Hello everyone, and let me introduce you to a deck that is near and dear to my heart, Teysa, Orzhov Scion
First, before I begin, let me give you a little back story. It was my second year of college, and I, the awkwardly displaced nerd that I am, strolled into the campus student center armed to the teeth with my latest and greatest Yu-Gi-Oh deck based on the Fairy type so that I may catch some serious duels; however, due to my poor luck, none of my group showed. Half studying and half praying that someone would end my own private hell, not a book person by the way, two guys bust through the doors, plopped next to me, and randomly started playing a game with cards that I have never seen before, some kind of Magic game. Being the bored person that I was, I was intrigued. I watched them play for hours, not saying anything. As they were packing up to leave, I worked up the nerve to ask, " So who won?" Slighty amused, one of the two guys tossed the box in my lap and said, "Why don't you learn for yourself." before they proceeded to carry on. That was the beginning of my journey; from there, I went to the center everyday, even skipping classes, to play magic. One day, our local card shark, was looking to expand the player base into the new format known as Commander. On the table, he had a giant box of cards, and a red deck box in his hand. Inside the deck box he said pick a card. Teysa was the card I picked. Then he proceeded to say, pick out your favorite b/w cards from your collection and I'll supply the rest, and thus, my first commander deck was born. All it cost me was two shocklands, lol. I've been playing the same deck for the past 4-5 years, and it has grown with me. While the cards I played with in the beginning may not have been the ideal choices, I will never forget the day we built the deck and played together with everyone. In fact, I won my first commander game by casting Sorin's Vengeance, a card that he had given to me. Before I go any further, understand that this deck is a timeline of my history with magic the gathering. I love this game, and I make a point to always carry a box of cards so that I may and have pass a deck down just like what was done for me. BUT ENOUGH SENTIMENTALITY! Let's get into the deck.
First, take note that this is a combo deck based around Teysa, Orzhov Scion+ Darkest Hour to abuse teysa's second ability. The goal is to assemble the pieces and sacrifice a bunch of creatures to cast a win condition.
My primary win conditions are as follows: Blood Artist and similar effects/ Altar of the Brood and similar effects/ Bitter Ordeal/ Fallen Ideal and similar effects/ and Blasting Station. Take note, this is not all you can do with the deck, Ashnod's Altar and similar effects can be coupled with Skullclamp/ Mentor of the Meek to net your whole deck, and Sadistic Hypnotist eliminates your opponent's hand.
That being said, the other half of the riddle is assembling the pieces SAFELY. BOBS like Dark Tutelage and Phyrexian Arena help push through the deck. While Demonic Tutor and the like pull out your specific pieces for a quick finish. When we don't have the ideal environment, we run a solid removal package with Mortify and the like. We also run two sweepers with Wrath of God and Martial Coup for synergy. In addition to our sacrifice theme, I also have a slight, but powerful recursion element as well with dorky creatures like Reassembling Skeleton and such. Plus,
Auramancer
and
Obzedat's Aid
brings back a lot of our pieces that get destroyed over time. In accordance to the theme, I do run Karmic Guide+
Revillark
combo that pairs well with
Nim's Deathmantle
that can function as another darkest hour if used properly. You can even combo out on your opponent's turn with Wake the Dead for some funny moments. As we put it all together, I filled the remaining slots with preferential utility using Land Tax and Weathered Wayfarer for fixing, Bitterblossom for natural synergy, and Imp's Mischief in left field as a one time stop to combo interruptions. Most of the other cards in the deck fall in line with what I've discussed, or are considered staples for the commander format.
The deck is extremely fun to play, and can be as competitive as you make it to be. Darkest Hour being the main component to make it so. The only other factor to note is that the deck doesn't utilize teysa's first ability very often, though it is definitely possible. Through my play testing, I've found that if I'm using her first ability, I'm probably losing. Just a thought. Whew, that was a lot to talk about. I hope you guys like the deck, and like I said before, this deck is and will continue to grow, so if you have any suggestions, please leave them in the comments. I'd be happy to respond to you, and I do so regularly on a daily basis with most of my decks. I encourage you post similar decks in the comments, or, if you want deck advice, link yours as well. Happy casting and thanks for all the support!
