If you weren’t convinced before, this past weekend’s Magic Spotlight: Spider-Man probably put you on team “Standard is in shambles.” As expected, Izzet Cauldron and Mono-Red absolutely dominated the field yet again. The metagame has failed to evolve to beat these decks, as Wizards hoped, leaving us with an agonizing wait until the November 10th bans. That said, it’s not all bad news. In online events, MTG players are still trying to find a solution to the woes of Standard, as we saw yesterday with a spicy Orzhov Control deck.
This deck, which comes to us via _Noob_, takes the concept of Control all the way to the limit. It plays just a single creature, which serves as the deck’s only real win condition. Everything else is pure removal, disruption, and card draw. This deck takes a fascinating new approach in the format that could well pay off handsomely. Post-bans, in particular, this will be one to watch for sure.
Orzhov Control In MTG Standard
_Noob_ managed to pilot their unorthodox Orzhov Control list to a 5th-place finish in yesterday’s MTGO Standard Challenge, with a 6-1 record overall. That’s not bad at all for a strategy that’s not really on anyone’s radar right now.
We have seen Orzhov Control decks in MTG Standard before, many of them relying on Ketramose, the New Dawn as a value engine. _Noob_ opts for something a bit different, however, focusing almost entirely on removal, disruption, and board clears. This is a deck all about attrition, aiming to deal with everything the opponent throws at you before turning the corner in the late game.
Authority of the Consuls kicks things off nicely in the one-mana slot, slowing your opponent down for the duration of the game. It also provides a lot of incidental lifegain, which is crucial since this deck is aiming to go very long indeed.
Removal-wise, all of the Standard Orzhov classics are here. You’ve got Seam Rip to deal with early creatures, as well as Agatha’s Soul Cauldron. Up into two mana, _Noob_ runs Get Lost and Nowhere to Run, which can also hold off early aggression. The deck is definitely tuned for a faster meta, which makes sense given the dominant decks right now.
That’s not to say it can’t go big when needed, mind you. Day of Judgment and Deadly Cover-Up are efficient board clears, which can claw back all manner of losing positions. At the very top end, the deck’s ace card, Ugin, Eye of the Storms, provides a huge burst of value. For the most part, this will be a universal removal spell that then becomes a life-gaining draw engine, which is exactly what the deck needs.
The Soul Win Condition
All of that helps you to stay in the game, but you do still need to win at some point. It’s in this area that _Noob_’s Orzhov Control deck is truly remarkable. Rather than run a small suite of win conditions, like most Control decks, they opt instead for a single creature: Beza, the Bounding Spring.
Beza has been a mainstay of Control in Standard for some time now. Since Control decks play from behind much of the game, they can almost always get full value out of Beza’s enters trigger. When you can do that, it’s easily one of the best four-mana creatures we’ve ever seen. Just playing Beza once deep into a game can be enough to close things out. _Noob_ also includes Spider-Man’s notoriously pricey The Soul Stone, however, which takes things to another level.
Once you have it harnessed, The Soul Stone can bring back Beza from the graveyard every single turn. If one round of triggers was tough for an aggressive deck to deal with, several is downright damning. These two cards together create a true inevitability engine, which is something most Control decks would kill for. While the deck only runs a single copy of each, the draw from Ugin, Mazemind Tome, and Fountainport can get you them consistently. Fountainport can even be a win condition in itself in extremely grindy games.
While running just a single creature in the main is certainly a bold approach, _Noob_ does have a few more in their sideboard. A couple of Kutzil’s Flankers and a second Beza can come in as needed, for graveyard and Control matchups, respectively. Other than that, the sideboard mostly adds a ton of hand attack for Control mirrors, where you really need to stick your Beza to win.
A Glimpse Of The Future?
Overall, Orzhov Control is one of the more interesting MTG Standard decks we’ve seen in a while. In an era where creatures are by far the most powerful cards in the game, it’s wild to see a list that almost eschews them completely. This unique setup does put the deck in a tricky position in the current metagame, mind you.
While _Noob_ landed a great result with it yesterday, Orzhov Control isn’t a consistent performer in Standard right now by any means. Even more so than Izzet Cauldron, this is likely down to the huge presence of Mono-Red Aggro in the format currently. Aggro traditionally beats Control, and the current iteration is one of the most streamlined and efficient we’ve ever seen.
For this reason, things will still be tricky for Orzhov Control even if the upcoming bans do deal with Izzet Cauldron completely. It’s unlikely that Mono-Red will receive enough meaningful hits to take it out of the running as well, after all. Even if it does, a lot of the decks waiting in the wings right now are Control or Combo lists, which I can really see Orzhov struggling against. Without access to countermagic, the Control mirror is difficult for a non-blue deck like this, especially since it’s all-in on one creature.
On the bright side, Dimir Midrange should be a great matchup for this deck. If Izzet and Mono-Red are properly dethroned and Dimir takes over, then Orzhov Control could become a legitimate contender overnight. It all comes down to the bans, though, really. For now, Orzhov Control is a fun novelty, but not a deck likely to dominate the Standard rankings.
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