Teysa, Token Shenanigans
Commander / EDH*
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lands, draw, and synergy —March 25, 2017
I've been noticing some issues with the deck recently. I've noticed that in a lot of games I play, I end up missing land drops and running out of cards to play. Some of my recent additions - Thawing Glaciers, Oath of Lieges, etc - have been added in an effort to fix that problem. However, I feel like the underlying problem is that I'm not running enough card draw.
I do have some extremely powerful card draw effects in the deck. The main issue is that these effects tend to be magnets for removal, so I sometimes end up only drawing a few extra cards off of them. The games in which I have an active Skullclamp or Mentor of the Meek feel entirely different from the games in which I lack them. Similarly, the deck functions entirely differently depending on whether I have a sac outlet and a token generator. I have some good ones, but, again, I tend to be reliant on what I draw.
So, in an effort to fix these problems (running out of gas, not having key components, missing land drops, etc), I've decided to gear the deck towards having more actual card advantage, to make up for the inherent card disadvantage that comes with running a lot of sacrifice outlets, and vulnerability to wraths from running lots of tokens and creatures without ETB effects.
-Wake the Dead - I don't have a ton of ETB effects in this deck. It can occasionally be absurd, but I've noticed myself often not having enough creatures worth getting back for such a short duration.
-Oath of Lieges - had a terrible experience with this recently when an opponent played an Aven Mindcensor. If the card doesn't accomplish its only purpose, then it feels like it has failed. May come back someday, but I do think non-symmetric effects are better anyway.
-Hidden Stockpile - costs mana to activate, and requires me to activate it on my own turn. Scry 1 is good, but I rarely have an idea in mind for what I would want to dig to.
-Surveyor's Scope - card is good, and may come back sometime, but it's a bit high-variance depending on turn order and how I happen to draw.
-Requiem Angel - 6 mana for a token generator is a little expensive.
-Spirit of the Labyrinth - I'm not playing a dedicated hatebear deck, so cutting. It's more of a tech card, and I think it's more important to make sure my own deck is functioning smoothly than to stop my opponents' decks.
-Terrain Generator - can be alright, but relies on drawing more lands than I can play, and having spare mana to activate it. Think I'll try to find another deck for it.
+Return to the Ranks - originally wasn't running because I felt like I didn't have enough targets. However, it may be the case that it's worth it just to get back a sac outlet. So, decided to give it a test.
+Reveillark - the deck has wanted it for a long time, I just never bothered to acquire one. Has a ton of targets, and combos with Karmic Guide, among other things. Welcome to the deck!
+Bloodgift Demon - a little slow (I think Phyrexian Arena is better), but testing. Card draw is good, as previously mentioned.
+Ayli, Eternal Pilgrim - I don't love needing to pay mana to sacrifice a thing, but the real attraction here is deathtouch. Had an awkward game recently where an opponent kept attacking with big, trample-y creatures that didn't care about my 1/1 chump blocking tokens. Incidental lifegain is also nice, as is exiling stuff (although I doubt I'll have that much life with any amount of consistency).
+Open the Armory - apparently my armory is full of skulls. Still, I think Skullclamp #2 is probably worth playing, and Batterskull is also a totally reasonable target. Wish I had some swords to fetch though.
+Oreskos Explorer - testing. Not convinced that it is better than Surveyor's Scope, but it does come on a body.
+High Market - a sac outlet, on a land. My sac outlets tend to die a lot, so having something a little more durable should be nice.
+Geier Reach Sanitarium - testing. I don't love the global bit, but being able to filter should be nice. Hoping I have enough recursion to benefit from the discard.
edit:
-Plains, +Thespian's Stage - I have a decent number of utility lands, so will ideally copy something like High Market or Emeria. Although my plains count is getting a bit low now, so may need to fix that.... Also, further incentivizes me to get Urborg / Cabal Coffers / etc.