Last updated on February 18, 2024
Lurrus of the Dream-Den | Illustration by Slawomir Maniak
Card draw is what moves a game of MTG. Each turn you draw a card, and that’s more resources at your disposal. Most of the time, the player that has the most resources tends to win, especially in the long run. Card draw is very important for control decks, midrange decks, and in Commander, where you have to outlast three opponents in a 4-player pod.
Today we’re taking a look at the best Orzhov options for drawing more cards, or at least getting ahead on resources in similar ways.
What Is Orzhov Card Draw in MTG?
Silverquill Command | Illustration by Bryan Sola
Card draw, strictly speaking, is the action of getting cards from your library into your hand. Orzhov card draw includes cards with only white and black in their color identity, gold or hybrid, and give you access to extra cards in some form. Since this color pair isn’t exactly known for having card draw or draw engines, we’re taking some liberties here and also considering a bonus in resources as card draw.
Orzhov is known for attrition, good one-for-one removal spells, and lifegain/life drain, but the color pair doesn’t have much pure card draw like Expressive Iteration or Sphinx's Revelation. That said, it’s more than capable of generating card advantage, usually via permanents in play. Like Golgari , the graveyard is another important source of card advantage for Orzhov, so this color pair gets necessary card advantage from small creatures that died, too.
#21. Raddic, Tal Zealot
Raddic, Tal Zealot is an Alchemy card that lets you draft a card from its spellbook each time you attack with one or more knights. It’s a bit restrictive in what you can get, but each time you attack with a knight you’ll get an extra card right away. All cards in this spellbook are good knight-typal cards like History of Benalia or Cavalier of Night, so you’re always drawing into gas.
#20. Silverquill Command
Silverquill Command offers you a choice between two out of four modes, and one of them is drawing a card. So, you’re drawing a card and obtaining another small advantage, which can be reanimating a small creature or making your opponent lose a creature. Although it’s a 4-mana sorcery, it’s a two-for-one most of the time.
#19. Firja, Judge of Valor
Firja, Judge of Valor allows you to get an extra card from among the top three and put the other two in the graveyard. That’s restricted by your ability to cast two spells in the same turn. It’s a strong angel to put in a deck commanded by something like Liesa, Forgotten Archangel. Not only will it fill your hand over time, but also your graveyard for reanimation purposes.
#18. Debtors’ Knell
Debtors' Knell is a classic from 2005, with a modern version of it in Virtue of Persistence. You’ll get a card every turn, which will be a creature from your graveyard straight into play. If left unchecked, Debtors' Knell is a sure way to win long games, especially in 1v1.
#17. Sister Repentia
Sister Repentia is a 5/1 for 5 mana that can be cast for just 2 mana with its miracle cost. You’ll get two cards when it dies, so your opponents will have to choose between taking damage or blocking and giving you the cards. It’s a very interesting card with Teysa Karlov since you’ll get to double the death trigger.
#16. Immortal Servitude
While not card draw per se, Immortal Servitude gives you a bunch of resources. Provided that you have lots of creatures in your graveyard, it’s better than raw card draw because you don’t need to cast them. This card works better in Abzan or Esper decks that have a nice mill component to them.
#15. Frodo, Adventurous Hobbit
Frodo, Adventurous Hobbit can give you a card each time it attacks, but it’s not that simple. You’ll need to build a deck around it, consistent lifegain, and the Ring tempts you mechanic. Essentially, you’ll want lots of Food production to gain life, and ways to be tempted by the Ring, so be sure to include a lot of value The Lord of the Rings cards. Partnering with Sam, Loyal Attendant at least gives you a Food per turn.
#14. Sorin, Grim Nemesis
Sorin, Grim Nemesis is a big planeswalker that can draw you a card per turn, Not only that, but you’ll make everybody else lose life equal to the card’s mana value. Sorin’s also got removal in its -X ability and a powerful ultimate. It’s good when your card advantage engine can also be your wincon.
#13. Kaya, Ghost Assassin
Kaya, Ghost Assassin was the first appearance of Kaya, and probably the least-known version of this planeswalker. Released in Conspiracy: Take the Crown, this planeswalker allows you to draw a card every turn, make everybody else discard cards, and blink itself and another creature. It’s going to return with the original loyalty count to the battlefield, and it’s the only way to “uptick” it. It’s a solid resource engine, draining players’ life points and cards while bolstering your resources. You can further get resource advantages by playing this planeswalker in a blink deck filled with good ETB creatures.
#12. Shadrix Silverquill
Shadrix Silverquill is a powerful elder dragon that can draw you a card every turn. The downside is that you’ll need to give a player something good in return, which is okay in EDH for politics and a little worse in 1v1 games. Still, there are plenty of ways to break the symmetry, and you'll have a 2/5 flying and double strike creature at your side.
#11. Knights of the Black Rose
Knights of the Black Rose is the only Orzhov card that can make you the monarch. It’s a powerful late-game engine in 1v1 games, provided that you can keep the monarchy uncontested.
#10. Doom Foretold
Doom Foretold is one of those cards that creates a minigame around it. If your opponent isn’t able to sacrifice something, you’ll get a card, life, and a token, while they get to discard a card. Sometimes you’ll want them to sacrifice a permanent that’s hard to deal with, and sometimes you’ll want to get the benefits right away. This card sees play in formats like Explorer, and in Stax/Prison EDH decks.
#9. Breena, the Demagogue
Breena, the Demagogue is an odd inclusion here because it can make everybody draw cards. It’s more of a group hug commander or prison commander, but no matter who’s attacking, you’re the only one putting counters on your creatures. Breena incentivizes your opponents to fight among themselves, and you’ll be reaping the rewards by adding +1/+1 counters on your creatures.
Amalia Benavides Aguirre can explore a bunch of times if you're gaining life, and exploring is very much like card draw. You’ll either draw the land on top of your library or set up future draws. What makes this creature a powerful engine is that it combos off with several cards, and it goes infinite with Wildgrowth Walker. Giving lifelink to Amalia is very interesting, and it’s in the right colors for vampire typal decks, too.
#7. The Kenriths’ Royal Funeral
Here’s an Orzhov enchantment that can draw you a bunch of cards, provided you have some fuel in your graveyard. Also, it makes all your legendary spells cost 1 or 2 less, making your commander cheaper and helping you cast some of the cards you just drew. The Kenriths' Royal Funeral is good in the early and late game, and it gets better in legends matter decks.
#6. Clavileño, First of the Blessed
Clavileño, First of the Blessed is one of the newest vampire commanders, and it’s able to turn your attacking vampires into demons that draw you a bunch of cards. It’s an interesting commander to make a bunch of small and inoffensive vampire tokens that eventually give you cards. Note that you can use Skullclamp for the same effect, but hey, we’re ranking only Orzhov card draw here.
#5. Commissar Severina Raine
Commissar Severina Raine is a go-wide Orzhov commander that drains your opponents when you attack with your creature armies. You can also pay 2 life to sacrifice any creature and draw a card, and this ability has a bunch of uses. If a creature would be blocked and die, you’ll benefit from this by drawing a card. It’s also interesting to use Severina Raine with creatures that leave a body when they die, or a strong “when it dies” death trigger.
#4. Kaya, Intangible Slayer
This 7-drop planeswalker with hexproof sees play in Standard, mainly as a win condition for control or superfriends decks. Being able to draw two cards from a single activation is huge, and it’s not a minus loyalty ability, so you can keep doing that every turn. Kaya, Intangible Slayer offers inevitability, lifegain, removal, lots of card draw, and aside from Sheoldred's Edict, there are few common answers.
#3. Markov Purifier
Markov Purifier is an easy way to draw cards in this color combination. Each turn you can pay 2 mana and draw a card, and the only requirement is to gain life. That can easily be done in these colors, which has plenty of ways to drain life from your opponents. You can attack with Markov Purifier too, but that risks losing the creature, so it’s better to have other tokens with lifelink around.
#2. Tymna the Weaver
Tymna the Weaver is probably the best raw card draw option that Orzhov has to offer – excluding mono-color white card draw and black card draw spells. Black has many ways to pay life to draw cards, and Tymna offers this ability in Orzhov colors. It’s also got the partner mechanic, so you can add white and black to EDH decks that wouldn’t have it like Thrasios, Triton Hero and Kraum, Ludevic's Opus. This commander sees plenty of competitive and casual play, and you’ll be able to draw one to two cards consistently every turn while it’s in play.
#1. Lurrus of the Dream-Den
Lurrus of the Dream-Den is banned in lots of Constructed formats, including Modern and Legacy, and for good reason. It’s an all-star in formats like Cube and Timeless. Lurrus allows you to cast a permanent with mana value 2 or less from your graveyard on each of your turns, so this has implications with aristocrat strategies, weenie strategies, and much more.
Of course, you won’t be able to play expensive permanents if Lurrus is your companion, but the consistency it offers is more than worth the effort. Being able to “draw” a card from your graveyard every turn brings Lurrus of the Dream-Den to the top of the list.
Best Orzhov Card Draw Payoffs
Card draw in Orzhov is often conditional. You have to be actively doing stuff to obtain the advantage. Most of Orzhov’s card draw is tied to a few themes, like sacrifice, creatures with mana value 3 or less in the graveyard, or lifegain.
Cards like Markov Purifier give you steady card draw if you’re gaining life consistently. Having creatures with lifelink at your disposal, or cards like Soul's Attendant gives you a steady stream of lifegain. Another possibility is to use cards like Bastion of Remembrance or Ill-Gotten Inheritance.
Another important source of card draw for Orzhov is the small mana value reanimation. It’s established that white and black can return small creatures from the graveyard to the battlefield via cards like Immortal Servitude. This card is perfect in aristocrat strategies, so you’ll want sacrifice outlets and sacrifice fodder to get the most out of your reanimation. A card like Bartolomé del Presidio goes well with cards like Doomed Traveler or Resolute Reinforcements, which can generate two bodies to sacrifice. You can then reanimate them and repeat the process.
Wrap Up
The Kenriths' Royal Funeral | Illustration by Manuel Castañón
Orzhov is known for its grindy playstyle, draining life, and recovering cards from the graveyard to use again. It’s very important to build your deck around sources of card advantage, and in EDH you’ll usually tie that to the commander. Also, many cards in mono-white or mono black give you a steady stream of card draw that’s lacking in Orzhov gold/hybrid cards, so if you’re looking for more sources of card draw, mono-color can give you what you need. There’s still plenty of ways to get resource advantage in these colors though, like using sweepers and symmetric sacrifice effects, so look out for those as well.
What do you like most about Orzhov decks? Is it the grind or the drain life/bleed aspect? Let me know in the comments section below, or at our Draftsim Twitter.
Stay safe folks, and enjoy the small and incremental advantages whenever you can!
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