Golgari Rock vs. Orzhov Rock, Who Is Stronger?
Standard forum
Posted on Oct. 23, 2013, 9:47 p.m. by strateupjee
So I want to know what people are thinking about post rotation rock decks. I am loving my Orzhov Rock, however I have seen a LOT of Golgari Rock on this site, and I wanted to see what everyone's take on it is. I know each has their own advantages and disadvantages, however I am not too sure which is stronger.
Based on tournament data BW midrange decks by far beat BG Midrange decks in top 8 appearances.
Also if you were to pit the two against eachother the BW deck has threats that BG can't deal with or are really hard to kill. BG also has about the exact removal package as BW and both play almost the same. So wouldn't you want to play the deck that runs the harder to deal with threats? Not to mention that if BW and BG were to dip into a 3rd color both would get about the same cards aside from BW getting more good removal that BG can't get. The final hit against BG is that it currently doesn't have it's scry land in a format where many midrange or control decks have even added off color scry lands just for the effect.
October 23, 2013 10:22 p.m.
are we talking standard or modern? or legacy? i know very little about legacy, but I would say BW is stronger in standard, and BG is stronger in modern.
October 23, 2013 10:52 p.m.
strateupjee says... #6
The original rock article I ever saw was before rotation and it was a B/W Rock running Resto's and such, sooo...
I am talking about standard
I know that junk is cool but I feel it is much less consistent land wise.
I do agree that B/W has harder to deal with threats, but B/G still has a sweet set of threats of its own, so I could see where they could be even, however I think having Elspeth does it for B/W
October 23, 2013 11:19 p.m.
Rock has the better removal suite (Putrefy , Abrupt Decay , and access to mana ramp (Sylvan Caryatid ).
B/W has really high quality lategame threats (BBV, ghost dad, elspeth), but lacks the mana acceleration to rush them out.
October 24, 2013 1:38 a.m.
I prefer running G/B over W/B. Due to the tremendously better removal suite. B/G can kill everything, whereas W/B is pretty much limited to creatures.
Also I don't see G/B that far behind in a match against W/B. At least not post-board. Lifebane deals with BBV/Obzedat, we can kill their whip but they cannot kill ours, we have acceleration and can dump a T3 DD or T5 Reaper with mana open for hexproof. Also Vraska pretty much shits on Elspeth's face. And ultimately we have gaze.
The Original "The Rock" deck was a G/B midrange deck with lots of hand-disruption and big resilient creatures.
October 24, 2013 6:14 a.m.
harrydemon117 says... #9
I'd say B/G SHOULD have the edge over B/W as green gives you ramp, the best enchantment/artifact hate, and threats that also allow you to scry such as Reaper of the Wilds .
They both have black though so hand disruption will be the key and whoever gets theirs first SHOULD win the match
October 24, 2013 8:10 a.m.
strateupjee says... #10
I am aware that G/B was the first, I'm just saying it isn't the only
In my experience, even with Ramp, G/B has a hard time dealing with B/W simply due to the nature of the creatures, though B/W does miss things like Oblivion Ring (R.I.P.)
October 24, 2013 8:55 a.m.
harrydemon117 says... #11
That was why I ran Junk midrange for Inn-RTR standard... best of both worlds :)
October 24, 2013 9:11 a.m.
strateupjee says... #12
Exactly, however it is now less consistent due to lands as well as being hella expensive
October 24, 2013 9:19 a.m.
harrydemon117 says... #13
Expensive mana wise or cost of cards wise?
I don't think it's that bad for lands to be honest. Yes we lost things like Woodland Cemetery , Isolated Chapel , and Temple Garden , but we DO have Temple of Silence to replace some of them, and that's only a possible 8 lands to replace (assuming max amount here with no basics). These could just be turned into basic lands if need be.
also, with things like Sylvan Caryatid that could replace Farseek and something like Prophetic Prism for mana fixing it can still work.
I simply went to B/W and splashed green for Reaper of the Wilds , Sylvan Caryatid , Abrupt Decay and Putrefy where I used to be mostly green for Garruk, Primal Hunter and Thragtusk
October 24, 2013 1:02 p.m.
strateupjee says... #14
Cost wise xD and yeah, but that is still 8 dual lands lost, which will either make it slow down due to guildgates, or be less consistent due to basics. Out of it all, I would just rather play a 2 color and still win xD
October 24, 2013 7:20 p.m.
the3rdH0kage says... #15
@ harrydemon117 Temple Garden didn't rotate, I think that you are thinking about Sunpetal Grove . We lost the buddy lands, the shocks are in for another year.
October 24, 2013 8:36 p.m.
harrydemon117 says... #16
Lol i meant Sunpetal Grove as you stated. I was in a hurry when I did it and it was the first G/W land that popped in my head
October 25, 2013 9:01 a.m.
There is no such thing as Orzhov Rock. The matchup is called The Rock v. Orzhov Midrange. When you refer to The Rock, you're referring to G/B Midrange.
October 25, 2013 11:45 a.m.
strateupjee says... #18
Again, the first ever "rock" I saw (which is the first time I even heard of the archetype) it was a B/W that, while somewhat copying the B/G Rock's play style, was still it's own deck
fluffybunnypants says... #2
Er.... rock is B/G.... so are you asking what's better between Rock and Junk?
October 23, 2013 10:09 p.m.