#Teysa Envoy of Ghosts

[reuxben]

Here’s our MTGinktober for “Grungy,” starring Domri Rade; Drana, Kalastria Bloodchief; and Teysa, Envoy of Ghosts! Our little group has always been and always will, until the end.

Click this post’s Source link for this piece’s Making-Of.

More MTGinktober here.

Daily art updates on Instagram, Twitter, and Bluesky.

Reuxben

[googlyeyesonmagiccards]

In memoriam

[mtgtips]

Which of these commanders should I make a deck for next?

Braids, Arisen Nightmare

Drana, Liberator of Malakir

Judith, The Scourge Diva

Grima, Saruman's Footman

Rankle, Master of Pranks

Ojer Axonil, Deepest Might

Mazirek, Kraul Death Priest

Arahbo, Roar of the World

Aclazotz, Deepest Betrayal

Judith, Carnage Connoisseur

Sengir, The Dark Baron

Bruna, Light of Alabaster

Muldrotha, The Gravetide

Teysa, Envoy of Ghosts

Jin-Gitaxias, Core Augur

Magic the Gathering tip: norin the wary

[fellwar-finch]

for the mtg ask

8, 9, 10, 38, 53, 69

have fun love you

8. Best mechanic: That’s gotta be extort. Winning through direct means, lifegain to keep you alive, affects all players and you reap the rewards more the more players there are, *and* uses up your mana so you don’t have to time responses on the opponent’s turn? Yes please. My favourite kitchen table magic deck was a whole bunch of dragon’s maze and gatecrash orzhov cards so I could just abuse multiple extort triggers.

9. Worst mechanic. Storm. I don’t like decks that just take long turns. I don’t care if the game’s long and grindy I love that actually but when your *turn* is like 20 minutes long and there isn’t even a guaranteed win at the end. Nnno thanks. Plus watching someone storm off at the end of a good game really ruins the mood even if they do win. It’s the same issue I have with infinite combo decks, just anticlimactic. Feels like the yugioh mindset of ‘it’s fun for me so I don’t care if the rest of the table enjoys it’.

10. Favourite Ravnica Guild. Okay okay so hear me out. I started as azorius, then tried Izzet, but the one that really stuck for me is orzhov. Extort’s fun, aristocrats is fun, one of the last cards my dad ever bought me was teysa, envoy of ghosts, their aesthetic SLAPS, and they show you don’t need to be the biggest or the strongest to win the fight. …although gruul’s a close second and that’s just the exact opposite.

38. Least favourite type of deck to play against. Infinite combo. Just. Stop please? I don’t care if it’s a cool combo it invalidates the rest of the whole game. I could’ve just sat there discarding to hand size and nothing else and the game would’ve ended the same. There’s no struggle, no climactic battle, it’s a dull way to end any story and I don’t respect it as a wincon. If you lost to an infinite, that’s not really a loss. I’m fine with other instant wincons like approach of the second sun or biovisionary or door to nothingness, but I don’t feel like infinites should be legal or encouraged.

53. What cards have the worst artwork. That’s… actually a really good question. I know like,,, invoke prejudice is the answer, but I think you were probably just asking my least favourite. That’s atarka, world render. A long time ago I wanted to play her deck but the artwork’s just atrocious. Weird proportions and not in a cool way. Why her forelegs so short, why’s the tail angled like that, why’s her lower jaw so long, why are the hind legs Like That???

69. Sexiest character in magic. I’m just gonna say jace to see your reaction.

[roguedeck]

You Should Be Playing: Miraculous Recovery

Nothing portents a great commander game like an instant-speed blow-out from a weird, off-color card from the 90's.

That's why I play a ton of Miraculous Recovery. Five mana isn't nothing, but being instant speed solves a ton of problems. And no one ever expects it.

White is technically second in reanimation to black - but nobody really thinks about that.

And that's why you will wreck folks in your Boros, Azorius, and Selesnya decks.

Cheat that fatty out. Ambush folks in combat. Go get those EtB triggers. All at instant-speed. With nothing but white mana.

Oh yeah - you also get a +1/+1 counter. For funsies.

EDHREC Stats (08/23): 2791 total decks. 0% of all decks.

Pairs nicely with:

Faithless Looting

Mageta the Lion

Shorikai, Genesis Engine

Sun Titan

Angel of the Ruins

Archaeomancer

Falco Spara, the Pactweaver

Thundering Raiju

Kyler Sigardian Emisary

Teysa, Envoy of Ghosts

[haaaaaaaaaaaave-you-met-ted]

Teysa, Envoy of Ghosts by Karla Ortiz

[dailytopimagic]

Topi’s Daily Card #1328: Teysa, Envoy of Ghosts

Teysa is one of those commanders where I honestly perfer the older version of her, but you really can’t deny her power in her seven mana form.  Vigilance, unblockable and able to block nearly anything Teysa also  has a nice built in No Mercy effect which just grows your armies.  She’s best when you can keep taking hits, because if someone’s going to lose their creatures to hit you they’re going to try and make it a bunch of damage.  Making her the head of a life gain deck with a token theme or just as support for someone like Ayli are possibly the best routes, but the low colored cost makes her a fine addition to any shard or wedge deck as well.  Seven mana may be steep for a 4/4, but she proves her worth when she hits the battlefield for sure.

[spades1360]

YALL WANNA SEE ONE OF MY FAVORITE MGT CARDS OF ALL TIME?!

HERE SHE IS! MY KICK ASS COMMANDER

Teysa, Envoy of Ghosts

Artist: Karla Ortiz

[almostlookedhuman]

[lesbianralzarek]

watching a video where 3 people talk about the most popular commanders in each color combination and theyre baffled by some of the cards with not great effects or that cost too much and i just wanna grab them by the ears and tell them its because people are horny for those cards 

[reuxben]

Here’s our MTGinktober for “Drip,” starring Domri Rade; Drana, Kalastria Bloodchief; and Teysa, Envoy of Ghosts! They don't even use water magic, though.

Click this post’s Source link for this piece’s Making-Of.

More MTGinktober here.

Daily art updates on Instagram and Twitter.

Reuxben

[weekly-mtg-posts]

Art of Karla Ortiz

Mending Touch

Ghoulcaller Gisa

Brago, King Eternal

Teysa, Envoy of Ghosts

Vindicate

Famine

Curse of Shallow Graves

Ashiok’s Adept

Visit the Archives for more themed posts.

[asketchyperson]

Trample VS Protection

Keyword abilities are one of the cores of Magic. They are everywhere, and new ones are introduced almost every set. With as many keywords as there are, there are bound to be some complicated interactions between them, and not always necessarily in a way that is intuitive. Knowing how abilities interact with each other is vital to playing effectively, so I will be going through a rules interaction that lost me a game years ago but still gets me fuming whenever I think about it: Trample VS Protection.

First, let’s look at protection. There are a myriad of cards or effects that have or grant “protection from” a myriad of other things. A permanent or player can have protection from colors, card types, other players, or even “everything.”

Even writing this post, defining protection is hard. In a not so simple nutshell, protection means that a thing that has protection from X cannot be the target of a spell or ability of X, cannot be dealt damage by X, and cannot be blocked by X. This is far more easily explained with an example. For instance, Teysa, Envoy of Ghosts has protection from creatures. This means she cannot be targeted by an ability from a creature, cannot be dealt damage by a creature, and cannot be blocked by a creature. Teysa is completely unblockable if she attacks, cannot be the target of an ability like Ravenous Chupacabra’s ETB, and can block any creature without the worry of dying from combat damage. But we are going to come back to that last one again in a bit.

Next let’s talk about trample. Unlike protection, trample can be summed up in one sentence. As a paraphrase, a creature with trample assigns combat damage to a blocker/blockers, and then any damage beyond what is needed to kill the blocking creature(s) is assigned to the player/planeswalker it was attacking. For example, I am at 5 life and my opponent is attacking me with a Colossal Dreadmaw and I have an Elvish Visionary ready to block. If it were a creature without trample, I could just send in my Visionary in to chump block and I would live to see my next top deck. Unfortunately, trample makes it so that instead of my elf valiantly giving its life by exhausting the dinosaur, the Dreadmaw steps on the Visionary with hardly a second thought, and chomps me down Jurassic Park style to 0.

Ok, the exposition is out of the way, here we go. Keyword VS keyword. Trample VS Protection. I again find myself at at 5 life staring down a hungry 6/6 dino. But I’ve been here before, and this time I’ve got a trick up my sleeve: my trusty Coast Watcher. He may be small, but on top of being one handsome bird, he’s got protection from green. This little dude could block every point of damage from a Gigantosaurus and fly away completely unscathed. So the dino charges right through my impervious bird and munches up my remaining life total………Wait what?! My bird had protection from green. It can’t even be dealt damage by a green creature, let alone get killed by one. So why the hell is my life total at 0?! JUDGE!!!

But actually though, what the hell just happened? Well, turns out trample just really doesn’t care. Trample says that any damage in excess of what is required to kill its blockers is assigned directly to the controller. Trample looks at the 1 point of toughness that my creature has, then looks at the 6 points of power on the dinosaur, and gives the bird just what should mathematically kill it, and gives the rest to me. Trample doesn’t care if any damage is actually dealt to a blocker, it only looks at the number it needs to assign to the creature to kill it. Against all logic, my bird is completely unscathed from the block, and I am still dead. Trample doesn’t concern itself with the intricacies of combat, it just looks at the math and does it’s thing.

Let’s play with another keyword: deathtouch. Deathtouch says that any amount of damage this creature deals to another creature is enough to kill the other creature. This means a 1/1 Hornet token with deathtouch can block and kill a 10/10 Gigantosaurus with just the single point of damage it can deal. It also means that an attacking hornet can kill the big lizard with a single sting should the roles be reversed. Now let’s throw deathtouch in our mix.

I am staring down the Dreadmaw herself, yet again holding on by the skin of my remaining 5 life. But this time, I came prepared. This time, I conjure up the mighty Aegis of the Heavens. Now my bird doesn’t even need the protection from green to do the job, it’s a 2/8 and should finally hold this dinosaur back and keep my life total untouched. Trample be damned. Wait what is that? Is that dinosaur wearing a choker? Annnnnd I’m dead. Again. HOW?! Turns out that choker she was wearing was coated in a deadly poison that immobilized my bird with just a drop.

Let’s look at the keywords. Trample only needs to assign what should be lethal damage to a blocker before sending the rest of the damage at me. It’s best friend deathtouch says that just one point of damage is enough to kill any creature. So, as far as trample is concerned, it once again only needs to assign 1 point of damage to the bird and that should kill it, and proceeds to send the remaining 5 straight to me for lethal. Again, trample does not care whether my bird dies, it doesn’t even care if the damage assigned to it actually goes through. It only does the math for what should kill it. No amount of toughness, protection, or even indestructibility would prevent the trample+deathtouch damage from getting through. Absolutely infuriating.

This interaction is an assault on the foundations that my perception of this game is built on. It is both flavorfully and logically confounding. Flavor wise, how is it possible that my magical bird protected by a an infinitely powerful ward against the green forces of nature just be ignored completely? Logically, how can a keyword that only matters when a blocker is involved completely disregard the presence of my blocker? Once I get into the weeds of how trample actually functions inside the computer-like value checks the game of Magic performs constantly behind the scenes, I can finally say I understand what is happening. But I still get to hate that it works that way, and I will never forget how robbed I felt when my game came down to this. My personal beef with this interaction will never die.

[fellwar-finch]

i know fuck all about mtg but Mirrodin, Kamigawa, and Lorwyn?

Mirrodin: My favourite win condition is actually mill! (making the opponent have no cards in deck and have to draw from an empty deck). Unfortunately I only play commander now, and because the deck size is 100 instead of 60, and there are often three others players, the number of cards needed to win with mill is 400 instead of 60, so it's not quite as good. Perhaps the new mind flayarrs precon or umbris would help out. Lifedrain a la extort or blood artist is a very close second, though!

Kamigawa: My favourite legendary creature is Teysa, Envoy of Ghosts. My dad bought her for me before he died and it's a card that I'll treasure for the rest of my life. Sadly she's not a very good commander. I've tried her other card, Teysa Karlov, but I don't really vibe with how it plays. So I'd say my favourite *commander* (edh general, commander, same diff) is Yawgmoth, Thran Physician. He helms my favourite aristocrats/sacrifice deck, he's everything I want in a commander. Card draw, removal, a sacrifice outlet, and a payoff all in one. For only 4 mana. Plus he's an absolutely trash person in his novel and I had a lot of fun reading about him with a friend and just absolutely trashing the pathetic man. Worst person, 0/10. But my favourite commander. Jetmir is also close,,, there's something nice about Large Soft Cat. I wanna run my hands through his fur and also summon him on a board of 8 creatures and just,,, win. Yesterday I summoned him and attacked with three (3) citizen tokens. Only three. And just... Won. Cuz I played 5 other creatures that turn. Each 1/1 citizen becomes a 4/1 citizen that hits twice. So instead of 3 damage from them all attacking it's 24 damage. Busted. Lorwyn: My favourite colour of mana is black, hands down. It's a versatile colour that can do anything I want. It's got removal, it's got card draw, reanimation, alternate wincons, infect, powerful creatures, neat gimmicks, ramp, it can do *anything*... With a price. The only life point that matters is the last one. When it comes to magic, I don't care how low my life gets. If I can survive at 0 I'll go down to 0. Anything and everything is expendable for black mana, and that's a really fun way to play the game for me! Second favourite goes to white, but only as an accent colour. A deck that's primary white gets kinda boring to me, but anything accented with white? Yes please. Protection and boardwipes and token spam is nice.

Thanks so much for sending this ask! I was in a pretty bad headspace and typing about something I love really helped me out there. If you'd ever wanna learn more about mtg, just let me know! It's a real neat card game and form of self-expression!

[mtgbracket]

Round of 256 - Batch 4

The next batch opens now - with Akroma, Atraxa, and Niv-Mizzet.  Here are all the open batches right now:

Batch 4 Batch 3 Batch 2 Batch 1

Today’s matchups in full are:

Scion of the Ur-Dragon vs Karn, Silver Golem Jarad, Golgari Lich Lord vs The Scarab God Padeem, Consul of Innovation vs Dragonlord Kolaghan Yuriko, the Tiger's Shadow vs Teysa, Envoy of Ghosts

Ephara, God of the Polis vs Krenko, Mob Boss Masako the Humorless vs Akroma, Angel of Wrath Atraxa, Praetors' Voice vs Melira, Sylvok Outcast Sheoldred, Whispering One vs Pashalik Mons

Josu Vess, Lich Knight vs Chainer, Nightmare Adept Avacyn, Angel of Hope vs Torbran, Thane of Red Fell Niv-Mizzet, the Firemind vs Kira, Great Glass-Spinner Uril, the Miststalker vs Experiment Kraj

Griselbrand vs The Gitrog Monster Keranos, God of Storms vs Aurelia, the Warleader Thalia, Heretic Cathar vs Slimefoot, the Stowaway Nekusar, the Mindrazer vs Sidisi, Brood Tyrant

[ravnicaforgoblins]

Ravnica for Goblins

Ladies of Ravnica

Dungeon Masters running a campaign in Ravnica may start to notice a trend with many of the city’s most powerful figures of authority (or notoriety); they are largely women.

Whether this an intentional choice on the part of WOTC for gender equality or purely accidental, most of Ravnica is run by the ladies. Not only do we see equal numbers of each gender represented within each race, each class, and each guild (except the Gruul Clans for some reason), but even a large number of the Guildmasters are/have been female:

Isperia, Sphinx Guildmaster of Azorius Senate

Lavinia, (acting Human Guildmaster of Azorius Senate following Isperia’s death)

Aurelia, Angel Guildmaster of Boros Legion

Feather, (former Angel Guildmaster of Boros Legion)

Razia, (Angel Founder/Parun of Boros Legion)

Vraska, (acting Medusa Guildmaster of Golgari Swarm following Jarad’s death)

Kaya, (official Human Guildmaster of Orzhov Syndicate following death of Obzedat)

Teysa, (unofficial Human Guildmaster of Orzhov Syndicate follow death of Obzedat)

Trostani, Dryad Guildmaster(s) of Selesnya Conclave

Zegana, Merfolk Guildmaster/Prime Speaker of Simic Combine

Vannifar, Hybrid Guildmaster/Prime Speaker of Simic Combine

In addition to this, every Angel and Medusa on the plane is exclusively female, with no exceptions. What does this mean for DMs plotting a Ravnica campaign? It means in all likelihood you’re going to be working on more female voices than male, so get practicing. If you are born a girl, this will be easier for you. If you’re born a guy, you’ve got some work to do. Because if you want to take a hard stance against doing female voices in your campaign, you are likely depriving your players the chance to interact with some of the coolest, most badass NPCs in all of Ravnica.

Lavinia of the Azorius Senate is an icon for the guild’s ideals, a champion for the laws of Ravnica, and steward of Jace Beleren, the Living Guildpact. Everything Jace wants to do with his nigh-limitless power as the embodiment of Ravnican Society has to pass through Lavinia first. She dictates his schedules, official commandments, and public appearances. Most importantly, Lavinia ensures that the most is made of the limited time the frequently-absent Guildpact is around. She is harsh but fair. A great choice for when the DM needs to intervene to save the players.

Judith the Scourge Diva is the Grand Dame of the Cult of Rakdos, it’s most in-demand performer, and the last word on anything that goes on backstage. She has more to do with the day-to-day goings-on than Rakdos himself, as the hedonistic demon Guildmaster rarely attends performances and often spends weeks, months, or even years in his lava pit. She does most of the work while Rakdos claims the adoration of the guild’s fanatics, cultists, and performers. Dramatic, demanding, devoted, demented, and she’s got a thing for blades & blood. She is the closest thing to a ranking member of the chaotic guild of stylized hedonism and carnage that is the Cult of Rakdos. She can be reasoned with.

Massacre Girl is currently the Azorius Senate’s number one fugitive.

Real Name: Unknown

Guild: Rakdos

Allegiance: Herself

Motive: Unknown

Crimes: Murders in every guild, including her own

Signature: High body counts, high-ranking figures, excessive violence

Perks for PCs: Instant Citywide Notoriety for taking her in/down

Drawbacks for PCs: Almost Certain Death for failing to take her in/down

Teysa Karlov, former Grand Envoy of Orzhov Syndicate, currently imprisoned for attempting to overthrow Ghost Council. Teysa is one of the few members of the Syndicate who isn’t motivated by greed or self-interest. Make no mistake, Teysa is as ambitious as they come, but her interests actually extend outside of her guild. She is one of the only high-ranking figures within her guild who actually tries to establish relationships with other guilds. It has dawned on her that the day may come when the Orzhov Syndicate might require the assistance of the other guilds, so maybe, just maybe, they should try to not have every other guild actively despise them. A groundbreaking proposal, the first step of which involved the overthrowing of the Greedy Old Men, aka the Obzedat, and establishing her as new guildmaster. Unfortunately, Grandfather Karlov outplayed her, and both Teysa and her ally Tajic of the Boros Legion were thrown in jail. Tajic was bailed out, but Teysa remains imprisoned thanks to bribes made with high-ranking officials to keep her so. In addition, to keep her from dying and achieving freedom as a ghost, she’s been fed food to magically lengthen her life in prison. All that said, Teysa is the best ally available within the Orzhov, one of the few not morally bankrupt, and knows the laws of Ravnica better than even the Azorius. A perfect choice for a prison break quest.

Emmara Tandris is one of the most well-known faces within the endless bounty that is the Selesnya Conclave. She’s a childhood friend of Jace Beleren, the Living Guildpact, and a public figure for inter-guild cooperations. This, plus the fact that she is a kind & caring individual with a special gift with animals, fey, and elementals, and the fact that Selesnya’s dryad trio Guildmaster(s) Trostani are vague at best, completely silent at worst, makes her a perfect choice for distributing missions, quests, and animal companions.

Last NPC I’ll mention is Vraska, of the Golgari Swarm. Vraska is the Planeswalker Medusa Assassin Pirate Queen of the Undercity. Think of something cooler than that, I dare you. It doesn’t exist.

*Edit: More Kickass Female NPCs!

Etrata, the Silencer. That name alone should inspire fear. Not just a vampire, not just an assassin, she’s more of an urban legend Boros soldiers tell each other about when they get stuck on overnight guard duty and want to spook their buddy. Lacking the tedious mind games of most House Dimir operatives, Etrata is an old-school killer for hire. She cares neither for politics, nor influence, nor subtlety. Your name shows up in her book, you’re gonna die tonight. She’s the only Dimir agent capable of actually challenging Lazav for his position of Guildmaster. What it will come down to is this; is he smarter than she is deadly? Etrata is great because her exploits are much easier to track than other Dimir. If someone is dead from a vampire bite in a locked room, they’ve just had a visit from Etrata.

Izoni, Thousand-Eyed should honestly have been the Golgari Guildmaster. Not only is she infinitely more interesting and distinctive than the run-of-the-mill Lich Jarad Vod Savo, but she embodies the Swarm in a way Jarad just doesn’t. Scuttling by your feet, buzzing around the air, lurking wherever death can be found; Izoni and her ever-present insect swarms have presence. Jarad, on the other hand, has a bow, very little personality, and the only real accomplishment he’s had as Guildmaster is surviving assassination attempts. Which, let’s be honest, for the Golgari, is just par for the course. Izoni has room to grow, to expand, and she’s exactly the sort of cackling, nasty, power-hungry dark witch players like to fight. Except she somehow makes being covered in bugs hot.

Pierakor az Vinrenn D’Rav, better known as “Feather”, was the Boros Guildmaster before Aurelia, and a former Wojek Officer. Her wings were bound and she was forced to serve in the Wojek for some reason that hasn’t been explained, then when the original Guildmaster and Parun Razia was slain, Feather stepped up. Her reign was short-lived when Aurelia challenged her as unfit to serve as Guildmaster given her unspoken crime that she was charged for however long ago. Feather gave up the mantle and left Ravnica, going into a self-imposed exile in the lawless Red Wastes beyond the Rubblebelt. Basically, this means that there is a Guildmaster-Level NPC living all alone in the most savage wilds on the entire plane searching for redemption. The story is literally just sitting there, waiting to be written.