Orzhov Bleeders v. 0.5 (standard legal)

OK, so building decks isn't my specialty or anything, but I really can't
resist. Comments and criticisms welcome, especially since this deck hasn't
been tested at all.


7 Swamp
7 Plains
4 Orzhov Signet
4 Orzhov Basilica

22 Lands/mana artifacts


2 Hokori, Dust Drinker
4 Master Decoy
4 Order of the Stars
4 Blind Hunter
2 Marble Golem
3 Ghost Council of Orzhova
3 Teysa, Orzhov Scion
3 Agent of Masks
3 Eight-and-a-half Tails

26 Creatures


4 Otherworldy Journey
4 Cry of Contrition
4 Mortify

12 Other Spells


The basic strategy here is to use Hokori and the Marble Golem to keep
everything important locked down while I use the Basilica and signets to
generate 4-6 mana per turn (with one extra land drop). Journey on my
opponent's end step lets me untap all my land if necessary.

I'm conflicted on using Cry of Contrition over Castigate, since the latter
lets me choose the discard. On the other hand, Cry nets me twice the cards
for half the mana, and the second one happens anytime I want, assuming I
haunt one of Teysa's tokens. Instant speed discard is nice.

Dan Bressler wrote:
> OK, so building decks isn't my specialty or anything, but I really can't
> resist. Comments and criticisms welcome, especially since this deck hasn't
> been tested at all.
>
>
> 7 Swamp
> 7 Plains
> 4 Orzhov Signet
> 4 Orzhov Basilica
>
> 22 Lands/mana artifacts
>
>
> 2 Hokori, Dust Drinker
> 4 Master Decoy
> 4 Order of the Stars
> 4 Blind Hunter
> 2 Marble Golem
> 3 Ghost Council of Orzhova
> 3 Teysa, Orzhov Scion
> 3 Agent of Masks
> 3 Eight-and-a-half Tails
>
> 26 Creatures
>
>
> 4 Otherworldy Journey
> 4 Cry of Contrition
> 4 Mortify
>
> 12 Other Spells
>
>
> The basic strategy here is to use Hokori and the Marble Golem to keep
> everything important locked down while I use the Basilica and signets to
> generate 4-6 mana per turn (with one extra land drop). Journey on my
> opponent's end step lets me untap all my land if necessary.
>
> I'm conflicted on using Cry of Contrition over Castigate, since the latter
> lets me choose the discard. On the other hand, Cry nets me twice the cards
> for half the mana, and the second one happens anytime I want, assuming I
> haunt one of Teysa's tokens. Instant speed discard is nice.

Personally I wouldn't use either in this deck - discard isn't really a
splashable strategy; you either go for a discard deck or you don't.
Since Cry of Contrition is among the worst discard cards out there, you
certainly don't want it - especially since you're so discard-lite, you
need to have something in mind when including discard cards, and that
means you have certain threats you want to get rid of and you need the
ability to choose what those are, making Castigate or Duress better
options. The problems with Cry of Contrition are that (a) the low cost
is as much a liability as a bonus, as it tempts you to play it as early
as possible (so long as there's something to haunt) - since your
opponent chooses the card, this means he gets to choose the discard
when he's most likely to have a large hand and hence a surfeit of
cards; (b) the requirement for there to be something to haunt, and (c)
the inherent problem with the haunt mechanic, that it gives your
opponent a lot of control over when the effect triggers (depending on
the deck he's playing). Your deck actually has very few sacrifice
effects, so your own control over the haunting is comparatively
limited. What this means is that your opponent will often get to
trigger the haunting when it's least disruptive to him - or at the very
least, since he knows the effect's coming, he can get his best cards
out of his hand before the final moment.

Philip Bowles