Can You Build Orzhov In Commander Without Resorting to Aristocrats?

<p style="text-align: right;"><em>Baldin, Century Herdmaster | Art by <a href="https://boros-szikszai.com/landing_2/boros/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Zoltan Boros</a></em></p>
<p>Welcome back to <em>Bottom of the Barrel</em>, where we pick a theme from EDHREC, look at the least played color combination(s), and pick a commander in that identity to brew a spicy new deck around!</p>
<p>Today's theme is a favorite of The Command Zone's Josh Lee Kwai: card draw. Card draw is something that all decks need in order to function, but what if we focused our strategies specifically on drawing cards? I know what you're thinking; "Okay, so we're playing some blue commander?" Wrong. As a matter of fact, our commander is in a color that, until recently, people would make fun of for its lack of card draw ability: white. Mono-white, specifically.</p>
<p>According to EDHREC, there are only 73 decks in the database in mono-white that fit the "card draw" theme. Enter: Baldin.</p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Baldin, Century Herdmaster"></div></div>
<p>Baldin was originally printed as a character from the <em>Street Fighter Secret Lair</em>, but was given the <em>Universes Within</em> treatment. On its face, it seems like it cares about creatures with high toughness, but its second line of text is where we're going to focus. Depending on our hand size, our creatures effectively get that much bigger in combat, which seems crazy.</p>
<p>Put this card in blue and you have a deck that builds itself, but the fact that this effect is mono-white is what drew me to this commander. It feels white, but it explores a design space that is fresh and new.</p>
<p>Let's begin.</p>
<h2>Category #1: Drawing Cards</h2>
<p>While building this deck, Archidekt lovingly told me that I had 25 sources of draw. 25. That's insane for mono-white. The cool thing about this group of cards is that they all help accomplish our goal in very different ways: some draw cards from small creatures entering the battlefield (<span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Mentor of the Meek" href="#" target="_blank">Mentor of the Meek</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>, <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Welcoming Vampire" href="#" target="_blank">Welcoming Vampire</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>, and <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Enduring Innocence" href="#" target="_blank">Enduring Innocence</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>), some draw cards when our opponents meet a certain condition (<span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Mangara, the Diplomat" href="#" target="_blank">Mangara, the Diplomat</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>, <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Trouble in Pairs" href="#" target="_blank">Trouble in Pairs</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>, and <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Wedding Ring" href="#" target="_blank">Wedding Ring</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>); and some are creatures that draw cards when they enter play (<span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Helpful Hunter" href="#" target="_blank">Helpful Hunter</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>, <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Spirited Companion" href="#" target="_blank">Spirited Companion</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>, and <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Skyscanner" href="#" target="_blank">Skyscanner</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>).</p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Mentor of the Meek"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Welcoming Vampire"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Enduring Innocence"></div></div>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Mangara, the Diplomat"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Trouble in Pairs"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Wedding Ring"></div></div>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Helpful Hunter"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Spirited Companion"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Skyscanner"></div></div>
<p>These are only nine cards from the 25 that help us fulfill our gameplan, but we also have a group of mana rocks that can draw us cards as well. <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Throne of Eldraine" href="#" target="_blank">Throne of Eldraine</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> is so good that it's 30 dollars, and <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Hedron Archive" href="#" target="_blank">Hedron Archive</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> and <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Commander&#039;s Sphere" href="#" target="_blank">Commander&#039;s Sphere</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> are two rocks that don't get enough love these days.</p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Throne of Eldraine"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Hedron Archive"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Commander&#039;s Sphere"></div></div>
<h2>Category #2: Things to Pump</h2>
<p>Drawing cards is only 1 part of our gameplan, as we need to make sure that we have creatures to pump with our commander's ability. The easiest way to reach this goal is to lean into one of white's strengths: token creation. Arguably the best token creator in our deck is <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Charismatic Conqueror" href="#" target="_blank">Charismatic Conqueror</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>, even though it'll probably annoy everyone and is currently 30 dollars.</p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Charismatic Conqueror"></div></div>
<p>Outside of Charismatic Conqueror, we have an absolute heater at the top end with <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Ancient Gold Dragon" href="#" target="_blank">Ancient Gold Dragon</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>, an underrated uncommon from <em><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Tarkir: Dragonstorm</span></em> in <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Dalkovan Packbeasts" href="#" target="_blank">Dalkovan Packbeasts</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>, <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="God-Eternal Oketra" href="#" target="_blank">God-Eternal Oketra</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span> (need I say more?), a literal goat-maker in <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Springjack Shepherd" href="#" target="_blank">Springjack Shepherd</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>, and an underrated gem from <em>Lost Caverns of Ixalan Commander</em>, <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="March of the Canonized" href="#" target="_blank">March of the Canonized</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>.</p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Ancient Gold Dragon"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Dalkovan Packbeasts"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="God-Eternal Oketra"></div></div>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Springjack Shepherd"></div><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="March of the Canonized"></div></div>
<h2>Category #3: "Secret Spice" 1 and 2</h2>
<p>Since we spent so much of our deck focusing on the first 2 categories, our remaining cards outside of traditional ramp are our "secret spice." Our first "secret spice" is a pretty popular commander with 4200 decks on EDHREC: <span class="edhrecp__link"><a class="edhrecp__link-a" content="Delney, Streetwise Lookout" href="#" target="_blank">Delney, Streetwise Lookout</a><span class="edhrecp__link-image"></span></span>.</p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Delney, Streetwise Lookout"></div></div>
<p>Delney works on two axes in our deck:</p>
<ol>
<li>It doubles our commander's attack trigger because he has 0 power; and</li>
<li>It will double any triggers from our other lower power creatures. Spoiler alert: this deck is mostly creatures with power 2 or less.</li>
</ol>
<p>Outside of a generically good card, this next one might be my spiciest include in this series...</p>
<p>Loxodon Lifechanter.</p>
<div class="edhrecp__cards"><div class="edhrecp__card-container" name="Loxodon Lifechanter"></div></div>
<p>If we wait until our second main phase to cast this creature, our life total might just double. Hell, it might even <em>triple. </em>On top of that crazy "enters" trigger, its second ability is pretty nuts too. We can pump it at instant speed equal to our life total, which will no doubt force our opponents to block it, allowing for our other threats to smash in. That's what I call combat value!</p>
<h2>Closing Thoughts</h2>
<p>This series doesn't often explore mono-colored commanders, but I think it should do it more often! Restriction breeds creativity, after all, and this deck is a shining example of that!</p>
<p>Thank you so much for coming with me on this journey with an underrated commander; I hope you're inspired to build your own mono-white card draw deck!</p>
<p>Check out my decklist below!</p>
<div class="edhrecp__deck mtgh"><span class="edhrecp__deck-s" name="Bottom of the Barrel - Baldin, Century Herdmaster" site="edhrec" archidekt_link="" cards="[Commander]
*1 Baldin, Century Herdmaster
[/Commander]
[Creatures]
*1 Ancient Gold Dragon
*1 Archivist of Oghma
*1 Charismatic Conqueror
*1 Dalkovan Packbeasts
*1 Deep Gnome Terramancer
*1 Delney, Streetwise Lookout
*1 Enduring Innocence
*1 Esper Sentinel
*1 Flumph
*1 God-Eternal Oketra
*1 Helpful Hunter
*1 Indomitable Ancients
*1 Loran of the Third Path
*1 Loxodon Lifechanter
*1 Mangara, the Diplomat
*1 Master of Ceremonies
*1 Mentor of the Meek
*1 Ornithopter of Paradise
*1 Rasaad yn Bashir
*1 Scrawling Crawler
*1 Skyscanner
*1 Spirited Companion
*1 Springjack Shepherd
*1 Weathered Sentinels
*1 Welcoming Vampire
*1 Zetalpa, Primal Dawn
[/Creatures]
[Artifacts]
*1 Arcane Signet
*1 Commander&#039;s Sphere
*1 Eye of Vecna
*1 Halo Fountain
*1 Hedron Archive
*1 Hourglass of the Lost
*1 Howling Mine
*1 Idol of Oblivion
*1 Mind Stone
*1 Oketra&#039;s Monument
*1 Pearl Medallion
*1 Rammas Echor, Ancient Shield
*1 Skullclamp
*1 Sol Ring
*1 Swiftfoot Boots
*1 Thought Vessel
*1 Throne of Eldraine
*1 Wedding Ring
[/Artifacts]
[Enchantments]
*1 Chivalric Alliance
*1 Love Song of Night and Day
*1 March of the Canonized
*1 Smile at Death
*1 Smothering Tithe
*1 Stoneskin
*1 Trouble in Pairs
[/Enchantments]
[Instants]
*1 Bar the Door
*1 Entrapment Maneuver
*1 Flawless Maneuver
*1 Path to Exile
*1 Razorgrass Ambush // Razorgrass Field
*1 Reprieve
*1 Swords to Plowshares
[/Instants]
[Sorceries]
*1 Cut a Deal
*1 Farewell
*1 Secret Rendezvous
*1 Slaughter the Strong
*1 Tempt with Bunnies
[/Sorceries]
[Lands]
*1 Castle Ardenvale
*1 Command Beacon
*1 Eiganjo, Seat of the Empire
*1 Forbidding Watchtower
*1 Fountainport
*1 Mikokoro, Center of the Sea
*1 Minas Tirith
*1 Myriad Landscape
*26 Plains
*1 Reliquary Tower
*1 War Room
[/Lands]"></span></div>
<p>&nbsp;</p>


underplayed commanders

Can You Build Orzhov In Commander Without Resorting to Aristocrats?

Building a Commander Deck With Baldin, Century Herdmaster