ManaBuilder
    Teval, the Balanced Scale
    Precon Upgrade Guide

    Sultai Arisen Upgrade Guide (Tarkir: Dragonstorm)

    B manaG manaU manaReleased April 11, 2025

    Sultai Arisen from Tarkir: Dragonstorm is a three-color precon (blue, black, and green) led by Teval, the Balanced Scale. This guide makes ten swaps to improve card flow, interaction, and the deck's land-focused graveyard plan without changing what you're building around.

    See which upgrades you already own
    Last updated: October 20262 min read

    The full decklist

    100 cards, led by Teval, the Balanced Scale.

    Commander (1)

    • 1 Teval, the Balanced Scale

    Lands (37)

    • 1 Cephalid Coliseum
    • 1 Command Beacon
    • 1 Command Tower
    • 1 Contaminated Aquifer
    • 1 Crypt of Agadeem
    • 1 Darkwater Catacombs
    • 1 Dreamroot Cascade
    • 1 Drownyard Temple
    • 1 Exotic Orchard
    • 1 Fetid Pools
    • 1 Foreboding Landscape
    • 6 Forest
    • 1 Golgari Rot Farm
    • 1 Haunted Mire
    • 1 Hinterland Harbor
    • 4 Island
    • 1 Llanowar Wastes
    • 1 Memorial to Folly
    • 1 Myriad Landscape
    • 1 Opulent Palace
    • 1 Sunken Hollow
    • 5 Swamp
    • 1 Temple of Malady
    • 1 Terramorphic Expanse
    • 1 Woodland Cemetery

    Instants (7)

    • 1 Forbidden Alchemy
    • 1 Grapple with the Past
    • 1 Grisly Salvage
    • 1 Harrow
    • 1 Lethal Scheme
    • 1 Putrefy
    • 1 Tear Asunder

    Creatures (36)

    • 1 Amphin Mutineer
    • 1 Avenger of Zendikar
    • 1 Colossal Grave-Reaver
    • 1 Consuming Aberration
    • 1 Dauthi Voidwalker
    • 1 Disciple of Bolas
    • 1 Diviner of Mist
    • 1 Floral Evoker
    • 1 Gravecrawler
    • 1 Hedron Crab
    • 1 Jarad, Golgari Lich Lord
    • 1 Junji, the Midnight Sky
    • 1 Kishla Skimmer
    • 1 Kotis, Sibsig Champion
    • 1 Lord of Extinction
    • 1 Lord of the Forsaken
    • 1 Meren of Clan Nel Toth
    • 1 Millikin
    • 1 Multani, Yavimaya's Avatar
    • 1 Necropolis Fiend
    • 1 Noxious Gearhulk
    • 1 Nyx Weaver
    • 1 Ob Nixilis, the Fallen
    • 1 Reassembling Skeleton
    • 1 River Kelpie
    • 1 Sakura-Tribe Elder
    • 1 Satyr Wayfinder
    • 1 Shigeki, Jukai Visionary
    • 1 Skull Prophet
    • 1 Springbloom Druid
    • 1 Steward of the Harvest
    • 1 Stitcher's Supplier
    • 1 Tasigur, the Golden Fang
    • 1 Timeless Witness
    • 1 Woe Strider
    • 1 Wonder

    Sorceries (12)

    • 1 Afterlife from the Loam
    • 1 Casualties of War
    • 1 Cultivate
    • 1 Farseek
    • 1 Life from the Loam
    • 1 Living Death
    • 1 Necromantic Selection
    • 1 Rampant Growth
    • 1 Treasure Cruise
    • 1 Victimize
    • 1 Welcome the Dead
    • 1 Will of the Sultai

    Artifacts (4)

    • 1 Arcane Signet
    • 1 Conduit of Worlds
    • 1 Essence Anchor
    • 1 Sol Ring

    Enchantments (3)

    • 1 Crawling Sensation
    • 1 Phyrexian Reclamation
    • 1 Teval's Judgment

    What to cut / what to add

    These swaps keep Teval's attack-and-rebuild plan intact while putting more emphasis on card flow, land-focused value, and interaction. Mystic Remora and Guardian Project take slots previously occupied by Will of the Sultai and Crawling Sensation, while the remaining changes rebalance supporting creatures and board-control options. The cuts aren't necessarily outside the plan: like any cards, they can reward Teval when they leave your graveyard. That alone isn't enough to keep every slot, though. The goal is a more consistent supporting package, rather than simply accumulating more graveyard material.

    Cut

    • Will of the Sultai

      Will of the Sultai

      Make room for Mystic Remora.

    • Crawling Sensation

      Crawling Sensation

      Make room for Guardian Project.

    • Consuming Aberration

      Consuming Aberration

      Make room for Aesi, Tyrant of Gyre Strait.

    • Floral Evoker

      Floral Evoker

      Make room for Tireless Provisioner.

    • Kishla Skimmer

      Kishla Skimmer

      Make room for Tireless Tracker.

    • Diviner of Mist

      Diviner of Mist

      Make room for Aftermath Analyst.

    • Welcome the Dead

      Welcome the Dead

      Make room for Syr Konrad, the Grim.

    • Dauthi Voidwalker

      Dauthi Voidwalker

      Make room for Beast Within.

    • Necromantic Selection

      Necromantic Selection

      Make room for Liliana, Dreadhorde General.

    • Necropolis Fiend

      Necropolis Fiend

      Make room for Whip of Erebos.

    Add

    • Mystic Remora

      Mystic Remora

      Mystic Remora replaces an inefficient five-mana modal spell with premium early card flow.

    • Guardian Project

      Guardian Project

      Guardian Project turns the deck's high creature count and recurring bodies into sustained card advantage.

    • Aesi, Tyrant of Gyre Strait

      Aesi, Tyrant of Gyre Strait

      Aesi adds land drops and converts every landfall trigger into a card, unlike the opponent-mill payoff it replaces.

    • Tireless Provisioner

      Tireless Provisioner

      Tireless Provisioner converts repeated land entries into Treasures that accelerate Teval's graveyard payoffs.

    • Tireless Tracker

      Tireless Tracker

      Tireless Tracker supplies repeatable landfall card advantage while retaining a useful creature body.

    • Aftermath Analyst

      Aftermath Analyst

      Aftermath Analyst mills early and later returns all milled lands for an explosive wave of landfall triggers.

    • Syr Konrad, the Grim

      Syr Konrad, the Grim

      Syr Konrad turns self-mill, creature deaths, and graveyard recursion into reliable damage against every opponent.

    • Beast Within

      Beast Within

      Beast Within raises true interaction with instant-speed answers to any permanent while avoiding graveyard exile anti-synergy.

    • Liliana, Dreadhorde General

      Liliana, Dreadhorde General

      Liliana provides repeatable sacrifice-based draw and a flexible edict while lowering the board-control slot by one mana.

    • Whip of Erebos

      Whip of Erebos

      Whip repeatedly converts stocked graveyards into hasty ETB payoffs and grants lifelink to stabilize races.

    Card images and card data courtesy of Scryfall. Magic: The Gathering is © Wizards of the Coast. ManaBuilder is unaffiliated with Wizards of the Coast.

    Sultai Arisen FAQ

    Frequently Asked Questions

    It's worth considering if you enjoy using your graveyard to rebuild your battlefield. Out of the box, Teval gives the deck a clear engine: attacks mill cards and can recover a land, while cards leaving your graveyard produce Zombie Druid tokens. The supplied upgrade plan identifies card flow, efficiency, and interaction as the main areas to improve. The roughly $70 of swaps on this page target those weaknesses while keeping the same game plan.
    Teval, the Balanced Scale leads the deck. Teval has flying, mills three cards whenever it attacks, and then lets you return a land card from your graveyard to the battlefield tapped. Whenever one or more cards leave your graveyard, Teval creates a 2/2 black Zombie Druid creature token.
    The ten additions total $70.05 at the supplied prices. That's the cost of the added cards, not a figure adjusted for the cards you remove.
    Not if those cards leave together. Teval says "one or more cards," so several cards leaving your graveyard in a single event produce one token. Separate events can each trigger it, and its supplied text has no once-per-turn restriction.

    How to Build a Commander Deck

    Step by step: pick a commander, follow color identity, fill the quota template.