Lively Soldiers (Orzhov) by Gatestone4

Format: Commander

Commander: Ravos, Soultender

Bracket: 3

Deck overview

This is an Orzhov lifegain-and-drain deck helmed by Ravos, Soultender, built around a dense Blood Artist-style package, a Soldier tribal subtheme, and a life-gain engine that feeds several alternate win conditions. The primary path to victory is the Exquisite Blood infinite loop, which pairs with three redundant outlets - Sanguine Bond, Vito, Thorn of the Dusk Rose, and Marauding Blight-Priest - to drain the table in one shot. Secondary wins include Felidar Sovereign at 40+ life, a slow extort/drain grind, and combat backed by anthem effects and Legion Loyalty's myriad. Ravos himself is a modest +1/+1 anthem and a slow upkeep recursion engine, but the deck's real identity is a goodstuff pile whose combos live entirely in the 99. The deck is durable and grindy but extremely light on card draw and completely devoid of tutors, making its only fast win a matter of luck.

Decklist (100 cards)

  • 1 Agent of Masks
  • 1 Amalia Benavides Aguirre
  • 1 Angelic Chorus
  • 1 Arcane Signet
  • 1 Ashnod's Altar
  • 1 Athreos, God of Passage
  • 1 Baird, Steward of Argive
  • 1 Bastion of Remembrance
  • 1 Blood Artist
  • 1 Boon Reflection
  • 1 Burnished Hart
  • 1 Butcher of Malakir
  • 1 Captain of the Watch
  • 1 Commander's Sphere
  • 1 Contemplation
  • 1 Creeping Bloodsucker
  • 1 Daru Warchief
  • 1 Deathbringer Liege
  • 1 Dictate of Erebos
  • 1 Dictate of Heliod
  • 1 Dogged Pursuit
  • 1 Elas il-Kor, Sadistic Pilgrim
  • 1 Elspeth, Sun's Champion
  • 1 Ethereal Absolution
  • 1 Exquisite Blood
  • 1 Falkenrath Noble
  • 1 Felidar Sovereign
  • 1 Field Marshal
  • 1 Fountain of Renewal
  • 1 Ghostly Prison
  • 1 Gilded Lotus
  • 1 Glorious Anthem
  • 1 Hissing Miasma
  • 1 Honor of the Pure
  • 1 Icon of Ancestry
  • 1 Intrepid Hero
  • 1 Kambal, Consul of Allocation
  • 1 Keeper of the Accord
  • 1 Legion Loyalty
  • 1 Liesa, Forgotten Archangel
  • 1 Loxodon Gatekeeper
  • 1 Marauding Blight-Priest
  • 1 Mobilization
  • 1 Mother of Runes
  • 1 Nyx Lotus
  • 1 Ojer Taq, Deepest Foundation // Temple of Civilization
  • 1 Orzhov Signet
  • 1 Paragon of New Dawns
  • 1 Pawn of Ulamog
  • 1 Phantom General
  • 21 Plains
  • 1 Pontiff of Blight
  • 1 Quietus Spike
  • 1 Ravos, Soultender
  • 1 Reliquary Tower
  • 1 Sanguine Bond
  • 1 Shared Triumph
  • 1 Sol Ring
  • 1 Solemn Simulacrum
  • 1 Soul Warden
  • 1 Soul's Attendant
  • 1 Suture Priest
  • 14 Swamp
  • 1 Thalia, Heretic Cathar
  • 1 Vito, Thorn of the Dusk Rose
  • 1 Windborn Muse
  • 1 Zulaport Cutthroat