Evasive Maneuvers precon upgrade guide

Derevi untaps permanents, and eleven of the 38 lands in her box enter tapped. Thirteen swaps cut that to six for $13.88.

Derevi is a 2/3 flyer for {G}{W}{U}. When she enters, and again whenever a creature you control deals combat damage to a player, you may tap or untap target permanent. That is the whole commander: every hit refunds a land, untaps an attacker or untaps a Wizard that has already been used this turn.

The deck built around her is a Bant flyer shell, and the evasion is real. Twelve of its 30 creatures fly, one has horsemanship and one can’t be blocked once it has a level counter, so the deck has plenty of ways to connect. What the box does badly is get to that point. Eleven lands enter tapped and 15 of its 61 spells cost five or more.

So the swaps are about speed, and about having an answer in hand.

What are the best Evasive Maneuvers upgrades?

Buy them in this sequence. The whole list is $13.88:

1. Four duals that usually enter untapped: Glacial Fortress ($0.21), Hinterland Harbor ($0.28) and Sunpetal Grove ($0.28) are checklands, and Temple Garden ($6.71) is a shockland. They replace five lands that enter tapped.
2. Swords to Plowshares, Beast Within and Generous Gift: three instants for $2.40, covering a creature, or any permanent at all.
3. Restoration Angel and Brazen Borrower: two flash flyers for $0.84, which can arrive at the end of an opponent’s turn and attack on yours.
4. Mulldrifter ($0.29). Two cards and a flyer. Most of the box’s card draw has a condition attached: Azami needs Wizards, Lu Xun needs to connect and Borrowing 100,000 Arrows needs tapped creatures to count.
5. Cultivate, Nature's Lore and Arcane Signet ($2.87 together): ramp that also finds Forests.

Thirteen cards leave to make room, and the list starts with the lands.

Fourteen creatures that connect, and a commander that pays for each one

Twelve fly: Derevi, Aerie Mystics, Angel of Finality, Djinn of Infinite Deceits, Dungeon Geists, Flickerwisp, Karmic Guide, Pilgrim's Eye, Stonecloaker, Thornwind Faeries, Winged Coatl and Wonder. Lu Xun, Scholar General has horsemanship, so almost nothing can block him. Hada Spy Patrol can’t be blocked after a single level counter, which costs {2}{U}.

The trigger fires once per creature that deals combat damage to a player, so three flyers connecting is three untaps. That’s where the commander’s strength sits, and it’s why I wouldn’t cut an evasive creature for a bigger ground one.

Azami, Lady of Scrolls shows the best use. She draws a card by tapping an untapped Wizard, and the deck has seven of them if you count Mirror Entity, which is a changeling and so every creature type. Derevi untaps a Wizard whenever something connects, which turns a hit into a second card. Tapping a Wizard for Azami isn’t a {T} ability on the Wizard, so a creature that arrived this turn can pay it.

The swaps add three more flyers: Restoration Angel, Mulldrifter and Brazen Borrower, which makes 17 of 32. Restoration Angel and Brazen Borrower both have flash, so you cast them at the end of an opponent’s turn and they attack on yours with nothing to wait for. Brazen Borrower can block only creatures with flying, so it is an attacker first. The Angel blinks any creature that isn’t an Angel, which includes Farhaven Elf, Pilgrim's Eye, Mulldrifter and Fiend Hunter, and doesn’t include Karmic Guide.

Eleven lands enter tapped, and the swaps take it to six

Eleven of the 38 lands are tapped on arrival: Azorius Chancery, Azorius Guildgate, Faerie Conclave, Rupture Spire, Seaside Citadel, Secluded Steppe, Sejiri Refuge, Selesnya Guildgate, Selesnya Sanctuary, Simic Guildgate and Transguild Promenade. Rupture Spire and Transguild Promenade also ask for {1} the turn they arrive or they are sacrificed.

Five leave and four come in. Secluded Steppe, Rupture Spire, Transguild Promenade and the Selesnya and Simic Guildgates make way for Glacial Fortress, Hinterland Harbor, Sunpetal Grove and Temple Garden. The deck runs 20 basics (seven Plains, seven Islands and six Forests), so each checkland has 13 or 14 basics that turn it on. On a first turn with no land in play the three checklands enter tapped, and Temple Garden enters untapped for 2 life.

Always-tapped lands fall from 11 to 6, four more are conditional, and the deck goes from 38 lands to 37. The count isn’t the point. The colours don’t move either: green stays at 21 sources, blue at 23 and white at 25. Each colour loses one source in the land swaps and gets it back from Arcane Signet. What changes is when they show up.

That leaves green as the thinnest colour, and Cultivate and Nature's Lore are there for it. Nature's Lore finds any land with the type Forest, and Temple Garden is one, so it can fetch the shockland.

One swap goes the wrong way for the blue count. Brazen Borrower costs {1}{U}{U}, which makes nine spells that want double blue against 23 sources, up from eight. I kept it because a flash flyer is exactly what this commander wants, and Petty Theft is a cheap bounce spell on the same card.

Thirteen cards that cost more turns than they return

The five lands are above. Eight spells go as well:

• Diviner Spirit costs five, has no evasion, and when it connects the player it hit draws as many cards as you do.
• Tempt with Glory costs six for a counter on each of your creatures. Each opponent who accepts gets one on each of theirs, and you get another round for every one that does.
• Curse of Predation and Curse of the Forsaken trigger on any creature attacking the enchanted player, so the counter and the life go to every opponent who swings as well as to you.
• Presence of Gond makes a creature tap for a 1/1 Elf Warrior, and a creature that is tapping isn’t attacking.
• Leafdrake Roost is five mana for an aura, and then {G}{U} and a tap of that land for each 2/2 flying Drake, which is one body a turn for a land’s worth of mana.
• Sword of the Paruns costs four to cast and three to equip before it does anything.
• Conjurer's Closet is five mana for one blink at the end of your turn.

Curse of Inertia and Flickerform would be next out. I left them because thirteen is already a full order of cards.

Four cards I would normally cut

• Control Magic is a four-mana aura, but a creature you steal that connects triggers Derevi like any other you control.
• Murkfiend Liege costs five without evasion. It also gives your other green and blue creatures +1/+1 and untaps all of them during each opponent’s untap step, so your green and blue attackers are back as blockers.
• Skyward Eye Prophets costs six, but it has vigilance and turns every tap into a land or a card, and Derevi can untap it for a second reveal.
• Darksteel Mutation costs two and turns any creature into a 0/1 Insect artifact creature that keeps indestructible and loses its other abilities, whatever its size.

The thirteen adds, and what I skipped

Prices below are the cheapest released paper printing of each card on 10 October 2026, and a promo can be the cheapest one. None of the thirteen is a Game Changer, which means the deck still sets no bracket floor above 1.

• Swords to Plowshares ($0.98) exiles a creature and gives its controller the life. Beast Within ($0.49) and Generous Gift ($0.93) destroy any permanent and leave a 3/3 token. Your flyers go over a ground token.
• Mulldrifter ($0.29) draws two on arrival. Restoration Angel ($0.31) and Brazen Borrower ($0.53) are the flash pair above.
• Arcane Signet ($0.34) and Cultivate ($0.38) are the cheap ramp. Nature's Lore ($2.15) is the priciest of the three and the only one that puts a land onto the battlefield untapped.

Skipped: Cyclonic Rift ($29.75) and Rhystic Study ($61.06) are both Game Changers, which would lift the list to a Bracket 3 floor. Mystic Remora costs $10.97 and has an upkeep that grows every turn you keep it. Counterspell ($2.24) wants {U}{U} from a colour that is already short on double pips. Kodama's Reach ($1.55) is Cultivate’s text at a higher price. Breeding Pool ($9.57) and Hallowed Fountain ($6.97) are the shocklands I would buy after 13 November 2026, when the Star Trek set reprints all ten and the prices will probably move.

Where the numbers land once all thirteen are in

It runs 37 lands, 32 creatures and an average mana value of 3.26, down from 3.44. Cards costing five or more fall from 15 to 12. Fourteen of 30 creatures could connect before, and 17 of 32 can now. The only thing the swaps leave alone is the colour source count.

The upgraded decklist

Below is the complete list with Derevi in the command zone, and every name previews when you hover it.

Load into the deck builder Copy decklist Playtest the upgraded deck

“Load into the deck builder” opens this list in your account, pinned to the printings the box shipped, ready to edit or save. “Copy decklist” gives you plain text for Moxfield, Archidekt or Arena, with no account needed.

FAQ

Can Derevi untap my lands for extra mana?

Yes. Her trigger says tap or untap target permanent, and a tapped land is a legal target, both when she enters and every time a creature you control deals combat damage to a player. Cast her for three, untap one of the lands you paid with, and she has cost two. After combat, each creature that connected refunds a land you can spend in your second main phase or on a flash creature.

Is it worth paying {1}{G}{W}{U} to put Derevi in from the command zone?

From her second cast onward, yes. The ability is not a spell, so it can’t be countered by something that only counters spells, and it doesn’t raise the commander tax. A first cast costs three, a recast after one trip to the command zone costs five, and the ability costs four every time. If she has only died once, you save a mana and keep the tax where it is.

What do the thirteen swaps cost?

$13.88 on 10 October 2026, counting each card at the cheapest paper printing it has. Four lands come to $7.48, of which Temple Garden is $6.71, and the nine spells come to $6.40. None of the thirteen adds is a Game Changer and the box has none, so the deck floors at Bracket 1 before and after. Temple Garden is in the Star Trek set on 13 November 2026, so that price may move.

Why not add Cyclonic Rift or Rhystic Study?

Both are Game Changers, which would lift the list to a Bracket 3 floor, and neither is cheap: the cheapest printing of Cyclonic Rift is $29.75 and of Rhystic Study $61.06. Mystic Remora ($10.97) isn’t a Game Changer, but it asks for a growing upkeep payment on a turn you would rather spend developing flyers. None of the three makes a flyer connect, which is what Derevi pays for.

Does Restoration Angel work with Fiend Hunter?

Yes, and it makes the exile permanent. Cast Restoration Angel in response to Fiend Hunter’s enter trigger and blink it. If Fiend Hunter leaves the battlefield before its first ability resolves, the return ability triggers with nothing to return, and then the first ability exiles its target indefinitely. Restoration Angel can only blink a non-Angel, so Fiend Hunter qualifies but Karmic Guide and Angel of Finality don’t.

Which tapped lands are worth keeping?

Faerie Conclave, Seaside Citadel and the two bounce lands. Faerie Conclave becomes a 2/1 flyer for {1}{U}, which is one more creature that can trigger Derevi. Seaside Citadel makes all three of her colours, and Azorius Chancery and Selesnya Sanctuary each make two mana and put a land back in your hand. Azorius Guildgate and Sejiri Refuge are the two tapped lands I would cut next.