Precon Upgrade Guide
Nature of the Beast Upgrade Guide
What to cut, what to add, and how to play the Naya big creatures precon from Commander 2013, commanded by Marath, Will of the Wild.
Commander 2013
Nature of the Beast
Three modes off one pool of counters is a real decision every combat. Out of the box, before any upgrades. How we rate precons
Buy Nature of the Beast on TCGplayer →Quick verdict
Nature of the Beast is a big-creature deck with a flexible commander that scales with the mana you have. Marath, Will of the Wild can be a removal spell, a token maker or a pump effect depending on the turn, and the deck around it plays a lot of large Beasts that hit hard once they land. The mana base is the main problem, with well over a dozen tapped lands, and the deck spends slots on cards like Witch Hunt and the Curses that don't help it win.
TurnZero HQ rates Nature of the Beast a 3 out of 5 on difficulty and a 3 out of 5 on power, as it comes in the box. That is our editorial read, not an official Wizards rating. The full hundred cards are on the Nature of the Beast decklist page, and every other precon we cover is on the precon directory.
How the precon plays
Marath, Will of the Wild is a 0/0 that enters with a +1/+1 counter for each mana spent to cast it, so it starts with three and grows by two each time you recast it. For {X} plus removing X counters, Marath can put X counters on another creature, deal X damage to any target, or make an X/X Elemental token. That makes it a mana sink that turns spare mana into whatever the board needs.
The rest of the deck is large creatures and the cards that reward them. Rampaging Baloths makes a 4/4 on every land drop, Avenger of Zendikar makes a Plant per land and grows them with landfall, and Gahiji, Honored One gives +2/+0 to every creature attacking your opponents. Where Ancients Tread deals 5 damage whenever a creature with 5 or more power enters, and Drumhunter draws a card each end step while you control one.
Ramp comes from Cultivate , Tempt with Discovery , Sprouting Vines and Sol Ring , and the deck has more sweepers than most creature decks: Wrath of God , Savage Twister , Slice and Dice and Crater Hellion . Those let you reset the board when you are behind, then rebuild faster with larger creatures than your opponents.
What works out of the box
Marath, Will of the Wild ↗
Turns spare mana into removal, counters or an X/X token as the game needs, and comes back larger each time it is recast.
Rampaging Baloths ↗
A 6/6 trampler that makes a 4/4 Beast on every land drop. Left unanswered for a few turns, it builds an army by itself.
Avenger of Zendikar ↗
Makes a 0/1 Plant for every land you control, then grows them all with each land drop. In a deck with this much ramp, that is often seven or more Plants.
Gahiji, Honored One ↗
Every creature attacking your opponents gets +2/+0. It turns a board of tokens and Beasts into a lot of extra damage.
Where Ancients Tread ↗
Deals 5 damage to any target whenever a creature with 5 or more power enters under your control. Most of the deck's creatures qualify.
Spellbreaker Behemoth ↗
A four-mana 5/5 that can't be countered and stops your other creature spells with 5 or more power from being countered.
What needs improvement
The mana base is very slow. Guildgates, bounce lands, Jungle Shrine , Rupture Spire , Vivid Crag , Mosswort Bridge and six cycling lands all enter tapped. A deck full of five-, six- and seven-mana creatures needs its lands to come in ready, and Temple of the False God makes the early turns worse. See the land and mana base guide for a better template.
A handful of cards work against you. Witch Hunt deals 4 damage to whoever holds it each upkeep and stops everyone, including you, from gaining life. From the Ashes destroys all nonbasic lands, and this deck plays plenty of them. Curse of Chaos , Curse of Predation and Mystic Barrier mostly change how other players attack each other.
Upgrade ideas
Each upgrade below starts from something the deck does poorly and says what a replacement card has to do. The cards named are examples, not the only answer: if you own something else that does the same job, or a newer printing does it better, it goes in the same slot. Make one change at a time and play a few games between them, so you can tell which change helped. The general method is in how to upgrade a Commander precon →
1. Ramp more, and earlier
The deck's creatures cost five to seven, and Marath turns every extra mana into counters or damage. Two-mana ramp on turn two is the single biggest improvement for a deck like this.
What to look for Two- and three-mana spells or rocks that put a land onto the battlefield or tap for any of your colors.
Cut, for example
Witch Hunt It deals 4 damage to its holder each upkeep and moves to a random opponent, so you can't choose who it hits, and it stops your own life gain.
Tower of Fortunes Four mana to cast and eight more to draw four. Too slow for a deck that wants its mana for creatures and Marath.
Add, for example
2. Replace the slowest lands
Too many tapped lands mean the deck's big creatures come down a turn late. Untapped duals let you play a land and still cast a full-cost spell.
What to look for Two-color lands in your colors that usually enter untapped. The deck has enough basics to turn on check lands.
Cut, for example
Rupture Spire Enters tapped and costs {1} to keep, so it loses a full mana on the turn you play it.
Temple of the False God No mana at all until you control five lands.
Mosswort Bridge A tapped green land. Its hideaway is good when it works, but it is one more land that slows your early turns.
3. Draw cards off big creatures
A deck of large creatures runs out of cards quickly once its hand is on the battlefield. Draw engines that trigger on big creatures entering keep the threats coming.
What to look for Enchantments or spells that draw when a creature with 3 or 4 or more power enters, or that draw based on your biggest creature's power.
Cut, for example
Curse of Chaos Lets attackers of the cursed player loot. It gives the same benefit to any opponent who attacks that player.
Curse of Predation Grows every creature that attacks the cursed player, including opponents' creatures.
Mystic Barrier Five mana to restrict attacks to one direction. It changes which opponent you can attack, which often hurts you as much as anyone.
Add, for example
Garruk's Uprising ↗
Draws a card whenever a creature with power 4 or greater enters under your control, and gives your whole team trample.
Elemental Bond ↗
Draws a card whenever a creature with power 3 or greater enters under your control. Nearly every creature in the deck counts.
Rishkar's Expertise ↗
Draws cards equal to your biggest creature's power, then lets you cast a spell costing five or less for free.
4. Instant-speed removal in place of slow, risky spells
The deck's single-target answers are mostly sorceries or depend on fighting. A couple of cheap instants handle a problem the turn it appears.
What to look for Removal costing three mana or less at instant speed. Answers that hit any permanent are the most flexible.
Cut, for example
From the Ashes Destroys every nonbasic land, including the many in your own deck. Each player gets a basic back, so it rarely puts you ahead.
Rain of Thorns Six mana for artifact, enchantment and land destruction at sorcery speed. Hull Breach and Slice in Twain cover most of this for less.
Win conditions
The deck wins with big creatures backed by a flexible commander. Rampaging Baloths and Avenger of Zendikar build a board quickly once the ramp is in place, Gahiji, Honored One adds damage to every attack, and Where Ancients Tread turns each big creature into 5 damage. Marath, Will of the Wild closes games by dealing its counters as damage to a player or by making a large Elemental when you have mana to spare. Fireball is the backup for a final point of damage.
Who should buy this precon
A moderate pick for a player who likes big creatures but also wants choices each turn. Marath asks you to decide how to spend its counters and your spare mana, which rewards thinking ahead about removal and damage. The rest of the deck is straightforward: ramp, cast large creatures and attack, so it is a good step up from a first precon.
Checked against the printed decklist on October 10, 2026.
Track how the upgrades actually perform.
TurnZero HQ keeps a win rate per deck version, so you can change a few cards, play some games, and see the difference instead of guessing.
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