MTG Salvation

Welcome to my latest take on a Ghave, Guru of Spores led deck, which is the current Commander of a deck that has gone through many iterations and various other generals in order to let me experiment with different playstyles and a place where I could try out new cards. The initial idea was to use this process to work towards a more optimized deck, but along the way I realized that I didn’t really enjoy the combo-esque lists that Ghave generally helms. So with Allegiance around the corner, I felt it was time for another overhaul and give it a direction I would enjoy, something which the new set did provide with the printing of the new Teysa.

This current build is a token style Teysa Karlov deck, using either an aristocrat inspired drain strategy to win or turn it into an angel token beat down with the help of Divine Visitation. I kept from going full Orzhov and simply keep using gave for the added support in green, while also helping in the token production department. Since this isn’t an optimized build, I have included some back up ways to take a win, though I kept the support for them limited so not to make it the go-to strategy.

With it continuing off my previous list, there are still some remnants present of that deck that may or may not deserve a home in this version and I do like to experiment with certain effects, so this isn't exactly an optimized build. Though the plan is to make the deck more focused once I decide which parts I'd like to keep in the deck.

With the upcoming release of Allegiances, I decided to give Ghave the much needed overhaul in order to make it more fun for me to play. I didn’t like the pile of combos build that it was turning into and the spoiler season gave me enough new goodies to take this in a new direction. It’s still very much a work in progress as I tweak the list and decide on which remnants of my old deck I want to keep around. As always suggestions for the new deck are welcome.

Teysa made me also want to revisit playing Ghave as she is super synergistic with most of what Ghave wants to be doing. I would think streamlinig the deck to make it a more evenly balanced between tokens and death-triggers would be the most ideal way to sidestep the most extreme hate for anyone avenue the opponent can attack. Teysa seems really good as a commander but insanely busted as one of the 99; being able to double protean hulk triggers being just one of the most egregious. The factthat her other ability also gives the saproling tokens much better value is a strict upgrade. Let meknow if you want to brainstrom, as I love decks that are efficient value engines, and I havent seen potential like this in a very long, long time.

The deck can definitely be streamlined a lot compared to what I currently run, I’m just more on a budget and this has been a deck that has gone through various different builds over time, as I used it to just experiment with cards. That said, the Teysa direction it is taking now definitely is a fun one and might warrant me digging a little deeper into it.

I have made two changes to the deck so far, I overlooked Protean Hulk as an inclusion so that went in replacing Rishkar, Peema Renegade, as was less impressed with it in this build. Imperious Oligarch was also taken out, as Tithe Taker just has more to offer.

Things to improve are probably more tutors to help get Teysa out more reliably, since she is quite a key piece. Additionally, adding a Grave Pact package could help as well, I just deal with enough reanimation in my meta that I am slightly avoiding this myself.

Emmara was a remnant of my previous Ghave build and I decided to cut her and her support package from the deck. Instead I feel that aside from getting out Teysa, it’s key to get out some of the enchantments (card draw ones in particular). Since I’m not able to invest more into proper tutors fort he deck at this moment, I looked at finding alternatives and ended up deciding to play around with Lost Auramancers as something to try. Hex Parasite and Vampire Hexmage act as enablers, but work also as removal so this doesn’t make them entirely dead cards without the Auramancers.

The deck is quite taxing on life points so I brought in Fumigate as an alternative sweeper to help bits with that. Martial Coup does feel more versatile, but I’ve mostly played it for the sweeping effect and in that I get more out of Fumigate.

Switched out Essence Warden for Suture Priest as another little test. Suture Priest can add some more incidental damage but might also draw more removal. So will have to see how this affects things.

Hydra Omnivore just didn’t pull weight for me, so replaced it with Corpse Augur for more drawing power. And since I had a slot to spare I sleeved up Brindle Shoat as an additional token dropper.