sub780lime I haven't had many problems with Reflecting Pool or Exotic Orchard's consistency, so I prefer them over the forced life loss from City of Brass and Mana Confluence. In some testing I've done with these painlands, there were instances where the life loss mattered, especially when it came to low-life razaketh/necropotence usage. Ultimately, it doesn't matter much, and I would understand swapping them based on preference. In playgroups that rarely play white and/or black, orchard is bad, and reflecting pool gets worse the less lands we have. For me, they've performed better than the painlands on average.

In terms of Austere Command, everything's a bit hard to trim from. For the sac outlets, unfortunately 5 of them are inconsistent (High Market, Victimize, etc.), and one of them is 8 mana. Additionally, the inconsistent ones are in the deck for reasons other than being sac outlets. The cards I'm considering the most are Victimize, Phyrexian Reclamation, and Living Death, but I'm still not sure I'd want austere command instead of any one of these cards.

Thanks for the input!

Any new addition from Zendikar Rising? I'm thinking about to add at least the new Brightclimb Pathway  ^Flip, could be fine in our manabase as it enter untapped.

esperdeathblade, that's what I was thinking for my own Teysa deck. Not like the basic land volume comes into play enough for it to be an issue.

esperdeathblade Brightclimb Pathway  ^Flip definitely makes the cut over a swamp. I could see an argument for not running it since the manabase is already good, and I may want 3 full triggers off Land Tax. Getting two lands instead of three off tax isn't the end of the world though. Otherwise, Zendikar Rising was quite underwhelming for Teysa due to the lack of aristocrat-style cards. I am excited for Commander Legends though, which is fast approaching.

Any place for Agadeem's Awakening  ^Flip? Taborax, Hope's Demise could also get real big, real quick, but it moves away from our general game plan. I actually think I want to make a straight Taborax, Hope's Demise EDH deck.

sub780lime I must've missed Agadeem's Awakening  ^Flip. There's no reason not to include it. Taborax, Hope's Demise can be fun, but he doesn't provide any value to this deck since we don't play many clerics. I could see him in a more cleric-centric shell with Rotlung Reanimator, Edgewalker, etc. Or, I'm sure he'd work well as a commander on his own, especially with Shadowborn Apostles.

Great summary of the deck. Having looked at your description though, I don't think Nether Traitor actually triggers twice because of Teysa. Her ability affects triggered abilities of Permanents. Cards are only considered a Permanent when they are on the battlefield and Nether Traitor's triggered ability would only trigger when it is in the graveyard.

Even if you trigger Nether Traitor's triggered ability multiple times due to simultaneous events (like having two of your creatures die at once), you would only be able to use Nether Traitor's triggered ability once, even if you sacc'd it in response to other instances of your triggered ability, because Nether Traitor would be a new object in the graveyard and would not be affected by the other instances of his triggered ability.

Me no judge: I would think you can stack the triggers. Once the death takes place, there are two death relate triggers on the stack for Nether Traitor. You resolve the first one, returning Nether Traitor to the board, then before the other trigger resolves, you can sac the Nether Traitor to something like Ashnod's Altar and that goes on the stack above the second Nether Traitor trigger. Once that happens, you've netted the mana and the second trigger for Nether Traitor resolves and you can return it to the board again. Pretty sure their infinite mana in there as well, done the right way.

Floklosub780lime I think Floklo is right in that Nether Traitor won't double trigger in the first place. Since it's in the graveyard, it doesn't count as a permanent for Teysa's effect. However, it's probably still valuable in the deck as a less consistent Reassembling Skeleton. I'll update the guide, so there aren't misconceptions.

This is an awesome deck! Thank you so much for putting together the detailed guide. I've been play testing your deck a lot and had a few questions regarding the mana base.

I quite often find myself having say Arid Mesa, Windswept Heath, Knight of the White Orchid, etc in my hand but already have a basic plains on the field (either already played from one of the fetch lands or from having just drawn it). Don't you think we should have a few more basic Plains included in the deck (in replace of Arid Mesa, Windswept Heath, etc)? Maybe 3 basic plains. It seems we are only really able to fetch a Godless Shrine to begin with and already have a great abundance of ways to fetch it (Catacombs, Mire, Heath, etc). In fact, it may even make sense to add another basic Swap as well to get better potential use out of Cabel Coffers. What's your thoughts on this? :)

cfost827 I haven't had any problems like you mentioned so far. Remember that Knight of the White Orchid doesn't have to fetch a basic plains and can instead grab Godless Shrine or Scrubland. The odds of drawing multiples of the plains-only fetches and knight of the white orchid while already having their targets on the field or in hand are unlikely. However, I agree that this is an easily-preventable problem if you keep encountering it. I'd start by getting rid of Arid Mesa and replacing it with one plains. This will decrease the number of plains-only fetches to 3 total and increase the number of plains targets to 4 total, so you shouldn't realistically have any more problems. If you want to further change the mana base, it's the most flexible part of the deck. Personally, I value mana consistency in early turns, so I don't see myself changing anything immediately. If you find value in adding in more basics, and it works for you in testing, that's great!

Awesome, thanks for the feedback Masterful! I think another reason is that I'm not running Scrubland since I just don't want to spend the money for it currently. Maybe in the future! But I'll try replacing Aria Mesa to start with a plains.

Also, have you ever considered adding in Smothering Tithe? It's usually just an EDH staple and my buddy thought it can never hurt to add it (Unless you play tested it already of course). Blinkmoth Nexus or Ophiomancer were 2 cards that I was thinking of possibly replacing..but we shall see.

cfost827 You don't lose too much consistently without Scrubland. It shouldn't matter. I've tried Smothering Tithe a few times, and it's decent, but it's too slow for me personally. I'd include it with Revel in Riches if I wanted that package or if your meta is heavy blue/draw oriented. I also wouldn't skimp on Ophiomancer. I underestimated her at first, but if you play a few games of her, you'll see just how much value she pumps out with sac outlets. I play Blinkmoth Nexus because it's cheap sac fodder at best and a colorless land that can chump block at worst. However, the cool thing about aristocrats is that there's so much redundancy that any few cuts likely won't matter. You can customize the deck to your liking, especially since it's hard to say what's the absolute best. This isn't cEDH after all.

Masterful Thanks for the advice! This is all very helpful. I'm going to be testing out the deck in 4 way commander with my buddies on Saturday. I'm excited!

It's going to be fun and I wonder if this will actually be too powerful? Due to the extensive tutor suite, etc. Though the infinite combo's do take a lot of pieces to pull off. I didn't see it listed but there is also a simple combo you can do w/ Teysa out by having Phyrexian Reclamation, Phyrexian Altar + any of the life drainers (Blood Artist, etc) and sac fodder out (Hunted Witness, Doomed Traveler, etc). Just sac say Haunted Witness and then the tokens it creates (doubled from Teysa), then use Phyrexian Reclamation to put Hunted Witness back into your hand and recast it (from Altar's floating mana) then infinite loop.

Overall, I think it will be strong but not overly strong where I get targeted every game (i.e. target me or I win, etc). Our Meta I would say is anywhere from 50% - 80% optimized (slightly more competitive than straight up "casual"). The general value of decks in play I would say are anywhere from $300 - $800, so this is right around there.

Some of the commander's in our playgroup are: Zedruu the Greathearted, Korvold, Fae-Cursed King, Lazav, Dimir Mastermind, Chainer, Nightmare Adept, Kaalia of the Vast, Sisay, Weatherlight Captain, Mayael the Anima, Feather, the Redeemed, etc - It will be interesting to see how it fare's against these.

cfost827 Usually my opponents have plenty of time to respond to my combos before I pull them off. Like you said, they usually require 3+ pieces that cost a lot of combined mana. There are quite a few tutors, and if you ever feel like the deck is too powerful, they're a simple thing to cut. Yeah, I should probably add the Phyrexian Reclamation combo you mentioned as I've run into it a few times as well. In terms of being the target, the deck tends to be unassuming until you combo off. Since some of the combos are quite complicated, opponents usually don't realize what you're doing until it's too late. In addition, people don't like to boardwipe you/attack you since they feel like you're not losing much when your creatures die (even though you really are).

Masterful Yeah I can't wait to play tomorrow! Honestly, the infinite combo's are always a last resort (they are mostly frowned upon in our playgroup if that is your ONLY source of winning and not even interacting w/ the board and trying to combo out as fast possible.. not fun lol). I found from play testing that it's fairly easy to win through just doming people with the life drainers (Blood Artist, etc). Also, having Dictate of Erebos or Grave Pact on the field really makes it tough on opponents if i'm just sacing creatures/tokens constantly.

I'll let ya know how it goes!!

Masterful Update: Commander over the weekend went great! We had 5 people, so we were actually playing secret partner (obviously this is not a great "partner" deck lol). We all had some beers and it was actually a lot of fun.

I did very well the first game. Basically I had Bastion of Remembrance + Teysa Karlov out for most of the game and was able to drain everyone with my sac fodder pretty well. I then also got a Cruel Celebrant out and played Hangarback Walker and saced it to get 4 Thopter tokens, then saced them and domed everyone for lots of damage. It was pretty straight forward actually just sacing the tokens and dealing damage that it went well. Toxic Deluge also came in clutch to get rid of my opponents boards when they got wild. I won the game for my partner and I (he was killed earlier, so it came down to just me vs. my buddy's Chainer deck).

My one buddy played Yasova Dragonclaw and Sisay, Weatherlight Captain as his commanders for 2 games and stole some of my key creatures 2 games in a row, which was tough as I didn't have any sac outlets on the board at the time. My other buddy also played The Ur-Dragon as his commander, and he stole my Vilis, Broker of Blood which was rough as well.

Playing secret partner w/ 5 people was a bit different than the normal 4 way games we usually play, but I felt the deck still played fairly well and was a lot of fun. I think the power level is right where it needs to be to be honest.

cfost827 Sweet! Glad it went well. As you've noticed, the deck is quite good at the attrition game with all its drainers and fodder. Secret partner sounds interesting. I've never played it before. It's good the power level felt right. I've been able to adjust the power level when necessary by just changing a few key components (tutors, fast mana).

Love the deck, gave me a lot of great ideas and inspiration to build my own! I was wondering if you think there's any place for Keeper of the Accord? It might just be my play group since there's a lot of green and crazy ramping, but I wonder if it would be another helpful option for catching up and occasional token generation?

Ahoy! In an episode of Command Zone (on YouTube) they stated that in general, most decks/meta's will now need to run more removal with all the new cards that are coming out, and it seems our playgroup (and I imagine many others) have fallen victim to this and are running too few or not diverse enough removal. So I'm working on adding more removal to all my decks.

Do you think it's possible to add more removal to this Teysa deck? What would I have cut and swap in? It's pretty tooled already so I'm not quite sure... but would love to hear your thoughts. I know there is always things like Mortify, Path to Exile, Despark, Wrath of God, etc.. maybe even Strip Mine.

Essentially, the person who who ends up getting momentum in the beginning (especially with Dragons, Elves, Mayael, etc) seems to always just end up dominating and winning. So we are trying to fix this and listen to what Command Zone was saying (as we are witnessing it first hand haha). Any thoughts would help on this subject :). Cheers!

Ailuro Keeper of the Accord is interesting. Its a slightly more expensive Ophiomancer that is a bit less consistent but also can ramp. If your play group ramps with lands a ton, and you find yourself consistently down a few lands at the end of every game, it's very appealing. As long as you play against creature decks regularly and put more basic plains into the deck, it's probably good. I'd either replace Sifter of Skulls, Solemn Simulacrum, or Ophiomancer. In my play group, I'm not sure it'd be consistent enough, but I'm considering it. I'll add it to the maybeboard.

cfost827 If you're consistently playing against a fast creature decks like that, cheap removal is a good answer. I don't recommend Mortify as its too narrow for its mana cost or Utter End since its too high cost to kill only one thing. Path to Exile would be good against elves, dragons, etc. as cheap interaction. Despark is good against dragons and Mayael shenanigans, but may be too narrow against elves. Strip Mine is great against the elves' Gaea's Cradle or Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx, and it's an easy add as well. Wrath of God/Damnation/Day of Judgment/Kaya's Wrath all seem good in your situation as they deal with fast developing creatures. The new Doomskar may be even better, especially since it'll be the only foretell in the deck. As soon as you foretell it, the creature decks will hold more creatures in hand out of fear. If you foretell on turn 2, it may even severely halt their board development. You may also want to consider Dire Tactics, Final Payment, or Deadly Rollick. These do a good job of dealing with problematic creatures early. For cards to replace, I'd look at the more expensive ones that are stuck in your hand when you'd rather have an answer. Cards like Solemn Simulacrum, Sifter of Skulls, Requiem Angel, Archon of Justice, Living Death, etc. may be too slow.

Just came to say that I super appreciate the way you curate this page. I don't usually play decks straight up copied from tapped out, but playing an exact copy of this one has been a blast. It's like taking a ride with someone's suped up car that's been very well taken care of.

I also dig the detailed explanations you give for each set, even when you don't include new cards into the deck.

Keep up the good work!

ToeJam Cheers!

I would be curious to your thoughts on reveillark and karmic guide. With the combo for the two spots. Also, why no generic draw spells like sign in blood? They seem better than dark prophecy to me? Thanks!

CyanideSuicide017 I don't play Karmic Guide + Reveillark for the same reason I don't play Sanguine Bond + Exquisite Blood , Revel in Riches + Smothering Tithe , or anything with Nim Deathmantle . These cards cost a lot of mana and aren't great without the other combo piece(s). Karmic guide can only reanimate one creature with an ETB, and Reveillark only targets creatures with power 2 or less. I have much more efficient reanimation like Victimize , Living Death , and Command the Dreadhorde . Since they're individually underwhelming, their real draw is the combo you mentioned. For the combo itself, it it's not very efficient since it costs a total of 10 mana for both cards plus additional mana for a sac outlet and a card that wins the game off of looping. The infinite combos I have in the deck all function off of cards that are already efficient on their own. These are the reasons I don't play either, but if you think they'd be interesting, you could give it a shot. It seems like a fun combo, and who knows, it could be better than I'm giving it credit for.

For cheap black card draw, I probably should play Sign in Blood , and Night's Whisper . I haven't put them in thus far because they're boring. I like the potential of being able to draw a million cards off of Dark Prophecy and how it becomes a part of an engine rather than going for the more consistent approach. The deck is also pretty slow combo-wise as most combos require 3+ cards. In slower metas, we get more out of Dark Prophecy like effects. If you're up against decks that win a lot faster than Teysa, Sign in Blood and Night's Whisper get better. I might end up replacing Dark Prophecy and something like Liliana, Dreadhorde General or Solemn Simulacrum with those two somewhere down the line. It depends on if my meta shifts or if I want to change the direction of the deck a bit.