I.  Introduction:  A little bit of Yin, a little bit of Yang

I have had my fun doing things a little bit differently with my last two decks.  Now let's get back to the type of aggro-control decks that I like.  I was playing against someone (somewhat) recently who said they wanted to see my take on an Orzhov deck.  Sounds good to me!

Black and White may seem like opposites, but in Magic they have a lot of overlapping facets, and complement each others weaknesses.  White brings mass destruction, and the ability to get rid of every type of permanent.  Meanwhile, Black brings card draw and recursion.  They seem like a match made in heaven to me.

Or at least a match based around white girls with black make up.  All she needs are wings and a sword.  Hmmm....

II.  The Deck:  Hurts So Good

There are actually only three legends in this color combination.  I remember making a Teysa, Orzhov Scion deck a while back, when Painter's Servant was still legal in the format.  It was based on tokens, and I know I have done enough token decks for you.  For this new challenge, I actually started off trying to make a spirit based-Ghost Council of Orzhova deck for you guys, but I realized pretty quickly that there weren't enough spirits in these colors to my liking.  Sure, the good ones were really good, like Kagemaro, First to Suffer, Spirit of the Night (ok, if not good at least a nostalgic favorite) and Yosei, the Morning Star.  But after that you are stuck with stuff like Gibbering Kami.

Not really something I wanted to play.

So I ended up passing on the spirit idea.  Instead, I went with the hotness herself, Selenia.  Let's take a look at her up close, shall we?:

She's pretty sweet, even if it looks like she wants to kick your butt.  She is an angel, so it makes sense that she can fly.  However, it is her second ability that makes her interesting.  For the low, low cost of only 2 life, you can bounce her to your hand.  This means that she is essentially immune to tuck effects.  Spin into Myth, eat your heart out.  In addition, she is able to avoid all types of removal.  If someone tries to Terminate her, just bounce her and replay her again later.  You can even bounce her before you Wrath of God.  As such, the deck will include a decent amount of Wrath effects as well.

Finally, after you cast her the first time, she pretty much never has to return to the Command zone again.  As a result, the third, fifth, and even the seventh time you cast her she will still only cost 5 mana.  This is a huge advantage over every other Commander out there, and makes kills by General damage that much easier.  And if for some reason you have to discard her, she just hops back to the Command zone, ready for you to play her again.  That sort of resiliency is nice.

So we are looking at lots of removal to keep the skies clear for her to punch through.  Since she is an angel, might as well bring a couple of her angel friends along with her.  Here is the deck that I came up with:

Selenia, Dark Angel

A Commander Deck

Creatures 1 Adarkar Valkyrie 1 Akroma, Angel of Wrath 1 Angel of Despair 1 Archon of Justice 1 Battlegrace Angel 1 Deathbringer Liege 1 Deathless Angel 1 Desolation Angel 1 Divinity of Pride 1 Eternal Dragon 1 Glory 1 Graveborn Muse 1 Kagemaro, First to Suffer 1 Karmic Guide 1 Linvala, Keeper of Silence 1 Platinum Angel 1 Pristine Angel 1 Selenia, Dark Angel 1 Serra Ascendant 1 Solemn Simulacrum 1 Twilight Shepherd 1 Yosei, the Morning Star 22 cards Other Spells [Artifacts] 1 Coalition Relic 1 Expedition Map 1 Gilded Lotus 1 Journeyer's Kite 1 Loxodon Warhammer 1 Mind's Eye 1 Orzhov Signet 1 Sol Ring 1 Sword of Fire and Ice 1 Sword of Light and Shadow 1 Sword of Vengeance [Enchantments] 1 Animate Dead 1 Debtors' Knell 1 Enslave 1 Land Tax 1 Luminarch Ascension 1 Moat 1 No Mercy 1 Oblivion Ring 1 Phyrexian Arena 1 Phyrexian Reclamation [Instants] 1 Condemn 1 Imp's Mischief 1 Mortify 1 Return to Dust 1 Swords to Plowshares [Sorceries] 1 Akroma's Vengeance 1 Austere Command 1 Beacon of Unrest 1 Damnation 1 Decree of Pain 1 Final Judgment 1 Hallowed Burial 1 Martial Coup 1 Profane Command 1 Promise of Power 1 Reverse the Sands 1 Rout 1 Wrath of God 39 cards

Lands 1 Bojuka Bog 1 Cabal Coffers 1 Emeria, The Sky Ruin 1 Fetid Heath 1 Flagstones of Trokair 1 Ghost Quarter 1 Godless Shrine 1 Marsh Flats 1 Miren, the Moaning Well 1 Mistveil Plains 1 Orzhov Basilica 1 Phyrexian Tower 1 Reliquary Tower 1 Shizo, Death's Storehouse 12 Snow-Covered Plains 6 Snow-Covered Swamp 1 Temple of the False God 1 Thawing Glaciers 1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth 1 Vesuva 1 Vivid Marsh 1 Vivid Meadow 1 Volrath's Stronghold 39 cards

Good times.  As usual, a closer look at the individual cards:

Mass Destruction

Akroma's Vengeance, Austere Command, Damnation, Decree of Pain, Final Judgment, Hallowed Burial, Martial Coup, Rout, Wrath of God, Kagemaro, First to Suffer:  Who doesn't like to blow up the world every once in a while?  I know that this may seem like overkill to some folks, but we are playing to Selenia's strength here.  She can dodge all this stuff and come back right away.  There is a nice variety in here, with various methods that include card draw, enchantment and artifact destruction, and tucking of generals.  Plus, Rout can be cast at instant speed.  Good times.

Weapons of War

Sword of Light and Shadow, Sword of Fire and Ice, Loxodon Warhammer, Sword of Vengeance:  Although Selenia is cool, she doesn't bring the most power to the table.  As a matter of fact, with all the dragons and other huge fliers out there, sometimes it is hard for her to get her damage through.  All this equipment will help get her through.  Otherwise, you will have some really long games.  And after you read the game report below, you will see what I mean.

Recursion

Adarkar Valkyrie, Sword of Light and Shadow, Animate Dead, Debtors' Knell, Phyrexian Reclamation, Beacon of Unrest, Profane Command, Karmic Guide:  With all of the destruction you are going to be throwing around, you might as well use some recursion.  Although most of these cards recur only the creatures in your graveyard, you can also get into your opponent's graveyards as well.  Phyrexian Reclamation is in here over Oversold Cemetery due to the low creature count.

Targeted Removal
	Angel of Despair, Return to Dust, Condemn, Archon of Justice, Swords to Plowshares, Mortify, Oblivion Ring:  The usual suspects here.  Angel of Despair is always good, and comes in handy with the recursion.  Same goes with Archon of Justice, which does will with the few sac outlets.  Oblivion Ring is in there as a nod toward Eldrazi.

Card Draw
	Graveborn Muse, Phyrexian Arena, Promise of Power, Mind's Eye, Sword of Fire and Ice, Decree of Pain:  I'll be honest, the card draw in this deck has been sort of wonky.  Either I draw all of it, or none of it.  Again, if you don't pull any of the draw during a game, it's going to take that much longer.  But the stuff in here works well when you do get it going.

Notice anything missing in the deck?  Take another look.  That's right, there are no tutors in it.  This was a conscious decision, and I wanted to try it out.  It does make things a little interesting, for the times where you think, "Man, I wish I had an answer," and you know that you have to draw it in order to get it.  I will admit, there were a couple of times where I wish I had at least Enlightened Tutor or Diabolic Tutor in the deck.  Feel free to add them if you want.

There is also a minor life gain theme in the deck.  This is there just to off-set the possible life loss of bouncing Selenia.  Serra Ascendant and Divinity of Pride are similar cards, although one draws way more hate than the other.  I will let you figure out which one on your own.  However, don't be afraid to drop it on the first turn.

With all the Wrath effects, you should be pretty good against creature based decks.  This deck also packs Moat and No Mercy to further deter swarms of creatures.  Some people won't appreciate having their army continuously swept away, but creatures were made to die in battle.  It gets even sillier sometimes when other White decks are involved in the action.

There were actually a few other cards that I wanted to include just for kicks, including Righteous War, Purgatory and Death Grasp.  These are just old school cards that seemed like they would be fun.  Alas, it was not to be.  Also, I really wanted to play Debt of Loyalty.  But I just couldn't find the room.  I did fit Imp's Mischief in there though!

III.  The Game:  Fight!

So the following game isn't the best.  However, I liked the guys I played against and the random cards they used.  A couple of them admitted that their decks weren't optimized, but it was still fun.  In addition, this is a game where I made a lot of mistakes, and I am hoping to point out as many of them as possible.  I guess that's what happens when you play after having a few beers.  Or more than a few.  I am going to try and keep track of all my mistakes, and feel free to jump up and point out any others that I may not have caught.  Here are the contestants for this game:

Three mono-colored Commanders!  And no Blue.  Baru is beatdown with a lot of mana ramp.  Verdeloth is usually similar, but can be treefolk themed as well.  Anowon is obviously vampire themed, and can cause a problem.  With the low creature count of my deck he is going to hurt me.  Oh well.  B wins the roll.  Here is my opening hand:

Vivid Marsh, Serra Ascendant, Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth, Hallowed Burial, Reverse the Sands, Land Tax, Archon of Justice

Awesome.
 

IV.  Conclusion

That was probably the longest game I have ever played, and no one dropped before getting completely knocked out.  I had a ton of fun, but it does say something about the deck itself.  Due to the low creature count, you can sometimes have a hard time shutting the door on people.  In addition, without card draw, you can also be stuck drawing answers when what you need is more threats.  And beating for 3 a turn with Selenia herself is not that fast.

You can go HERE to download or buy the deck.  It comes out to around $150.  There is no single card in this deck that is overwhelmingly expensive.  As a matter of fact, I don't think any of them are over $10.  However, there are a lot in the $5 range.  Replacing the Swords is tough, but the rest can probably be changed for cheaper versions.

The deck has some weaknesses against combo decks, but that's generally true as to most of the decks I make.  Graveyard hate is probably another problem, with only Bojuka Bog coming up there.  But it's still a fun deck that generally does well.  Hope you liked it!

V.  Contest! (aka, I'm horrible at MS Paint) 

I realized recently that my column doesn't have one of those neat banners all the cool writers have.  I tried to use my meager skills to come up with one of my own, but since there isn't one at the beginning of this article, you can probably guess just how well that went.  (It went poorly, in case you didn't want to guess.)

Therefore, to join the elite, cool writers group, gain the respect of my peers and impress the ladies, I am going to ask for the help of my readers.  I am looking for someone to make a banner for my column.  My only requirement is that the banner has "Conqueror & Commander" on it somewhere.  Feel free to get creative, and send it to my email address at the end of the article.  If I pick your submission, I will make you the proud owner of a new, mint condition, digital, foil Kalitas, Bloodchief of Ghet.

Shown here without that foily sheen you know you love.

If you don't want the Kalitas, I can give you a non-foil Damnation.  So hopefully I am making it worth your while.  Multiple submissions are perfectly acceptable.  If you have any questions, feel free to email me.  Thanks, and I look forward to receiving your submissions!  Until next week!

Leviathan, aka Tarasco on MTGO
mrmorale32 at yahoo dot com