Precon Upgrade Guide
Necron Dynasties Upgrade Guide
What to cut, what to add, and how to play the mono-black artifact recursion precon from Warhammer 40,000 Commander, commanded by Szarekh, the Silent King.
Magic: The Gathering Warhammer 40,000
Necron Dynasties
Reanimator shell around indestructible artifacts, one of the stronger precons ever printed. Out of the box, before any upgrades. How we rate precons
Buy Necron Dynasties on TCGplayer →Quick verdict
Necron Dynasties is a mono-black graveyard deck that treats its artifact creatures as a resource it can spend and get back. Szarekh, the Silent King mills three and finds an artifact creature every attack, and the deck is full of unearth, reanimation and payoffs for artifacts leaving the graveyard. It is one of the stronger decks in its product, but it carries a fog, a board wipe that hurts it, several tapped cycling lands, and fewer cheap removal spells and free sacrifice outlets than its engine wants.
TurnZero HQ rates Necron Dynasties a 3 out of 5 on difficulty and a 4 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 Necron Dynasties decklist page, and every other precon we cover is on the precon directory.
How the precon plays
Szarekh, the Silent King is a four-mana 3/4 flier. Whenever it attacks, you mill three cards and may put an artifact creature card or Vehicle card from among them into your hand. That ability does two jobs: it finds your next threat, and it fills your graveyard for everything else in the deck to use.
Much of the deck uses that graveyard. Creatures like Royal Warden , Skorpekh Lord , Triarch Praetorian and Hexmark Destroyer have unearth, Ghost Ark gives every artifact creature in your graveyard unearth {3} for a turn, and Technomancer , The War in Heaven and Dread Return return creatures directly. Imotekh the Stormlord makes two 2/2 Necron Warriors whenever artifact cards leave your graveyard, so each unearth also builds the board.
The payoffs reward artifacts dying and leaving. Psychomancer drains whenever a nontoken artifact you control goes to the graveyard or exile, which includes unearthed creatures being exiled at end of turn, and Shard of the Void Dragon grows the same way. Biotransference makes all your creatures artifacts and creates a Necron Warrior whenever you cast an artifact spell.
What works out of the box
Szarekh, the Silent King ↗
Mills three on every attack and puts an artifact creature or Vehicle from among them into your hand. It refuels your hand and your graveyard at once.
Imotekh the Stormlord ↗
Makes two 2/2 Necron Warrior artifact creature tokens whenever artifact cards leave your graveyard. Every unearth and reanimation spell feeds it.
Ghost Ark ↗
When crewed, every artifact creature card in your graveyard gains unearth {3} for the turn. Late in a game, that can bring back several creatures at once.
Psychomancer ↗
Drains an opponent for 1 whenever it or another nontoken artifact you control is put into a graveyard or exiled from the battlefield. Unearthed creatures trigger it when they're exiled.
Their Name Is Death ↗
Destroys all nonartifact creatures. In a deck where nearly every creature is an artifact, it's close to a one-sided board wipe.
Shard of the Void Dragon ↗
A 7/7 flier that makes each opponent sacrifice a nonland permanent when it attacks and grows whenever an artifact goes to the graveyard or exile.
What needs improvement
The deck is light on cheap ways to sacrifice its own creatures, even though so many of its cards reward artifacts leaving the battlefield. Illuminor Szeras and Chronomancer help, but each costs a tap. It also has too few direct reanimation spells for a deck that fills its graveyard this quickly.
Some of the box works against it. Mutilate gives every creature -1/-1 for each Swamp you control, which kills most of your own board in a mono-black deck. Darkness is a one-turn fog. Go for the Throat can't hit artifact creatures, which matters against other artifact decks. The land base also includes three cycling lands that always enter tapped.
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. Reanimate more directly
Szarekh and the self-mill cards put big Necrons in your graveyard every turn, but outside unearth the deck only has a few ways to get them back. Cheap reanimation turns a full graveyard into a board.
What to look for Spells or permanents that return creature cards from your graveyard to the battlefield for three mana or less, or free sacrifice outlets that let you reuse unearth and recursion effects.
Cut, for example
Lychguard Returns legendary creature cards to your hand for four mana and a sacrifice. The deck has only a few legends, so it rarely gets more than one back.
Out of the Tombs Mills an increasing number of cards every upkeep. In a deck that already mills itself heavily, it can empty your library quickly.
Mask of Memory Draws two and discards one when the equipped creature connects. It's slow, and Szarekh's attack trigger already refills your hand.
Add, for example
Animate Dead ↗
Two mana to return any creature card from a graveyard. Shard of the Nightbringer returned this way doesn't drain, since it wasn't cast, but Tomb Blade and Hexmark Destroyer are fine targets.
Victimize ↗
Three mana: sacrifice a creature and return two creature cards from your graveyard. Sacrificing an unearthed creature costs you nothing.
Ashnod's Altar ↗
Sacrifice a creature for two colorless mana. Unearthed creatures and Necron Warrior tokens become mana, and each artifact one triggers Psychomancer.
2. Swap the fog and self-wipe for removal
The deck already has a one-sided wipe in Their Name Is Death . The other slots are better spent on cheap removal that hits any creature, including artifacts.
What to look for Removal for two mana or less that can hit artifact creatures, ideally at instant speed.
Cut, for example
3. Draw cards without attacking
Szarekh only refills your hand when it attacks, and a 3/4 flier can't always attack safely. A steady source of cards keeps the deck moving when Szarekh has to stay home.
What to look for Cheap card draw that works every turn or draws two or more at once. Mono-black can pay life for it, and the deck's drain effects give some of that back.
Cut, for example
Caged Sun Six mana to pump your black creatures and add extra black mana from lands. It comes down too late in a deck whose rocks already cover ramp.
4. Make the lands work harder
In a mono-black deck the basic Swamps are already good, so the lands that enter tapped to cycle are the weakest part of the mana base. Lands that use black mana or a sacrifice add value without costing tempo.
What to look for Mono-black lands that enter untapped and either produce extra mana or give the deck a useful ability.
Cut, for example
Polluted Mire Enters tapped and taps for black. Its cycling costs two, which makes it the slowest of the three cyclers.
Desert of the Glorified A tapped black land with cycling. The deck draws enough that the cycling rarely matters.
Barren Moor The same tapped cycler again. A land with an ability you use every game is worth more.
Add, for example
Cabal Coffers ↗
For two mana, adds a black mana for each Swamp you control. With a mostly-Swamp mana base, it often doubles your mana.
Castle Locthwain ↗
Enters untapped if you control a Swamp, and later draws a card at instant speed, at the cost of life equal to your hand size.
Phyrexian Tower ↗
Sacrifice a creature for two black mana. Unearthed creatures that would be exiled anyway become mana instead.
Win conditions
The upgraded deck wins by grinding. Attack with Szarekh, the Silent King to fill your hand and graveyard, bring Necrons back with unearth, Ghost Ark , Animate Dead and Victimize , and let Imotekh the Stormlord add Necron Warriors every time. Sacrificing them to Ashnod's Altar or Phyrexian Tower drains through Psychomancer , while Shard of the Void Dragon , Tomb Blade and Hexmark Destroyer close games in combat.
Who should buy this precon
A good fit for a player with a few Commander games behind them who enjoys graveyard decks and long games. You need to track unearth costs, which cards are in your graveyard, and when to sacrifice something you'll get back later. Mono-black keeps the mana simple, which helps, but the deck rewards planning a turn or two ahead.
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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