Was able to test out a few of my changes this weekend. My first experience with
Ayara, First of Locthwain was interesting - I put her in the deck primarily as a card draw / sacrifice engine, but she ended up being a bit too slow to ever actually activate - it was rare for me to untap with her. On the flip side, I sort of discounted her drain ability and discounted the fact that almost all the creatures (and most of the tokens) in this deck are black, so her reverse
Zulaport Cutthroat ability actually added up pretty quickly. (This was why it was rare for her to live - she attracted a bit too much negative attention). So, I would consider her pretty weak as a sac outlet / draw engine, but if you treat her as a drain engine, she looks a lot better.
Anointed Procession still felt as clunky as I remember it. It's usually a bit win-more - if I'm generating tokens consistently, that usually means I already have an engine online. Still, will keep trying it out. As mentioned, I'm expecting to get a bunch of new things to test in the future, including a bunch of new token producers.
Speaking more broadly, I think one of my goals for the deck at the moment is to improve its tempo - I've added a lot of card draw over the years, and I feel like the deck is currently constrained by mana more often than it is constrained by cards. There are some high-tempo plays available -
Black Market and
Pitiless Plunderer can both generate a lot of mana, and mass reanimation effects are always great - but Orzhov isn't exactly known for its access to easy ramp.
On that note, a few swaps, featuring some new cards from Midnight Hunt:
- Dreadhorde Invasion → Jadar, Ghoulcaller of Nephalia - testing Jadar out. I was initially a bit low on him, then I realized he's a Bitterblossom that both gives you the token immediately, and has a sacrifice outlet attached (just attack with the token). Obviously worse at blocking, but seems worth testing. Being a creature instead of an enchantment is a bit of mixed bag - more likely to die to a random boardwipe, but also provides an extra body in a pinch.
- Thawing Glaciers → Swamp - when I first added Thawing Glaciers, I did so because I found myself often missing land drops. These days, I have so much card draw that missing land drops is significantly less common. Critically, even if I fetch it early with Expedition Map, it's unlikely for me to activate it more than twice, making it a worse Orzhov Basilica. (My Samut, Voice of Dissent deck can also abuse it a lot better with various land untappers, which doesn't hurt)
- Expedition Map → Dowsing Dagger // Lost Vale - with the primary target cut, I have less incentive to run Map. Obviously will come back if I ever acquire a copy of Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth + Cabal Coffers, but until then it's on the bench. On the other hand, I've noticed myself wanting to get to 9+ mana for tempo reasons (namely, to be able to deploy 3x 3-drops), and Dowsing Dagger is a great way to do so. I think I have enough random creatures (often 1/1 flying spirit tokens) to connect consistently enough.
- Aven Mindcensor → Grand Abolisher - swapping out a tech card based on my meta. It feels like my current meta is a bit lighter on combo and a bit heavier on countermagic, so swapping these out. Or, alternatively, I may just be overcompensating for a few memorable games where my plans were foiled. Either way, it has felt difficult to find an opportunity to get Mindcensor in play - this deck rarely wants to hold open lots of mana.
- Decree of Pain → Cathar Commando - I love Decree of Pain, but, as mentioned, I've felt good on card draw recently. On the flip side, I've seen more Rest in Peace and Leyline of the Voids than I'm comfortable with, so adding a bit more interaction for them. My build is currently tuned more for the one-shot effects like Relic of Progenitus and Bojuka Bog that were common in my old meta, and the replacement effects I'm seeing in my current meta are pretty backbreaking. Hopefully Gisa, Glorious Resurrector and Liesa, Forgotten Archangel won't be too common.....
I'm planning some bigger changes sometime in the next few weeks once my most recent order of new stuff arrives, but should be able to give these changes a few spins before then. The addition of several more 2-drops makes me slightly tempted to try out
Return to the Ranks, but that will probably have to wait for another day.