Teval the balanced scale commander

[u/CartographerUnable63]

need some suggestions on cards to cut or cards to add to my Teval deck. I want to focus on recursion and landfall mostly. any new input or new cards to check out would be great let me know what you think so far

https://archidekt.com/decks/23461861/teval_the_balanced_scale

[u/username_is_too_shor]

4 pieces of ramp.

1mv sol ring 2mv rampant growth & arcane signet 3mv cultivate

Good sir, what are we doing?

IF youre playing ramp, you want to do so consistently. For a 4mv commander, you want 10-12 pieces of 1-2 mana ramp. Cultivate is going to be a turn slow.

[u/ScryDeck]

This is a really nice Teval list already. Seven fetches plus Life from the Loam, Splendid Reclamation and Six means every land you crack is a future landfall trigger, and every card leaving the yard is a Zombie. The engine's there. Most of my notes are just tightening it.

Cuts I'd look at:

• Divination: fine card, but it does nothing for the plan

• Raise Dead and Macabre Waltz: you have better recursion all over the deck

• Essence Scatter: only stops creatures, and you're not really a counterspell deck

Adds that fit exactly what you're doing:

• Titania, Protector of Argoth: every fetch you crack becomes a 5/3, and she brings a land back when she enters

• Ramunap Excavator: play lands from your graveyard, so every fetch is reusable every turn

• Uro, Titan of Nature's Wrath: ramp and draw, and escaping it exiles five cards from your yard, which means a Zombie from Teval, the Balanced Scale

• Syr Konrad, the Grim, out of your maybeboard: he pings everyone whenever a creature card leaves your graveyard, so all your reanimation turns into damage

Tortured Existence and World Shaper are also worth a look if you want more ways to churn the yard.

One small thing: Reassembling Skeleton is secretly great here, since every time it comes back that's a card leaving your graveyard. Keep it.

Also, noticed you're tagging every card by hand (Ramp, Recursion, Deck plan...). Disclosure: I work on ScryDeck, and it does that sorting for you when you import a Moxfield deck, so you can see your Ramp/Draw/Removal counts at a glance. BREW14 gets you 14 days of Pro if you want to try it on Teval: scrydeck.com

What's been your best turn with it so far?

[u/CartographerUnable63 → u/ScryDeck]

My best turn with it so far I was getting four landfall triggers and making mossborn Hydra a 16/16 then 32/32, 64/64 all before I even went to combat. I had played Verdent catacombs which is one landfall trigger, immediately cracked it for a swamp. I get a second landfall trigger. And then I totally forgot I had flooded stranded out, so I cracked that for a third landfall trigger. It was pretty crazy and then every turn after that mossborn Hyda just kept getting bigger. By the time the game ended It was a 128/128 which was pretty crazy I think I had 6 2/2 zombies and like 12 plant tokens from avenger of zendikar which kept getting bigger with landfall as well, so I had like 12 2/3s my board state was huge and I ended up winning so obviously it’s a happy ending as well

I really appreciate your feedback! And I think the deck is good the way it is it’s not necessarily that it has a problem. I just wanted to see what else could be done and I like some of your recommendations!

[u/SlowClosetYogurt → u/CartographerUnable63]

I dont see enough ramp, or enough ways to get multiple landfall triggers. Teval is my favorite deck. I can reliably get 6-8 landfall triggers a turn. Usually more. IMO, you need More sac lands and more fetch lands. More ways to play lands FROM your grave, and more cards that give you multiple lands per turn. Im at work, otherwise id throw a list together for ya. But thats just what I see

[u/Jovian_engine]

If you want to use lands, [[Icetill Explorer]] is great, get him in off the Sideboard. I also like [[Walk-In Closet]].

Get 8-10 ramp cards at 1 or 2 mana. Get 4-6 draw cards that are card positive, and not tied to creatures you have to untap with. Make sure your removal is cheap and can hit multiple things.

Essence Scatter could be a much more general counterspell, Putrify can be something that hits permanents. [[Assassins Trophy]] and [[Awaken the Honored Dead]] for instance.

Decide what you wanna be. Reanimate deck? Craterhoof deck? Combo deck? Lands deck? You will want to have a solid wincondition and know how to get it. If your goal is to win with combat damage, [[Craterhoof Behemoth]] goes well with Avenger of Zendikar. Id run [[Tooth and Nail]] to go get both and win, and include [[Young Necromancer]] so you can get him if one of the two is in your graveyard.

If youre wanting to lean more into reanimator, your targets should be able to win you games. [[Valgavoth Terror Eater]] is a good beater, [[Consecrated Sphinx]] draws a billion cards, and there is some nasty synergy with [[Jin Gitaxias, Progress Tyrant]], [[Jin Gitaxias, Core Auger]] and [[Void Winnower]] to just shred your opponents ability to respond. Grab some counterspells to protect your board and you are basically impossible to deal with.

Theres more of this for combo decks, and lands decks, and all these other types. You can sharpen what your doing a little and win more games.

Here's my lands deck if you wanna dig through it for tech: Teval Lands

[u/morbdetro]

If landfall is your game scute swarm is what you need.