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Main » Articles » Cross-Planar Conquest: Orzhov

Cross-Planar Conquest: Orzhov

Jimi Brady
Posted on July 31, 2014
 Reddit

We need to have a talk, you and I. The talk. You know the one.

Tidehollow Sculler
What kind of mage are you?

Me? I’m a Junk/Necra/Abzan mage. I like playing black, green, white, and any combination thereof. While I don’t mind playing blue or red, I don’t enjoy it as much.

But we’re not talking about me. We’re talking about you.

I think you look like an Orzhov mage. No, don’t argue—I can see it in your eyes. You like casting Path to Exile and Thoughtseize. You’ve even thought about sneaking a Tidehollow Sculler or two into your Standard deck (don’t worry; I won’t tell anyone).

Here’s the thing about combining white and black in Magic: You get to manipulate life, you get to make tokens, and you get to kill everything.

Creatures? Kill ’em.

Enchantments and artifacts? Kill ’em.

Planeswalkers? Kill ’em dead.

Lands? KILL ’EM ALL.

Wait, something’s happening in my brain . . . It’s a thought—an idea even. What if I walked you through five different W/B decks from five different formats? I mean, you’re an Orzhov mage, so you should know what your options are, right? Right.

So, without further ado, let’s get to the killing—or the deck-teching. Either/or.



Standard: Orzhov Midrange

Orzhov Midrange ? Journey into Nyx Standard | Kennen Haas

Blood Baron of Vizkopa
Standard is like a five-star hotel for Orzhov mages. This deck by Mr. Haas, for example, does just about everything Orzhov wants to do. It makes tokens with Pack Rat and Brimaz, King of Oreskos, it drains life with Obzedat, Ghost Council and Blood Baron of Vizkopa, and it most definitely destroys everything in its path with Hero's Downfall, Bile Blight, and Ultimate Price.

Throw in a few Desecration Demons and Lifebane Zombies, and you have yourself some nice, clean fun.

The sideboard lets us extend the killing field to enchantments and other permanents using Deicide, Doom Blade, and Banishing Light. We also see more life-gain options in Nyx-Fleece Ram and extra copies of Obzedat and Blood Baron.

If you keep up with the StarCityGames Open Series and other major tournaments, you already know that Orzhov Midrange/Control does consistently well, and it’s a great option for any Orzhov mages who want to try their hands at Standard.

Modern: Plunge into Shadows

Next up is my personal favorite. It’s a Modern combo deck first brewed and brainstormed by a Twitch streamer named Stealthpants. This deck has the honor of being the first and only Modern deck that I own in paper form, and it’s the only deck that I’d consider using in this format. If you like living life on the edge and practicing constant vigilance in order to survive and prevail, this deck is for you.

Plunge into Shadows ? Modern | Jimi Brady

This deck has two routes to victory that are equally effective:

Death's Shadow

  1. Attack with Death's Shadow while at a low life total, and then cast Angel's Grace and Spoils of the Vault naming a card that is not in your deck. If your opponent responds with anything, use Pact of Negation or Faith's Shield to protect your Shadow. Your entire deck will be exiled, and your Shadow will become somewhere around a 63/63 machine of pure doom and despair.

  2. Attack with Death's Shadow to do as much damage as possible. Cast Angel's Grace and Spoils of the Vault naming Rite of Consumption, cross your fingers, and hope for Rite to be at the bottom of your deck. With just two in the main deck, you’re less likely to find it in the first ten cards. If you already have one in hand, you can just name a random card with Spoils and do a guaranteed million damage.

This deck can also win quite handily by beating down with Avatar of Hope and Death's Shadow, sans combo. Here are a few more tips for piloting the deck:

  • You can cast Death's Shadow at any life total if you have Spellskite on the battlefield by paying 2 life to activate Spellskite’s ability targeting Death's Shadow multiple times while it’s on the stack. You should always aim to drop down to 3 or 5 life, specifically, as those are the life totals that interact with Avatar of Hope and Faith's Shield.

  • You can use Spoils of the Vault to search for Scout's Warning at the end of your opponent’s turn to cast Death's Shadow, essentially giving it haste or freeing up your mana for a combo kill next turn.

  • If absolutely necessary, you can use Plunge into Darkness to gain life in a pinch. Multiple copies of Angel's Grace can also buy you extra turns while you dig for combo pieces.

  • This is a control deck as much as it’s a combo deck, especially after sideboarding. With Drown in Sorrow and Night of Souls' Betrayal, this deck plays a very mean game against aggressive decks and format staples like Birthing Pod, Affinity, and Splinter Twin. Bide your time, and be conservative with your spells until you go in for the kill.

This deck, more than any other Orzhov list, epitomizes the concept of manipulating life totals to win.

Travis Woo recently brewed up a version of this deck that incorporates elements of Ad Nauseam. While the two decks are similarly competitive, they play quite differently, with Travis’s version relying more on winning via Rite of Consumption or Fling.

As soon as I can afford to put the Plunge into Shadows deck together on Magic Online, I’ll do a full-blown video series on it, so stay tuned.

Pauper: W/B Nightsky

If you don’t play Pauper, you’re wrong. Pauper is everything that is good and decent (and broken) in Magic. Do you play mono-black in Standard? There’s a Pauper deck like that. How ’bout Elves in Legacy? There’s a Pauper deck like that, too. But we’re not here to play mono-colored decks; we’re here to play Orzhov.

W/B Nightsky ? Pauper | Jimi Brady

Nightsky Mimic
The W/B Nightsky deck is similar to its Standard counterpart in that it plays an attrition game. It picks apart the opponent’s hand and battlefield while gaining life, all in preparation for a combo finish with Nightsky Mimic. The deck is loaded with dual-colored cards for the purpose of activating the Mimic’s ability. If you put an Edge of the Divinity in its hand, you can be beating down with a 7/7 flyer by turn three. Who says Pauper decks aren’t broken?

(No one says that. Because they are.)

Tithe Drinker and Blind Hunter are great for playing the attrition game, and Blind Hunter in particular makes opponents wary about letting their creatures die. Finally, Gray Merchant of Asphodel provides an alternate win condition in case the game goes too long. (Say it with me: “I play Gray Merchant decks because I will never let Magic keep me from watching new episodes of Game of Thrones”).

The sideboard plan is specifically engineered to beat Mono-Black Devotion, Dredge, and Hexproof decks, which are all very popular on Magic Online. Mono-Black Devotion, in particular, has superior killing power and card-draw, so it takes a special kind of finesse to win. Circle of Protection: Black is all the finesse we need.

This is usually where I would suggest that you try this deck in Pauper, but that’s a foregone conclusion at this point.

Legacy: Deadguy Ale

Vindicate
Can you hear that? That’s the sound of your opponent conceding because you just destroyed his or her last land with Vindicate. It’s all fun and games until the destroy-target-permanent spells come out.

Deadguy Ale is a classic Legacy deck affectionately named after the beer by Rogue Ales and the team that created the deck, the “Deadguys.” The deck is commonly attributed to Chris Pikula, and it is also called Pikula Control in some circles.

There is no set and accepted list for Deadguy Ale, and you can find myriad variations of the deck all over the Internet. As such, I’ve taken aspects from the most successful lists and updated them with new tech from Conspiracy: Council's Judgment, the bane of True-Name Nemeses everywhere. If I were walking into a Legacy Grand Prix tomorrow, I would use this version of the deck.

Deadguy Ale ? Legacy | Jimi Brady

Mirran Crusader
Like the other Orzhov lists we’ve seen so far, this deck is all about attrition. Destroy the opponent’s hand, the opponent’s creatures, and the opponent’s other permanents before you crash in with Batterskull or Mirran Crusader (or both together). Cards like Stoneforge Mystic and Dark Confidant provide the card advantage we all know and love while Mother of Runes holds down the fort (and the runes).

Vindicate, in my opinion, is what makes Deadguy Ale special. It’s a multipurpose tool that takes care of anything at any time. It can be used as land destruction or to take care of important permanents such as Counterbalance. It’s your Swiss army knife, so use it like one.

The sideboard is specifically engineered to beat decks like Elves, Sneak and Show, and Ad Nauseam Tendrils. Ashen Rider in particular is exciting against decks with Show and Tell, as it takes care of whatever the opponent puts into play—including Emrakul, the Aeons Torn—while being on-color and aesthetically appealing.

Don’t ever let anyone tell you that style doesn’t matter. It does.

Vintage: Deadguy Ale Redux

Just for a moment, I want you to imagine a world in which combo decks in Vintage aren’t allowed to go off. I want you to imagine a world where your opponents can’t search their libraries and playing enchantments like Oath of Druids begets only sudden and violent retribution.

I want to live in that world.

Deadguy Ale is a thing in Vintage. It’s not popular, and it doesn’t show up often, but when it inevitably strikes, it strikes hard.

Deadguy Ale ? Vintage | Jimi Brady

Sorin, Lord of Innistrad
Whereas Legacy Deadguy Ale has to be more conservative in its decimation, the Vintage version has no such quandaries. This deck follows a similar game plan, employing a level of attrition that few Vintage decks can match. Vampiric Tutor and Demonic Tutor give us access to tools like Thalia, Guardian of Thraben and Aven Mindcensor for controlling our opponents while we build an army with Sorin, Lord of Innistrad. A Vampire token with a Sword of Fire and Ice is not fun, nor is it a game, and people do get hurt.

We’re also employing the full set of Vindicates, as it gains even more utility in a format in which the threats are incredibly varied, even within a single deck.

The best part of waking up is a Vindicate in your cup, as I always say.



I have prepared you well, young Padawan. Now you must go forth: Destroy your enemies and raze the lands of their forefathers; seize their thoughts and Kozilek their inquisitions; draw your cards and find your swords, for today we vindicate ourselves.

 . . . What?

What do you mean you’re not an Orzhov mage? I just typed up two thousand words and now you tell me that you prefer Azorius?

Jeez, you could’ve said something, you know.

Fine, I’ll prepare something for next week. Maybe I’ll make it into a series. And you owe me a play set of Scrublands.

Stay Twilit,

Jimi Brady

http://www.twitter.com/jimibrady

http://www.twitch.tv/obtaurian

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TAGS articles, standard, constructed, vintage, deck lists, legacy, decks, modern, pauper, orzhov, jimi brady

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