Devour for Power precon upgrade guide

Forty lands, six ramp cards and an average mana value of 4.05 in the box, and green still has only 16 sources.

The Mimeoplasm costs {2}{B}{G}{U} and is a 0/0 that dies unless two creature cards are in graveyards. As it enters you exile two of them, it becomes a copy of one, and it gets +1/+1 counters equal to the power of the other. Whatever it copies keeps its enters abilities, so a copy of Mulldrifter draws two cards and a copy of Dark Hatchling destroys a nonblack creature. The box is built to feed that. It has 33 creatures, 13 of them costing six or more, plus Buried Alive, Windfall and seven cards that mill someone: Shared Trauma, Dreamborn Muse, Memory Erosion, Riddlekeeper, Extractor Demon, Szadek and Sewer Nemesis.

What it lacks is the mana to get there. The 40 lands are above the 35 to 38 most Commander lists run, and eight of them enter tapped. Green still has 16 sources, so a green spell is on time by turn two 77% of the time on the play, against 86.3% for black and 81.2% for blue. Six spells print a green double pip (one of them, Desecrator Hag, can be paid with black instead), and {G}{G} by turn three comes 44.6% of the time. Getting it to 90% takes 36 green sources. Nine of the twelve adds are mana or draw (three duals, three ramp cards and three that draw), and five lands come out to pay for them. Each price is the lowest I found across released printings in October 2026, promos included.

What are the best Devour for Power upgrades?

Twelve swaps cost $15.39 between them. In the order I'd buy them:

1. Animate Dead ($7.28). For {1}{B} it reanimates the best creature in anyone's graveyard and hands you control of it. It does for two mana what Rise from the Grave does for five, and it's the dearest card on the list.
2. Arcane Signet ($0.34), Nature's Lore ($2.15) and Sakura-Tribe Elder ($0.31). Ramp goes from 6 cards to 9. Argued in the ramp section.
3. Maelstrom Pulse ($0.21). It destroys any nonland permanent for three mana. Relic Crush covers only artifacts and enchantments and costs five.
4. Woodland Cemetery ($0.86), Drowned Catacomb ($0.40) and Hinterland Harbor ($0.25). Three duals, one for each pair of colors. Argued in the mana section.
5. Night's Whisper ($0.22), Read the Bones ($0.19) and Phyrexian Arena ($2.57). Three more ways to draw.
6. Victimize ($0.61). It returns two creatures at once, argued in the reanimation section.

Five lands out and three duals in

The five that leave are Jwar Isle Refuge, Tranquil Thicket, Lonely Sandbar, Barren Moor and one Island. All four nonbasics enter tapped. Jwar Isle Refuge taps for blue or black and gains 1 life, and the other three tap for one color each and cycle for one mana of it. Cycling is the argument for them in a deck that likes a full graveyard, but a cycled land is a land card, and The Mimeoplasm exiles creature cards.

In their place go Woodland Cemetery (black or green), Drowned Catacomb (blue or black) and Hinterland Harbor (green or blue). Each enters untapped if you control a land with either of the two types it names. The deck runs 26 basics after the Island leaves, 8 Forests, 7 Islands and 11 Swamps, which keeps that condition easy to meet.

Alone, the land swaps move green from 16 sources to 17, leave black at 21 and take blue from 18 to 17. Arcane Signet adds one source of each color, which makes it 22 black, 18 green and 18 blue. On the play, a green spell by turn two goes from 77% to 81.2%, black from 86.3% to 87.7% and blue stays at 81.2%. {G}{G} by turn three goes from 44.6% to 51.5%, and {B}{B} from 61% to 63.9%. That's still short of 90%, which wants 36 sources of one color. Blue is the color these swaps don't improve.

Four lands still enter tapped without conditions: Dimir Aqueduct, Golgari Rot Farm, Simic Growth Chamber and Rupture Spire. The three bounce lands tap for two mana of two colors and send a land back to your hand to be replayed, which is the job a tapped land has to be doing to stay. The list has 38 lands, inside the 35 to 38 range.

Ramp and draw, three each

The box has six ramp cards: Sol Ring, the three Signets, Cultivate and Solemn Simulacrum. Nature's Lore puts a Forest onto the battlefield untapped for two mana, which is the color the deck is shortest of. Sakura-Tribe Elder fetches any basic land tapped when you sacrifice it. With Grave Pact on the battlefield, sacrificing the Elder makes each opponent sacrifice a creature. Arcane Signet taps for any color in the commander's identity. Ramp goes from 6 to 9, and cards costing one or two mana go from 12 to 17.

The cheap draw in the box is thin. Sign in Blood is the only spell at two mana or less that draws for you alone. Night's Whisper draws two for {1}{B}, Read the Bones scries 2 and draws two for {2}{B}, and Phyrexian Arena draws one a turn for {1}{B}{B}. The first two cost 2 life each, and the Arena costs 1 a turn. With Sign in Blood that's four cards paying life in a format that starts you at 40.

Seven spells out

Vow of Wildness, Vow of Flight and Vow of Malice are Auras that cost three each. You put one on an opponent's creature and it can't attack you or your planeswalkers, but it also gets +3/+3 and trample, +2/+2 and flying, or +2/+2 and intimidate. That stops one creature from hitting you and makes it bigger against the other opponents. Three of them is nine mana for protection from three creatures at most. None adds a creature card to a graveyard or brings one back.

Relic Crush is {4}{G} at instant speed and destroys an artifact or enchantment, plus up to one other. Its second target is real, and I'm giving it up anyway. Acidic Slime, Tribute to the Wild and Oblivion Stone all still answer artifacts and enchantments, and Maelstrom Pulse adds a three-mana sorcery that destroys a target nonland permanent along with all other permanents sharing its name. That includes a creature, a planeswalker or a stack of tokens.

Unnerve costs {3}{B} and makes each opponent discard two cards. It gives me nothing for it. Syphon Mind costs the same, makes each other player discard a card and draws me a card for each one, so Unnerve is the version of the effect that gives nothing back.

Rise from the Grave is five mana for any creature in any graveyard, and the creature becomes a black Zombie as well. Patron of the Nezumi costs seven and makes an opponent lose 1 life when a permanent goes to their graveyard. Its Rat offering has one Rat to sacrifice in this box, Nezumi Graverobber. Its drain only sees permanents that leave the battlefield for a graveyard, so a milled card never triggers it. It pairs with the sacrifice and wipe effects instead, and it's the cut I'd argue least. Thirteen cards cost six or more in the box, and 12 do after it goes.

Animate Dead and Victimize

The box returns creatures to your hand or the battlefield with Nezumi Graverobber, Eternal Witness, Gravedigger, Desecrator Hag, Stitch Together, Rise from the Grave, Living Death and Artisan of Kozilek. The swaps trade Rise from the Grave for two cards that cost less. Animate Dead gives the creature -1/-0, and if the Aura leaves the battlefield, the creature is sacrificed. That is a real risk if an opponent runs enchantment removal.

Victimize costs {2}{B}, makes you sacrifice a creature and returns two creature cards from your graveyard to the battlefield tapped. You choose both targets, and you can't cast it with fewer than two. The sacrifice isn't chosen until it resolves, so it can't be one of the two you bring back. Solemn Simulacrum draws a card and Yavimaya Elder fetches two basic lands when sacrificed this way, and with Grave Pact or Butcher of Malakir on the battlefield, the sacrifice makes each opponent sacrifice a creature too.

Why a nine-drop and a seven-drop stay

Artisan of Kozilek costs nine. Its trigger happens when you cast it, so a counterspell doesn't stop the creature it returns. At 10 power it offers The Mimeoplasm the most counters of any creature in the deck. A copy of it gets the 10/9 body and annihilator 2, but not the cast trigger. Damia, Sage of Stone costs seven and has deathtouch. She skips your draw step, but at your upkeep she draws you up to seven cards. Once you've emptied your hand, she refills it.

Acidic Slime costs five and destroys an artifact, enchantment or land when it enters. It stays because The Mimeoplasm can copy it, and because Relic Crush is leaving. Lightning Greaves equips for {0} and gives haste and shroud. That protects a freshly copied Mimeoplasm from targeted removal, though not from a sweeper, and I'd keep it for that.

Next in the buying order, and what I skipped

Reanimate ($6.34) is the next reanimation spell I'd buy. It costs {B}, but you lose life equal to the creature's mana value, and this deck's biggest creatures cost 6 to 9. Entomb ($16.66) puts any card into your graveyard at instant speed, and Buried Alive already does that for three creatures. Sylvan Library ($26.60, cheapest printing is a Secret Lair) is the dearest green draw I looked at, and I stopped at the price.

Rhystic Study ($67.12) is a Game Changer, so it would put the deck's floor at Bracket 3 before the price comes into it. Three Visits ($5.27) does what Nature's Lore does at more than twice the cost. Farseek ($0.45) looks like the same card, but it finds a Plains, Island, Swamp or Mountain card and can't find a Forest, so it fetches a blue or black source in the deck that needs green. The shocklands Watery Grave ($10.01), Overgrown Tomb ($8.14) and Breeding Pool ($9.16) are reprinted in Star Trek on 13 November 2026, and I'd wait for that before buying them.

What the twelve swaps change

The deck goes from 40 lands to 38, with always-tapped lands falling from eight to four. Ramp goes from 6 cards to 9. Average mana value drops from 4.05 to 3.79, cards costing four or more go from 33 to 29, and cards costing one or two go from 12 to 17. Creatures stay at 33, and legendary creatures go from 8 to 7. Nothing in either version is a Game Changer, so Bracket 1 stays the floor.

The upgraded decklist

The Mimeoplasm and the 99 with all twelve swaps made, sorted by card type. Hovering any name shows the card.

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

What does The Mimeoplasm copy in this deck?

Whichever of the two exiled creature cards you choose, and the other one sets the counters. They can come from one graveyard or two, and you can't exile just one. A copy of Mulldrifter draws two cards when it arrives, and a copy of Dark Hatchling destroys a nonblack creature. With Artisan of Kozilek as the other card, a Mulldrifter copy is a 12/12 flier, because Artisan's power of 10 becomes counters on Mulldrifter's 2. Only enters abilities carry over. Artisan's return-a-creature trigger happens when it's cast, so a copy doesn't get it.

How does Avatar of Woe get cheap?

It costs {6} less when ten or more creature cards sit in all graveyards combined, which leaves {B}{B}. Every player's graveyard counts. Its mana value stays 8 either way. The Mimeoplasm can exile two creature cards each time it enters and Living Death clears the lot, so the count rises and falls in this deck.

How much do the twelve swaps cost?

$15.39 in total counting the lowest price across released printings, read in October 2026. Animate Dead is $7.28 of it and the other eleven add up to $8.11. None of the twelve carries the Game Changer flag, so the deck keeps its Bracket 1 floor.

Why Animate Dead over Reanimate?

Reanimate is cheaper at $6.34 and costs {B}, but you lose life equal to the creature's mana value. Artisan of Kozilek would cost 9, and the deck's other top-end creatures cost 6 to 8. Animate Dead costs {1}{B}, pays no life and gives the creature -1/-0. The catch is that the creature is sacrificed if the Aura leaves, so enchantment removal undoes it. I'd buy Reanimate next.

Why checklands when the shocklands are better?

Watery Grave, Overgrown Tomb and Breeding Pool add up to $27.31 at their cheapest printings, against $1.51 for the three checklands. All ten shocklands are reprinted in Star Trek on 13 November 2026, so those prices may fall. Overgrown Tomb and Breeding Pool also have the Forest type, which means Nature's Lore can fetch them. They're the first lands I'd buy once the price drops.

Is Rhystic Study worth adding?

Not in this upgrade. It's a Game Changer, which would end the deck's Bracket 1 floor, and it costs $67.12 at its cheapest printing. Night's Whisper and Read the Bones draw four cards between them for $0.41 and don't change the bracket.