Family Matters precon.

How it plays.

Core game plan

Use early creatures and mana rocks to make Zinnia's offspring payments practical. Offspring is an additional {2} chosen when casting a creature with the ability; budget the original spell and offspring together. It creates a separate entry trigger. If the original leaves before that trigger resolves, the token is still created using the original's last-known copiable values; removal does not automatically stop offspring. Cheap ETB creatures provide repeated value while a wide board grows Zinnia. Hold another creature or draw engine for recovery rather than treating every sweeper as favorable.

Key cards

• Zinnia, Valley's Voice. The engine. Offspring {2} on every creature spell means each cast can bring a 1/1 copy that repeats its enter trigger, and Zinnia's own power grows with every base power 1 creature you control, so the deck's copies double as her damage.
• Arthur, Marigold Knight. The alternate commander and a strong card in the 99. Attack with Arthur and any other creature and he digs six cards for a free attacker, which arrives tapped and attacking and bounces to your hand for a recast with offspring later.
• Agate Instigator. The deck's main damage payoff: one damage to each opponent whenever another creature you control enters. With offspring copies, token makers, and Storm of Souls rebuilds, it drains the whole table without combat.
• Devilish Valet. Doubles its power each time another creature you control enters. A single offspring cast doubles it twice, and a token-heavy turn multiplies the 1/3 into lethal trample damage out of nowhere.
• Curiosity Crafter. Draws when one of your creature tokens deals combat damage to a player and removes your maximum hand size. Tetsuko helps eligible small tokens connect, but removal and prevention still matter.
• Tetsuko Umezawa, Fugitive. Your creatures with power or toughness 1 or less cannot be blocked. Offspring tokens usually qualify until buffs raise both values above one.
• Echoing Assault. Your creature tokens have menace. Each player you attack gives a separate trigger to copy a nontoken creature attacking that player as a temporary 1/1 tapped and attacking that player.
• Rapid Augmenter. The glue: entering base power 1 creatures gain haste, and every uncast creature (all your offspring copies and tokens) grows it and makes it unblockable. Copies attack the turn they arrive.

Combos and synergies

• Offspring copies useful entry abilities on creatures such as Spirited Companion and Solemn Simulacrum. A legendary offspring copy still enters and can trigger abilities, but the legend rule normally leaves you with only one permanent of that name. Echoing Assault triggers for each player you attack, so attacking two opponents can produce two separate triggers. Compare your sweepers: Time Wipe returns one chosen creature then destroys the rest; Martial Coup saves only the Soldiers it just created; Dusk destroys creatures with power 3 or greater, including your own grown payoffs.

Mulligan

Lines and sequencing

• Keep mana to cast Zinnia from the command zone and still use offspring on a later creature.
• Choose and pay offspring during casting, not after the creature resolves. Removing Zinnia after the spell is cast does not remove that spell's offspring ability.
• Favor a useful original creature plus offspring over paying {2} for a token with little immediate value.
• With Echoing Assault, consider attacking separate players to obtain separate triggers, while checking blockers and retaliation.
• Count Zinnia's current power before Dusk and distinguish existing tokens from Martial Coup's newly created Soldiers.
• Prairie Stream enters untapped only if you control two or more basic lands; budget the turn using that condition.

Pilot difficulty

Intermediate. The main plan is readable, but sequencing, trigger timing and resource accounting matter. Use the pilot reference and worked interaction before taking a long turn.