As you’d expect for a game that’s over 30 years old at this point, Magic: The Gathering has seen some seriously broken mechanics in its time. Storm, Companion, Dredge; the list goes on. One (relatively) recent addition to this mechanical rogue’s gallery is Delve. This mechanic fractured several formats when it made its full debut back in 2014’s Khans of Tarkir. While it may not be returning as a main MTG mechanic in Tarkir: Dragonstorm, Teval, Arbiter of Virtue is going to make its presence known regardless.
Teval is one of the new Spirit Dragons in the set, and it grants the infamous Delve mechanic to all of your spells. The implications of this ability are as horrifying as they are numerous. Thankfully Teval packs a pretty major downside to balance this out, but it may not be enough to keep such power in check. No matter which Magic format you play, there’s a good chance Teval will be taking up residence there soon.
Teval, Arbiter Of Virtue MTG
- Mana Value: 2BGU
- Rarity: Mythic Rare
- Type: Legendary Creature – Spirit Dragon
- Stats: 6/6
- Card Text: Flying, Lifelink.
Spells you cast have Delve. (Each card you exile from your graveyard while casting those spells pays for 1.)
Whenever you cast a spell, you lose life equal to its mana value.
Reading the text on Teval, Arbiter of Virtue is a great way to give yourself the MTG equivalent of whiplash. It starts off incredibly strong, then takes a hard turn towards the end.
Obviously, the big headline here is the line “Spells you cast have Delve.” This was included in Mark Rosewater’s teaser article for the set, and upon reading it I assumed it would come attached to a clunky eight-mana Demon or some such. Getting it on an aggressively-statted five-mana Dragon instead is a big surprise.
It’s really hard to overstate just how good Delve is as a mechanic. Mark Rosewater puts it at an eight (out of 10) on his Storm Scale, which means it’s a mechanic that’s very unlikely to show up generally. Older Delve spells, like Treasure Cruise and Dig Through Time, were wildly overcosted by normal standards to compensate for the tempo advantage Delve offers. Despite this, both remain banned in Modern and Legacy to this day.
With Teval, you can apply Delve to spells with normal casting costs to devastating effect. Stock Up for just one blue mana and two exiles sounds pretty good, for example. Fortunately for all of us, this power comes at a cost.
While Teval is in play, every spell you cast will cost you life equal to its mana value. This applies to spells you cast normally too, not just those you use Delve for. As downsides go, this is actually massive. If you’re making the best use of Delve to discount big spells, you’re going to be taking big damage. Even just playing normally, you’ll only get to cast a few spells before your life is in danger.
Run Of The Mill
Weird as it is to say, I think this is actually a pretty balanced use of the Delve mechanic. Sure Teval’s Lifelink can prevent it from killing you, but as long as it’s in play you have to be very careful about the spells you cast, so the potential power swings feel earned.
That said I still think there are some busted things Teval, Arbiter of Virtue can do, especially in Standard. Right now the format is packed with great self-mill effects, which are essential to fuel Delve. Overlord of the Balemurk and Breach the Multiverse are great options, and Dredger’s Insight from Aetherdrift feels like an ideal fit. Not only does this mill you four cards, but it also gains you life when you exile artifacts and creatures for Delve. It’s a nice way to mitigate Teval’s massive downside.
In terms of what you’re casting with Delve, there are plenty of options. The soon-to-be-in-Standard Craterhoof Behemoth is a nice choice, and pairs very well with Teval for big Lifelink swings. You can also cast some colorless heavy hitters like the new Ugin, Eye of the Storms and Portal to Phyrexia. These are particularly effective since you can pay for their costs entirely in Delve mana. If you’re leaning on big threats like this, Up the Beanstalk is an absolute must.
Alternatively, you can go down more of a tempo route. Using Delve to cast one mana card draw, disruption, and removal is a great use of the card, and probably more viable than the ‘cheating out big things’ approach honestly. Playing cheap cards even cheaper means Teval won’t kill you so quickly and it also means you can hold up mana to protect it since it lacks any kind of protection itself.
All The Way Back
Standard is one thing, but older MTG formats are where I expect Teval, Arbiter of Virtue to really shine. Not only are there much better ways to self-mill available, but there are also more efficient reanimation spells that let you get Teval into play for cheap.
Despite the banning of Psychic Frog, Dimir Reanimator remains the most popular deck in Legacy. This is a deck that does a great job of filling its graveyard and one that would appreciate a way to discount reanimation targets that get stuck in the hand. Teval would slot right in here, making a great target for Reanimate and an accelerant for the deck’s plans.
Though Modern Dredge isn’t in the best position right now, a card like Teval has the potential to change that. Using the likes of Stinkweed Imp and Golgari Thug to mill huge chunks of your deck is trivial, and then you can access massive discounts on everything else. Casting a Conflagrate almost entirely through Delve mana is a new line this card enables for the deck, to give just one example.
Of course, Teval will also make a very nice new Sultai Commander. Cards like Hermit Druid make milling most of your deck easy. You can then throw in Muldrotha to essentially draw your whole deck pretty early on. I expect it’ll put in work in the 99 too, as a support piece to the likes of Sidisi, Brood Tyrant. Thanks to having 40 life in Commander, Teval is guaranteed to be at its best here.
Wherever you play it, it’s clear that Teval is a card with massive potential. If “Spells you cast have Delve” really isn’t good enough in modern Magic, then something is very, very wrong.