Hello awesome folks! I have something fun for you all! I recently did a Commander take on a Theme Deck called "The Sparkler" which published way back in Stronghold! Today we are moving ahead two sets to Urza's Saga to another theme deck, this time with just cards from that set called "The Plague."

Here's the classic decklist:

"The Plague" | Classic Magic Theme Deck

• Creatures (16)
• 1 Blood Vassal
• 3 Disciple of Grace
• 1 Flesh Reaver
• 1 Sanctum Guardian
• 1 Silent Attendant
• 3 Unworthy Dead
• 3 Voice of Grace
• 3 Wall of Junk

• Spells (20)
• 1 Befoul
• 1 Corrupt
• 2 Disenchant
• 2 Expunge
• 2 Humble
• 1 Opal Acrolith
• 1 Pariah
• 4 Pestilence
• 2 Rune of Protection: Black
• 1 Sicken
• 1 Worship
• 2 Urza's Armor

• Lands (24)
• 3 Drifting Meadow
• 2 Polluted Mire
• 7 Plains
• 12 Swamp

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This is an Orzhov Pestilence deck. It wants to drop a protection from Black dork like Disciple or Voice of Grace, and then drop Pestilence and sweep and keep your stuff alive. It has high toughness to absorb a lot of damage (Wall of Junk), regenerators to stick around (Unworthy Dead), and then ways to protect you like Rune of Protection: Black or Urza's Armor. It's got Worship to save you from dying if you control a dork, and Pariah to redirect your damage to a regenerator, high-toughness or protection dork. It's very synergetic for just one set, and it's one of my favorite Theme Decks ever printed. So let's build around it!

There are 56 legendary dorks in my color combo. Who do I want to lead? I like Astarion, the Decadent; the indestructible gods of Athreos, Ayli, Eternal Pilgrim; and Shadrix Silverquill.

Of those I love Athreos and Astarion, let's look at why:

Three mana. Indestructible. Can be cast prior to Pestilence, will be out of play when not enough devotion which is good to hide, but bad if you only control it and you sweep with Pestilence since it'll die. I love its death trigger.

The other Athreos costs a pricey 6 mana for the indestructible body. Still has the fading in and out weaknesses and strengths.

Six mana, 4/4, deathtouch and lifelink, no evasion. At your end step you can have foe double their life lost to combat damage and Pestilence. Just one opponent each activation, but it's a win con a stick. It has a 4 toughness so you can Pestilence for 3 each player's turn and then on theirs so you can kill, but never kill anything with a toughness 4 or more while both were out.

Let's do the three mana Athreos! It's easier to play and replay, it's three life drain or Raise Dead works well with your dying stuff.

Mana, Ramp, Rocks and Lands

Let's start with rocks and tutors. I am tossing in every Signet here since we need that mana to make my Pestilences sing. Since Athreos costs 3, I don't have a second-turn way to drop him, so that turn is for mana rocks and then we are running all that tap for Black including the Diamond. Then I have the Map, a one-drop to sac and fetch out a land and put it into your hand, since we need to maximize our Black mana. I also have a pair of tutors as well for my key cards or lands if I have them.

Now let's turn to ways to enhance that Black mana making! Liliana of the Dark Realms costs four, has 3 loyalty, and is here for that +1 to fetch out a Swamp for your hand. Note you can fetch a nonbasic. Then you can -3 her and kill an opposing dork by giving it -X/-X of your Swamp count. Caged Sun will double your Black mana production from any lands not just Swamps, so Bojuka Bog will count. We don't have many Black dorks, but they'll get +1/+1 too.

Now let's turn to two classic enchantments. The Black one costs five and when a dork dies you add a charge counter. Since we are killing so many things, you can load this up with counters, and then in your precombat phase make that much mana. Massive mana for your pool turn after turn for sweeping away the stars! The White enchantment drops turn 1, and then you can search out three basics for your hand in your upkeep if a foe has more land. Both are enhanced in multiplayer since the Black one triggers more often and the White one more likely.

Gilded Lotus is the last mana rock I added, so let's turn to lands. Barad-Dur will usually arrive tapped and then you can tap it to amass X Orcs, but only if something died that turn - likely here with Pestilence activations. This will serve as a mana sink here and a surprise defender if someone attacks you and you kill and then make a blocker. Nice pair!

The classic Swamp cards. Since we need Black for all of the stuff, Urborg is the most powerful land to tutor for with the Map. We are running Cabal Coffers too, and the Stronghold as well. Since most of our land base needed to be basics for one of our Pestilences this made sense to run here as well.

Godless Shrine taps for both of our colors and counts as a Swamp for Cabal Coffers base without the Urborg, and then I am running the two other duals in our color that don't cost much. I needed some defense since we don't have a lot of dorks and many are pricey and win cons and need to swing, and some have devotion or need stuff to block and attack, so I tossed in Maze of Ith, Labyrinth of Skophos and Kor Haven as well!

Protection Stuff

Now let's turn to stuff that will be safe from our Pestilences! The Sentinel costs six and has a 3/3 flash indestructible body with vigilance so you can swing at open players and then hold back and block. And you can flash this out as a combat trick to kill an attacker.

The First Akroma costs two more, has a +3/+3 body, and she can rock a ton of keywords. With pro-Black, she really can do it all here. I also tossed in Darksteel Colossus to win the game.

The other eight-drop is Zetalpa, Primal Dawn, which gives you a 4/8 body with double strike so it smashes for eight, and then flying, trample, vigilance to swing, block and evade, and then indestructible to stay alive. Mirran Crusader is a 2/2 also with double strike and protection from Black and Green, so that's 40% of dorks you can swing by and hit for four damage. I like it coming down on turn 3 before a fourth-turn Pestilence.

Let's finish with this pro-Black duo. The rare costs an easy three with hybrid mana and has pro Black and White. Then you can spend one to fly, one to first strike and two to pump. It survives our wipes and takes our extra mana, very strong.

The uncommon has just a 2/1 body but will let you spend 2 to exile a card from a graveyard, so it joins Bojuka Bog as graveyard abuse defense. It's also a mana sink and great to do at instant speed.

Synergies and Win-Cons

Now let's turn to synergies and other winning conditions. Since the original deck had Pariah in it, I tossed that here too as well as the equipment that duplicates it. This five-drop three to equip will send all your damage from any source to the equipped dork. That includes combat damage, burn, Pestilence and more. And since many here have the key indestructible, you cannot take damage until they're ended. The Doll also costs five, has a 0/1 indestructible body. When it's dealt damage, you deal it to a target player chosen when it ETBed. Nasty win con compared to Pestilence and then it'll survive too. Put a Shield or Pariah on it to win fast.

Now let's turn to six-plus drops! Avacyn, Angel of Hope costs a hefty eight but drops with an 8/8 flying, indestructible and vigilance body, so she's a win con and blocker extraordinaire. Then all of our other things, like lands, have indestructible. Urza's Armor six and will prevent the first damage dealt to you by each source, so that's no damage from Pestilence effects. It was in the first deck with two showing since it was an uncommon its first appearance. It's been upgraded to rare.

Let's finish the synergies here! Rune of Protection: Black was replaced by Circle of Protection: Black. Since we need to activate it to save us, and we are emphasizing our Black mana-making for the Pestilence, I didn't want the activation cost of Rune, so I went with COP instead. I figured swapping the cycling for the colorless activation was worth it. Akroma's Memorial drops for seven mana and gives your stuff all Akroma abilities: protection from Black, flying, haste, vigilance, trample and first strike to turn them all into swingers, blockers and winners.

Card Draw

Now let's turn to card draw, in this color combo, that's Black. This Black pair draws and loses life for a set number of cards that are on curve for their cost. The former costs four and then draws three, I also am running Ancient Craving. The latter costs five and then draws you four. You don't have enough Demons to win so you can ignore it. I am also running things like Bitter Revelation or the X spell Damnable Pact to draw a bunch as a mana sink or kill a foe in low life.

Now let's turn to planeswalkers. Ob Nixilis Reignited costs five, has a solid 5 loyalty with a +1 to draw a card and lose a life. Nice card flow over time, and then a -3 in emergencies to Murder something, so it's removal tied to a card drawing stick.

Sorin, Grim Nemesis has a strong six loyalty and is here to +1 and draw the top card of your library, reveal it, and shoot each for life equal to its mana cost, and you've seen how big that is here. Card flow and win con on one +1 ability. Then you can -X him to shoot a dork or fellow 'walker for X damage and gain X life.

Let's finish our card flow with the pair! The Staff used to be heavily played all over in Commander, but it is less seen now. It's great here though since you can draw cards without life loss and then tap it for free to finish off a wounded dork to a Pestilence effect. The God arrives with a 5/7 indestructible body, but devotion to five Black is needed to be a dork. For this four-cost investment you net a way to stave off winning from your Pestilence effects with life gain, as it's shut down for your foes. Then you can spend two to draw a card and lose two life, so it's synergy, indestructible and card flow in one easy package.

Answers and Pestilence Effects

Let's finish with answers, removal, and Pestilences! I have two answers to answers, since most of our stuff won't die anyway with a big chunk having indestructible or protection. I only have one mass answer to removal: Teferi's Protection. This phases out everything, even lands, so it can protect from mass exiling removal like Farewell and your life total cannot change so no one will attack you. Cast it if you are low on life to finish of others from Pestilence damage. Malakir Rebirth will let you bring back a dying dork with the cost of two life, easily played here. It's a great way to answer a key trick should your indestructible stuff make its way into the graveyard from play somehow, like Mutilate.

I tossed in a pair of targeted removal spells to take out anything like lands, dorks, enchantments, planeswalkers or artifacts. Each of these costs three mana. The sorcery will destroy anything and is a classic removal spell in Orzhov. The instant costs three, leaves them a 3/3 Elephant which we can sweep with our Pestilence effects, and then will destroy anything we need and is also a classic in White Commander decks.

Now let's finish with a pair of sample Pestilences. Pestilence Demon costs a massive eight but has a strong game winning 7/6 flying size. It counts as a rare Black creature to pump with Caged Sun. Then it Pestilences for one mana each. Withering Wisps costs three and then dies like a Pestilence EOT if no one controls a dork. You can spend X mana to sweep stuff, to an extent. It helps that our lands can help it scale.

Ready for my list?

Athreos Pestilence | Commander | Abe Sargent

• Commander (1)
• 1 Athreos, God of Passage

• Creatures (24)
• 1 Akroma, Angel of Wrath
• 1 Apostle of Purifying Light
• 1 Athreos, Shroud-Veiled
• 1 Auriok Champion
• 1 Avacyn, Angel of Hope
• 1 Blood Baron of Vizkopa
• 1 Bontu the Glorified
• 1 Burnished Hart
• 1 Darksteel Colossus
• 1 Darksteel Sentinel
• 1 Erebos, God of the Dead
• 1 Indomitable Ancients
• 1 Karmic Guide
• 1 Mirran Crusader
• 1 Obsidian Acolyte
• 1 Pestilence Demon
• 1 Solemn Simulacrum
• 1 Stillmoon Cavalier
• 1 Stuffy Doll
• 1 Thrashing Wumpus
• 1 Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger
• 1 Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre
• 1 Voice of Grace
• 1 Zetalpa, the Primal Dawn

• Planeswalkers (3)
• 1 Liliana of the Dark Realms
• 1 Ob Nixilis Reignited
• 1 Sorin, Grim Nemesis

• Spells (11)
• 1 Ambition's Cost
• 1 Ancient Craving
• 1 Bitter Revelation
• 1 Damnable Pact
• 1 Demonic Tutor
• 1 Diabolic Tutor
• 1 Exsanguinate
• 1 Generous Gift
• 1 Malakir Rebirth
• 1 Teferi's Protection
• 1 Vindicate

• Enchantments (8)
• 1 Black Market
• 1 Circle of Protection: Black
• 1 Land Tax
• 1 Liliana's Contract
• 1 Life Insurance
• 1 Pariah
• 1 Pestilence
• 1 Withering Wisps

• Artifacts (14)
• 1 Akroma's Memorial
• 1 Arcane Signet
• 1 Armillary Sphere
• 1 Caged Sun
• 1 Charcoal Diamond
• 1 Commander's Sphere
• 1 Expedition Map
• 1 Gilded Lotus
• 1 Orzhov Signet
• 1 Pariah's Shield
• 1 Sol Ring
• 1 Staff of Nin
• 1 Talisman of Hierarchy
• 1 Urza's Armor

• Lands (39)
• 1 Barad-Dur
• 1 Bojuka Bog
• 1 Cabal Coffers
• 1 Cabal Stronghold
• 1 Command Tower
• 1 Godless Shrine
• 1 Kor Haven
• 1 Labyrinth of Skophos
• 1 Maze of Ith
• 1 Snowfield Sinkhole
• 1 Sunlit Marsh
• 1 Takenuma, Abandoned Mire
• 1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
• 1 War Room
• 1 Witch's Cottage
• 10 Snow-Covered Plains
• 14 Snow-Covered Swamp

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And there we go! I hope that you enjoyed this take on a classic Orzhov combo that went all the way back to the first set with White Knight and Pestilence and Circle of Protection: Black.