“Their souls beg for release.”
Art:Orcish Healer
by Quinton Hoover
Table of Contents
Today’s Featured Commander Is:
Orcish Healer is a very underrated commander with only two decks on Moxfield, just like my previous article on Ana Battlemage
. Orcish Healer is a commander that I feel is very underrated and can be built in so many different ways; lets get on to our build. I am not going to lie. This deck will not make you a ton of friends, It’s probably good to play it with an established playgroup or people you know. Not a ton of people in magic like Land Destruction and it can certainly draw a lot of hate and targeting our way. Despite all of that, this is a fun and interesting deck to play for PEDH; Land destruction is not a very common strategy in the format, and new strategies and archetypes are always fun to bring to the table, even if this one isn’t very fun. I am excited and a little scared to share this one with you all today. Without further adieu, let’s get it!
The Deck:
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Orcish Healer Stompy!
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Why Orcish Healer?
Orcish Healer is an awesome support commander; while their first ability rarely matters, they can be uniquely good against some creature strategies in the format, mostly mono-green. Orcish Healer’s other abilities are something we always hold up since we typically draw a lot of hate and removal, and being able to reanimate a black or green creature can be strong, even if the mana cost is a little steep. The deck functions perfectly well without Orcish Healer, but they definitely enhance the gameplan and keep our key creatures on the board.
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 awesome creatures, I am going to highlight some of my favorites. Orcish Lumberjack
not only has hilarious art, but it is very strong in the deck, especially in conjunction with Groundskeeper
, which can be a great piece of extra mana on nearly every turn. Scaretiller
is one of the most underrated cards in PEDH and in this deck it is very strong and can help us hit extra land drops or if we already used our land drop get an extra one. Two of our best attackers and landfall payoffs are Territorial Scythecat
and Sporemound
, which can get out of hand very quickly and be great attackers/blockers for the deck. Tilling Treefolk
is a strong blocker and one of the best pieces of land recursion in the deck. We also have some strong finishers in Maelstrom Colossus
and Silvanus's Invoker
, which can make huge attackers and are both great ways to close out games.
Instants:
We have a lot of removal, mostly due to the fact we are Jund and have access to black. Because of this, we have key removal spells like Cast Down
, Doom Blade
, and Go for the Throat
, which are a trio of cheap removal spells that can take out a variety of creatures/commanders. Snuff Out
is another strong removal spell that is almost always free since there is rarely a time where we don’t have a swamp. Reclaim
is a strong piece of cheap recursion in the deck.
Sorceries:
Since we are a land-focused deck, we have a decent amount of ramp, some of the best being Cultivate
, Kodama's Reach
, and Skyshroud Claim
which are all great ways to get our colors established which is key in a three-color deck. Some of our ramps are utility ramp like Explore
and Broken Bond
, which give us extra land and some artifact and enchantment destruction/card draw. We have a lot of sorcery speed land destruction like Fissure Vent
, Molten Rain
, and Yawning Fissure
, which are all little expensive but we can often cast them early, and once we start taking out lands it can be very tough for our opponents. Sorcery speed recursion is strong as well with Grim Discovery
and Revive the Shire
, which are both awesome ways to recur lands or pretty much any permanent.
Artifacts:
All we have is mana rocks; a lot of the cards in our deck are expensive, so having a lot of supplemental mana is key for the deck. I especially like Bonder's Ornament
and the lockets since they also offer supplemental card draw. Not a ton to say about the other mana rocks. They are strong and can come down early and help us cast and keep on casting.
Enchantments:
We only have two enchantments, but they are both strong and impactful; I probably sound like a broken record at this point, but we are playing black, so I had to include Oubliette
, which is an amazing aura that can help us remove creatures/commanders with ease. Our other enchantment is Uncontrolled Infestation
, which is a cheap land destruction aura that does have the downside of only being able to be put on non-basics, but hey, land destruction is land destruction, and we take it in any form.
Land Base:
We are a land-based deck, but since we focus on land destruction, we don’t have a ton of interesting lands. Instead, we focus on supplemental card draw since when we recur them, we can keep on drawing. Just to make our opponents even angrier, we have Desert
, which can be a strong way to take out creatures after combat. We are running quite high at thirty-eight lands, but we recur and cycle a ton of lands and generally have a pretty expensive deck, so running high has worked very well for me.
Strengths of the Deck:
- Orcish Healer’s ability is a little expensive but being able to regenerate a black or green creature can be strong since we tend to draw a lot of removal.
- Whether we are taking out non-basics or just basic lands, land destruction is strong and can actively disrupt our opponent’s gameplan.
- We have a decent amount of ways to recur both lands and non-lands so unless exiled we can access a lot of our graveyard.
Weaknesses of the Deck:
- Since we are playing land destruction, we tend to take a lot of hate and get targeted by our opponents pretty often; this is a side effect of the deck strategy.
- We can be slow to start, which leaves us susceptible to early damage and chip damage from aggressive and creature-based strategies.
- We often end up taking more damage because almost all of our creatures have a ton of value so we don’t want to block with them.
Deck Stats:
Sample Hands:
Main Win Conditions:
There are no infinite combos or loops within the deck. We win the game through good old-fashioned combat, and since we have a ton of lands entering, we can use cards like Territorial Scythecat and Sporemound as great attackers as well as strong payoffs for the deck. We also have some strong late-game finishers like Maelstrom Colossus and Greater Tanuki
, who are additional big attackers and finishers for the deck.
Conclusion:
Land destruction is certainly a controversial topic in any format in magic, and for Pauper EDH, this is no different; while Orcish healer can be built in a ton of ways, I thought land destruction was absolutely perfect for the chaos of Jund. Jund is a blast of a color combination, and no matter what direction you take it, it can be fun. I have had a ton of fun with this one, even though it pretty much guarantees your opponents will not.