Some update of my naya walkers deck, where i found some room for a couple of Brimaz to add some more punch to the 3cmc slot and some basic. Sideboard is now quite optimal imho, Ruric Thar and plummet adds some control of flyers, only one deicide seems right now that Thassa is out of meta and that Ruric is pretty insane against tons of decks.
Testing of the deck are really succesful so far, you can beat almost anything, only wheenie white decks are really troublesome and monoblack match-up isn't that bad but a chandra pyromaster might help for killing those lifebane zombie as well as avoiding blood baron of viskopa to block and helping against wheenie white's X/1. U/W is an easy match-up since you'll almost always generate more card advantage than them. Just never have 1 monstrous lion and 1 not monstrous on board and things should be fine^^.
Shows you exactly why Mutavault is worth the price it is.
Control decks would have free reign without it.
I'm not really excited about this standard. None of the new cards can compete with the rotating cards. You can tell that just by looking at them, nothing to do with the Nyx cards just coming out.
What bothers me most about this standard is that the core cards for UW (sphinx, verdict, d-sphere, jace) all are from the same set which is the oldest set in this standard and because of that so powerful core and lack of any other 4cmc unconditionnal sweeper, you have no way to play an old-fashioned control deck outside of UW. But i find this format quite open and deep enough for new strategies to emerge. Too bad the pro-tour is in block constructed we would have seen new decks and strategies from europeans and asians players as well as americans best deckbuilders which is not the case in SCG events.
I think a lot of people in this thread overreact after only one tournament where most people seems to have gone conservative. Give some time for players to play more JOU cards and new archetypes. There's 2 dominant decks with UW and monoblack but there's many declinations of those and tons of decks that already shown good results like RW burn, GB dredge, WB humans, Monsters... At least it's not a bloodbraid elf or a caw-blade standard.
This is the Naya midrange/control deck i've been playing with JOU. Tons of fun and insane card advantage engine with courser/scry lands/domri/ajani. Game plan is simple : play threats and protect your planeswalkers who will win the game on their own as well as getting you more threats. Ajani makes fleecemane lion insane and ghor-clan to trample over once you're 10/10 hexproof indestructible^^. Not 100% sure on the Selesnya charm in side but you need more answers to polukranos and master of feast and it does the work as well as being polyvalent
This is the deck i've been toying with JOU cauz i was bored of Sphinx Revelation decks and i like it a lot. Pretty classic Counter/Burn deck where Keranos shines like a true god acting as card advantage engine as well as a real win condition. Overall the deck is really solid against aggro decks, counterflux wins counterspells war against UW (and izzet charm is really good too. MonoBlack is quite good match-up too if you can manage to counter/kill desecration demon. But the deck can't beat dredge decks and has real hard time against boros burn or master of waves decks. Only solution to beat those matches is to play white :/
One triggers on casting and one on entering the battlefield. It should be quite obvious which one triggers first. If both had the same trigger; the player controling those effects puts them in the stack in the order he wants, then the last one going onto the stack will resolves first.
For those interested in the Orzhombie version, this is my current deck and i'm really happy with it, there's so much synergy in this deck and so many ways to kill turn 5. Cartel Aristocrat has been working so good ( for those old enough to remeber the days of Jeweled Spirit, :old:) i'm even inclined to start considering Silver-inlaid Dagger somewhere in the 75 to add even more beating. Maybe there's something to dig in an esper shell with stalker.
Sometimes the mana can be a little messy if you draw too many colorless/cipt lands but i really don't want to play less than 3 vault of the archangel because this card is the key card that allows you to break stalemate and swing or to remain safe in a defensive position.
This deck exploits orzhov charm to its highest potential since all 3 modes are relevant (let's face it main use is 2nd mode but an instant unrestricted removal backed with 2 situationnaly usefull ability is huge).
The Skirdag High Priest from the side have been amazing too, way better than other cards i've tested before in his slot (blind obediance, high priest of penance, immortal servitude to name a few). But i still want to find some room for some vampire nighthawk somewhere. I guess it will be easier to build a better side in a few weeks once the meta starts to settle.
For match-up, Ramp/Greedy control are quite easy since a player that plays a turn 2 farseek is mostly dead against this deck, every aggro match-up except bant aura and R/B zombie are positive (multiple rancors can be hard when paired with silverblade paladin but GW cannot race against vault of the archangel otherwise). Peddler decks and angel of glory rise decks are your worst nightmare. Curse of death hold is probably your worst ennemy.
gravecrawler and diregraf ghoul are the targets you want for first mode, the third mode is your back up restoration angel, the second mode is the only playable unconditionnal instant removal (besides murder).
That card is good in standard and it might be even playable in modern if martyr of sands is.
Believe me, i've tried blind obediance and it is not that good. Nearly every time i got it in hand, i've wished i had any piece of removal instead. Sure it can do some good stuff against some really specific match-up but overall it is just a weak card that doesn't impact the board that much or helps you put more pressure. I find it hard to play that kind of cards in a deck that has no draw or way to reset the board and no way to win the game with "unfair" stuff because playing less than 4 means you can't rely on it and there's no reason to play 4 in a world without kiki-jiki.
On thrull parasite, i must admit i didn't gave him too much time to shine but most of the time i was unable to use its extort because the deck is kind of greedy on mana between gravecrawlers shenanigans, curving your lingering souls correctly and activating vault of the archangel or keeping mana for angel/orzhov charm.
I also don't find its ability to reset geralf messenger enough to justify running a 1/1.
As for the discussion about immortal servitude, the point i was trying to make is that, if you look at my version of the deck, i don't have 12 one drop (and one of them can be played from graveyard) and i have only 8 2 drop (and one of them is virtually unkillable) so it will never bring more than 2 dudes back which is kind of weak. That's the reason i'm not sold on it. But in a more "combo" version it can be better (not sure the combo version is better since you have to play sub-optimal cards like bloodthrone vampire or treasury thrull).
So far the best cards of the deck have been cartel aristocrat (i've started to think on some kind of esper human with it and stalker carrying equipements) and orzhov charm but the deck is more about synergy than raw power and it is quite unusual in this standard.
Cards i've considered running but didn't find slots for : vampire nighthawk, bloodline keeper and falkenrath noble.
I will definitely try using Bloothrone Vampire instead of Disciple of Bolas. I see the benefits of both, but I'm not sure which is best.
Try Cartel Aristocrat, you won't regret it he's orzhov's etched oracle. He breaks so many deck all by itself.
Quote from synapses_firing »
I have considered removing Sorrin and 1 land and replacing them with 3 removal spells. The only thing I can't decide on is if it should be board wipe, or spot removal. With Boros being a foreseeable threat, I'm thinking Mutilate or Killing Wave.
Orzhov charm. That card is like the best piece of removal you could dream for that deck. It has 2 other useful mode as well. Loosing life is not an issue for your deck, you've got blood artist, obzedat and vault of the archangel.
No thrull parasite cause he's just too weak to warrant inclusion when you have restoration angel in your colors. Cartel Aristocrat is the real deal, he's basically the best card of your pack since it allows crazy interactions between blood artist, tragic slip, messenger, gravecrawler and high priest from the sideboard as well as being virtually unkillable once resolved.
Immortal servitude is a nice card but the deck really don't need it MD, you're already really resilient but i guess some are ok against verdict in the sideboard.
Orzhov charm is crazy, be prepared to face it a lot in the future. It's the most polyvalent removal in standard and has some fringe effects with diregraf and gravecrawler. Never used too much the self bounce but it can be your 5th to 8th restoration angel.
No Sorin because it feels too slow for that kind of deck and planeswalker are weak in this standard.
For the mana base, if you're trying to play geralf messenger with plains in your deck, you'll get screwed way too much, guildgates are the way to go. And vault of the archangel is so important to that deck gameplan that i would not consider playing less than 3. By the way cartel aristocrat and Obzedat share a creature type, bear that in mind for cavern of souls.
I've tested various extort dudes (blind obediance, thrull parasite, never consider any other to be playable) and i've find them kind of weak when compared to other options.
4 Sylvan Caryatid
4 Fleecemane Lion
4 Voice of Resurgence
3 Banisher Priest
4 Courser of Kruphix
3 Ghor-Clan Rampager
2 Brimaz, King of Oreskos
3 Ajani, Mentor of Heroes
3 Domri Rade
2 Elspeth, Sun's Champion
2 Mutavault
2 forest
4 Temple Garden
2 Stomping Ground
2 Sacred Foundry
4 Temple of Plenty
2 Temple of Abandon
2 Temple of Victory
2 Archangel of Thune
2 Selesnya Charm
1 Deicide
2 Banishing Light
3 Glare of Heresy
1 Plummet
1 Ruric Thar, the Unbowed
Some update of my naya walkers deck, where i found some room for a couple of Brimaz to add some more punch to the 3cmc slot and some basic. Sideboard is now quite optimal imho, Ruric Thar and plummet adds some control of flyers, only one deicide seems right now that Thassa is out of meta and that Ruric is pretty insane against tons of decks.
Testing of the deck are really succesful so far, you can beat almost anything, only wheenie white decks are really troublesome and monoblack match-up isn't that bad but a chandra pyromaster might help for killing those lifebane zombie as well as avoiding blood baron of viskopa to block and helping against wheenie white's X/1. U/W is an easy match-up since you'll almost always generate more card advantage than them. Just never have 1 monstrous lion and 1 not monstrous on board and things should be fine^^.
What bothers me most about this standard is that the core cards for UW (sphinx, verdict, d-sphere, jace) all are from the same set which is the oldest set in this standard and because of that so powerful core and lack of any other 4cmc unconditionnal sweeper, you have no way to play an old-fashioned control deck outside of UW. But i find this format quite open and deep enough for new strategies to emerge. Too bad the pro-tour is in block constructed we would have seen new decks and strategies from europeans and asians players as well as americans best deckbuilders which is not the case in SCG events.
4 Sylvan Caryatid
4 Fleecemane Lion
4 Voice of Resurgence
4 Banisher Priest
4 Courser of Kruphix
4 Ghor-Clan Rampager
3 Ajani, Mentor of Heroes
3 Domri Rade
2 Elspeth, Sun's Champion
2 Mutavault
4 Temple Garden
3 Stomping Ground
3 Sacred Foundry
4 Temple of Plenty
2 Temple of Abandon
2 Temple of Victory
2 Archangel of Thune
3 Selesnya Charm
2 Deicide
2 Banishing Light
2 Glare of Heresy
1 Elspeth, Sun's Champion
This is the Naya midrange/control deck i've been playing with JOU. Tons of fun and insane card advantage engine with courser/scry lands/domri/ajani. Game plan is simple : play threats and protect your planeswalkers who will win the game on their own as well as getting you more threats. Ajani makes fleecemane lion insane and ghor-clan to trample over once you're 10/10 hexproof indestructible^^. Not 100% sure on the Selesnya charm in side but you need more answers to polukranos and master of feast and it does the work as well as being polyvalent
3 Keranos, God of Storms
1 Aetherling
4 Jace, Architect of Thought
2 Ral Zarek
4 Counterflux
4 Izzet Charm
2 Syncopate
3 Magma Jet
1 Cyclonic Rift
1 Steam Augury
4 Anger of the Gods
2 Mizzium Mortars
6 Island
7 Mountains
2 Izzet Guildgate
4 Steam Vents
4 Temple of Epiphany
2 Mutavault
3 Stormbreath Dragon
2 Mutavault
3 Fated Conflagration
2 Turn/Burn
1 Mizzium Mortars
3 Annul
1 Cyclonic Rift
This is the deck i've been toying with JOU cauz i was bored of Sphinx Revelation decks and i like it a lot. Pretty classic Counter/Burn deck where Keranos shines like a true god acting as card advantage engine as well as a real win condition. Overall the deck is really solid against aggro decks, counterflux wins counterspells war against UW (and izzet charm is really good too. MonoBlack is quite good match-up too if you can manage to counter/kill desecration demon. But the deck can't beat dredge decks and has real hard time against boros burn or master of waves decks. Only solution to beat those matches is to play white :/
Cartel Aristocrat has been working so good ( for those old enough to remeber the days of Jeweled Spirit, :old:) i'm even inclined to start considering Silver-inlaid Dagger somewhere in the 75 to add even more beating. Maybe there's something to dig in an esper shell with stalker.
Sometimes the mana can be a little messy if you draw too many colorless/cipt lands but i really don't want to play less than 3 vault of the archangel because this card is the key card that allows you to break stalemate and swing or to remain safe in a defensive position.
This deck exploits orzhov charm to its highest potential since all 3 modes are relevant (let's face it main use is 2nd mode but an instant unrestricted removal backed with 2 situationnaly usefull ability is huge).
The Skirdag High Priest from the side have been amazing too, way better than other cards i've tested before in his slot (blind obediance, high priest of penance, immortal servitude to name a few). But i still want to find some room for some vampire nighthawk somewhere. I guess it will be easier to build a better side in a few weeks once the meta starts to settle.
For match-up, Ramp/Greedy control are quite easy since a player that plays a turn 2 farseek is mostly dead against this deck, every aggro match-up except bant aura and R/B zombie are positive (multiple rancors can be hard when paired with silverblade paladin but GW cannot race against vault of the archangel otherwise). Peddler decks and angel of glory rise decks are your worst nightmare. Curse of death hold is probably your worst ennemy.
4 Geralf's Messenger
4 Blood Artist
4 Diregraf Ghoul
4 Cartel Aristocrat
2 Obzedat, Ghost Council
4 Lingering Souls
4 Orzhov Charm
2 Tragic Slip
3 Vault of the Archangel
4 Godless Shrine
4 Isolated Chapel
4 Restoration Angel
2 Cavern of Souls
7 Swamp
4 Orzhov Guildgate
4 Duress
3 Oblivion Ring
2 Tribute to Hunger
3 Skirsdag High Priest
1 Obzedat, Ghost Council
2 Tragic Slip
That card is good in standard and it might be even playable in modern if martyr of sands is.
On thrull parasite, i must admit i didn't gave him too much time to shine but most of the time i was unable to use its extort because the deck is kind of greedy on mana between gravecrawlers shenanigans, curving your lingering souls correctly and activating vault of the archangel or keeping mana for angel/orzhov charm.
I also don't find its ability to reset geralf messenger enough to justify running a 1/1.
As for the discussion about immortal servitude, the point i was trying to make is that, if you look at my version of the deck, i don't have 12 one drop (and one of them can be played from graveyard) and i have only 8 2 drop (and one of them is virtually unkillable) so it will never bring more than 2 dudes back which is kind of weak. That's the reason i'm not sold on it. But in a more "combo" version it can be better (not sure the combo version is better since you have to play sub-optimal cards like bloodthrone vampire or treasury thrull).
So far the best cards of the deck have been cartel aristocrat (i've started to think on some kind of esper human with it and stalker carrying equipements) and orzhov charm but the deck is more about synergy than raw power and it is quite unusual in this standard.
Cards i've considered running but didn't find slots for : vampire nighthawk, bloodline keeper and falkenrath noble.
Try Cartel Aristocrat, you won't regret it he's orzhov's etched oracle. He breaks so many deck all by itself.
Orzhov charm. That card is like the best piece of removal you could dream for that deck. It has 2 other useful mode as well. Loosing life is not an issue for your deck, you've got blood artist, obzedat and vault of the archangel.
You're welcome, have fun
4 Geralf's Messenger
4 Blood Artist
4 Orzhov Charm
4 Diregraf Ghoul
4 Lingering Souls
4 Cartel Aristocrat
2 Obzedat, Ghost Council
3 Vault of the Archangel
4 Godless Shrine
4 Isolated Chapel
4 Restoration Angel
3 Cavern of Souls
7 Swamp
3 Orzhov Guildgate
2 Tragic Slip
4 Duress
2 Oblivion Ring
2 Immortal Servitude
2 Tribute to Hunger
2 Skirsdag High Priest
1 Obzedat, Ghost Council
2 Tragic Slip
Immortal servitude is a nice card but the deck really don't need it MD, you're already really resilient but i guess some are ok against verdict in the sideboard.
Orzhov charm is crazy, be prepared to face it a lot in the future. It's the most polyvalent removal in standard and has some fringe effects with diregraf and gravecrawler. Never used too much the self bounce but it can be your 5th to 8th restoration angel.
No Sorin because it feels too slow for that kind of deck and planeswalker are weak in this standard.
For the mana base, if you're trying to play geralf messenger with plains in your deck, you'll get screwed way too much, guildgates are the way to go. And vault of the archangel is so important to that deck gameplan that i would not consider playing less than 3. By the way cartel aristocrat and Obzedat share a creature type, bear that in mind for cavern of souls.
I've tested various extort dudes (blind obediance, thrull parasite, never consider any other to be playable) and i've find them kind of weak when compared to other options.
Have fun with Orzhov, that deck is a great deck.
Here's the direct xml file, no need to use any downloader or rename
http://uploaded.net/file/j7o6fms0