kirbysan Housegheist You've convinced me! I included Bennie Bracks, Zoologist in the most recent update. I did actually forget that convoke can reduce to 0 mana, which is even more upside. With how many little creatures we have sitting around in the early game, we should be able to cast him pretty consistently.

Khyheauts Lethal Scheme seems strong, but I don't think it's better than any of our existing removal. We run Vanishing Verse, Anguished Unmaking, and Swords to Plowshares as tutor-target removal in 3 different mana costs. I'm not sure how much utility we gain by running a creature/planeswalker only removal spell that we need 2-4 creatures to cast efficiently. Swords is the most obvious comparison, but it has a much lower casting requirement. Conniving 4 times is nothing to scoff at, but we have no way of taking advantage of the looting other than the inherent card quality. The one utility scheme does have is that it removes planeswalkers. If you find yourself up against superfriends often, it could be a good include.

Masterful I'm wondering about what your pod looks like, and how do you feel about the amount of removal/interaction? In my pod I tend to run 10-12 sources removal/interaction (typically instants).

I also wondered about that and also how well do you think the deck performs without the off color fetches.

I think this deck list is super killer, love Teysa and I have followed the primer/list for a good couple years! Just want to say great work all the time and I love the card selection and reasoning!!

Brightwrath Great question about removal sources. 9 Sources might be considered low, but we also play Demonic Tutor, Vampiric Tutor, and Enlightened Tutor which can get Grave Pact or The Meathook Massacre to deal with creatures. So technically, if we need to deal with a game-ending permanent, we have 12 sources to do so. However, tailoring your removal to your meta is pretty important. My meta ranges from mid to high powered casual in which combo kills are somewhat uncommon, but fast ramp, high powered threats, and control are rampant. This means I've tailored this list to favor recovering from boardwipes and outspeed my opponents rather than rely on a more controlling plan. That being said, if you find yourself dying to specific permanent threats like Ashnod's Altar, Hermit Druid, or Stasis, playing more single target removal could help. Despark, Rite of Oblivion, Path to Exile, Generous Gift, and Disenchant are all strong options depending on what you need. Personally, I haven't felt lacking in that department since I have tutors, can grab Grave Pact if I need to continuously control creatures, and my meta plays artifact/enchantment decks uncommonly.

You can definitely go without running the off-color fetches. While it will make your mana less consistent, I'd run more basics than sometimes-tapped duals. A land entering tapped can be game-losing, but you'll still probably have enough multicolored mana to not get color screwed. Additionally, if you cut those fetches, you should consider not playing Brought Back since it gets a lot of its value from them. It might be a good cut for another removal spell.

Thanks for your kind words and I'm glad you like the list!

Hey Masterful Happy 4th of July! Hope all is well.

I know I asked you this before but I can't seem to find your response. If you wanted to increase the power level of this deck - would you just add more consistent ramp - what are some cards to consider?

I know there are some expensive options like Imperial Seal and Mox Diamond. But what about Jeweled Lotus to get Teysa our more easily? Would Ad Nauseam work?

Also, I do own a Mana Vault but do you think it would have any value in this deck? Not sure if you think I should include it or not (Just sitting in my binder currently).

I know the deck is already at a strong power level and pretty much fully optimized - was just curious if you ever thought about adding some additional powerful cards and what those cards might be.

Thanks!

Foster_I_Am Rituals like Mana Vault and Dark Ritual or fast mana like Mox Diamond increase the explosiveness of the deck on average, so power level-wise, they would make the deck more able to compete with higher tier decks. However, that comes at the cost of reducing our consistency in average games since all of those cards come with inherent card disadvantage. Rituals and imprint cards 2-for-1 us for mana acceleration. So if you're strictly looking to win, they're optimal, but they'll increase the amount of games you're sitting with dead hands. That's why I choose not to play them personally, but I can see why you'd want more explosiveness and winrate.

Jeweled Lotus isn't as good in Teysa as it is with other commanders since getting Teysa out turn 1 or 2 doesn't do anything. She's not a proactive commander. That being said, Lotus is such an insanely powerful card that it's still probably worth it to play if you want an increase in power level. It might be the difference in playing her vs not playing her on an important combo turn. Like the other rituals, I choose not to play it for game-to-game consistency and fun, but winrate and power level wise, it's a good include.

Imperial Seal is just a strong card, and I should probably include it. Since it's a strictly worse tutor and until recently, 10 times the price, I've been pretending it doesn't exist. Ultimately it does deserve a spot in the deck though.

Ad Nauseam is usually used as a combo finisher or 30-card draw spell in 1.5 cmc cedh decks. Our average cmc of 2.5 is really high for Ad Naus, meaning it wouldn't be nearly as powerful in our deck. However, drawing even 10 cards for 5 mana at instant speed is still great, so it'd be a fine include. It is a bit dangerous though to lose 10-20 life on one card since we don't combo as consistently as cedh decks, meaning the life loss matters more. But since we have good access to lifegain, it shouldn't be too much of a problem.

Honestly, you could add all of these cards and probably see an increase in the deck's power level through sheer explosiveness. That does come at the cost of some games and opening hands being clunkier, so that's up to you if it's worth it. Personally, I'm not ready to add these cards yet, but I can see myself doing it soon. I've been having fun making more explosive decks recently in my mid-high powered metas. One good reason to add them is if your meta/playgroup are all playing them. If you can't beat 'em, join 'em.

Masterful - Thanks for the feedback! This is very helpful. I think the deck is at a perfect power level currently. We don't play cEDH in my play group/meta - but most of the decks are finely optimized around 7 - 7.5/10 - with a few 8/10 power level decks.

Curious, what decks do you go up against and what is the overall power-level of your playgroup/meta? I imagine it's similar to mine (i.e. non-cEDH).

Additionally, It's awesome they reprinted Imperial Seal which I'm seeing in the $120 - $140 range so far, so I think I might pick it up and include. How about you?

It will be interesting to see what other cards get released in 2022 that fit this deck from upcoming sets like: Unfinity and Universes Beyond, etc. But keep us posted on any further deck testing and any other changes/cuts you make. Always enjoy seeing your feedback and updates :)

Cheers! -Cory

Sorry Masterful - Had one more question regarding your mana base. Obviously, it's very solid. Though I choose to still run Cabal Coffers with about 10 Swamps and I think 6 Plains - and I run all the same fetches as you. Haven't really had any problems (not to mention I love coffers and spent the $$$ for it - so deff running it LOL).

However, I was wondering how you feel about things like Mana Confluence, City of Brass and Reflecting Pool? I noticed they are not in your deck list. These lands are great for mana fixing and I run them in most decks.

Would love to hear your thoughts on those lands (and others) and how you feel on your current mana base.

Thanks! -Cory

Foster_I_Am Since all the way back in quarantine, I've been playing a ton online with a semi-consistent group of friends. Since we have access to all the cards online, everyone fully kits out their decks with fast mana, card draw, tutors, etc. For example, every green deck plays Gaea's Cradle + Crop Rotation and every blue deck plays Rhystic Study and Cyclonic Rift. We also constantly building decks, usually with every game having 2-3 new decks, so I get to test a big sample size of different strategies. I'd agree that my meta is 7.5-8 on average, but that definition varies depending on how you define it. While we do play strong cards, we often hold back in certain areas to make the game more fun for each other. We sometimes play stax cards but never stax decks, don't often play super fast win-combos, and encourage combat and early damage. One way we pull that off is by limiting starting life total to 30. We like how this powers up aggro, which usually isn't a viable strategy, makes games a bit faster, and makes powerful life-paying effects more risky. This means when I play Teysa, Necropotence, Ancient Tomb, and Mana Crypt are weaker for me than in most metas. However, they're still so strong I don't think twice about not playing them.

Imperial Seal is a good card, but I wouldn't say it's 100% necessary. It'd be our worst tutor in the deck, but if you have the spare money it'd definitely be an upgrade. I'm working on an update hopefully soon, and I'll give it a try myself. It never hurts to have another Skullclamp tutor.

Cabal Coffers is much trickier in 2 color decks than in mono black. I used to run it but found myself lacking in the basics department for Land Tax, Knight of the White Orchid, etc. so it got the cut. I also found I didn't often have it and Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth out as consistently as I wanted. In most games, it was either a dead land early or only produced 1-2 mana. However, I actually think I was playing it wrong. Because coffers+urborg is such an insane combo, it may be worth it to run them and extra tutors to get them as the main ramp plan for the deck. Being a non-green deck, one of our main weaknesses is a lack of mana in the mid-late game. With more tutors like Imperial Seal and maybe Expedition Map, I see the consistency of the combo increasing a lot and being worth building around.

I don't find myself color screwed enough to play Mana Confluence, City of Brass, or Reflecting Pool. I think they're worse on average than most of our duals/fetches because of costing life for every tap and pool's inconsistency. I'm thinking of doing another manabase overhaul to cut fetches and play around Deep Gnome Terramancer, Archivist of Oghma, Opposition Agent, Deathrite Shaman, and the other cards that restrict or punish library searching and extra land drops. In that case, I'll review all the dual lands again.

Cheers and great discussion!

Thanks Masterful! This is very helpful and insightful as always! I'm thinking of possibly adding in Expedition Map to get the Coffers + Urborg combo going more often - But we shall see.

I'll be on the lookout for any further updates from you regarding your mana base or the deck overall.

Cheers! -Cory

I’m curious about your thoughts on Braids, Arisen Nightmare and Sheoldred, the Apocalypse.

Elas il-Kor, Sadistic Pilgrim {W}{B} Legendary Creature — Phyrexian Kor Cleric 2/2 Deathtouch Whenever another creature enters the battlefield under your control, you gain 1 life. Whenever another creature you control dies, each opponent loses 1 life.

Eloniel haven’t found this card. Was it spoiled?

It was leak in a document with lot of others cards that now are spoils each day.

Other cards leak in this document were confirmed during spoiler so you can consider it's true at 99%.

If so, i’m going to add her to my Teysa deck

Eloniel Housegheist Sounds legit if the document has been accurate so far. Another 2-mana blood artist is crazy. Since they're legendary, they're actually a good contender for a WB commander. Having a blood artist in the command zone is crazy strong. They're definitely getting an include in the deck, replacing Bastion of Remembrance if there are no better cuts. I'm also gonna start working on a deck with them at the helm to compare the two, not to say Teysa's going anywhere as commander. I'll have to take a look at the rest of that document too.

Cult Conscript could potentially replace Reassembling Skeleton. Not sure how often its liability would prevent us from popping off that turn. At 1 mana it's also more fetchable and playable.

Elas il Kor was spoiled just now. Description matches what Elonial posted. Also has an interesting stained glass treatment.

While the 2CMC aristocrat in the command zone is very enticing, I feel like she won't do enough when played early. We'd need a sac outlet, a token generator and hopefully some draw in order to perform so she'd sit there being a prime target until we get all the pieces. Without any protection and after one removal, she becomes the same cost as Teysa.

Mitch from commanders quarter did already a nice take on her with Lurrus as a companion…

What do we think about Ratadrabik of Urborg? Two Teysa’s seems pretty nuts. Recast her and do it again and we’ve got 4. Also I’m interested to hear your thoughts on Weatherlight Compleated.

Housegheist, I just watched the video but I don't think adding Lurrus to Elas would be wise. Sure you could drop creatures fast but you'd still need to hit the trifecta and without Teysa to double things up, you'd only ping them with a couple hits here and there. Plus, you'd have to dodge board wipes left and right. I'd say the current decklist is a solid 8, able to play with 9's but adding Lurrus would probably drop it to a 6 at best. That being said, if your pods are typically more casual then Elas w/ Lurrus would be an easy aristocrat choice to play Teysa lite.

Hey, guys have a question about Sultai Emissary I simply can't get profit from him - in last two games it manifested my demonic tutor both times. Maybe I can't simply see its value?

Sillyprawn, I don't think Ratadrabik of Urborg is worth a slot since we don't run enough legendaries. Sure you can get 2 Teysa's but you're effectively casting 10 mana for 2 and 18 mana for 4. You'll need to already have a sac outlet on the board but if you have no draw or drain then you're stuck. Also having that much mana and 4 Teysa's but no combo is just begging for a wipe.

Weatherlight Compleated does nothing when it hits the board. It needs 7 death triggers to start drawing or 4 with Teysa on board. While it doesn't say non-token I'd find a hard time replacing Dark Prophecy, Grim Haruspex or Midnight Reaper with it.

clircrazy, I also haven't been crazy about Sultai Emissary. Since we don't run much graveyard recursion it can sometimes pitch very important combo cards into the grave and lose us steam. I'd suggest holding it up for later on when it's time to combo out or if you have Bolas's Citadel so you can use it to manifest a land.

kirbysan Cult Conscript is probably the second best of the self-reanimators, but I don't think it beats out Reassembling Skeleton. I don't anticipate 1 mana on first play being as much of an issue as potentially not being able to bring it back at all.

Elas il-Kor, Sadistic Pilgrim is probably not as good of a commander as I initially thought. She doesn't add anything to the engine except an on-hand drain effect which we don't have an issue finding if we can draw enough cards. It's not as much of an issue of playing her early vs her just not doing enough. I'll definitely find a place for her in the 99 as another drainer.

I'm pretty interested in Weatherlight Compleated actually. It does take a while to get online, but 2 generic mana is barely an investment for such a powerhouse down the line. It could be better than Dark Prophecy since is rough. Compared to prophecy, weatherlight doesn't drain life and becomes a creature later which is invaluable.

Sillyprawn Teysa is already our capstone play, so having a card that already relies on her being out is pretty difficult. He's not that useful when she's not out, so I'm hesitant to include him here.

clircrazy Manifesting a non-creature isn't a bad thing. Demonic tutor isn't providing value in your library, and it could've been any card. It feels bad in retrospect, but understand that's result-oriented thinking. Just the fact that Sultai Emissary provides non-token creatures when it dies is value enough. The fact that you can flip the manifests if they're creatures is added value. In my experience emissary has only ever been an amazing addition, but if you really don't like it you can cut it for a card you find more fun.

Going through this set, I don't see much to add to the list.

Here are my thoughts, what do you all think??

I like Elas but I found that I really like lifegain when things die, so not having that doesn't help. Maybe replace bastion with elas, but I think I like bastion more.

I really like the new braids. She can sac a creature for us, in turn, have everyone sac a creature or take the 2 and let us draw a card. I'm not too sure what to cut for her yet.

The new weatherlight seems awesome, but don't know yet. Any thoughts out there for it?

Ratadrabik also seems good on the outside, but it would only trigger a couple things outside of our commander unless you all think it actually offers really good value.

What are your thoughts on saw in half?