Guided By Nature precon upgrade guide

Twenty-three of this box's 37 creatures are Elves, and nothing in it answers a threat at instant speed, so the upgrade adds Elves and Beast Within and takes the top end down.

Freyalise, Llanowar's Fury is a five-mana planeswalker whose +2 makes a 1/1 Elf Druid that taps for {G}, so the commander adds one more Elf to a count that is already large. Besides the 23 Elf creatures, Hunting Triad is a 24th Elf card. Four of them pay you for the rest: Elvish Archdruid and Imperious Perfect give the other Elves +1/+1, Joraga Warcaller does it once for each +1/+1 counter on it, and Ezuri, Renegade Leader gives every Elf +3/+3 and trample for {2}{G}{G}{G}. Priest of Titania and Elvish Archdruid turn the same Elves into mana.

The 14 creatures that aren't Elves are where the box goes wrong. Eleven of them cost five or more, so no lord makes them bigger and no Elf-count ability sees them. Across the whole box, 14 nonland cards cost six or more, five of them seven or eight, against an average mana value of 3.76.

The other weak point is answers. The box has two instants, Harrow and Fresh Meat, and neither stops a threat. Desert Twister destroys any permanent for six mana at sorcery speed. Song of the Dryads turns one permanent into a Forest. Predator, Flagship kills a creature if you pay {2} to give it flying and then {5} and a tap to destroy it. Freyalise's -2 and Reclamation Sage only reach artifacts and enchantments. The box has no Game Changer, which puts the bracket floor at 1, and it stays 1 after the swaps.

What are the best Guided By Nature upgrades?

Best first, with prices from October 2026 at the cheapest released printing, sometimes a promo or a special printing. All eleven adds come to $49.72.

1. Beast Within ($0.57). Destroy target permanent at instant speed for {2}{G}. Its controller gets a 3/3 Beast, which is the price, and it's the only instant in the deck that removes anything. It reaches planeswalkers, artifacts and lands as well as creatures, and only a hexproof or shroud target slips past it.
2. Elvish Clancaller ($0.49). Other Elves you control get +1/+1 for {G}{G}. That makes it the cheapest lord in the deck that works without extra mana, because Joraga Warcaller needs kicker before it does anything. With Clancaller, Elvish Archdruid and Imperious Perfect all out, a 1/1 Llanowar Elves is a 4/4.
3. Collected Company ($1.10). Look at the top six cards and put up to two creature cards with mana value 3 or less onto the battlefield, at instant speed. 24 creature cards in the upgraded list cost three or less and 22 of them are Elves. Lifeblood Hydra is the one to count out, since it arrives with X at zero and dies as a 0/0. Against the other 23, a full library gives about an 80% chance of hitting at least one and 43% of hitting two.
4. Elvish Warmaster ($3.62). It makes a 1/1 Elf Warrior the first time each turn that other Elves enter under your control, however many arrive at once. The {5}{G}{G} ability gives your Elves +2/+2 and deathtouch until end of turn.
5. Elvish Promenade ($8.36). A 1/1 Elf Warrior for each Elf you control. With eight Elves out that's eight tokens, and because they arrive together Oran-Rief can put a +1/+1 counter on every one of them the same turn.
6. Heroic Intervention ($9.10). Every permanent you control gains hexproof and indestructible until end of turn. The box's protection is Swiftfoot Boots, Sylvan Safekeeper at the cost of a land, and the hexproof on Drove of Elves, and each of them covers one creature. A deck that leans on a wide board has nothing against a destroy-based sweeper yet.
7. Craterhoof Behemoth ($23.43). Eight mana, haste, and every creature you control gets +X/+X and trample until end of turn, X being how many you control. It arrives as the only eight-drop, in place of Terastodon and Praetor's Counsel. Overrun stays at five mana, so the Hoof is the version that scales with the count.
8. Garruk Wildspeaker ($2.46), Llanowar Tribe ($0.31), Sylvan Messenger ($0.15) and Dwynen's Elite ($0.13). Four cheap cards, argued below.

What the new Elves multiply

The swaps take the deck from 23 Elf creatures to 28, and from 37 creatures to 38. Five of the adds are Elves that cost four or less, and they raise every number a lord or Elf-count card reads. Elvish Archdruid taps for one {G} per Elf you control, itself included, so with five Elves it makes {G}{G}{G}{G}{G}. Priest of Titania counts Elves on the whole battlefield, including other players', so an opponent who plays Elves feeds it too.

Dwynen's Elite is a 2/2 for two that makes a 1/1 Elf Warrior if you control another Elf when it enters, and checks again as the trigger resolves, so it needs a second Elf at both moments. With 28 Elf creatures in the list the condition is cheap to meet, and Freyalise's Elf Druid tokens count too. Llanowar Tribe costs {G}{G}{G} and taps for {G}{G}{G}, which is what Elvish Archdruid makes with three Elves, with no count to build. Sylvan Messenger is a 2/2 trampler that reveals the top four cards and puts every Elf card into your hand, with the rest on the bottom. There are 29 other Elf cards in a 98-card library, which is about 1.2 per cast from a full one.

Garruk Wildspeaker enters with 3 loyalty. His +1 untaps two lands, which doesn't need them to be tapped, so the turn he lands he returns two mana. His -1 makes a 3/3 Beast. After one +1 he's at 4, and next turn the -4 is a second Overrun, +3/+3 and trample for everything you control, for a four-mana card. He has to survive a turn first, so he's a slower Overrun than the one already in the box.

Titania earns her slot, and the Magistrate has a partner

Titania, Protector of Argoth isn't an Elf and costs five, which makes her the first card a deckbuilder would take out. Ten cards in the deck sacrifice a land as a cost: Evolving Wilds, Terramorphic Expanse, Crystal Vein, Havenwood Battleground, Myriad Landscape, Gargoyle Castle, Ghost Quarter, Haunted Fengraf, Harrow and Sylvan Safekeeper. While she's on the battlefield, every one of those gives you a 5/3 Elemental token when the land hits the graveyard, and her enter trigger returns a land card from your graveyard to the battlefield. She stays.

Immaculate Magistrate puts a +1/+1 counter on target creature for each Elf you control, which reads as a one-creature buff in a go-wide deck. Joraga Warcaller changes it. Warcaller gives the other Elves +1/+1 for each +1/+1 counter on it, and the ruling says that counts every counter, not only the ones from kicker. With ten Elves out, one Magistrate activation puts ten counters on Warcaller, and every other Elf you control, Magistrate included, gets +10/+10 for as long as Warcaller lives. All of it rides on one creature, which is the job Heroic Intervention has.

Song of the Dryads is an Aura, which is a poor card in a go-wide list, but it's also one of the deck's three-mana ways to deal with a creature or planeswalker. It makes the enchanted permanent a colorless Forest land and strips its other abilities, for three mana at sorcery speed. It stays next to Beast Within, because Beast Within gives the opponent a 3/3 and the Aura doesn't.

What leaves, starting with the seven- and eight-drops

Five cards cost seven or eight, and all five go. Wave of Vitriol makes each player sacrifice every artifact, enchantment and nonbasic land they control. This deck runs ten artifacts and twelve nonbasic lands, so it takes your own Sol Ring and Skullclamp too. Praetor's Counsel returns your whole graveyard to your hand for eight mana and lets you ignore your maximum hand size, which does nothing about the board. Terastodon destroys up to three noncreature permanents and each one's controller is handed a 3/3 Elephant, so aimed at an opponent it hands out three bodies. Aimed at your own lands it makes three 3/3s for you, and with Titania out each of those lands also makes a 5/3. It costs eight, and Craterhoof takes the eight-drop slot.

Siege Behemoth costs seven, has hexproof, and lets each of your attackers assign combat damage as though it weren't blocked. Overrun gives the team trample for five. Tornado Elemental costs seven and its enter trigger deals 6 damage to each creature with flying, yours included.

Four cards in the box can only affect creatures with flying: Elvish Skysweeper, Whirlwind, Silklash Spider and Tornado Elemental. The last three go. Whirlwind destroys every creature with flying, and Silklash Spider pays {X}{G}{G} to deal X damage to each one. Elvish Skysweeper stays because it's a one-mana Elf and the ability is a bonus, Thornweald Archer blocks fliers with reach and deathtouch, and Predator, Flagship stays because it can give any creature flying first, so it removes ground creatures too. Beast Within is the answer for the rest.

Assault Suit costs four and another three to equip. It gives +2/+2 and haste to one creature, can't be sacrificed, and lets you hand that creature to an opponent for their turn if you want. Three lords already give +1/+1 to every Elf. Grave Sifter costs six and makes each player choose a creature type and return any number of cards of that type from their graveyard to their hand, so each opponent gets cards back too. Loreseeker's Stone costs six, and each use costs {3} plus {1} for every card in your hand to draw three cards. Seer's Sundial costs four and charges {2} each time a land enters under your control to draw one card. By my count the swaps take the box's draw cards from 10 to 8, still in the typical range of 8 to 12. Sylvan Library would fix that, but its cheapest released printing is a Secret Lair at $26.60, so it's the first thing I'd add beyond this list.

The lands don't move

The box has 37 lands, in the typical range of 35 to 38. Six enter tapped, and each does something. Slippery Karst cycles for {2} and Tranquil Thicket for {G}. Oran-Rief gives the counters that make Promenade's tokens bigger the turn they arrive. Havenwood Battleground and Myriad Landscape sacrifice themselves, which pays out when Titania is on the battlefield. Jungle Basin taps for {C}{G} and returns an untapped Forest to your hand as it enters, which keeps your land count flat and gives you a Forest to play next turn. By my count the upgraded list has 40 green sources, and Llanowar Tribe is the one added, with a 94.2% chance of having {G}{G} by turn three on the play.

What the price kept out

Elvish Champion ($13.29) gives other Elf creatures +1/+1 and forestwalk, and it's the next lord to look at if three isn't enough. It's behind Clancaller because Clancaller gives the same +1/+1 for $0.49, and because Champion's text says other Elf creatures, not other Elves you control, so it pumps an opponent's Elves too and gives them forestwalk against your Forests. Sylvan Library ($26.60) is the other, for the draw reason above. Neither is a Game Changer.

The upgraded decklist

Hover a card name to see it. The list below is the deck after all eleven swaps, 100 cards with Freyalise, Llanowar's Fury as the commander.

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

Does Priest of Titania count my opponents' Elves?

Yes. Priest of Titania taps for {G} for each Elf on the battlefield, including itself and Elves other players control. It's a mana ability, so nobody can respond by removing an Elf after you tap it. With six Elves on your side and two on someone else's, it makes eight.

What does Heroic Intervention save from a sweeper, and what does it miss?

It gives every permanent you control hexproof and indestructible until end of turn, and the set of permanents is fixed as it resolves, so cast it in response to the sweeper. That beats any wrath that says destroy and any targeted removal. It does nothing against exile, -X/-X effects or sacrifice, and a planeswalker with indestructible still loses loyalty to damage.

Is Craterhoof Behemoth worth $23.43 in Guided By Nature?

It's the best finisher the deck can run and the one to buy last. Craterhoof Behemoth costs eight, has haste, and gives each creature you control trample and a bonus equal to your creature count when the trigger resolves, counting itself. Overrun already gives +3/+3 and trample for five, and Ezuri, Renegade Leader gives +3/+3 and trample to Elves at instant speed, so the deck wins without it. The Hoof is what turns a board of ten creatures into +10/+10 in one turn. The price is the cheapest released printing, from Avacyn Restored, and it isn't on Scryfall's Game Changer list as of October 2026.

What do the eleven swaps cost in total?

$49.72 at the cheapest released printing of each add, using October 2026 prices. Craterhoof Behemoth is $23.43 of that and Heroic Intervention is $9.10. The other nine adds come to $17.19, and six of those are under a dollar and a half. The cuts aren't counted as refunds.

Why keep Titania, Protector of Argoth when she isn't an Elf?

Ten cards in the deck sacrifice a land as a cost, and with Titania on the battlefield each one gives you a 5/3 Elemental. The eight sacrifice lands are Evolving Wilds, Terramorphic Expanse, Crystal Vein, Havenwood Battleground, Myriad Landscape, Gargoyle Castle, Ghost Quarter and Haunted Fengraf. Harrow and Sylvan Safekeeper are the other two. Her enter trigger also returns a land card from your graveyard to the battlefield.

Does Thunderfoot Baloth work when my commander is a planeswalker?

Yes, while she's on the battlefield. Lieutenant abilities apply only if your commander is on the battlefield under your control, and another player's commander doesn't count. Freyalise, Llanowar's Fury costs five, enters with 3 loyalty and each +2 makes an Elf Druid. If she dies or leaves, the +2/+2 and trample stop at once.