Trystan, Callous CultivatorTrystan, Callous Cultivator | Art by Annie Stegg

Elves are the second most popular typal archetype on EDHREC, behind only Dragons and just ahead of Zombies. Heavy-hitters Lathril, Blade of the ElvesLathril, Blade of the Elves and Voja, Jaws of the ConclaveVoja, Jaws of the Conclave helm the most Elves decks by far and serve as great examples of the ability of Elves decks to go wide and generate a lot of value while they do it.

But Elves decks are capable of doing so much more than just going wide. From Galadriel, Light of ValinorGaladriel, Light of Valinor decks that lean into Blink effects, to Marwyn, the NurturerMarwyn, the Nurturer decks that create a ton of mana while going tall, to Elrond, Master of HealingElrond, Master of Healing decks that care about scrying and +1/+1 counters, Elves can support many strategies.

In Lorwyn Eclipsed, Elves got a fantastic new commander that supports Dredge and Reanimator archetypes in Trystan, Callous CultivatorTrystan, Callous Cultivator. Trystan cares about having Elves in his controller's graveyard while also providing a repeatable way to self-mill and gain life.

It's just the sort of value engine to support an Elves deck that wants to get a little extra out of its graveyard.

What Does Trystan, Callous CultivatorTrystan, Callous Cultivator Do?

The front side of Trystan, Trystan, Callous CultivatorTrystan, Callous Cultivator, is a rather robust 3/4 with deathtouch for only . When Trystan enters, it mills us for three cards and then we gain two life if there is an Elf card in our graveyard. Notably the Elf card does not have to be one of the three cards milled this way.

Finally, Trystan's front side has a triggered ability that allows us to transform Trystan by paying at the beginning of our first main phase. Typically, this means we'll have to wait until the turn after we cast Trystan to transform him into Trystan, Penitent Culler unless we can find a way to cast him at instant speed.

Once transformed, Trystan will mill us for an additional three cards and then allow us to exile an Elf card from our graveyard. If we do, each opponent will lose two life. Since this ability says "may" we can decline to exile an Elf from our graveyard if we want to and Trystan won't drain our opponents.

Last, but not least, Trystan, Penitent Culler has a similar ability that triggers at the beginning of our first main phase allowing us to transform him back into Trystan, Callous Cultivator. We can create a loop where Trystan alternates transforming between his two sides every turn, milling us a three cards a turn in the process, allowing us to gain some life and possibly drain our opponents as well.

While Trystan doesn't have the same explosive potential as Lathril, Blade of the ElvesLathril, Blade of the Elves, High Perfect MorcantHigh Perfect Morcant, or some other popular Golgari () commanders, Trystan does quickly put cards into our graveyard in a way that lends itself well to strategies like Reanimator and Dredge.

Key Cards for Trystan, Callous CultivatorTrystan, Callous Cultivator

To make sure our Trystan deck isn't overly reliant on its commander, we'll want a handful of alternate ways to quickly and reliably fill our graveyard. Dredge all-stars like Golgari Grave-TrollGolgari Grave-Troll, Stinkweed ImpStinkweed Imp, and Life from the LoamLife from the Loam are all reliable ways to quickly self-mill a lot of cards.

Life from the Loam also helps us hit our land drops by returning lands from our graveyard to our hand.

You could add additional creatures like Golgari ThugGolgari Thug, but this deck likely wants other effects like Underrealm LichUnderrealm Lich, Out of the TombsOut of the Tombs, and Ripples of UndeathRipples of Undeath that can mill cards and potentially replace themselves in the process. Underrealm Lich is even an Elf!

Given we have Trystan in our command zone, we'll likely only need 1-2 self-mill effects a game to sufficiently stock up our graveyard.

As we mill over our library with Trystan and similar effects, we'll also want to make sure we have as many effects as we can that will generate extra value for creatures entering and leaving our graveyard. Chalk OutlineChalk Outline, Defiled Crypt // Cadaver LabDefiled Crypt // Cadaver Lab, Insidious RootsInsidious Roots, Soul EnervationSoul Enervation, and Teval's JudgmentTeval's Judgment all generate quite a bit of value whenever a creature leaves via Trystan's ability, a dredge trigger, etc.

While Syr Konrad, the GrimSyr Konrad, the Grim isn't an Elf, his triggered ability is simply too strong to pass up since he'll trigger when creatures go into or leave our graveyard. We'll be able to essentially get two triggers from Trystan when we mill over an Elf and subsequently exile it.

Syr Konrad even has an activated ability that allows us to mill a card if we have extra mana sitting around. He's exactly the sort of card that'll make our game plan run smoothly when we cast him.

After we've milled a bunch of Elves into our graveyard, we can quickly reanimate them with Bloodline BiddingBloodline Bidding, Living DeathLiving Death, or Rise of the Dark RealmsRise of the Dark Realms. While our opponents can also get creatures back with Living Death, we should be able to reliably have more creatures in our graveyard and to amass an overwhelming creature advantage when it resolves.

Bloodline BiddingBloodline Bidding rewards us for having a lot of a single creature type, in our case Elves, in our graveyard. With 34 total Elves in our list, we can reasonably expect for a third of our graveyard to come back when we cast Bloodline Binding. The volume of creatures, and token generators, we're running makes convoking it out easier as well so we should be able to cast this ahead of curve most games as well.

Meanwhile, Rise of the Dark Realms is backbreaking just about any time it resolves.

Last but not least, a variety of Elf typal cards like Elvish ArchdruidElvish Archdruid, Elvish ChampionElvish Champion, Leaf-Crowned VisionaryLeaf-Crowned Visionary, and Priest of TitaniaPriest of Titania help tie the deck together. Whether we need more cards, extra mana, a form of evasion, or a buff for our creatures, there's an Elf for that in the deck.

How Does This Trystan, Callous CultivatorTrystan, Callous Cultivator Deck Win?

Fortunately, Elves have quite a few different ways to close out games.

With creatures like Elvish ArchdruidElvish Archdruid and Elvish ChampionElvish Champion to buff our team, combat damage is always on the table. Especially in combination with OverrunOverrun-style effects on Elvish WarmasterElvish Warmaster and Ezuri, Renegade LeaderEzuri, Renegade Leader.

Gempalm StriderGempalm Strider is particularly spicy way for us to win via combat damage since we can cycle it at instant speed to give all Elves a +2/+2 buff.

Jarad, Golgari Lich LordJarad, Golgari Lich Lord, Shaman of the PackShaman of the Pack, and Skemfar ShadowsageSkemfar Shadowsage give our deck some much needed reach and a way to drain our opponents' life totals when there's a MoatMoat effect, huge token army, or something else preventing us from swinging away with our creatures.

Jarad works particularly well in combination with Golgari RaidersGolgari Raiders and Golgari Grave-TrollGolgari Grave-Troll since we'll be filling our graveyard with a bunch of creatures naturally. Abomination of LlanowarAbomination of Llanowar ended up being one of the last ten cuts from the deck but could easily make its way back in as a huge threat that also makes perfect sacrifice fodder for Jarad.

It's also worth reiterating just how strong the value engines that Syr Konrad, the GrimSyr Konrad, the Grim, Soul EnervationSoul Enervation, and Polluted Cistern // Dim OubliettePolluted Cistern // Dim Oubliette are in this deck. While one life at a time doesn't seem like much, this deck is built to mill itself in quite a few different ways turn after turn.

Combine that with regular chip damage from an army of Elves and life totals will start to go down fast.

Trystan, Callous Cultivator Commander Deck List

Here's the full deck list for you to peruse:

Conclusion

I hope you enjoyed this deck tech for Trystan, Callous CultivatorTrystan, Callous Cultivator. If you liked seeing a deck that mashes up two different archetypes like Elves and Reanimator, then be sure to check out my usual series, Plot Twist, where we take a commander that looks like it'll do one thing and instead give it a fresh twist.

I'm always looking to put an interesting twist on commanders that look straightforward to keep interesting things happening in my games. You can view all my deck lists here or see what I'm currently playing in paper on Archidekt.

Let me know in the comments below how you're building Trystan, any cards I missed, or what other cards from Lorwyn Eclipsed you're excited to brew around.