Teysa: Sacrificing Tokens for Fun and Profit

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Post by Mookie » 1 year ago

MOM spoilers are out, and I have a slightly mixed opinion of it. The wb archetype in the set is Phyrexian tribal, which doesn't really mesh with this deck. Additionally, the default Phyrexian tokens in the set are colorless incubators that aren't even creatures until you pay , which is pretty awkward. Still, there are a ton of interesting options in the set.

Battles are interesting in the context of this deck - most of the creatures are small and bad at attacking, but the deck does often have 1/1 flying tokens available to pressure them. You can also just choose whichever opponent has the weakest board position (or potentially do some negotiating to have your opponent allow you to flip your battle).

More broadly, battles encourage certain play patterns that are worth consideration going forwards, particularly if they show up regularly in future sets. They generally promote more aggressive strategies, since those are the best at flipping their battles. If you want to take advantage of your own battles, it may be worth building decks to be slightly more aggressive.... or you could build more defensive decks to prevent your opponents from flipping their battles.

White

  • Elesh Norn is okay. I'm not really a fan of Norn's Annex as a defensive tool, but she also triggers off creatures being dealt damage. Seems better for a more aggressive deck. Sacrificing three creatures to flip is a pretty hefty cost (even if you do get five tokens back), but double strike can a strong pump effect (although it is extremely telegraphed).
  • Archangel Elspeth is interesting. I've run Elspeth, Knight-Errant in the past, but found she was a bit too slow. Archangel Elspeth hits her ultimate faster, which is certainly relevant (and incentivizes aggressively chump blocking / trading off blockers, since they'll come back). Mass reanimation can require a bit of setup, but certainly strong in the lategame.
  • Sunfall is an alright board wipe - we can sacrifice stuff to get around the exile, and making a giant token on a clear board can be relevant.
  • Knight-Errant of Eos looks interesting. With 32 creatures in the deck, you'll hit 2+ creatures around 63% of the time, and that's before accounting for the mana value restriction. I suspect it's a miss for my build, but could be worth consideration in decks that are heavier on creatures.
  • Phyrexian Censor is a potent hate card if you're looking for a Rule of Law effect. Making opposing creatures enter tapped is also nice.
  • Surge of Salvation is a very powerful piece of protection. It's not quite Teferi's Protection, but one mana is a bargain, and it protects from both spot removal and red damage-based sweepers.
  • Seal from Existence is a cool Oblivion Ring variant. Probably not for this deck, but ward is nice.
From the commander precons:
  • Guardian Scalelord is an interesting Sun Titan variant - it can't recur lands, but you can potentially get more expensive permanents back.
  • Chivalric Alliance is a cheap draw engine if you have evasive tokens to attack with. It's also a discard outlet for reanimation purposes.
  • Darksteel Splicer is a potent token producer, particularly if you have other Phyrexians to trigger it. Seven mana is a lot, but you can recur it with Reveillark.
  • Excise the Imperfect is a very flexible piece of removal - the incubator token can be a meaningful downside if you hit something big, but exile makes it a nice alternative to Generous Gift.
  • Nesting Dovehawk is a reasonable token producer. Populate is a little lower in value in this deck than some other decks (since most of the tokens in this deck are small, plus you have to already have some lying around), but still alright.
  • Path of the Ghosthunter is an okay token producer, but it doesn't outclass stuff like Secure the Wastes. However, Planechase synergies can be good if you play that format frequently.
  • Wand of the Worldsoul is a weak 3 mana rock on its own, but fantastic in go-wide decks. This deck's curve isn't that high, so no convoking out a massive Torment of Hailfire or whatever, but it shouldn't be difficult to convoke out a 4 or 5-drop with it. It can also make some token producers like Chittering Witch effectively free.
  • Firemane Commando is another white draw engine for aggressive decks.

Black

  • Sheoldred is a sweet Plaguecrafter variant, upgrading Innocent Blood to Sheoldred's Edict. She can be a bit tricky to flip without support (particularly if you're exiling stuff instead of killing it), but her flip side is a powerful way to generate more disruptive value, and eventually serve as a win condition.
  • Invasion of Innistrad is a bit clunky as a removal spell at four mana, but the flip side is quite nice. You get two tokens immediately, plus some potential grave hate and additional token production. Seems worth consideration if you can flip it consistently.
  • Pile On is a reasonable removal spell if you were already interested in running Lethal Scheme.
  • Hoarding Broodlord is expensive, but convoke can let it come out earlier than Rune-Scarred Demon, and granting convoke to the card you fetch definitely opens up some options.
  • Archpriest of Shadows is sweet - you can reanimate something on ETB plus get a 4/4 deathtouch body that can generate more value. It's significantly weaker on an empty board though.
  • Invasion of Fiora is a bit expensive for a board wipe at six mana, but it does provide some nice asymmetry if you have a lot of legendary creatures. Can be awkward in the face of opposing commanders though. Marchesa is a nice draw engine if you can flip it, and she's capable of winning other battles immediately.
  • Breach the Multiverse is an interesting Sepulchral Primordial / Ghouls' Night Out variant if you're interested in stealing your opponents' stuff.
  • Scorn-Blade Berserker gives me Thraben Inspector vibes. It's a little clunkier than Village Rites / Deadly Dispute, but it provide its own body.
  • Corrupted Conviction is another Village Rites if you want it.
From the commander precons:

Gold + Artifact

From the commander precons:
  • Moira and Teshar is an interesting reanimation engine, particularly if you have a lot of historic cards in the deck. The returned things get exiled (and thus won't yield death triggers) though, so could be a bit awkward.
  • Bitterthorn, Nissa's Animus is a compleated Sword of the Animist. You can't play and equip it on turn 4 for an immediate trigger... but you can play it on turn 3 and attack the following turn. The token body is also nice for triggering other stuff or sacrificing.

Overall Thoughts

The addition of battles to the game will likely have interesting implications for the future of the game, since they generally encourage more creature combat. Something to keep in mind if they show up regularly in the future. A fair number of my own decks (including this one) generally ignore the combat step in favor of winning through combo or other methods, but battles may force me to adjust my deckbuilding.

As for the new cards... there are a lot of interesting options. Wand of the Worldsoul is a powerful ramp card that opens up some shenanigans. Bitterthorn, Nissa's Animus is a sweet piece of equipment. Scorn-Blade Berserker is a nice expendable body. I could also see Surge of Salvation, Sheoldred, Archpriest of Shadows, and Invasion of Tolvada making some builds of the deck.

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Post by Mookie » 1 year ago

Aftermath spoilers out. It's a small set, so fewer cards to review - of the new cards in the set, Jirina, Dauntless General is the only one I would consider for this deck. Grave hate is always nice to have access to, and her sacrifice ability to protect Teysa or other creatures can be relevant. I've considered General Kudro of Drannith for similar reasons in the past, and either seem reasonable if you're running a lot of humans.

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Post by Mookie » 11 months ago

New set! Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle Earth brings some interesting new cards to the format. Mechanics-wise, things are somewhat mixed - tempt / the ring is alright as a way to grant small creatures evasion and some card filtering, but it don't think the power level of the mechanic itself is that high. It does probably play pretty well though. Amass Orcs has nice synergies with this deck, since expendable black tokens are always in demand (even if you do need a sac outlet before you can make more). Food, landcycling, sagas, and historic are all fine, but the legendary theme has some implications due to how many random legends this deck contains.

White

Black

  • Call of the Ring is a cheaper Phyrexian Arena that costs more life. Could be good if you're running other tempt effects.
  • Isildur's Fateful Strike is a strong but difficult-to-cast removal spell.
  • Orcish Bowmasters looks absurd - 'what if Hullbreacher just killed your opponent?' You'll need a sac outlet, but the tokens and ping add up very fast unless your opponents play around it. I expect this to see a lot of play.
  • Gollum, Patient Plotter is a sac outlet you can use from your graveyard, which is a fairly unique effect. Beyond that, seems okay if you want to run some tempt.
  • Mirkwood Bats is a strong way to burn out your opponents - two life per token adds up quickly.
  • Nasty End is a nice Village Rites variant if you're willing to sacrifice Teysa or another legendary creature - three cards is a lot.

Gold + Artifact + Land

  • Lotho, Corrupt Shirriff is a cheap and efficient hatebear / mana dork. Monologue Tax is a pretty meh card, but slapping it on a 2-mana creature gives a much higher floor, even if it does cost some life.
  • Denethor, Ruling Steward is a reasonable token producer / sac outlet. It reminds me a bit of Hidden Stockpile.
  • The One Ring is a powerful draw engine - somewhere between Phyrexian Arena and Necropotence. This deck doesn't have a ton of synergy for it, but it's a reasonable card even when played fairly - an indestructible draw engine is pretty reasonable, and you'll usually win before the life loss matters.
  • Andúril, Flame of the West is an alright token producer.
  • Palantír of Orthanc is an alright draw engine - it takes a few turns to be active, but you'll eventually get a better Phyrexian Arena.
  • Horn of Gondor is a strong token producer, particularly if you're heavy on humans. It can produce absurd numbers if left unchecked.
  • Horn of the Mark is a cheap draw engine if you can attack with some evasive tokens repeatedly.
  • Barad-dûr is the best token-producing land ever printed, for the simple reason that you can create a 0/0 for a single mana... which immediately triggers Teysa, among other things. It can also function as a mana sink / win condition in a pinch, I suppose, although you do need to have a bit of support to activate it.
  • Minas Tirith is a cheap (if conditional) draw engine. I think Castle Locthwain is a bit easier to use, but it may be worth testing in more aggressive builds.
  • Shire Terrace and The Grey Havens are reasonable fixing options.

Overall Thoughts

The set looks like a mixed bag overall in terms of power level - Orcish Bowmasters and Reprieve look like multi-format all-stars, while other cards like Gandalf the White and Isildur's Fateful Strike look like slightly questionable plants for Commander. I think Bowmasters and Barad-dûr are the two biggest standouts for this deck, but I could also see myself testing Lotho or Denethor. Most of the new cards in the precons look a bit too niche though, so not sure if I like any of them in this deck.

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Post by Mookie » 10 months ago

Semi-major update: I've decided to experiment with cutting the bulk of the combos currently in the deck. I won't say there are no combos left (Anointed Procession and Pitiless Plunderer can do pretty silly things), but I've cut the cards in the deck that are only here for combo purposes. I suspect this will make it somewhat more difficult to actually close out games, but this deck is already pretty good at grinding due to all the random card advantage.

Cuts Adds The one non-combo swap I'm making is Grave Pact → Keeper of the Accord, largely because I want to test out the latter. I also picked up a copy of Sevinne's Reclamation that I would like to test, but I don't think that my current build has enough fetchlands to support it. Keeper of the Accord probably also wants me to adjust my manabase to better support it - likely by adding something like Karoo or Lotus Field - but it's a bit easier to find a slot for without those changes.

...I was initially going to cut Angel of Glory's Rise instead of Storm of Souls, but the fact that I'm adding four value-oriented humans makes it a bit easier to justify including as a pure value card.

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Post by Mookie » 10 months ago

As a brief update, I was able to play one game with the changes, and I somehow played four of the six new cards I added.
Hero of Bladehold felt nice and made some sac fodder for Priest of Forgotten Gods (although I only got one trigger before it died).
Erebos provided some nice (and indestructible) card advantage.
Invasion of Tolvada recurred Ao, the Dawn Sky for value and then flipped immediately for more value
Keeper of the Accord somehow made three tokens and ramped out three lands (since I had missed a fair number of land drops), but felt a little slow.

Gameplay-wise, things did feel a bit different - a lot of the combo cards have historically been stuck in my hand until I'm ready to combo, so not having a bunch of dead cards felt nice. I don't have an easy way to get a surprise win from hand anymore, but mass reanimation + a drain effect is still very capable of closing games out if life totals get low (and there isn't any grave hate). I may bring back Karmic Guide just because it is a good value card by itself, and I may swap Angel of Glory's Rise for Storm of Souls (not being able to recur Elas il-Kor, Sadistic Pilgrim / Blood Artist with it was relevant), but I think I'm happy with the other changes for now.

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Post by Mookie » 8 months ago

WOE spoilers out. The wb theme is auras, leaning into the Role tokens it introduces. This deck doesn't really have any interests in enchantment tokens... but on the other hand, Bargain works well with the numerous creature tokens it can produce.

White

  • Moonshaker Cavalry is a white Craterhoof Behemoth. Side-by-side, I think it's a little worse than Craterhoof - flying beats trample, but losing haste means you lose an attacking buffed body, which is significant. That said, the bigger difference is contextual - green decks can fetch Craterhoof off Tooth and Nail or hardcast it pretty easily, while this deck would probably be more interested in reanimating it. Either way, a very interesting option to have in the toolbox, since white doesn't have many good Overrun effects.
  • Virtue of Loyalty // Ardenvale Fealty is a reasonable anthem effect that comes with a body. It's a little slow, and this deck doesn't have any synergies for the +1/+1 counters, but could be interesting.
  • Werefox Bodyguard is probably the best Fiend Hunter effect available - you can't exile things permanently with it via trigger-stacking, but flash is a big upside, and the self-sacrifice ability allows for some interesting lines. As mentioned previously, I've recently moved away from the combo lines in this deck, but this would be a strong inclusion otherwise.
  • Regal Bunnicorn is adorable and I want to snuggle it. It's also a massive 2-mana beater.
  • Expel the Interlopers is a more flexible Dusk // Dawn // The Battle of Bywater. Asymmetric board wipes are generally good, and it seems easy to make this one-sided.
  • Three Blind Mice looks like a worse Wedding Announcement // Wedding Festivity, which I'm already not running. Could be interesting if you have bigger tokens to copy though.
  • Discerning Financier is mildly interesting as a catch-up ramp option, but greatly outclassed by actual ramp effects.
  • Stroke of Midnight is an excellent piece of spot removal - you can't kill lands (unlike Generous Gift), but the 1/1 is even less threatening. I'll probably run both.
  • Court of Ardenvale is a repeatable recursion engine. I think Court of Grace is a bit more consistent, since it doesn't require anything in the graveyard and can protect / claim the crown on its own, but it's worth consideration if you want more monarch support.
  • Liberated Livestock is... a card? It's a bunch of bodies, but I'm otherwise unimpressed.
  • Ox Drover is a repeatable draw engine, but giving 2/4 bodies to your opponents is a relevant downside.
  • Lady of Laughter is another somewhat clunky draw engine.

Black

  • Virtue of Persistence looks very nice from a quadrant theory perspective - cheap interaction that doubles as a lategame win condition. I think it's a little too slow for me to want to run, but I have considered Debtors' Knell in the past.
  • Beseech the Mirror is an extremely powerful tutor, assuming you have expendable tokens to bargain. The issue with most tutors is the tempo cost, and casting the fetched thing for free entirely negates that cost.
  • Rankle's Prank is mildly interesting if you're looking to run Barter in Blood or other symmetric edicts.
  • Specter of Mortality is mildly interesting as a board wipe on a body, but I think it's a bit too clunky. I suppose you can try to make it asymmetric, but I'd lean towards Massacre Girl if I wanted this effect.
  • Lich-Knights' Conquest is a very interesting mass reanimation spell. You do need to have stuff to bargain away, but I could see this doing a lot of work.
  • Lord Skitter, Sewer King is a nice token producer. The tokens can't block, which makes Lord Skitter look a bit worse than Ophiomancer, but the incidental grave hate can be nice.
  • Back for Seconds is just okay as a recursion spell, but reanimating something directly is a nice upside if you can afford the bargain.
  • Rowan's Grim Search is a reasonable card draw spell with a bit of filtering / graveyard filling.
  • Court of Locthwain is a passable draw engine if you want to do monarch stuff, but random cards from opponents' decks are generally somewhat low-value. At least you can play lands with it?
  • Tegwyll's Scouring is an interesting board wipe option - six mana is a bit expensive, but it comes with a rebate of a few tokens. More notably, if you have flying creatures (such as spirit tokens from Teysa), you can potentially cast it with flash.

Artifacts and Lands

Overall Thoughts

There are some interesting cards in the set that I expect to see a lot of play in the format. Moonshaker Cavalry and Stroke of Midnight are going to go in a lot of decks. Beseech the Mirror is a very strong tutor for combo decks (or just fetching up a free board wipe). For this deck in particular, Werefox Bodyguard is nice if you want to do recursion loop combo, and Lich-Knights' Conquest is a nice mass reanimation effect (even if it does require some setup). I could also see myself testing Lord Skitter, Sewer King as another token producer, and Virtue of Persistence could be fun to test.

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Post by Mookie » 7 months ago

Spoilers for the Doctor Who set are out. While I don't plan to pick up any of the decks myself, there are some interesting options I'll note.
  • Peri Brown is interesting if you're heavy on historic spells, since this deck doesn't have many ways to otherwise cheat on costs or generate lots of mana. My current build has around 22 historic spells in it, and it doesn't seem like it would be difficult to get that up to 30 or so (particularly if I wanted to lean into Teshar, Ancestor's Apostle or other historic synergy effects).
  • Romana II is underwhelming as a token producer if you're just making 1/1 spirits or 2/2 zombies, but could be worth consideration if you have more exotic tokens.
  • Sarah Jane Smith is another options if you want to lean into historic spells, this time generating clues. At the very least, a 2 mana 2/1 human with upside is worth consideration.
  • Wilfred Mott is an alright value engine if you have lots of cheap nonland permanents, but seems a bit slow / inconsistent.
  • Adipose Offspring is weird. This deck doesn't have many high-toughness creatures, but it can make a lot of bodies for cheap.
  • Everybody Lives! is a bit weaker than Teferi's Protection (and symmetric), but it is a mana less.
  • Everything Comes to Dust is an expensive semi-asymmetric board wipe with convoke, which seems situational but powerful. Exiling artifacts and enchantments can be awkward for this deck, but it is a strong effect.
  • Four Knocks looks worse than Phyrexian Arena, but it's an alright draw engine.
  • Crisis of Conscience is another powerful and potentially asymmetric board wipe... although, again, nuking your own value engines can be awkward.
  • The Night of the Doctor is another board wipe with upside, this time recurring a legendary creature. That said, I think Blood on the Snow is a bit better.
  • Death in Heaven is an alright piece of grave hate / token producer.... although in this case, the bodies are technically nontoken creatures, which has some synergy implications.
  • Trial of a Time Lord is an interesting piece of removal, potentially dealing with three creatures (although it is certainly a bit fragile).
  • Dalek Squadron is a relatively cheap creature with myriad. You'll need a sac outlet for full value (since myriad exiles), but getting two Teysa triggers per attack could be good.
Not sure if I'll get any of these for my deck, but I could see Peri Brown or Sarah Jane Smith potentially being good if I had more historic spells.

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Post by Mookie » 6 months ago

It's been another month, so another set to review! I think WotC is trying to put out a new set roughly every month these days, which is... certainly a lot. Anyway, Lost Caverns of Ixalan has a lot of nice stuff in it. Last time around, the WB archetype was all about vampires. They're still around, but the set also has an aristocrats theme that meshes very nicely with this deck. I will call out that descend only somewhat works with this deck though, since tokens hitting the graveyard don't count for it. Not difficult to trigger with fetchlands or sac fodder though.

White

  • Ojer Taq, Deepest Foundation // Temple of Civilization - move over Mondrak, Glory Dominus: there's a new token multiplier in town. Ojer Taq is more expensive, easier to kill, and doesn't work for noncreature tokens (like treasure or clues), but overall looks to be quite nice.
  • Thousand Moons Smithy // Barracks of the Thousand is interesting - makes a single beefy token (if you're going wide), and can flip into a land that makes more beefy tokens. Tapping five things can be tricky, but certainly a strong payoff.
  • Get Lost is a flexible and cheap piece of removal.
  • Sanguine Evangelist is five bodies for three mana with Teysa, which is quite efficient. Battle cry can also be nice if you want to be more aggressive.
  • Unstable Glyphbridge // Sandswirl Wanderglyph is a semi-asymmetric board wipe - you can keep Teysa (or another small creature) around, while leaving opponents with nothing or something useless. Crafting it into the flip side can be tricky (since this deck isn't that artifact-heavy), but it is free upside.
  • Vanguard of the Rose is a sac outlet that protects itself, but costing mana to activate means it it generally suboptimal.
  • Dusk Rose Reliquary is another piece of cheap removal, although it does require a body to sacrifice.
  • Market Gnome is nice sac fodder, giving you a card and some life for your troubles.
  • Helping Hand is a downgrade from Unearth.
  • Dauntless Dismantler is an alright (if narrow) hate piece.
  • Miner's Guidewing is some more nice, cheap sac fodder.
  • Charismatic Conqueror = "Rhystic Budy". It is a punisher effect, and tapping stuff is a relatively low cost, so you may not get anything... but it's certainly interesting if your opponents need blockers.
  • March of the Canonized looks like a strong token producer - you get some tokens immediately, plus it acts as a conditional Bitterblossom going forwards.
  • Redemption Choir is a cheaper Sun Titan. It's smaller and easier to block, and the coven ability is conditional... but being cheaper is certainly nice.
  • Illustrious Wanderglyph is a very strong token producer, pumping out an endless horde of 3/3 bodies. The tokens are unfortunately colorless, but it also has the perk of pumping artifact creatures and not just the tokens, if you happen to have any others.

Black

Gold & Colorless

  • Vito, Fanatic of Aclazotz looks very nice - you do specifically want to be sacrificing things (instead of letting them die naturally), but your reward is a mix of draining and a free token producer. 4/4 flyer for 4 is also a good baseline. Vito triggers off all sacrifices (not just creatures), which makes him particularly good with stuff like fetchlands and treasure.
  • Bartolomé del Presidio is a free, instant-speed sac outlet.... which isn't something we see that often these days. Interesting to compare him to Cartel Aristocrat - the ability to grow means he's probably a bit better, ignoring tribal concerns. I suppose Carrion Feeder exists though.
  • Carmen, Cruel Skymarcher is somewhat interesting as another Sun Titan variant. Does need some work to get going though.
  • Roaming Throne is intriguing. The baseline of making it a human and copying Teysa triggers doesn't particularly excite me when Teysa Karlov exists and didn't make the deck... but Roaming Throne can also copy triggers like Hero of Bladehold, Archpriest of Shadows, and Chittering Witch. I count around 13 cards in my current decklist that it can copy (roughly the same number as Teysa Karlov), so probably a miss, but certainly an interesting build-around. Worth keeping in mind if I ever make a dedicated human deck.

Overall Thoughts

This looks like a fantastic set, both for this deck and elsewhere. There is a lot of solid support for aristocrats and token strategies - Ojer Taq, Deepest Foundation // Temple of Civilization, Illustrious Wanderglyph, and Thousand Moons Smithy // Barracks of the Thousand are all great for going wide, while Vito, Fanatic of Aclazotz and Bartolomé del Presidio are great on the sacrificing side of things. There is even some premium sac fodder like Market Gnome and Sanguine Evangelist. I count maybe a dozen cards I could see myself running (or at least testing out), and I'm sure there are even more that I've missed. Lots of good stuff.

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Post by Mookie » 5 months ago

Update time! No major theme for the changes this time - I've been enjoying the non-combo build, and it has still felt sufficiently powerful for my meta. Being able to win out of nowhere is useful if you expect to be behind or light on board position, but my meta is extremely light on board wipes, which makes it easier to accrue value. Most of the swaps here are fairly direct replacements to try out new cards, opposed to me tweaking the deck to rebalance it.
I'll note that I tried to find space for Guardian Scalelord, but I need to think about it a bit more - it's not a direct swap for Sun Titan because it can't return lands. I think I would be more excited for it if I had larger creatures in the deck. Otherwise, I'll note that Denethor, Ruling Steward, Haunted Library, and Sanguine Evangelist are also on my shortlist.

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Post by Mookie » 3 months ago

Murders at Karlov Manor spoilers have begun, and there have been a number of interesting cards previewed so far. Two cards in particular stand out to me as worthy for early discussion.

Teysa, Opulent Oligarch - I think Teysa's new card looks quite solid. Her ability to turn aggression into card draw strongly reminds me of Tymna the Weaver, and I think both fill a similar role in the 99. I think Tymna has a slight edge in this deck - my curve in pretty lean and I don't have that much spare mana, so I greatly prefer paying life for cards to paying to crack clues. Teysa is easier to trigger though - combat damage works the same as Tymna, but she also triggers off Zulaport Cutthroat and other drain effects, plus she has deathtouch to attack more effectively by herself. Turning clues into spirit tokens is also nice. I do intend to test her in the 99, although paying for clues may be too mana-intensive in practice.

I'll call out that Teysa looks awesome for a more dedicated clue deck - if you run support cards like Academy Manufactor, Thalisse, Reverent Medium, or Inspiring Statuary, she goes way up in value. Orzhov doesn't currently have many clue synergies, but I do expect more in the new set.

The other card I'll call out is Delney, Streetwise Lookout. I ran Teysa Karlov in the past, but found her to be a bit too win-more - she didn't do much unless I already had an established board, and it didn't feel worth it to run her just to copy Teysa, Orzhov Scion triggers. Some back-of-the-hand analysis of the two cards, plus Roaming Throne (on 'human') and Panharmonicon / Elesh Norn, Mother of Machines for comparison (using Scryfall to estimate how cards exist in this color combination that benefit from the various effects):

CardCards affected in my current buildEstimated total cards effected
Teysa Karlov15498
Delney, Streetwise Lookout111324
Roaming Throne13628
Panharmonicon141605

Looking at these, Delney is the least supported in my current build, but would be the easiest to support if I wanted to lean in. There are a ton of cards I could run that would benefit - Thraben Inspector, Karmic Guide, and Skyclave Apparition all immediately come to mind, for example.

Meanwhile, I currently slightly more death triggers for Teysa Karlov / Drivnod, Carnage Dominus to copy, but there are comparatively fewer other cards that I could add. It's not impossible to throw in Vindictive Lich or other death triggers, but the fact that there are fewer out there means their quality goes down quickly. Similar story for Roaming Throne if I wanted to lean into human tribal.

Of course, out of all of these, Panharmonicon has the most potential support - most of the triggers from humans and creatures with power 2 or less are probably ETB triggers anyway. However, it doesn't do anything with Teysa herself, which decreases its effective applicability significantly.

So, my current opinion of Delney is 'not in my current build, but it would be very easy to tweak the deck to make it good'. I'll note that Delney can be fetched by Recruiter of the Guard and recurred by Sun Titan / Reveillark, which makes them more consistent to build around. I'll probably try to pick up a copy if they aren't too expensive and tweak the deck a bit to support them.

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Post by Mookie » 3 months ago

Teysa is dead. Long live Teysa!

We finally have the rest of the Murders at Karlov Manor spoilers, so time to discuss! The Orzhov theme in the set is 'creatures with power 2 or less', which meshes very well with this deck - I have a bunch of small creatures (including Teysa and most of the tokens), plus stuff like Reveillark.

White

  • Delney, Streetwise Lookout, as mentioned above, looks very promising. Copying Teysa and other triggers sounds quite nice. I would want to tweak my creatures a bit, but I don't think it would be difficult to do so. I'll call out the tension with creatures that can only trigger once per turn like Welcoming Vampire, but there are still plenty of strong abilities to copy.
  • Aurelia's Vindicator looks fun, although not particularly efficient - I think Angel of Serenity is generally better.
  • Tenth District Hero is interesting design - making your other stuff indestructible after leveling up sounds nice.
  • Doorkeeper Thrull is a brutal hate piece to be aware of. This deck isn't that reliant on ETB triggers, but still annoying.
  • Case Of the Uneaten Feast is an interesting take on Soul Warden. You can cash it in during the lategame for a mass Raise Dead, which sounds nice. Particularly good if you then recur it with Lurrus of the Dream-Den or a similar effect.
  • Unyielding Gatekeeper is a flexible (if inefficient) removal spell on a body.
  • Assemble the Players looks a bit like a trap to me unless you have a particularly high number of small creatures or topdeck manipulation. It's not impossible to make it good, but getting 20+ small creatures can be pretty tough, and I don't know if I would be happy with fewer than 30.
  • Wojek Investigator is a nice value engine if you can get your hand empty.
  • No Witnesses is usually worse than Day of Judgment, IMO - when you have the most creatures, you are least likely to want to board wipe.
  • Call a Surprise Witness is a cheap piece of reanimation for a small creature.
  • The Case of the Gateway Express seems alright - a conditional removal spell plus a small anthem for your creatures. Good for go-wide decks.
  • Novice Inspector is another Thraben Inspector, if that's a thing you want. Works well with clue / sacrifice synergies.
  • Unexplained Absence is a flexible multi-target removal spell. Orzhov has a very deep card pool for spot removal, but not many hit multiple targets - seems very strong.
  • Merchant of Truth is another draw engine / clue producer. If you have a lot of clues, the exalted can represent a real threat.
  • Serene Sleuth does a decent Thraben Inspector impression, plus it has some anti-goad text that can be relevant in some matchups.
  • Trouble in Pairs seems like a solid, if inconsistent, draw engine. I could see it drawing 3+ cards per turn cycle in some metas, which is rare for a white card. It is a punisher effect though, so I think most opponents will be able to deny it.

Black

Gold, Colorless, and Lands

  • Teysa, Opulent Oligarch, as mentioned above, looks like a nice value engine - hit opponents, draw cards, and make tokens. She's particularly good if you have other clue support, although I will note that cracking a bunch of clues s quite mana-intensive.
  • Kaya, Spirits' Justice is a very on-theme planeswalker value engine - make tokens, sacrifice them for value, and fill the graveyard. Cloning the dead can also represent some nice value.
  • Treacherous Greed is a conditional but efficient draw spell - cashing in a token for three cards and a Lightning Helix sounds nice, even if it is effectively sorcery-speed.
  • Wispdrinker Vampire is a drain effect that triggers on ETB, which is nice - no more needing to wait for a board wipe for full value. Deathtouch and lifelink in the lategame seems unlikely to matter, but it may come up occasionally.
  • Shadowy Backstreet is another land with land types, which is nice if you want to enable Cabal Coffers / Emeria, the Sky Ruin... or just have better fetchable fixing. Surveil is also a nice way to fuel graveyard synergies.

Overall Thoughts

MKM brings a lot of interesting options with it. Delney, Streetwise Lookout is the single biggest highlight for this deck - a cheap way to copy triggers can represent a lot of value. There are a lot of other interesting value cards too - I'll probably test Teysa, Opulent Oligarch on principle, but I could also see myself testing Kaya, Wispdrinker Vampire, and a few other cards. Illicit Masquerade seems like it can enable a lot of combo shenanigans.

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Post by Mookie » 3 months ago

Two small changes in the interest of testing some new cards: I'm planning to bring back Sword after a bit more testing - I'm not entirely sold on Deep Gnome Terramancer, but I don't want to cut it before I have some more data.

edit: got in a game with all of the above cards today. Lotho was great, and consistently made 2+ treasures per turn cycle while also providing a body. Wispdrinker Vampire wasn't as impressive, but still reasonable - the life drain added up quickly and helped me stabilize. I did misread its second ability though - I wanted to give Adeline, Resplendent Cathar and a large Bartolomé del Presidio lifelink, but they weren't eligible.

Meanwhile, I help open mana for Deep Gnome Terramancer most of the game and never saw a single ramp spell or fetch from my opponents, so it's being cut.

I've also been impressed by Archpriest of Shadows, so adding Guardian Scalelord (which has looked impressive when I have seen it in other decks). Cutting Hostile Negotiations for it, which may be incorrect. I'll add it back in if I find myself wanting more ways to fill the graveyard.

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Post by Rumpy5897 » 3 months ago

Deep Gnome is not quite enough of a gotcha that it will warp how people play around it. You're not going to play that Rampant Growth because there's a Deep Gnome out? Seems unlikely. Something like a Hushwing Gryff stuffing ETBs is a different story, but I've never seen people warp their lines around this particular card. In the situation you're describing, I'd have chased him out in an end step and just had him sit around (I presume part of your displeasure is the fact you squandered a lot of mana holding him up). Or is your group very wipey and he'd have just perished for no gain very quickly?
 
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Post by Mookie » 3 months ago

Rumpy5897 wrote:
3 months ago
Deep Gnome is not quite enough of a gotcha that it will warp how people play around it. You're not going to play that Rampant Growth because there's a Deep Gnome out? Seems unlikely. Something like a Hushwing Gryff stuffing ETBs is a different story, but I've never seen people warp their lines around this particular card. In the situation you're describing, I'd have chased him out in an end step and just had him sit around (I presume part of your displeasure is the fact you squandered a lot of mana holding him up). Or is your group very wipey and he'd have just perished for no gain very quickly?
Holding open mana wasn't actually an issue - I had a Pitiless Plunderer (and Lotho) around for most of the game and was flush with treasure as a result. I could have played DGT whenever I felt like it, but I valued having the extra treasure around more than a random 2/2. My displeasure is more at the fact that despite having him in hand for 5 or so turns, my opponent's didn't ramp or crack a fetchland a single time, so I would have preferred to have something else instead of an Ambush Viper. I suppose that only one of my opponents was playing green (and they were having some mana issues), but I think my meta in general just isn't that heavy on ramp.

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Post by duducrash » 3 months ago

Mookie wrote:
3 months ago
I've also been impressed by Archpriest of Shadows, so adding Guardian Scalelord (which has looked impressive when I have seen it in other decks)
I play Carmen Cruel Skymarcher for such an effect and I really like it. Specially with Sac synergy

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Post by yeti1069 » 3 months ago

Mookie wrote:
3 months ago
Rumpy5897 wrote:
3 months ago
Deep Gnome is not quite enough of a gotcha that it will warp how people play around it. You're not going to play that Rampant Growth because there's a Deep Gnome out? Seems unlikely. Something like a Hushwing Gryff stuffing ETBs is a different story, but I've never seen people warp their lines around this particular card. In the situation you're describing, I'd have chased him out in an end step and just had him sit around (I presume part of your displeasure is the fact you squandered a lot of mana holding him up). Or is your group very wipey and he'd have just perished for no gain very quickly?
Holding open mana wasn't actually an issue - I had a Pitiless Plunderer (and Lotho) around for most of the game and was flush with treasure as a result. I could have played DGT whenever I felt like it, but I valued having the extra treasure around more than a random 2/2. My displeasure is more at the fact that despite having him in hand for 5 or so turns, my opponent's didn't ramp or crack a fetchland a single time, so I would have preferred to have something else instead of an Ambush Viper. I suppose that only one of my opponents was playing green (and they were having some mana issues), but I think my meta in general just isn't that heavy on ramp.
I've had games where DGT has gotten me 5 or 6 lands--had one where I'd wished I'd had more Plains in my deck. There have been one or two where it's gotten me nothing, but in one of those it showed up pretty late (turn 7 or something). Most games, I feel like it's gotten me at least 1, usually 2.

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Post by Mookie » 3 months ago

duducrash wrote:
3 months ago
I play Carmen Cruel Skymarcher for such an effect and I really like it. Specially with Sac synergy
Amusingly, one of my opponents had Carmen in the game I played. She got quite large before I exiled her with Teysa. I like the immediate impact of the backup cards, but could be worth testing.
yeti1069 wrote:
3 months ago
I've had games where DGT has gotten me 5 or 6 lands--had one where I'd wished I'd had more Plains in my deck. There have been one or two where it's gotten me nothing, but in one of those it showed up pretty late (turn 7 or something). Most games, I feel like it's gotten me at least 1, usually 2.
I think I've gotten zero lands in three games. That's certainly a small sample size though. I'll see if I can squeeze it back in for some extra testing, but I think my meta is generally light on land-based ramp.

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Post by duducrash » 3 months ago

Mookie wrote:
3 months ago
I like the immediate impact of the backup cards, but could be worth testing.
You are not heavy on fetches, but thats an additional thing to. She can whip those back, like Sun Titan and the back up ones can't

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Post by Rumpy5897 » 3 months ago

Metas vary. In my group people pay for Smothering Tithe on your average turn :P You'd have thought that there'd be plenty of Rampant Growths flying around at least, lands tend to be the safest for parking ramp.
 
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Post by Mookie » 3 months ago

duducrash wrote:
3 months ago
You are not heavy on fetches, but thats an additional thing to. She can whip those back, like Sun Titan and the back up ones can't
Yeah, we're now up to four budget fetches I would consider (Terramorphic Expanse, Evolving Wilds, Obscura Storefront, and Escape Tunnel). I also recently added Bloodghast to the deck, so may be worth swapping out some of my weaker taplands. I don't think I want to go all-in on fetches/landfall with Felidar Retreat / Trove Warden, but it's an option.
Rumpy5897 wrote:
3 months ago
Metas vary. In my group people pay for Smothering Tithe on your average turn :P You'd have thought that there'd be plenty of Rampant Growths flying around at least, lands tend to be the safest for parking ramp.
Yeah, my meta is a bit weird. I think Rampant Growth or another piece of cheap ramp is somewhat common in the early game, but I feel like I rarely see them in the mid/lategame in my meta. There was a game a while ago where a Yarok, the Desecrated player went crazy with Farhaven Elf, but no other instances come to mind other than my own shenanigans.

I think my meta is also a bit lighter than normal on board wipes, grave hate, and combo... which makes me question what it is actually particularly heavy on. It has to be something, right? People going all-in on their commanders, maybe? Hmmm...

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Post by Mookie » 2 months ago

It's been a whole month since MKM, which means it's time for Fallout spoilers! I'm somewhat ambivalent on the set in general, but the RWB deck has a human / aristocrats theme that happens to mesh very well with this deck.

White

Black

  • Feral Ghoul is a Zulaport Cutthroat if you squint hard enough, but the life loss is delayed by several steps.
  • Ruthless Radrat is mildly interesting if you have a ton of self mill or can otherwise fill your graveyard. I'm not convinced four cards for a single token is a good deal though, given how much this deck values recursion.
  • Screeching Scorchbeast is a weird token generator that turns mill (of noncreatures) into tokens.
  • V.A.T.S. is a flexible piece of spot removal that can occasionally hit multiple targets.
  • Vault 12: The Necropolis can represent a bunch of zombies on chapter 2 if you're lucky. I think the expected value is significantly lower though.
  • Wasteland Raider is very interesting. Plaguecrafter doesn't particularly excite me, but the potential to make opponents sacrifice multiple things is very interesting. I think Sheoldred // The True Scriptures is probably the best version of this effect, but they look very promising if you can consistently get 2-3 triggers off it.

Gold and Colorless

  • Colonel Autumn is interesting if you have a lot of legendary creatures - you can turn all of them into a mass pump effect, assuming you have stuff to sacrifice.
  • Elder Arthur Maxson is an upgraded Yahenni, Undying Partisan. You lose haste and the occasional upside of a large beater after a board wipe (or just if lots of stuff is dying), but you gain the token pump effect and human typing.
  • Charisma Bobblehead is usually a Manalith, but it can occasionally generate tokens... potentially lots if you're going all-in on bobbleheads. I think this deck generally has better options for ramp though.
  • Pip-Boy 3000 is pretty meh, but it is flexible. The 'untap two lands' ability makes it an interesting ramp option - if you squint, it's a Worn Powerstone with upside.
  • Desolate Mire is an interesting piece of fixing. This deck has a lot of multicolor cards due to Teysa, so I could see it being useful, although it goes down in value if you have ww or bb cards you want to cast early.
Overall, Elder Arthur Maxson is the card I'm most excited for in this deck, although he's just an incremental upgrade over Yahenni, Undying Partisan outside dedicated human tribal. Wasteland Raider is also somewhat interesting, and I'd like to try Desolate Mire as another piece of fixing. The set makes me think it could be interesting to lean even more into humans and add Xathrid Necromancer or other tribal effects (Greymond, Avacyn's Stalwart?). There are also a few +1/+1 counter effects that make me consider Basri's Lieutenant and Cathars' Crusade.

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Post by Mookie » 1 month ago

Outlaws of Thunder Junction spoilers out! Lots of interesting stuff in the set, both for this deck and others. I counted my creatures, and I somehow have eight outlaws in my current build (mostly rogues and warlocks). I don't think that's enough to support any outlaw synergies, but certainly higher than I was expecting.

Crimes are the other mechanic in the set that stands out for this deck - Teysa is apparently a criminal, but there are only eight or so other crime triggers. Blood Artist is an easy engine, but most of my other drain effects are untargeted. I do think crimes are easy to support though - Swords to Plowshares, Sadistic Hypnotist, and Lion Sash are just a couple of cards that could be slotted in if you want more triggers.

White

  • Final Showdown is a flexible instant-speed board wipe. Six mana is a bit expensive, but the options it offers are quite nice.
  • Claim Jumper is a nice catch-up ramp option.
  • Aven Interrupter is stack interaction and a reasonable tempo play.
  • Oltec Matterweaver is an alright token producer - whenever you cast a creature, you get a token. It is colorless though.
  • Angel of Indemnity is a very nice Sun Titan variant. You lose the attack trigger, but you gain the ability to recur 4-drops and some nice keywords. Encore also opens up some interesting lines (especially with Buried Alive).
  • We Ride at Dawn is an alright ramp option depending on how many legends you have.
  • Angelic Sell-Sword is a nice token producer that can also act as a draw engine. The tokens are red, so a bit worse than Blessed Sanctuary, but you also get two bodies immediately.

Black

  • Gisa, the Hellraiser is an extremely powerful token producer, and the main crime payoff in the set - making two 3/3 menace zombie tokens every turn is no joke. You do need cards to support her though.
  • Tinybones, the Pickpocket does a decent Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer impression as a 1-drop that generates value. Can also give crime triggers.
  • Caustic Bronco does a decent Dark Confidant impression. Even better when saddled.
  • Kaervek, the Punisher is another crime payoff, this time letting you play stuff from your graveyard. It can let you recur stuff at instant speed, which can be interesting.
  • Tinybones Joins Up is cute - a little disruption and a little drain / mill. Can be a payoff if you're comboing to recur a legend, or a repeatable crime trigger.
  • Insatiable Avarice is a flexible tutor // card advantage. bbb to draw three cards isn't a bad baseline.
  • Pitiless Carnage is a little clunkier than instant-speed options, but plot lets you save it for a big turn later on.
  • Hollow Marauder is fun - if you have a stocked graveyard, then it's a cheap Syphon Mind on a 4/2 body.
  • Treasure Dredger lets you stockpile mana for a later turn. Can be good if you have treasure synergies.
  • Forsaken Miner is another nice crime payoff. I think Nether Traitor is better in this deck, but seems fun.
  • Lively Dirge is interesting. Three mana Entomb is so-so, but five mana to tutor your favorite 4-drop (or less) into play seems promising.
  • Servant of the Stinger is yet another crime payoff, and yet another tutor. It's a bit situational, but seems fun.
  • Unscrupulous Contractor is a nice upgrade over Fell Stinger. You lose deathtouch, but you gain plot and more relevant typing.
  • Delusions of Greed is a sweet pile of value... for a short period of time. It goes downhill quickly.
  • Orochi Soul-Reaver is an alright value engine for an aggressive deck. The manifested cards are nontoken creatures, which has some relevance.
  • Heartless Conscription is an interesting alternative to Decree of Pain. Worse with tokens, but better against exile.

Gold, Colorless, and Lands

  • Kambal, Profiteering Mayor is sweet. Between clues and treasures, there are a ton of random tokens in the format Kambal can copy, to say nothing of any creature tokens. Plus Kambal drains for every token you get, which can add up quickly. Looks like an awesome engine.
  • Baron Bertram Graywater is another sweet token producer, this time giving you an extra token every turn. It's a very nice engine with Teysa - sacrifice your bonus vampire token to get a spirit and a replacement vampire every turn. You can also use it as a draw engine / sac outlet.
  • Ruthless Lawbringer is a flexible removal spell on a nice body. Seems great.
  • Luxurious Locomotive is a fun mana rock - crew with all your creatures, attack, and generate a ton of treasure.
  • Forlorn Flats isn't that exciting as a tapped fixing land, but it is a crime trigger and a desert if you care about those.
  • Pest Control is obnoxious against this deck - wipes out token swarms, and cycles when it isn't needed.
  • Lotus Ring lets you convert expendable creatures into mana. It is expensive to equip though, so you would probably want some way to equip for free.
  • Nexus of Becoming is a fun draw engine. You can cash in cards to get 3/3 golem copies of them, which is nice alongside expensive bodies. They're not even colorless!

Overall Thoughts

The standouts for this deck are the three gold cards - Kambal, Baron Bertram, and Ruthless Lawbringer all look excellent. I'm also interested in Unscrupulous Contractor and Angelic Sell-Sword as minor upgrades to cards already in the deck. Angel of Indemnity also looks interesting. Beyond these, there are a number of crime cards I would be interested in testing if I had enough support - most notable Gisa, but Kaervek and Forsaken Miner also seem nice if you can trigger them.

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Post by Mookie » 4 weeks ago

Swapping around a few cards to try out some new tech. I'm expecting the next update to be a bit larger - I'd like to try out all of the gold OTJ cards, plus I noticed Loyal Retainers is now a budget card, which has some interesting implications.
  • Dictate of ErebosKaya, Spirits' Justice - Dictate is a strong card, but also a bit oppressive. Trying out Kaya in its place. She looks to be extremely flexible, and her (-2) is arguably even better than Dictate.
  • Yahenni, Undying PartisanElder Arthur Maxson - generally an upgrade due to superior typing. I lose out on the ability to do a bunch of damage with Yahenni after a board wipe, but I don't think that ever really came up.
  • Fell StingerEagles of the North - I think my manabase has grown a bit too greedy, and I feel like I could use another land or two. I somehow only have 31 lands in my current list, which is definitely too few. I technically have a few more in the form of MDFCs, and that number is pumped up further by Troll of Khazad-dûm and now Eagles, but I should probably add another actual land at some point.

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