“I can’t feel anything… until they do.”
Art:Orca, Siege Demon
by Daarken
Table of Contents
Today’s Featured Commander Is:
Orca, Siege Demon is a commander I think a lot of players forget about. While they certainly are not the most powerful commander in the world, their abilities allow us to build in an aristocrat shell that can dish out a ton of damage and control the board for our opponents while controlling the board and a ton of sac outlets/payoffs may not make us the most popular player it is a very fun gameplay loop. I have been having a blast with this one and am very excited to share this with all of you today. Without further adieu, let’s get it!
The Deck:
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Orca, Siege Demon Aristocrats!
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Why Orca, Siege Demon?
Orca, Siege Demon is an interesting position within our deck; we do not need to cast them even if we don’t want as we can end games without them. Of course, having them out certainly helps by having a huge attacker/blocker as well as a great target for our sac outlets since, depending on how big they are, we can do a huge chunk of damage to an opponent or kill a huge creature/commander. Seven mana certainly is a lot and, in my opinion, is the main reason why Orca doesn’t see a ton of play. Seven mana for a commander who doesn’t immediately impact the game is a little tough, but for the sake of fun, I have really been enjoying this deck.
Where does this deck rank on the power scale?
I would say this deck ranges around a seven or eight on the power scale, now I will say there are no infinite combos or loops in the deck, but because of the heavy emphasis on board control through cards like Grave Pact
and Dictate of Erebos
this deck can certainly overwhelm and shut down lower power decks, I think this deck needs the right table to have a ton of success because we get steamrolled by combo decks that just end the game and dominate against lower power tables since we often keep the board free of creatures. This is, of course, just my opinion, and at your table, this may be a five or a six, so as always, just use your best judgment when sitting down on this deck.
Deck Overview:
This section contains information about cards in the deck and how they function within the deck! I also highlighted some of my favorite cards in the deck!
Creatures:
We have a ton of amazing creatures in the deck and, in my opinion, where the deck shines. Drivnod, Carnage Dominus
is a very important card for the deck since we get double death triggers which goes very well with cards like Zulaport Cutthroat
and Blood Artist
. Endrek Sahr, Master Breeder
, is one of the best token producers in the deck. While we do need to be mindful of hitting that seven-thrull threshold, if we keep it in check, we can make a ton of creatures and have a large number of creatures to sacrifice. We have a ton of sacrifice payoffs like Pitiless Plunderer
, Mayhem Devil
and Garna, Bloodfist of Keld
and Juri, Master of the Revue
which is basically a much cheaper copy of Orca. Since a ton of creatures are in the graveyard Feldon of the Third Path
is a great way to “reanimate” them. Not only do we have sacrifice outlets, but we have cards that just won’t stop coming back, like Reassembling Skeleton
and Reassembling Skeleton since we can very easily get them back and just sacrifice them over and over again. These and pretty much the whole deck work very well with Grim Haruspex
, which is the best piece of supplemental card draw we have in the deck.
Planeswalker:
Tevesh Szat, Doom of Fools
is a very cool planeswalker, and unlike in most decks, Tevesh Svat isn’t a part of any type of loop or combo within the deck; nothing but value here. Being able to create two creatures that we can sacrifice and get the payoffs, as well as having a minus that can be a strong supplemental card draw, is more than enough to make the cut here. We very rarely ult Tevesh, but if we do, it can’t be bad. Taking opponents’ commanders may not be that strong; depending on what our opponents have, they can be quite strong.
Instants:
We have some strong removal like Bedevil
and Terminate
, which are great and cheap removal spells. Fling
is one of my favorite cards in the deck since we can sacrifice Orca when they are big since we can essentially deal double damage, and in my testing games, I was straight up taking out opponents with this combo, the same is true for Kazuul's Fury // Kazuul's Cliffs
. Feign Death
and Supernatural Stamina
are great ways to reanimate creatures no matter how they die.
Sorceries:
We have some strong spells if we fall behind, mostly Blasphemous Act
which can basically reset the game if we are against a lot of creature decks. We also have some strong reanimation like the namesake Reanimate
, Victimize
and Necromantic Summons
. These are great for reanimating pretty much anything, and depending on the situation, it can sometimes be right to let Orca go to the graveyard to reanimate them. Imposing Grandeur
is a huge wheel for us and can be more discard than draw for our opponents, just a great card for the deck. Vandalblast
is a bomb against artifact decks but can be great against pretty much any strategy.
Artifacts:
To start off, we have some strong mana rocks like Sol Ring
, Arcane Signet
, and Rakdos Locket
, which are great ways to speed out our gameplan as well as Orca. We also have some cards that are very helpful for the overall gameplan in Mithril Coat
which is a great way to protect Orca from removal since we don’t really want to be recasting them,. Ashnod's Altar
is one of the best sac outlets ever made and, for us, can help us cast Orca with a ton of ease. The Ozolith
is a great card and mostly used for Orca as well as a few other outlets in the deck, which can keep the counters, and when Orca or a key creature comes back, can get huge and out of hand very quickly.
Enchantments:
To start off, we have a couple of pretty hated cards in Dictate of Erebos and Grave Pact, which are both strong for us and can easily clear the board when they come out; these cards will certainly draw some hate from your opponents. A great card that works in conjunction is Black Market
, which can help us speed out Orca or just keep on casting and reanimating creatures. Rite of the Raging Storm
is a very interesting political kind of card that can help to make our Orca huge and cause a little chaos among our opponents. Virtue of Persistence // Locthwain Scorn is a great card since we get the option to take out a small creature, which is based on some of the most popular commanders in the format. It can be great, and we get a huge piece of reanimation, every turn. Bastion of Remembrance
is essentially another Blood Artist effect for the deck and allows us to get some more damage in. I love Phyrexian Arena
in the deck since supplemental card draw is something that Rakdos can struggle with.
Land Base:
We have a pretty simple land base, but it is quite efficient since we have landed like Blood Crypt
, Luxury Suite
, which allows us to have access to all of our colors with ease and quite quickly. Bojuka Bog
is a non-basic that can help quite a bit in the right matchup. Exiling an opponent’s graveyards and taking out an opponent’s graveyards against non-reanimator or strictly graveyard strategies can be strong. Since our commander is so expensive Command Beacon
can actually be a huge help, especially if our commander falls victim to removal, as even one death makes the commander tax quite steep. Kher Keep
is another strong land that gives us creatures occasionally; whether we use them as a sacrifice payoff or as a blocker, this card is quite strong. Not too much to say about the rest of the landbase mostly just basics and a few more dual lands.
Strengths of the Deck:
- Our deck has a ton of different ways to control the board, which certainly won’t make your opponents happy but can clear the way for all of our payoffs.
Weaknesses of the Deck:
- Our commander costs seven mana, and we are not in colors that ramp that well, so we can only cast them at max 1-2 turns early; they can be quite impactful when they are on the field, but we certainly cannot rely on them being out on the battlefield.
- We are generally pretty weak to graveyard hate since we have creatures like Reassembling Skeleton
and Sanitarium Skeleton that we want to be constantly recurring. - We are weak to aggressive strategies because we start slow and often don’t want to block with our value creatures.
Deck Stats:
Sample Hands:
Main Win Conditions:
There are no infinite combos or loops within the deck, we win the game through our various aristocrat effects like Zulaport Cutthroat and Blood Artist as well as we are able to control the board through effects like Grave Pact and Dictate of Erebos. While they can’t be cast until the late game after just a few turns of being out, they can get big, and when we sacrifice them, it allows us to do big damage to opponents.
Conclusion:
Orca, Siege Demon certainly isn’t the strongest commander for aristocrats, but I love showcasing weird and a little bit unknown commanders on here, so Orca is absolutely perfect for this; While Orca is expensive and a little clunky this is still a fun deck that combines the strongest elements of the aristocrat strategy. If you have an Orca deck, I’d love to see your list and how you built it! Thanks for reading to the end and for all of your support!