Necron Dynasties Upgrade Guide: Loop the Graveyard for Endless Necrons

Necron Dynasties puts a mono-black artifact engine in the command zone. [[Imotekh the Stormlord]] creates two 2/2 black Necron Warrior artifact creature tokens whenever one or more artifact cards leave your graveyard, then gives another target artifact creature +2/+2 and menace at the start of combat on your turn. Out of the box, the deck starves its own commander. It leans on expensive one-shot Unearth creatures that exile themselves forever and slow mass reanimation that only triggers Imotekh once. If you buy a single card today, pick up [[Tortured Existence]] for $3.23. With Imotekh on the board, one artifact creature card in your hand and another in your graveyard, every {B} you spend swaps those two cards at instant speed and creates two 2/2 Necron Warriors on the spot.

• $25 (29 swaps, $23.68): Replaces clunky six-mana beaters and tapped lands with repeatable, one-card-at-a-time recursion loops and drain payoffs that count artifact tokens.
• $50 (29 swaps, $49.84): Adds high-velocity card draw, graveyard tutors, zero-mana graveyard triggers, and repeatable nonland permanent removal.
• $100 (29 swaps, $98.24): Powers the recursion chain with free mana-producing sacrifice altars, spell cost reduction, and a second graveyard-exit payoff engine.

Each tier below is a complete, standalone upgrade built from the stock precon list, so you can jump straight to the budget that fits your wallet.

The "One or More" Gate

Shuffle up the stock precon and you will feel the bottleneck by turn six. You spend eight mana to Unearth [[Tomb Blade]] or [[Lokhust Heavy Destroyer]], get a single pair of 2/2 Necron Warriors from [[Imotekh the Stormlord]], and watch that unearthed creature exile itself at the end step. Or you wait two full turn cycles for Chapter III of [[The War in Heaven]] to return three creatures at once, only to read Imotekh's text box closely: "Whenever one or more artifact cards leave your graveyard." Moving three cards at the same time still gives you just two tokens. Worse, the precon's lone aristocrat payoff, [[Psychomancer]], only triggers when a nontoken artifact leaves the battlefield, so your army of 2/2 Necron Warriors does zero drain damage when a board wipe hits.

The secret to breaking [[Imotekh the Stormlord]] open is in the exact wording of that trigger. First, moving artifact cards out of your graveyard one at a time creates two 2/2 Necron Warriors for every single card. Second, Imotekh does not care where the artifact card goes when it leaves your graveyard. Returning it to the battlefield, pulling it back to your hand, putting it on top of your library, or even exiling it from your own graveyard all trigger Phaeron for two fresh tokens. Replace the precon's top-heavy fillers with cheap, repeatable single-card exits and drain pieces that count artifact tokens, and your graveyard turns into a revolving door.

How the Deck Wins

Every game follows a three-step loop: stock the graveyard with artifact creatures, move them out one by one to flood the board with 2/2 Necron Warriors, and convert that artifact army into combat damage or life loss. [[Imotekh the Stormlord]] sits at the center of both plans, building a wide board for free whenever cards leave your yard and pumping an attacker with +2/+2 and menace each combat.

One of the precon's strongest hidden turns uses two cards already in the box: [[Convergence of Dominion]] and [[Ghost Ark]]. While you control Imotekh, Convergence of Dominion reduces the cost of activated abilities of cards in your graveyard by {2}, down to a minimum of one mana. When you crew [[Ghost Ark]], every artifact creature card in your graveyard gains Unearth {3} until end of turn. Together, they let you unearth your entire graveyard one creature at a time for {1} apiece. Say you untap on turn six with Imotekh, Convergence of Dominion, and Ghost Ark on the board and four artifact creatures in your yard, including [[Skorpekh Lord]] and [[Triarch Praetorian]]. You tap Imotekh to crew Ghost Ark, then pay four mana to unearth all four creatures one by one. Imotekh triggers four separate times to create eight 2/2 Necron Warriors, Triarch Praetorian draws two cards, and Skorpekh Lord gives your entire artifact army +1/+0 and menace for a lethal swing.

$25 Upgrade: Single-Card Graveyard Loops

The $25 tier cuts the precon's slowest six-to-eight-mana creatures, three-to-six-mana rocks, and tapped cycling lands to build a repeatable, single-card recursion engine. Instead of exiling your own graveyard for one-shot value, you bounce cheap artifact creatures between your hand, battlefield, and graveyard while draining the whole table whenever tokens enter or die. All 29 swaps come in at $23.68, leaving a little over a dollar unused because every remaining slot in the 99 already pulls its weight.

Card image loading Tortured Existence Stronghold #74

Card image loading Scrap Trawler March of the Machine Commander #373

Card image loading Phyrexian Reclamation Tarkir: Dragonstorm Commander #194

Card image loading Myr Retriever Double Masters #277

Card image loading Pactdoll Terror Aetherdrift #99

Card image loading Syr Konrad, the Grim Duskmourn: House of Horror Commander #158

Your best openings start by stocking the graveyard before [[Imotekh the Stormlord]] even resolves. Turn-one [[Stitcher's Supplier]] or turn-two [[Millikin]] and [[Fellwar Stone]] get cards into the yard while accelerating Imotekh to turn three, and [[Buried Alive]] searches up a custom package of [[Triarch Praetorian]], [[Scrap Trawler]], and [[Myr Retriever]] in one shot. Once Imotekh is on the battlefield, [[Tortured Existence]], [[Phyrexian Reclamation]], and [[Skeleton Shard]] let you pull artifact creatures out of your graveyard one at a time at instant speed. Holding up three black mana with Tortured Existence on the end step before your turn lets you swap two creatures back and forth three times, untapping with six 2/2 Necron Warriors ready to attack.

The second half of the engine links death triggers together so your creatures never stay dead. When [[Myr Retriever]] or [[Junk Diver]] dies to [[Umbral Collar Zealot]], [[Trading Post]], or [[Tarrian's Journal // The Tomb of Aclazotz]], its death trigger returns another artifact card like [[Scrap Trawler]] from your graveyard to your hand, triggering Imotekh for two 2/2 Necron Warriors. Once Scrap Trawler is on the battlefield alongside them, every sacrifice doubles up: sacrificing the three-mana Junk Diver lets Junk Diver's own trigger return any artifact from your graveyard while Scrap Trawler grabs a two-mana artifact like Myr Retriever, and sacrificing the two-mana Myr Retriever next lets Scrap Trawler also return a one-mana artifact like [[Vat of Rebirth]] or [[Sol Ring]]. Even your land drops join the loop: [[Witch's Cottage]] enters untapped once you control three of the deck's 30 basic [[Swamp]]s and puts a creature from your graveyard on top of your library, triggering Imotekh for zero mana.

To close games when combat gets clogged, this tier replaces [[Psychomancer]] and [[Necron Overlord]] with drain payoffs that actually reward token production. [[Pactdoll Terror]] drains each opponent for 1 life and gains you 1 life whenever another artifact enters under your control. That means reanimating a single artifact creature with [[Unearth]] or [[Vat of Rebirth]] while Imotekh is out puts three artifacts onto the battlefield (the creature plus two Necron Warriors), draining each opponent for 3 and gaining you 3 life to offset [[Biotransference]] and [[Phyrexian Reclamation]]. On the way out, [[Marionette Apprentice]] and [[Syr Konrad, the Grim]] damage the whole table whenever your 2/2 tokens die, and [[Marionette Master]] equipped with [[Cranial Plating]] turns each sacrificed artifact into 10 or more life lost for target player.

What you cut here is dead weight at the top of the curve. [[Shard of the Nightbringer]] costs eight mana, is not an artifact creature unless [[Biotransference]] is out, and only halves an opponent's life total if you cast it, making it just an 8/8 flyer when reanimated. [[Spine of Ish Sah]] and [[Noxious Gearhulk]] take over that top-end role at a fraction of the cost: Gearhulk kills a threat and gains life whenever it enters from the yard, and Spine of Ish Sah destroys any problem permanent on entry and returns to your hand (triggering Imotekh!) whenever you sacrifice it to [[Chronomancer]] or [[Trading Post]]. With [[Withering Torment]] answering opposing [[Rest in Peace]] effects at instant speed, the deck no longer folds to a single hate piece or stalls out after one board wipe.

$50 Upgrade: High-Velocity Draw and Instant-Speed Triggers

The $50 tier keeps the $25 recursion and drain core, led by [[Tortured Existence]] (swapping creatures for {B} to trigger Imotekh), [[Scrap Trawler]], [[Myr Retriever]], and [[Junk Diver]] (chaining artifact deaths into hand returns), and [[Pactdoll Terror]] plus [[Syr Konrad, the Grim]] (draining the table as artifacts enter and leave). With another $25 to spend, this tier upgrades your card draw, graveyard tutoring, and nonland removal so the engine fires a turn earlier and refills your hand on every sacrifice.

Card image loading Skullclamp Marvel Super Heroes Commander #210

Card image loading Lively Dirge Outlaws of Thunder Junction #93

Card image loading Ghost Vacuum Duskmourn: House of Horror #248

Card image loading Cityscape Leveler The Brothers' War #233

Card image loading Braids, Arisen Nightmare Edge of Eternities Commander #82

Card image loading Idol of Oblivion Tarkir: Dragonstorm Commander #319

Card flow jumps dramatically at this budget thanks to three upgrades that feed directly off your tokens and small Necrons. [[Skullclamp]] is at its best here because [[Chronomancer]], [[Triarch Praetorian]], [[Myr Retriever]], and [[Junk Diver]] all have 1 toughness; equipping any of them for {1} kills it immediately, draws two cards, and leaves an artifact creature in the graveyard ready to return for two 2/2 Necron Warriors. When your 2/2 tokens are the ones wearing the Clamp, [[Umbral Collar Zealot]] or [[Tarrian's Journal // The Tomb of Aclazotz]] sacrifices them on demand to cash in the cards. Alongside it, [[Idol of Oblivion]] taps for zero mana to draw a card on any turn you created a token, and [[Braids, Arisen Nightmare]] sacrifices a spare Necron Warrior or [[Spine of Ish Sah]] (which returns itself to your hand when put into a graveyard from the battlefield, triggering Imotekh) at your end step to draw up to three cards and drain opponents for 2 life apiece.

Finding your key engine pieces also stops relying on random self-mill. [[Lively Dirge]] is a one-card starter kit with Spree: for {4}{B}, it searches your library for any card and puts it into your graveyard, then returns up to two creatures with total mana value 4 or less to the battlefield. Even if your graveyard starts completely empty, casting Lively Dirge with [[Imotekh the Stormlord]] on board lets you tutor [[Triarch Praetorian]] into the yard and immediately reanimate it (plus a 2-mana creature like [[Myr Retriever]] or [[Marionette Apprentice]] if one is already there), drawing two cards and creating two 2/2 Necron Warriors off one spell.

Two utility upgrades round out the $50 list by patching mono-black's blind spots. [[Liquimetal Torque]] ramps Imotekh out on turn three and taps to turn a nonland permanent into an artifact until end of turn. Because [[Syr Konrad, the Grim]], [[Braids, Arisen Nightmare]], [[Marionette Apprentice]], and [[Shard of the Void Dragon]] are not naturally artifacts, tapping Liquimetal Torque on one of them lets [[Cryptothrall]] grant it hexproof in response to removal or lets [[Skorpekh Lord]] give it +1/+0 and menace in combat. At the top of the curve, [[Cityscape Leveler]] replaces [[Hexmark Destroyer]] as an 8/8 trampler that destroys a nonland permanent when cast or attacking, and its Unearth {8} ability (discounted by {2} via [[Convergence of Dominion]], or set to Unearth {3} when [[Ghost Ark]] is crewed) gives you an on-call answer to artifacts and enchantments straight from the graveyard.

By trimming slow mana rocks and clunky top-end cards like [[Caged Sun]], [[Necron Monolith]], and [[Royal Warden]], the $50 build never runs out of gas mid-game. Every token Imotekh creates can now be cashed in for cards via [[Skullclamp]] and [[Braids, Arisen Nightmare]], while [[Ghost Vacuum]] and [[Tortured Existence]] let you manufacture 2/2 blockers and attackers at instant speed on your opponents' turns.

$100 Upgrade: Free Mana Altars and Parallel Engines

The $100 tier keeps the backbone of the $50 list: [[Tortured Existence]] and [[Phyrexian Reclamation]] for instant-speed graveyard exits, [[Scrap Trawler]], [[Myr Retriever]], and [[Junk Diver]] for recursive death chains, [[Skullclamp]] and [[Braids, Arisen Nightmare]] for sacrifice draw, and [[Cityscape Leveler]] plus [[Ghost Vacuum]] for graveyard-fueled interaction. Coming in at $98.24 across 29 swaps, this build adds the mana engines and parallel graveyard payoffs that turn those recursive creatures into explosive, self-funding turns.

Card image loading Ashnod's Altar Commander Masters #368

Card image loading Krark-Clan Ironworks Fifth Dawn #134

Card image loading Teval's Judgment Tarkir: Dragonstorm Commander #28

Card image loading Jet Medallion Modern Horizons 3 #292

Card image loading Ripples of Undeath Modern Horizons 3 #107

The biggest leap in this tier comes from replacing your mana-neutral sacrifice outlets with [[Ashnod's Altar]] and [[Krark-Clan Ironworks]]. In the smaller tiers, [[Imotekh the Stormlord]] makes two 2/2 Necron Warrior artifact creature tokens whenever an artifact card leaves your graveyard, and those tokens mostly attack or pay single sacrifice costs. With Ashnod's Altar or Krark-Clan Ironworks on the battlefield, every pair of Necron Warriors that Imotekh creates can be sacrificed at instant speed for four colorless mana ({C}{C}{C}{C}). That mana immediately pays the generic costs on [[Phyrexian Reclamation]], [[Myr Retriever]], [[Junk Diver]], [[Scrap Trawler]], [[Ghost Ark]], and [[Skullclamp]] equips.

Watch what happens when you have [[Imotekh the Stormlord]], [[Krark-Clan Ironworks]] (or [[Ashnod's Altar]]), and [[Scrap Trawler]] on the battlefield with [[Myr Retriever]] in your hand and [[Junk Diver]] in your graveyard. You cast Myr Retriever for {2} and sacrifice it to the Altar for {C}{C}. Its death trigger returns Junk Diver from your graveyard to your hand, which triggers Imotekh to create two 2/2 Necron Warriors, and Scrap Trawler also returns a 1-mana artifact like [[Skullclamp]], [[Sol Ring]], or [[Ghost Vacuum]] from your yard. Sacrificing one of those two new Necron tokens to the Altar adds another {C}{C} to the {C}{C} from Myr Retriever, giving you four colorless mana. That pays {3} to cast Junk Diver with {C} floating, ready to sacrifice it for {C}{C} and bring Myr Retriever right back. As long as you have [[Pactdoll Terror]], [[Marionette Apprentice]], or [[Syr Konrad, the Grim]] on board, every loop drains the entire table while leaving you with extra tokens and mana.

To multiply the value of every graveyard exit, [[Teval's Judgment]] joins the 99 with an even broader version of Imotekh's trigger: "Whenever one or more cards leave your graveyard." Because it lets you choose each of its three modes once per turn, moving three artifact cards out of your graveyard in a single turn via [[Tortured Existence]], [[Ripples of Undeath]], and [[Ghost Vacuum]] triggers Imotekh for six 2/2 Necron Warriors while Teval's Judgment draws a card, creates a Treasure token, and creates a 2/2 Zombie Druid token. [[Ripples of Undeath]] triggers both engines automatically at the start of your first main phase: it mills three cards into your graveyard, and paying {1} and 3 life to put one of those milled cards into your hand counts as a card leaving your graveyard.

Finally, [[Jet Medallion]] joins [[Foundry Inspector]] (which already cuts {1} off every artifact spell) to slash the mana curve across the deck. Because Imotekh and the vast majority of the Necron roster are black artifact spells, having both cost reducers out cuts {2} off your commander and black Necron spells, letting you replay Imotekh through commander tax without slowing down your engine. Every card that leaves your graveyard now generates tokens, cards, and a burst of mana that can close out the table from nowhere.

Awaken the Tomb World

Upgraded, Necron Dynasties transforms from a slow, combat-bound precon into a resilient mono-black artifact recursion machine that floods the board at instant speed and drains the table through any stall. If you want to fix the precon's clunky curve and make [[Imotekh the Stormlord]] fire multiple times a turn on a small budget, start with the $25 tier. Jump to the $50 tier if you want [[Skullclamp]], [[Lively Dirge]], and [[Ghost Vacuum]] to keep your hand full and interact at instant speed, or build the $100 tier if you want [[Ashnod's Altar]] and [[Krark-Clan Ironworks]] to turn Imotekh's tokens into explosive mana engines.

Where to Go Past $100

• [[Cabal Coffers]] ($20.72) and [[Phyrexian Tower]] ($30.43): With 30 basic [[Swamp]]s plus [[Witch's Cottage]] still in the manabase, Cabal Coffers generates huge bursts of black mana to sink into [[Tortured Existence]] and [[Phyrexian Reclamation]], while Phyrexian Tower sacrifices a dying [[Myr Retriever]] or token for {B}{B} from a land slot.
• [[Entomb]] ($16.61) and [[Reanimate]] ($7.06): One-mana graveyard setup and recursion that put [[Scrap Trawler]], [[Triarch Praetorian]], or [[Cityscape Leveler]] online on turn one or two.
• [[Bolas's Citadel]] ($8.54), [[Demonic Tutor]] ($61.55), and [[Vampiric Tutor]] ($49.04): All three are Game Changers, so adding any of them moves the deck out of Bracket 2. If your group plays Bracket 3 or higher, Bolas's Citadel pairs with [[Biotransference]] and [[Pactdoll Terror]] to cast your deck off the top while draining the table.

Even in Bracket 2, an active [[Imotekh the Stormlord]] backed by [[Tortured Existence]] and [[Ashnod's Altar]] hits much harder than a stock precon, so let your pod know your Necrons don't stay in the tomb for long.