tokens out it is a three-mana 5/6 that taps down something of an opponent's every time another token shows up.

Storm of Souls costs six and stays, for a reason that only makes sense on this commander. It returns your creature cards from the graveyard and makes each of them a 1/1 Spirit with flying, which sets their base power to 1. Six mana that can add five or six to Zinnia's power and hand the team evasion on the same turn.

Plumecreed Escort looks like two mana to protect one creature. The one creature is Zinnia, at flash speed, in response to the removal spell.

Siege-Gang Commander is the five-drop I kept. It arrives with three 1/1 Goblins, which is three base-power-1 bodies off one card, and it is the only creature at that cost in the box that pays for itself without offspring.

Buying tokens without paying the surcharge

One idea runs through the additions: get base-power-1 bodies onto the battlefield without routing them through a creature spell.

Third Path Iconoclast ($0.29) and Monastery Mentor ($1.04) each make a 1/1 every time you cast a noncreature spell. This list runs sixteen draw pieces, four wipes and now six pieces of removal, so those triggers are not theoretical. Adeline, Resplendent Cathar ($2.87) does the same job in combat: one 1/1 Human per opponent, every attack, for three mana.

Skullclamp ($5.83) is the best card on the list and the one carrying a real tension. A 1/1 token equipped with Skullclamp becomes a 2/0, dies, and draws you two. Zinnia wanted that token alive. In practice you clamp on the turns you are not attacking, and the deck makes enough tokens that the trade is comfortable. Mentor of the Meek ($4.98) offers a gentler version, turning every creature with power 2 or less that enters into a card for {1}.

Impact Tremors converts the same board into damage that does not care about blockers, and a single creature spell cast with offspring triggers it twice. Its default printing carries no market price on Scryfall, so it is not in the total below.

Intangible Virtue ($0.30) gives your tokens +1/+1 and vigilance. Swords to Plowshares ($1.31) and Generous Gift ($0.71) take spot removal from four to six, the first time this deck sits in the normal range for it. Mother of Runes ($12.63) is the protection, and she is a 1/1, so she also adds to the count.

Two cards I left out on price, both better than most of what went in. Anointed Procession ($61.26) and Mondrak, Glory Dominus ($40.52) each double every token you create, so one offspring payment produces two base-power-1 bodies instead of one. Either is the correct next purchase once this list is done. Neither belongs in a $57 upgrade to a deck whose own singles come to about $68. Esper Sentinel ($59.32) sits in the same bracket: a one-mana base-power-1 creature that draws cards, priced at most of a precon.

Base power is not power, and one cheap upgrade gets it backwards

Zinnia counts base power, which is a creature's power before +1/+1 counters and before anthems. Three things follow from that, and the third one loses games.

Counters and anthems are free. A 1/1 token carrying three +1/+1 counters is a 4/4 whose base power is still 1, and Zinnia goes on counting it. Intangible Virtue makes every token a 2/2 and changes nothing about the count. Anything that pumps without rewriting the printed number is pure upside here.

Effects that set power do change it, and that can cut your way. Storm of Souls says each returned creature is a 1/1 Spirit, which rewrites base power to 1 across your whole graveyard.

Then there is Divine Visitation, which costs $0.42 and is the first card most people reach for in a token deck. It replaces every 1/1 token you would create with a 4/4 Angel. Base power 4. Every offspring token you paid {2} for stops counting for your commander the moment it resolves, and Tetsuko Umezawa, Fugitive stops making them unblockable at the same time, because Tetsuko is looking for power or toughness 1 or less. One cheap card, two of the deck's best pieces switched off.

Tetsuko has earned a sentence of her own. She is a two-mana uncommon sitting in the box that makes every 1/1 you control unblockable, which is the whole distance between a wide board and a clock.

This deck's mana crunch arrives late

Most precon mana advice is about turns one to three. Zinnia's is not. The surcharge lands while you are casting three- and four-drops with offspring attached, which is turns four to six, and that changes which cheap lands are worth buying.

The obvious budget duals are the wrong shape. Spirebluff Canal and Inspiring Vantage come down untapped only as your first three lands, which is precisely the window before the surcharge starts, and the box already has one of those in Seachrome Coast. What Zinnia wants is lands that are good late. Prairie Stream ($0.32) enters untapped once you control two basics and the deck runs thirteen, while City of Brass ($12.11) and Reflecting Pool ($14.87) are never tapped at all.

Those three, in for the two Temples and Path of Ancestry, move always-tapped lands from eight to five and untapped from twenty-five to twenty-seven, at the same thirty-eight lands.

The cuts fixed the red problem almost by accident. Three cards in the box wanted RR by turn five, and two of them, Inferno Titan and Calamity of Cinders, have just left; Siege-Gang Commander is the last one standing. White is the pip to watch now: nine spells want WW by turn three against twenty-nine sources where the hypergeometric asks for thirty-six, which lands at 80.4% on the play. Blue is the one I did not fix. Four cards still want UU by turn three off twenty-six sources, and nothing in this budget moves that number much.

The upgraded decklist

Every card I would register, with the thirteen swaps applied. Point at a name for its rules text and today’s price.

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FAQ

Why does every creature in this deck cost {2} more than it says?

Zinnia gives every creature spell you cast offspring {2} as you cast it. Paying is optional, and you can always cast the creature for its printed cost. But the token offspring makes is a 1/1 copy, its base power is 1, and Zinnia gets +1/+0 for it, so skipping the surcharge means skipping the commander. The deck is built to pay it, which is why lowering the curve matters more here than in most precons.

Should Arthur, Marigold Knight lead the deck instead?

Arthur is the other legend in the box and he does nothing with its engine. His attack trigger puts a creature onto the battlefield rather than casting it, so there is no offspring and no token, and he costs five across three colors. Zinnia is the reason to own this precon.

Does Family Matters move up a bracket after these swaps?

No. The box contains no Game Changers and neither do these thirteen additions, so the floor is Bracket 1 before and after. What changes is speed rather than tier: average mana value drops from 3.56 to 3.05, and the number of creatures costing five or more falls from ten to four. You can run any list through the bracket checker to see the same criteria applied.

What do the thirteen upgrades cost?

About $57.26 at TCGplayer market prices for the default printings, covering the twelve of thirteen cards that carry a price. Impact Tremors has no market price on its default printing, so treat the total as a floor. The box's own singles come to at least $68.30, which is the proportionality I was aiming for.

Do +1/+1 counters stop Zinnia counting a creature?

No. Base power is a creature's power before counters and before anthem effects, so a 1/1 token holding two +1/+1 counters is a 3/3 that Zinnia still counts. Only effects that set a creature's power change what she reads, such as Storm of Souls turning everything it returns into a 1/1 Spirit.

Is Divine Visitation good in Family Matters?

No, and it is the most common mistake made with this commander. It replaces your 1/1 tokens with 4/4 Angels, whose base power is 4, so Zinnia stops counting them and Tetsuko Umezawa, Fugitive stops making them unblockable. It is a strong card in nearly every other token deck and close to a trap in this one.

Which card in the box is most underrated?

Tetsuko Umezawa, Fugitive. Every offspring token, every Goblin from Siege-Gang Commander and every Soldier from Martial Coup is a 1/1, and Tetsuko makes all of them unblockable. In a deck that wins by fielding more bodies than the table can block, she deletes the blocking step.