My attempt at a competitive Teysa deck. This deck was highly inspired by almost every respectable deck I could find on the internet and is mostly influenced by its duel commander counterpart in terms of speed. I made sure the deck is beyond viable with just 6 lands out. So, I would love constructive criticism and suggestions as to what would be better options for certain slots. Card-by-card explanation will be posted eventually. The dream is to continuously improve upon this post and eventually make it the primer for Teysa.
3/29 Added Combos section with description.
3/31 Working on the last combo explanation. Currently struggling to determine what I should take out to add Karmic Guide and Buried Alive, the deck in its current stage get so much value out of these two that I need come up with two slots. Considering removing Liliana, Heretical Healer
for Karmic, but I honestly don't know. Will update when my decision is definitive. On a different note Necropotence is beyond amazing and outperforming Phyrexian Arena as expected.
This combo is ridiculously easy to pull off and assemble. Almost every tutor hits them.
The somewhat weaker version. They have the same interaction as the former, however, you need a sac engine. Ideally, you never want to hard cast Sun Titan. You want to recur him.
Note that if Zulaport Cutthroat/Blood Artist is on the field while an Ashnod loop is active you win. With Deathgreeter you get infinite health. With Teysa you get infinite tokens since Deathmantle makes the creature black.
For this combo, all you need is a death loop, which I am sure you're more than familiar with at this point. At the minimum it nets you unlimited tokens, at best it wins you the game. Typically this deck hates the red zone, but it doesn't mean it can't kill that way. With both of these on the field, you can use Necromancy at the end of someone's turn to loop a Leonin Relic-Warder and get infinite 1/1 flyers to end the game.
Academy Rector: Just wow... What an all-star. This card has won me countless games, from cheating out a Contamination the turn before I pop off, to getting a Grave Pact to blow up a field, and my favorite is cheating out a Animate Dead/Dance of the Dead/Necromancy targetting a Leonin Relic-Warder on someone else's turn and popping off.
Blood Artist: Win condition that cost two mana. Note that he does the damage even when he dies, so he
Bloodghast: He's here for your early game. You want this guy dying to Skullclamp or Viscera Seer. He's also fodder for cards like Tragic Slip. Late game he can pull off some funny stuff with Sun Titan. He's here to die, kill him for whatever you need.
Bloodsoaked Champion: He's a weaker Bloodghast. He's here to die for all your needs.
Carrion Feeder: One drop sac engine. At best he enables one of the many combos mentioned above, he can kill via read zone, and at worse, he can be sacrificed for value.
Dark Confidant: Cheap drawer. Orzhov isn't too great with drawing, so it helps to have a 2 drop Arena effect. He can also be pitched to enable a combo or to Skullclamp
Deathgreeter: I used to have Soul Warden in this slot, but the deck is predominantly black and he's functionally the same. This guy is great if you're in a pinch when you need infinite life and need time assembling a more definitive win condition. Eliminating life points as a loss condition is really good at buying you time.
Fiend Hunter: You want this to be an early deterrent and a mid/late game combo enabler. Try to have a sac engine on the field when playing him, you'll get more value out what you decide to exile and he's way stronger in the grave.
Fleshbag Marauder: Early game he's a nice equalizer and if you have a Gravecrawler, you can sac him instead only to cast him again and have 2 creatures to pitch to something else. I have considered removing him before, but every time I start considering it he helps me out so much ... it's like he knows...
Geralf's Messenger: Great for saccing and getting value, twice. He's also a win-con with Ashnod's Altar + Nim Deathmantle.
Gravecrawler: Here to die for value. He can also enable a sac loop with (Phyrexian Altar and random Zombie.
Grim Haruspex: I am quite impressed with this guy. Originally I scrapped him since I was relying on tokens, but now that the main premise of the deck is to have nontoken creatures looping in and out of the graveyard, he's become a combo enabler and an all-star.
Leonin Relic-Warder: Arguably the best creature in the deck. He enables the best combo in the deck and at worst he's spot removal for troublesome artifacts or enchantments. Always try to sacrifice him in response to his ETB effect to get more value. Though I highly recommend being very careful when dumping him in the GY if your pod has GY hate. You can effectively win without him, but I can assure this guy is the easiest way to win.
Liliana, Heretical Healer
: Right now she's one of the more lackluster cards in the deck, but she's a form of recursion, she also creates a zombie, and dumps a card in the grave. If I can get a substantially better replacement, I will take it. So far she's served her purpose. I am considering Karmic Guide in place of her slot.
Marsh Flitter: She enables Ashnod's Altar + Nim Deathmantle and gives us stuff to Skullclamp. She does more than Sengir Autocrat did in her slot. With 13 Humans in the deck, I am considering deck: Xathrid Necromancer since he enables the same combo and he costs one less. We'll post update when I make this decision.
Mesmeric Fiend: He's here to ensure our combo goes off. Usually you target the blue player with the most cards and open mana. It goes without saying that your combos are a bit fragile, so timing and prep time is almost always necessary. Sac before LTB triggers to get rid of the card for good. He can also wipe hands with the Ashnod's Altar + Nim Deathmantle + Sun Titan combo.
Mother of Runes: One drop that protects some of our most important combo pieces. At worst you can Skullclamp her, the deck IS called Teysa and the Suicide Squad.
Nantuko Husk: 3-drop, Zombie, and a sac engine. In rare situations you can pump infinitely and kill a player by swinging face.
Necrotic Sliver: Spot removal on a recurrable creature. There's also very elaborate and rarely used combo where he can wipe a field with the Ashnod's Altar + Nim Deathmantle + Sun Titan, but it's too clunky to care. Only pulled it off once and it was cool, but not worth caring too much about it. Bonus points to who ever tells me what it is. ;)
card: Nether Traiter: Here to die for value. Easy to recur in a pinch.
Ophiomancer: Weaker Bitterblossom, but amazing for Skullclamp, Contamination, and anything else you need fodder.
Phyrexian Ghoul: See Nantuko Husk's reasoning.
Priest of Gix: Early tempo, dies to Skullclamp, and enables infinite mana combo with Ashnod's Altar + Nim Deathmantle.
Ranger of Eos: Gets us 2 one drops which could be a sac engine, sac fodder, protection, and Deathgreeter.
Reassembling Skeleton: See Nether Traitor's reasoning.
Recruiter of the Guard: Gets us any creature in the deck except Sun Titan and Liliana, Heretical Healer
(another argument against her and one for Karmic Guide). Icing on the cake? Dies to Skullclamp.
Relentless Dead: This guy... He has so much value. Dies, comes back to your hand, while bringing back something like Carrion Feeder or Gravecrawler. I once played a 3 hour game where I played him on T2 and he's was coming in and out of the GY for those 3 hours.
Stoneforge Mystic: Need draw? Skullclamp. Need tempo? Sword of Feast and Famine. Need a win-con? Nim Deathmantle.
Sun Titan: Brings back almost every permanent in the deck. A vital role in many combos and he's the most expensive (mana-wise) card in the whole deck, and we have ways of cheating him out.
Tidehollow Sculler: Read Mesmeric Fiend's reasoning. PLUS he's a Zombie.
Viscera Seer: Draw fixing early. Enable a Sac loop mid/late game. Can be tutored with every tutor in the deck except Enlightened Tutor.
Zulaport Cutthroat: Read Blood Artist's reasoning.
Damnation: Reset a problematic field, don't worry, you can get your stuff back.
Demonic Tutor: Get what you need for 2 mana. Early game, go for something that will net you cards. Late game, you want this for the missing piece of the puzzle you'd like to complete.
Diabolic Intent: Get what you want and you get to kill one of your creatures too, awesome.
Reanimate: Get that Sun Titan back, who cares if it cost me 6 life, I am winning right now. I have also used it before popping off, for a Mesmeric Fiend/Tidehollow Sculler. Very versatile recursion.
Toxic Deluge: Wipe the field, stops indestructibility. All for 3 mana.
Unearth: Gets almost every creature in the deck, except Academy Rector, Marsh Flitter, Ranger of Eos, and Sun Titan. 28 creatures out of 32 is not bad for one mana.
Vindicate: Usually used when you don't have one of your sac engine variants of removal is up. Hits anything, which is also very important and all for 3 mana. I love using it to bait counterspells too.
Animate Dead: Gets us what we want at worse... at best it wins us the game with its best friend Leonin Relic-Warder.
Bitterblossom: Gives us something to sac for value every turn. Bitterblossom loves Skullclamp, Contamination and Mind Slash. At worst the faeries accumulate until we find something worth saccing to, which is never hard, but they are used to block in the air or bring down planeswalkers.
Contamination: Honestly, before you consider running any combo, I would highly recommend setting this up. Very degenerate, one of my surefire ways of closing a win. Sometimes I go as far as to make it my primary objective to play it before going for a win. At worst they use removal to stop it, but you eliminated their removal in the process.
Dance of the Dead: See Animate Dead's reasoning.
Darkest Hour: Your red herring, your Tarmogoyf. Can it win you the game? oh, most definitely. They have to deal with this no matter what. Use that to your advantage, cause this deck could win if you play with or without Teysa, Orzhov Scion.
Grave Pact: Board wipe in the form of an enchantment if you set up any of the loops in the deck. I've cheated this out with Academy Rector, then sacced a field of fodder only to watch a whole table go down the drain.
Mind Slash: Eliminate threats before they're played, this card gets popped constantly, which is fine. Something being used on our control cards instead of our combos is always great. If it goes through we can wipe hands with an infinite mana loop.
Necromancy: See Animate Dead's reasoning. One more mana to be able to pop off on someone else's turn, thanks Wizards!
Necropotence: Draw all the cards, dump what you absolutely don't need. Just make a sure you never miss a land drop and every other land can go.
