The Commander
Guide
Gameplan
Preston turns every nontoken creature that enters without being cast into a free 0/1 Illusion copy, so you abuse blink, reanimation, and token-making effects to flood the board and trigger powerful ETBs twice. Early turns develop ramp and value creatures, then you loop blink effects to bank Illusions and grind out card/board advantage. Eventually you sacrifice five Illusions repeatedly to exile any troublesome permanent or assemble a combo finish.
Strengths
- Generates free creature tokens (and doubled ETB triggers) from any blink, reanimate, or token-copy effect
- Built-in repeatable removal that exiles ANY nonland permanent, rare in mono-white
- Excellent with cheap, high-value ETB creatures and flicker engines
- Self-sufficient engine that doesn't need to attack to win
Weaknesses
- Mono-white card draw and ramp are limited, so it can stall on resources
- The Illusion copies are fragile 0/1s vulnerable to board wipes and pingers
- Relies on the commander surviving; without Preston the engine stops
- Combo lines can be mana- and piece-intensive to assemble
Key Cards
- Conjurer's Closet — End-step blink of a value creature makes a new Illusion every turn for free.
- Cloudshift — Cheap instant flicker that re-triggers an ETB and banks an Illusion at instant speed.
- Eldrazi Displacer — Repeatable blink for
fuels both ETB value and a steady Illusion supply. - Felidar Guardian — Blinks a permanent on entry and itself can be looped for infinite Illusions with the right enabler.
- Sun Titan — Recurs blink enablers and cheap creatures while generating Illusion copies of itself.
- Restoration Angel — Flash flicker protects a key creature and adds an Illusion to the sacrifice pool.
Upgrade Path
Add fast mana and white ramp (Sol Ring, Smothering Tithe, mana rocks) plus card advantage like Welcoming Vampire and Skullclamp to offset mono-white's weaknesses. Build toward a compact combo such as Felidar Guardian with a blink/untap engine and an aristocrats payoff (Blood Artist, Zulaport Cutthroat, Cruel Celebrant) so the Illusion army converts into a deterministic win. Protect Preston with cards like Swiftfoot Boots and Teferi's Protection, and tighten the curve with efficient ETB creatures.
Core Cards
The most-played cards for this commander, built from aggregated deck data (the Mythic Graph). Build public decks to seed it.
Win Conditions
- ▸Infinite ETB loops (e.g., Felidar Guardian + flicker enabler) drained through Blood Artist-style effects
- ▸Overwhelming token board attacking, often with an anthem or Cathars' Crusade
- ▸Repeatedly exiling all opponents' relevant permanents to lock the game, then closing with creatures
- ▸Big ETB payoffs doubled and looped for value until opponents are buried
Archetypes
- Blink — Preston converts every flicker trigger into a free creature copy, multiplying ETB value.
- Tokens — He passively floods the board with Illusion copies of your best creatures.
- Combo — Free creature copies plus blink loops enable infinite-ETB and infinite-token engines.
- Aristocrats — The endless Illusion tokens are perfect sacrifice fodder for drain and value outlets.
Combos
No combos found for this commander on Commander Spellbook.
Related Commanders
Same color identity (W), by popularity.
