Which Staples Do I Put In My Orzhov Commander Decks?

[Music] foreign [Music] welcome back to EDH deck building I am your host demo and these are the Staples that I will be putting in my orzov commander decks and of course orazov means black and white so if I'm making a black and white deck what am I putting in there now black and white or orzov does a lot of things really really well it is a fantastic color combination in the format really doesn't have any downsides that I can think of I mean geez white even has some counter spells as well so you even have some options there I've talked about it a lot in recent videos white is doing incredibly well in the format right now I think even if we just look at card draw right so if I'm gonna do card draw in my orzov deck I think there's a good chance it's going to be split between white and black and black is usually thought of as one of the best colors in the entire form at a card draw now you have to be leveled about this right if we look at necropotens which is probably the best card draws card in the entire format I mean it really is you could definitely make the argument because in a commander game it's three Mana I draw 39 cards I mean essentially that's what it is there's no other card that can do anything like that so it certainly has that incredibly high ceiling not a lot of people play in a casual game though and of course I'm always talking about casual commander on my channel so we'll leave necropotens out of this argument so after you get past that what do you have for card draw in black and a lot of people like to use Knight's whisper and sign in Blood and cards like that I don't like cards like that I find that they are just too low impact for me I mean you're just drawing two cards right two cards and you're casting a card the card you're casting is replacing itself so really you're only up one card I realize they're cheap but we're playing Commander here guys who cares if they're cheap I want a card that is going to be really really impactful and draw me a ton of cards I mean if you look at cards like s percentile and archivist of agma those are two fantastic card draw cards that are just is cheap if not cheaper than Knights whisper or signing blood I mean what are you going to put in your deck are you going to put in Knights whisper and signing blood are you going to put an S per Sentinel and archivist of agma it is very likely that those two cards will draw you at least two cards and probably more right so honestly again once you get rid of the really really high-end stuff that doesn't get played in casual games white really has gotten to a place where it is almost where black is as far as card draw goes I mean I really like stinging study I would probably put that in my deck but again that is very dependent on how much your commander costs for me stinging study is minimum four for my commander five Mana draw four at instant speeds pretty good anything above that is just gravy but then again you got stuff like welcoming vampire and Benny Brax and stuff that is also conditional for white right so it is always going to depend on what your deck is doing I just think that it's interesting that I'm gonna probably be putting a lot of White cards in my orzov deck with card draw right nevertheless you are not going to have a problem drawing cards in your resolve deck not at all another thing that you are definitely not going to have a problem doing in your orzov deck is removing things off the battlefield that is the thing that without a doubt orozov does better than any other color combination for sure I had eluded that maybe go Gary was uh one of the best but it's definitely not orzov is way better and one of the reasons why is because orzov Exiles most of the orzov removal is exile which is just so much better right not sending things to graveyards not allowing your opponent that dies trigger is a really big deal in a commander game and of course getting rid of those indestructible permanence is pretty good as well so if you look at anguish done making you could make the argument that this is the best removal spell in the entire format right three Mana instant Excel Target and online permanent you lose three life it's pretty darn close I like generous gift and Beast Within because they can hit lands and anguished on making doesn't hit lands however anguished on making does exile so you're getting that Advantage so again your lose using a little but you're gaining a little as well it's definitely in the conversation no question about it you also got dspark and Vanishing verse which one's better which one do you put in your deck I put both because I like lots of removal when Vanishing verse was spoiled I made the comparison Exile Target mono colored permanent is gonna hit a lot of things dspark is going to Exile Target permanent with Mana value 4 or greater which also is going to hit a lot of things they're both gonna hit a lot of things no question I mean off the top of my head I think about heuristic study Vanishing first is gonna hit that D spark is not again the that s per Sentinel if your opponent has one Vanishing versus gonna hit it b-spark is not however Vanishing verse is probably not going to hit most commanders because most commanders are going to be multi-colored and d-spark will hit most commanders You could argue which one's better all day for me I'm putting both in my deck I wouldn't take one out for the other I would put both in two Mana instant speed Exile a large majority of the permanence on the battlefield I mean it's an embarrassment of riches here right that's where you are with orzov where you're debating whether or not you should put dspark or Vanishing verse in your deck you also got outer end I mean this has been a commander staple since forever I think it's still very playable a lot of people are like four Manas too much but four Mana instant speed Exile any non-land permanent pretty darn good I mean that is definitely worth putting in a deck and again I talk about this all the time being able to hit any permanent is so important to me now of course again this doesn't hit lands but being able to hit a planeswalker if that's causing me a problem my opponent has a smothering tithe my opponent has a winter orb and I can untap my lands right there's so many really powerful permanents in the game that being able to hit any of them is really really important I mean if you look at a card like mortify which is still a really popular card in the format I don't see how I mean I I guess if you were really going deep on removal you could use mortify but you're only getting a creature or an enchantment with this and if your opponent's got a winner orb on the table you're gonna be really sad to see this in your hand right I mean if you're making that d-spark Vanishing verse argument I don't know how you could possibly find room for mortify if you're taking out one of those and we're not even talking about the straight up just white or black removal right of course white has swords the plowshares path to Exile that you might want to find room for Black's gonna have infernal grasp poison the cop there's so many phenomenal targeted removal spells in both of those colors again just an embarrassment of riches if you're making an orzov deck you're just gonna use the ones that are your personal favorites I guess because really at the end of the day it's I got so much to choose from I'm just gonna choose the ones I like or the ones I have lying around like whatever I got in my card collection that's what I'm going to use on my airsoft deck and with the board wipe same thing right you have all the best board wipes in the format that are probably black or white Blasphemous act would be the only non-orzov boardwipe that would be in the top 10 for me all the rest are either black or white of course toxic Deluge being one of the best all time and austere command I think is still my favorite you know I keep doing deck doctors for my patrons and every time I look at their decks I see that they are doing a particular theme where they don't want the artifact effects or the enchantments destroyed because they're in that theme or they don't want the small creatures destroyed or they don't write and it's just like wow Oster command is so fantastic here because you're gonna hit the things you want on your opponents but you can avoid hitting the things that you're doing that's why I love that card so much and I know people say well farewell does basically the same thing it definitely is in the conversation for one of the best board wipes in the format for sure if you said it was I wouldn't be able to make much of an argument nevertheless again embarrassment of rich is here if you're playing an orzov deck because you have so much to choose from and again you talk about merciless eviction I don't know how anyone still playing that card I mean that's a card that I didn't really play for very long it didn't take long before I was taking merciless eviction out of my decks even though it is a great board wipe but six mana and all you're hitting is one thing right artifacts creatures enchantments or Planeswalkers you just compare that to farewell oh boy I mean I guess farewell can't hit Planeswalkers but in all my Years playing Commander I have it never seen anyone cast a merciless eviction and exiled Planeswalkers I've never seen it if you're playing against your Super Friends deck that your buddy likes so much merciless eviction might be an option for you because it is one of the only board wipes that will Exile all Planeswalkers so it is an option for you if you want to there's just so many better options for board wipes in black and white if you just look at the model white or mono black options that I could never justify putting merciless eviction in my orzov decks if we move on to the ramp again this is something that white does pretty darn good so you can throw the stoic farmer in there you can throw the Deep gnome taromancer in there man is that card ever good and I'm going to lean towards the creature options here because orzov decks are not always but likely to be in a bit of a graveyard theme recursion theme you know a lot of urzov decks do recursion so having ability stapled on creatures is always going to be great even the artifact options like solemn simulac and burnished heart which I put in most of my non-green decks are going to be great because it's a creature going to my graveyard I get a dice trigger if I want that I can use it to sacrifice if I'm in a sacrifice theme which of course a lot of orzov decks do that as well even ornithopter Paradise like I would probably put ornithopter Paradise in my orzov deck anyway any two color deck that isn't green again I'm probably gonna play ornithopter of paradise but then it's a creature on top of that you think that's a downside where okay my Mana rock is a creature dies to removal a little bit easier I can't tap it right away but it's also an upside because now I have a creature that I can sacrifice to some effect or possibly get it out of the graveyard later and what am I gonna get it out of the graveyard with well something like a priest of Fel writes men this is a great card in an orzov deck it's a card you could put in any orzov deck white in a black human warlock tutu tap pay three life sacrifice priest of fell rights return Target creature card from your graveyard to the battlefield activate only as a sorcery and it has on Earth three white and a black this card really is fantastic and that's why I'm giving it a mention is because I think it could go in any orzov deck even if you're not in a recursion theme at all or Aristocrats theme or anything like that this is just I get my commander out of my graveyard twice right that's all you need to use this for two Mana I played this and then maybe the next turn I play my commander someone kills it I get it out of the graveyard right away rather than having to pay Commander tax and then this sits in your graveyard everyone forgets about it and then later in the game once again I can pay the Unearthed tap pay three life and get my commander out of the graveyard again so this is just a card that at the very worst is gonna get your commander out of the graveyard twice you can avoid back Commander attacks but of course in a lot of other themes it's absolutely Bonkers you just think about it in a lures deck you don't even need the unearth you can just repeatedly cast this guy from your graveyard every turn again this card could go on any orzov deck but it does actually fit really really well in so many orzov themes it's sacrificing itself so it fits in an Aristocrats theme for that reason alone another card that I have absolutely fallen in love with that fits into a lot of orzov themes is Spirit sisters call three white and a black enchantment at the beginning of your end step choose Target permanent card in your graveyard sacrifice a permanent that shares a card type with the chosen card if you do return the chosen card from your graveyard to the battlefield it gains when this permanent would leave the battlefield Exile instead of putting it anywhere else EDH rack is telling me that this card is only in 973 decks currently that is Criminal I mean I know it just came out in neon Dynasty but still not even a thousand decks guys criminal this card is so good I can think of like six commanders off the top of my head that it's an auto included this is any permanent so first of all any of those Aristocrats themes again I can sacrifice a creature on my end step some little 1-1 token and then I can get a giant creature out of my graveyard that's pretty fantastic value I think I can also do any other permanent type I can get an artifact out of my graveyard artifact creatures work particularly good here because of course there are two different types I can sacrifice an artifact creature to get either an artifact or a creature out of my graveyard I can even sacrifice Adel land right you got that cabal coffers in your deck you want to get it back sacrifice that basic swamp get your cabal coffers back out of your graveyard and put it back into play because they share a card type obviously right this card is just fantastic value I think it could go in any orzov deck I am absolutely blown away that it isn't played more I am actually currently working on I'll give you guys a sneak peek here a wernog deck no friends forever this guy's just going solo and he's making lots of Clues and I am putting Spirit sisters call in there because all those Clues I have lying around I'm not always going to be sacking them to draw cards I can sacrifice them to my spirit sister's call and get an artifact back out of my graveyard I've been play testing this deck it works fantastically I can sacrifice a clue token on my end step get a sad robot back out of my graveyard because that is an artifact and again now I have an artifact creature that I can sacrifice to get another creature back out of the graveyard or I can get another artifact just fantastic value in that deck and I absolutely have fallen in love with this card should see way more play in my opinion another card that I absolutely love in orzov is ink shield and it's another one that could go in just about any deck three white and a black instant prevental combat damage that would be dealt to this turn for each damage prevented this way create a 2-1 white and black inkling creature token with flying and as I talked about when this card got spoiled it was in my top 10 from the set this is a complete Game turnaround I know five Mana seems like a lot for a fog but this is often going to be I just prevented myself from dying and then I'm gonna turn around and kill them on my turn your opponent swings in for lethal let's say it's 30 damage they're swinging in because they got a crater hook or something you're gonna prevent it all so obviously you're not gonna die and then for each damage prevented you're getting a two one so you're getting a 30 2-1 inkling tokens that have flying right don't forget that they are really hard to block as well you could even end up taking out a couple of opponents right that's 60 damage you now have on the board so this one card can very easily be a complete Game turnaround and again you can just throw this in in any deck it can go in any orzov deck doesn't matter what you're doing it fits every theme I think this card should see a lot more play as well let's quickly get to the lands and again I'm not going to get into the absolute Staples you can check out my lands videos for which one specifically will go into orzov decks and which ones maybe go in all decks because they're colorless utility lands I will specifically call out Vault of the Archangel because again this is a land that could go in any orzov deck and it's always going to be great Taps for a color list but you can pay two white and a black creatures you control gain death touch and LifeLink until end of turn that's why this card is so fantastic death touch and the LifeLink so if you're in that life game which of course a lot of orzov decks are this seems like an auto include but the death touch is the really big one and I know a lot of people are looking at this land with Nostalgia because of that gotcha moment that they get their opponents with all the time where I just have this sitting on the battlefield I got some lands untapped my opponent swings in and I give all my little tokens death touch and LifeLink and then I block all their creatures and they all die everyone just dies and my opponent didn't see it coming it can be like a board wipe almost for your opponents the LifeLink is great but the death touch can be a real blowout sometimes I will also briefly talk about Temple of Silence because I haven't talked about the temple series yet on this channel and I really like it I always use it in my two color decks of course there is one of every two color combination they enter the battlefield tapped and when they do you get describe one I think there is a lot of people that have moved on from these because we do have a lot of other options I think there are people that don't like them because they always enter the battlefield tap then you don't have a non-tap option people always like to have the option of maybe coming into play not tapped for me I'm okay with it I love this as a turn one play love seeing one of the temples in my opening hand so that I play it on turn one I'm likely not going to be playing anything on turn one anyway I get to scry and in particular that scry on turn one I think is really important because because if I Mana flooded I can look at the top of my library if it's a land I don't want to land because I already got four lands in hand I tuck it on the bottom of my library and in the reverse it works as well where okay I only got maybe two lands in hand I need to dig for a land and I can look at the top card of my library in turn one see that it's not a land and tuck it on the bottom because of course in those first few turns that is really really important a scry one can actually make a big deal it doesn't seem very impactful but in the first few turns it can be really really important right so I still really like the temple series I put it in all my two color decks so in an orzov deck I'm going to be using Temple of Silence but that is it that is all that is my orzov Staples list again I'm not going over most of the actual mono white and mono black stuff there is still a lot of stuff that I would put in this deck that is mono white mono black I'm trying to concentrate more on the actual orzov cards that are only going to be able to go on that orazov deck what did I miss what do you guys put on your orzov decks Auto includes for you whenever you're putting a black and white deck together let me know in the comments below but that is it for today and thanks for tuning in [Music]

Channel: EDH Deckbuilding

Views: 20,156

Keywords:

Id: CSK2SG0832M

Length: 17min 24sec (1044 seconds)

Published: Mon Jul 18 2022