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BMoor's Magic The Gathering Deck Garage
Orzhov Guild Deck
03.02.06

Hello, I'm Sean from NY.  I'm a casual magic player and I'm currently working with on a love affair with the Orzhov Guild.  The point of my deck is bleeder/control, since to make a truly effective aggro deck from Orzhov would cost a fair chunk of change.  I've reworked it a couple of times, subbing out cards like Douse in Gloom for Last Gasp; sometimes flavor needs to take a back seat to efficiency.  I've also agonized over the use of Orzhov cards like Shrieking Grotesque, Orzhov Euthanist, and Blind Hunter, so, I need some help deciding on the most effective build.  My card pool is anything from Ravnica and Guildpact.  However, I can't use any white or black cards that specifically belong to another guild (i.e. the watermark).  My budget isn't all that great, so even though certain rares might be excellent, I may be able to only get 1 or 2, so keep this in mind.  Alright, here's the decklist:
 
Bloody %#(&ing Control:
 
Creatures:
2x  Teysa, Orzhov Scion
2x  Skeletal Vampire
2x  Shrieking Grotesque
4x  Mourning Thrull
4x  Souls of the Faultless
4x  Blind Hunter
4x Agent of Masks
 
Other Spells:
1x  Hex
1x  Ghostway
2x  Orzhov Signet
2x  Mortify
4x  Pillory of the Sleepless
4x  Last Gasp
 
Land:
2x    Orzhova, the Church of Deals
3x    Orzhov Basilica
9x    Plains
10x  Swamp
 
Sideboard:
1x  Moratorium Stone
1x  Seize the Soul
2x  Orzhov Guildmage
2x  Shrieking Grotesque
2x  Hissing Miasma
3x  Orzhov Euthanist
4x  Castigate
 
This is more of less built from two theme decks and about a dozen pacts of Ravnica and Guilpact.  I'm working on getting at least one Angel of Despair, 2 more Mortify and some Godless Shrines.  Teysa is just plain FUN and the Skeletal Vampire is currently serving as a finisher in addition to Agent of Masks slow life drain (which is HATED in multiplayer games heheh).  The sideboard exists to deal with creatureless decks in casual and control mirror matches.  I hope you decide to see if you can improve this for me!  Thanks!
Looks like a lot of fun, Sean.  The idea of an Orzhov deck inflavor as well as function is pretty intriguing.  To prepare to fix this deck, I searched through Gatherer for every White and Black card in Ravnica block, and got some great ideas for cards that would work in this deck.

~Blazing Archon
A great late-game card for any control deck capable of casting it.

~Ghosts of the Innocent
With so many "lose life" effects in your deck, this creature's ability is completely one-sided, only hurting your opponent's offense(unless you're playing the mirror match)

~Culling Sun
Unfortunately, this will destroy Souls of the faultless, Teysa and her Spirit minions, and a few others in your deck, but it will stop hoards of Saprolings and Boros rushes.  Maybe for the sideboard.

~Storm Herd
With their control tactics designed to slow the opponent to a crawl, and their many lifegain tools, an Orzhov bleeder/control deck is the type of deck perfectly poised to use Storm herd to its full potential.

~Hunted Lammasu
Does the same job as Skeletal Vampire in your deck, but for two less mana.  And that Horror token makes a good Pillory of the Sleepless target, I suppose.

~Oathsworn Giant
+0/+2 boost to all your creatures, including the Spirit tokens Teysa churns out, makes it very hard to punch through any damage.  And Vigilance for eveyone is nice too.

~Twilight Drover
This makes a good combo with Teysa, especially if we add Storm Herd, but that might take the whole deck in another direction entirely.  Something to think about though.

So where does all this fit into your deck?  Anywhere you want it to, I suppose.  But let's try it this way.  First of all, drop Mourning Thrull and Shrieking Grotesque.  Cheap fliers that hit early and often are nice, but not what we're looking for.  Two of those slots will go to Mortify #s 3 and 4, and the other four will go towards moving Orzhov Guildmage to the maindeck.  Then, take out Ghostway in favor of Peregrine Mask, worth it's weight in gold on Souls of the Faultless.  Drop a Church of Deals for a Plains, to prevent color screw (besides, it's ability is expensive).  And drop two Blind Hunter for two Ostiary Thrull, for even more offense stopping power. 

Now, as for Skeletal Vampire.  I like Skeletal Vampire, really, but I can't help but think maybe there's a better way.  I mentioned Oathsworn Giant, Hunted Lammasu, and Blazing Archon.  Storm Herd would be nice if you often find yourself with ten mana, but I just can't really say that it'd be better enough than Skeletal Vampire for me to make the switch.  I'll just leave the Vamp in, having left you with the idea that there are other options available to you.

And since I removed Orzhov Guildmage from the sideboard, replace it with two Culling Sun and two Cry of Contrition.  And replace Orzhov Euthanist with Exhumer Thrull, since the Euthanist's abilitity can be much harder to use than the Thrull's.

So, in summary,....
 
Creatures:
2x  Teysa, Orzhov Scion
2x  Skeletal Vampire
4x  Orzhov Guildmage
 
4x  Souls of the Faultless
2x  Blind Hunter
2x Ostiary Thrull
 
4x Agent of Masks
 
Other Spells:
1x  Hex
1x  Peregrine Mask
 
2x  Orzhov Signet
4x  Mortify
4x  Pillory of the Sleepless
4x  Last Gasp
 
Land:
1x    Orzhova, the Church of Deals
3x    Orzhov Basilica
10x    Plains
10x  Swamp
 
Sideboard:
1x  Moratorium Stone
1x  Seize the Soul
2x  Orzhov Guildmage
2x  Shrieking Grotesque
2x  Hissing Miasma
3x  Orzhov Euthanist
4x  Castigate

I didn't really change that much, so this version might not play all that differently than before, but it should still do its job.  And keep the other cards I mentioned in mind.  Between Skeletal Vampire and Teysa, I'm having visions of Belfry Spirit, Leyline of the Meek, and Twilight Drover powering a token deck.

I might have to go build that deck, actually....

Until, then, this is BMoor, at bemore4096@yahoo.com, wishing you visions of combo pieces dancing in your head.
 

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