Cleric Ascendancy by user5825196

Format: Commander

Commander: Orah, Skyclave Hierophant

Bracket: 3

DeckCheck Threat Index: 34

Deck overview

This deck is an Orzhov Cleric Tribal Aristocrats and Reanimator strategy commanded by Orah, Skyclave Hierophant. The primary game plan develops a tiered curve of low-cost Clerics during the early turns to form a resilient recursion engine. Once Orah is deployed on Turn 4, every sacrificed or destroyed Cleric brings back a smaller Cleric from the graveyard, creating steady board presence and death triggers. The midgame converts this engine into overwhelming board dominance by using Shadow-Rite Priest, Buried Alive, and reanimation spells to deploy format-dominating top-end threats like Valgavoth, Terror Eater and Righteous Valkyrie. Valgavoth strips opposing graveyard resources while turning life totals into free spells, allowing the deck to close games through massive combat swings and Elas il-Kor, Sadistic Pilgrim drain. The deck boasts excellent engine recovery and redundancy, though its primary interaction suite relies heavily on sorcery-speed removal.

Decklist (100 cards)

  • 1 Abiding Grace
  • 1 Ancestor's Prophet
  • 1 Archfiend's Vessel
  • 1 Ayli, Eternal Pilgrim
  • 1 Benevolent Bodyguard
  • 1 Bonecaller Cleric
  • 1 Buried Alive
  • 1 Ceaseless Conflict
  • 1 Children of Korlis
  • 1 Cleric of Life's Bond
  • 1 Command Tower
  • 1 Daru Spiritualist
  • 1 Dawnbringer Cleric
  • 1 Disciple of Griselbrand
  • 1 Doomed Necromancer
  • 1 Dread Return
  • 1 Eaten Alive
  • 1 Edgewalker
  • 1 Elas il-Kor, Sadistic Pilgrim
  • 1 Enduring Tenacity
  • 1 Expel the Interlopers
  • 1 Fiend Hunter
  • 1 Firdoch Core
  • 1 Fracture
  • 1 Guide of Souls
  • 1 Heirloom Blade
  • 1 Illicit Shipment
  • 1 Infernal Vessel
  • 1 Lightning Greaves
  • 1 Liliana, Heretical Healer // Liliana, Defiant Necromancer
  • 1 Luminous Broodmoth
  • 1 Mangara, the Diplomat
  • 1 Martyr's Cause
  • 1 Master of Dark Rites
  • 1 Metropolis Reformer
  • 1 Mikaeus, the Lunarch
  • 1 Minwu, White Mage
  • 1 Orah, Skyclave Hierophant
  • 1 Orzhov Signet
  • 1 Phyrexian Altar
  • 17 Plains
  • 1 Priest of Gix
  • 1 Priest of the Blood Rite
  • 1 Pyre of Heroes
  • 1 Requisition Raid
  • 1 Righteous Valkyrie
  • 1 Rune-Scarred Demon
  • 1 Scion of Halaster
  • 1 Shadow-Rite Priest
  • 1 Shadowheart, Dark Justiciar
  • 1 Shaman en-Kor
  • 1 Skyclave Cleric // Skyclave Basilica
  • 1 Soul Warden
  • 1 Stargaze
  • 17 Swamp
  • 1 Taborax, Hope's Demise
  • 1 Talisman of Hierarchy
  • 1 Twilight Diviner
  • 1 Umbral Collar Zealot
  • 1 Valgavoth's Faithful
  • 1 Valgavoth, Terror Eater
  • 1 Victimize
  • 1 Village Rites
  • 1 Vindicate
  • 1 Vraska's Final Mercy
  • 1 Way of the Mentor
  • 1 Weathered Wayfarer
  • 1 Westvale Abbey // Ormendahl, Profane Prince