This deck and page are fantastic. Well done.

I love this deck so much man. Have you thought about making a discord for more conversation and keeping the deck and commander alive?

I've always had a softspot for toolbox and reanimator, and this deck covers it haha

Have you thought about running a discard package with Thoughtseize and/or Inquisition of Kozilek to help you protect your cards and even discard if you need to?

The combo is so robust you could even go Necrotic Ooze with Devoted Druid + Channeler Initiate + Blighted Bat to generate your infinite mana and win with Walking Ballista.

Or (lol) you could use Tayam, Luminous Enigma's ability to pull up Animate Dead/Dance of the Dead/Necromancy to get Leonin Relic-Warder to get infinite etb or death triggers to win from Blood Artist or Corpse Knight!

Have you thought about running Buried Alive or Wishclaw Talisman?

+1 for sure man, great job!

Oh! And don't forget Smothering Tithe!

Sorry for the double post...

Loving the newest version of the deck!

Kthululu: Thanks for the +! and suggestions! I've never really considered discord but maybe if my decks gained significant traction or something. I think targeted discard is pretty bad in multiplayer and think Grand Abolisher effects (I also run Ranger-Captain of Eos and Destiny Spinner) are much better to protect against interaction the turn I want to go off. There are certainly many incidental combos that could be included and I've definitely dabbled with Leonin Relic-Warder but eventually cut out most to be more focused. I'm still on the edge for Buried Alive cos early game it really does nothing and Tayam's engine don't really come online till later in the game. Exposing my graveyard for a couple or turns just seem too risky. The reason smothering tithe wasn't included was because Earthcraft plays a similar and faster role of mana acceleration and is part of the infinite combo too. Cheers!

Are you wanting to build the deck at 75% competitiveness, or just the best you can get it?

Thanks! I look forward to the deck growing and seeing what it becomes!

Kthululu: I'm trying to build it as optimized for a 75% competitiveness as possible. This is definitely one of my favorite decks so far and runs so much better than I've expected. Will be updating as more sets are released.

I am building Tayam as more of an all in combo deck, I can find a million sac outlets and creatures that etb with tokens tor counters to feed Tayam but I'm having a bit of trouble finding a high enough density of things that make infinite mana, so I was wondering if you know of any pieces that are a little less obvious than devoted druid, altars, priest of gix and thornbite staff. Also, I was thinking that Sustaining Spirit and Command Beacon would be good in the deck. And Dripping-Tongue Zubera as an addition to hallowed spiritkeeper and caller of the claw, if anyone wanted a third of that style of effect.
I also agree with Kthululu about Wishclaw Talisman or maybe even Maralen of the Mornsong. As for the discard discussion, I have a Mind Slash as a useful sac outlet even though it cost a mana to activate because it can weaken. Lastly I like Gideon of the Trials but it is a bit cute.

I love this deck so much. Have you considered corpse dance with hallowed spirit keeper and phyrexian altar?

xelal: I've heard of zubera combo deck in pauper and maybe there is something from there that you could use if you were to want to include Dripping-Tongue Zubera. I'm not really familiar in any other non-conventional combos that you are looking for unfortunately. I do like the suggestion of command beacon although I'm trying not to add another colorless source to my mana base. Wishclaw Talisman is a maybe, I have enough concentration of tutors to get to the combo reliably.

freeze92: Corpse dance is a pet card of mine that I will probably see how it fairs in the deck. Cheers.

The reason I like the idea of Buried Alive is so you can put Hallowed Spiritkeeper and 2 other creatures into your graveyard, then on activation already have enough spirits to chain Tayam, Luminous Enigma's ability into infinite mana. But maybe that is just trying to win harder when you are already in your chain? Unsure.

What ultimately made you go with Walking Ballista as the final wincon?

I can't wait to build Tayam, Luminous Enigma thanks to your build. I play in a hardcore/casually competitive pod, so I think the deck will fit in amazingly. Thanks again, man.

Cheers!

Kthululu: Good point about the combo assembly, I'll give Buried Alive a try again and see how it goes. Walking Ballista is the most efficient win condition and is useful by itself. It also combos with Mike as a secondary win condition in case Tayam is gone. Good luck on your build!

The folks in the competitive discord recently came together and discussed a couple additions to Tayam that you may be interested in adding.

Blood Artist: I know you considered Blood Artist in the past, but the more I think about Blood Artist the more I think he is a perfect fit in this deck. As it stands your build is missing an in-deck outlet. Consider post-combo with Ashnod's Altar + Promise of Bunrei (which does not require an extra 1 mana btw, unlike if you had Phyrexian Altar). In this scenario you have successfully combo'd off and have infinite colorless mana and infinite spirit tokens from Bunrei (because each loop of Bunrei nets you 1 spirit token). Now all you have to do is activate Tayam one more time and revive Blood Artist, sacking the infinite tokens to gain infinite life and drain your opponents out. Since you can do this at instant speed, it is much better than reviving Walking Ballista with Dance of the Dead, which is sorcery speed.

Ad Nauseam + Angel's Grace: Resolving an Ad Nauseam more often than not wins you the game. Combining Ad Naus with Angel's Grace lets you draw until you get a tutor or the rest of your combo, then combo off and win from there. Additionally, Angel's Grace serves as protection against really fast combo decks and is the best counter to Laboratory Maniac wins.

Autumn's Veil and Silence: Tayam does not have Blue, meaning that it lacks the best interaction: Counterspells. Tayam can run some other cool stuff instead of counterspells, like Autumn's Veil and Silence. Autumn's Veil, if it resolves, makes you completely immune to Blue and Black counterspells and single-target removal, which is the best way to out Tayam. Silence prevents opponents from interacting with you at all by preventing them from casting spells. Additionally, Silence can be played offensively, making whoever is about to combo off be unable to cast spells.

Imp's Mischief: Black's "counterspell". Basically you can target a counterspell on the stack and redirect it to whatever target you want, which can also be Imp's Mischief.

Deadly Rollick: A fantastic new edition to Black commanders everywhere. This deck functions very similarly to something like Tasigur, the Golden Fang. You want your commander on the field to accrue value and to eventually combo off and win. Because Tayam will want to be on the field, you can cast Deadly Rollick for free, removing enemy commanders, combo pieces, and crucial mana dorks.

At the end of the day, it is still your choice about what cards you add. If you want to make your deck as competitive as possible, maybe these additions can help you?

I also really like your idea about including Avenger of Zendikar as a combo engine. Since you are already running cards like Necromancy and Dance of the Dead, Avenger of Zendikar would slot in really nicely.

Definitely love your deck, and definitely a +1 from me!

Although Buried Alive does send things like Avenger of Zendikar to the graveyard to be revived later by cards like Necromancy, it does not combo with Hallowed Spiritkeeper because "send to the graveyard" is different than "dying".

Casting Buried Alive is not intended to activate Hallowed Spiritkeeper, it is intended to make it so that on the first activation of Tayam, Luminous Enigma it can begin a chain immediately (assuming you have a sac outlet).

Hissysnake8: Hey thanks for the feedback and suggestions. Those cards are definitely great and I'll consider testing them out if my pod decides to run more interaction or take the competitive level up a notch. Deadly Rollick is a card on my radar for sure, but with white, I'm wondering if just running Swords to Plowshares would be better in most scenarios? Ad Nauseum looks great but I'm trying to keep my deck win conditions different among my other brews since my Ayli + Lurrus deck already runs that ad naus. Cheers!

Great list and primer! I've had a hard time trying to think of a build around Tayam. What are your thoughts on Oblivion Ring / Grasp of Fate type cards in this? They'd be recurrable removable with Tayam.

Eh, Abzan already has ridiculous removal. I am not really sure a sometimes better Utter End is all that necessary.

One card I am enjoying quite well in my version is Abzan Ascendancy. Getting an initial burst of +1/+1 counters for Tayam, and then random 1/1 creatures afterwords is pretty strong. Golgari Germination is another one.

Hi_diddly_ho_neighborI wish there was a free sac outlet for all permanents. That would definitely make Abzan Ascendancy even better.

lijah1995 I don't think they are good because it's not something you can sac and reuse again and again. I would say that Necrotic Sliver is a much better option.

What is a more budget friendly version of Earthcraft?? i have most of these cards but I'm not so sure on what to do replace it with, the best I can think of is Cryptolith Rite + Concordant Crossroads or Crashing Drawbridge.

Any reason you left out aura shards? Seems like it could do some serious work in this.

Danelogburke: It has been in and out of my deck because most times I find it kinda overkill since I already have so many ways of dealing with enchantments and artifacts. I can basically use that slot for other more useful spells that help the deck out even more. In the future I might revisit that card again.

Enral that makes sense. I think aura shards is a bit of a pet card for me. I've been thinking solitary confinement would be great in here. It's an answer to damage based threats and can be graveyard protection against players targeting you such as with a bojuka bog