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While complete opposites at first glance, the colors black and white inMagic: The Gatheringactually have more in common than most players realize. Both are sources of the best unconditional removal and board wipes in the game, and both colors are quite efficient at generating tokens.
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Consequently, Orzhov decks are quite good at providing consistent draws full of removal and pesky creatures that will be painstaking for your opponents to deal with, whether it’s due to life-loss abilities or taxing effects. Let’s take a look at some of the notable cards that make this combination great no matter what specific Orzhov strategy you want to play.
Themes
The dominant themes among Orzhov Commander players includeLifegain, Aristocrats, Party, Token,andShadowborn Apostle. All of these themes arecreature based and involve going wide on your boardin order to achieve certain synergies between your creatures.
These creatures are supplemented by some ofthe best removal and board wipesin the game. Orzhov contains the most versatile kinds of these two types of cards in all of Magic and isunmatched by any other color pair when it comes to these tools. Additionally, a large number oftutor spells allow Orzhov to more easily enact combosthat other decks can only dream of drawing.
Ramp
Surprisingly enough, Orzhov isa bit lacking when it comes to producing extra mana. Of course, theclassic Sol Ring and Commander’s Sphereare present, but besides that, you’ve really only got slim pickings includingArcane Signet, Orzhov Signet, Talisman of Hierarchy, Mind Stone,andFellwar Stone.
There are a couple of nontraditional ways of achieving ramp as well includingSolemn Simulacrum, Ashnod’s Altar, Black Market Connections,the notorious Smothering Tithe,andLotho, Corrupt Shirriff.
As far as mana generation is concerned, it’s really not the angle that Orzhov is looking to gain an edge from.
Draw
Additional drawcomes in two primary forms:cards that require you to pay lifeandcards that require you to sacrifice a creature in exchange for card advantage. As far as paying life goes, we’ve got some real classics includingPhyrexian Arena, Sign in Blood,andRead the Bones.
Sacrificing creatures is a much more common way to achieve card advantage in Orzhov though. This is also part of the reason why all the most popular strategies involve going wide.As long as you have a handful of creatures on the board, it will be difficult to run out of gasthanks to cards likeDeadly Dispute, Village Rites, Skullclamp, Viscera Seer, Minas Tirith, Corrupted Conviction,andGrim Haruspex.
It’s important to note that you may sacrifice a creature to one of these draw engines in response to opposing removal, providing you a 2-for-1 gain.
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Removal
Here’s whereOrzhov really excels. There’s no morecost effectiveandversatile removalin the game than the cards that the Orzhov color pair offers, so if you’re tired of losing to opposing creatures this is a great archetype to consider sleeving up.
This busted removal suite includesSwords to Plowshares, Path to Exile, Generous Gift, Damn, Despark, Anguished Unmaking, Fracture, Mortify, Utter End,andVindicate. As you may notice, many of these cards actuallyexile their targetsas opposed to simply destroying them, making certain that you won’t have to deal with whatever threat you hit ever again.
You can further supplement this ridiculous string of cards with even more powerful removal such as Go For the Throat, Doom Blade, and other cards, however, it’s important to leave room in your decklist for the creature strategies that will win you the game.
Board Wipes
It might seem counterintuitive to includeboard wipesin a deck where you’re looking to go wide yourself, but there are many times in Commander where you’ll find your board reduced to dust. This makes for opportunities for you to play board wipes as well.
Instead of trying to rebuild your board after your opponents have already gotten a head start, it’s often a better play to reset the board again and take initiative yourself.
Aside from the previously mentioned Damn, which can be upcast to become a board wipe, we’ve also got access to wipes such asSunfall, Farewell, Damnation, Languish, Wrath of God,andPlanar Outburst.
The great thing about these board wipes is that they can take care of most creatures no matter their size. Some can even get around the indestructible keyword.
Key Threats
Many of our threats revolve around eithergoing wide and pinging opponents with life loss through sacrificial meansorreturning creatures from the graveyard to the battlefield. As you can imagine,these two angles of attack supplement each other quite well as you can sacrifice an important creature only to see it returned to the battlefield on a later turn.
Our go-wide life loss threats consist ofZulaport Cutthroat / Elas, il-Kor Sadistic Pilgrim / Blood Artist / Cruel Celebrant /andSuture Priest. Meanwhile, cards that can bring back our heavy hitters from the graveyard includeLiesa, Forgotten Archangel / Victimize / Sun Titan /and effects likeReanimateandAnimate Dead.
Most of themore powerful, higher mana value creaturesin Orzhov have something to do withtaxing the opponentin some way. This might require theopponent to pay life, discard a card,orsacrifice a creatureto prevent an effect. Examples of these taxing threats are found in cards such asAthreos, God of Passage / Elesh Norn / Esper Sentinel / Thalia, Guardian of Thraben / Kambal, Consul of Allocation /andOrcish Bowmasters.
Giving the opponent a choice is never ideal, but you can often catch them between a rock and a hard place.
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Tutors
Orzhov is particularly good at finding the exact cards it needs from its deck thanks to having access tothe best tutor cards in the game. Tutors are cards that allow you tosearch your library for a specific cardand either place it in your hand or on top of your library.
This list of tutor cards includeVampiric Tutor, Imperial Seal, Demonic Tutor, Demonic Consultation, Opposition Agent, Idyllic Tutor, Academy Rectory,andEnlightened Tutor. Access to so many tutors makes it easy for Orzhov decks to string together combinations of cards that synergize incredibly well. Speaking of which . . .
Combos
Orzhov combos usually result in eitherinfinite lifegain, infinite life loss for opponents,or both. Each of these outcomes can result in you juststraight up winning the game on the spotdepending on the strategies that your opponents are playing.
Cards that are involved in the most common combos includeExquisite Blood, Vizkopa Guildmage, Cliffhaven Vampire, Sanguine Bond,andBeacon of Immortality. Another common combo is pairingLeonin-Relic WardedwithAnimate Deadto createinfinite enter the battlefieldandleave the battlefield triggers. This results in an instant win when paired with a creature like Zulaport Cutthroat.
It would be a fool’s errand to attempt to name all of the combos possible in Orzhov decks, so we’ll simply leave it at the cards mentioned above which areall very easily slotted into a typical Orzhov-themed decksand canprovide victories from seemingly out of nowhere. What better way to defeat three other plays at once than simultaneously with a niche interaction?
If comboing off is your favorite Commander playstyle, Orzhov runs very deep with combos that many opponents will have difficulty identifying. However, tutoring for cards can definitely be a tell that something is up.
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