Teysa Karlov Commander Guide: How the Deck Actually Wins

Teysa Karlov is a Legendary Creature — Human Advisor (mana cost {2}{W}{B}; Legendary Creature — Human Advisor; 2/4; rarity: rare; most recent printing listed by Scryfall: Commander Masters). Its colour identity is black, white, and its Commander legality on Scryfall is listed as legal. This guide explains what the card actually does, how a deck built around it wins, and which decisions matter most when you build your own version.

What Teysa Karlov does

The card's exact text is where every honest build starts:

If a creature dying causes a triggered ability of a permanent you control to trigger, that ability triggers an additional time.
Creature tokens you control have vigilance and lifelink.

Read that text literally. Every line of it is a building instruction: the abilities tell you which supporting cards multiply the commander, which weaknesses opponents will attack, and which turns of the game the deck is designed to own. Brewers get into trouble when they build the deck they wish the commander were; build the one this text describes.

Build and check your list with the MTGBrew AI deck builder, and browse every card mentioned here in the MTGBrew card database on MTGBrew.

How the deck wins

Ask what the deck looks like when it is merely fine. A resilient build still develops its board, still draws extra cards, and still threatens something through an average opening hand. The spectacular draws will take care of themselves; your card choices should be spent making the average draw functional, because you will see far more average draws than perfect ones.

If this topic is on your bench, keep going with Precon Upgrade Guide: Lathril, Blade of the Elves — What to Cut, What to Add, by Role — it covers the neighbouring decisions from a different angle, and the two pieces together give you a fuller picture than either one alone.

Keep reading

Keep reading: Precon Upgrade Guide: Lathril, Blade of the Elves — What to Cut, What to Add, by Role and Rules: Eminence, Command Zone Abilities, and Why Edgar Markov Plays Differently.

Building and tuning tips

Mind the curve before you mind the highlights. Count how many plays the deck has on each of the first four turns, and be honest about hands that do nothing until turn five. One cheaper role-player often improves a deck more than one expensive splash, because games are decided by who starts playing first as often as by who plays biggest.

Keep the mana honest, too. A commander in black, white colours needs a mana base built for those colours in the proportions the deck actually casts — a lesson that applies to every list you will ever build, and one the MTGBrew Learn guides return to often.

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