Orzhov Racketeers
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Legality

Format Legality
1v1 Commander Legal
Archenemy Legal
Arena Legal
Block Constructed Legal
Canadian Highlander Legal
Casual Legal
Commander / EDH Legal
Commander: Rule 0 Legal
Custom Legal
Duel Commander Legal
Gladiator Legal
Highlander Legal
Historic Legal
Historic Brawl Legal
Legacy Legal
Leviathan Legal
Limited Legal
Modern Legal
Modern Beyond Horizons Legal
Oathbreaker Legal
Pioneer Legal
Planar Constructed Legal
Planechase Legal
Quest Magic Legal
Vanguard Legal
Vintage Legal

Orzhov Racketeers

Creature — Human Rogue

Whenever Orzhov Racketeers deals combat damage to a player, that player discards a card.

Afterlife 2 (When this creature dies, create two 1/1 white and black Spirit creature tokens with flying.)

seshiro_of_the_orochi on Liliana, Death Mage (Orzhov Guild)

4 years ago

Ok, I guess the deck works, but it seems far from smooth. Impassioned Orator, Orzhov Racketeers are pretty terrible here, and Basilica Bell-Haunt isn't the most fitting, as well. You should definitely include some kind of free sacrifice-outlet like Nantuko Husk. There are many that are better, but Husk is super-cheap and very effective. Great card draw for the deck is Altar's Reap, and I really like cards such as Macabre Waltz for this kind of strategy. Looking at your overall creature base, Dusk / Dawn seems pretty useful. Oh, and adding a one-drop seems important. Doomed Traveler seems most fitting.

ShadowTech909 on

5 years ago

I suggest you look for orzhov cards legal in standard besides Spawn of Mayhem . i take offense to this mockery; speaking on behalf of orzhov. Orzhov Racketeers and Orzhov Enforcer ...

Tylord2894 on W/B Teysa Commander

5 years ago

Okay, so after looking at this deck for a while, considering its sideboard, and adding some cards that I use often for similar strategies, I've come up with a list of edits (well, actually three lists).

Before I get to those, I would like to explain what I found. Firstly, I like the idea behind the deck. Token strategies are always a great way to make a casual deck that can scale to be for optimized. I love the afterlife keyword as it lends itself to this optimization really well. But there were several less-than-savory card choices in here. The two biggest issues that I saw are ones that I see a lot (and full into too). The first of these is that many cards have a very high cost-to-value ratio. That is, there were several cards that cost too much (mana) and do too little for it. Elgaud Inquisitor is a fantastic example. While Elgaud Inquisitor is on-theme with their on-death triggered ability, that is all they have going for them. The lifelink isn't super useful, and the CMC is WAY too high. They are only a 2/2 too boot. Second off, theme isn't the same as function. I understand that there is a vorthos element to this deck, but since this deck isn't a full tribal deck, I think it's better to focus on ways to make the good parts of the theme work great.

I saw lots of cards that were life gaining cards ( Pontiff of Blight , Impassioned Orator , Riot Control , etc). This deck can make a lot of tokens which Tesya gives lifelink. You need not worry about life gain card. The strength of your creatures that make tokens when they die is that you can easily recur them in W/B. In the lists below, there are many cards that give added value to dying creature or make killing your creatures more ways to die. Lastly and most importantly, you had ZERO ramp and ALMOST NO card draw. THESE ARE THE TWO MOST FUNDAMENTAL ASSPECTS IN EDH!!! You NEED to have them!!! You can not rely solely on the one land drop and card draw. I've listed several cards that assist the main strategy and draw you cards (things like Dredge and Altar's Reap ). As for ramp, there is almost no good ramp outside of green. That only means that you have to look harder. Mana rocks are a must. I only have three in the lists, but they are absolute must-haves. Next, I put in several cards that give you mana in other ways. Most of them align themselves with the main strategy ( Ashnod's Altar , Soldevi Adnate , and Pawn of Ulamog to name a few). Similarly, I added cards that draw you cards from creatures dying. There is one card that I would like to point out in particular, Erebos . The important part of Erebos is his last ability. You pay and 2 life to draw a card. Life is a resource, and you'll be making plenty of it. Be sure to spend it. There are lots of cards that help you turn life into various things, like Bolas's Citadel (which I almost put in and still think has a place here). I would encourage you to look into them. Lastly, I would remove 6 lands. You have other ramp now and don't want to be flooded all of the time.

Here is the list of cards that I would remove:

I understand that there is a budget to this deck, so I've split my suggestions into two lists. The first is all cards that are cheap and should keep you under budget. The second list of cards is for later edits. If you want to spend more money on this deck, those are the cards that I would recommend buying.

As you're read through these, you might notice that a lot of these came from your sideboard. There are lots of good cards in there.

I hope you enjoy these changes. Just remember that casual decks don't have to be un-optimized.

mrdehring on

5 years ago

Kessig Cagebreakers is another way to make creatures from a full graveyard.

Pitiless Plunderer makes you some treasure for those creatures you are sacrificing.

Poison-Tip Archer is another Blood Artist style creature

With all the creatures you have that will just die to sac outlets, you may consider Grave Pact and Dictate of Erebos

The weaker cards in your deck appear to be:

Bloodmist Infiltrator you can find better, and repeatable sac abilities ** Viscera Seer

Desecration Demon from my experience, when an opponent gets to choose they always choose the option you didn't want them to take.

Orzhov Racketeers discard doesn't really seem like a thing this deck is doing and the creature has a high cmc for this effect ** Hypnotic Specter

Silhana Wayfinder LOTS of better ways to search; especially in black.

Vicious Conquistador probably just going to make everyone at the table annoyed early and a really bad card late.

Hope this helps with your build. You have some good synergy here. There are better versions of some cards you are playing, but you seem like you have a solid base.

Brimstone on

5 years ago

I looked at the Orzhov deck and I think that Teysa Karlov is the key to making it work if you want to use sacrafice effects to make it worth it. Until she is in play, killing your own creatures for bonus effects, even when you are getting afterlife triggers, will usually leave you behind because you wont have much card draw. I would focus mostly on cheap creatures with afterlife, and avoid creatures that force you to sacrifice to get good value out of them.

-[Creatures]-

I don't really like the value added by Basilica Bell-Haunt , Forbidding Spirit , or Grasping Thrull . Similarly Knight of Sorrows and Orzhov Racketeers seem a little too expensive to be worth their stats/afterlife triggers. I also think that Knight of the Last Breath is too expensive and his sacrafice ability is expensive and specific to non token creatures, but it might be worth running 1 of him as a late game way to blow up all of your afterlife creatures once you have a Teysa Karlov and Vindictive Vampire in play. The Teysa Karlov + Vindictive Vampire combo is probably your best bet to win late game by giving you enough of a lead to finish them off with your 1/1 fliers. If you have a Teysa Karlov and one (or more) Vindictive Vampire s in play, don't be afraid to use a Kaya's Wrath This will do a bunch of damage, and boardwipe the enemies armies while leaving you with all of your doubled afterlife triggers.

As for which creatures I think are pretty good, you will need to play around with deciding between all of the low cost afterlifeers Imperious Oligarch , Ministrant of Obligation , Orzhov Enforcer , and Tithe Taker all look pretty good. Syndicate Messenger is a little more expensive but is a solid flyer and Seraph of the Scales looks great, my only concern is that they would be in the same mana cost as both Teysa Karlov and Vindictive Vampire . Twilight Panther , Syndicate Guildmage , Pitiless Pontiff and Impassioned Orator all seem a little underwhelming to me.

Hero of Precinct One could be useful but only if you run mostly multicolored spells and that might not be worth it to aid this single card. Resolute Watchdog might be a good sideboard in case the enemy continues to kill off your Teysa/Vindictives. Priest of Forgotten Gods seems like she is part of a combo in an edh deck, just waiting to happen, but if you run a ton of low cost afterlife creatures, which you are, she might work great. Ideally she would kill two of your creatures right after they block or are blocked, and then draw you a new creature!

-[Instants]-

Bladebrand seems like a fun way to punsh the other player for blocking one of your small attackers, I think if used well it will add a lot of value to your little attackers, making the enemy afraid to block them. I would opt for Mortify over Final Payment or Expose to Daylight but sideboard the daylights for pesky artifacts. Undercity's Embrace lets the enemy decide what they sac, and you will basically never meet the requirement to get the extra health, so it isn't very good unless like hexproof becomes a problem? I am not sure about Grotesque Demise and Summary Judgment I feel like judgement is cheeper and will deal with most low cost creatures and may handle some bigger ones, so I would opt for that, but Grotesque will help with creatures that have afterlife, if you are running against a mirror. With our play group, you most likely wont be.

-[Enchantments]-

Ethereal Absolution too expensive, only sideboard in if somehow you are losing to late game 1/1 creatures or if late game your afterlife creatures are just too weak to finish the enemy, my guess is that it's not going to help much in time. Ill-Gotten Inheritance too in single player and in multiplayer makes you a huge target. If you find in multiplayer games that late game you are widdling away at people but cant ever find a way to attack, this might work. My guess is that Kaya's Wrath / Priest of Forgotten Gods + Vindictive Vampire would do better.

-[Sorceries]-

With your life gain, recursion, and death trigger effects, I feel like Kaya's Wrath will often leave you in better shape than it will others. I would run 4 of them however you also need to be careful. If you boardwipe with little or no cards in your hand, other decks will probably rebuild more quickly than you can. Instead, if you are planning a boardwipe, save a few good creatures in your hand, even if it means taking damage for a round or two, then boardwipe. I wish Bankrupt in Blood was instant speed, but running a few might be a good idea to help you recover your handsize after boardwipes. Mortify is better than Bring to Trial unless you are having troubles with enemy enter the grave effects, or idestructable. Could be a sideboard card. Consecrate / Consume is iffy. If you are having troubles with big mean creatures it's a nice card. You could take a hit from the creature for 1 round, then kill it and gain back that life. The ability to use it to draw a card instead id alright, but not great. Revival / Revenge seems pretty fun with this deck. You can use it to get back cheep afterlifers (especially Imperious Oligarch or Orzhov Enforcer ) or, if you draw it late game, you can use it to swing the tide of a game quite a bit.

-[Lands]- This land base looks pretty solid, I would only caution that when running 4x Orzhov Basilica and 4x Orzhov Guildgate you risk getting caught with a very slow start, which is sad when you have such low cost creatures. Ideally you would want to play a Guildgate rnd1, a basic land rnd2, tap for a 2 cost creature, then on turn three play a second 2 cost creature and then a basilica. So that on turn four you can play a four cost creature.

PTsmitty on MTG Arena: Which Limited Deck?

5 years ago

I am usually pretty good at figuring out which colors I should go with when assessing a limited pool, but this group of cards has me a bit puzzled. I have created 3 deck ideas and was wondering if you all could help me with determining which one would be the best option.

Temur Deck running 17 lands
The idea with this deck is to play bigger 4-6 drop threats and us the adapt mechanic along with the Bolrac-Clan Crusher to remove the counters and use them for direct damage. This deck is running the following guildgates for the colossus and mana fixing: x2 Radkos, x2 Gruul, x1 Simic, x1 Gateway Plaza. My concern with this deck is that I can get overwhelmed fast and not be able to catch back up.

Radkos #1 running 17 lands
Move into a Radkos build so I can more consistently use Theater of Horrors when I draw it. This may also allow me to use Skewer the Critics for the spectacle cost more often. I have x3 Goblin Gathering , but worried that this card is not going to be what I am hoping it to be. I kept the radkos GG, gruul GG, and gateway plaze in to allow for me to run the colossus still. Should I take out Flames of the Raze-Boar out of this build since I only have the colossus that is true 4 powered creature?

Radkos #2 running 16 lands
I dropped the colossus, but I am still running x2 Radkos guildgates. I added Ill-Gotten Inheritance , Orzhov Racketeers , and Vizkopa Vampire in place of the Colossus, x1 land, and Flames of the Raze-Boar .

I am thinking that the temur deck will be more interactive and has the bigger creature threats, but the radkos builds will provide me with more consistency. I wish there was a way I could try these two decks out first before starting the tournament...lol. Any input is appreciated. Thanks!