Hi there! I'm in a process of making Tayam as well, although for a 1v1 format, so the list is different in some aspects, but overall very similar. I'd like to ask you how is Reyhan so good? I mean she should leave one counter behind when sacced (after removing two +1/+1 and a vigilance one), or does she actually leave all 3 +1/+1 after they are removed with Tayam?

Warxuaroz: Great observation, now that you've mentioned it I might have misinterpreted Reyhan's ability so she is just be a self-sustaining engine to self-mill instead of reanimating another creature. This means she is not as good as I initially thought she is in the deck and would have to think about possibly replacing it with something else.

I'm not saying it is so. I tried to make sense of it reading the Gatherer's rules of Reyhan. Read the first one -apparently after placing enough -1/-1 counters on her to make her die, she still leaves all three +1/+1 counters behind. Maybe when she dies with Tayam's ability the game actually uses her last state before death. I cant find the rule concerning this though.

Warxuaroz: Yeah, how useful Reyhan is hinges on if she leaves the +1/+1 counters behind. I'm going to ask that question on Rules Q&A. Thanks for bringing it up.

So looks like Reyhan doesn't work as I hoped to so she's pretty much a self mill engine at this point.

Hey this is a great primer! I've been building a Tayam deck myself though it seems we went pretty different directions with it. I had a few questions and curiosities and would love to get your thoughts / advice if you wouldn't mind.

1. How well do you feel that the mana dorks add to your ramp as opposed to say, adding more fetches and then recurring them later on?

2. I'm really interested in some of the higher CMC choices you made - I'm especially curious as to how you feel Meren performs in this deck and whether she's a "must include" for consistency. I''m also intrigued by your inclusion of Shalai, Voice of Plenty, would you think something like Keensight Mentor could also be a good form of getting counters?

3. My deck had utilized a lot of token generators like Bitterblossom and Pawn of Ulamog for sacrifice based value, yours seems to have a lot fewer and don't have any persist creatures - I'm guessing you still can get a lot of value. Do you think a bunch of token generators may not be really necessary in this sort of deck?

4. I'd also really like to know how you feel about proliferation cards - I was looking at cards like Pollenbright Druid and Huatli's Raptor to recur for proliferation along with Yawgmoth so I could generate enough counters for Tayam, do you think those are worth the slots, or did your playtesting find that a set up like this generated enough counters for you?

5. I've also been a bit curious to see if there's some -1/-1 Counter Synergy that could be feasibly worked with Tayam. The big reason for this was I figured you could always remove the counters from your own creatures for the obvious benefit as well as the value of Tayam's ability, and have a card like Hapatra and Nest of Scarabs for tokens or Obelisk Spider, Necroskitter and Crumbling Ashes and Channeler Initiate for other shenanigans to get a lot of value out of it. I'd love to hear what you have to think about that sort of idea. My main thought is that it seems like it'd be fun, but probably not very feasible / consistent.

Once again, really cool deck! Definitely deserving of a +1 and a great source of inspiration!

arrofil: Hey thanks for +1!

1. I do run a full suite of fetches and from testing I find that I would rather get a creature back. Dorks are great in that it is cheap to cast and adds another counter if Tayam is already in play.

2. I don't think Meren is a must include but I do like her in this shell as this deck operates on a more value/attrition toolbox kinda style. Meren really helps out especially if Tayam runs out of gas or is killed.

3. I don't think token generation is a bad direction to take to be honest. I'm even debating putting in Avenger of Zendikar for the crazy synergy with Tayam. I'd say if it works out for you go for it!

4. I haven't tried proliferate but I think it is a valid direction to take too. This commander is pretty complicated and difficult to brew tbh and I'm still having to constantly modify it as more playtesting is done.

5. That's a valid strategy too. Honestly, I would pick a direction and go with it, be it -1/-1 or +1/+1, or even a healthy mix. Whatever works for your meta. My pod is a little bit on the high power side which means I can't have any dead/do nothing cards or I'll fall way behind. CheerS!

Thanks so much for the response!

I'm definitely going to look into incorporating some mana dorks in place of some of the persist / undying creatures and see how that pans out.

Yes, it feels like a there's quite a lot that you can actually do with her, though at times I definitely feel like it's easy to stray from her strengths just because of all the little things she has ancillary synergies with. I'm trying to tighten up the deck and strategy so that kinda fights with my desire to do a strategy that might be a bit odd or out of left field.

Thanks again for the input!