Tariel, Reckoner of Souls

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Greetings friend!

If you enjoy playing commander decks that rely on powerful card synergies to create a dominant board position while also abusing your opponent's best creatures to beat them at their own game, you've come to the right place! Allow me to introduce Tariel, Reckoner of Souls.

Commander
1 Tariel, Reckoner of Souls

Creatures 25
1 Bloodghast
1 Stoneforge Mystic
1 Withered Wretch
1 War Priest of Thune
1 Imperial Recruiter
1 Bone Shredder
1 Solemn Simulacrum
1 Anger
1 Filth
1 Valor
1 [card]Ravenous
Baboons[/card]
1 Tuktuk Scrapper
1 Kiki-jiki, Mirror Breaker
1 Zealous Conscripts
1 Reveillark
1 Puppeteer Clique
1 Mindclaw Shaman
1 Karmic Guide
1 Grave Titan
1 Inferno Titan
1 Sun Titan
1 Kokusho, the Evening Star
1 Yosei, the Morning Star
1 Sheoldred, Whispering One
1 Vish Kal, Blood Arbiter

Spells 12
1 Path to Exile
1 Swords to Plowshares
1 Imperial Seal
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Chaos Warp
1 [card:
28nx1n4l]Damnation[/card]
1 Wrath of God
1 Return to Dust
1 Austere Command
1 [card]Life's Finale[/card]
1 [card]Black Sun's Zenith[/card]
1 Martial Coup

Artifacts and Enchantments 20
1 Expedition Map
1 Relic of Progenitus
1 Skullclamp
1 Sol Ring
1 Armillary Sphere
1 Lightning Greaves
1 [card]Ashnod's Altar[/card]
1 Mimic Vat
1 Rings of Brighthearth
1 Sword of Body and Mind
1 Thousand-Year Elixir
1 Phyrexian Reclamation
1 Animate Dead
1 Attrition
1 [card:
28nx1n4l]Necromancy[/card]
1 Necropotence
1 Phyrexian Arena
1 Unhallowed Pact
1 Grave Pact
1 Lethal Vapors

Planeswalkers 3
1 Elspeth, Knight-Errant
1 Sorin, Lord of Innistrad
1 Liliana Vess

Land 39
1 Command Tower
1 Badlands
1 Scrubland
1 Plateau
1 Blood Crypt
1 Godless Shrine
1 Sacred Foundry
1 Bloodstained Mire
1 Marsh Flats
1 Arid Mesa
1 Isolated Chapel
1 [card]Dragonskull Summit[/
card]
1 Clifftop Retreat
1 Bojuka Bog
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
1 Cabal Coffers
1 Vesuva
1 Thawing Glaciers
1 Maze of Ith
1 Phyrexian Tower
1 Reliquary Tower
1 [card]Slayer's Stronghold[/card]
1 Strip Mine
1 Wasteland
3 Mountain
5 Plains
7 Swamp

This deck uses a toolbox of tutors and reanimation effects to keep small value creatures on the board while slowly assembling a machine of artifacts and enchanments to maximize the effectiveness of Tariel's tap ability. Rings of Brighthearth, [card]Thousand-Year Elixir[/
card] and [card]Ashnod's Altar[/card] really shine here, as you can copy Tariel's tap ability with the rings to steal an opponent's creature, kill it to the altar for mana to untap Tariel via Elixir, then retap Tariel to do it all again! Theres nothing quite as satisfying as using your opponent's own worst weapons against them, which is one of the reasons I built a deck around Tariel to begin with. Who doesn't like to punish their opponents for being greedy with Eldrazi? Yes you can steal them out of the graveyard if you time your tap while the shuffle trigger is still on the stack.

The one balancing factor is of course the randomness of what Tariel steals. This can be controlled with Withered Wretch to great effect or you can go the proactive route with [card]Life's Finale[/card] and stock an opponent's yard with only the stuff you want. Even if you are forced to roll the dice and take a chance I've found that can be part of the fun, and it doesn't really
matter since Commander is so packed with good creatures you rarely find yourself without a bevy good possibilities.

So there you have it, my Tariel, Reckoner of Souls commander deck!