{"ops":[{"insert":"Toluz is one of my favourite decks as it uses a generally unconventional commander to get a huge amount of value, enabling you to rummage through your deck for whatever pieces you may need, making her decently effective and underrated as a combo commander.\n\nThe general game plan for Toluz is to cast her on turn 3, no later, then use her to repeatedly draw and discard cards with her recursion, allowing you to get a massive amount of value out of the discard value pieces in the deck.\n\nMulligans\nToluz doesn't massively need to have an opening hand filled with everything you could possibly need, as she is able to get you through large portions of your deck through the use of wheels. However, this being said, you should be mulliganing for the following things:\nAt least 3 lands, one of them producing blue - Toluz needs to come out turn 3 or she will be at a notable disadvantage. This is non-negotiable."},{"attributes":{"list":"bullet"},"insert":"\n"},{"insert":"At least 1 discard engine - There are only 3, so don't nuke your hand size to try and get one. Psychic Frog and Zombie Infestation are ideal here, so you can get them down the turn before Toluz and immediately start discarding. Skirge Familiar is nice, but its better for it to be a secondary discard engine rather than the primary one due to its mana cost."},{"attributes":{"list":"bullet"},"insert":"\n"},{"insert":"IDEALLY 1 piece of discard payoff - Definitely don't rule out good hands for not having one, but keep an eye out for them. The cheapest is Lazotep Chancellor, who can come down before Toluz, but you would ideally want an engine down first, two of which are the same mana value. Thus, a 3 mana or 4 mana payoff piece is ideal, notably Mystic Redaction or Feast of Sanity, which I will go into later."},{"attributes":{"list":"bullet"},"insert":"\n"},{"insert":"Some form of recursion/cheat death effect - Toluz will be dying a lot while you play this deck, so you need to try and prevent her commander tax from getting too high. Ideally the highest it should get is 4, but usually you've been able to generate enough discard value by this point to win the game."},{"attributes":{"list":"bullet"},"insert":"\n"},{"insert":"\nOverall you want Toluz to be castable as soon as physically possible, ideally with a discard engine being cast the turn before and some discard payoff coming out the turn after. \n\nKey Cards\nThere are a few cards/effects in this deck that need some explaining.\n\nCloning\nCards like:\nGlasspool Mimic"},{"attributes":{"list":"bullet"},"insert":"\n"},{"insert":"Phyrexian Metamorph"},{"attributes":{"list":"bullet"},"insert":"\n"},{"insert":"Other such clone effects"},{"attributes":{"list":"bullet"},"insert":"\n"},{"insert":"are massively useful in this deck as they allow you to take advantage of the Legend rule in order to get a Toluz death trigger without having to actually lose her. Have these creatures enter as a copy of Toluz, then sacrifice her to the Legend rule in order to get the trigger, then the clone will take over as Toluz, thus you never actually lose out on Toluz and can immediately get back to discarding.\n\nCycling:\nThis deck has a few cards with admittedly steep mana costs that are primarily in here as repeatable cycling/discard thanks to you getting them back from Toluz. Most of these cycle for only one mana, but Street Wraith cycles for 2 life instead of mana, meaning its a lot less potentially taxing to cycle.\n\nWheels\nAs you might imagine, a discard value deck gets a lot of value out of wheels.\nWindfall - Absolutely amazing for discarding a lot of cards at once, as well as dealing with any potential interaction that your opponents may have in hand."},{"attributes":{"list":"bullet"},"insert":"\n"},{"insert":"Tolarian Winds - Same thing, minus the wheeling of your opponents."},{"attributes":{"list":"bullet"},"insert":"\n"},{"insert":"Ancient Excavation - Functionally a wheel, but you can pick and choose what to keep and discard, as well as having a cycling ability."},{"attributes":{"list":"bullet"},"insert":"\n"},{"insert":"Dark Deal - The only downside to this one is that you lose out on a card, but it's not that massive of a drawback."},{"attributes":{"list":"bullet"},"insert":"\n"},{"insert":"Forgotten Creation - A repeatable free wheel on a creature, why would it not be here?"},{"attributes":{"list":"bullet"},"insert":"\n"},{"insert":"Awaken the Erstwhile - By the time you cast this your hand should be pretty large, so the fact that everyone else gets zombies out of it doesn't act as a strong deterrent to casting this, I'd only hold back if someone has a similar amount of cards in their hand to you."},{"attributes":{"list":"bullet"},"insert":"\n"},{"insert":"\nRecursion/Cheat Death effects\nYou want to avoid paying commander tax whenever possible, so these are massively useful for evading that. I generally wouldn't kill Toluz unless you have one of these either in your hand or exiled with Toluz.\nUnearth/Reanimate/Helping Hand - Simple 1 mana recurring of Toluz straight to the battlefield."},{"attributes":{"list":"bullet"},"insert":"\n"},{"insert":"Recommission/Call a Surprise Witness - Same thing, but unfortunately one more mana."},{"attributes":{"list":"bullet"},"insert":"\n"},{"insert":"Malakir Rebirth/Not Dead After All - Keep Toluz around while still getting the death trigger."},{"attributes":{"list":"bullet"},"insert":"\n"},{"insert":"\nInstant Speed Creature Sacrifice\nThis is really the bread and butter of the deck, as a lot of your time will be spent drawing a shitton, discarding a shitton, killing and recurring Toluz, and repeating.\nPhyrexian Tower/High Market - Unless your pod runs land destruction, these are a pretty reliable way of repeatedly killing Toluz."},{"attributes":{"list":"bullet"},"insert":"\n"},{"insert":"Flares of Fortitude/Malice/Denial - Sacrifice Toluz to play these for free when it comes up, you get a good chunk of value out of it."},{"attributes":{"list":"bullet"},"insert":"\n"},{"insert":"Village Rites, Nasty End, Deadly Dispute, Corrupted Conviction - Additional cost draw spells that are good to sacrifice Toluz on other people's turns or in response to attempted removal."},{"attributes":{"list":"bullet"},"insert":"\n"},{"insert":"Culling the Weak - Same thing but for mana instead of draw."},{"attributes":{"list":"bullet"},"insert":"\n"},{"insert":"Final Vengenace - Ditto but removal."},{"attributes":{"list":"bullet"},"insert":"\n"},{"insert":"\nDiscard Value\nNow this is the fun part.\nFeast of Sanity - Once you've gotten going, you'll be discarding so many cards at a time that everyone will be left fighting for their lives while you sit pretty with a mountain of life."},{"attributes":{"list":"bullet"},"insert":"\n"},{"insert":"Cryptcaller Chariot/Tormod - Both of these functionally have the same effect of making a metric fuckton of zombies as you discard, though they do enter tapped."},{"attributes":{"list":"bullet"},"insert":"\n"},{"insert":"Mystic Redaction - Forcing everyone else to mill twice the amount of cards you discard in this deck is extraordinarily lethal."},{"attributes":{"list":"bullet"},"insert":"\n"},{"insert":"Lazotep Chancellor - Making a really big army is incredibly funny, though the fact it costs mana is a bit of a thorn. Luckily, if you have Skirge Familiar out you can completely ignore it."},{"attributes":{"list":"bullet"},"insert":"\n"},{"insert":"Bone Miser - While it is 5 mana, the variety of payoffs it gives you is massively useful."},{"attributes":{"list":"bullet"},"insert":"\n"},{"insert":"Archfiend of Ifnir - While not under this discard payoff section of the deck, it would be criminal to not mention it here. If he isn't actively removed by the time you get going with your discard, then it's functionally a boardwipe on your opponents on all of your turns."},{"attributes":{"list":"bullet"},"insert":"\n"},{"insert":"Monument to Endurance/Teval's Judgement - Useful, but the limited triggers mean it doesn't go too crazy."},{"attributes":{"list":"bullet"},"insert":"\n"},{"insert":"\nOther notable cards\nVengeful Dreams - You can completely shut down an attack on you if you discard enough cards."},{"attributes":{"list":"bullet"},"insert":"\n"},{"insert":"Forbid - While it is a 3 mana counterspell, its buyback of discarding 2 both actively benefits you and makes it repeatable as long as you have enough cards in hand."},{"attributes":{"list":"bullet"},"insert":"\n"},{"insert":"Dream Halls - It does technically benefit everyone, but given that most of this deck is 2 and 3 drops it allows for repeatable free casts."},{"attributes":{"list":"bullet"},"insert":"\n"},{"insert":"Spymaster's Vault - It's a land that allows for a shit ton of conniving, but I'd recommend using it on other people's turns rather than your own as the only target for sacrifices is Toluz, meaning you don't get to hold onto the discarded cards."},{"attributes":{"list":"bullet"},"insert":"\n"},{"insert":"Ketramose - One of the most useful cards in the deck, allows for you to consistently replenish the cards you discard and further rummage through your deck."},{"attributes":{"list":"bullet"},"insert":"\n"},{"insert":"Teferi's Ageless Insight - Passive card regeneration is really useful for this deck."},{"attributes":{"list":"bullet"},"insert":"\n"},{"insert":"\nA Final Note about Hand Size\nOne of the big things you have to remember about this deck is that discarding down to hand size helps you MASSIVELY. A lot of the time what I like to do is play big draw spells/wheels, sac/recur Toluz, and then end my turn to discard cards rather than use any of my engines, so it can't be interacted with. Discarding down to hand size is the final discard engine in this deck and it is completely uninteractable outside of reducing it, which still benefits you to a certain extent, thanks to it just being a rule of the game.\n"}]}