Standard - Orzhov Aristocrats WAR

21
33
28
6
4
22
Aggro
Midrange
  • Deck contains 22 invalid cards for this format: Memorial to Folly (DOM), Isolated Chapel (DOM), Cast Down (DOM), Hunted Witness (GRN), Midnight Reaper (GRN), Tithe Taker (RNA), Gutterbones (RNA), Priest of Forgotten Gods (RNA), Mortify (RNA), Seraph of the Scales (RNA), Godless Shrine (RNA), Gideon Blackblade (WAR), God-Eternal Bontu (WAR), Spark Harvest (WAR), Cruel Celebrant (WAR), Sorin, Vengeful Bloodlord (WAR), Blast Zone (WAR), Tocatli Honor Guard (XLN), Moment of Craving (RIX), Basilica Bell-Haunt (RNA), Kaya's Wrath (RNA), The Elderspell (WAR)
Main 60 cards (19 distinct)
Instant, Sorcery, Enchantment, Artifact (6)
$0.30€0.390.34
$0.30€0.190.03
$0.15€0.060.03
Planeswalker (4)
$1.19€1.090.02
$1.40€1.540.06
Creature (28)
$4.16€2.200.03
$1.50€1.240.02
$0.50€0.310.02
$0.50€0.410.02
$1.97€1.990.20
$0.82€0.410.03
$0.20€0.110.03
$0.69€0.600.02
Land (22)
$0.15€0.230.04
$0.18€0.050.03
$0.25€0.110.03
$2.47€1.830.02
$11.10€9.460.17
$0.69€0.470.22
Side 15 cards (6 distinct)
$0.40€0.230.02
$0.25€0.080.03
$0.54€0.280.02
$0.18€0.050.03
$0.20€0.060.03
$0.54€0.440.02

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Description

Writeup from Reddit, original author CoffeeTrashed: 

Hello everyone! Ever since Priest of the Forgotten Gods was spoiled in the last set, I have been trying to make her work. Thus far, that has been done from a Mardu perspective. This was because I believed Judith to be an essential element to making any aristocrat type deck work. After a lot of testing, I can now definitively say I was wrong about that. Even with the new cards in WAR, I do not think the Mardu Aristocrats holds up. That said, I believe that there is a tiered deck that uses Priest of the Forgotten Gods as a value engine, and that is in a grindy Orzhov Aristocrats deck. Here is my list, I'll explain my card choices as we go:

CREATURES:

4x Gutterbones

Solid early drop, recursive threat, and the combo with priest is bonkers. For those of you who don't know, if you sacrifice Gutterbones using Priest's effect, you get the mana you need to bring Gutterbones back to the hand with Priest's effect. So, you basically cut the cost of Priest's ability in half.

4x Hunted Witness

I've been back and forth on this card and Footlight Fiend. Having all the 1 drops be in black is appealing for the mana, but I think the token off witness is more important than 1 damage off footlight, at least in this type of deck.

4x Cruel Celebrant

This is one of the cards that I think takes this deck to the next level. The ability to drain the opponent off any creature (including tokens) is huge, and a late game Bontu can burst the opponent down very very quickly with a Celebrant on the board. Also gives the deck some innate survivability in the main board against aggro decks.

4x Priest of the Forgotten Gods

The All-Star of the deck. This card does so many things to grind out and gain value its unreal. Especially when all we're paying for the effect is a Gutterbones and a token.

2x Tithe Taker

This is a flex spot at the moment. I like Tithe Taker a lot. His afterlife can be very helpful getting Priest effects off and his tax ability is decent. However, he does feel like somewhat of a weak link at the moment.

4x Midnight Reaper

Another excellent value engine in the deck. He doesn't trigger off tokens, but still draws us cards when our opponents scramble to kill priests and celebrants as quickly as possible.

3x Seraph of the Scales

An excellent 4 drop that I admit I heavily undervalued when I first played with it. Having it die to a lava coil is a beating, but that's really the only situation where I'm sad an opponent used a removal spell on it. Afterlife 2 is huge for this deck and allows us more fodder for Priest, Celebrant, and Bontu.

3x God-Eternal Bontu

Speaking of Bontu, here's the All Star herself. As soon as I saw this card get spoiled I knew it was exactly what the deck needed to really be competitive. She's a fantastic curve topper with 5 power 6 toughness AND menace. Dudes a house. On top of all that, she refills your entire hand while hopefully draining the enemy with celebrant triggers. Card is super solid and I'd play 4 if she didn't replace herself so easily.

PLANESWALKERS:

2x Gideon Blackblade

Here's the thing. Gideon has almost no synergy with just about anything else going on in the deck. I know that, but he's just so dang good. It's totally possible I should be focusing on my synergies here and playing more cards that work with the deck, but in my testing thus far dropping a Gideon on turn 3 into a Seraph turn 4 just feels unbeatable.

2x Sorin, Vengeful Bloodlord

Here's the walker that actually synergizes with the deck. Sorin gives you great insurance against aggro, and also allows you to pull back important combo pieces that the opponent destroys. He can bring back Priest, Celebrant, even Seraph of the Scales. In a pinch, he can even bring a gutterbones or hunted witness back if you're really desperate to get a Priest activation. Super flexible card.

SORCERY:

2x Spark Harvest

Premium removal for this deck. Sacrificing is kind of our whole thing, and getting to kill a Teferi, plus get a Celebrant drain, plus draw a card off midnight reaper is just good value.

INSTANT:

2x Cast Down

Not sure if Cast Down is the best choice here. Obviously since I have no real idea what the meta will look like its tough to ratio removal spells, but this has been the standby for black for a long time. I'll stick with it until it stops being good.

2x Mortify

Expensive for a kill spell. It's tempting to turn these into Spark Harvests. However, I like the insurance against control decks and Reclamation decks in Game 1.

LAND:

2x Blast Zone

4x Godless Shrine

4x Isolated Chapel

2x Memorial to Folly

5x Plains

5x Swamp

One big honorable mention for the mainboard is Liliana, Dreadhorde General. She is so so so good for this deck. However, I just think 6 mana is too much. Splashing green for ramp seems a little too cute, and I think the deck runs better as a 2 color. What do you guys think? Is she worth the 6 mana?

SIDEBOARD:

Sideboard is pretty rough right now, but this has been working well for me against the current meta decks.

4x Duress

2x Moment of Craving

2x The Elderspell

3x Tocatli Honor Guard

2x Basilica Bell-Haunt

2x Kaya's Wrath

TESTING:

So far, I've tested this deck against a number of meta decks and a deck or two I think we might see after WAR comes out. I'll talk briefly about each one.

Mono Red Aggro:

Generally feel very in control in this matchup. Celebrant triggers matter a lot more than you might think, and the deck is threat dense enough that they often are forced to dedicate burn spells to creature removal, essentially gaining us life.

Esper Control:

I want to preface this with the fact that I always struggle playing against control, no matter what deck I'm playing. I get impatient and make mistakes. That said, even in the hands of a better player I think this deck would struggle against Esper. Cry of the Carnarium hoses us pretty badly, and Esper has the ability to stall us long enough to get one. I really like Spark Harvest in this matchup because its creature removal that isn't dead game 1.

Gruul Aggro:

I've tested against the current versions and the WAR versions and while the WAR version is quite a bit scarier, I think we are favored here. They don't play a ton of removal generally, which allows us to get priest rolling quite quickly, and as long as we don't stumble, they run out of gas and die pretty quick. This is a matchup I mulligan pretty aggresively in because I really want to see gutterbones into Priest.

Azorious Aggro:

This one is tough. Priest is too slow and the sacrifice effect isn't relevant at all. Game 1 we are definitely the underdog. Post board however, I feel pretty good. We have Wrath effects that generally either leave us with tokens or drain the opponent (ideally both), and we also get Bell-Haunt which helps sustain us and blocks insanely profitably.

Temur Reclamation:

I hate this deck, but I like this matchup. In my experience, the deck is still quick enough to outpace their reclamation, and if they stick one we have mortify in the deck. (It's possible I should be siding more though)

So, that's the deck! It's been testing well so far, and the curve/mana feels buttery smooth compared to what I was doing in Mardu. I don't know if this deck will be top tier, but I certainly think it can compete! 


About andreliverod

Founder and CEO of AetherHub.com, he likes to play with fire and also has a Twitter account he posts his stuff on. If you are interested in supporting him on Patreon you will also receive an AetherHub.com premium subscription!

"Nuts & Bolts Spike spends his energy looking within. He tries to understand his own internal flaws and works to improve them"

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5 comments

SengirVampire
Have you tested the priest combo with the reassembling skeleton instead of the Gutterbones? That allows you to play the priest's ability during your opponent's turn and returning the skeletons straight to the battlefield, ideally after your opponent's combat phase. What do you think about it?
veryoldgeezer
Mardu feels higher quality but alot more expensive. Rakdos is a bit janky because of Dreadhorde butcher, seeing you can not always play it at turn 2 and then it is alot less effective. Orzhov feels more wildcardfriendly and stable. Mine is a bit different (liliana and Ob nixilis instead of 2x gideon ) and have more removalspells, but it works fine nonetheless.
Rivilio
What do you think about Tesya Karlov in that deck? ;) And maybe Poison Tip-Archer with blast in green? Thibk it will be prety good ))
andreliverod
I liked the Mardu version better when I tested them in the WAR Event
xuxes
at first glance i find the deck awesome
andreliverod
Last Updated: 22 Apr 2019
Created: 22 Apr 2019
18543 1917 5

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