Orzhov (B/W) -Help this girl finish her deck for winning at FNM!
Deck Help forum
Posted on March 30, 2013, 12:46 p.m. by Taytora
Here is the deck: Dead Life (Orzhov) -Help Get Ready For FNM Please! -Any suggestions would be awesome. If you think it looks good, a +1 for information would be great too! Thanks
3/29 FNM: Placed 12/34, went 3-2. (and the only girl present! :) )
Here is the deck list I played with:
Creature (18)
2x Angel of Serenity
4x High Priest of Penance
3x Obzedat, Ghost Council
3x Rhox Faithmender
2x Thrill-Kill Assassin
4x Vampire Nighthawk
Instant (4)
2x Orzhov Charm
2x Tragic Slip
Enchantment (2)
2x Oblivion Ring
Land (25)
4x Godless Shrine
4x Isolated Chapel
6x Plains
10x Swamp
1x Vault of the Archangel
Sorcery (6)
3x Lingering Souls
3x Sign in Blood
Planeswalker (5)
3x Liliana of the Veil
2x Sorin, Lord of Innistrad
Sideboard (15)
2x Blind Obedience
3x Devour Flesh
3x Duress
3x Nevermore
2x Pithing Needle
2x Rest in Peace
I seemed to do decently against the aggro match-ups I played. It was the control type stuff that tripped me up. When the game gets drawn out and my board has been wiped, I seem unable to do anything further (despite having lots of life built-up).
Match 1: Played W/U/R, went 0-2 Seemed like a deck along the lines of American Control. He was playing cards such as Assemble the Legion
, Thought Scour
, Think Twice
, Restoration Angel
, Augur of Bolas
, Snapcaster Mage
, azorious charm, Dissipate
, and [[counterflux[/CARD]Game 1: I couldn't get rid of his Assemble the Legion
and it eventual overran me
Game 2: I put up a good fight this game and ran the clock down before he took me out. I sideboarded in Duress
and Nevermore
. I duressed an assemble the legion and nevermored Restoration Angel
-probably a mis-play there; should have reversed...although he had 2 angels in hand at the time I duressed. After drawing through nearly 2/3-3/4 of his deck he finally got a Supreme Verdict
. I couldn't draw to create a field after that and he eventually rolled over me with his legions again.
This guy ended up placing 2nd in the tourney.
Match 2: Played U/R/W/B, went 2-0 Not quite sure what he was doing with his deck. Actually don't remember what he played except for Odric guys.
I mulliganed the 2nd game and he flooded that game. I kept him at bay with removal both games such as use with Liliana of the Veil
Match 3: Played B/W (yay orzhov!), went 2-0
He had a similar deck to mine but with all the extort creatures, no Rhox Faithmender
, and a hope of the Vizkopa Guildmage
/Exquisite Blood
combo.
I outpaced him both games once I got my rhox and Obzedat, Ghost Council
going. I made sure to clear either his guildmage or Exquisite Blood
cards. I ultimated Liliana of the Veil
during the 2nd match-up
Match 4: (my least favorite of the night) Played W/U/B, went 0-2
He was playing a massive deck with lots of control. He played cards such as Think Twice
, Supreme Verdict
, Sphinx's Revelation
, Tamiyo, the Moon Sage
, Staff of Nin
, Duskmantle Seer
, radkos keyrune
Game 1: Not much to say here -we were going back and forth, I was staying stable with my lifegain and kept bouncing cards. He ended up drawing Battle of Wits
to finish the game...lame
Game 2: Put up another great fight here -ran the clock to the end and took him to the 'final 5 turns' to finally knock me down. I made it up 59 life with him down to 2 before he Sphinx's Revelation
ed for 5 before Supreme Verdict
ing. I then drew land cards the next 8 or so rounds while he started to get a few guys down to start cutting into my life with an open field. During this time he was able to ultimate his tamiyo (since I couldn't so anything about it). That made my duress useless. I was able to Nevermore
his battle of wits and then Sphinx's Revelation
later on
Match 5: Played G/W/B/R, went 2-1
He was playing cards such as Mulch
, Boros Reckoner
, Immortal Servitude
, Frontline Medic
, Hellraiser Goblin
, Silverblade Paladin
, and Searing Spear
Game 1: We were going back and forth until he used Immortal Servitude
and brought back 10 or so guys from the graveyard
Game 2: I Nevermore
d his immortal servitude and was able to keep his board clear, especially when I got to drop Angel of Serenity
Game 3: Went similar to game 2
Overall thoughts: Sign in Blood
was a great card and I was never disappointed to draw it. Angel of Serenity
was great the very few times I was able to drop her. Orzhov Charm
was still so-so and Oblivion Ring
was always a great help. Love the rhox faithmender combo-ing with Obzedat, Ghost Council
and/or Vampire Nighthawk
. I think I under estimate the true value of my planeswalkers since I'm typically neutral about drawing them, but they do help. Thrill-Kill Assassin
is a for sure neutral card draw.
I seem to do decent at slowing aggro down. I just get tripped up with the control and having my board cleared...so how can I improve?
Thrill-Kill Assassin
is essentially used as a removal for me with its DT. I'm pretty neutral about the card. Basically I slow use it to try and slow aggro down -it'd be the 1st card I would most likely cut to make adjustments.
Perhaps I'm just not using the planeswalkers properly? I normally use Liliana of the Veil
as a sac engine. She often doesn't survive much longer after the initial play. Often times she will sit there since I don't want to discard anything. She's great when I have no cards in hand though.
Same thing with Sorin, Lord of Innistrad
. I normally pop his -2 off when I 1st play him. I often will get a few tokens out of him and occasionally a 2nd emblem. His emblem is actually pretty useful though.
March 30, 2013 2:14 p.m.
Hi Taytora, good on you for building and running an original deck.
I'm working on testing out Junk at the moment, so my experiences aren't completely the same as yours, but I've found Disciple of Bolas to be a godsend lategame. Sacrificing an Angel of Serenity , for example, or an Obzedat, Ghost Council when you have another one in-hand, nets you five cards and five life, refilling your hand and leaving you with a chump blocker. Pretty sweet. I like to target my Thragtusk with it.
If graveyard shenanigans are a problem with you, I recommend running Grafdigger's Cage or Tormod's Crypt .
Anyway, good luck!
March 30, 2013 3:22 p.m.
Thanks tmloyd, I appreciate the comment. :-)If I were to go 3 colors, I'd probably go Junk, so good luck with your testing in that arena!
I think Disciple of Bolas
would only be good if I were running something such as Unburial Rites
. Since I took out the 4th Obzedat, Ghost Council
I seem lucky to draw 1 of him now. Also, I feel like I could get more use out of Angel of Serenity
by playing her rather than sac-ing her.
Luckily I have yet to face graveyard shenanigan type stuff (well, I guess aside from all those blue card draws such as Think Twice
, but I do have Rest in Peace
in my SD. Do you think either of your mentions are better than that card?
Thanks for the input!
March 30, 2013 3:46 p.m.
pookypuppy6 says... #6
With planeswalkers you want to make sure you can defend them, and if you're facing aggro it might be that putting them out early helps you out but also puts them at risk. Obviously blockers can help with that but you don't want to overextend your forces and get taken out in one fell swoop.
I think it may be a cool idea to try just using Sorin, Lord of Innistrad 's +1 when you first play him. Tat better defends him AND suits your strategy far better, as those tokens can block for you and gain you life. Then later, when you have gotten enough board position to attack, you can use his second or even third abilities if he has survived that long.
March 30, 2013 3:57 p.m.
I was thinking that Angel of Serenity would work well with Disciple of Bolas if you were exiling creatures in your own graveyard. Pop Disciple, sac and draw off the Angel, return the exiled cards to your hand and play them.
I can see your point though. I run three Obzedat in my Junk and I seem to draw them every game, but then, it's an attrition deck, and it goes nice and long.
But Rest in Peace is better for your purposes if you aren't fooling around with reanimation, yeah.
March 30, 2013 4:21 p.m.
pookypuppy6: Sounds good. I will try that with Sorin, Lord of Innistrad
next time I play. The strategy makes sense in theory -as longs they aren't attacking him with multiple creatures anyways.
tmloyd: Ah, okay. Yes, that makes sense then if I were using Angel of Serenity on my creatures. The only issue I see with that is that (at least last night) I needed her to clear my opponent's board, or that I only had maybe 1 creature in my graveyard at the time.
March 30, 2013 4:44 p.m.
Then the solution is clear.
Get all your creatures in the graveyard.
What could go wrong?
March 30, 2013 4:50 p.m.
On that note though, using Unburial Rites not just on whatever is sac'd to the Disciple, but also on High Priest of Penance , could be a solid way to play the deck against aggro.
Finally, when it comes to clearing the board, you (and by you and mean me) really only have two decent options at the moment: Merciless Eviction and Divine Reckoning . Since you aren't messing around with your graveyard, Eviction may be the way to go. If you're dealing with aggro, leaving them one creature with Reckoning while you hang on to your Obzedat ain't a bad way to go.
March 30, 2013 4:53 p.m.
pookypuppy6 says... #11
Hopefully by turn 4 when you play Sorin you'll have partially stopped the attack with High Priest of Penance , Devour Flesh and whatnot, so Sorin may be easier to protect on the ground if the deck does its stalling job.
Also remember that once the coast is clear, making repeatable threats with Sorin's +1 is a good way to pressure the opponent. However, be wary of Dreadbore as always, as the opponent won't sit back and let you whack them with lifelinking Vampire tokens.
March 30, 2013 5 p.m.
ShadowLand says... #12
I would say add Undying Evil with a combination of either Typhoid Rats for the deathtouch, for possible creature removal or stall for early game. Or a Tormented Soul for some easy swing damage. But Undying Evil is good for keeping a creature you really want from a boardwipe and for giving them a small boost to come back for another block and more removal, or even to help keep your planeswalkers out there. Just a couple ideas.
March 30, 2013 5:52 p.m.
tmloyd: What could go wrong? Well...I get all my creatures and then don't draw an Angel of Serenity
or don't get enough mana. I only have 2 angels in deck and actually only ever play the card maybe 1/4-1/3 of games. Lol
Regarding Merciless Eviction
-I feel like it's too slow of a card and potentially hurts me just as much as them. I don't want to wipe my board -that's where I start to have issues.
I have had thoughts of the Unburial Rites
though, mainly as a SB card against control. Further thoughts on this card?
pookypuppy6: Yes, Dreadbore
= no fun. Rakdos's Return
is even worse! Haha
HouseDemir86: I could see myself using Undying Evil on creatures such as my Vampire Nighthawk . People like to Searing Spear those guys asap -if I could bring them back even stronger, well yeah!
March 30, 2013 7:18 p.m.
ShadowLand says... #14
Pretty much, or keep it in the pocket to drop on a board wipe, multiple uses
pookypuppy6 says... #2
I'm curious to ask how well Thrill-Kill Assassin works for you, it seems like an odd choice here despite its dual purpose.
Planeswalkers seem to be a problem, so you could possibly swap them out for Thrull Parasite . The extort can help make your Rhox Faithmender more consistent and as a 1 drop it can block for you early if need be. It might not work well against Tamiyo, the Moon Sage , however.
Maybe Orzhov Keyrune could help, its resistant to several board wipes and can defend for you during absent turns.
March 30, 2013 2:05 p.m.