Magic the Gathering

Right now my Orzhov deck looks like this

3 Obzedat, Ghost Council
4 Alms Beast
4 Dutiful Thrull
4 Silverblade Paladin
4 High Priest of Penance

4 Blind Obedience
4 Ethereal Armor
4 Gift of Orzhova
4 Faith's Shield
4 Predators Gambit

4 Godless Shrine
4 Isolated Chapel
4 Evolving Wilds
5 Plains
4 Swamp
________
60

Sideboard
4 Nevermore
4 Holy Mantle
4 Guildscorn Ward
3 War Priest of Thune

It kinda turned into an enchantment heavy deck mostly because I really want Alms Beast to work. Almost everyone in the place that I go to believes Alms beast is a bad card so I really want to make it work.
Blind Obedience for aggro decks and Nevermore for decks that plays Selesnya Charm, O-ring or instant bye bye Alms beast card. Enchantments for buffing Ethereal Armor and Alms Beast. They can also serve as some sort of Evasion. And Finally, Silverblade for Double Strike.

Alms Beast is a 6/6 for 4. Obviously, you don't get that kind of body without a drawback, but you gotta realize that'll probably just eat whatever it blocks/gets blocked by, anyways. When you do get damage in, it gets a heavy hit through. I was in that same boat, I thought the card was unplayable, but then I got smashed by it. Still, it's a drawback nonetheless, you need to take care of it somehow, otherwise, it's just gonna do work for your opponent.

Your sideboard's awkward. You need to consider every type of deck you might face off against when you build one. Yours looks like it only combats creature heavy decks.

I don't like Predator's Gambit at all. As much as I like Gift of Orzhova, auras in general are begging to get the user two-for-oned. Blind Obedience is nice tech against aggro, but I'd think it's more for sideboard, since it doesn't do anything against other matchups, and I don't think four is neccessary. I'm doubtful you'll be able to reliably cast Obzedat with only 21 land in the deck, especially since you're running three. I'm not even sure three is the right number to play in a deck, but that's up to testing to find out.

Here's the decklist :

It's a bit edited to fit more of my budget, but still works the same.

Oh, yup, I might have seen this deck before. Seemed interesting. I remember watching Bob Maher vs. Jon Finkel, and it was a mirror match. Since both sides knew there was no direct damage, they paid 19 life for their Phyrexian Processors lol.

Metalworker, though... That's a powerful card, I wonder if it's expensive.

EDIT: LOL, Today's simulated sealed deck was wacky. I didn't realize it until after I finished building the deck, but it was five-color.
Link to the today's Sealed pool: http://www.wizards.com/Magic/Magazine/Article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/activity/1164


My deck:

Metalworker is about $10 USD a pop, so he's pretty expensive, but not bank breaking.

That's a lot better than I would've guessed, though, yeah, still pretty pricey.
Hmm, wonder what else is expensive on that list. I think Ancient Tomb is... Masticore, I'm not sure, though they're good... Hmm.

Masticore from Urza in decent condition is about $3.00 USD, while FTV:Relics version is about $2.50 USD.

Ancient Tomb is also about $10.00 USD.

The most expensive one is Grim Monolith that costs about $20.00 USD.

I usually check prices and order cards from TCGplayer.com. Helps me guess-timate how much is a deck that I would like to build.

Ah, yup, the Monolith. Forgot about that actually.

I use ChannelFireball or StarCityGames since that's what most other players at the shop I go to use.

Hmm, any opinions about Desecration Demon?
Why do I see a lot of hate about how bad he is in the internet?

I'm shocked by the lack of popularity about that card actually. A 6/6 Flier for four mana that forces your opponent to sacrifice things is not weak.

It's sideboard tech in a lot of decks I see at the shop I go to, since it's great against decks in which their creatures are too important to sacrifice, even if they may have to if they need to save themselves. Examples I can think of are the All-In Auras deck (an aggro deck using hexproof creatures and many many cheap efficient enchantments), and my Grow deck (a deck that can make the creatures Quirion Dryad and Nivmagus Elemental into huge fatties).

There are some decks, though, that might blank Desecration Demon. Tokens have plenty of guys to throw away to a Desecration Demon, and Humans too, I think work so fast that they just throw away their smallest guy, since they can generate huge board presenses, too.

Just got my box of Gatecrash today. Got some decent pulls from the pack.



I bought a few rares so I can have in my collection binder. Very surprised when I pulled a Biomancer, Enter the Infinite, and Lord of the Void, all from the intro packs.

Pulled some decent cards too from my box. Got Aurelia, another Lord of the Void, another Biomancer, Lazav, and a few good rares, like Reckoner and Firemaine Avenger.

Was happy with it.

Seems good. I wasn't sure about the Biomancer at first, then my friend showed me some cool stuff it could do, and I was sold on it.

And I'm jealous, cus I really want a Lazav.

I really want that Deathpact Angel... The only angel I'm missing in my binder. For some reason I just can't get her.
I really want to see someone make Zegana work well. I find her to be really expensive.

Easy. Turn 5 Thragtusk, Turn 6 Zegana. Draw six cards, have a 6/6.
Fricken love Zegana. My second favorite guildmaster.

Problem is, against really aggro decks, it's actually hard to reach turn 6. That doesn't include if you get land or mana screwed.

If you just played Thragtusk last turn, you've halted the aggro decks. 5 life is a lot of life, and a 5/3 body is hard to get through. And he leaves a 3/3 beast behind if they remove it, so there's still things halting them.

And the midrange decks like these play 25-26 lands. They'll get to six. Many even play Farseek, getting them to six even faster.

And you're kinda overestimating aggro. There's plenty of ways to slow them down to the point where they can't win. Believe me, I play a lot of aggro. There are cards you hope your opponent never plays, because they can wreck you immediately.

I'm not really overestimating aggro, I'm just playing "what ifs" scenarios. Actually, if I'm playing standard and my opponent plays Green, I just usually play Nevermore to Thrugtusk and Enchantment removal.

Oh, by the way, you once mentioned a lifegain? deck that utilizes (if I remember correctly) Rhox Faithmender and Trostani. Do you have the deck or know where I can find it? I'm really interested at that one

It was a Daily Deck from about a month or two ago. It was pre Gatecrash, so I'd probably find a way to fit in Breeding Pool and Simic Charm. If I had Thragtusks and Restoration Angels, I'd totally play it, but I don't, and those are expensive cards.

Here it is:



Sideboard:

Hmm, I don't like Grove of the Guardian and Moorland Haunting. Probably replace it with Breeding Grounds. Too much Shockland again, if not careful, it could actually kill but oh well, it's a lifegain deck.
Is Heroes' Reunion bad for this deck?

So basically, you just pile up life and kill your opponent with the chalice or creatures?

I agree that Grove of the Guardian is a little bit cute, but Moorland Haunt is actually really really good. It turns your dead creatures into gas if you need them. You have no other way to use those creatures in your graveyard.
And don't worry about this many shocks. One, for the same reason I said before about my Grixis deck: If you need it untapped, you can get it untapped with no strict condition. And two, it's a lifegain deck. You'll have plenty of life to pay.

Heroes Reunion is just a bad card. It doesn't do anything. Centaur Healer and Thragtusk are good cards because they're attached to bodies that can be used to block, or kill your opponent. Heroes Reunion doesn't advance your boardstate at all.

It's basically a Bant midrange deck, but instead of being a control deck at it's core, it's a lifegain deck, instead.