Tayam, Luminous EnigmaTayam, Luminous Enigma | Art by Sam Burley

Welcome to Technically Playable, where our mission statement is "Every commander is technically playable" (the best kind of playable). The way this works is every article will have a commander generated using EDHREC's random button, I'll talk through the card and then write about how we can build around it!

This week's random commander is Tayam, Luminous EnigmaTayam, Luminous Enigma.

Initially, this article was going to be Sensational Spider-ManSensational Spider-Man, but since that card isn't out for another month, I decided to take a very rare Technically Playable mulligan to look at something that has a little more time and experience behind it.

Wombo Combo!

Tayam is a deck that invites the deckbuilder to create some really interesting lines of play, especially when it comes to more competitive playgroups. In this section, I'll look at a handful of different combos that Tayam can use to win the game on the spot.

This first combo uses Devoted DruidDevoted Druid to create infinite mana. While this combo only needs two cards to win, you also need to make sure that you've got some way to buff the Druid's toughness by +2 so that it doesn't die to its own -1/-1 counters.

This is often done with something like Centaur GardenCentaur Garden or Shield MateShield Mate since they're both cheap to put into play (the land of course costing you no mana to play) however you can also use cards like Vines of VastwoodVines of Vastwood or Blossoming DefenseBlossoming Defense to both buff the Druid and give it protection from removal at the same time.

Once you've buffed the Druid, simply tap it for mana three times, use that mana to activate Tayam, and remove the -1/-1 counters from the Druid. This will let you mill your whole deck and put any permanents that are three mana or less into play, including all of your lands. From here, you can put a win together with cards like Blood ArtistBlood Artist or Zulaport CutthroatZulaport Cutthroat and some kind of sacrifice outlet.

You can also use the Devoted Druid combo to set up and then use the combos below to finish the game.

Similar to the first combo, the idea of this one is to mill your entire library while putting all of your permanents into play, but it achieves this slightly differently. Instead of using Tayam and one other card, it takes a few more pieces, but each of these can be put into play from Tayam's ability if you don't draw them or if they're milled or discarded some other way.

Instead of using the creatures to make the mana, instead we sacrifice both of our creatures with undying to Ashnod's AltarAshnod's Altar to make four colorless mana. This can then be used to activate Tayam, remove the +1/+1 counters and vigilance counters given by Tayam from our undying creatures, and then repeat the loop. This fully mills our deck like the Devoted DruidDevoted Druid combo, but also provides us with infinite colorless mana and infinite leave/enter the battlefield triggers to play with as well.

What makes this combo so great and flexible is that it doesn't need to be Young WolfYoung Wolf and Strangleroot GeistStrangleroot Geist; in fact, any creature with undying or persist will work. This is great with Kitchen FinksKitchen Finks to make infinite life or Geralf's MessengerGeralf's Messenger to machinegun down everyone's life totals.

The last combo I want to highlight bears a close resemblance to the Young WolfYoung Wolf combo, but with the distinct difference of using a card that's only in 0.25% of decks it can be in. This feels very apt for Technically Playable.

Like the undying/persist combo, this uses Ashnod's AltarAshnod's Altar with Promise of BunreiPromise of Bunrei to make tokens that get vigilance counters from Tayam. You need any random creature in play and one spare mana before starting the combo. First, you sacrifice it to make mana and sacrifice the Promise to make some tokens. You can then activate Tayam, remove the vigilance counters from the tokens, and return Promise to the battlefield.

Loop this process by sacrificing the tokens to make more tokens and return the Promise over and over again. This will mill your whole deck, give you infinite mana, infinite tokens, basically infinite anything you can think of.

While each of these combos is really good by itself if you're going for a combo deck, I'd always say to make sure you have as much redundancy as possible. Each of these combos can set you up to win the game or can dig to find one of the other combos if you need a specific line of play to get through a particular stax piece, stopping you from winning, making them all useful in different ways and for different board states.

Tayam the Value Engine

It's clear from the combos above and Tayam's extensive Commander Spellbook page that we can easily build a combo-focused deck with this card, but personally, I'm a much bigger fan of a slow grind. I like the longer games you can have of Commander; they tend to offer more opportunities for swingy moments and stories you'll be telling in your playgroup for years to come.

This deck has a couple of routes you can go down. The first is one that you may want to run by your playgroup before committing to: The Tayam Edict deck. Using cards like Fleshbag MarauderFleshbag Marauder and Merciless ExecutionerMerciless Executioner, you can get around hexproof and indestructible on your opponents' creatures, allowing you to easily remove their strongest cards without much trouble (unless they're playing a ton of tokens, of course).

In combination with Grave PactGrave Pact, you can easily create a board state that locks your opponents out of playing any creatures. This is made even better by the fact that these cards are all three mana, allowing you to return them at instant speed with Tayam.

All you need to do is make sure you can make enough mana and generate enough counters to do this repeatedly. Devoted DruidDevoted Druid works amazingly here, even without committing to the combo. You can also use cards like Wall of RootsWall of Roots, which doesn't combo like the Druid does, but it does contribute towards being able to replay a Fleshbag MarauderFleshbag Marauder each turn.

You can also use other sacrifice outlets that give counters, like Carrion FeederCarrion Feeder and Yawgmoth, Thran PhysicianYawgmoth, Thran Physician, which both generate counters when sacrificing, and of course, the proliferate ability on Yawgmoth can make for some really explosive turns.

Now I said I like slow games, but everyone has to go home at some point. While I wouldn't play something quite as slow or punishing as the deck above, I would want to use Tayam as part of an engine to push my game plan forward.

I'd definitely run the mana generators like Devoted Druid and Wall of Roots, but alongside those I'd look to play more around +1/+1 counters with cards like TerrasymbiosisTerrasymbiosis or Kutzil, Malamet ExemplarKutzil, Malamet Exemplar to draw through our deck and Gyre SageGyre Sage or Kami of Whispered HopesKami of Whispered Hopes to generate all the mana I could ever need.

So that's mana and cards sorted, but how are we going to make sure we have enough counters to fuel Tayam? There are a lot of cards we could use to generate our own counters, but what if we instead used our opponents' game actions to do that? That way, we can hold up all of our mana to activate Tayam and dig through our deck for even more value.

Managorger HydraManagorger Hydra is the absolute best option for this since it gains counters whenever anyone plays a spell, as well a being the right mana cost to be hit with Tayam. While not the right mana cost, Forgotten AncientForgotten Ancient also does a very good job of hoarding counters while also being able to move them around to other creatures should that be necessary.

We can also use Warden of the GroveWarden of the Grove and Arwen, Weaver of HopeArwen, Weaver of Hope to put loads of counters onto our creatures as they enter. This means that no matter what we hit off of Tayam's ability, we're almost always going to be able to do it again as long as we have the mana.

As with all Technically Playable articles, this was a very quick look at Tayam, Luminous EnigmaTayam, Luminous Enigma as a commander, and a few of the cards that can really make a deck with Tayam as the commander tick.

Let me know in the comments below if you play Tayam, Luminous EnigmaTayam, Luminous Enigma, if you want to build a Tayam, Luminous Enigma deck, or even if you just enjoyed this article!

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