We’ve all been in this position. We find a commander we love. We find all these amazing cards that go in the deck to make it good. We take it to our local game store or play group and hear the collective groan. When I first started playing commander, it was Zur, the Enchanter or Kaalia of the Vast that caused this collective frustration. Now it feels that there’s a new commander every set that fits this description.
More often than not these commanders have powerful combos or stax elements that create a repetitive or un-fun play experience for the average play group. Teshar fits into the combo side of this equation. A lot of Teshar decks play the same basic engine cards. These cards are normally three mana or 2 mana creatures that bring back a low cost artifact to your hand. You can then use a sac outlet such as Altar of Dementia to mill your opponents or Ashnod’s Altar to generate infinite mana. If you’re curious about these loops you can check out Budget Commander Article from MTG Goldfish.
Let me clarify, there is nothing wrong with playing a Teshar Combo deck. In fact, I think Teshar has been a great addition to the format. One, Teshar is a powerful Mono White commander that can be extremely budget friendly. Many of the key cards in a Teshar deck are commons or uncommons that are extremely easy to obtain. This makes Teshar an accessible and powerful deck for new players and budget players alike. However, it can sometimes be difficult to make your Teshar deck feel unique and certain playgroups may find the play patterns to be stale and repetitive.
What follows are four different Teshar decks in which I avoid all the key cards that create infinite loops with Teshar. The goal of this exercise was to create new starting points for a commander that normally starts with its most powerful combo pieces, and find new ways to utilize Teshar’s ability fairly. Some or all of the combos that are normally found alongside Teshar can be included within these build, but the goal of these builds is to steer Teshar away from combo to aggro, midrange, and control strategies. Teshar Affinity
First up is a deck inspired by one of the most memorable modern decks of all time, Affinity. The goal of this build was to replicate that feeling of dumping your hand onto the table with Affinity in modern. While I’m normally a control player myself, I do love the feeling of playing out a handful of cards very quickly and passing the turn. The trick was making sure that this deck didn’t run out of gas and create a miserable play experience. Cards like Slate of Ancestry, Null Brooch, and Ghirapur Orrery reward you for being empty handed and/or help you refill your hand. If you like playing aggro, this might be the build for you.
Teshar Myr
Next is a tribal deck inspired by a tweet from @BentoBoxProxies.
— Bento (@BentoBoxProxies) September 25, 2020
The deck features the combo above, but is centered on the tribal component of myr. Myr are a great tribe for Teshar as they all can trigger his ability. When paired with something like Vanquisher’s Banner, which also triggers Teshar, this creates a great source of card advantage in a mono white deck. Additionally, the deck takes advantage of the number of colorless cards by playing Forsaken Monument which does a little bit of everything for the deck. Not to mention you get to play Myr which is one of the most unique tribes in Magic.
Teshar Birds
One of the best parts about building Tribal decks with Teshar is that many of the tribal payoffs are historic spells. While almost every card in the myr deck triggers Teshar, Birds don’t have that same luxury. This list plays a lot more like a traditional tribal list, but uses Teshar as a consistent piece of recursion. You also get some powerful synergies in the list via Glint Hawk and Junk Diver which are both coincidentally birds. Since every bird in the list has flying cards like Sephara, Sky’s Blade and Serra the Benevolent find a home in this list as well. If you’re interested in bringing an unexpected tribe to the table, this one could be for you.
Teshar Superfriends
Commonly when we think about triggering Teshar, we focus on artifacts. This is for good reason. Artifacts are very easy to exploit. However, historic applies to not only artifacts but also sagas and legendaries. This list uses Planeswalkers to trigger Teshar. In this list you’ll also find cards like Kor Skyfisher that can help to reset your planeswalkers so you can aggressively use some of their powerful minuses and trigger Teshar. This deck leans a lot more into the control role in a magic game. You have several boardwipes that avoid your planeswalkers such as Urza’s Ruinous Blast. Additionally, a pillowfort subtheme helps protect both your walkers and your life total. If you’re looking for a strange take on not only Teshar but also the superfriends archetype this might represent a starting point.
Conclusion
These lists clearly aren’t the optimal way to build Teshar, but EDH isn’t always about building an optimal deck. Whether you’re looking to bring something unique to the table or tired of hearing the table groan as you combo off, I hope these lists can give you some inspiration on doing different things with otherwise homogenous commanders.
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AuthorMonoWhiteBorder -- A man who loves MtG and his small dog. Archives
June 2021
Categories"MonoWhiteBorder" and corresponding content is unofficial Fan Content permitted under the Fan Content Policy. Not approved/endorsed by Wizards. Portions of the materials used are property of Wizards of the Coast. ©Wizards of the Coast LLC.
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