Going through my decks I realized I wasn't making use of one of my favorite colors, white, I also realized I had three mono colored decks and didn't want a fourth. In comes one of my two favorite color combinations, black/white, and in comes Teysa, Orzhov Scion. Unfortunately I don't know as much about the Orzhov guild to make some really cool story theme deck like Black Jack, always so cool, but I do know how to make a pretty decent regular deck lol.
The deck has three main focuses with the first being lock down of whatever sort I can. Stop combat, combos, spell casting, activated abilities...this deck doesn't want you to do it, sorry lol.
My second focus is a stax approach that will stop almost anyone's plans for anything creature based. Creatures aren't the main focus of course, I've packed things to help include permanents of all types. If it can be taxed then it will be.
The third focus is tokens, this is a Teysa deck you know, and tokens are going to make the lock down easier to keep up, my use of tokens here will also make the lock down strategy a nonissue for my plans. Tokens are also really awesome with the stax approach, giving me plenty to throw out and with Teysa around I shouldn't really be losing out anyway.
With all that said, I present to you: Teysa, Prison Stax
I know I'm running light on artifact acceleration, not totally sure I need much just yet but if you have suggestions on something to pull for a Sol Ring or something else let me know...all my Thran Dynamos and Worn Powerstones are tied up in other decks at the moment.
Also I'm sure you've noticed I don't have Darkest Hour in the deck. I'm not sure it's needed here, I don't have anything to really make crazy use of infinite tokens per say but I am still on the fence about it's exclusion.
Also I'm sure you've noticed I don't have Darkest Hour in the deck. I'm not sure it's needed here, I don't have anything to really make crazy use of infinite tokens per say but I am still on the fence about it's exclusion.
Blasting Station? Gives you an "I win" button.
As for the rest of the deck, I am curious about some of your choices.
How often does Kuon flip and actually accumulate value?
Well, if I'm going to go this route I need to get my hands on another Phyrexian Altar. My main worry/goal here was to keep the deck from being the classic Teysa lock the board down until I can combo out deck. Darkest hour could still work for me with all the stax effects I have going on, it just shuts down Teysa's first ability which isn't necessarily a bad thing I suppose.
Angel of Despair and Debtors' Knell were originally on the table when putting this deck back together, but didn't make the initial cut due to CMC vs gain. Angel of Despair is 7 for a 5/5 flier, nice, and does destroy a permanent, also nice, but when the dust clears she's still just a 5/5 flier. I suppose if I were to put more of a recursion theme in the deck that Angel of Despair would be more useful, so would Archon of Justice.
Kuon, Ogre Ascendant flips quite easily with Teysa on the field, and he is as good as, if not better than, Magus of the Abyss. Looking at my stax package, nine cards, I do see that the larger half deal only with creatures, which may need some adjusting. I need to play the deck a little more and reassess Kuon I suppose.
As it sits, and I will update this before tomorrow, I have nine cards on the table for potential additions. I just need to get two of them, and think about how I want this deck to play.
Recent deck change/rethinking, trying to take the deck in a better direction. The main focus was focus, seriously, the deck has more speed, draw, and better destruction.
Pulls: Angelic Arbiter was really expensive for an effect I can get for around 2 mana, that's also recurrable.
Noble Purpose, Righteous Cause, and True Conviction were mostly dead weight, netting me a little life, and occasionally a little extra damage wasn't worth the slots or cost.
[CARD]
Dust to Dust[/CARD] and Return to Dust were pulled for destruction that covers a broader spectrum.
Nether Traitor and Reassembling Skeleton give the deck some cheap creatures for sac fodder that can recur themselves, and both could potentially combo/mini combo without much help. They also work for token generation with Teysa, and cheap draws with a few cards.
Solemn Simulacrum is prime sac fodder and accelerates, Phyrexian Altar allows for saccing and accelerating lol...it enables easier combos, and makes colored mana. Both add speed to the deck, which it really needed, and draw potential that works with the decks recursion engines.
Debtors' Knell is just really strong recursion, and the deck needed a little boost there with all the sacrificing and killing.
Corpse Dance is a one card recursion engine if you've got a sac outlet in place and enough mana for the buyback cost as the creature you "danced" never gets exiled because it's in the graveyard and can't be found by the eot ability. Ashnod's Altar as the sac outlet makes playing it multiple times in a turn very doable.
The deck has three main focuses with the first being lock down of whatever sort I can. Stop combat, combos, spell casting, activated abilities...this deck doesn't want you to do it, sorry lol.
My second focus is a stax approach that will stop almost anyone's plans for anything creature based. Creatures aren't the main focus of course, I've packed things to help include permanents of all types. If it can be taxed then it will be.
The third focus is tokens, this is a Teysa deck you know, and tokens are going to make the lock down easier to keep up, my use of tokens here will also make the lock down strategy a nonissue for my plans. Tokens are also really awesome with the stax approach, giving me plenty to throw out and with Teysa around I shouldn't really be losing out anyway.
With all that said, I present to you: Teysa, Prison Stax
1 Teysa, Orzhov Scion
Creatures 28
1 Academy Rector
1 Angel of Despiar
1 Archon of Justice
1 Braids, Cabal Minion
1 Butcher of Malakir
1 Devoted Caretaker
1 Eight-and-a-Half-Tails
1 Endrek Sahr, Master Breeder
1 Glory
1 Karmic Guide
1 Knight-Captain of Eos
1 Kuon, Ogre Ascendant
1 Linvala, Keeper of Silence
1 Magus of the Abyss
1 Mirror Entity
1 Mother of Runes
1 Nether Traitor
1 Nezumi Graverobber
1 Peacekeeper
1 Reassembling Skeleton
1 Reveillark
1 Sheoldred, Whispering One
1 Sun Titan
1 Twilight Drover
1 Vish Kal, Blood Arbiter
1 Weathered Wayfarer
1 World Queller
1 Yosei, the Morning Star
1 Ethersworn Canonist
1 Solemn Simulacrum
Instants 2
1 Enlightened Tutor
1 Vampiric Tutor
Sorceries 10
1 Austere Command
1 Damnation
1 Decree of Pain
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Diabolic Tutor
1 Idyllic Tutor
1 Replenish
1 Reprocess
1 Rout
1 Vindicate
Planeswalker 1
1 Elspeth Tirel
Enchantments 12
1 Bitterblossom
1 Darkest Hour
1 Debtors' Knell
1 Gravepact
1 Infernal Tribute
1 Karmic Justice
1 Land Tax
1 Martyr's Bond
1 Necropotence
1 Phyrexian Arena
1 Rule of Law
1 Sacred Mesa
1 Blasting Station
1 Ensnaring Bridge
1 Phyrexian Altar
1 Sensei's Divining Top
1 Smokestack
Equipment 1
1 Skullclamp
Lands 38
1 Caves of Koilos
1 Command Tower
1 Emeria, the Sky Ruin
1 Fetid Heath
1 Godless Shrine
1 Kjeldoran Outpost
1 Kor Haven
1 Marsh Flats
1 Mistveil Plains
1 Mystifying Maze
13 Plains
12 Swamps
1 Tainted Field
1 Urborg
1 Volrath's Stronghold
I know I'm running light on artifact acceleration, not totally sure I need much just yet but if you have suggestions on something to pull for a Sol Ring or something else let me know...all my Thran Dynamos and Worn Powerstones are tied up in other decks at the moment.
Also I'm sure you've noticed I don't have Darkest Hour in the deck. I'm not sure it's needed here, I don't have anything to really make crazy use of infinite tokens per say but I am still on the fence about it's exclusion.
UWGrand Arbiter Augustin IV-Last edit 12/02/11
RStarke of Rath - Last edit 11/30/11
GAzusa, Lost but Seeking - Last Edit 11/29/11
BPatron of the Nezumi - Last edit 11/29/11
Blasting Station? Gives you an "I win" button.
As for the rest of the deck, I am curious about some of your choices.
Legacy: UB(R/G) Storm UB(R/G)
Vintage: UBG Gush Storm UBG
Angel of Despair and Debtors' Knell were originally on the table when putting this deck back together, but didn't make the initial cut due to CMC vs gain. Angel of Despair is 7 for a 5/5 flier, nice, and does destroy a permanent, also nice, but when the dust clears she's still just a 5/5 flier. I suppose if I were to put more of a recursion theme in the deck that Angel of Despair would be more useful, so would Archon of Justice.
Kuon, Ogre Ascendant flips quite easily with Teysa on the field, and he is as good as, if not better than, Magus of the Abyss. Looking at my stax package, nine cards, I do see that the larger half deal only with creatures, which may need some adjusting. I need to play the deck a little more and reassess Kuon I suppose.
As it sits, and I will update this before tomorrow, I have nine cards on the table for potential additions. I just need to get two of them, and think about how I want this deck to play.
UWGrand Arbiter Augustin IV-Last edit 12/02/11
RStarke of Rath - Last edit 11/30/11
GAzusa, Lost but Seeking - Last Edit 11/29/11
BPatron of the Nezumi - Last edit 11/29/11
Pulls:
Angelic Arbiter was really expensive for an effect I can get for around 2 mana, that's also recurrable.
Noble Purpose, Righteous Cause, and True Conviction were mostly dead weight, netting me a little life, and occasionally a little extra damage wasn't worth the slots or cost.
[CARD]
Dust to Dust[/CARD] and Return to Dust were pulled for destruction that covers a broader spectrum.
Beseech the Queen was the weakest of my tutors, Fountain Watch wasn't as effective as the clerics I already had around, Skeletal Vampire was exspensive to get rolling, and Ashnod's Altar only produced colorless.
Adds:
Angel of Despair and Archon of Justice are recurrable destruction that hit's anything I want...come on...anything...
Nether Traitor and Reassembling Skeleton give the deck some cheap creatures for sac fodder that can recur themselves, and both could potentially combo/mini combo without much help. They also work for token generation with Teysa, and cheap draws with a few cards.
Yosei, the Morning Star is added lock power, one of the decks main focuses, Darkest Hour sets up for easy combos all over the place, and Blasting Station kills...lol
Solemn Simulacrum is prime sac fodder and accelerates, Phyrexian Altar allows for saccing and accelerating lol...it enables easier combos, and makes colored mana. Both add speed to the deck, which it really needed, and draw potential that works with the decks recursion engines.
Debtors' Knell is just really strong recursion, and the deck needed a little boost there with all the sacrificing and killing.
UWGrand Arbiter Augustin IV-Last edit 12/02/11
RStarke of Rath - Last edit 11/30/11
GAzusa, Lost but Seeking - Last Edit 11/29/11
BPatron of the Nezumi - Last edit 11/29/11
Corpse Dance is a one card recursion engine if you've got a sac outlet in place and enough mana for the buyback cost as the creature you "danced" never gets exiled because it's in the graveyard and can't be found by the eot ability. Ashnod's Altar as the sac outlet makes playing it multiple times in a turn very doable.
Corpse Dance (w/buyback) + Sac Outlet +:
Reveillark or Karmic Guide = Super Recursion
Angel of Despair or Archon of Justice = Destroy any permanent (or multiples) every turn.
Yosei, the Morning Star = Lock down as many players as you can afford to every turn (also known as winning).
Butcher of Malakir = A sweep if you have the mana for multiples.
Instant speed Devoted Caretaker or 8.5 Tails back to play hasted to protect one of your dudes.
There are some truly ridiculous combos and tricks in this deck that Corpse Dance would enable.
Banner by Nakamura, Thanks!
EDH Math
EDH Decks:
Ghost Council: The Magic Mafia of Orzhova
BB Drana: Down with the Sickness
Rasputin: Reality is Broken
Vish Kal Bleeder: Bloody Kisses
Teysa, Orzhov Dominatrix
Stonebrow: Breaking Things
BWR Kaalia Punisher: Heaven's on Fire
Grimgrin: Dead Reckoning