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Memnarch Mastermind

Posted: Sat Jun 10, 2006 11:19 am

Joined: 24 Jan 2006 Posts: 49 Location: Bochum/Germany

--- description ---
He’s spooky, he’s awful, he’s the key: The Ghost Council of Orzhova is such a nasty card - for your opponents!
--- end description ---

He’s spooky, he’s awful, he’s the key: The Ghost Council of Orzhova is such a nasty card - for your opponents! They will pay tribute to this awful Spirit Lord! The idea to combine WB with BG is not new- it is in deed a popular combination.

I for myself like the Orzhov-they seem to be one of the most fearful guild with their White and Black aspects. But although they have such powerful cards like "Ghost Council of Orzhova" or the often underestimated "Teysa, Orzhov Scion", they have a lack of speed.
That’s where my idea came up...
Forgive my bad english, I’m just a German Magic fan who really enjoys Web’s best deals on Trading cards, so please be fair... I’m doing what I can but it might not be enough.

1. Decklist

Creatures =15

3x "Ghost Council of Orzhova" (GP) Homage

2x "Teysa, Orzhov Scion" (GP)
2x "Savra, Queen of the Golgari" (RAV)
4x "Shambling Shell" (RAV)
2x "Loxodon Hierarch" (RAV)
2x "Azusa, Lost but Seeking" (CoK)

Enchantments = 8

2x "Golgari Germination" (RAV)
4x "Utopia Sprawl" (DIS)
2x "Privileged Position" (RAV)

Instants / Sorceries =17

4x "Condemn"
2x "Mortify" (GP)
2x "Putrefy" (RAV)
3x "Congregation at dawn" (RAV)
3x "Life from the Loam" (RAV)
3x "Hide / Seek"

Lands = 22

3x "Overgrown Tomb"
3x "Temple Garden"
3x "Godless Shrine"
7x Forest
3x Plains
3x Swamp

Sideboard

1x "Mortify"
1x "Life from the Loam"
3x "Hex"
2x "Putrefy"
2x "Leyline of Lifeforce"
1x "Hide / Seek"
4x "Ghostway"
1x "Loxodon Hierarch"

Let’s see what this is all about

I. The Ghost Council Combo - Chaos theory

Perhaps you’ll ask why taking three of these into the Deck. Well, did you know that you can keep two of those in game? This is just the terrific, disastrous aspect of him. when you use his ability to remove him from the game until end of turn, he’ll return the same turn unless you did it end of turn. In this case, he won’t be able to return that turn so he must wait until the end of the next turn. So far so good, but I think you already got it.
Yes, remove one Ghost Council during your turn, then play the other. Now you’ve got one in play and the other outside the game. End of turn, before the other returns, remove the second one from the game.
At the end of the following turn, just proceed the same way: remove the one in play from the game before the other returns and keep sucking your opponents life with ease.

The advantage of using two Ghost councils instead of one is that you always have one in game.

That’s the theory. But how can you realise this? You need to sacrifice creatures all the time, and what if your opponent plays "Wrath of God" or something like this?
See below how you make the way free for the Ghost Council of Orzhova.

II. Savra, Queen of the Golgari - Teysa, Orzhov Scion - Shambling shell

Yeah, I really, really like these three creatures. Okay, sacrifice the Shambling Shell, let Savra trigger for both of her abilities and you’ll get another 1/1 white spirit creature token through Teysa; collect three of them and you’ll be able to use Teysa’s removal ability. And you will make your opponent sacrifying at least one creature- if he has too many creatures, repeat this any number of times, because you can dredge Shambling shell. If you have Golgari Germination in play you’ll have enough creatures to block or sacrifice.
In deed the Savra - Shambling shell - Combo is well known and has proved as well playable. I can just emphasize this as true to those who have their doubts about it.

III. Loxodon Hierarch - Ghostway

Got too many shocks for the right color of mana? No problem! In this case, Loxodon Hierarch will become a good buddy just as he is know for me. 4/4 for 2GW, that’s more than just fair... and Ghostway can keep your creatures away from Wrath of God or other mass destruction spells/ effects.

IV. Azusa, Lost but seeking - Utopia Sprawl - [Life from the Loam]

Azsua is a fine card, but without Seek the horizon or other Land drawing cards she runs out of functionality, therefore she’s extremly useful for Life from the loam. To get her out quickly, enchant a forest with Utopia sprawl in turn 1 so you may play her in turn two and put another land or two lands into play.
When you dredge too much, Life from the Loam will also be a fine card- Your available mana will grow so fast that your opponent won’t be able to stop you even if he has many land destruction aspects in his deck...

V. Congregation at dawn vs. Time of need

I was thinking of replacing them with Time of need, what possibly had been a good Idea, but I stayed out of this. Everything just works fine with Congregation at dawn, although it hinders if you are waiting for some other cards, so it has to be used wisely, i.e. not too fast and of course not too late.

VI. Hide / Seek - Condemn

To make it short- Condemn what you’d like to seek. In case of a Darksteel Colossus this will give both you and your opponent 11 Life- Just enough to kill him. Better: If he tinkers, help him searching with seek... I love it!

VII. Lands

Some people who see 9 Shocklands may say that it’s quite too expensive, but the more you got, the better your decks will work. You can call it investment- once you got them you’ll never give them away! Okay, the shock may be not so nice, but after all, the more colors you’d like to use the better it is to use Dual lands. They can speed up your Deck in a way you can’t imagine; try yourself by proxing them when you play with your friends.
In my deck they are very useful... main green with black and white around it is just perfect.
I played many times, and I never had mana trouble with this deck.

Sideboard

Somebody is quite nasty with many token or creatures? Kill them with hex, to avoid wrath of God against your own creatures use Ghost way, if someone uses Counter spells, charge the Leyline of Lifeforce, make use of additional Mortify or Putrefy. Condemn Colossus, Seek him after it. Yeah! Hide / Seek is better than Crime / Punishment, although you can only use Seek, but that’s just good enough.

2.Playing the Deck

Start with a forest and Utopia Sprawl, that will give you three Mana on turn two. That can be extremly useful with Azusa, so you can put additional Land cards in play to gain greater advantage on turn three. Actually the Sprawl can help to compensate a lack of any color you’ll need soon.
It happened in most of my matches that I got a Privileged Position on turn three... perfect because now your creatures can begin with the ceremony that will kill your opponent.

Coming up with Teysa or Savra and shambling shell will help you getting your goal fast and without hesitation.
I do not say this must work on every match, but you have to keep in mind that all cards make a fine composition, a symphony of terror and unbreakable control. What you don’t like on your opponent’s side will just be sacrificed or removed, while you gain advantage of everything that makes your opponent bleed- slowly, but with great pain, so to speak.

Tip: Play Congregation at dawn during your upkeep in case you have accomplished a good Mana supply.

All you need to do when you have Ghost Council, Tesya, Savra and Shambling Shell, is to sacrifice the shambling shell and dregde it over and over again. It works like a factory in combination with Golgari germination, producing tokens and pain! Twisted Evil

But this is not the point... you won’t wait until you drained your opponent out. You are keeping the creatures of your opponent at bay/graveyard, so it is just easy to swing in with the Ghost Council of Orzhova.
You are doing 4 damage, remove him after attacking, he returns draining 1 life and is untapped. If your opponent is able to stop or destroy your Ghost Council, remove him from the game. He won’t make damage but will still be alive.

That’s another point: You have to keep your mana in reserves for the Ghost Council, otherwise you cannot remove him from the game.

This works brilliant against Aggro, and I managed it to take out a Powered deck with it 2:0, thanks to Seek - Condemn.
Land destruction is nearly useless as you can see for yourself.
Against those ugly P9ers- Condemn the first Darksteel Colossus you see... this beasty thing shold have stayed on Mirrodin where it belongs to!

After all refits done to this Deck I have to admit it is just much fun to play... try it yourself and enjoy ruling your opponent!

3. Alternative Cards

I have thoght many times of Leyline of the Void, Crime / Punishment, Devouring Light and Bound / Determined, these Cards are alos great fun to play but they don’t really fit in here. They are somehow slowing down the "beat", best of them was indeed Crime//Punishment so that you can get your opponents creatures, but I did not like it because I love spells at instant speed, therefore I chose Hide / Seek. Think

Azusa will soon rotate out of standart... she’ll be hard to replace. Maybe the new Block has something interesting of her kind.

Type I is somehow difficult to predict - okay, you are prepared for many usual threads, but it is impossible to predict what comes up so I just can’t say what to change in this case. d'oh!

It should work the way it is, as I’ve said before, the Hide / Seek and Condemn Combo is really good.

Applause

Thank you for reading this article. Applause

The First

Posted: Sun Jun 11, 2006 8:17 am

Joined: 07 Oct 2005 Posts: 195 Location: Anderlecht, Belgium

Cool article indeed. I like the interaction between Savra, the Shell and Germination (why only 2 copies?) - even though it is well known. But adding (the underestimated??) Teysa is really evil Twisted Evil

Adding white to the Golgari mix seems to be the right option. Being able to play the Hierarch and Ghostway to protect your combo is good. 4 Ghostway in sb is a tad too much IMO. I’d rather use 2 Ghostway and 4 Hierarchs but they are rare and pricy.

I’m not a fan of Privileged Position though. Cost of 5 and Wrath/Pyroclasm/Savage Twister/Wildfire can bypass the position without too many problems.

Azusa seems nice but does she indeed accel early enough? With only 2 in this deck and no Time of needs, I have my doubts about her usefulness.

Condemn can be good against Firemane Angels or dredge creatures, and probably some others. I would however put them in the sideboard in favor of 2 more putrefy and 2 more mortify. Those cards are more versatile and good enough in most cases. Same goes for Hide / Seek. I’m a big fan of this card (even though Cranial Extraction is still better) but I think it belongs in the sideboard. Castigate is a the better disruption card that I would run in the maindeck.

Add some Nantuko Husks. I you got rid of all opponent’s creatures, he can swing for the win.

Has Hex ever really helped you? With Savra, Mortify/Putrify and Teysa, you do seem to have all the removal you might need in 1 game. And that’s not even considered the fact that hex is an awful card.

Felipe Musco

Posted: Mon Jun 12, 2006 3:59 pm

Joined: 18 May 2006 Posts: 2434 Location: Florianópolis, SC, Brasil

Yeah, please MD Mortify and Putrefy, and SB those other removals, and PLEASE lose Hex, it’s a terrible card, it shouldn’t even be rare... Also, I’m not so sure you can use Ghost Council as you described it: if you remove it from game "at end of turn", it’s considered in response to end of turn, and it would go on the stack before it. So, it would resolve first, and Ghost Council WOULD come back to play before the end of turn, thus killing both... However, I’m not so sure about this, maybe it IS possible, what do you guys have to say about it?

I don't like YOU.

Cobra

Posted: Mon Jun 12, 2006 4:57 pm

Joined: 12 Jul 2005 Posts: 1202 Location: Austin, TX, USA

I think the Ghost Council trick will work as described. "End of turn" is more like a game phase than an event; it’s not something you put on the stack. However, the triggered ability from Ghost Council (either leaving play or returning to play) does go on the stack.

So, at the end of your opponent’s turn, you can remove Ghost Council 1 from play. During your turn, play Ghost Council 2. At the end of your turn, Ghost Council 1’s return-to-play ability goes on the stack, and in response, you remove Ghost Council 2. Lather, rinse, and repeat.

However, I’m not convinced it’s worth it...

Advantages of playing two Ghost Council of Orzhova at once:
- You’re draining a little more life.
- Ghost Council will always be untapped during your opponent’s turn.

Disadvantages:
- You have to keep two mana open.
- You have to continually sacrifice creatures.
- Ghost Council’s ability no longer protects him from removal spells.

For this last comment, consider the example of your opponent playing Mortify, Putrefy, Char, etc. in the middle of a turn. If you use Ghost Council’s ability to remove him from the game, then BOTH Councils will return to play at end of turn, and both will go to the graveyard.

Personally I’d be happier playing one Ghost Council that can’t be killed, and using the Shambling Shell sacrifice to pump up my other creatures.

But regardless of what the plan is if you draw 2x Ghost Council of Orzhova, it’s a cool decklist. Cool

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Memnarch Mastermind

Posted: Tue Jun 13, 2006 2:45 am

Joined: 24 Jan 2006 Posts: 49 Location: Bochum/Germany

Thank you for your opinion. Yes, according to Hex, it’s quite a terrible card but several times I got to make use of it against some decks that produced tooooo many saprolings pumped up with Overwhelm.

The thing with two Ghost Councils works that way because I asked directly at Wizards and there’s some additional ruling text at the Gatherer, too.
But this is just some sort of specialty of his deck. If someone is going to disrupt this combo which seems to be unlikely, I sacrifice the one in game for himself so I still have one draining. That’s why I took the Privileged Position in, then Char etc won’t work.

THX for the tip with Nantuko Husk... I haven’t considered him. But I think that Fallen Angel is also a good alternative. I’ll try to change it in this direction.

Hide / Seek is in the Main deck because I’m facing a darksteel Colossus in nearly every deck that my opponents play.

The Ghostways have a lot more potential than it becomes clear in my deck. Once I used them in combination with plague Boiler, Loxodon Hierarch, Blind Hunter and Angel of despair, but I changed it. Still I find Ghostway perfect against Wrath of God.

Azusa isnT that much fun, you are right. I’m taking her out for two better options, maybe Fallen Angels or Seizan, Perverter of truth.

La_Sin_Grail

Posted: Wed Jun 14, 2006 3:07 pm

Joined: 14 Aug 2005 Posts: 806 Location: Maryland

In general, I’m not sure on the speed, but here’s some comments in general, scatterbriained like I am.

1) Azusa is bad unless you’re playing trade routes and vinelasher kudzu. Then, he’s annoying.

2) Hierarch should be four of.

3) What are you going to sac. with Tesya?

4) Putting quotes around card names is annoying.

5) You are playing white control without Wog. That makes me feel sad.

6) Are you fast enough to beat control? Seems like you’re a fish for the first three turns.

Try to take this general concept and apply it to the format more.

Memnarch Mastermind

Posted: Fri Jun 16, 2006 3:23 pm

Joined: 24 Jan 2006 Posts: 49 Location: Bochum/Germany

The speed is good enough to stand against most decks because there are some good stopper like condemn or Hide / Seek.

You are right when you say 4 Loxodon Hierarchs but they’re really not that easy to get. However, I’m not a "Fish" in the first three turns. Haven’t you seen Putrefy, Mortify, Condemn, Utopia Srawl(better: Birds of Paradise) and so on? Of course I have to act early and that’s what I actually do. Waiting three turns without action isn’t even something for beginners.

Quote:

3) What are you going to sac. with Tesya?

Shambling shell delivers white token through Teysa which can be sacrificed to remove target creature from the game. See Teysa, Orzhov Scion. d'oh!

Quote:

5) You are playing white control without Wog. That makes me feel sad.

Don’t be sad about this. WoG is a classic but if you read my article, it should become clear that I don’t really need it, indeed I have to take care against it!

Quote:

4) Putting quotes around card names is annoying.

Thanks for this hot info. I’ll take care of it in further articles.

La_Sin_Grail

Posted: Fri Jun 16, 2006 5:18 pm

Joined: 14 Aug 2005 Posts: 806 Location: Maryland

You definately need more creatures to sacrifice with Teysa... even if you sac shell, you can’t sac the token at the same time because all costs must be paid at once. That means you actually have to sacrifice something good, unless you draw three shells in every game.

I guess my point about WoG is your cheapest creature costs three, and that’s not so cool unless you have mass removal. Perhaps the addition of birds of paradise could fix this and allow a turn two shell with more consistancy than sprawls alone. Not to mention, sprawl is just plain useless against vore.

KillerKiku

Posted: Mon Jun 19, 2006 2:57 pm

Joined: 19 Jun 2006 Posts: 13 Location:

To Memnarch(cool UN):
Hmm... you should change a lot about this deck, although I like the idea with the two ghost councils.

As La_Sin_Grail told me just before, the decks here are rated after creativity, and this deck is some sort of extremly creative!
Keeping two legends in play is more than cool.

I don’t have to tell you that my collosses wóuld crush you at once no matter how many condemn or seek you’ve got?

T2 might work, T1? forget it! I’m a girl who knows what she says, believe me!

Creative idea, but bullXhit... Cool

La_Sin_Grail

Posted: Mon Jun 19, 2006 8:26 pm

Joined: 14 Aug 2005 Posts: 806 Location: Maryland

Actually, the ratings aren’t for just creativity- usually I rate decks on creativity and how well they run... My point is you can rate the decks on whatever you want! Quality is in the eye of the beholder.

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