The Horn of Valere: the Grave is no bar to my call

Commander / EDH* WB (Orzhov)

rand_al_thor

Creature (32)

• 1x Blood Artist
• 1x Butcher of Malakir
• 1x Cruel Celebrant
• 1x Doomed Dissenter
• 1x Doomed Traveler
• 1x Falkenrath Noble
• 1x Grim Haruspex
• 1x Hallowed Spiritkeeper
• 1x Harvester of Souls
• 1x Imperious Oligarch
• 1x Karmic Guide
• 1x Ministrant of Obligation
• 1x Orzhov Enforcer
• 1x Pawn of Ulamog
• 1x Pious Evangel  ^Flip
• 1x Pitiless Plunderer
• 1x Priest of Forgotten Gods
• 1x Razaketh, the Foulblooded
• 1x Reassembling Skeleton
• 1x Reveillark
• 1x Selfless Spirit
• 1x Seraph of the Scales
• 1x Sheoldred, Whispering One
• 1x Sidisi, Undead Vizier
• 1x Sifter of Skulls
• 1x Smothering Abomination
• 1x Teysa, Orzhov Scion
• 1x Vindictive Vampire
• 1x Viscera Seer
• 1x Wurmcoil Engine *f-pre*
• 1x Yahenni, Undying Partisan
• 1x Zulaport Cutthroat

Land (37)

• 1x Barren Moor
• 1x Cabal Stronghold
• 1x Caves of Koilos
• 1x Command Tower
• 1x Desert of the True
• 1x Evolving Wilds
• 1x Fetid Heath
• 1x Forsaken Sanctuary
• 1x Godless Shrine
• 1x Haunted Fengraf
• 1x Isolated Chapel
• 1x New Benalia
• 1x Orzhov Basilica
• 1x Orzhov Guildgate
• 1x Phyrexian Tower
• 8x Plains
• 1x Reliquary Tower
• 1x Scoured Barrens
• 1x Secluded Steppe
• 8x Swamp
• 1x Temple of Silence
• 1x Transguild Promenade
• 1x Westvale Abbey  ^Flip

Instant (6)

• 1x Anguished Unmaking
• 1x Despark
• 1x Mortify
• 1x Return to Dust
• 1x Utter End
• 1x Vona's Hunger

Planeswalker (3)

• 1x Elspeth, Knight-Errant
• 1x Elspeth, Sun's Champion
• 1x Liliana, Dreadhorde General

Commander (1)

Artifact (8)

• 1x Ashnod's Altar
• 1x Gilded Lotus
• 1x Orzhov Locket
• 1x Orzhov Signet
• 1x Phyrexian Altar
• 1x Skullclamp
• 1x Sol Ring
• 1x Wayfarer's Bauble

Sorcery (7)

• 1x Bankrupt in Blood
• 1x Damnation
• 1x Debt to the Deathless
• 1x Dusk / Dawn
• 1x Kaya's Wrath
• 1x Merciless Eviction
• 1x Vindicate

Enchantment (6)

• 1x Black Market
• 1x Dark Tutelage
• 1x Dictate of Erebos
• 1x Necropotence
• 1x Smothering Tithe
• 1x Underworld Connections

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Maybeboard

Enchantment (2)

• 1x Debtors' Knell
• 1x Ethereal Absolution

Planeswalker (1)

• 1x Sorin, Lord of Innistrad

Creature (1)

• 1x Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite

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Hello everyone! Of the legendary creatures to appear in the new Ravnica “block”, Teysa Karlov excites me the most. I’m certain that there are more competitive builds with Prime Speaker Vannifar or Lazav, the Multifarious , but Teysa is the aristocrats commander we’ve been waiting for. I’m a huge fan of her art as well, and it’s rare that a commander interests me with both art and function.

What is obvious to me is that this deck screams aristocrats as a strategy. For the uninitiated, aristocrats is a strategy where you want your own creatures to die for value, in order to do this reliably, we need sacrifice outlets. For this we have Phyrexian Tower , which generates 2 black mana for sacrificing a creature, Phyrexian Altar , which generates one mana of any color, Ashnod's Altar , which generates two colorless mana, Priest of Forgotten Gods , which sets our opponents down two life and a card while ramping us two black mana, Yahenni, Undying Partisan , which can get big in the right circumstances, Razaketh, the Foul Blooded and Sidisi, Undead Vizier for tutoring, Sidisi can sacrifice herself to the exploit trigger, Viscera Seer , to help us filter cards, and Smothering Abomination, to ensure that we have a consistent way to draw cards on our upkeep.

With all these creatures dying we need a way to take advantage of them, with cards that care about creatures you control dying. Dictate of Erebos and Butcher of Malakir help us to control our opponents boards, Grim Haruspex , Harvester of Souls , and Smothering Abomination all let us draw a card, whenever we sacrifice a creature. Sifter of Skulls , Pawn of Ulamog , and Pitiless Plunderer all generate mana when a creature we control dies, Black Market , though might paint a big target on you, can get huge fast with Teysa on the field.. But the heart and soul of any aristocrats deck is the Blood Artist effects. Blood Artist , Falkenrath Noble , Zulaport Cutthroat , and Vindictive Vampire all have very similar text, whenever we sacrifice a creature target player loses 1 life and we gain 1 life. With Teysa on the field all of those death triggers are doubled.

If we’re sacrificing creatures, we want to make sure that we are also getting value from the sacrificed creature itself. Doomed Traveler , Doomed Dissenter , Elenda, the Dusk Rose , Ministrant of Obligation , and Orzhov Enforcer all create tokens when they die, and Elenda scales the more creatures we have dying before we pull the trigger with her. Scuttling Doom Engine deals six damage to a player or planeswalker, with Teysa on the field, is 12 total damage.

We also need ways to reliably make other sacrifice fodder, for that we have Elspeth, Knight-Errant , Elspeth, Sun's Champion , Sorin, Lord of Innistrad , and Liliana, Death's Majesty . All of them make tokens, and create more incidental value where we need it. Reassembling Skeleton is a reusable two mana sacrifice fodder. We also have Skeletal Vampire to make tokens, and also is a sacrifice outlet, and Mobilization to make soldiers, which incidentally is what Elspeth makes. Westvale Abbey   might be slow, but it creates sacrifice fodder, and later doubles as a sacrifice outlet to get a giant demon on the field.

Date added	5 years
Last updated	4 years
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	10 - 0 Mythic Rares 34 - 0 Rares 23 - 0 Uncommons 16 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	3.60
Tokens	City's Blessing, Eldrazi Scion 1/1 C, Eldrazi Spawn 0/1 C, Emblem Elspeth, Knight-Errant, Emblem Elspeth, Sun's Champion, Human Cleric 1/1 BW, Morph 2/2 C, Soldier 1/1 W, Spirit 1/1 W, Spirit 1/1 WB, Treasure, Wurm 3/3 C w/ Deathtouch, Wurm 3/3 C w/ Lifelink, Zombie 2/2 B