Precon Upgrade Guide
Reap the Tides Upgrade Guide
What to cut, what to add, and how to play the Simic landfall and big creatures precon from Commander Legends, commanded by Aesi, Tyrant of Gyre Strait.
Commander Legends
Reap the Tides
Ramp into a huge draw engine, the stronger of the two. Out of the box, before any upgrades. How we rate precons
Buy Reap the Tides on TCGplayer →Quick verdict
Reap the Tides is one of the stronger precons out of the box because its commander is a card engine. Aesi, Tyrant of Gyre Strait lets you play an extra land each turn and draws a card whenever a land enters under your control, so every ramp spell in the deck also refills your hand. The deck's weakness is its top end: it runs a long list of seven- and eight-mana creatures, several of which do little the turn they land, while some of its cheap slots go to slow card draw that Aesi already covers.
TurnZero HQ rates Reap the Tides a 2 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 Reap the Tides decklist page, and every other precon we cover is on the precon directory.
How the precon plays
Aesi, Tyrant of Gyre Strait is a six-mana 5/5. You may play an additional land on each of your turns, and whenever a land enters under your control, you may draw a card. Two land drops a turn means two cards a turn before counting any ramp spells, and Cultivate , Kodama's Reach and Rampant Growth each turn into an extra draw as well.
The cheap part of the deck gets you to Aesi. Growth Spiral , Explore , Coiling Oracle and Search for Tomorrow ramp early, and the bounce lands like Simic Growth Chamber return a land to your hand so you can replay it for another landfall trigger. Ramunap Excavator lets you replay fetched-away lands from your graveyard, which keeps the extra land drop busy.
Once the mana is up, the deck turns landfall into board presence. Rampaging Baloths makes a 4/4 Beast with each land, Avenger of Zendikar makes a Plant per land and grows them with each new one, and Molimo, Maro-Sorcerer gets bigger with every land you control. Big blue creatures like Tromokratis and Simic Sky Swallower finish the job.
What works out of the box
Aesi, Tyrant of Gyre Strait ↗
An extra land drop every turn, and a card for every land that enters. The deck's ramp doubles as its card draw.
Rampaging Baloths ↗
A 6/6 trampler that makes a 4/4 Beast for each land that enters. With two land drops a turn, that is eight power a turn.
Avenger of Zendikar ↗
Makes a 0/1 Plant for each land you control and grows every Plant with each new land. With Aesi adding two lands a turn, the Plants grow fast enough to threaten lethal.
Simic Growth Chamber ↗
Returns a land to your hand when it enters, so you replay that land for another landfall trigger and another Aesi card.
Ramunap Excavator ↗
You can play lands from your graveyard, which turns fetched or sacrificed lands into more land drops for Aesi.
Growth Spiral ↗
Two mana at instant speed: draw a card and put a land from your hand onto the battlefield, which also triggers Aesi.
What needs improvement
The top of the curve is crowded. The deck has more than a dozen cards costing seven mana or more, including Verdant Sun's Avatar , Meteor Golem , Trench Behemoth , Slinn Voda, the Rising Deep and Stormtide Leviathan . Aesi draws enough cards that you will see several of them, and a hand of seven-drops is slow even with extra lands. Some of them also work against the deck: Stormtide Leviathan stops your own ground creatures from attacking.
A few slots spend mana on effects Aesi already provides. Seer's Sundial costs two mana per land to draw a card that Aesi gives you for free, and Ior Ruin Expedition is a slow two-card draw. The lands include several that always enter tapped, like Simic Guildgate and Woodland Stream , which slow the first few turns.
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. Trade top-end creatures for cheap landfall engines
The deck wins once Aesi is drawing two cards a turn. Cheap landfall creatures start that engine earlier and keep paying off after Aesi lands.
What to look for Creatures costing four mana or less that give an extra land drop, play lands from the top of your library, or make mana or cards on landfall.
Cut, for example
Verdant Sun's Avatar Seven mana to gain life when creatures enter. Life gain does little for a deck that wins by outdrawing the table.
Meteor Golem Seven mana for one removal effect. Beast Within and Acidic Slime answer the same threats for less.
Trench Behemoth A seven-mana 7/7 whose landfall forces an opposing creature to attack. Its hexproof costs you a land each time, which you can replay but slows you down.
Add, for example
Lotus Cobra ↗
Two mana, and every land that enters adds a mana of any color. With two land drops a turn, that is two extra mana.
Tireless Tracker ↗
Makes a Clue for every land that enters and grows when you crack them. A second card-draw engine that stacks with Aesi.
Oracle of Mul Daya ↗
Another extra land drop, and you can play lands off the top of your library, so a land on top never blocks your draws.
2. Get the extra land drop online early
Aesi gives the extra land drop on turn six. Cards that do the same on turn one to three let the deck ramp and draw before Aesi arrives and play three lands a turn after.
What to look for Cheap permanents that let you play an additional land each turn.
Cut, for example
Seer's Sundial Four mana, then two more per land to draw a card. Aesi draws the same card for nothing.
Ior Ruin Expedition Takes three land drops to draw two cards. It is slow, and the deck already has plenty of draw.
3. Swap tapped lands for fetches and untapped duals
In a landfall deck, a land that sacrifices itself to fetch another gives you two landfall triggers. Lands that always enter tapped give you none of that extra value.
What to look for Lands that fetch a basic (two triggers for Aesi), or green-blue duals that usually enter untapped. The land and mana base guide covers the choices.
Cut, for example
Simic Guildgate Always enters tapped and does nothing else. It is the weakest land in a deck that cares about lands.
Woodland Stream The same tapped dual with a different name. A fetch land triggers Aesi twice instead.
4. Replace clunky finishers with ones that scale
Several of the big creatures need a specific board to matter. Finishers that scale with your mana or your land drops are good at any point in the game.
What to look for Creatures with X costs or landfall triggers that turn extra mana or lands into card draw or a growing board.
Cut, for example
Stormtide Leviathan Eight mana, and creatures without flying or islandwalk can't attack, including your Beasts, Plants and Aesi.
Slinn Voda, the Rising Deep Ten mana with kicker for a one-time mass bounce. Whelming Wave does nearly the same job for four.
Add, for example
Win conditions
The upgraded deck still wins by outgrowing the table. Play two or three lands a turn, draw a card for each with Aesi, Tyrant of Gyre Strait , and turn those land drops into Rampaging Baloths Beasts, Avenger of Zendikar Plants or Scute Swarm Insects. Tromokratis , Simic Sky Swallower and Hydroid Krasis give you evasive finishers, and Counterspell and Simic Charm protect the board while you build it.
Who should buy this precon
A good pick for a newer player who wants a strong deck that stays simple. The main job each turn is to play as many lands as you can and draw cards off them, which is easy to follow and teaches how ramp turns into card advantage. It plays above most precons, so expect some attention from the table once Aesi is out, and use the counterspells to keep it there.
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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