Teysa: Sacrificing Tokens for Fun and Profit
Uggghhh...I need to read slower and more carefully. Thanks!! Tombstone is pretty sweet, even more so in multiplayer.
Arcades, the Strategist, Nekusar, the Mindrazer, Varina, Lich Queen, Isshin, Two Heavens as One, Sidar Jabari of Zhalfir
Sythis, Harvest's Hand, Ratadrabik of Urborg, Ranar the Ever-Watchful, Lathril, Blade of the Elves
Ayara, First of Locthwain, Giada, Font of Hope,The Gaffer
Sythis, Harvest's Hand, Ratadrabik of Urborg, Ranar the Ever-Watchful, Lathril, Blade of the Elves
Ayara, First of Locthwain, Giada, Font of Hope,The Gaffer
Tags:
Had what I'm relatively confident to be the fastest win with this deck so far.
T1 Tainted Field, Sol Ring
T2 Orzhov Basilica, bounce Tainted Field.
T3 Temple of Silence, Buried Alive fetching Karmic Guide, Reveillark, and Gonti, Lord of Luxury.
T4 Living Death. I have a Viscera Seer in hand that will let me win (sacrifice Gonti + Karmic Guide, sacrifice Reveillark to bring them back, Karmic Guide brings back Reveillark, repeat until opponents' decks are exiled to Gonti). Unfortunately, the only land I have to play is the bounced Tainted Field, which only taps for colorless.
....target the Zur player at the table with Gonti's trigger, steal Dark Ritual. Cast it, paying colorless. Huzzah!
....unfortunately, the Zur player counters the Dark Ritual with Force Spike. On their turn, they cast and attack with Zur (they played Lightning Greaves the previous turn) and throw an Oblivion Ring at Reveillark, breaking the combo.
...and on my turn, I let Karmic Guide die to echo, then cast Viscera Seer and Demonic Tutor to fetch up enchantment removal (in this case, Leonin Relic-Warder), which seals the win.
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In other news, I've been moving around a lot the last few months, which has made it difficult to maintain a stable playgroup. May have found a consistent LGS to play at though. Unfortunately, of all the metas I've experienced, it definitely feels like the highest power level - most of my decks (this one included) win games around turn 9-10, and it feels like games in the new meta usually end around turn 6-7. So, may need to make some changes to account for that. This deck has a lot of properties reflective of my old meta (which had somewhat grindier games and lots of board wipes / removal), so we'll see how those properties serve me in the new one.
Looking at stuff in the world of Magic, I'm keeping an eye on the cards from Theros: Beyond Death.
Athreos, Shroud-Veiled looks like a lot of fun and a card I'd like to test, but it's almost certainly too slow for my current meta.
Daxos, Blessed by the Sun is mildly interesting as a lifegain enabler, but only triggering on my own creatures and not being a Human means I think he'll be inferior to Soul Warden (and Auriok Champion, if I were running it). Still, double-dipping on triggers is pretty attractive if you have more payoffs.
I'm not sure how to evaluate the Escape mechanic yet. My instinct is that exiling a bunch of cards form my graveyard is a pretty significant cost - this deck doesn't have a ton of ways to fill its graveyard, and has a lot of payoffs for having lots of creatures in it, which means I would only really be willing to exile noncreatures. Still, it's free value, so I'll keep an eye out for any playable cards with it.
Elspeth, Sun's Nemesis probably isn't making the cut though - four white tokens for four mana is pretty meh, given that I already am passing on Lingering Souls, Sengir Autocrat, and some other token producers. While I may be underestimating how good Escape is, I don't think it is enough to make me want Elspeth in this deck. Which is unfortunate, because I do like a lot of Elspeth's past cards - Elspeth, Knight-Errant was in one of the earlier builds of the deck, and I've wanted to include Elspeth, Sun's Champion for a while.
T1 Tainted Field, Sol Ring
T2 Orzhov Basilica, bounce Tainted Field.
T3 Temple of Silence, Buried Alive fetching Karmic Guide, Reveillark, and Gonti, Lord of Luxury.
T4 Living Death. I have a Viscera Seer in hand that will let me win (sacrifice Gonti + Karmic Guide, sacrifice Reveillark to bring them back, Karmic Guide brings back Reveillark, repeat until opponents' decks are exiled to Gonti). Unfortunately, the only land I have to play is the bounced Tainted Field, which only taps for colorless.
....target the Zur player at the table with Gonti's trigger, steal Dark Ritual. Cast it, paying colorless. Huzzah!
....unfortunately, the Zur player counters the Dark Ritual with Force Spike. On their turn, they cast and attack with Zur (they played Lightning Greaves the previous turn) and throw an Oblivion Ring at Reveillark, breaking the combo.
...and on my turn, I let Karmic Guide die to echo, then cast Viscera Seer and Demonic Tutor to fetch up enchantment removal (in this case, Leonin Relic-Warder), which seals the win.
-----
In other news, I've been moving around a lot the last few months, which has made it difficult to maintain a stable playgroup. May have found a consistent LGS to play at though. Unfortunately, of all the metas I've experienced, it definitely feels like the highest power level - most of my decks (this one included) win games around turn 9-10, and it feels like games in the new meta usually end around turn 6-7. So, may need to make some changes to account for that. This deck has a lot of properties reflective of my old meta (which had somewhat grindier games and lots of board wipes / removal), so we'll see how those properties serve me in the new one.
Looking at stuff in the world of Magic, I'm keeping an eye on the cards from Theros: Beyond Death.
Athreos, Shroud-Veiled looks like a lot of fun and a card I'd like to test, but it's almost certainly too slow for my current meta.
Daxos, Blessed by the Sun is mildly interesting as a lifegain enabler, but only triggering on my own creatures and not being a Human means I think he'll be inferior to Soul Warden (and Auriok Champion, if I were running it). Still, double-dipping on triggers is pretty attractive if you have more payoffs.
I'm not sure how to evaluate the Escape mechanic yet. My instinct is that exiling a bunch of cards form my graveyard is a pretty significant cost - this deck doesn't have a ton of ways to fill its graveyard, and has a lot of payoffs for having lots of creatures in it, which means I would only really be willing to exile noncreatures. Still, it's free value, so I'll keep an eye out for any playable cards with it.
Elspeth, Sun's Nemesis probably isn't making the cut though - four white tokens for four mana is pretty meh, given that I already am passing on Lingering Souls, Sengir Autocrat, and some other token producers. While I may be underestimating how good Escape is, I don't think it is enough to make me want Elspeth in this deck. Which is unfortunate, because I do like a lot of Elspeth's past cards - Elspeth, Knight-Errant was in one of the earlier builds of the deck, and I've wanted to include Elspeth, Sun's Champion for a while.
Hey Mookie,
It's been awhile. I mentioned that I'd tell you how Ayara, First of Locthwain has played out for me a few months back. Well, I realized that my favorite element of playing Teysa was the pain and gain mechanic (Zulaport Cutthroat, etc). So, I broke my Teysa deck apart to develop an Ayara deck instead. Teysa always confounded me as you had to get just the right balance of everything for it to work well, which required A LOT of tweaking. I enjoy tweaking decks, but Teysa tired me out.
I got to play two games of my not-so-tuned Ayara deck versus a decently-tuned-by-not-fully-optimized Anje deck yesterday(remember I only have a playgroup of one right now). I won both games! Each game my opponent was one turn short of killing me, so pretty cool. Close games!! I really enjoyed playing Ayara more. I guess I'm less of a combo player and enjoyed the slow (or at times) quick drain game. Bolas's Citadel won me the second game by sacking 10 non-land permanents. Pretty great!!!
I'll be curious to hear how your new LGS group plays out since it sounds much more competitive and to watch how you tweak your deck to suit the group. Cheers!!!
It's been awhile. I mentioned that I'd tell you how Ayara, First of Locthwain has played out for me a few months back. Well, I realized that my favorite element of playing Teysa was the pain and gain mechanic (Zulaport Cutthroat, etc). So, I broke my Teysa deck apart to develop an Ayara deck instead. Teysa always confounded me as you had to get just the right balance of everything for it to work well, which required A LOT of tweaking. I enjoy tweaking decks, but Teysa tired me out.
I got to play two games of my not-so-tuned Ayara deck versus a decently-tuned-by-not-fully-optimized Anje deck yesterday(remember I only have a playgroup of one right now). I won both games! Each game my opponent was one turn short of killing me, so pretty cool. Close games!! I really enjoyed playing Ayara more. I guess I'm less of a combo player and enjoyed the slow (or at times) quick drain game. Bolas's Citadel won me the second game by sacking 10 non-land permanents. Pretty great!!!
I'll be curious to hear how your new LGS group plays out since it sounds much more competitive and to watch how you tweak your deck to suit the group. Cheers!!!
Arcades, the Strategist, Nekusar, the Mindrazer, Varina, Lich Queen, Isshin, Two Heavens as One, Sidar Jabari of Zhalfir
Sythis, Harvest's Hand, Ratadrabik of Urborg, Ranar the Ever-Watchful, Lathril, Blade of the Elves
Ayara, First of Locthwain, Giada, Font of Hope,The Gaffer
Sythis, Harvest's Hand, Ratadrabik of Urborg, Ranar the Ever-Watchful, Lathril, Blade of the Elves
Ayara, First of Locthwain, Giada, Font of Hope,The Gaffer
Thanks for the update! Yeah, draining people out with Zulaport Cutthroat and Blood Artist is definitely the most satisfying way to win. Cool to hear that Ayara is treating you well.
Haven't played that many games with the new meta yet (and I'm also rotating through my own decks, which slows down data collection for any one deck), so not sure exactly what changes I'll end up making. There also seem to be two sub-groups at the new LGS, split between more casual and a more competitive, but hard to make any generalizations yet. Still, at this point in time, I see three potential directions:
Haven't played that many games with the new meta yet (and I'm also rotating through my own decks, which slows down data collection for any one deck), so not sure exactly what changes I'll end up making. There also seem to be two sub-groups at the new LGS, split between more casual and a more competitive, but hard to make any generalizations yet. Still, at this point in time, I see three potential directions:
- Switch to a different general: this deck is a bit of a balancing act, which can make it vulnerable to disruption. Part of that is because Teysa doesn't generate that much value by herself. I'd probably swap Teysa Karlov and try to be more midrangey, but Tymna the Weaver + Ravos, Soultender and a more aggressive slant is probably the stronger configuration.
- Lean into combo and speed up the deck: throw in more tutors and fast mana / rituals. Not sure how I feel about it, and I suspect that budget would be the limiting factor anyway. As I called out in a game recently, everyone else at the table was running Mana Crypt, and it's hard to race that without running more fast mana myself.
- Slow things down and run more disruption: Eidolon of Rhetoric, Thalia, Heretic Cathar, and other things to slow down the game. Unfortunately, a lot of these are symmetric, so would need some additional tuning to not disrupt my own plans.
Yeah, I think your first option is the best. (My Teysa deck started out as a Teysa Karlov deck. Was too slow.) Tymna seems really cool!! All that said, I've been wanting to make a hatebear deck and slow things way down just for the sake of trying out a deck of that style. However, it seems like W/U are better colors for that than W/B. Or, simply go the Esper route. I just haven't decided on a commander yet, maybe Lavinia, Azorius Renegade. Bant could be really good for that too getting the G for ramp. I read on another thread of a Chulane Teller of Tales hatebear deck. Seems sort of fun.
Arcades, the Strategist, Nekusar, the Mindrazer, Varina, Lich Queen, Isshin, Two Heavens as One, Sidar Jabari of Zhalfir
Sythis, Harvest's Hand, Ratadrabik of Urborg, Ranar the Ever-Watchful, Lathril, Blade of the Elves
Ayara, First of Locthwain, Giada, Font of Hope,The Gaffer
Sythis, Harvest's Hand, Ratadrabik of Urborg, Ranar the Ever-Watchful, Lathril, Blade of the Elves
Ayara, First of Locthwain, Giada, Font of Hope,The Gaffer
We have the full spoiler for THB, so time to go over things! There is a pretty heavy graveyard theme in the set, so a few interesting things coming out of it. Enchantment theme isn't something I have a ton of synergy for, and this deck doesn't have a ton of devotion synergy either. They are certainly themes that could be built towards, but I think they would be better served with better generals.
Anyway, going over cards...
Anyway, going over cards...
- Heliod, Sun-Crowned - somewhat interesting for his combo with Walking Ballista, but this isn't really a dedicated lifegain deck. Certainly interesting if you're running a bunch of Soul Warden effects.
- Daxos, Blessed by the Sun - like Heliod, good if you're leaning into that theme, poor otherwise. Hard to say whether double-triggering off my own creatures is worth not triggering off of opponents'.
- Elspeth Conquers Death - I wasn't initially interested - five mana is a lot for conditional Vindicate, and the reanimation is super telegraphed. But then I thought more and realized that the second chapter can be pretty good for protecting a combo turn, and I'm a fan of this sort of disruption in general. Probably too slow overall, but could be interesting to test.
- Heliod's Intervention - this looks like a new format staple to me. Significant upgrade over Return to Dust and Crush Contraband.
- Gravebreaker Lamia - notable mostly as an Entomb effect for setting up reanimation - either fetching Unburial Rites, Dread Return, or a payoff like Ashen Rider. Better for a more dedicated reanimator deck.
- Nightmare Shepherd - this looks very cool. Exiling creatures is a significant cost, but it is a 'may'. More significantly, double-dipping on bodies is huge.
- Woe Strider - my pick for the best card for the deck in this set. Escape solves one of the biggest issues with sacrifice outlets there is - redundancy. You always want one available, but having multiple is usually superfluous. Having a sac outlet that can recur itself when necessary sounds really good.
- Tymaret, Chosen from Death - mildly interesting as an upgrade/sidegrade from Withered Wretch. Again, better if you have lifegain synergies, but legendary can also be an upside if you're running Teshar, Ancestor's Apostle and Primevals' Glorious Rebirth.
- The Birth of Meletis - mildly interesting as a Wall of Omens variant.
- Archon of Falling Stars - works with Animate Dead and similar effects, or reanimates something bigger. A bit expensive though.
- Minion's Return - works with Sun Titan. Also interesting as a way to save / steal something in response to removal.
- Reverent Hoplite - if you're leaning into devotion, this can make a lot of tokens. Consider also Springjack Shepherd and Evangel of Heliod.
- Funeral Rites - interesting alternative to Read the Bones and other small draw effects, if you're heavy on graveyard synergies.
- Kunoros, Hound of Athreos - mostly notable as a hate piece to keep an eye out for. Somewhat interesting for a hatebear (hatedog?)-focused build, but can be asymmetric if you consistently have a way to sacrifice it.
- Soul-Guide Lantern - as above, mostly significant as a card to watch out for. Still, while one-shot grave hate effects are annoying to play around, they aren't nearly as backbreaking as replacement effects (Leyline of the Void and friends), and I expect people to cash this in for a card more often than they ought to.
After a long period of me not updating the deck, I finally got around to acquiring new cards. Huzzah! A lot of these swaps are still somewhat tentative, but we'll see how they go. As always, I wish I had more data points for the cards getting cut, but meh.
Adds:
Adds:
- Talisman of Hierarchy - a bit of an effort to speed up the deck a bit - I've been wanting more mana rocks for ages, but there weren't any good ones available
- Idol of Oblivion - I'm willing to test out pretty much any draw engine, especially if it's cheap and on-theme.
- Legion's Landing - very speculative, since I'm not sure how consistently I'll be able to flip it. Cheap ramp is good though.
- Bolas's Citadel - also very speculative. It's would probably be better if the deck were more built around it, but I'm curious how it does.
- Syr Konrad, the Grim - a bigger, badder Blood Artist.
- Chittering Witch - token producer, sac outlet, and removal. What's not to love?
- Woe Strider - a recursive sacrifice outlet. I'm curious how its escape ability will be.
- Heliod's Intervention - Orzhov already has a ton of removal options, but it's almost all either mass removal or spot removal. One-sided wipe catches my attention.
- Castle Ardenvale - should usually enter untapped, and incidental token production seems decent. Producing colored mana makes it lower commitment than Westvale Abbey.
- Swamp x2 - evening out the color balance a bit.
- Burnished Hart - I like the card, but I do recognize it is a bit slow. May come back if I find myself wanting more land ramp though.
- Bygone Bishop - again, it can be a bit slow, and I don't cast that many creature spells.
- Dawn of Hope - I almost never find myself activating it, which suggests I have sufficient things to do with my mana.
- Phyrexian Reclamation - it's been in and out of the deck a few times, so may pop back in someday. But grabbing back a 2 or 3 drop often feels a bit disappointing.
- Athreos, God of Passage - needed to make space, and Athreos tends to be a bit low-impact.
- Crush Contraband - I've actually been very happy with how this has functioned, but trying Heliod's Intervention over it for now.
- Yahenni, Undying Partisan - swapping out for Woe Strider.
- Kambal, Consul of Allocation - again, a bit low-impact. I don't put that much pressure on my opponents' life totals, so he's mostly just annoying.
- Emeria, the Sky Ruin - probably the most significant cut, but I rarely get it active without a sizable investment. This opens up the possibility of running more nonbasics, which certainly seems attractive.
- Plains x2 - cutting Emeria means I don't need as many Plains.
Commander 2020 previews are out! Not a ton of stuff for this deck, but there are some cards worth consideration. I'll have a review of Ikoria (and its mechanics) when it's fully spoiled.
- Dredge the Mire - I don't think it's amazing, but it does provide multiple bodies at a reasonable rate. Better if you have Withered Wretch or another way to prune graveyards.
- Trynn, Champion of Freedom - unfortunately, we can't run her partner (who would provide a free sacrifice outlet). However, she does produce tokens.
- Nikara, Lair Scavenger - would be amazing if we had Cathars' Crusade or another way to put counters on our creatures. Sweet build-around, but not for this deck.
- Call the Coppercoats - this makes Deploy to the Front look like a joke. I'm not running much raw token production, but this is actually in consideration - instant speed is great, and I could see this easily producing 5+ tokens for only 3 mana.
- Cartographer's Hawk - somewhat interesting as a new take on Boreas Charger. Hard to evaluate without testing, but seems decent if you find yourself being down on lands frequently.
- Dismantling Wave - interesting as yet another variant on Return to Dust / Heliod's Intervention. Cycling is probalby too expensive for this deck though, and I favor the instant speed on Intervention. It is much cheaper though (3 mana for 3 targets vs 5 mana for 3 targets).
- Flawless Maneuver - free board wipe protection seems good, as is the ability to ward off spot removal on a combo turn.
- Verge Rangers - as with the Hawk, seems good if you find yourself down on lands frequently. Being a human is also an upside here, and works well if you have lots of shuffle effects.
- Deadly Rollick - mildly interesting as a free removal spell. We already have access to Snuff Out and Swords to Plowshares though, so I don't know if I'd run it.
- Species Specialist - this looks very potent - either name Human (note that it can trigger off itself in a pinch), or Spirit if you find yourself with a lot of tokens from Teysa. Triggers off both our own creatures and our opponents', plus it doesn't require noncreatures. Seems very sweet.
- Manascape Refractor - intriguing. Absurd if you have Cabal Coffers + Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth, but even just copying Orzhov Basilica makes it a better Worn Powerstone. At its best alongside a bunch of strong utility lands.
Aaaand we now have the full spoiler for the main Ikoria set. Some sweet things in there. Miscellaneous thoughts re: set mechanics:
Mutate is a bit niche, and doesn't have any inherent synergy with this deck. We do certainly have expendable creatures we're willing to mutate, but we also aren't likely to have enough mutate cards in the deck for any of them to trigger more than once. So, mostly comes down to individual cards.
Cycling has some synergy with the deck due to filling the graveyard. I wouldn't run a card specifically because it cycled, but a minor upside for creatures.
Ability counters are a wash - most keywords are combat-focused, and less relevant for our utility creatures.
There is a Human subtheme in the set in black/white, which is somewhat nice, although it also leans towards combat stuff.
Three-color subtheme is obviously less relevant for us, and somewhat of a downside - there are a lot of WBx cards I wish were just WB for this deck.
Companion is... interesting. We only have one option available, and while I think it requires too much commitment to be worth running in the companion slot from a pure power level perspective, it is a sweet build-around.
Mutate is a bit niche, and doesn't have any inherent synergy with this deck. We do certainly have expendable creatures we're willing to mutate, but we also aren't likely to have enough mutate cards in the deck for any of them to trigger more than once. So, mostly comes down to individual cards.
Cycling has some synergy with the deck due to filling the graveyard. I wouldn't run a card specifically because it cycled, but a minor upside for creatures.
Ability counters are a wash - most keywords are combat-focused, and less relevant for our utility creatures.
There is a Human subtheme in the set in black/white, which is somewhat nice, although it also leans towards combat stuff.
Three-color subtheme is obviously less relevant for us, and somewhat of a downside - there are a lot of WBx cards I wish were just WB for this deck.
Companion is... interesting. We only have one option available, and while I think it requires too much commitment to be worth running in the companion slot from a pure power level perspective, it is a sweet build-around.
- Luminous Broodmoth - seems like a snap include - a double-dipping effect that doesn't even exile, unlike Nightmare Shepherd. Doesn't trigger for fliers (so no Karmic Guide / Reveillark), but that's fairly minor.
- Extinction Event - a sweet board wipe variant. I slightly prefer effects that just kill creatures (and not exile) for this deck, due to all the death triggers, but not an issue if you have sacrifice outlets available. Potentially asymmetric too, if you happen to lean towards a certain parity.
- Drannith Magistrate - a very nice hatebear(d) - shuts down your opponents casting commanders, plus cascade / flashback / rebound / retrace / escape / etc.
- Bastion of Remembrance - looks sweet - it's essentially a three mana Zulaport Cutthroat that doesn't get hit by creature removal. On the other hand, it also doesn't get recurred by creature recursion, but at least it comes with a token.
- Call of the Death-Dweller - somewhat interesting as a more flexible Unearth. A lot of creatures we want to recur are 3 mana, but getting back a 1-drop and a 2-drop is pretty good value too. I'm not sure if I have enough 1-drops in my decklist to consistently have a target, but worth consideration if one were to lean into that subtheme (with Ranger of Eos and friends).
- Heartless Act - a pretty solid removal spell. We already have access to a bunch of options, but worth consideration.
- General Kudro of Drannith - grave hate, sacrifice outlet, and removal. Does a lot of things, assuming you're running enough humans. Sacrifice ability is harder to activate than Teysa's - costs mana, plus you're limited by creature type, which I think is a harder restriction for this deck than color. Plus it has the issue of being inherent card disadvantage, although less so than Teysa's ability. I might test him out though - the grave hate ability is enough gravy for him to be in consideration.
- General's Enforcer - token producer + protection for legendary humans? Sort of a weird combination of effects, but worth consideration if you have a lot of legends.
- Dire Tactics - another removal spell option. We should usually have a human available, and losing the life isn't as relevant as it is in 20-life formats anyway. Still, we do have access to Swords to Plowshares and friends already.
- Lurrus of the Dream-Den - fabulous art, and a powerful effect too. Better if you build around it and have a bunch of cheap permanents that sacrifice themselves (ex: Executioner's Capsule), but we run enough cheap stuff that tends to die that I consider it to be worth testing. For my build of the deck, the companion ability would require cutting way too many payoffs for being an aristocrats deck - no Grave Pact, no Ophiomancer... and probably most critically, no Teysa.
M21 is out, and looks to have a bunch of sweet cards in it, plus some really nice reprints. The
theme for the set is unfortunately focused primarily around lifegain and not tokens, but there are still some reasonable inclusions for the deck.- Mangara, the Diplomat is interesting as a draw engine / hate piece in white. Being a Human is a nice upside, and I expect the card draw from opponents casting spells to come up with some regularity (even if the card draw from attacks is significantly rarer).
- Basri's Lieutenant goes infinite with Cathars' Crusade. This deck doesn't otherwise have a lot of +1/+1 counter synergies, but it's a cool card.
- Kaervek, the Spiteful is a very nasty hate piece for this deck. I don't expect him to see a lot of play, but pack more spot removal if he's prevalent in your meta.
- Idol of Endurance is sweet as another Sun Titan effect to recur small creatures (including Teysa). This deck has a lot of ways to stock the graveyard. Plus it's card advantage in white! Seriously, I've been wanting white to have more repeatable recursion effects for years.
- Liliana's Standard Bearer is a very strong effect - either hold it up to refill your hand following a board wipe, or just draw a bile of cards on a big turn.
- Speaker of the Heavens is a strong token producer... if you're running enough lifegain. Similarly, Vito, Thorn of the Dusk Rose is a strong lifegain engine and win condition, if you care about those things.
- Griffin Aerie is also a decent token producer, again assuming you have the lifegain necessary to trigger it. Angelic Accord is sort of hard to trigger repeatedly, but Aerie is a bit easier.
- Silversmote Ghoul is yet another sweet payoff for lifegain. Also a repeatable draw engine, and a way to trigger Teysa.
- Witch's Cauldron is a worse Vampiric Rites, which I haven't been impressed by in the past.
- Village Rites is a one-shot draw effect, and generally an upgrade over Altar's Reap for the decks that are running it.
- Mazemind Tome is a fun draw engine. I've run some similar variants in the past that have usually ended up getting cut, but this one looks pretty usable.
- Grim Tutor - not the strongest tutor effect, but it's relatively fairly costed. Price should come down significantly with the reprint, which is nice.
- Massacre Wurm and Ugin, the Spirit Dragon - calling out primarily as cards we don't want to see across the table, since they both are really nasty to token strategies.
- Solemn Simulacrum - a reasonable inclusion in the deck, since it provides a nice pile of vaaaalue.
Following up on M21, we have Jumpstart. It's mostly a companion set to M21, and there are a lot of overlaps between the two. There are some packs that support our strategy (specifically, Legion being focused on tokens, while Minions, Spooky, and Witchcraft focus on sacrifice), which bring with them a couple of new cards and some more solid reprints.
Blessed Sanctuary is the one standout new card for this deck. I've run Spirit Bonds in the past, but cut it due to the extra mana being awkward. Giving tokens for free makes this much more attractive, and incidentally protecting my creatures from ping effects and Blasphemous Act isn't irrelevant, nor is incidentally warding off lethal Comet Storms.
I'd like to run Kels, Fight Fixer, but color identity is a thing. Generally inferior to Smothering Abomination though, for the same reason as above - additional costs are a pain.
As for reprints... Linvala, Keeper of Silence and Reanimate are both worth consideration, but I'm particularly happy about Phyrexian Tower as another sacrifice outlet and a bit of ramp. We'll see how much the reprints bring down prices....
Blessed Sanctuary is the one standout new card for this deck. I've run Spirit Bonds in the past, but cut it due to the extra mana being awkward. Giving tokens for free makes this much more attractive, and incidentally protecting my creatures from ping effects and Blasphemous Act isn't irrelevant, nor is incidentally warding off lethal Comet Storms.
I'd like to run Kels, Fight Fixer, but color identity is a thing. Generally inferior to Smothering Abomination though, for the same reason as above - additional costs are a pain.
As for reprints... Linvala, Keeper of Silence and Reanimate are both worth consideration, but I'm particularly happy about Phyrexian Tower as another sacrifice outlet and a bit of ramp. We'll see how much the reprints bring down prices....
No new cards in 2XM, but there are a bunch of interesting reprints, both for this deck and others. My own budget limit means I'll skip on a lot of these, but worth noting for anyone with a higher budget.
- Avacyn, Angel of Hope doesn't go in a token build of this deck, but there are a lot of tools in Orzhov for a reanimator build. Vish Kal, Blood Arbiter is also a solid reanimation target. If you are doing reanimator, Dread Return is also a fantastic pickup.
- Dark Confidant and Ad Nauseam are sort of difficult to run, but interesting as a draw engine if your curve is low enough.
- Land Tax is a solid way to hit land drops forever, and generate card advantage. Consider Scroll Rack if you do run it.
- Austere Command is a flexible board wipe. Not quite as good as Merciless Eviction (which was also reprinted), but it's a solid option. Same story for Toxic Deluge.
- Council's Judgment can be a fun removal option.
- Disciple of Bolas used to be in this deck, but I found it sort of underwhelming due to how small my creatures are. Worth consideration if you have some bigger creatures.
- Stoneforge Mystic is a fantastic way to fetch up Skullclamp or any other equipment you're running. I think Stonehewer Giant is a bit too much investment to run in this deck though.
- Going along with that, most of the Swords of X & Y are worth consideration if you want a reanimator package. Sword of Fire and Ice and Sword of Feast and Famine are the best, but I'd also consider Sword of Light and Shadow as a bit of incidental recursion.
- Oubliette is interesting primarily as a way to remove commanders - phasing out doesn't count as a zone change, so opponents can't send them to the command zone. Worth consideration if you have a specific commander in your meta you want to shut down.
- Chrome Mox and Mana Crypt are expensive (but powerful) mana rocks. This deck likely doesn't have enough artifacts for Mox Opal.
- Ensnaring Bridge is mildly interesting because this deck doesn't ever really need to attack - and when it does, it's often with tiny creatures. Can be difficult to get empty-handed though.
- Wurmcoil Engine is another reasonable reanimation target, but also combos with Ashnod's Altar + Nim Deathmantle.
- Endless Atlas is better in monocolor decks, but can be good if you're running a lot of basics.
- Fetid Heath is an excellent land to include - this deck has a lot of heavy mana requirements, so filtering is pretty useful.
Full ZNR spoiler is out, so time to go through the new cards. Lots of interesting stuff. The themes of the set don't have a strong overlap with this deck... but still a fair number of cards worth discussing.
Mechanics:
MDFCs - this is an extremely powerful mechanic. Turning your lands into spells when you're flooding out (or spells into lands when you need mana) is really good. It's not totally free to replace a basic with a tapped flip land, but it's not that painful either. This can vary though - if you have Emeria, the Sky Ruin or Cabal Coffers, the value of basic plains and swamps goes way up in value. Same story if you plan to recur Burnished Hart a bunch of times. On the other hand, replacing a spell with a MDFC helps hit land drops consistently, which is nice.
Landfall - I have some land ramp in the deck, but unless you invest heavily into fetchlands, Orzhov isn't the best color combination for enabling landfall. Still, it's not a hard mechanic to support - every deck plays lands and wants to hit land drops. We won't benefit as much as a green deck may able to, but there are still some enablers here.
Party - Advisors are too serious to party, I suppose. This deck does have all of the party tribes present (particularly a bunch of clerics), but without an enabler (or a payoff) in the command zone, I think that building around it would be too inconsistent. That said, there are some interesting cleric tribal payoffs in the set, and Orzhov naturally has a lot of clerics.
Kicker - a mana sink mechanic, and not one I think this deck particularly needs - it already has a reasonable mix of card draw and mana sinks to spend extra mana on. Kicker is a mechanic that ultimately depends more on individual card quality, so the cards need to be evaluated individually.
Cards:
Overall, I would say that Skyclave Apparition, Agadeem's Awakening, and Trove Warden are the most promising, but there are a lot of cards I could see testing depending on what synergies you have in the deck.
Mechanics:
MDFCs - this is an extremely powerful mechanic. Turning your lands into spells when you're flooding out (or spells into lands when you need mana) is really good. It's not totally free to replace a basic with a tapped flip land, but it's not that painful either. This can vary though - if you have Emeria, the Sky Ruin or Cabal Coffers, the value of basic plains and swamps goes way up in value. Same story if you plan to recur Burnished Hart a bunch of times. On the other hand, replacing a spell with a MDFC helps hit land drops consistently, which is nice.
Landfall - I have some land ramp in the deck, but unless you invest heavily into fetchlands, Orzhov isn't the best color combination for enabling landfall. Still, it's not a hard mechanic to support - every deck plays lands and wants to hit land drops. We won't benefit as much as a green deck may able to, but there are still some enablers here.
Party - Advisors are too serious to party, I suppose. This deck does have all of the party tribes present (particularly a bunch of clerics), but without an enabler (or a payoff) in the command zone, I think that building around it would be too inconsistent. That said, there are some interesting cleric tribal payoffs in the set, and Orzhov naturally has a lot of clerics.
Kicker - a mana sink mechanic, and not one I think this deck particularly needs - it already has a reasonable mix of card draw and mana sinks to spend extra mana on. Kicker is a mechanic that ultimately depends more on individual card quality, so the cards need to be evaluated individually.
Cards:
white
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- Angel of Destiny - a very interesting payoff for lifegain decks. I don't think this deck is capable of gaining enough life (or dealing enough combat damage) to fully enable it, but there are definitely more lifegain-focused builds that could take advantage of it.
- Emeria's Call // Emeria, Shattered Skyclave - a bit expensive, but two tokens and a round of protection from board wipes isn't bad, especially when the opportunity cost of the land half is so low.
- Felidar Retreat - a very solid token producer, and a strong anthem effect if you've already gone wide. I've considered Retreat to Emeria in the past, and this is a significant upgrade. (It also reminds me that I want to test out Emeria Angel sometime).
- Archon of Emeria - an interesting hate....bird? Anyway, it slows down opponents, and this deck doesn't mind Rule of Law effects that much... plus it can just be sacrificed if you need to combo off.
- Ondu Inversion - an interesting board wipe option. I don't think this deck really wants a Planar Cleansing effect - it already runs several board wipes, and doesn't want to blow up its own artifacts / enchantments. However, having it as an option over a basic land is a lot of versatility.
- Skyclave Apparition - this looks really good. A removal creature that is easy to recur, and deals with problems permanently. It doesn't deal with everything, but definitely worth testing.
- Attended Healer - mildly interesting alongside Soul Warden effects and other repeatable lifegain. More of a Regna, the Redeemer card, but still seems fun.
- Sejiri Shelter // Sejiri Glacier - mildly interesting as a flexible protection spell. These effects tend to be a little narrow, but being a land when you need it is some nice versatility.
- Trove Warden from the commander precon seems like an excellent inclusion - it turns landfall triggers into Sun Titan triggers, and this deck should be able to sacrifice it consistently to actually get all the cards back before it gets bounced / exiled. I particularly like is ability to recur lands, since this deck doesn't have a ton of access to land ramp.
black
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- Agadeem's Awakening - a very potent semi-mass reanimation effect at a very low opportunity cost. This looks awesome if you can get back three creatures with it, and amazing if you can get more.
- Drana, the Last Bloodchief - mildly interesting as a reanimation effect. The average size of creatures in this deck is small, so she goes down a bit in value... but even sacrificing small creatures can still be worth it.
- Nullpriest of Oblivion - an interesting reanimation effect, but I think I would rather just play a reanimation spell directly. Not triggering when flickered / recurred limits its usability.
- Hagra Mauling // Hagra Broodpit - my build is pretty light on actual removal spells, but playing one in place of a land seems pretty reasonable.
- Skyclave Shade - Bloodghast, this is not. Needing to pay to recur it is a significant downside, while the potentially larger body is pretty much irrelevant.
- Soul Shatter - somewhat interesting as a semi-targeted edict effect.
- Taborax, Hope's Demise - a draw engine and a threat, assuming you can keep it fed. You do need to be running a pretty heavy cleric theme to take advantage of it, but could be interesting for a Shadowborn Apostle build.
- Malakir Rebirth - mildly interesting as a flexible protection / recursion effect - sacrificing a creature and recurring it is a little situational, but having the option of making it a land instead makes this a significant upgrade over something like Undying Evil.
- Demon's Disciple - I think Plaguecrafter is better if you want this effect, but it is a cleric, which can be valuable.
- Lithoform Blight - a reasonable option if you always wanted to run Spreading Seas for some reason.
- Skyclave Shadowcat - mildly interesting as a sacrifice outlet and draw engine, but this deck doesn't have the +1/+1 counter generation necessary to support it.
other
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- Orah, Skyclave Hierophant - an extremely powerful payoff for building around cleric tribal. I do think it to be much better in the command zone, but can still be sweet in the 99. I assume there are some combos that can work with it, but I'll leave those as an exercise for the reader.
- Lithoform Engine - an interesting card, but I don't really it fits in this deck. There are certainly a lot of things to copy, but I don't know that any of them are worth the activation cost. Hmmm...
- Myriad Construct - mildly interesting as a way to generate a ton of tokens... assuming you both have the mana to kick it and some way to target it with a spell.
- Skyclave Relic - somewhat interesting as a flexible mana rock. Not necessarily what this deck is looking for, but I do like its design.
- Brightclimb Pathway // Grimclimb Pathway - a very solid untapped fixing land. Not strictly better than an actual dual, since this deck can have some strict color requirements (making both and can be necessary), but still quite good.
Full Commander Legends spoiler out. Definitely some interesting options - for Orzhov in general, for tokens / aristocrats specifically, and even some alternative commanders.
While I'm not super interested in any of the Encore cards, I will note it as a potent mechanic - it creates a token for each opponent, and they get sacrificed at end of turn. That's potentially a lot of bodies / death triggers. I don't think the cards themselves are that powerful, but... definitely has some interesting implications.
White
On another note, I moved recently, and my stuff is currently still mostly in boxes. Will hopefully be able to play some more soon, but we'll see. I am a bit closer to the nearest LGS, which is nice.
While I'm not super interested in any of the Encore cards, I will note it as a potent mechanic - it creates a token for each opponent, and they get sacrificed at end of turn. That's potentially a lot of bodies / death triggers. I don't think the cards themselves are that powerful, but... definitely has some interesting implications.
White
- Court of Grace - I've been wanting a Bitterblossom effect in White for ages. Somehow, an enchantment with 'at the beginning of your upkeep, create a token' just... doesn't exist in white. I won't say that this deck is amazing at protecting the crown, but it is certainly capable of doing so - we have lots of expendable chump blockers, and many of our tokens have evasion (including the ones produced by Court).
- Keeper of the Accord - this looks fantastic, as an asymmetric Oath of Lieges / Ophiomancer. This does require running a slightly higher basic Plains count, but otherwise seems like a snap include - we don't have that much land ramp, and love expendable tokens.
- Promise of Tomorrow - another interesting option for an aristocrats deck. Use it as board wipe protection... or just sacrifice your entire board and recur it, like a janky Second Sunrise. Also works very well with Sun Titan. Can be awkward if it gets blown up though.
- Slash the Ranks - an interesting board wipe option. I don't think that the upside of keeping Teysa around is that high, but it's not bad.
- Alharu, Solemn Ritualist - not great without a consistent source of +1/+1 counters, but interesting with Anafenza, Kin-Tree Spirit or Cathars' Crusade.
- Tevesh Szat, Doom of Fools - spews out tokens with his (+2), draws piles of cards with his (+1). A very solid planeswalker option.
- Opposition Agent - a very potent hate piece, and a solid upgrade over Aven Mindcensor.
- Keskit, the Flesh Sculptor - an interesting variant on Whisper, Blood Liturgist. Sacrificing three creatures is a hefty cost, but drawing two cards (with selection + bonus mill) is a very solid upside. This is a lot of digging.
- Tormod, the Desecrator - somewhat interesting as a token producer. I suspect he's more of a build-around, but could be interesting.
- Jeweled Lotus - I don't think this is that great for this deck, unfortunately. Teysa simply isn't snowbally enough to justify getting her our on turn 1.... and that's ignoring her already low mana cost.
- Thalisse, Reverent Medium - doubles your token production, in terms of bodies produced. Also very silly with Smothering Tithe.
- Vault of Champions - an untapped dual land? Seems good.
- War Room - two life seems like a small enough cost for card draw on a land. Certainly an interesting utility land option.
On another note, I moved recently, and my stuff is currently still mostly in boxes. Will hopefully be able to play some more soon, but we'll see. I am a bit closer to the nearest LGS, which is nice.
Spoilers for Kaldheim are starting, and Pyre of Heroes looks... extremely interesting. Birthing Pod is an incredibly broken card, and opening up a tutor engine to any color combination seems potent. This deck already has a human tribal subtheme in it, and it seems feasible to lean into that direction with stuff like Thalia's Lancers, Species Specialist, and Xathrid Necromancer.
....that said, the deck is a bit lighter on ETB value creatures than the Birthing Pods decks I've run in the past - no Reclamation Sage or Mulldrifter to fetch up. Fetching a missing synergy piece is always good, at least. Humans do usually top out around 4-5 mana though - fetching a topend card like Angel of Glory's Rise or Sun Titan seems difficult, since those creature types rarely have additional classes.
....that said, the deck is a bit lighter on ETB value creatures than the Birthing Pods decks I've run in the past - no Reclamation Sage or Mulldrifter to fetch up. Fetching a missing synergy piece is always good, at least. Humans do usually top out around 4-5 mana though - fetching a topend card like Angel of Glory's Rise or Sun Titan seems difficult, since those creature types rarely have additional classes.
Full Kaldheim spoilers out, and there are certainly some interesting things. A few tribal payoffs, legendary synergies, snow synergies... This deck doesn't have a ton of support for the Orzhov limited archetypes of angels and 'two spells per turn', but they're certainly interesting build-arounds.
- Haunting Voyage is a second Angel of Glory's Rise, although losing its combo potential and ability to be reanimated makes it a significant downgrade. A slightly cheaper mode to reanimate two creatures can be good though.
- Burning-Rune Demon is mildly interesting as a Rune-Scarred Demon variant. This deck doesn't have a ton of reanimation to abuse it, but Unburial Rites and Dread Return are both options.
- Doomskar is a potentially cheaper Day of Judgment.
- Eradicator Valkyrie is a repeatable Fleshbag Marauder that also has an excellent body. Needing to attack means it's probably a little too slow, but hexproof from planeswalkers can make it decent tech in some metas.
- Reidane, God of the Worthy is interesting for more hatebear-focused builds.
- Tergrid, God of Fright is interesting alongside Fleshbag Marauder and Grave Pact effects, but probably a bit win-more. Absurd alongside Sadistic Hypnotist though.
- Search for Glory is interesting for a legendary package alongside Thalia's Lancers. Primevals' Glorious Rebirth is a card. Can also fetch stuff like Elspeth Conquers Death and any snow land, which allows for a few more options.
- Blood on the Snow requires a snow manabase, but Damnation + Reanimate is a pretty solid combination.
- Glorious Protector is a very interesting anti-boardwipe option. Re-triggering ETB effects is also very relevant. Unfortunately, non-angel means you can't loop it with Karmic Guide, unlike Fiend Hunter.
- Rise of the Dread Marn is a very interesting token producer. One mana is cheap to hold open, and it can give a ton of tokens.
- Usher of the Fallen is mildly interesting as a token producer, although needing to attack and only triggering once per turn is a significant restriction.
- Clarion Spirit is probably a bit easier to abuse than Usher, although casting two spells per turn may be difficult to do consistently.
- Shepherd of the Cosmos is significantly more limited than Sun Titan, but this is an effect that I'll always at least take note of.
- Village Rites is a reprint that I should really test sometime.
- Kaya the Inexorable is very interesting - Utter End is an excellent base case, and protecting stuff from removal or generating tokens is a good plus. The ultimate is obviously excellent, especially with a legends package.
- Firja's Retribution is an interesting token producer and delayed removal spell. Better if you have lots of angels.
- Ascent of the Worthy is most relevant as a cheap reanimation effect, but likely too slow to justify running.
- I like Firja, Judge of Valor more than I probably should, but she does fuel herself by drawing more cards. Probably outclassed by Bloodgift Demon, but filling the graveyard (and giving a bunch of selection) is a very big upside.
- Cosmos Elixir is interesting if you have a lot of lifegain.
- Pyre of Heroes, as previously mentioned, is excellent if you have a lot of creatures sharing a tribe (presumably humans). This is an extremely powerful effect, and worth building around.
- Colossal Plow is interesting primarily as a cheap mana rock if you have enough bodies to crew it.
- Snowfield Sinkhole makes running Emeria, the Sky Ruin and Cabal Coffers a bit easier. Also good fixing for any 'fetch a Plains' effects.
- Great Hall of Starnheim is a pretty significant cost - sacrificing itself and a creature - but making an angel token can be relevant.
- Valkyrie Harbinger is very powerful if you have a lot of lifegain.
- Rampage of the Valkyries is a very sweet tribal Grave Pact, but really needs a dedicated angel deck.
- Cosmic Intervention is so close to being sweet... but not giving any death triggers makes it significantly worse than Second Sunrise.
- Pact of the Serpent is very sweet if you're running enough humans.
Strixhaven spoilers out, and there are certainly some interesting new cards. The WB faction (Silverquill) doesn't really have a well-defined archetype - it seems like it leans towards +1/+1 counters and aggression, but there are certainly also things that work well with aristocrats.
- Shadrix Silverquill is an extremely interesting design. Makes tokens, draws cards, pumps the team... at the cost of also helping out an opponent. If you're into diplomancy, it may be possible to use it to make a friend and encourage your opponents to help you out.
- Blot Out the Sky looks amazing. Resembles Martial Coup, but the tokens are significantly better - evasive, bigger, and Teysa-friendly... at the cost of entering tapped. The flexibility to also blow up all artifacts / enchantments / planeswalkers is also very nice, but you don't have to if you have a bunch of your own - getting five tokens should usually be plenty.
- Dramatic Finale is a bit more niche than Open the Graves due to only triggering once per turn, but also acting as an anthem is quite nice.
- Selfless Glyphweaver is a bit weaker than Selfless Spirit as a protection effect, but doubling as a board wipe in the lategame seems sweet. It's also possible to recur it in the extreme lategame, which is quite strong.
- Silverquill Command is okay. You want a high threshold of good 2-drops to recur, but the additional flexibility of 'probably kill a planeswalker // draw a card // kill a thing' makes it worth consideration. Could be good alongside a Return to the Ranks package.
- Shaile, Dean of Radiance (Embrose, Dean of Shadow) is probably too slow - this deck doesn't have many +1/+1 counter synergies. Still, turning dead creatures into card draw is nice.
- Vanishing Verse is a bit difficult to evaluate - I'd pass if it only hit creatures, but exiling other card types is relevant.
- Silverquill Silencer - I like the idea of playing this on 2 and making it awkward for an opponent to cast their commander, then cashing it in for value later. Still, probably too cute.
- Sedgemoor Witch could be sweet if you have sufficient ways to trigger magecraft.
- Plumb the Forbidden looks fantastic. I've been meaning to test out Village Rites for a while, and Plumb the Forbidden scales waaaay better. It does cost life, which is relevant, but being able to cantrip it without sacrificing a creature - or, more relevantly, cashing in all your creatures in response to a board wipe - is really good.
Following up on Strixhaven, the full C21 spoilers are now out. The Silverquill deck has a +1/+1 counter and diplomancy theme, with cards like Breena, the Demagogue to steer your opponents' attacks. This deck doesn't have a ton of synergies with that playstyle, but certainly some interesting options in the set. It appears that for most of the new cards, WotC has avoided printing new autoincludes or staples, instead aiming to support unsupported archetypes.... but they also have some very nice options for card advantage and ramp for white decks, which needed the help.
- Blight Mound is a cheaper Open the Graves, and looks like a fantastic option. Incidental lifegain from creatures dying is definitely appreciated too.
- Veinwitch Coven is a strong recursion engine if you have ways to gain life repeatedly.
- Archaeomancer's Map is a very interesting ramp engine, assuming your opponents have more lands than you. Can be quite potent alongside Karoo and Lotus Vale effects, and the floor (getting two Plains) isn't terrible either.
- Combat Calligrapher can generate a lot of black and white tokens if you're able to attack your opponents freely.
- Excavation Technique is an interesting take on Generous Gift. If you have a friend, you can potentially blow up three things, which is extremely strong. On the other hand, if your own stuff gets blown up, it looks a lot worse. Treasure can certainly backfire though.
- Inkshield is a very splashy Fog variant that can spawn a massive token army. Five mana is a lot to hold open, but it certainly seems like a blowout.
- Monologue Tax looks like an interesting Worn Powerstone variant - treasure tokens are great, but it's also somewhat conditional. Seems worth testing though.
- Scholarship Sponsor is another potent option for white ramp. Again, great if you have ways to go down on lands. Symmetry is a thing, but so is Aven Mindcensor (and Opposition Agent)
MH2 spoilers out. Most cards are targeted at, well, Modern, but there are a lot of interesting cards in the set - both for this deck and the EDH format as a whole. Orzhov has a reanimator theme in the set, which has some overlap with this deck.
- Solitude is an interesting riff on Swords to Plowshares. Being free and a creature (which may be sacrificed for further value) are both relevant things if you're looking for more interaction.
- Archon of Cruelty is a sweet reanimation target, and a massive pile of value.
- Serra's Emissary is also an interesting reanimation target. I suspect it's a miss for this deck, but I could see it having a place somewhere - giving yourself protection is a strong defensive ability.
- Magus of the Bridge is interesting as another Open the Graves effect. It is a bit vulnerable though.
- Search the Premises is some solid card advantage in white, assuming you're getting attacked. Worth testing, hard to evaluate in a vacuum.
- Dauthi Voidwalker is an extremely powerful card, both in this deck and as a hate piece. We don't have any mill / discard synergies, but Leyline of the Void on a body is already good enough to make the cut. Add in the self-sacrifice ability and you have a very impressive card. It's also obviously kill-on-sight for this deck, since it shuts off death triggers.
- Sanctifier en-Vec is a much weaker effect, but may still see some play as anti-graveyard tech.
- Damn is a flexible Wrath of God variant.
- Esper Sentinel is another option for white card advantage. I do think it's much weaker than Rhystic Study - doesn't hit creatures, only triggers once per turn, more vulnerable to removal - but still worth testing.
- Persist is another reanimator card. Doesn't hit legends and awkward with X/1s, but it's cheap and efficient.
- Out of Time is a cheap board wipe.
- Patriarch's Bidding is a reprint, but still a strong enabler for Human tribal.
- Unmarked Grave is significantly worse than Entomb, but still worth consideration for graveyard shenanigans.
- Profane Tutor is a much slower Demonic Tutor, but may still be worth consideration.
- Break the Ice is a powerful anti-snow/colorless tech card if those are common in your meta.
- Blossoming Calm is a cheaper alternative to Teferi's Protection - a bit narrow, but not an effect this deck otherwise has easy access to. Shutting off Tormod's Crypt effects can be relevant.
- Abiding Grace is a sweet engine if you have a lot of 1-drop creatures. Enabling lifegain synergies isn't a terrible fail case.
- Young Necromancer is significantly more limited than Karmic Guide due to it not working in a combo context, but still a sweet card.
- Priest of Fell Rites is a cheap and efficient reanimation effect. It also does a solid Unburial Rites impression if you can mill it with Altar of Dementia.
- Graceful Restoration isn't that impressive as a five mana reanimation effect, but getting a Reveillark trigger for two creatures is pretty strong.
- Sword of Hearth and Home is a very powerful option for both ramp and as a flicker engine. Seems like a good choice if you're running a Stoneforge Mystic package.
- Sol Talisman is a much slower Sol Ring, but may still be worth consideration.
- Cabal Coffers is a reprint, and an extremely powerful card for any Expedition Map package.
- Urza's Saga is.... interesting. Fetches Sol Ring or Skullclamp, among other targets, which is a pretty strong effect for a land.
- Goldmire Bridge is a fine budget fixing option.
AFR spoilers out, and while it isn't as jam-packed with value as MH2, there are still some interesting new options in it. In particular, BW has a dungeon theme, with many creatures in it being able to repeatedly venture into the dungeon or having benefits for completing dungeons. Venturing is a somewhat parasitic mechanic - you want a high enough threshold of venturing cards to consistently complete dungeons, otherwise they're pretty low value. As a result, I think if you do want to do any venturing, you'll want to be running a very high number of them. There are a bunch of creatures that can venture repeatedly, either on attack or on dealing combat damage - most are limited chaff that I wouldn't expect to live to attack more than once, but I could be worth consideration in a dedicated deck.
White
White
- The Book of Exalted Deeds is mildly interesting as a token generator if you have sufficient lifegain.
- Loyal Warhound has a worse creature typing than Knight of the White Orchid, but it also is a bit more splashable.
- Teleportation Circle is a fun option if you have a lot of ETB effects, as a slightly cheaper Conjurer's Closet.
- Guardian of Faith is an alternative to Teferi's Protection as a way to protect your creatures.
- Nadaar, Selfless Paladin is a way to repeatedly venture into the dungeon if you want to lean into that theme.
- Oswald Fiddlebender is amazing, but I don't think this deck has enough artifacts to support him.
- Flumph is amusing, but probably too niche. It does have some political implications if you can convince opponents to attack into it though.
- Moon-Blessed Cleric is a solid option to tutor up enchantments - narrower than Enlightened Tutor, but being on a body is quite nice.
- Dawnbringer Cleric is a flexible option if you've considered running War Priest of Thune in the past.
- Lolth, Spider Queen is an interesting planeswalker - the ultimate isn't that impressive, but it's possible to reach it immediately (assuming sufficient creatures to sacrifice). Card advantage and token generation are also nice, especially with Teysa turning the tokens into spirits.
- Acererak the Archlich is another way to repeatedly venture into the dungeon. If you are able to complete the Tomb of Annihilation, generating a bunch of tokens on attack like a miniature Grave Titan is also quite nice.
- Asmodeus the Archfiend is very interesting as a 'fixed' Necropotence. Very mana intensive to generate card advantage, but ' : draw seven cards' is an extremely powerful line of text. I do think it's a bit too clunky in this deck though.
- Skullport Merchant is mildly interesting as a draw engine / sacrifice outlet. I'd usually pass on it, but coming with a free treasure to cash in is quite nice.
- Dungeon Crawler is a recursive body, assuming you're able to complete dungeons repeatedly.
- Deadly Dispute costs a mana over Village Rites, but it also gives back a treasure to ramp into something else.
- Death-Priest of Myrkul is mildly interesting as a repeatable token generator.
- Zombie Ogre is a way to repeatedly venture into the dungeon if creatures are dying.
- Triumphant Adventurer is another creature than can repeatedly venture into the dungeon. First strike and deathtouch means it's pretty safe to attack with.
- Barrowin of Clan Undurr is another venture-friendly creature. If you can complete a dungeon, it repeatedly reanimates creatures on attack, which is pretty sweet.
- The Deck of Many Things is probably too inconsistent, but it looks like a lot of fun. Definitely worth consideration if you often find yourself empty-handed - it represents a lot of cheap card advantage.
- Eye of Vecna is less efficient than Phyrexian Arena, but still interesting if you want to assemble Vecnatron.
- Dungeon Descent is pretty clunky, but may make the cut in a dedicated venture deck.
- Hive of the Eye Tyrant is a reasonable manland, since it can act as repeatable grave hate. Entering tapped most of the time means I don't value it that much more highly than a basic though.
- Cave of the Frost Dragon is also a reasonable manland.
Following up on AFR, we have the accompanying commander decks. The red-black deck has an aristocrats subtheme, while the esper deck has a reanimator subtheme, so definitely some overlap with this deck.
- Radiant Solar is a very solid engine for repeatedly venturing into the dungeon, and also one of the few ways to venture multiple times per turn. At its best in a blink deck though.
- Revivify is an interesting take on Faith's Reward. Overall, it seems significantly weaker, but costing a mana less makes it easier to cast.
- Thorough Investigation is actual white card draw, which feels weird to see. Looks very sweet if you have a lot of clue production, and if you don't, attacking with a token to investigate every turn is still good.
- Wand of Orcus is capable of generating a lot of zombie tokens, assuming you can consistently deal combat damage.
- Danse Macabre is an interesting Innocent Blood variant. Make everyone sacrifice a thing, then reanimate one of them? You can't sacrifice a token to it though.
- Bag of Devouring is... interesting. I'm not a fan of needing to pay two mana to sacrifice a creature, and exiling stuff is bad (although it's at least not a replacement effect, so you still get death triggers). However, recurring a bunch of creatures to hand can be quite strong.
- Fey Steed is an interesting way to draw cards if your opponents try to kill your stuff.
- Valiant Endeavor is an interesting variant on Martial Coup - makes tokens and acts as an asymmetric board wipe. The board wipe is a bit inconsistent, but I think that most rolls should be pretty good due to the flexibility in getting to choose which roll goes where.
Had a friend that was interested in getting a few EDH decks, so I put together a $100 budget version of the decklist. Loses a little combo potential and some tutoring, but I've added in some additional recursion, plus a few new cards I've been meaning to test out in my own deck.
Decklist
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This deck looks really fun! I can't get enough combos and your list seems to have plenty of them. It's great that you've posted reviews from the recent sets, but it doesn't look like you've included any of them in your list? Have you just not updated your list? I'm a bit of a net-decker, so I would really appreciate seeing how you'd have re-crafted your list with these cards, I promise to give you credit for any wins I pull off! Thanks
Yeah, I haven't updated my list recently - I only play in paper, so I'm holding off on updating my decks until things open up where I live and I can actually play again. The budget list I posted does include a few of the new cards I'm planning to add though.demonicpic wrote: ↑2 years agoThis deck looks really fun! I can't get enough combos and your list seems to have plenty of them. It's great that you've posted reviews from the recent sets, but it doesn't look like you've included any of them in your list? Have you just not updated your list? I'm a bit of a net-decker, so I would really appreciate seeing how you'd have re-crafted your list with these cards, I promise to give you credit for any wins I pull off! Thanks
Specific cards I'm looking to test out:
If budget isn't a concern for you, consider including:
....plus stuff that got reprinted like Stoneforge Mystic and Cabal Coffers - there are a lot of powerful cards I'm excluding from my own deck due to budget reasons. Honestly, it feels like cool cards get printed at a rate that exceeds my ability to actually test them, so one of the reasons I cull cards by price is to makes things more manageable.
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I see... well, I'd hate to make changes to your deck before I got in a few laps with it. I wouldn't know what to take out for the cards you've listed. I'll keep checking to see if you've updated things and in the mean time I'll order the cards I need to build your original list. I really appreciate your primer, thank you for making it. I would love to see a no-budget list if you ever have the time and interest in creating such a thing!