Drain and Gain: Teysa Karlov Lifegain *Primer*

Commander / EDH Aristocrats Lifegain Tokens WB (Orzhov)

NivStormfront

Land (36)

• 1x Arcane Lighthouse
• 1x Cabal Coffers
• 1x Caves of Koilos
• 1x Command Tower
• 1x Concealed Courtyard
• 1x Evolving Wilds
• 1x Fetid Heath
• 1x Godless Shrine
• 1x High Market
• 1x Isolated Chapel
• 1x Karn's Bastion
• 1x Mana Confluence
• 1x Mortuary Mire
• 1x Myriad Landscape
• 1x Orzhov Basilica
• 1x Phyrexian Tower
• 6x Plains
• 1x Reflecting Pool
• 1x Reliquary Tower
• 7x Swamp
• 1x Temple of Silence
• 1x Terramorphic Expanse
• 1x Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
• 1x Vault of the Archangel
• 1x Westvale Abbey  ^Flip

Token Generators (8)

• 1x Anointed Procession
• 1x Elspeth, Sun's Champion
• 1x Ghoulcaller Gisa
• 1x Grave Titan
• 1x Hangarback Walker
• 1x Requiem Angel
• 1x Teysa, Orzhov Scion
• 1x Twilight Drover

Good Teysa Triggers (10)

• 1x Altar of the Brood
• 1x Athreos, God of Passage
• 1x Butcher of Malakir
• 1x Dictate of Erebos
• 1x Elenda, the Dusk Rose
• 1x Grave Pact
• 1x Kokusho, the Evening Star
• 1x Liliana, Dreadhorde General
• 1x Pitiless Plunderer
• 1x Revel in Riches

Other Synergy (9)

• 1x Alhammarret's Archive
• 1x Bolas's Citadel
• 1x Darkest Hour
• 1x Demonic Tutor
• 1x Diabolic Tutor
• 1x Divine Visitation
• 1x Karmic Guide
• 1x Necropotence
• 1x Vilis, Broker of Blood

Drainers and Gainers (8)

• 1x Blood Artist
• 1x Cruel Celebrant
• 1x Exquisite Blood
• 1x Falkenrath Noble
• 1x Sanguine Bond
• 1x Syr Konrad, the Grim
• 1x Vindictive Vampire
• 1x Zulaport Cutthroat

Removal (7)

• 1x Austere Command
• 1x Fumigate
• 1x Kaya's Wrath
• 1x Mortify
• 1x Path to Exile
• 1x Swords to Plowshares
• 1x Utter End

Commander (1)

Ramp (9)

• 1x Black Market
• 1x Burnished Hart
• 1x Coalition Relic
• 1x Commander's Sphere
• 1x Crypt Ghast
• 1x Gilded Lotus
• 1x Orzhov Signet
• 1x Smothering Tithe
• 1x Sol Ring

Sac Outlets (8)

• 1x Ashnod's Altar
• 1x Carrion Feeder
• 1x Ghoulcaller Gisa
• 1x Phyrexian Altar
• 1x Skullclamp
• 1x Viscera Seer
• 1x Yahenni, Undying Partisan
• 1x Yawgmoth, Thran Physician

Recursion (5)

• 1x Gutterbones
• 1x Nether Traitor
• 1x Reassembling Skeleton
• 1x Reveillark
• 1x Sun Titan

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Primer

Welcome to Drain and Gain! A Teysa Karlov deck based around Draining and Gaining life. This deck has one very important goal: To use Teysa’s doubling ability to drain life from our opponents and make our life total increase with cards found in the Drainers and Gainers category. We also use Teysa’s ability to gain a ton of value off of other cards that synergise with her ability.

Categories

• Sac Outlets: Where all the various sac outlets in this deck go. Sac outlets are important in this deck because we need a clear and easy way to utilize Teysa’s triggers

• Token Generators: Where all the lovely token generators go. Tokens are vitally important to this deck because they allow us to sacrifice creatures that aren’t vital to our board state.

• Other Synergy: This is the catch all category. Cards that don’t directly synergize with Teysa, but are still very good in the deck.

• Good Teysa Triggers: The place where all of the Teysa triggers go that aren’t ping based. A lot of the cards here are removal based, and there’s also some recursion and card draw.

• Removal: The place for all of my removal cards, both single target and board wipes. I tend to err on the side of destruction-based removal as that can also cause some triggers for Teysa

• Drainers and Gainers: This section is all about cards that drain our opponent’s life and gain us life. Many of the cards are Blood Artist copy cats.

• Ramp: I run 9 ramp cards in this deck, which allows me to cast the important spells in my deck

• Recursion: Cards that bring dead or destroyed cards back from the grave. This can be very important, especially with cards like Elenda, the Dusk Rose .

Strengths

• This deck is pretty good at flying under the radar early game. Most of what this deck does takes some time to set up, and the cards involved aren’t super scary on their own

• We are also pretty good at coming back from setbacks and snowballing. We have a lot of redundancy in our win conditions, with multiple cards that can secure a win via similar methods.

• Often times, this deck is very good at board control, as a lot of the good Teysa triggers cause opponents to sac creatures

Weaknesses

• This deck’s win conditions require a couple of cards to set up, and though there are a lot of different cards that can combine for a win, it is sometimes difficult to find all of them or keep them alive.

• This deck can be slow at times, taking a few turns to set up especially at the start

Strategies

Mulligans

• In general, we want to mulligan a hand if we don’t have at least 2 of the following: a sac outlet, a token generator, and/or a Teysa trigger. We also want ramp and lands, and we don’t really want any cards above 4 cmc.

Combos

• Teysa Karlov + Army of the Damned + Anointed Procession + Ashnod's Altar + Cruel Celebrant : This is an example of one of the many engines we can use to secure a win. One common thread in all of our engines is a drainer and gainer like Celebrant. In this combo, we have Teysa, Celebrant, Procession and altar in play. We then cast Army of the Damned and create 26 zombie tokens, which we then sac to Altar and ping every opponent for 52 and gain 52. There are plenty of ways to make this faster, use different token generators, or even different sac outlets and drainers.

Card Analysis

Sac Outlets

• Ashnod's Altar : Arguably the best sac outlet in the game, this card opens the door for many of the engines in this deck. Be it draining and gaining, drawing cards or destroying creatures, the altar makes it all a lot easier.

• Ayli, Eternal Pilgrim : Ayli is a very good way to keep the life flowing. When combined with any of the drainers and gainers, you’ll quickly gain enough life to safely use cards like Bolas's Citadel . A very good enabling card.

• Krav, the Unredeemed : Krav does everything this deck wants to do in one card: Draws cards, gains life, and increases board presence. He also grabs his partner when he is cast, and Regna, the Redeemer is a great token generator.

• Skullclamp : One of the best cards in the deck, skullclamp can easily jumpstart our game. It’s a great sac outlet for our tokens, it draws us cards, and its trigger can be doubled by Teysa, basically making it read pay 1 draw four.

• Vampiric Rites : Is probably the least efficient outlet on this list. It draws us a card and gains us life, but for two mana this isn’t great when compared to our other options. Still, we need our oulets to make this deck work.

• Yahenni, Undying Partisan : Yahenni is his own little win con. With Teysa out, he gets two counters per death, and he can quickly reach lethal power when combined with cards like Butcher of Malakir . Great card.

• Yawgmoth, Thran Physician : A new face in magic, Yawgmoth is quite nice as an outlet. His sac ability does some very nice things, and while we don’t really use the proliferate ability, it can be useful in a pinch.

• Phyrexian Altar : A great way to ramp us to oblivion, this cards is almost better than Ashnod's Altar because it makes or mana and not just .

• Viscera Seer : This card is in this deck because it so cheap! It's a one mana sac outlet, which means we can get started way earlier.

Token Generator

• Anointed Procession : Double the tokens, double the fun. This makes everything quicker. The more tokens we have, the more potential triggers we can get, and that can easily lead to a win.

• Army of the Damned : This is part of our 4-card win combo. With a sac outlet, Teysa and a drainer out, this can hit all opponents for 26 damage, but even in a vacuum this card turns a bad board state into a decent one, and if Teysa gives them lifelink and vigilance we get a pretty good wall of blockers

• Elspeth, Sun's Champion : Elspeth is much more than a Token Generator, but her main use in this deck is her +1. Creating 3 1/1’s can be very useful in this deck as they make great fodder for Skullclamp and other sac outlets.

• Grave Titan : This is a great way to create a reliable and reusable group of tokens each turn. And if we don’t want to sac them right away, Teysa gives them lifelink and vigilance, making them very good at blocking and attacking.

• Ghoulcaller Gisa : A sac Outlet and a Token generator, this card does exactly what we want to do in this deck. It sacs stuff for our engine and makes more sac targets for later.

• Hangarback Walker : The Walker can be a great way to generate tokens in both the early and late game. It becomes especially good with Cabal Coffers , Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth , and/or Crypt Ghast .

• Open the Graves : This is a hybrid of Token generation and Teysa trigger. Though many of our sac targets are tokens, cards like Reassembling Skeleton , Nether Traitor and Elenda, the Dusk Rose can be sacked without issue.

• Regna, the Redeemer : Regna synergizes with our lifegain goals and makes gaining life even more beneficial. She also grabs one of our better sac outlets in Krav.

• Requiem Angel : This generator is unique in that it can create more tokens from token creature deaths, which can allow our sac engines to go on for much longer.

• Teysa, Orzhov Scion : Much like Requiem Angel, this Teysa makes tokens from tokens. However, her first ability can be a very useful sac trigger, which we can use to remove threats.

• Twilight Drover : This car is unique in that it only gains counters when token creatures die. This means that it can be very easy to make a lot of tokens with some white mana open and Ashnod's Altar

Good Teysa Triggers

• Athreos, God of Passage : This God is busted in this deck, and it makes it much more difficult to deal with our board state. With Teysa out, the trigger is even more dangerous, and it makes it much more difficult to justify paying the life.

• Butcher of Malakir : The Butcher allows us to control the board state with ease. We can toss tokens into a sac outlet and wipe our opponents’ boards, which can also further fuel cards like Elenda, the Dusk Rose .

• Dictate of Erebos : Much in the same vein as Butcher, Dictate keeps the board nice and controlled.

• Elenda, the Dusk Rose : Elenda is one of the best creatures in the deck. On her own she incentivizes sacrifice mechanics, and with Teysa out she gains double counters and then produces double tokens. She has great synergy all around.

• Grave Pact : Another copycat butcher, great at controlling the board state

• Kokusho, the Evening Star : This is a great creature to sac with Teysa on the field, but even without the doubling effect this creature hurts pretty bad when it dies. It’s a great blocker, attacker, and eventual sac fodder.

• Liliana, Dreadhorde General : Lili does everything we want to do in this deck: Makes tokens, sacs creatures, draws cards and controls the board.

Removal

• Austere Command : This card is a great way to deal with enchantments and artifacts, which is something this deck struggles to combat. It’s modular, which means we can also use it in a pinch to deal with creatures as well.

• Fumigate : A board wipe that gains life? Auto include. Seriously though, Fumigate is perfect for a lifegain deck.

• Kaya's Wrath : Much like fumigate, Kaya’s wrath makes losing our creatures to a board wipe even less of an issue. It’s a great spell in this deck

• Martial Coup : Generating tokens after a board wipe can be very useful for our deck, especially when those tokens are 1/1’s. We can pretty easily get Teysa back and start our engine right back up with our 6+ tokens, but this can also be useful to just make more tokens when we need some.

Drainers and Gainers

• Blood Artist : The classic aristocrat’s card. Blood Artist isn’t the best card in this category, but it’s certainly the most well know, and still a wonderful way to ping our opponents.

• Cruel Celebrant : A better version of Blood Artist in this deck. Hitting every opponent is our goal, and cruel celebrant allows us to hurt everyone equally.

• Debt to the Deathless : A one-time drain and gain, this card is great when combined with a lot of mana. Plus, with Alhammarret's Archive and/or Sanguine Bond , this gets busted.

• Falkenrath Noble : A copycat Blood artist with flying. Perfect for this deck

• Pious Evangel  : This card takes a bit to turn on, but an extra drainer is always welcome, and it can help start up our engine.

• Sanguine Bond : This card essentially doubles the damage of our drainers and gainers, and it synergizes well with cards like Alhammarret's Archive . I once dealt 512 damage in one turn due to these two cards.

• Exquisite Blood : This is a two card combo with Sanguine Bond . I added it to the deck because I felt that some of the combos in this deck take too long to set up for my playgroup.

• Vindictive Vampire : A cruel celebrant copycat. Does essentially the same job, and it’s really here for redundancy.

• Zulaport Cutthroat : A cruel celebrant copycat. Does essentially the same job, and it’s really here for redundancy.

Ramp

• Black Market : This card ramps in a way that’s extremely synergistic with our deck strategy, and can enable a great many of our cards to function more efficiently.

• Coalition Relic : This is my first time fielding this card, and I must say it’s a very fun card to use. The option to tap for a charge counter for future use is very interesting and strong to me.

• Commander's Sphere : A commander staple, and a great ramp and card draw spell.

• Crypt Ghast : If we can double our mana, we can do everything twice as fast. This is a very good card when combined with Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth .

• Gilded Lotus : Lotus is a great way to boost our mana base to an optimal size.

• Orzhov Signet : Auto include

• Sol Ring : Auto Include

• Smothering Tithe : This card has performed so well in my other friends decks that I just had to put it into a deck of mine. The extra mana is super helpful.

• Burnished Hart : A card that sac's itself is already pretty nice in a sac-based deck, but combined with the fact that it gains us land and can be recurred with cards like Sun Titan makes it a super useful tool.

Recursion

• Chainer, Dementia Master : Chainer can grab all of our good creatures back from the grave, and it makes it much easier to justify sacrificing a non-token creature. He’s a great recursion inlet for our deck.

• Nether Traitor : This card can be sacked without worry as it can very easily come back, enabling us to start our engine without tokens.

• Reassembling Skeleton : Much like Nether traitor, this card is a relatively free sac fodder.

• Sun Titan : Probably my favorite card in white, Sun titan can easily allow us to recur our important cards over and over again.

Other Synergy

• Alhammarret's Archive : This card is busted in this deck, and it speeds up everything else we do. We can increase our own life total and drain our enemies for a lot more. Great card

• Archangel of Thune : Buffing all our creatures whenever we gain life is very good when we are gaining life every turn, and this can lead to a win condition by just swinging out.

• Bolas's Citadel : The best (legal) way to spend life in these colors. We are going to be gaining oodles of life, so we might as well spend some of it.

• Demonic Tutor : We need a bunch of cards for our combos to work, and tutors allow us to find those cards without randomly digging with draw spells.

• Diabolic Tutor : Copycat demonic tutor that’s costs twice as much, but still just as good.

• Divine Visitation : We are making tons of token, but what if our measly 1/1’s were flying 4/4’s? Plus, this card makes cards the create spirits not make spirits, which means we can effectively make infinite death triggers.

• Necropotence : Drawing cards by paying life is amazing, and we have a ton of ways to gain life. We might as well spend it.

• Vilis, Broker of Blood : This card is such a great tool for this deck. We're already gaining plenty of life, and we have plenty of ways to spend it. Vilis gives us value for using cards like Necropotence and Bolas's Citadel , and I'm all for it

Feedback is always appreciated! I am not perfect, and I am always up for some constructive C&C. Leave an upvote if you liked this deck!

Date added	4 years
Last updated	4 years
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	15 - 0 Mythic Rares 44 - 0 Rares 20 - 0 Uncommons 8 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	3.69
Tokens	Angel 4/4 W, Angel 4/4 W w/ Vigilance, Emblem Elspeth, Sun's Champion, Human Cleric 1/1 BW, Soldier 1/1 W, Spirit 1/1 W, Thopter 1/1 C, Treasure, Vampire 1/1 W, Zombie 2/2 B
Folders	Teysa Decks, Aristocrat, Primers