If one was to pick a defining deck for the current era of Standard, it would have to be Aggro. Sure Midrange decks are doing well too, but the ultimate gatekeepers for the format are red, and sometimes red/green, Aggro decks. These lists have had a ton of support recently, and they’re pretty tough to beat. If you’re struggling with the matchup personally, then today’s brew may just help you out. It’s an Orzhov Aristocrats/Combo deck built around Raise the Past, and it’s the bane of Aggro’s life in MTG Standard.
Why is the deck such a great counter? Well the huge number of early creatures and copious lifegain certainly help. On top of that, the deck has a combo element that lets it close games out fast if need be. It may look like a pile of assorted one and two drops on the surface, but going by early results this deck could be the real deal. Welcome news for those sick of folding to Gruul Prowess match after match.
Raise The Past Combo In MTG Standard
Let’s get into the list itself. Orzhov Raise the Past plays like a mixture of two classic MTG archetypes: Aristocrats and Combo. The Aristocrats element comes from the numerous creatures in the deck you can sacrifice for value. The Combo element comes from the title card, Raise the Past.
While it received some hype during preview season, things have gone cold for Raise the Past since then. That’s a pity, since it’s a very efficiently-costed reanimation spell with an interesting deckbuilding requirement. This deck changes that, however, leaning hard into the card by running only creatures that it can reanimate. That is to say, creatures that cost two or less mana.
By doing this, Orzhov Raise the Past achieves two things. First of all, it ensures you have plenty of action in the early game. Second, it lets you reanimate every creature in your graveyard each time you cast raise the Past. This allows for some seriously explosive plays if you set things up right.
How do you go about doing that? With a healthy dose of self-mill. Snarling Gorehound and Gnawing Vermin are ideal for this, dropping plenty of cards into the ‘yard for very little mana. Since Gorehound triggers for each creature that enters, it makes a great combo piece later on too. The deck also often runs Faerie Dreamthief and Shadowy Backstreet, the Orzhov Surveil land.
Self-mill is just one way to get creatures into the graveyard, of course. You can also sacrifice them from the board, which is something else this deck excels at. With Bartolomé del Presidio in the deck, you’ve got access to a free sacrifice outlet that also costs two or less for Raise the Past. Not bad at all.
The ‘Two Mana Or Less’ Club
So you’ve loaded up your graveyard, now what? This is where Orzhov Raise the Past really starts to shine as an MTG Combo strategy. The deck has a ton of ways to leverage lifegain and life loss into an early win, all of which can conveniently return via Raise the Past.
The most important card in this section is undoubtedly Elas il-Kor. Not only does it provide lifegain whenever one of your creatures enters, but it drains your opponent when they leave too. This makes it great when you cast Raise the Past, and even better when you sacrifice your board after.
On the lifegain theme, Hinterland Sanctifier is a fantastic Soul Warden variant for Standard. This comes down early and starts padding your life total immediately, and it does even more work on Raise the Past turns. Some versions of the deck also run Lifecreed Duo for some redundancy of this effect.
When it comes to leveraging that lifegain into a win, Starscape Cleric is your best bet. It’s a straightforward ‘drain on lifegain’ effect, on a body that comes back with Raise the Past. Essence Channeler is another option, letting you build a huge Flying threat instead, but you won’t see it in all lists.
Simple as it is, that’s really the essence of the deck. You fill your graveyard, you cast Raise the Past, and you spend a few minutes working out just how many triggers need to resolve. With Starscape Cleric, you can often gain enough life to end the game on the spot.
If that’s not enough you can always double-dip by sacrificing everything to Bartolomé and getting some extra drain in via Elas il-Kor. Outside of the odd Dewdrop Cure for some reanimator redundancy, that’s really the whole thing.
An Answer To Aggro
It may sound too simple, but it turns out Orzhov Raise the Past Combo is an effective strategy in the current MTG Standard. Several players have achieved good winrates with the deck on Arena ladder, and prominent MTG content creator Ashlizzlle has even featured it on her channel. Why is that? Because the deck performs incredibly well against the current scourge of the format.
Looking at the list, this isn’t too surprising. Even without the combo element there are a ton of ways to gain life in here. Stacking up a few extra points in the early game can give you a few extra turns against Aggro later. This gives you time to get all the pieces together for your explosive win.
All the small creatures in the deck also make excellent blockers. Even Slickshot Show-Off, which takes a lot of decks by surprise, will often find itself facing down a Bat or two here. Basically, as long as you don’t block Screaming Nemesis and turn off your lifegain, you have a good shot against most forms of Aggro here.
Your mileage against other decks will, naturally, vary quite a bit. Dimir Midrange has enough interaction to prevent you from comboing off for the most part, while Golgari Midrange tends to pack graveyard hate. Both are far from ideal for this deck. That said, these matchups are typically less frequent than Aggro, especially on Arena. If you’re looking for something a bit different to try in a somewhat stale format, you won’t find much better than this.
