KHM Ozrhov second-spell draft
I'm glad I listened to Marshall's discussion on the Orzhov second-spell deck. I had never drafted it before because I was concerned about running out of steam (i.e., you might cast two spells once or twice the whole game and then peter out just as all the snow decks start dropping bombs). Just a day or two after I listed to the last LR, I queued premier draft and I saw a pick-2 Clarion Spirit and a pick-3 Clarion Spirit followed by a pick-4 Firja and I decided to give it a shot, with a focus on finding ways to push through damage after the initial onslaught.
Goldmaw Champion was pretty key. He was often tapping down early Packmates. Infernal Pet was mediocre and if I had another reasonable 1-2 CMC creature I would have taken out at least one more. The Bloodsky Berserker was also not great but his menace did come in handy sometimes.
One game I did almost deck myself with Firja. You really have to be mindful with her since as mentioned on the show the ability it mandatory.
I ended up seeing Ascent of the Worthy very late (clearly nobody else was drafting Orzhov) but not putting either copy in my deck. I think that's correct but I'm curious what others think. The first two ages could be helpful to turn your army sideways and only lose one weenie I guess? It seems like I'm better off with just another creature most of the time. The third age seems like the main payoff but it seems like it would take forevera nd the deck doesn't have bombs I want to get back anyways.
Posted Feb 16, 2021, 5:03 PM UTC
The Clarion Spirits are amazing and worth going this direction. I think the sagas aren’t that great unless you have a lot of token makers, I think the best use is to have all your damage go to a 1/1 creature token for two turns but it is a little hard to set up in the early game. I suppose it could be a stalled-board breaker in the late game where you can get an alpha attack in.
I would much prefer the Raven Wings out of the sideboard as it also breaks board stalls and isn’t too hard to double-spell with on turn 4. Ideally this archetype has a lot of one mana plays so that on turn 3 you can double spell with one of your payoffs. In particular the scarecrow guy is amazing as he can help you double spell the same turn you play Frija.
I’ve done well with this archetype and I think you’ve got great payoffs for double spelling but not as many enablers as you would want.
Agree fully with your last comment. It would have been great to have a couple more cheap spells.
Do you have an example Orzhov draft deck that you were happy with?