Call for Backup precon upgrade guide

Forty-three of the 61 nonland cards in the 99 use +1/+1 counters, and only one of them, Conclave Mentor, makes the counters the others put on any bigger.

Bright-Palm, Soul Awakener puts a counter on a creature when it enters and doubles the counters on one creature whenever it attacks. The card that makes those counters matter is in the 99. Shalai and Hallar deals damage to a target opponent equal to the number of +1/+1 counters put on a creature you control, so every counter that lands is a point of damage. She flies, she has vigilance, she costs the same {1}{R}{G}{W} as the commander, and the box gives her one card that makes counters bigger on the way in.

Three of the eight swaps fix that. Hardened Scales and Branching Evolution join Conclave Mentor as replacement effects, and Cathars' Crusade puts a counter on every creature you control each time one enters. The other five adds are a counter spreader, a draw engine and three cards that make red, which is the second finding. The box lists 20 red sources, and one of them is Path of the Pyromancer, which makes red only by discarding your hand. That leaves 19 for the 12 cards that print red. Four of them are lands that fetch rather than tap for red, and the box holds two Mountains.

All eight adds come to $19.37 at October 2026 prices, using the cheapest released printing of each. None is a Game Changer, so the list stays at Bracket 1.

What are the best Call for Backup upgrades?

Ranked by how much each does for this deck. The cuts they pay for are in the cuts section.

1. Hardened Scales ($1.89). One green mana adds one counter to every batch put on a creature you control. It stacks with Conclave Mentor, so a backup 1 puts three counters instead of one and Shalai deals three.
2. Branching Evolution ($7.44). It doubles every batch. When several effects change the same batch you choose the order they apply, so you add first and double last: Mentor and Scales make that backup 1 a batch of three, and Branching Evolution turns it into six.
3. Cathars' Crusade ($4.94). Every creature you control gets a counter whenever a creature enters under your control. It's the one white card among the adds, and the next section counts what it does for Shalai.
4. Verdurous Gearhulk ($0.38). A 4/4 trampler for five that distributes four counters among creatures you control, itself included. Spread one to each of four creatures with Shalai in play, and Scales and Mentor make it three apiece, so she deals twelve.
5. Beast Whisperer ($3.73). It draws a card whenever you cast a creature spell, and 37 of the 99 cards in the upgraded list are creatures, with Bright-Palm to cast as well. The box's draw is Armorcraft Judge, Inspiring Call, Mindless Automaton, Path of the Pyromancer and a Commander's Sphere you sacrifice.
6. Talisman of Impulse ($0.40), Talisman of Conviction ($0.34) and Clifftop Retreat ($0.25). Three cards that make red, argued in the mana section. They cost $0.99 together.

One backup, three replacement effects, six damage

Shalai triggers once for each creature that receives counters, and the damage equals the number actually put on it. That second part is what the multipliers change. With Conclave Mentor, Hardened Scales and Branching Evolution out, a backup 1 trigger asks for one counter and delivers six. Kalonian Hydra's attack works the same way. Its ruling says doubling means putting that many more on, and that effects which interact with counters change the number ultimately put.

The same logic makes Cathars' Crusade the strongest card on the list for her. Say Shalai and seven other creatures are in play and a ninth creature enters. The Crusade puts a counter on all nine, the entering one included, and Shalai triggers nine times for one damage each. With Scales and Mentor on top, each of the nine receives three counters and the total is 27. Tokens count as creatures entering, so every Goblin that Krenko, Tin Street Kingpin makes on an attack is another Crusade trigger.

I put $14.27 of the $19.37 into those three enchantments and not into more creatures, because the box already has plenty of counter cards and nothing behind them.

Eight cuts, and two of them are rocks that make no color

Ichor Elixir costs four to tap for two colorless, where Sol Ring costs one. Its first line is about planar dice, which do nothing without a planar deck. The Cavalry Charge guide covers that, because its copy is the same card. Fractured Powerstone costs two for one colorless, and its second ability rolls the planar die, which is blank here too. In a three-color deck with a red shortage, colorless rocks are the least useful way to spend a slot. The Talismans take the slots at two mana each, and they make colors.

Temple of the False God taps for two colorless once you control five lands, and for nothing before that. It's a land that adds no color in a deck whose problem is color. Clifftop Retreat takes the slot and makes red or white.

Together Forever asks the most of the white. It costs {W}{W} to support two creatures, and on 22 white sources the odds of having two white sources by turn three on the play are 63.9%. The only white cards left printing {W}{W} are Sunscorch Regent and the new Cathars' Crusade, and both cost five. At 24 sources after the swaps the odds of two white sources by turn five are 80.3%, against 75.6% at 22.

Flamerush Rider costs five and copies another attacking creature as a token that is exiled at end of combat. A token copy has none of the original's counters, so it copies a big creature as the base card. Brawn is a 3/3 for four whose only other job is giving your creatures trample from the graveyard while you control a Forest, and Pridemalkin already gives it to every creature with a counter. Emergent Woodwurm is the only seven-drop in the box, and its attack trigger needs it to survive a turn before it digs.

Mirror-Style Master is the cut I could argue either way. For {4}{R}{R} it copies each attacking modified creature as a tapped and attacking token. The tokens carry no counters, it needs {R}{R} when red is the shortest color, and with it gone the only card printing {R}{R} is the Earth half of Heaven // Earth. If your red is already solid it's a fine six-drop to keep.

Nineteen red sources and two Mountains to find them

Five cards in the box search for a basic land: Cultivate, Kodama's Reach, Evolving Wilds, Terramorphic Expanse and Fertilid. The deck holds two basic Mountains, five Plains and six Forests, so only two of the 13 basics those searches fetch from are red. More ramp wasn't going to fix that. Cards that make red themselves will: Talisman of Impulse (red or green), Talisman of Conviction (red or white) and Clifftop Retreat (red or white). Each Talisman deals 1 damage to you when it taps for a color, and it taps for colorless without that.

That takes red sources from 19 to 22. On the play, the odds of having red by turn two go from 83.1% to 87.7%, and the odds of two red sources by turn three, which only Heaven // Earth wants now, from 54.8% to 63.9%. The cards that print red fall from 12 to 10, because Flamerush Rider and Mirror-Style Master leave. White goes from 22 sources to 24.

Green is the one color I added demand to. Beast Whisperer and Verdurous Gearhulk both print {G}{G}, which takes the cards that do from three to five, and Talisman of Impulse moves green from 30 sources to 31. The odds of {G}{G} by turn four are 88.3%, and by turn five 91.6%. I'm fine with that, because both cards cost four or more and Cultivate and Kodama's Reach can fetch Forests.

Always-tapped lands stay at nine. Temple of the False God enters untapped, and Clifftop Retreat does too once you control a Mountain or a Plains, which the seven basics, Cinder Glade and Canopy Vista all satisfy. The swap doesn't add a tapped land.

Why the six-drops stay

Hamza, Guardian of Arashin costs {4}{G}{W}, and it and every creature spell you cast cost {1} less for each creature you control with a +1/+1 counter on it. The ruling says that only reduces generic mana, so with four countered creatures Hamza costs {G}{W}. Conclave Sledge-Captain has backup 1 three times, and each backup trigger is separate. With only Hardened Scales out that's six counters on the turn it lands, and six damage if Shalai is in play. Slurrk, All-Ingesting enters with five counters and puts another on every countered creature you control whenever one of them dies, so a trade leaves the survivors bigger and each counter is a Shalai trigger.

Uncivil Unrest is a five-mana enchantment, which is why it looks like a cut. Nontoken creatures you control gain riot, so each can enter with a counter, and Scales, Mentor and Branching Evolution all modify that counter. It also doubles damage dealt by your creatures that have a counter on them. Shalai's pings are damage she deals, and the Crusade puts a counter on her every time a creature enters, so the Unrest doubles them. Path of the Pyromancer stays because the box's draw is thin and it's the one card that reloads a whole hand. The red count I used leaves it out, since it's not a reliable source.

Four cards I looked at and left out

Doubling Season ($29.38) is the strongest multiplier in green. It doubles counters and tokens, so Krenko's Goblins double too. It costs more than the eight adds together and Branching Evolution already does the counter half for $7.44, so it's the last of these to buy. Vorinclex, Monstrous Raider ($34.41) is a six-mana trampler with haste that doubles the counters you put and halves the ones opponents put. It's a second multiplier at more than four times the price of the first, and as a creature it has to survive to use it. Path to Exile ($0.62) is a second answer beside Swords to Plowshares, and I held it back only to keep the list at eight. Walking Ballista ($5.45) enters with X counters, so with the multipliers out it enters with more than X, and it's the first card I'd buy after the eight. None of the four is a Game Changer.

What the eight swaps change

The deck stays at 38 lands. Average mana value falls from 3.57 to 3.44, and cards costing five or more go from 17 to 16. Creatures in the 99 go from 39 to 37, and replacement effects that enlarge counters go from one to three.

The upgraded decklist

Bright-Palm and the 99 with all eight swaps made, sorted by card type. Hovering any name shows the card.

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FAQ

How much damage does Shalai and Hallar deal off a single backup?

One damage per counter that actually lands. A backup 1 on its own puts one counter and deals one. With Conclave Mentor and Hardened Scales both out it puts three, and Branching Evolution on top doubles that to six if you apply the two additions first. When several effects change the same batch of counters you choose the order, and the doubling goes last for the larger number.

What does upgrading Call for Backup cost?

$19.37 for all eight adds at October 2026 market prices, using the cheapest released printing of each. Branching Evolution ($7.44) and Cathars' Crusade ($4.94) are $12.38 of that, and the other six cards together are $6.99. None is a Game Changer, so the box stays at Bracket 1.

Does Cathars' Crusade count the creature that triggers it?

Yes. The creature that entered gets a counter too, as long as it's still on the battlefield when the ability resolves. Tokens trigger it as well, so with Shalai out, each creature you control receiving a counter is its own point of damage, and a Krenko attack makes several triggers.

Do Shalai and Hallar's pings count as commander damage?

No. Only combat damage counts toward the 21 from a commander, and her ability isn't combat damage. In this box she isn't the commander anyway: Bright-Palm is, and Shalai is one of the 99.

Why isn't Doubling Season in the list?

It's $29.38 against $19.37 for all eight adds, and Branching Evolution already doubles counters for $7.44. Doubling Season also doubles tokens, which is real value with Krenko, so it's the last card to add. It isn't a Game Changer, so it doesn't change the bracket whenever you do.

Can I cast both halves of Heaven // Earth in one turn?

Yes, if you can pay for both. You cast Heaven from your hand and then Earth from the graveyard with aftermath, and Earth is exiled afterward however it resolves. Earth deals X damage to each creature without flying, which includes yours, so it's a reset for a board that has gone wrong and not a routine play.