Teysa - Necronomicon v3

Commander / EDH WB (Orzhov)

Mako

Creature (33)

• 1x Athreos, God of Passage
• 1x Blood Artist
• 1x Bloodsoaked Champion
• 1x Burnished Hart
• 1x Cavalier of Night
• 1x Elenda, the Dusk Rose
• 1x Grim Haruspex
• 1x Hangarback Walker
• 1x Karmic Guide
• 1x Kokusho, the Evening Star
• 1x Krav, the Unredeemed
• 1x Matter Reshaper
• 1x Merciless Executioner
• 1x Midnight Reaper
• 1x Pawn of Ulamog
• 1x Pitiless Plunderer
• 1x Plaguecrafter
• 1x Ranger of Eos
• 1x Reassembling Skeleton
• 1x Recruiter of the Guard
• 1x Restoration Specialist
• 1x Reveillark
• 1x Seraph of the Scales
• 1x Sidisi, Undead Vizier
• 1x Solemn Simulacrum
• 1x Stitcher's Supplier
• 1x Sun Titan
• 1x Teysa, Orzhov Scion
• 1x Vindictive Lich
• 1x Viscera Seer
• 1x Xiahou Dun, the One-Eyed
• 1x Yawgmoth, Thran Physician
• 1x Zulaport Cutthroat

Planeswalker (1)

• 1x Liliana, Dreadhorde General

Land (36)

• 1x Bojuka Bog
• 1x Cabal Coffers
• 1x Caves of Koilos
• 1x Command Tower
• 1x Concealed Courtyard
• 1x Exotic Orchard
• 1x Fetid Heath
• 1x Geier Reach Sanitarium
• 1x Godless Shrine
• 1x High Market
• 1x Isolated Chapel
• 1x Mana Confluence
• 1x Marsh Flats
• 1x Myriad Landscape
• 1x Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
• 1x Phyrexian Tower
• 4x Plains
• 1x Reflecting Pool
• 1x Scrubland
• 1x Silent Clearing
• 1x Spire of Industry
• 6x Swamp
• 1x Tainted Field
• 1x Temple of Silence
• 1x Thespian's Stage
• 1x Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
• 1x Volrath's Stronghold
• 1x Westvale Abbey  ^Flip

Instant (6)

• 1x Anguished Unmaking
• 1x Crush Contraband
• 1x Despark
• 1x Entomb
• 1x Swords to Plowshares
• 1x Utter End

Commander (1)

Artifact (11)

• 1x Altar of Dementia
• 1x Ashnod's Altar
• 1x Bolas's Citadel
• 1x Expedition Map
• 1x Fellwar Stone
• 1x Orzhov Signet
• 1x Phyrexian Altar
• 1x Skullclamp
• 1x Sol Ring
• 1x Spawning Pit *list*
• 1x Talisman of Hierarchy

Enchantment (6)

• 1x Animate Dead
• 1x Aura of Silence
• 1x Dictate of Erebos
• 1x Land Tax
• 1x Phyrexian Reclamation
• 1x Smothering Tithe

Sorcery (6)

• 1x Demonic Tutor
• 1x Living Death
• 1x Read the Bones
• 1x Reanimate
• 1x Torment of Hailfire
• 1x Toxic Deluge

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Maybeboard

Creature (4)

• 1x Archon of Justice
• 1x Massacre Wurm
• 1x Ogre Slumlord
• 1x Wurmcoil Engine

Artifact (2)

• 1x Lightning Greaves
• 1x Nim Deathmantle

Sorcery (1)

• 1x Victimize

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Check out the Video here! NitpickingNerds Deck Tech

What’s This Deck About?

Most Teysa decks I’ve seen focus too much on the token aspect and lean more toward token-aggro. So, I want to focus on abusing recursions and death triggers. It’s not an aggressive early game deck, but WOW can it pack a punch after a few turns. It wasn’t designed to be a hyper competitive deck, so winning on turn 8 or 9 is very common.

It’s pretty resilient and can function perfectly fine even after key pieces are removed. With multiple tutors, recursion, and death triggers, there’s always some way to hit to opponent or gain some advantage. It’s not as interactive as most BW decks, but I still love piloting it.

All Stars and “Gourmet Bagles”

A few cards have overperformed during testing and, honestly, I don’t see them being easily replaced.

• Ranger of Eos

  • Kudos to the Nitpicking Nerds on this one! For just you can grab a sac outlet, a skelebro, a token generator, or a way to fill up your yard. Most excellent.

• Matter Reshaper

  • Nothing else does what this little noodle monster can. Sure, the colorless mana can put some people off, but rarely has it been a concern with this mana base. If you have Viscera Seer as your sac outlet, you can almost control what comes into play. 10/10 would cast again. And again. And again…

• Xiahou Dun, the One-Eyed

  • The sheer price of this guy excludes it from most lists, but holy cow does he pull his weight! Being able to recur ANY black card is amazing and it can often be that one extra piece you need to get ahead.

• Bolas's Citadel

  • Surprising no one (except me), this can drop a TON of value very quickly. And the sac ability has come in handy more than once to kill most of the table.

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Win Cons

Ok. Let’s talk a bout Win Cons! This deck is versatile in the regard that it has several ways to win deepening on what you have available. Any of these can go infinite with the right cards, but if not can be repeated multiple times in a turn with the appropriate amount of mana. Most are viable without Teysa in play

Option 1: Baby’s First Combo

White recursion bread and butter. Easiest win con in the deck.

Reveillark + Karmic Guide + Sac Outlet

If you want information, check out this article: EDHRec Article

Essentially, you can create a loops with a sac outlet and go infinite on that outlets’ triggers. You can even add multiple outlets if you want. Get creative! The deck has enough tutors and recursion to get your pieces in place easily.

Option 2: “Skelebro” Drain

This one is simple but does require set-up. If you play your cards right, Turn 7 or 8 will be endgame. Teysa is required.

1. Find a sac outlet.
2. Get Skelebro 1 or Skelebro 2 into play or graveyard
3. Cast Teysa Karlov
4. Get one or more “lose 1/gain 1” goobers out ( Goober 1 , Goober 2 , or Goober 3 )
5. Cycle Skelebro 1 or Skelebro 2 to drain the table
6. If Pitiless Plunderer is in play along with Teysa, it’s an infinite loop with the “to battlefield” Skelebro abilities.

Even though you require a minimum of 4 cards, it still feels good. If the other decks at the table aren’t aggressive, this is often your best/most fun route.

Option 3: “Animate-Titan” Drain

The tried and true BW combo. This one does not require Teysa so is a suitable backup if she’s become too costly to cast or you just don’t have the other pieces.

1. Sac Outlet + Karmic Guide + Sun Titan + Animate Dead (Graveyard) + Drain Goober
2. Cast/Recur Titan. Sun Titan's ETB ability triggers, you target and return Animate Dead.
3. Animate Dead enters the battlefield enchanting Karmic Guide in the graveyard. Animate Dead's ability that will bring Karmic Guide to the battlefield triggers.
4. With that ability on the stack, you sacrifice Sun Titan with your outlet (Sun Titan must already be in the graveyard when Karmic Guide enters the battlefield, since you choose the target for her ability as soon as it is placed on the stack).
5. Animate Dead's ability resolves, and you return Karmic Guide. Her ability triggers. Animate Dead fails to attach itself to the Guide since she has Protection from Black, so it goes in the graveyard thanks to state-based actions. Its ability asking you to sacrifice the creature it returned triggers. You can sacrifice the Guide to the outlet in response.
6. Sun Titan enters the battlefield with Animate Dead and Karmic Guide in the graveyard, so you're free to rinse and repeat.
7. This can also be used to just grab another card (Most likely Koko or Flappy Kitty ) if you have some sort of recursion online (like Phyrexian Reclamation . Even if you don’t, if Teysa is out, you can get double value from whatever you bring back.

Option 4: Living Death

Surprisingly, this one has been the most consistent backup plan as pieces for the other option can be randomly removed from play/graveyard.

1. Start dumping/milling/discarding in your bin in any number of ways Altar of Dementia , Stitcher's Supplier , or any draw engine + Discard at end of turn.
2. Draw or tutor Living Death
3. Draw/tutor/recur Xiahou Dun, the One-Eyed
4. Cast Living Death in your first main phase, then recur it with Xiahou. Later, rinse, repeat as necessary.

Option 5: Death by Tokens

This has only come up once since there were no fliers to block, but it’s still a viable option depending on how aggressive the other players are being with their creatures.

• Elenda, the Dusk Rose and Hangarback Walker can be abused with various sac outlets and recursion engines to generate an obscene amount of tokens. Sure, they don’t have haste, but lifelink blockers are nothing to sneeze at.

Option 6: Debt to the Debtless

Surprising no one, here’s an X spell. Honestly, if I have my other pieces out, the table has lost to life drain before I can cast this. I’ve found myself only really using it as a buffer for Bolas's Citadel or Yawgmoth, Thran Physician .

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Original NitpickingNerds Upgrades to “Version 0” of the Deck

Nitpicking Nerds Cuts:

• Black Cat

• Deathgreeter

• Flesh Carver

• Gonti, Lord of Luxury (Strongly disagree)

• Twilight Prophet

• Seraph of the Scales (Strongly disagree)

• Xiahou Dun, the One-Eyed (Strongly disagree)

• Requiem Angel

• Reanimate

• Bloodchief Ascension

• Vampiric Rites

• Victimize

• Revel in Riches

• Divine Visitation

• Ancient Stone Idol

• Mortuary Mire

• Emergence Zone

• Orzhov Basilica

• Wurmcoil Engine

NitpickingNerds Adds:

• Bloodsoaked Champion

• Hangarback Walker

• Stitcher's Supplier

• Knight of the White Orchid

• Pawn of Ulamog

• Matter Reshaper

• Ranger of Eos (1CMC package>)

• Smothering Abomination

• Ashen Rider

• Sun Titan

• Myriad Landscape

• Swords to Plowshares

• Secure the Wastes

• Wayfarer's Bauble

• Fellwar Stone

• Aura of Silence

• Mind Stone

• Phyrexian Altar

• Crush Contraband

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Changelog

• Yahenni, Undying Partisan --> Spawning Pit (Still a sack outlet, but it gives me tokens)
• Ayli, Eternal Pilgrim --> Mind Stone (One less sac outlet, but I'll happily swap it for ramp/draw)
• Secure the Wastes --> Seraph of the Scales (I just want to use this card. No other reason. May swap back to Secure the Wastes eventually)
• Emergence Zone --> Xiahou Dun, the One-Eyed (I needed more of that sweet sweet recursion. Plus, just being able to reuse a Living Death (or get it back if it got self-milled, makes it 1000% worth it)
• Rise of the Dark Realms --> Recruiter of the Guard ( Living Death + Xiahou Dun, the One-Eyed has been doing an amazing job and Dark Realms often felt like a dead card if I had one of the others. Recruiter can fetch all but 11 of my current creatures.)
• Knight of the White Orchid --> Bitterblossom (I need more bodies)
• Land Tax --> Reanimate
• Priest of Forgotten Gods --> Doomed Traveler (Another 1 drop to tutor with Ranger and gives me a pseudo-afterlife trigger)

Note: Unless I have A.) A Sac outlet or B.) a creature/token in play, the deck flounders hard. Which is what I assume all other GY-Based decks do. So, I once I have both of those out, the only remaining factor is consistently grabbing my dudes from the bin and bringing them back.

Modern Horizon Upgrades:

• Smothering Abomination --> Yawgmoth, Thran Physician
• Vault of the Archangel --> Silent Clearing
• Mind Stone --> Talisman of Hierarchy

v2 Notes:

I feel like I need at least one more token producer and 1 more recursion source. Just trying to think of what to cut...also, I’m kinda missing Land Tax now that it isn’t in. 35 Lands is less than I’m used to and I’m just not drawing them for some reason.

Current Test Swaps

• Debt to the Deathless --> Torment of Hailfire (if your gy gets removed, this is the fallback plan.) (Another consideration is Doom Whisperer to strengthen Living Death and draw fixing)
• Ashen Rider --> Utter End
• Jet Medallion --> Land Tax (Medallion has done some work, but because I often have white spells in my hand, it can be a “pay 2 mana, do nothing” card.)
• Bitterblossom --> Restoration Specialist (Skullclamp and the other outlets are targets. Having something to grab them back from the yard, along with something like Animate Dead, is to valuable to ignore.)

New Testing Swaps - Doomed Traveler --> Card:Entomb (I can already search for a token producer via Eos (Hangarback Walker), so a tutor may be more helpful. Testing needed)

V3 Notes

M20 + July Upgrades:

• Cruel Celebrant --> Read the Bones (The drainer is redundant and I need more unconditional card draw)
• Grave Pact --> Cavalier of Night (Grave Pact was becoming to hard to cast early game and having that and Erebos in my hand was either feel bad or win-more. Cav fits so many other categories)

(Testing) - Dark Prophecy --> card:Liliana, Dreadhoarde General (Same static effect, bigger board presence – and without that life loss. That’s hurt me more than helped in a few games)

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(08/10/19)

After getting my butt handed to me at multiple tables, I get mana screwed REALLY hard in this deck and most of my plays involved SEARCHING for ramp or lands rather than impacting the table. Cheap removal was also hard to come by and I had to rely completely on the other players if I couldn't find my "opponent sacs a creature" spells. So, somehow we need:

• +1 Land / +1 Ramp / + 1 Removal

That's a tall order in this deck. Entomb is actually on the chopping board since it only ever tutors for the remaining piece of a combo, rather than anything I need at the moment (since it goes straight to the bin). This deck NEEDS tutors, but it needs a way to speed things up more. I'll figure out which cards need to be swapped after some more testing.

After some more testing, I think Carrion Feeder's getting the Axe. The only time he's relevant s if I've lost ALL my other sac outlets, and if that happens, I'm already too far behind to do much. And if I tutor with Ranger of Eos , I will ALWAYS get Viscera Seer if I need an outlet.

So, I may just do:

• -1 Carrion Feeder / +1 Swamp

I'm also considering:

• -1 Merciless Executioner / +1 Vampiric Tutor

Executioner is just redundancy (and has been very useful), but tutoring for a piece for just 1 , can often be more impactful that just removal. Hell, you could tutor for better removal.

Also, I won't lie, since taking it out, I'm starting to miss Debt to the Deathless . Torment of Hailfire Is an overall MUCH better card, but I do miss the massive lifegain boost. The argument is lifegain is a delaying tactic that doesn't end the game on it's own, but just big mana + Hailfire = GG. I'll keep testing.

Date added	5 years
Last updated	3 years
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	13 - 0 Mythic Rares 47 - 0 Rares 25 - 0 Uncommons 5 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	3.00
Tokens	2/2 C Artifact Creature Spawn, Eldrazi Spawn 0/1 C, Human Cleric 1/1 BW, Morph 2/2 C, Spirit 1/1 W, Spirit 1/1 WB, Thopter 1/1 C, Treasure, Vampire 1/1 W, Zombie 2/2 B
Based on	Teysa - Necronomicon v2 Mako EDH