Precon Upgrade Guide: Disa the Restless — What to Cut, What to Add, by Role

The preconstructed Commander deck built around Disa the Restless gives new players a working shell — Legendary Creature — Human Scout, colour identity black, green, red — whose exact text is:

Whenever a Lhurgoyf permanent card is put into your graveyard from anywhere other than the battlefield, put it onto the battlefield.
Whenever one or more creatures you control deal combat damage to a player, create a Tarmogoyf token.

Upgrading a precon is not about replacing it. It is about finding the roles the shell performs weakly — ramp, card draw, interaction, and closing power — and swapping the weakest cards in each role for stronger ones that serve the same job. This guide works by role, which is the honest way to upgrade any prebuilt deck without inventing a decklist you have not verified.

What to cut, by role

Cut cards that duplicate a role you already perform better, cards whose mana cost belongs to a later turn than the role needs, and cards that only function when the game is already going well. Work one role at a time, keep a written list of every swap, and play games between rounds of changes — a precon upgraded on evidence stays coherent, while one rebuilt in a single evening often loses the charm that made it fun.

What to add, by role

Real upgrade candidates that serve this commander's plan include: Buried Alive (mana cost {2}{B}; Sorcery; rarity: uncommon; most recent printing listed by Scryfall: Modern Horizons 3): Search your library for up to three creature cards, put them into your graveyard, then shuffle. Reanimate (mana cost {B}; Sorcery; rarity: rare; most recent printing listed by Scryfall: Duskmourn: House of Horror Commander): Put target creature card from a graveyard onto the battlefield under your control. You lose life equal to that card's mana value. Victimize (mana cost {2}{B}; Sorcery; rarity: uncommon; most recent printing listed by Scryfall: Tarkir: Dragonstorm Commander): Choose two target creature cards in your graveyard. Sacrifice a creature. If you do, return the chosen cards to the battlefield tapped.

Build and check your list with the MTGBrew AI deck builder, and browse every card mentioned here in the MTGBrew card database on MTGBrew.

If this topic is on your bench, keep going with Heliod, Sun-Crowned Commander Spotlight: What This Legend Brings to the Command Zone — it covers the neighbouring decisions from a different angle, and the two pieces together give you a fuller picture than either one alone.

Keep reading

Keep reading: Heliod, Sun-Crowned Commander Spotlight: What This Legend Brings to the Command Zone and Miirym, Sentinel Wyrm Commander Guide: How the Deck Actually Wins.

A sane upgrade order

Tune in small steps. Change two or three cards at a time, play several games, and write down what actually happened rather than what you hoped would happen. Deck building rewards that patience — a list adjusted on evidence converges on its best version, while a list rebuilt after every loss never stays still long enough to be judged.

Start with the mana base and the draw package, then interaction, then finishers. That order feels unglamorous and wins the most games, because a deck that always makes its land drops and always has cards in hand gets to show you what its exciting cards can actually do.