Teysa, Orzhov Scion

[DocLawless]

Some background first...

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I've only been playing Commander for about a year. I and a friend of mine discovered it at the same time, and the existing EDH group played for cash and prizes, so the power level and the rules they played by were not ones we wanted to be a part of at that point. (Losing to infinite turns combo Riku is soul-crushing when you're still trying to learn.) So we got some of our other friends interested too and we formed a group of our own so we could get our feet wet. My first deck was Krenko, Mob Boss. I crammed a shit ton of goblins, things that beef up goblins, and haste-givers into a pile with some Mountains and it was like I couldn't lose. Before anyone else's durdley decks could get off the ground I had enough goblins on the board to take out two or three people at once. Rarely did we see turn 7 or 8. The
problems with Krenko were three-fold; 1) I don't like being the player who draws all the hate, and it quickly got to the point where nobody wanted to play EDH anymore, 2) once we all learned how to actually play, I discovered how vulnerable to not being able to bounce back from a board wipe I was at about the same time everyone else learned that they shut me down, and 3) Krenko goblins is a simple, straightforward, token swarm aggro deck that bored me to fucking tears. Shit goblins, swing. Shit goblins, swing. It almost literally put me to sleep.

My next deck was a Doran, the Siege Tower deck that was originally a big-butt dudes aggro deck that aimed to make combat math difficult for everyone else. High Toughness, low Power creatures are brokenly underpriced under the influence of Doran's ability ([card]Indomitable
Ancients[/card]). As it developed I lost sight of the strategies I wanted to build towards and it became answers.dec with no win conditions, so I set it down and played Standard for a while. But not before I had invested a ton of money and trades into Doran. So my ulterior motive to playing Teysa is to get some use out of the cards I went out of my way to get, even if I don't want to play Doran anymore.

Teysa, Orzhov Scion has been a card I've had picked out to try and build a deck around ever since I realized that her second ability + Darkest Hour can turn any sac outlet into an infinite combo. Once you realize that, you start looking at sac outlets to see how degenerate that can become. Blasting Station, infinite damage. Phyrexian Altar, infinite colored mana. [card]Ashnod's Altar[/card], infinite colorless mana. [card:
w3hiu8wd]Viscera Seer[/card], scry your whole deck. Teysa's own ability becomes infinite spot removal with three dudes to get it going.

Here's the list I've started with. Much of the ideas for it were taken from Schondetta's Teysa primer on MTGS, but some changes were made because things that are true in his meta are not true in mine.

[deck]GENERAL
1 Teysa, Orzhov Scion

SAC OUTLETS
1 Sadistic Hypnotist
1 Ghost Council of Orzhova
1 Maw of the Obzedat
1 Phyrexian Altar
1 Blasting Station
1 Blood Artist
1 Viscera Seer
1 Ashnod's Altar

SAC VICTIMS
1 Bitterblossom
1 Ogre Slumlord
1 Reassembling Skeleton
1 Nether Traitor
1 Bloodghast
1 Endrek Sahr, Master Breeder
1 Marsh Flitter
1 Pawn of Ulamog
1 Sengir Autocrat
1 Martial Coup
1 Twilight Drover
1 Kokusho, the Evening Star

DRAIN EFFECTS
1
Suture Priest
1 Pontiff of Blight
1 Debt to the Deathless
1 Vizkopa Guildmage
1 Exsanguinate
1 Sanguine Bond

TUTOR
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Enlightened Tutor
1 Stoneforge Mystic
1 Beseech the Queen

DRAW/FIX
1 Mentor of the Meek
1 Sensei's Divining Top
1 Plunge into Darkness
1 Phyrexian Arena
1 Skullclamp

REMOVAL
1 Grave Pact
1 Necrotic Sliver
1 Martyr's Bond
1 Swords to Plowshares
1 Retribution of the Meek
1 Return to Dust
1 Path to Exile

RECURSION
1 Yawgmoth's Will
1 Karmic Guide
1 Reveillark
1 Faith's Reward
1 Nim Deathmantle
1 Unearth
1 Sheoldred, Whispering One
1 Necromancy

OTHER UTILITY
1 Soul Warden
1 Archangel of Thune
1 Austere Command
1 Rest in Peace
1 Restoration Angel
1 Elspeth Tirel
1 Lightning Greaves

ROCKS
1 Sol Ring
1 Chromatic Lantern
1 Orzhov Keyrune
1 Thran Dynamo
1 Darksteel Ingot
1 Orzhov Signet

LANDS
1 Reliquary Tower
1 Springjack Pasture
1 Volrath's Stronghold
1 Vesuva
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
1 Marsh
Flats
1 Maze of Ith
1 Phyrexian Tower
1 Bojuka Bog
1 Cabal Coffers
1 Barren Moor
1 Buried Ruin
1 Temple of the False God
1 Vault of the Archangel
1 Tainted Field
1 Temple of Silence
1 Reflecting Pool
1 City of Brass
1 Caves of Koilos
1 Secluded Steppe
1 Flagstones of Trokair
1 Scrubland
1 Isolated Chapel
1 Command Tower
1 Fetid Heath
1 Godless Shrine
6 Swamp
4 Plains[/deck]

First thing you've probably noticed is, after saying I wanted to build the deck because of the interactions between sac outlets and Darkest Hour + Teysa's token gen ability, I have neglected to actually include Darkest Hour. That was intentional. My EDH group has few rules, but one of them is "no infinite combos". Darkest Hour is solely responsible for nearly every one of them. I think I like it better this way anyway. I like interactive games. Should the day ever arrive where I'm playing for prizes, or if the group's rules change and instant win combos become
acceptable, you bet your sweet ass Darkest Hour is going in. Until then, its not.

My EDH group and its rules...

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"No infinite combos" is really the only hard rule my group has. There are looser rules though; extra turns happen, but taking an excessive number of them is frowned upon. And it is sort of an unspoken rule that building your deck solely to deny people all their resources will get you hated off the table. So stax effects and mass land destruction are dangerous ground as well but, like extra turns, they are a part of the game. So, basically, you know you've crossed a line when everyone starts killing you first but until then we do what we want.

The goal is to win by abusing sac outlets, and with drain effects from cards like Blood Artist, Vizkopa Guildmage, Exsanguinate, etc. Sac dudes to Teysa for removal, or [card]Blasting Station[/card:
w3hiu8wd] for damage upstairs, triggering Blood Artist, or sac dudes to [card]Ashnod's Altar[/card] for 2 mana a head, triggering Blood Artist, and cast a huge Debt to the Deathless or Exsanguinate, double value from that if Vizkopa Guildmage's second ability is activated... you get the idea. Additionally, I want to be well positioned after a board wipe and Teysa can enable that as well. Having Teysa actually in play is pretty key to just about everything the deck does. At the very least she doubles the value of all my sac outlets. At the very most she wins me the game, or gets me within threat range that I can do it the old fashion way with Ghost Council of Orzhova or Archangel of Thune. There's even a secondary mode, in my head, where Teysa and Ghost Council are interchangeable as Generals.

nAnyway, there it is. This list is totally unplayed, but that's the goal I have in mind for it. Assuming my attention span doesn't fizzle out like it usually does I want to use this thread as a development journal. Suggestions in the vein of "why are you running that card" and "why aren't you running this card", or "it'd be fucking degenerate if you did this" are greatly appreciated. As are generalized EDH tips. I'm still pretty much green.

[DocLawless]

(Reserved for Updates.)

Cards to Test:
Suture Priest
Requiem Angel
Beseech the Queen
Army of the Damned
Decree of Pain

Changes: Round 1
- Read the Bones, Zombie Infestation, Ophiomancer, Skirsdag High Priest,Rotlung Reanimator, Sorin, Lord of Innistrad, Dakmor Salvage, Immortal Servitude, Reanimate, [card]Elspeth, Sun's Champion[/card], Everflowing Chalice
+ [
card]Swamp[/card], Austere Command, Stoneforge Mystic, Orzhov Signet, Rest in Peace, Kokusho, the Evening Star, Bojuka Bog, Restoration Angel,Necromancy, Elspeth Tirel, Thran Dynamo

Changes: Round 2
- Tithe Drinker, Dimir House Guard, Rest in Peace
+ Suture Priest, Sanguine Bond, Beseech the Queen

[Dechs Kaison]

List of cards I think you should cut:
[cards]Read the Bones
Zombie Infestation
Ophiomancer
Skirsdag High-Priest
Rotlung Reanimator
Sorin, Lord of Innistrad
Dakmor Salvage
Immortal Servitude[/cards]

Read the Bones - There has got to be better draw effects in black. Hell, even Sign in Blood is better in my mind. Graveborn Muse is worth it with no other zombies in play.
Zombie Infestation - I don't think you have enough card draw to make this worthwhile.
Ophiomancer - It's one token on your upkeep, only if you don't already have one. Just seems slow and limited for 3 mana.
Skirsdag - Huge target with no protection, needs to go around the table. Sure, you can trigger morbid easily enough, but can you protect him?
Rotlung Reanimator - You just don't have enough clerics to make him useful.
Sorin, Lord of Innistrad - Doesn't seem to
do enough. Maybe the emblem is worthwhile if you get a few of them with all your tokens, but since you seem to be about sacrificing all this stuff, I doubt it'll be as useful as you think.
Dakmor Salvage - Dredge 2 isn't likely to hit anything awesome and you're not designed around playing out of your graveyard.
Immortal Servitude - Double check your curve. Do you have enough creatures at the same CMC?

Cards I think you should have:
[cards]Bojuka Bog
Rest in Peace
Orzhov Signet
Restoration Angel
Austere Command
Thran Dynamo[/cards]
Another basic land

Needs some graveyard hate. Bojuka Bog at least, and you don't seem dependent on graveyards as much as other players will be, so I really think you could survive with Rest in Peace.
I'd take the signet over the keyrune any day, even though you might want the creature. I think the better answer in this case is to take both.
Restoration Angel I suggest as protection for your creatures and to re-trigger some of the ETB effects.
Mostly it's for the protection. In that vein, consider some things like Lightning Greaves or Faith's Reward.
Austere Command is super utility.
Thran Dynamo should probably go in place of Everflowing Chalice. It's basically a Chalice for 3 that only costs 4. If you can afford to pay the 8 to make Chalice better than Dynamo, then you don't need the mana rock to begin with.
You only have 34 lands, I wouldn't go less than 35. (Maze of Ith takes a spell slot because you can't always have Urborg)

[Azrael]

Mirror Entity, Elspeth Tirel, Ambition's Cost, Beseech the Queen, Elesh Norn? You could do a rebel chain if you wanted, with Big Game Hunter, Bound in Silence (and Mirror Entity).

Agreed on the rocks. Worn Powerstone, Thran Dynamo. Maybe Land Tax, Weathered Wayfarer, and Orzhov Basilica, to help make your drops.

Wish you had the means to run Storm Herd, but it doesn't look like it's feasible without a lot more card draw and ramp. Army of the Damned isn't perfect, but it's worth considering. Decree of Pain would be nifty.

Animate Dead or Necromancy seem like better alternatives than Reanimate.

[DocLawless]

Rest in Peace renders my entire recursion package either completely dead in hand, or significantly nerfed, with no way to sac the enchantment at will if/when I need to. I'm kinda leery of including that card. Anybody it hurts more than it hurts me (Karador) will have an immediate answer for it in any case.

I could have sworn Bojuka Bog was in the list. I do need to add that card. That may be why I thought I had 35 mana sources.

Resto Angel is an interesting notion. I'll try that.

Tirel over Sun's Champion? Given that her primary purpose is to generate tokens for sac fuel, and Sun's Champion does that for +1 as opposed to Tirel doing it for -2, Sun's Champion has more lasting power there. But I do like the lifegain option Tirel offers. Hmm... okay, I'll try that too.

[DocLawless]

Oh, yeah, Necromancy is better than Reanimate. Didn't think of that one.

Beseech the Queen is hot too.

Damn, you guys rock.

[Dechs Kaison]

Rest in Peace renders my entire recursion package either completely dead in hand, or significantly nerfed, with no way to sac the enchantment at will if/when I need to. I'm kinda leery of including that card. Anybody it hurts more than it hurts me (Karador) will have an immediate answer for it in any case.

This is exactly why you include it. You can control when to play the card so it should never kill your recursion unless the alternative is worse. You force Karador to use his tutor for an answer, then his answer for your Rest in Peace, rather than on your Grave Pact or Phyrexian Arena.

[DocLawless]

Alright, I'll give it a shot.

[DocLawless]

Would it be worth a Stoneforge Mystic to have another tutor for Lightning Greaves/Skullclamp/Nim Deathmantle? Could save my Enlightened Tutor for Phyrexian Altar or Blasting Station...

[Dechs Kaison]

Agreed, she's a pretty solid option. You may also have the Resto Angel to retrigger, and you've got recursion.

[DocLawless]

Resto Angel is in, I just don't want to update the list until I obtain the cards and update the physical deck. I'll lose track of what's actually in my pile if I do.

[DocLawless]

This deck.

I showed up with it for the first time last night. We split into three man pods. I sat down at the table and they asked me what I was playing. I said "Teysa" and kinda saw out of the corner of my eye both of them sit up straight all of a sudden. Someone asked "which Teysa", to which I replied "Orzhov Scion". Then, all at the same time, one guy said "FUCK!" and the other guy said "SWEET!". Apparently, he used to play her and she's got a reputation in the group that I didn't know about. Game one ended on turn 7 with a 34 point Debt to the Deathless (thank you [card]Ashnod's Altar[/card]). Game two ended with a 12/12 Scavenging Ooze with Infect and an equipped Mage Slayer (not mine, clearly) while I was still digging for a win-con.

I know I need way
more than two games to draw any real conclusions, but so far I like that it doesn't take much to basically rattlesnake people into playing against each other and ignoring me. I also like how that is usually the wrong thing to do, because the longer you let Teysa go the more likely it is I'll have something degenerate to do.

Dimir House Guard may be out. There isn't much in the deck with a 4cmc that I'm really that interested in tutoring for, and while I guess he's an okay chump blocker he's really not worth it for 4 mana. Might run Sanguine Bond in his place. Gives me another Vizkopa Guildmage effect.