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Orzhov Staff
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Re: Orzhov Staff
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Re: Orzhov Staff
Does Urza's Saga help? There aren't many artifacts and the deck is mana-hungry (does not want to sacrifice lands or tap 3 lands to make a token).
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Re: Orzhov Staff
I would consider to play plainswalkers like Elspeth, Knight Errant, Archangel Elspeth or Sorin for token production.
Although in times where Prismatic Ending is often the primary removal spell even above StoP, it might not be reasonable to rely so much on a low CMC permanent like Staff of Storyteller in general.
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Re: Orzhov Staff
Good point. Gideon, Ally of Zendikar, Sorin, Solemn Visitor and Sorin, Lord of Innistrad look like the best options because they make tokens and pump the team.
Staff may be killed but the token engines can still win the game on their own. Hidden Stockpile is the weakest without Staff. Bitterblossom or Mentor can singlehandedly take over a game.
Maybe
-1 Stockpile
-1 Lingering Souls
+1 Gideon
+1 Sorin
Perhaps Legion's Landing should be a better low CMC card (March, Prismatic Ending, or Cling to Dust).
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Re: Orzhov Staff
I think it's very important to remember that we call Grist BetterBlossom for a reason. It is also important to remember that Uro deleted Mentor from the format, and that discard stuff ain't exactly good vs Uro either.
What your deck is doing is slow, tap-out heavy, and your disruption is outdated (Uro and Saga are very strong indicators to not use discard as survival for a fair deck). In contrast, a deck with Staff can stay alive with countermagic, quad Plow/Ending, and still combo off Staff with additional copies it will find faster (Bstorm/Ponder), Timeless Dragon, Shark Typhoon, and/or 1x Ardenvale. Alternatively, you can do Staff things in a Parfait shell while attacking on different axes. Alternatively you do better token things with GSZ target BetterBlossom.
On the [non-Cavern/Vial] white card side of things, your deck's survival starts on Plow, March/Ending, Timeless Dragon (can't Daze this one, cant mana screw with Wasteland, blocks Delver/DRS), Solitude, Karakas, Saga find yard hates, Wasteland (target Saga) - these are all in Parfait.
^after you cover not insta-dying to creature-based fair & combo, you are never really going to escape insta-dying to Thassa and spell-based combo - and Staff is very good at not fixing that weakess. This is fine however, b/c you aren't beating those matchups. The important thing to recognize is that adding discard isn't going to make those matchups good...and your overall winrate will decrease b/c you're asking to get crushed by Uro and Saga.
Doubling down on super spamming tokens does not reel back in the fair deck matchup. At such incredibly high mana costs (made higher by Staff activations), you need to ask why your token stuff can't downtick like Grist to answer questions your opponents have time to deploy. Also you are going to get wrecked by FoV (decks that probably have a Grist and are winning the token war off 1 card).
The main thing black has going for it is Nihil Spellbomb (vastly superior to Soul-Guide), Cling to Dust (assuming you can fill yard), and removal that can force removal-based midrange decks to interact on your terms (i.e. creature kill spells that kill PWs that all midrange runs). The main thing BW has going for it is Kaya 3cmc, which is seen by Sevinne's. Most of these effects work better in UBw rather WB shells.
As far as pure WB shells, that deck already exists as Dead Guy Ale. These are okayish b/c they have quad Leyline Magus and SFM into Kaldra.
Abandon token idea and pursue what is known to work. Staff is a 1-card combo, stop going out of your way to combo with it.
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Re: Orzhov Staff
Good points. I haven't played anything like this in Legacy since before the new age of Uro, Saga, FoV, Grist, Prismatic Ending... I guess there's a reason why this type of strategy doesn't exist in the format anymore.
Perhaps the token spam could be trimmed down into a Deadguy hybrid.
//Creatures: 12
4 Dauthi Voidwalker
4 Stoneforge Mystic
2 Timeless Dragon
2 Solitude
//Equipment: 3
1 Kaldra Compleat
1 Batterskull
1 Umezawa's Jitte
//Tokens: 7
4 Staff of the Storyteller
3 Bitterblossom
//Spells: 16
4 Swords to Plowshares
4 Thoughtseize
2 Cabal Therapy
2 Cling to Dust
2 Kaya's Guile
2 March of Otherworldly Light
//Lands: 22
4 Wasteland
4 Marsh Flats
4 Prismatic Vista
2 Scrubland
3 Swamp
3 Plains
1 Karakas
1 Castle Ardenvale
//Sideboard: 15
2 Nihil Spellbomb
2 Containment Priest
2 Torpor Orb
2 Fracture
2 Plague Engineer
3 Hymn to Tourach
2 Pithing Needle
Bitterblossom still interacts well with Staff. And Jitte. It's weaker than Grist in raw power, but flying is relevant for beating planeswalkers, stealing initiative, and chumping giant flyers (Murktide, Marit Lage).
Compared to the token deck, it can fight:
Uro with MD yard hate, flyers, Kaldra, Karakas
Saga with MD Wasteland, SB Needle
FoV with fewer targets & indestructible Kaldra
Thassa with Torpor Orb (still losing this)
Initiative with Torpor Orb, flying tokens, shadow
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Re: Orzhov Staff
Alternately you can play more colors to get Betterblossom and the other 2 best token makers in the format: Fable and Minsc
4cStaff aka 8Hierarch aka RuinationMe.dec
//Lands: 21
3 Verdant Catacombs
3 Windswept Heath
2 Wooded Foothills
4 Savannah
3 Taiga
3 Bayou
1 Scrubland
1 Plateau
1 Badlands
//Hierarchs: 8
4 Noble Hierarch
4 Ignoble Hierarch
//Oppo Typo: 1
1 Opposition Agent
//Tokens: 18
4 Staff of the Storyteller
4 Lingering Souls
4 Fable of the Mirror-Breaker
2 Grist, the Hunger Tide
4 Minsc & Boo, Timeless Heroes
//Spells: 12
4 Thoughtseize
4 Swords to Plowshares
2 Assassin's Trophy
2 Sheoldred's Edict
//Sideboard: 15
4 Surgical Extraction
3 Opposition Agent
2 Deafening Silence
2 Seeds of Innocence
2 Pyroblast
1 End the Festivities
Thraben U Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7xtRiRVJT5Q
The deck went 1-4.
This tech looks a bit greedy. But you can do a lot in 3 colors. BGW is enough for
Staff of the Storyteller
Lingering Souls
Grist, the Hunger Tide
Prismatic Ending
Thoughtseize
Assassin's Trophy
Revised Version?
//Lands: 22
3 Marsh Flats
2 Verdant Catacombs
3 Windswept Heath
2 Scrubland
2 Bayou
2 Savannah
1 Plains
1 Swamp
1 Forest
1 Castle Ardenvale
1 Dryad Arbor
3 Wasteland
//Spells: 21
4 Thoughtseize
4 Swords to Plowshares
3 Prismatic Ending
2 Green Sun's Zenith
2 Cling to Dust
2 Sheoldred's Edict
2 Assassin's Trophy
1 Kaya's Guile
1 Sevinne's Reclamation
//Creatures: 8
4 Stoneforge Mystic
2 Timeless Dragon
2 Solitude
//Equipment: 2
1 Umezawa's Jitte
1 Kaldra Compleat
//Tokens: 7
4 Staff of the Storyteller
3 Grist, the Hunger Tide
//Sideboard: 15
2 Nihil Spellbomb
2 Containment Priest
2 Torpor Orb
2 Plague Engineer
1 Collector Ouphe
1 Knight of Autumn
1 Assassin's Trophy
2 Deafening Silence
2 Pithing Needle
This also has many tools to fight Uro, Saga, Kaldra, Murktide, Marit Lage, Minsc, Initiative, Show and Tell, Reanimator, Storm. It has gameplay against some Thassa decks, but still unfavorable. It's immune to Red Blast and Blue Blast!
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Re: Orzhov Staff
Another Staff deck, just playing good blue cards instead of the Tier 3 BWx tokens stuff: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uyw7wd9kytg
Made the 5-0 dump.
//Lands: 21
4 Flooded Strand
3 Polluted Delta
2 Windswept Heath
4 Tundra
3 Island
2 Plains
1 Karakas
2 Ancient Tomb
//Spells: 23
4 Force of Will
4 Brainstorm
4 Ponder
4 Swords to Plowshares
2 Spell Pierce
2 March of Otherworldly Light
3 Polymorph
//Tokens: 11
4 Staff of the Storyteller
4 Shark Typhoon
1 Saheeli, Sublime Artificer
2 Shorikai, Genesis Engine
//Other Planeswalkers: 3
3 Teferi, Time Raveler
//Creatures: 2
2 Archon of Cruelty
//Sideboard: 15
1 Hydroblast
1 Blue Elemental Blast
2 Force of Negation
2 Mystical Dispute
2 Dress Down
3 Surgical Extraction
1 Hallowed Moonlight
1 The Wandering Emperor
1 Supreme Verdict
1 Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite
That's a strange UW manabase with 4 Tundra and 0 Prismatic Vista.
The Polymorph plan is cute. But perhaps it occupies too much deck space. The maindeck could be tighter. Currency Converter also seems good in this deck. 1 Castle Ardenvale may be strong too.
Possible rebuild?
//Lands: 20
4 Flooded Strand
4 Prismatic Vista
2 Tundra
4 Island
2 Plains
1 Otawara, Soaring City
1 Karakas
2 Ancient Tomb
//Spells: 25
4 Force of Will
4 Brainstorm
4 Ponder
4 Swords to Plowshares
2 Spell Pierce
2 March of Otherworldly Light
3 Polymorph
1 Force of Negation
1 Supreme Verdict
//Tokens: 10
1 Currency Converter
4 Staff of the Storyteller
4 Shark Typhoon
1 The Wandering Emperor
//Planeswalkers: 3
3 Teferi, Time Raveler
//Creatures: 2
2 Archon of Cruelty
//Sideboard: 15
1 Hydroblast
1 Blue Elemental Blast
1 Flusterstorm
1 Force of Negation
2 Mystical Dispute
2 Dress Down
2 Surgical Extraction
1 Relic of Progenitus
1 March of Otherworldly Light
1 Powder Keg
1 Hallowed Moonlight
1 Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite
The other big question is if Archon of Cruelty is better than other options like:
Atraxa, Grand Unifier (Draws cards, pitches to Force)
Emrakul, the Aeons Torn (bigger, kills stuff, dodges more removal, beats Grindstone, loses to Karakas)
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Re: Orzhov Staff
instead of emrakuul, what about a progenitus? It dodges a lot of stuff and can really only be edicted (once it's out).
