This is my first real attempt at a competitive standard deck. I built it shortly after Innistrad Rotated out, and have tweaked it as the Theros set has been released. Journey into Nyx in particular has proven sweet for this deck, and I'm really looking forward to playing it again with the new additions.
This deck is designed to be somewhat controlling, while using Blind Obedience both to keep hasty beefcakes at bay and to give that control some bite through extort. Cheap removal (Doom Blade, Hero's Downfall, Dreadbore, and Magma Jet) both provide easy fodder to blind obedience and serve to keep the board clear, the latter in conjunction with High Priest of Penance in a pinch. Mizzium Mortars sideboarded adds to my potential sweeps and replaces Doom Blade for dealing with black threats (particularly Blood Baron of Vizkopa). And if things get really hairy, Merciless Eviction is the best present someone playing Orzhov colors can hope to get.
For my own creatures, I focused on making them either facilitate the control strategy or on making them as badass and as difficult to remove as possible. High Priest of Penance and Sin Collector are the main examples of the former. Blood Baron of Vizkopa was the obvious choice for the latter, along with his friends Fiendslayer Paladin and Obzedat, Ghost Council. After pulling two Athreos, God of Passages in a box (one of which came in a god pack), I included them since they fit with both the resilient creatures and the lifegain themes, as well as being easy to achieve devotion. Just for fun I threw in a random Stormbreath Dragon I got a while back to diversify the threats present. Because I'm playing pseudo control and the games tend to last longer, I'm experimenting with Godsend as an answer to decks which can overpower my main creatures. Boros Charm can help save my fatties, beef them up unexepectedly, or be used to burn the enemy's last few points of life away.
My sideboard is mostly concerned with control match-ups, hexproof, and Gods (especially Erebos, God of the Dead and Xenagos, God of Revels). Glaring Spotlight is the most obvious way to cope with hexproof, while Slaughter Games and Thoughtseize are great ways to mess with pretty much all of those strategies. Revoke Existence is just good, and Deicide is enchantment removal which doubles as a god-specific Slaughter Games.
Suggestions and input are definitely welcomed, particularly on ways to deal with Gruul ramp, examples of which have proven problematic. I've played earlier versions of this deck at two FNM events, and have revised it since in light of casual standard play with some friends and playtesting online. In one FNM, I was undefeated except for illegal losses (discovered after the fact), and I was undefeated in the other. The illegal losses were:
A player using Guttersnipe's ability to cast assloads of Hidden Strings to untap lands to cast more instants, etc, etc, even though it wasn't combat damage. I would have caught this if I'd been paying attention, but I wasn't.
A bloodrushed attack which dealt a bunch of trample damage and killed my last blocker, leading to my loss next turn. Problem was, my blocker was a Fiendslayer Paladin bestowed with a Baleful Eidolon; first strike + death touch would have killed his trampler before it dealt any damage to me or the paladin. I also should have caught this, since that was one of the main reasons I had Baleful Eidolon in the deck, but I overlooked it.
