Sultai Arisen Precon Upgrade Guide: Teval, the Balanced Scale
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TDC precon
Sultai Arisen
- Commander
- Teval, the Balanced Scale
- Colors
- Blue, Black, Green
- Released
- 11 April 2025
- Card value
- ≈ $125.11
- Key cards
- Colossal Grave-Reaver, Teval’s Judgment, Jarad, Golgari Lich Lord
Sultai Arisen is the black-green-blue deck from Tarkir: Dragonstorm Commander, led by Teval, the Balanced Scale. Teval mills cards and returns lands from your graveyard when it attacks, and makes a 2/2 Zombie whenever cards leave your graveyard, so the deck fills its yard and keeps pulling things back out.
Below you’ll find the full interactive decklist, what the deck does well, where it struggles and our recommended upgrades, split into budget ($7.00), mid-range ($30.59) and premium ($123.54). Start with the cheapest swaps and work your way up.
The decklist
Commander (1)
Creatures (36)
- 1Amphin Mutineer$0.31
- 1Avenger of Zendikar$0.80
- 1Colossal Grave-Reaver$12.78
- 1Consuming Aberration$0.36
- 1Dauthi Voidwalker$5.57
- 1Disciple of Bolas$0.37
- 1Diviner of Mist$0.23
- 1Floral Evoker$0.30
- 1Gravecrawler$1.40
- 1Hedron Crab$3.42
- 1Jarad, Golgari Lich Lord$8.60
- 1Junji, the Midnight Sky$0.91
- 1Kishla Skimmer$0.28
- 1Kotis, Sibsig Champion$0.44
- 1Lord of Extinction$0.77
- 1Lord of the Forsaken$0.35
- 1Meren of Clan Nel Toth$2.71
- 1Millikin$0.26
- 1Multani, Yavimaya’s Avatar$0.32
- 1Necropolis Fiend$0.20
- 1Noxious Gearhulk$0.44
- 1Nyx Weaver$0.34
- 1Ob Nixilis, the Fallen$2.83
- 1Reassembling Skeleton$0.34
- 1River Kelpie$0.33
- 1Sakura-Tribe Elder$0.37
- 1Satyr Wayfinder$0.27
- 1Shigeki, Jukai Visionary$0.32
- 1Skull Prophet$0.85
- 1Springbloom Druid$0.26
- 1Steward of the Harvest$0.27
- 1Stitcher’s Supplier$0.37
- 1Tasigur, the Golden Fang$0.24
- 1Timeless Witness$0.41
- 1Woe Strider$0.61
- 1Wonder$4.02
Instants (7)
- 1Forbidden Alchemy$0.27
- 1Grapple with the Past$0.30
- 1Grisly Salvage$0.32
- 1Harrow$0.37
- 1Lethal Scheme$0.25
- 1Putrefy$0.30
- 1Tear Asunder$0.34
Sorceries (12)
- 1Afterlife from the Loam$1.34
- 1Casualties of War$0.32
- 1Cultivate$0.49
- 1Farseek$1.59
- 1Life from the Loam$5.35
- 1Living Death$6.71
- 1Necromantic Selection$0.30
- 1Rampant Growth$1.23
- 1Treasure Cruise$0.28
- 1Victimize$1.24
- 1Welcome the Dead$0.28
- 1Will of the Sultai$2.04
Artifacts (4)
- 1Arcane Signet$0.75
- 1Conduit of Worlds$3.28
- 1Essence Anchor$0.26
- 1Sol Ring$1.97
Enchantments (3)
- 1Crawling Sensation$0.33
- 1Phyrexian Reclamation$2.97
- 1Teval’s Judgment$9.04
Lands (37)
- 1Cephalid Coliseum$0.33
- 1Command Beacon$9.65
- 1Command Tower$0.21
- 1Contaminated Aquifer$0.36
- 1Crypt of Agadeem$3.78
- 1Darkwater Catacombs$0.33
- 1Dreamroot Cascade$1.13
- 1Drownyard Temple$0.29
- 1Exotic Orchard$0.33
- 1Fetid Pools$0.32
- 1Foreboding Landscape$0.27
- 3Forest$0.22
- 3Forest$0.21
- 1Golgari Rot Farm$0.31
- 1Haunted Mire$0.34
- 1Hinterland Harbor$0.31
- 2Island$0.19
- 2Island$0.23
- 1Llanowar Wastes$1.05
- 1Memorial to Folly$0.31
- 1Myriad Landscape$0.34
- 1Opulent Palace$0.31
- 1Sunken Hollow$0.34
- 3Swamp$0.21
- 2Swamp$0.18
- 1Temple of Malady$0.24
- 1Terramorphic Expanse$0.27
- 1Woodland Cemetery$0.98
Hover a card to see it (tap on mobile). Prices are for the precon printing, via Scryfall.
What the deck does well
- Teval is a self-contained engine that ramps, fills the graveyard and makes Zombies every turn.
- Great recursion already included, like Life from the Loam, Living Death and Meren of Clan Nel Toth.
- Plenty of ramp and self-mill helps the deck start fast.
Where it struggles
- Several cards don’t care about the graveyard plan, such as Disciple of Bolas and Ob Nixilis, the Fallen.
- Some top-end creatures like Lord of Extinction and Consuming Aberration are slow and clunky.
- Few payoffs that turn cards leaving the graveyard into damage or extra value.
Recommended upgrades
Pick a budget tab. Every row tells you which card to take out and what to put in.
Cheap swaps (under $2 each): more graveyard payoffs and recursive lands.
| Cut | Add | From | Why | Buy |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Necropolis Fiend | Muldrotha, the Gravetide | $0.48 €0.84 | Replays a permanent from your graveyard each turn, triggering Teval every time | TCGplayer · Cardmarket |
| Woe Strider | Kheru Goldkeeper | $0.29 €0.17 | A Treasure every time cards leave your graveyard on your turn | TCGplayer · Cardmarket |
| Lord of the Forsaken | Sidisi, Brood Tyrant | $1.16 €0.66 | Makes a Zombie every time you mill a creature | TCGplayer · Cardmarket |
| Reassembling Skeleton | Insidious Roots | $1.68 €1.36 | Grows your creatures and makes Plants whenever cards leave your graveyard | TCGplayer · Cardmarket |
| Consuming Aberration | The Gitrog Monster | $0.41 €1.04 | Draws a card for every land that hits your graveyard | TCGplayer · Cardmarket |
| Essence Anchor | Syr Konrad, the Grim | $1.00 €0.53 | Damages each opponent whenever cards leave your graveyard | TCGplayer · Cardmarket |
| Swamp | Waterlogged Grove | $1.21 €0.49 | A land you can sacrifice for a card and replay with Teval | TCGplayer · Cardmarket |
| Forest | Blast Zone | $0.34 €0.24 | A recurrable land that wipes tokens and small permanents | TCGplayer · Cardmarket |
| Island | Ghost Quarter | $0.43 €0.48 | Removes a problem land, and Teval brings it back | TCGplayer · Cardmarket |
| Total | $7.00 | |||
Stronger mill and land recursion engines ($2–$8 each).
| Cut | Add | From | Why | Buy |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tasigur, the Golden Fang | The Scarab God | $2.66 €3.80 | Exiles creatures from graveyards to make copies, triggering Teval | TCGplayer · Cardmarket |
| Junji, the Midnight Sky | Six | $5.09 €5.20 | Mills, finds lands and lets you recast permanents from your graveyard | TCGplayer · Cardmarket |
| Treasure Cruise | Hedge Shredder | $2.49 €1.67 | Mills every attack and puts milled lands onto the battlefield | TCGplayer · Cardmarket |
| Diviner of Mist | Glarb, Calamity’s Augur | $3.87 €3.91 | Plays big spells and lands straight off the top | TCGplayer · Cardmarket |
| Tear Asunder | Blossoming Tortoise | $5.00 €5.30 | A Teval-style land recursion trigger on a body | TCGplayer · Cardmarket |
| Wonder | Walk-In Closet // Forgotten Cellar | $7.06 €6.38 | Play lands from your graveyard, later cast spells from it | TCGplayer · Cardmarket |
| Amphin Mutineer | Ramunap Excavator | $4.42 €2.78 | Play lands from your graveyard | TCGplayer · Cardmarket |
| Total | $30.59 | |||
Premium upgrades for the strongest version of the deck. None of these are on the official Game Changers list, so the deck stays friendly for most casual tables.
| Cut | Add | From | Why | Buy |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lord of Extinction | Ancient Greenwarden | $12.35 €9.37 | Plays lands from your graveyard and doubles landfall | TCGplayer · Cardmarket |
| Jarad, Golgari Lich Lord | Ripples of Undeath | $8.24 €6.88 | Mills and turns the best cards into card advantage every turn | TCGplayer · Cardmarket |
| Disciple of Bolas | Sylvan Library | $26.64 €22.76 | Picks the best of your top three cards every turn | TCGplayer · Cardmarket |
| Command Beacon | Verdant Catacombs | $29.49 €23.03 | A fetch land that Teval can replay over and over | TCGplayer · Cardmarket |
| Darkwater Catacombs | Polluted Delta | $18.71 €18.58 | Another fetch land to recur with Teval | TCGplayer · Cardmarket |
| Conduit of Worlds | Crucible of Worlds | $28.11 €18.31 | A cheaper, cleaner way to replay lands every turn | TCGplayer · Cardmarket |
| Total | $123.54 | |||
Where to buy the precon
Don’t own the deck yet? Find Sultai Arisen on TCGplayer or on Cardmarket.
Verdict
Sultai Arisen has a strong, flexible engine and some excellent recursion straight out of the box. Replace the off-plan creatures with land recursion and leave-the-graveyard payoffs, and Teval snowballs every game.
