Today I want to take a slightly different approach to the latest league results. I’ve been playing a bit lately and given what I’ve seen in the league I think that Orzhov is very well positioned at the moment. The most recent deck list reveal featured three different Orzhov lists, so let’s examine what they do and where they differ.
Each of these decks are build around a similar core, with all of them running the Glint Hawk/Kor Skyfisher engine with Tithing Blade and other artifacts that generate value. All the builds are also running Thraben Inspector and Guardian of the Guildpact. These suites should look familiar to anyone who has played white midrange in Pauper at any point in the past several years. Together these creatures help to provide the backbone of any white deck that wants to play to the board and slowly win the game through combat. It should be noted that all of these decks also run Omen of the Dead which can provide a steady stream of potential threats with Kor Skyfisher once the game reaches the middle and late stages.
The decks all run Cast Down, which is informative. These decks are less worried about decks that go wide (thanks in part to their blockers) but definitely want to take out the “one big threat” that could end the game. All three builds run some number of board wipes main with the first list doubling up with Pestilence and Drown in Sorrow. These builds have also opted to eschew Chainer’s Edict instead relying on the recursive nature of Tithing Blade to fill the same role.
Finally, all these decks are running at least 21 lands and left Troll of Khazad-dûm on the sidelines. They are mana hungry and cannot afford to be taking turns off to spend resources finding lands. Instead these decks want to hit their land drops on time while advancing their board state. Filling slots with cards that mostly exist to find lands detracts from the main game plan and considering how few of the lands each of these run are actual Swamps it follows that Troll might not be the best inclusion.
What separates these decks from each other are they supplemental engines. One uses Pestilence to lock down the board while another leans on Ephemerate to steamroll value. The final list leans on the Basilisk Gate damage engine for additional flexibility out of the sideboard and a way to close the game out quickly. Two lean on the Monarch or the Initiative while the Gate build avoids it entirely. None of these decks, however, are running Prismatic Strands, which means that they have no real defense of their emblems aside from keeping the board clear.
What does this all mean? These decks are built to survive the early game, coming fully online turn four and beyond. They want to tread water, biding time until they can assert control. Once they have gotten to parity these Orzhov builds want to break the game open with their various engines and slam the door. Each of them is prepared to fight Kuldotha Red on some axis while not giving up entirely against the rest of the metagame. While red might be setting the tone these builds can go toe-to-toe with everything else the leagues have to offer. Cast Down tells us that these decks are aware not every threat costs a single mana and sometimes it is the five drop that’s going to kill you.
When there are several lists in a format that are all trying to do the same thing it can be important to look at how they are similar to understand their core concept. Each of these lists are slightly different in their execution but all of them are trying to do the same thing, albeit with varied components.
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NerdtotheCore 