Orzhov Aggro vs Chavest Midrange?
Standard forum
Posted on Feb. 10, 2014, 12:48 a.m. by Arorsthrar
I really want to run Pain Seer , but I'm not sure how well Orzhov Aggro will run in todays meta with MUD, MBD, and UWX control. It does have cards like Xathrid Necromancer to help. Pain Seer could be quite useful in giving Orzhov aggro an edge over other aggro decks, and the Archetype of Aggression could put it over RDW. Since I focus on aggro, I can't use the many of the cards Wizards has been gift-wrapping to black, but the aggro seems like it could be overwhelming as now the deck won't really putter out. On the other hand, Chavest Midrange allows me to use the awesome creatures red has been getting lately Stormbreath Dragon , Flame-Wreathed Phoenix , while getting access to all the love Wizards has been giving to black (its almost too much to pass on), and having a splash of white for some decent control and Elspeth, Sun's Champion ?
Arorsthrar says... #3
My bad, I worded the question a little funny. I didn't mean to use Pain Seer in the Midrange, just the aggro. I was backing up the idea of a Orzhov Aggro deck with it, since black hasn't been splashed in white weenie as much as red. The chavest midrange wouldn't be using it. Which one is better in standard considering today's meta?
February 10, 2014 1:29 a.m.
I had decent success with the WWb deck before BNG, but the primary reason to run that deck is that it beat ups on Mono-Black, which just got a lot stronger against it with Bile Blight and Drown in Sorrow .
Chavest Midrange is likely the better route. Though I'm not terribly certain splashing into the 3rd color is all that great. When you already have access to great stuff like Blood Baron of Vizkopa . there's not a ton of reason to splash into red. It's just making the deck less consistent without really adding to the power level. Heck, if I did want to splash 9 or so sources of red into BW midrange it would be for Warleader's Helix and Assemble the Legion .
February 10, 2014 2:19 a.m.
Arorsthrar says... #5
My plan was to make white the smallest color simply because of the cards I currently own. I have 2 storm breaths, the land base for chavest, 3 anger of the gods, 4 chained to the rocks etc. I only have one blood Baron.
Slycne says... #2
Honestly, neither one is a great shell for Pain Seer . Orzhov Aggro is chalked full of quality 2 drops that all share the big benefit of being white for Brave the Elements which is arguably the best card in the deck and what keeps it competitive. And an otherwise vanilla 2/2 that needs to survive to untap on Turn 4 just isn't something it wants. Even out of the sideboard the decks you'd prefer to bring it in against there are better options like Sin Collector to 2-for-1 them straight away and help you win faster by stripping their answers, trying to grind out advantage isn't the game plan.
Chavest Midrange at least gives you access to a fair bit of removal to be able to get Pain Seer in safely, but it's a threat that doesn't protect itself, doesn't has an effect right away or is otherwise resilient. You'd rather have removal against fast decks and better threats against other decks.
The best option for Pain Seer is a deck that can otherwise abuse it. Hidden Strings , etc. But honestly, I think that's too much work and moving parts. Once you're running a bunch of other cards to support it you might as well just run Underworld Connections . You're already in the color, it starts drawing you cards the same turn and it only dings you for 1. That's well worth the trade off of not being able to attack or block.
February 10, 2014 1:17 a.m.