Let's Crack Some Eggs! - $50 Budget Teshar Deck Tech

Teshar, Ancestor's Apostle | Illustrated by Even Amundsen

Ornithopter | Illustrated by Mathias Kollros

Hello, everyone! Welcome to BathroomBrews, the budget deck tech series proving Magic isn't pay-to-win. Each deck will have a budget of $50 excluding the cost of the commander.

Today I'll be showcasing the power of Teshar, Ancestor's Apostle. I've discussed the power of this commander, despite it getting downshifted in Command Masters recently in a previous article, so if you're looking for a powerful combo deck that can keep up with the best of them, then look no further. Let's crack some eggs and scramble up a victory!

The Eggs

Let's kick things off with the namesake of the deck, eggs. Eggs are one-mana artifacts that can sacrifice themselves to draw a card. First, we have the new Candy Trail, which provides us with card advantage and life gain. Next is a classic in egg decks, Conjurer's Bauble, which is a weird form of graveyard recursion lets us draw a card. Finally, we have Origin Spellbomb and Sunbeam Spellbomb. Again, these are just cheap ways for us to draw cards.

The Nuts

Next are the nuts of the deck. Unlike eggs, nuts are two-mana artifacts that let us draw cards, and to stick to the food-naming convention, we have Lembas. While this technically draws us a card when it enters, we can still sacrifice it to gain life and it shuffles itself away for later use. Next, we have Moonsilver Key, which lets us tutor a mana rock or land into our hand. I love being able to recur this to get Sol Ring and Arcane Signet from the deck. Ichor Wellspring, technically isn't a nut since it can't sacrifice itself, but I'll consider this blob an honorary nut.

The Cheerios

I promise this is the last food reference. Cheerios are any zero-mana artifacts. They don't need to have any special effects aside from being free to cast. While I wish we could afford to add cards like Mox Opal, Chrome Mox and Mox Diamond, those cards cost more than this entire deck and then some, so instead we'll have to settle for the Pauper staple Welding Jar. Aside from being a cheap artifact, it also protects some of the key artifact creatures. Next is the kicker mana rock, Everflowing Chalice. While we can use this to ramp, often I'd rather play it for zero mana to recur something. Lastly, we have the Modern staple, Mishra's Bauble. Technically Ornithopter is also a Cheerio, so don't forget about the best creature in Magic. Other Cheerios you could include would be Claws of Gix, Tormod's Crypt, and Urza's Bauble.

The Creatures

Any good EDH deck will have a multitude of ways to draw cards, and in mono-white, that happens to be cheap creatures. This is perfect with Teshar since they easily recur some of the best cantripping creatures. A staple of most of my budget white decks is Spirited Companion, who is arguably the best boy. If you're looking for a good early blocker, Wall of Omens is always a great inclusion. Lastly, Inspiring Overseer, again, draws us a card. Noticing a pattern yet?

Because Teshar wants us to cast historic spells to recur creatures, artifact creatures become that much better here. I included Circuit Mender and Filigree Familiar, for the card draw and life gain they provide, and Skyscanner, because it draws cards. Finally, my favorite artifact creature is Zenith Chronicler. I put this in my recent Syr Ginger deck, and it's performed incredibly well for me. Most players won't want to kill it since they are also drawing cards, it is a cheap artifact creature and we can Skullclamp it.

But I didn't just want to add creatures that drew us cards. After all, there are plenty of powerful creatures at three mana or less, even on a budget. If we want to beat face with tokens, Digsite Engineer will let us make construct tokens for two mana. We have Welcoming Vampire, which is card draw whenever a cheap creature enters under our control, and Skyclave Apparition, to remove pesky permanents when it enters the battlefield.

The Combo

Don't think just because this is a budget deck we couldn't include an infinite combo. To find all the variations of this combo, you can check out Commander Spellbook for the full list. All you need is to have Teshar, Ancestor's Apostle and Blasting Station in play along with Myr Retriever and Ornithopter in hand.

1. Cast Myr Retriever from your hand.
2. Sacrifice it to Blasting Station dealing one damage to an opponent.
3. Cast Ornithopter and return Myr Retriever to the battlefield with Teshar's ability, which untaps Blasting Station.
4. Ornithopter will enter the battlefield, triggering Blasting Station's untap ability. With that untap trigger on the stack, sacrifice Ornithopter dealing one damage to an opponent.
5. Blasting Station will untap, allowing you to sacrifice Myr Retriever to deal one damage to an opponent.
6. Return Ornithopter to your hand with Myr Retriever's ability.
7. Repeat steps 3-6 for infinite damage to your opponents. You also get infinite ETBs, LTBs, storm, death triggers, and sacrifice triggers.

This combo works with any zero-mana artifact that can sacrifice itself the same turn, such as Mishra's Bauble or any other zero-mana artifact creature. You can replace Myr Retriever in this combo with Scrap Trawler, Salvager of Ruin, or Workshop Assistant, all of which I've made sure to include in the deck. If you have the extra budget, Altar of Dementia or Grinding Station are great back-ups to Blasting Station. While Ashnod's Altar, Phyrexian Altar, and Krark-Clan Ironworks generate infinite mana.

Second Sunrise

My absolute favorite card in the deck has to be Second Sunrise. This card was part of a combo in Modern a number of years ago which used Pyrite Spellbomb as your primary win condition. Don't ask me exactly how the deck worked it has been 11 years since I've seen it, but Second Sunrise is in the deck to help you dig for the combo, along with the help of Skullclamp and Arcbound Ravager, both of which I managed to fit in a $50 deck; I'm just that good. We can easily sacrifice our entire board and quickly recur it with Second Sunrise to give us the best chance of drawing into our combo.

If you want to try something risky but really fun you could add Zuran Orb to the deck. This combos nicely with Second Sunrise since it also returns lands to the battlefield untapped, so you can tap all of your lands for mana, sacrifice them to Zuran Orb then cast Second Sunrise to return all of them untapped, giving you nearly twice the amount of mana. Just be careful because if someone counters your Second Sunrise, you'll pretty much be out of the game.

This has been another installment of BathroomBrews; make sure to check out my YouTube channel, BathroomBrewsMTG, for weekly MTG content and the accompanying video. Also, make sure to check out my Patreon if you want to take your support further.