Precon Upgrade Guide
Virtue and Valor Upgrade Guide
What to cut, what to add, and how to play the Selesnya auras and Roles precon from Wilds of Eldraine, commanded by Ellivere of the Wild Court.
Wilds of Eldraine
Virtue and Valor
Stack Roles on one creature: straightforward. Out of the box, before any upgrades. How we rate precons
Buy Virtue and Valor on TCGplayer →Quick verdict
Virtue and Valor is an auras deck that draws cards by attacking. Ellivere of the Wild Court puts a Virtuous Role on another creature every time it enters or attacks, and every enchanted creature that deals combat damage to a player draws you a card. The engine is easy to run and refuels itself, but the deck plays two sweepers that kill its own creatures, several slow auras at the top of the curve, and only a few ways to protect the creatures it invests in.
TurnZero HQ rates Virtue and Valor a 2 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 Virtue and Valor decklist page, and every other precon we cover is on the precon directory.
How the precon plays
Ellivere of the Wild Court is a four-mana 4/4. Whenever it enters or attacks, you create a Virtuous Role token attached to another target creature you control, and that creature gets +1/+1 for each enchantment you control. Whenever an enchanted creature you control deals combat damage to a player, you draw a card. Each attack grows a creature and usually draws a card.
Roles are Aura tokens, so they also count as enchantments entering. That triggers Setessan Champion , Archon of Sun's Grace and Eidolon of Blossoms without spending a card, and Gylwain, Casting Director adds another Role to each nontoken creature you cast.
Cheap aura support keeps the deck moving. Danitha Capashen, Paragon , Transcendent Envoy and Jukai Naturalist reduce costs, Sanctum Weaver taps for a mana per enchantment you control, and Umbra Mystic gives every aura you control umbra armor, so enchanted creatures lose an aura instead of dying.
What works out of the box
Ellivere of the Wild Court ↗
A Role on every entry and every attack, and a card whenever an enchanted creature hits a player. It is both the engine and the draw.
Gylwain, Casting Director ↗
Adds a Role to itself and to every nontoken creature you cast afterward, so each creature arrives already enchanted.
Umbra Mystic ↗
Every aura you control gains umbra armor. A creature with Roles on it survives destroy effects by losing an aura instead.
Setessan Champion ↗
Gets a +1/+1 counter and draws a card whenever an enchantment enters under your control, including every Role token.
Sanctum Weaver ↗
Two mana, and it taps for one mana of a single color per enchantment you control. It ramps harder as the game goes on.
What needs improvement
Two of the sweepers destroy your own creatures. Austere Command hurts you whichever modes you choose, since its creature modes destroy your creatures and its enchantment mode destroys your auras, and Realm-Cloaked Giant 's Cast Off destroys every non-Giant creature. Winds of Rath is the one that fits, since it only destroys creatures that aren't enchanted.
The top of the curve has several five- and six-mana auras and creatures, like Pollenbright Wings , Verdant Embrace and Liberated Livestock , when the deck's best turns come from cheap auras on creatures that are already attacking. Beyond Umbra Mystic , Timely Ward and Shalai, Voice of Plenty , there is little to protect the creature you've built up.
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. Swap sweepers for removal that spares your board
This deck spends cards and turns building one or two enchanted creatures. Sweepers that destroy them cost you more than they cost anyone else.
What to look for Single-target removal, ideally an enchantment so it also triggers your constellation cards, at four mana or less.
Cut, for example
Austere Command Six mana, and almost any pair of modes hits your own creatures or your auras along with everyone else's.
Realm-Cloaked Giant Cast Off destroys all non-Giant creatures, your enchanted ones included. The 7/7 body is too expensive to make up for it.
Add, for example
Conclave Tribunal ↗
Exiles an opponent's nonland permanent while it stays out, and convoke lets your creatures pay for it. It is also an enchantment entering.
Oblivion Ring ↗
Three mana to exile another nonland permanent until it leaves the battlefield. It counts as an enchantment for your other cards.
Path to Exile ↗
One mana at instant speed to exile a creature. Its controller may fetch a basic land.
2. Protect the creature you're building
An auras deck loses several cards at once when its main creature is removed. Cheap protection keeps those cards on the table.
What to look for Cards that give hexproof or indestructible to your creatures or your enchantments, costing two mana or less so you can keep it up.
Cut, for example
Unfinished Business Five mana to return a creature and two auras from the graveyard. Protecting the creature in the first place is cheaper.
Liberated Livestock Six mana, and its tokens only matter once it dies. Too slow for a deck that wins by attacking.
3. Fix the slow lands
A four-mana commander in two colors wants its lands to enter untapped and make colored mana. A few of the deck's lands do neither on the turns that matter.
What to look for Lands that make green or white and usually enter untapped.
Cut, for example
Temple of Plenty Always enters tapped. The scry 1 rarely makes up for the lost tempo.
Vitu-Ghazi, the City-Tree Taps only for colorless, and its Saproling costs four more mana. A colored dual helps the deck more.
4. Cheaper auras that keep attacking
Ellivere draws when an enchanted creature hits a player, so the deck wants auras that are cheap enough to cast alongside a creature and that make it more likely to connect.
What to look for Auras costing two mana or less that add evasion, grow with your enchantment count, protect the creature, or return to your hand.
Cut, for example
Pollenbright Wings Six mana for flying and Saprolings on combat damage. Too expensive to cast and still develop.
Verdant Embrace Five mana for +3/+3 and a Saproling each upkeep. A cheaper aura plus the Saprolings from your other cards does more.
Add, for example
Rancor ↗
One mana for +2/+0 and trample, and it returns to your hand when it goes to the graveyard from the battlefield.
All That Glitters ↗
Two mana: +1/+1 for each artifact and enchantment you control. In this deck that grows fast.
Hyena Umbra ↗
One mana for +1/+1 and first strike, with umbra armor to save the creature from being destroyed once.
Win conditions
The deck wins with one or two creatures carrying several auras and Roles. Ethereal Armor , Ancestral Mask and the Virtuous Role grow with your enchantment count, Indomitable Might lets a creature deal its damage as though it weren't blocked, and each hit draws a card from Ellivere. The upgrades keep that creature alive and get it attacking sooner.
Who should buy this precon
A friendly deck for a newer player who likes building one big threat. The choices are simple (which creature gets the Role, which aura goes where), and the card draw from Ellivere keeps your hand full. It plays at about the power of a typical precon, with the protection upgrades making the biggest difference.
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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