Suuuuper love this deck. I'm playtesting it right now since Arena got updated and I just wanted to play a deck which can utilize the new Lily, and I'm having a blast. I got rid of the Barrier of Bones, since I think this card is just plain bad. Mire trition is better in every single way. I've played against a MonoW aggro and dimir control, and so far won both games. Will keep you updated if you want, I'd like to make this deck as good as possible. Also, dimir reanimator could be a thing.

look at my orzhov control i think my deck does well against yours

Thanks Ivanian! I’ll take your advice and cut the Barrier of Bones. My goal in including it was to increase the number of 1 drops, but I wasn’t sure if it was necessary. It actually was useful back when Death Baron was a thing. Please keep me updated. I’d love to make this deck as competitive as possible.

Hey mikeb388, I looked but I couldn’t find the deck you were referring to, can you point me to it please?

http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/update-unusuall-orzhov-control-in-standard/

Quick note since I'm already doing some reasearch and i've been studying cards on Scryfall for the last hour (lol) Escape Velocity could potentially be better and naturally takes the spot when the current velocity rotates out (btw this deck is really rotation-proof. Most pieces stay. Doom Whisperer rotation will hurt(Massacre Wurm is the best thing apart from it) since it's a good card and Bedevil is really strong as well but I hope some new pieces will come soon enough). I've been fiddling with the deathtouch thinking there could be some potential for Hooded Blightfang but there's simply no room and haste is a must be since creating a 5/5 leaves him for certain death. After more playtesting, I must say Mire Triton does its job really, really well and 4-of is a must. Call of the Death-Dweller doesn't rotate and is better than Revival//Revenge in many situations (recurring Triton and creating a 5/5 is a good tempo swing). Unleash Fury could be a nice card, too, because there are often good targets. There are many situations where you swing with a 9/7 Kroxa - but this can be unreliable and needs some more testing.

Liliana is very useful and is a reliable removal when she resolves. The manabase is fine, but maybe one more mountain would be good. Sometimes you need RRR to cast and recast Kroxa. Speaking of Kroxa, it fits the deck very well and there's good synergy with Liliana. I'd consider having a third copy of her but time will tell. This is it for now, I'll keep playing and I'll let you know in a few days after i've tried a couple of new things. This deck actually has potential!

Edit: didn't consider that the current velocity helps with the discard. It's late, sorry lol. Still the best card after rotation, but the current is better indeed sorry for spamming ur notifications :P

Thanks Ivanian!! Great points.

I’m currently running 4 Revival and 1 Call, because I’ve run into situations in testing where I couldn’t cast the Call because I was 1 mana short. But I may change the ratio back to 3:2. Bringing back two creatures is a big deal.

I’m still debating that 3rd mountain as well. During one simulation I ran, I actually milled both of my mountains and that screwed me over. I’ll keep tinkering with it.

Unleash Fury is a possibility too. But yeah, that discard for Maximize Velocity is surprisingly useful. Plus it’s cheap and easy to Surveil for it using Doom Whisperer.

Please let me know how your testing goes! :D

I like the idea. What aboutMinion's Return andLiliana's Standard Bearer?

Thanks for the suggestions Frosto! Liliana's Standard Bearer is interesting because it can be reanimated and triggered over and over, but it’s ability depends on my creatures dying, and sac’ing is not a central part of this deck’s strategy. This deck wants to discard cards straight to the graveyard, or bring them back if they die. Minion's Return falls in the same category as the Standard Bearer. My first priority is to get critters in my discard to reanimate, not prevent their death. Flash is nice tho. I can imagine a sac-heavy variation of this deck and those cards would fit perfectly.

I tried this one Arena...Ended up removing Demonic Embrace, too many times when it didn't really make much of a difference and I wanted to save that lost life for the Doom Whisperer's Surveil. I swapped out half the Thrill of Possibility's for 2 Unleash Fury. That and Maximize Velocity worked much faster.

I could say with this deck as you have it that it has too many outlets to dump cards in the graveyard. I played 4-5 matches and ended up playing about the new Teferi Mill enchantment and ended up losing 2 matches because I ran out of card in my library. I didn't really have a enchantment hate card to use for it and that really slowed down and hurt the deck.

Another card you wanna try a 1 or 2 of would be Uncaged Fury.

Thanks for the suggestions tru13. Unleash Fury looks especially effective. I’ll test it out.

Against mill, I would think this deck would be strong, considering the reanimation spells and Kroxa. The sideboard is theoretically set up to help in a situation like you described. Pharika's Libation is black’s only answer to enchantments, besides catching it early with Duress or discarding it with Liliana’s +1. I would switch out the self-mill and Embraces to make room.

cool looking deck!

How about Vito, Thorn of the Dusk Rose in your sideboard for a combo with the second half of Revival / Revenge to beat graveyard hate?

Nvm, you would actually need white mana for that '^^

I made a build and ended up using 4x Pharika's Libation due to the excessive amount of enchantment and creature hate I was dealing with.

ConstantVigilance, thanks! It’s a lot of fun to play.

plakjekaas, I appreciate the comment. I played with adding white to this build to take advantage of Revival / Revenge, but I settled with Rakdos because it’s more consistent.

tru13, great point, thanks! I played several games recently and I also felt like I needed more removal. Unleash Fury was not as useful as I thought it would be, so I swapped it out for 2 mainboard Pharika's Libation to deal with creatures and enchantments. I left the other 2 on the sideboard. Duress is good to bring in to preemptively discard enchantments.

Do you think Rotting Regisaur or Hunted Nightmare would be better fits than Grimdancer?

Thanks for the suggestions PuddinWing! I really like Rotting Regisaur but I am on the fence about using it because its self-discard ability can shut down the deck if left unchecked. But you encouraged me to test it out more. It helps dump Archfiend's Vessel and cards for Kroxa’s escape.

Hunted Nightmare was also a contender but the deathtouch counter on the opponent’s creature can be a big obstacle sometimes. I’d rather have consistent lifelink and deathtouch with Grimdancer.

What about Gruesome Menagerie. It could get back Grimdancer, Mire Triton, and Archfiend's Vessel, right into play.

Or croxa

Also maybe find room for Lurrus of the Dream-Den? Really like how the deck’s coming together.

Love. It. One of the most fun decks I've played in a while. Wish I could upvote more than once! Thanks for sharing!

griffstick, Gruesome Menagerie is a great suggestion, thanks! It’s expensive at 5 mana, but I would like to experiment with a single copy to see if it works. The issue is whether it is more useful than Doom Whisperer.

Thanks PuddinWing! The deck has definitely improved over time. Lurrus of the Dream-Den is a card I really like and wanted to include in this build initially, but I ended up removing several creatures and cut Lurrus. I may swap out a Grimdancer for a single copy.

kenvan19, I really appreciate the comment, thanks!! I’m glad you have fun playing with it, I do too!

Its reanimation mode is pretty expensive, but Nullpriest of Oblivion offers solid stats and a pretty versatile suite of effects, plus it can be reanimated using the inscription in a pinch. By the way, Gruesome Menagerie, while a really neat pet card of mine, is unfortunately rotating out of Standard, so as much as I'd love to see it finally realize some of its potential in a sweet standard list such as this, it won't work out.