Starting out in Ravnica, I fell in love with the Extort mechanic of the Orzhov. I have been longing for that familiar feeling. I think I've finally found it in this deck. A constellation/lifegain deck in black and white. The colors and lifegain feel so right.
4x Ajani's Pridemate - One of the most overlooked cards in standard right now. If you play anything with recurring life gain, you need to be playing this card. If left unchecked, it can grow to incredible sizes.
4x
Seeker of the Way
- One of the best cards to come out of Khans of Tarkir, hands down one of the best. While Prowess requires spells and enchantments to act as enablers, unless you are weird and don't play spells, this will make casting them super relevant. Additionally, that life gain works two fold to create a buffer for survival and make Pridemate larger.
4x
Underworld Coinsmith
- The backbone of the "return to Extort" mechanic. Additionally he is an enabler for Pridemate, his life gain is relevant, and he can help make Athreos, God of Passage an active beater. Once you create a wall of life, you just ping him turn after turn, whittling away at your opponent until they are dead.
2x Athreos, God of Passage - I feel in love with this god, but hadn't been able to find a home for him for so long, until now that is. In this deck, he gives everything a second, third, and sometimes even a fourth chance to be a nuisance to my opponents. With his ability, even manifest cards get a chance to return to my hand, making my opponent's choices all the more difficult.
3x Brimaz, King of Oreskos - For the longest time I considered him to be too fragile of a card to be any good. Boy was I wrong. If he sticks, he will only become a nightmare to my opponent. To sum up my new feelings about Brimaz, "Hail to the King!"
3x
Doomwake Giant
- A repeatable boardwipe for tokens. Not only does this behemoth slow attacking, but he eats tokens for breakfast, 2nd breakfast, elevensies, lunch, and so on and so on. With all the enchantments in this deck, I can usually give everything on my opponent's side a -3/-3 or better.
Spells:
2x Hero's Downfall - When you just need to kill it dead, downfall gets the job done.
2x Sign in Blood - I know a lot of people keep suggest Read the Bones, but to be honest, I only need a little push here and there, and 2 cards fit the bill perfectly, so this is the perfect fit for the deck.
4x Banishing Light - Because nothing says I hate your cards like Exile. When you care enough to exile the very best, you win games. In essence, this is the Mastercard of the deck. While Hero's Downfall deals with creatures and planeswalkers, for everything else, there's Mastercard,... er Banishing Light.
2x
Lightform
- I'm still on the fence about this one, it is a good enchantment, it offers evasion and life gain, so it assists with Ajani's Pridemate,
Underworld Coinsmith
, and
Doomwake Giant
, and it can help enable Athreos, God of Passage, but it still feels like there might be a better fit. For now, it stays.
3x
Mastery of the Unseen
- Life gain, enabler, and creatures, 'nuff said.
Planeswalkers:
3x Sorin, Solemn Visitor - The baddest, bad ass planeswalker in Black and White. If his first ability goes off a couple of times, I've usually put myself out of harm's way and my opponent's can't keep up with my life gain. A key component to this deck.
