EDHREC's #2 trending commander: a Sultai graveyard engine that turns your lands into an army of Spirits

Overview

Teval, the Balanced Scale is the second-most-built new commander on EDHREC this month — a Sultai (B/G/U) graveyard general that rewards you for sending lands and creatures to the yard and then getting them back. Teval makes a 1/1 Spirit whenever one or more land cards are put into your graveyard from anywhere, and on attack it lets you return a creature or land card from your graveyard to your hand, filtering by milling first. That tight loop — self-mill to fuel Spirits, recur your best lands and creatures, repeat — turns "graveyard as a resource" into a steady token army plus a value engine. The deck wants to durdle productively: ramp hard, fill the yard with Stitcher's Supplier, Hedron Crab, and dredge effects, then convert it all with reanimation, Splendid Reclamation–style land recursion, and big mana payoffs. It's a build-around that's powerful but not degenerate — perfect for tables that want grind and resilience over a fast combo kill.

Decklist

Commander

  • 1 Teval, the Balanced Scale

Ramp & Mana

  • 1 Sol Ring
  • 1 Arcane Signet
  • 1 Farseek
  • 1 Sakura-Tribe Elder
  • 1 Cultivate
  • 1 Three Visits
  • 1 Nature's Lore
  • 1 Harrow
  • 1 Skull Prophet

Self-Mill & Setup

  • 1 Stitcher's Supplier
  • 1 Hedron Crab
  • 1 Grapple with the Past
  • 1 Grisly Salvage
  • 1 Forbidden Alchemy
  • 1 Welcome the Dead
  • 1 Life from the Loam
  • 1 Insidious Roots
  • 1 Entomb

Recursion & Value

  • 1 Muldrotha, the Gravetide
  • 1 Conduit of Worlds
  • 1 Eternal Witness
  • 1 Timeless Witness
  • 1 Meren of Clan Nel Toth
  • 1 The Gitrog Monster
  • 1 Gravecrawler
  • 1 Colossal Grave-Reaver
  • 1 Nyx Weaver
  • 1 Aftermath Analyst
  • 1 World Shaper
  • 1 Splendid Reclamation

Reanimation

  • 1 Reanimate
  • 1 Victimize
  • 1 Dread Return
  • 1 Living Death
  • 1 Necromantic Selection
  • 1 Sidisi, Brood Tyrant

Payoffs & Finishers

  • 1 Avenger of Zendikar
  • 1 Ob Nixilis, the Fallen
  • 1 Six
  • 1 Teval's Judgment
  • 1 Casualties of War
  • 1 Toxic Deluge

Card Advantage

  • 1 Rhystic Study
  • 1 Treasure Cruise
  • 1 River Kelpie
  • 1 Gifts Ungiven
  • 1 Ripples of Undeath
  • 1 Will of the Sultai
  • 1 Wonder
  • 1 Kheru Goldkeeper
  • 1 Kishla Skimmer

Interaction & Tutors

  • 1 Counterspell
  • 1 Fierce Guardianship
  • 1 An Offer You Can't Refuse
  • 1 Cyclonic Rift
  • 1 Assassin's Trophy
  • 1 Putrefy
  • 1 Beast Within
  • 1 Tear Asunder
  • 1 Demonic Tutor
  • 1 Vampiric Tutor
  • 1 Worldly Tutor
  • 1 Crop Rotation

Lands (36)

  • 1 Command Tower
  • 1 Exotic Orchard
  • 1 Watery Grave
  • 1 Overgrown Tomb
  • 1 Breeding Pool
  • 1 Drowned Catacomb
  • 1 Woodland Cemetery
  • 1 Hinterland Harbor
  • 1 Underground River
  • 1 Llanowar Wastes
  • 1 Yavimaya Coast
  • 1 Sunken Hollow
  • 1 Temple of Malady
  • 1 Temple of Deceit
  • 1 Field of the Dead
  • 1 Bojuka Bog
  • 1 Ash Barrens
  • 1 Reliquary Tower
  • 7 Forest
  • 6 Swamp
  • 5 Island

Paste-Ready Import

1 Teval, the Balanced Scale

1 Sol Ring
1 Arcane Signet
1 Farseek
1 Sakura-Tribe Elder
1 Cultivate
1 Three Visits
1 Nature's Lore
1 Harrow
1 Skull Prophet
1 Stitcher's Supplier
1 Hedron Crab
1 Grapple with the Past
1 Grisly Salvage
1 Forbidden Alchemy
1 Welcome the Dead
1 Life from the Loam
1 Insidious Roots
1 Entomb
1 Muldrotha, the Gravetide
1 Conduit of Worlds
1 Eternal Witness
1 Timeless Witness
1 Meren of Clan Nel Toth
1 The Gitrog Monster
1 Gravecrawler
1 Colossal Grave-Reaver
1 Nyx Weaver
1 Aftermath Analyst
1 World Shaper
1 Splendid Reclamation
1 Reanimate
1 Victimize
1 Dread Return
1 Living Death
1 Necromantic Selection
1 Sidisi, Brood Tyrant
1 Avenger of Zendikar
1 Ob Nixilis, the Fallen
1 Six
1 Teval's Judgment
1 Casualties of War
1 Toxic Deluge
1 Rhystic Study
1 Treasure Cruise
1 River Kelpie
1 Gifts Ungiven
1 Ripples of Undeath
1 Will of the Sultai
1 Wonder
1 Kheru Goldkeeper
1 Kishla Skimmer
1 Counterspell
1 Fierce Guardianship
1 An Offer You Can't Refuse
1 Cyclonic Rift
1 Assassin's Trophy
1 Putrefy
1 Beast Within
1 Tear Asunder
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Worldly Tutor
1 Crop Rotation
1 Command Tower
1 Exotic Orchard
1 Watery Grave
1 Overgrown Tomb
1 Breeding Pool
1 Drowned Catacomb
1 Woodland Cemetery
1 Hinterland Harbor
1 Underground River
1 Llanowar Wastes
1 Yavimaya Coast
1 Sunken Hollow
1 Temple of Malady
1 Temple of Deceit
1 Field of the Dead
1 Bojuka Bog
1 Ash Barrens
1 Reliquary Tower
7 Forest
6 Swamp
5 Island

Strategy Guide

Early Game (Turns 1–4)

Prioritize ramp and yard-fillers. Sol Ring, Arcane Signet, Farseek, Sakura-Tribe Elder, and the Cultivate package get you ahead on mana while seeding lands into the graveyard (Sakura-Tribe Elder and Harrow both feed Teval's Spirit trigger). Stitcher's Supplier and Hedron Crab start stocking the yard immediately. You usually don't need Teval out turn three — set up the engine first so his attack trigger and Spirit-making matter the moment he lands.

Mid Game (Turns 5–7)

Deploy Teval and start the loop. Each land hitting your graveyard — via fetch-style ramp, dredging Life from the Loam, or sacrificing lands — makes a Spirit, and attacking returns your best land or creature. Splendid Reclamation and World Shaper convert a stocked yard into an explosive land swing (and a wave of Spirits). Muldrotha and Conduit of Worlds let you replay permanents from the graveyard every turn, snowballing card advantage the table can't match.

Late Game (Turns 8+)

Close with a payoff. Avenger of Zendikar after a Splendid Reclamation is frequently game-ending; Living Death and Necromantic Selection flip a board stall in your favor; Ob Nixilis or a wide Spirit army carries the damage. Field of the Dead plus all your land recursion quietly assembles a second token engine. Keep Cyclonic Rift and Toxic Deluge for the inevitable mirror-of-boards, then grind the table out with sheer recursion.

Win Conditions & Combos

Teval grinds rather than combos. Main avenues: (1) a go-wide Spirit token swarm — every land to the yard is a body — buffed by Wonder for evasion; (2) Splendid Reclamation / World Shaper into Avenger of Zendikar or Field of the Dead for an overwhelming board in one turn; (3) recursive value lock with Muldrotha + Conduit of Worlds replaying threats and interaction until the table runs out of answers; (4) a haymaker reanimation turn via Living Death or Necromantic Selection. Demonic, Vampiric, and Worldly Tutor find whichever payoff the table is weakest to.

Budget Notes

As listed the deck runs roughly $250–$350 depending on printings, with the dual lands, Rhystic Study, Cyclonic Rift, and the tutors carrying most of the cost. Functional budget swaps that keep the engine intact: replace Cyclonic Rift with Evacuation or Devastation Tide; Rhystic Study with Verdant Rebirth or Read the Bones; the painlands/shocklands with Sultai tap-lands and Terramorphic Expanse / Evolving Wilds (which also feed Teval by sending fetched lands… use bounce/sac to recur); and Vampiric Tutor with Sign in Blood for raw card draw. The graveyard core — Stitcher's Supplier, Hedron Crab, Life from the Loam, Splendid Reclamation, Muldrotha — is inexpensive and does the heavy lifting.

TikTok / Shorts Script (45–60s)

HOOK: "This new commander is the #2 most-built deck on EDHREC this month — and it turns your lands into a Spirit army."

1) Teval, the Balanced Scale — every land in your graveyard makes a 1/1 Spirit, and attacking buys back a land or creature.

2) Stitcher's Supplier — instant graveyard fuel from turn one.

3) Splendid Reclamation — return ALL your lands at once for a mana explosion and a wave of Spirits.

4) Muldrotha, the Gravetide — replay a permanent from your yard every single turn.

5) Avenger of Zendikar — the payoff: dozens of Plant tokens off a single land swing.

CTA: "Full Teval deck tech — the 100-card list, the combos, and budget swaps — is live now at manariotgames.com. Follow Mana Riot Games for weekly Commander + Standard deck techs."