Advice on card draw in Orzhov?
21d 17h ago by discuss.tchncs.de/u/LGTM in magictcg
Hello all, I'm a noob to magic building my first deck. I've been trying out this flicker deck with [[Syr Vondam, Sunstar Exemplar]] and I'm having okay results. It seems like I never draw my necessary cards to close the game out because I end up with no hand and am living paycheck to paycheck on my draw step. So I end up having an exile engine with nothing else, making it a real boring game for my friend and me. I think my deck is capable of playing both flicker and mini-Voltron with Syr Vondam at the helm, but I'm not sure what to start. Maybe I share the hate and just keep spam blinking [[Corrupt Court Official]].
Here's my decklist
Also, my friend was [[Fynn, the Fangbearer]], and I felt like I should've been able to get more creatures out on the board to stop the poison, but I was in a really passive position with one card in hand the whole time
With your focus on blink, a few creatures that draw a card when entering could be worthwhile.
But don't forget that Syr Vondam triggers when your creatures die, as well. Black has plenty of cards that let you draw cards by sacrificing creatures. Even if you don't normally want to kill your own creatures as often as an aristocrats deck, instant-speed options like [[Deadly Dispute]] or [[Reckoner's Bargain]] can let you get some cards back in response to being targeted with removal, or just let you dump a creature you don't really need for a chance to dig deeper into your deck.
On the other side of black's card draw, [[Sign in Blood]], [[Night's Whisper]], and [[Phyrexian Arena]] are decent options to pay life to draw cards.
Oh, almost forgot to mention one of my pet cards, [[Dark Prophecy]]. It makes you extremely resilient to removal and your commander will offset the life loss if he's out.
Not that expert in those colors, but I would check stuff with airbending. Also if you wanna bump the power easily, try searching for infinite flicker combos with felidar guardian or similar creatures.
I also suggest stuff that makes you draw card on 'enter the battlefield' triggers, like rumor gatherer. I know there are many cards with similar effects.
Those aren't my colors, but black has numerous 'lose life to draw cards' type effects. Black Market Connections is the famous one, or at least so famous that even I'm aware of it.
Here's a very basic search on Scryfall. See if that helps get you started: https://scryfall.com/search?as=grid&order=name&q=%28oracle%3Alose+oracle%3Alife+oracle%3Adraw%29+commander%3AB+%28game%3Apaper%29+prefer%3Abest
Night's Whisper and/or Sign in Blood are almost always instant inclusions when I'm making an EDH deck with black. They're not really on theme, but don't underestimate how good turning 1 card into 2 is for just 2 mana. If you have good mana fixing you can also go for Insatiable Avarice which gives 3 cards for 3 and can tutor for extra mana. Cut a Deal and Secret Rendezvous are also quick card advantage but will even out with an opponent, though I think they work out in the user's favor. If you don't like that, Ancient Craving and Ambition's cost are only 1 more mana. Depending on how big your board gets, Minions' Murmurs can net you a lot of cards
Depending on how often you sacrifice creatures, Midnight Reaper or Morbid Opportunist might be worth it. I find Opportunist draws a lot more than you expect even with the once per turn limit since it triggers off your opponents as well. Welcoming Vampire and Enduring Innocence are also OPT but if you're playing/flickering small creatures a lot the cards will add up quickly.
People have already mentioned stuff like Deadly Dispute and Village Rites (both great) but since you're in Orzhov and seemingly fairly aggressive you have the chance to try Treacherous Greed, which I can't attest to personally but it seems like it could be worth testing