Death Drinkers -- Teysa Karlov EDH Primer

Commander / EDH Aristocrats Casual Combo Infinite Combo Primer WB (Orzhov)

LamaLongNose

Creature (31)

• 1x Archon of Justice
• 1x Blood Artist
• 1x Carrion Feeder
• 1x Cruel Celebrant
• 1x Doomed Traveler
• 1x Garrison Cat
• 1x Grim Haruspex
• 1x Hallowed Spiritkeeper
• 1x Hangarback Walker
• 1x Harvester of Souls
• 1x Hunted Witness
• 1x Knight of the White Orchid
• 1x Kokusho, the Evening Star
• 1x Luminous Broodmoth
• 1x Massacre Wurm
• 1x Midnight Reaper
• 1x Ministrant of Obligation
• 1x Nether Traitor
• 1x Nightmare Shepherd
• 1x Orzhov Enforcer
• 1x Pawn of Ulamog
• 1x Pitiless Plunderer
• 1x Ranger of Eos
• 1x Razaketh, the Foulblooded
• 1x Reassembling Skeleton
• 1x Recruiter of the Guard
• 1x Requiem Angel
• 1x Sifter of Skulls
• 1x Solemn Simulacrum
• 1x Viscera Seer
• 1x Zulaport Cutthroat

Land (36)

• 1x Ancient Tomb
• 1x Bojuka Bog
• 1x Caves of Koilos
• 1x Command Tower
• 1x Exotic Orchard
• 1x Fetid Heath
• 1x Godless Shrine
• 1x High Market
• 1x Isolated Chapel
• 1x Orzhov Basilica
• 1x Phyrexian Tower
• 8x Plains
• 1x Reliquary Tower
• 1x Scoured Barrens
• 1x Silent Clearing
• 11x Swamp
• 1x Tainted Field
• 1x Temple of Silence
• 1x Westvale Abbey  ^Flip

Enchantment (8)

• 1x Bastion of Remembrance
• 1x Black Market
• 1x Dark Prophecy
• 1x Dictate of Erebos
• 1x Grave Pact
• 1x Open the Graves
• 1x Phyrexian Reclamation
• 1x Smothering Tithe

Instant (5)

• 1x Anguished Unmaking
• 1x Despark
• 1x Generous Gift
• 1x Mortify
• 1x Swords to Plowshares

Commander (1)

Artifact (11)

• 1x Arcane Signet
• 1x Ashnod's Altar
• 1x Bolas's Citadel
• 1x Commander's Sphere
• 1x Fellwar Stone
• 1x Mind Stone
• 1x Orzhov Signet
• 1x Skullclamp
• 1x Sol Ring
• 1x Talisman of Hierarchy
• 1x Wayfarer's Bauble

Sorcery (7)

• 1x Command the Dreadhorde
• 1x Demonic Tutor
• 1x Diabolic Tutor
• 1x Fumigate
• 1x Living Death
• 1x Merciless Eviction
• 1x Victimize

Planeswalker (1)

• 1x Liliana, Dreadhorde General

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Maybeboard

Instant (4)

• 1x Enlightened Tutor
• 1x Path to Exile
• 1x Rally the Ancestors
• 1x Utter End

Enchantment (2)

• 1x Land Tax
• 1x Necropotence

Creature (4)

• 1x Burnished Hart
• 1x Elenda, the Dusk Rose
• 1x Vilis, Broker of Blood
• 1x Yawgmoth, Thran Physician

Land (2)

• 1x Cabal Coffers
• 1x Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth

Sorcery (2)

• 1x Diabolic Intent
• 1x Toxic Deluge

Artifact (2)

• 1x Lifeline
• 1x Phyrexian Altar

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Welcome to the Syndicate! This is my decklist for Teysa Karlov, undoubtedly one of the most powerful aristocrat commanders out there. The initial decklist was made with a focus on keeping the cost of the deck reasonable while still managing to perform in a 7-8 power level game. This initial decklist was made with a $400 budget, although through buying cards in less than near-mint quality I was able to make it in closer to $300. That being said, I wanted to keep the list very accessible to upgrade later down the line, and the acquire board is where I am keeping all of the cards that I would someday like to run but currently don't have. My main focus for upgrading the deck in the future is to get some of the key cards from the acquire board and put them into the deck as they are all just generally good aristocrat cards that would definitely fit into the deck. Once I have the deck to a position where I feel the most direct path to upgrade no longer is getting the more expensive cards then I might start making key decisions in where to take the deck next as I feel there are countless different viable aristocrats lists and it's mostly up to personal preference and meta as for what cards you need. I will keep the deck up to date with whatever the current list is as I make changes and will put the changes I make in the updates section.

Main strategy and big ideas.

Similar to all aristocrats decks, the aim of this deck is to gain value by sacrificing our own creatures and ultimately kill our opponents with cards such as Blood Artist and Cruel Celebrant . Teysa isn't here to enable our win-cons, more to provide us with value and help us get the cards we need quicker by having cards such as Skullclamp drawing us four cards instead of two and Harvester of Souls also getting double card draw.

How to win

The general idea for how this deck wins is with cards like Blood Artist and Cruel Celebrant hitting our opponents and buffering our life total every time a creature of ours dies. As an added benefit, if our commander is out then those types of cards will do double damage which could prove to be highly beneficial to our ultimate victory. However, just relying on pings of 1 or 2 to get us the win is not going to cut it. Therefore, the main strategy is to set up one of our infinite combos to set us up with infinite death triggers so that our aristocrats have sufficient amounts of blood in order to sufficiently drain our opponents.

Combo pieces

Both of our combos rely on a few pieces to be set up. - First: recurable sacrifice fodder, specifically Reassembling Skeleton and Nether Traitor . - Second: a sacrifice outlet, ideally Ashnod's Altar or Phyrexian Altar . - Third: a mana maker, something that makes mana when creatures die: Pitiless Plunderer , Sifter of Skulls , Pawn of Ulamog . - Four: a token maker, something that makes tokens when creatures die: Sifter of Skulls , Pawn of Ulamog , Requiem Angel . - Five: an artist, whether it be Blood Artist or whatever else you have.

Infinite combos

The first infinite combo needs Reassembling Skeleton + Sac outlet + mana maker + artist. Example 1: Reassembling Skeleton + Ashnod's Altar + Pitiless Plunderer + Blood Artist . Example 2: Reassembling Skeleton + Viscera Seer + Pitiless Plunderer + Pawn of Ulamog + Cruel Celebrant . Example 3: Reassembling Skeleton + Phyrexian Altar + Pawn of Ulamog + Zulaport Cutthroat . The main gist is that you need to sac the skeleton and be able to make at least one back mana and at least one colorless mana in order to bring it out of the graveyard and do it all over again. The second combo uses Nether Traitor + Token Maker + Sac Outlet + Colored Mana Maker: Sac traitor to altar, make a token and a mana, sac the token for another mana, bring back traitor, repeat for infinite death triggers. Example: Nether Traitor + Pawn of Ulamog + Ashnod's Altar + Pitiless Plunderer + Blood Artist . Note: in the current state of the deck, I don't have Nether Traitor or Phyrexian Altar so I am somewhat limited in my combo potential. Due to this, I am currently prioritizing those two cards for my next purchases so I can fully unlock what I want this deck to do.

Other Ways to win

I understand that always combing off isn't the most fun deck to play, especially when the combos are the same time and time again. Luckily for us, cour combo pieces are also just generally good cards to go in an aristocrats deck. Whether you can't find your combos or just don't want to play them, we're still going to be able to find a victory with our artists. A great way to do this is with token makers such as Requiem Angel and Hallowed Spiritkeeper . With these we can get enough creatures to sac to drain our opponents out. Another great way to do this is with Luminous Broodmoth . With it we can sac most of our creatures twice, draining for four per creature assuming we have Teysa out.

Tough matchups

This deck is going to struggle against graveyard hate, especially when it doesn't let your creatures hit the graveyard. Bojuka Bog is annoying but overall not too bad. Rest in Peace, Leyline of the Void, and Anafenza, the Foremost render out deck completely useless as they won't allow us any death triggers. We will also struggle against ramp decks and aggro decks. We tend to get a slow start as we have to get several pieces set up before we can do anything. This will mean that we won't be a target early on in a lot of games, but also that we will be an easy player for the aggro player to attack early on. If you see a lot of aggro token decks in your meta, consider subbing in more pillow fort cards such as Ghostly Prison or No Mercy as well as more boardwipes, Austere Command is a very good one. If you see more voltron-y decks then your Grave Pact effects actually do a very good job of dealing with them, and you might even consider subbing in something like Martyr's Bond to get more of those effects. Priest of Forgotten Gods is also good for this. Of course, you could always try to get the aggro player off your back with a little bit of politics.

Date added	3 years
Last updated	3 years
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	7 - 0 Mythic Rares 37 - 0 Rares 24 - 0 Uncommons 12 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	3.22
Tokens	Copy Clone, Eldrazi Scion 1/1 C, Eldrazi Spawn 0/1 C, Elephant 3-3 G, Human Cleric 1/1 BW, Human Soldier 1/1 W, Morph 2/2 C, Soldier 1/1 W w/ Lifelink, Spirit 1/1 W, Spirit 1/1 WB, Thopter 1/1 C, Treasure, Zombie 2/2 B