O my gosh! I really LOVE this deck. Id +2 if i could! Orzhov highfive! I really want to see it play.

@ Vatofrog

After giving this a good test run, I can honestly say, that as a former Orzhov player, this is what I've been missing since RTR rotated out of standard. It's midrange, but once I stabilize the board, holy crap can this thing dominate. A hearty and loyal Orzhov highfive to you too! Thanks for the +1!

What do you think about Wingmate Roc istead of Doomwake Giant? Looks like you're going pretty hard in the costillation play but the life and evasion from them birdies may be quite utilitous in this deck. Im working on something similar, running the roc, Brutal Hordechief, and Citadel Siege also

@ doanenut

I think Wingmate Roc is a fantastic card. It can do a lot of work and the token is a bonus. The reason I chose Doomwake Giant over Wingmate Roc is that Doomwake Giant is out of reach for most single direct damage spells and additionally, I get a lot of recursion on his constellation ability, sadly Wingmate Roc can't boast the same, he's a one and done creature. When played right, Doomwake Giant can be multiple boardwipes, while I've burned through a ton of tokens, I have generated a -4/-4 boardwipe which clears a lot of creatures.

I have a Black/Red deck that utilizes Brutal Hordechief, so I know how good he is. This deck is a bit slower in tempo, sometimes I am not attacking so I can hold the board state. As such, this deck is more about tempo and stability, and less about aggressive attacks. Between the lifegain/constellation mechanic, it plays a lot like a traditional Orzhov Extort deck, I can win without swinging in. Swinging in just lets me win faster.

Thanks for the +1 and the suggestions.

Great deck, just one question, why are you playing Sign in Blood over Read the Bones. I understand that it is 1 mana cheaper, but you usually want to be casting a 2/2 on turn 2. Plus the double black is problematic. Lastly the Read the Bones also scrys two in addition to doing the same thing as Sign in Blood. Again great deck, good luck.

@ Marlorn32

If you take a look at my maybe board, you'll see I actually have 2 Read the Bones there, I started with the Sign in Blood to see if I felt it was giving me enough draw when I needed it, or if I needed more like with Read the Bones. Typically, on Turn 3, I am wanting to play Athreos, God of Passage to start the vicious cycle of bleeding my opponent out or I'm needing to play Banishing Light, as this deck starts off a little slow and I need to remove an early threat. For the time being, I'm not having too much trouble with this deck as far as draws go, but if I find that the Sign in Blood isn't making the cut or giving me enough draw, then I will switch and try out the Read the Bones

Thanks for the suggestions and the +1!

Vizkopa Guildmage seems like a great idea for this deck. You're already gaining a ton of life with lifelink from Sorin, Solemn Visitor and your various spells, crank Vizkopa Guildmage 's second ability and watch your opponent's life total drop like a rock while pumping Ajani's Pridemate at the same time.

@devils396

I loved playing with Vizkopa Guildmage when it was in standard, however, since this is standard legal, Vizkopa Guildmage no longer makes the cut. :( In lieu of the Guildmage, I'm using Underworld Coinsmith who does similar work, not exactly the same, but similar. Thanks for the suggestion and the +1!

i would suggest replacing sign in blood with damnble pact. because you have so much life.

@ Vatofrog

Now that is an interesting suggestion. I'll have to look into that.

Great deck! I love me some Orzhov. Are you having any trouble finding enough mana to activate Mastery of the Unseen here? I can see there usually being a better use for 4 mana on turn 4. Have you thought about tightening up your devotion a bit and adding some Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx? It might make bringing Athreos, God of Passage online easier too. I've been working on some of these ideas in W/B recently, and if you have a sec feel free to check out the deck. I'd love some feedback, or it might even give you a couple ideas. +1 from me!

@ recklesspong

Typically, I will keep the mana free to activate Mastery of the Unseen's ability at the end of my opponent's turn or use it to make a chump blocker during combat, all depending on the situation. As for Athreos, God of Passage, to be honest, I rarely have issues making him active. Between Underworld Coinsmith +2 to devotion, Brimaz, King of Oreskos +2 to devotion, Mastery of the Unseen +1 to devotion, and Athreos, God of Passage himself, I am at enough devotion. Typically, the first 3 to 4 turns are spent getting an established board state, and once I have it, it is difficult for most opponents to break through.

The other upside to Athreos, God of Passage, even when my manifested creatures die, no matter what it is (land, spell, enchantment, creature, or planeswalker). my opponent still has to pay 3 or it goes back to my hand. So once I land Athreos, God of Passage, the round becomes very difficult for my opponent's to win. I'll check out your deck, and thanks for the comments and the +1.

This deck looks super cool and I love anything Orzhov. Do you have any recommendations on a budget replacement for a Brimaz or is it too integral to the deck? I have a the card except him and I'm not trying to drop $60 on him.

@ RisingOutlaw

Well, the problem is that Brimaz, King of Oreskos serves two purposes, one he provides difficult board presence, which left unchecked, will overwhelm opponents. Secondly, his double white mana costs work to enable Athreos, God of Passage which can also help win games. If you can find another enabler for Athreos, and something that is 3 CMC that offers as much board dominance, then yes, go for it. For the time being, I would recommend playing the deck with proxies for now, and you can swap them out and test something else. I was able to buy some moderately played Brimaz(s) for about $10 each (TCGplayer.com) and they were in decent enough shape. Try ebay and see if you can find a set for cheap.

Alternatively, if you are looking for a replacement, you could drop the 3 Brimaz, King of Oreskos and add in the 4th Mastery of the Unseen or a 4th Doomwake Giant, and you could drop in 2 more Lightforms which would help with the devotion issue. I hope the suggestions help, let me know how it plays for you. Good luck!

+1! How is your match-ups against control? Mardu, U/B, Esper and the like

Many control decks struggle to deal with the life gain. Usually, I get early enough board presence, and such huge life gain, that many control decks struggle to compete. In fact, I've actually had 2 control decks run out of cards against me.

lol. i like to hear that. great original work. i might have to do my own version after looking at this cool design

What is Erebos, God of the Dead boarded against? I've noticed him in a couple sideboards around this site ect.

I think that Ordeal of Heliod could be really good because it triggers constellation and it gains you life.

Lots of Orzhov love I like it +1 for me :)

I really liked this deck so I started play testing it online. It is really fun. Competitive, too. But I did make some changes based on what I experienced against a good variety of decks.

1. Mastery of the Unseen was completely out of place here. I sideboarded it out I think almost every game. It looked cool in concept but it was slow and really didn't do anything. Even against Sultai Control it was pretty much useless. I just put in Thoughtseize and won by stripping their key removal. Against aggro and even midrange I found better cards to play at the time.

2. Sign in Blood worked about a 1/3 of the time when I needed it. Maybe it was some bad draws but I found Read the Bones to be much more mana friendly. Dropping Seeker of the Way second turn and then almost guarantee Bones 3rd turn was much better overall. Almost every time I had 1 black and 2 white. Mathematically with the mana base it makes sense. (give-or-take)

3. Lightform is everything this deck wants and more. I upped it to 4x. Activates Seeker of the Way, activates Underworld Coinsmith, and triggers Ajani's Pridemate with lifelink. Mastery of the Unseen does all this as well, but at a very very slow rate. It also is a quicker manifest than Unseen. It's almost like that other "glue" card that binds the deck.

4. Personal preference: Citadel Siege. I been running 2 and this card just destroys decks. Seeker of the Way suddenly swings for 5/5 lifelink and at end of turn is still a 4/4 beast. Pump up Lightform to really make them panic. They will be forced to destroy a manifested land (if they have removal).

The rest of the deck is really well polished. You probably have a different take on it with Mastery of the Unseen. Perhaps your match-ups called for something like that. Otherwise I would try out Citadel Siege. I think you'll fall in love.

Other than that another Athreos, God of Passage could work, too. Or another in sideboard against a lot control. I just so happened to draw one in game 1 and manifest 1 in game 2 against Sultai Control. Without him I would of been finished. But I'm thinking mainboard might be better overall.

@ BigFace

Just to touch on the key points of Mastery of the Unseen, as when I was playing with it at first, I was playing it wrong.

One, against control decks, Ugin's second ability doesn't affect manifested creatures.

Two, Bile Blight can't affect more than a single manifested creature, as they are unnamed tokens.

Three, if they are using a board wipe that does affect manifest creatures, you can turn one face up in response and gain 1 life for each creature you have on the battlefield times the number of Mastery of the Unseens you have, so if you have 5 creatures and 2 mastery(s), you flip a manifested creature face up and gain 5 life, and then another 5 life, which acts as two triggers on the stack, which add 2 counters to Ajani's Pridemate.

Fourth, at the end of your opponent's turn, you can manifest a creature, more if you have the available mana. This helps with recovering from a board wipe.

Fifth, Mastery of the Unseen is repeatable, whereas Lightform, while I love the card, is a single effect.

Now, I'm not saying that you don't know how to play it, I just wanted to list some of the advantages of the card that I overlooked when I initially built the deck. Don't get me wrong, it is slower, but in the late game, it becomes a juggernaut, allowing its controller to cycle through their deck, and gain a ton of life. Now the lifegain becomes relevant with Underworld Coinsmith, as I can pay 2 mana and a single life to slowly whittle an opponent down. That effect very much reminds me of the "Extort" mechanic that I use to love to play with, which is why all the life gain becomes important. I put my life total high out of reach, and then start spending it to whittle my opponent down. Unless they are gaining life too, my board state can eventually overwhelm.

As for the Sign in Blood vs Read the Bones debate. Both are very good cards. Read the Bones digs deeper, while Sign in Blood is targetable. For a brief bit, I entertained Damnable Pact, but found it to be too unpractical. I do think I am going to give Read the Bones a test run at FNM this week, so I will be able to come back and tell you which one I prefer.

I love Lightform, I think it was an underrated card. As I said, my only grievance with it is: it is one and done. I like the card, but with all of the removal floating around, they usually burn the manifested creature after I pull it out. That is more of a meta choice though. I wanted to get more out of the card, that's why I stuck with more Mastery of the Unseen vs Lightform.

As for Citadel Siege, I order a set for this deck, with intent to drop it in when the meta shifted for DTK, however, my meta has seen a regression to M15 style RDW, which is ok, but I have the Citadels which I may play around with this week. You make a great argument for them, so I am excited to give them a shot.

Thanks for all the feedback and all the pointers. When you have your version of the deck posted, let me know, I'd love to check it out. Thanks for the +1 and all of the comments. I do love getting the opportunity to dissect a deck, and get a fresh set of eyes on it. You have given me a lot to consider, and I want to try some of it out. I hope you found my Mastery info just as helpful. Thanks again!

I too do like breaking down a deck's angles. The Mastery of the Unseen did touch on some points I didn't think of/know of. Such as Ugin's exile ability doesn't touch manifest. I could say that would be the reason I would run 2 in sideboard. Otherwise, I am thinking about giving Unseen another shot but I may opt the Citadel Siege/Lightform/1 extra Athreos, God of Passage beat down/aggro tactic. I'll let you know.

One other thing about doing the latter/aggro tactic is Lightform and Citadel Siege are both 2 white for Athreos. I found that really helps because of the gross removal around. Granted Lightform is much easier to destroy but Citadel generally makes up for it.

When I first saw Underworld Coinsmith I thought it was cool based on bias for my love of Orzhov cards. To my pleasant surprise this guy seems to just sit there and help close out games. A couple of times he did it himself. Wow! Not bad for a little bear. I think because he doesn't hardly see any play opponents aren't interested in his ability. This works to your advantage. :)

I'll post what I got here and shoot you the link. Still customizing sideboard for meta.

I have noticed cool suggestions from others on your thread. However, they seem rather redundant considering the build that's already in place. But I will still look at playing them.

@ BigFace

I love playing with cards that are so underestimated. When they win, it catches people off guard and that have this look of shock on their faces, all the while wondering "How the hell did I lose to that thing?!?!" The biggest bonus is that Underworld Coinsmith adds 2 devotion to Athreos, God of Passage, which is sickening. Two of them on the board almost active him. Since many of those gods cost seven, they are usually pretty surprised and counting my devotion when they see me swinging with him. I'm looking forward to seeing your fresh take on the deck, and improving my own. All of your suggestions are spot on and I'm looking forward to seeing what you've got. Keep me posted!

Yeah, I really like this deck too. After I saw the Deck Tech from GP Miami last month when Forrest Mead ran the list I really wanted to build it. Sadly, he didn't have Erebos in the board because that was the tournament where the G\W Mastery decks just took off and there were 3 digit life totals. Erebos would have been the best tech.

You really do need the Citadel Siege though- that card is just boss. Every turn you get to make a 4\4 w\ Mastery? That's hard to beat. I'm wondering if the list can be updated with an of the DTK cards...