The Orzhov Syndicate, a powerful guild in the Magic: The Gathering multiverse, embodies a unique blend of black card cunning and white card order. This combination leads to some of the most compelling and strategically diverse cards in the game. Black and white cards often revolve around life manipulation, controlling the board through removal and reanimation, and grinding opponents out with incremental advantages. The strength of Orzhov lies in its ability to both gain life and drain it from opponents, creating a powerful and resilient strategy that is difficult to overcome. This article delves into some of the best black and white cards in Magic: The Gathering, exploring their strategic value, historical impact, and overall power level within the game. We'll examine cards from across Magic's history, showcasing the diverse range of abilities that make black and white a formidable combination.
Lingering Souls
Lingering Souls is a card that showcases the resilience and efficiency of the black and white color combination. For three mana and one black, you get two 1/1 flying spirit tokens. This is already a decent rate, but the card truly shines due to its flashback cost of one generic mana and one white mana. This allows you to effectively get four 1/1 flying tokens for just five mana spread across two turns. In formats where efficient threats are valuable and go-wide strategies are effective, Lingering Souls can be a powerful tool. Flying creatures are notoriously difficult to block in many formats, making these tokens effective at both pressuring life totals and trading up against more expensive creatures. The card's impact has been felt across numerous formats, from Modern to Commander, solidifying its place as a top-tier black and white card.
Vindicate
Vindicate is a simple but powerful removal spell. For just three mana (one white and one black, and one generic), you can destroy any permanent. This includes creatures, enchantments, artifacts, and even lands. The flexibility of Vindicate is what makes it so strong. In a game filled with diverse threats, having a single card that can answer almost anything is incredibly valuable. It sees play in various formats, particularly in Commander where the sheer variety of permanents necessitates versatile removal. While the mana cost might seem a bit high compared to more specialized removal spells, the ability to hit anything more than makes up for it. It's a card that rewards careful decision-making, as choosing the right target at the right time can swing the game in your favor. The card also makes a good black white addition to any deck.
Sorin, Imperious Bloodlord
Sorin, Imperious Bloodlord is a planeswalker that excels in vampire tribal decks. For just three mana (one black and one white), he enters with three loyalty and offers a potent suite of abilities designed to accelerate vampire strategies. His +1 ability puts a +1/+1 counter on a vampire and gives it lifelink until end of turn, providing both offensive and defensive capabilities. His -2 ability allows you to put a vampire creature card from your hand onto the battlefield, effectively cheating on mana costs and rapidly developing your board. Finally, his -3 ability destroys a creature and gains you life equal to its toughness, offering valuable removal and life gain. The strength of Sorin lies in his ability to quickly establish a board presence and overwhelm opponents with powerful vampires. He is a centerpiece of many successful vampire decks in various formats, showcasing the synergy and power of the tribe.
Teysa, Orzhov Scion
Teysa, Orzhov Scion is a powerful commander option and a strong card in any black and white deck that utilizes token strategies. For four mana (two white and one black), she provides a unique way to convert white creatures into powerful removal spells. Her ability allows you to exile three white creatures you control to destroy target creature. While the cost might seem high, in a deck that consistently generates tokens, this becomes a reliable form of removal. Furthermore, she grants all black creatures you control protection from white and black, providing valuable resilience against common removal spells. Teysa’s ability to both generate advantage through tokens and protect your black creatures makes her a versatile and powerful card.
Grisly Salvage
While not strictly a black and white card, Grisly Salvage is a green and black card, but it's important to remember when deck building. Grisly Salvage is a powerful enabler for graveyard strategies. For just two mana, you get to look at the top five cards of your library, put a creature card and/or a land card into your hand, and put the rest into your graveyard. This card serves multiple purposes: it finds you the necessary creatures or lands you need, while simultaneously filling your graveyard for reanimation or other graveyard-based synergies. The card is a staple in decks that want to quickly fill their graveyard with powerful creatures and utilize reanimation spells to bring them back into play. This card offers a cost-effective way to set up powerful plays and gain a significant advantage. It is a good black card to add to any deck.
Unburial Rites
Unburial Rites, much like Grisly Salvage, is not strictly a black and white card, being a black and white enabling card instead, and it is vital to the Orzhov playstyle. For three mana, you can return a creature card from your graveyard to the battlefield. This is a powerful effect in any graveyard-centric strategy, allowing you to bring back key creatures that have been milled, discarded, or killed. However, Unburial Rites also has a flashback cost of five mana (one white and one black), making it even more versatile. This allows you to reanimate a creature, and then, later in the game, reanimate another creature from your graveyard for an additional cost. The card's flashback ability significantly increases its value, making it a two-for-one reanimation spell that can swing the game in your favor.
Orzhov Pontiff
Orzhov Pontiff is a creature that provides both offensive and defensive capabilities, depending on the situation. For two mana, this 1/1 creature has an ability that, for one black and one white, gives all other creatures -1/-1 until end of turn. This can be devastating against decks that rely on small creatures, effectively wiping out their board. Alternatively, if you control a board of larger creatures, you can use the ability to shrink down your opponent's blockers, allowing you to push through for damage. The versatility of Orzhov Pontiff makes it a strong addition to black and white decks that want to control the board and disrupt their opponent's plans. It requires a careful calculation of risk/reward in using the card. The ability to give +1/+1 can swing the board against token-based strategies or other go-wide decks.
Mortify
Mortify is a straightforward and efficient removal spell. For three mana, you can destroy target creature or enchantment. The versatility of Mortify makes it a valuable tool in dealing with various threats your opponent might present. While it doesn't hit planeswalkers or artifacts, the ability to remove both creatures and enchantments covers a significant portion of the threats you'll encounter in a game. It's a solid removal spell that provides a reliable answer to common problems and is a staple in many black and white decks. The mana cost is reasonable, and the flexibility makes it a worthwhile addition to any removal suite. It is a solid card to black white card to add.
Final Payment
Final Payment is a removal spell that comes with a unique drawback, requiring you to sacrifice a permanent. This can be a significant cost, but in the right deck, it can be mitigated or even turned into an advantage. For two mana, you can destroy target creature or planeswalker. The low mana cost makes it an efficient answer to early threats, and the ability to hit planeswalkers is particularly valuable. While the sacrifice of a permanent is a steep price, in decks that utilize token strategies or have redundant permanents, this cost can be minimized. Furthermore, the sacrifice can even trigger other abilities that benefit from permanents entering the graveyard. The card rewards careful deck building and strategic decision-making.
Elenda, the Dusk Rose
Elenda, the Dusk Rose is a legendary creature that thrives in sacrifice-based strategies. As a 1/1 with lifelink, Elenda isn't initially imposing. However, her ability transforms her into a potent threat. When Elenda dies, you create X 1/1 white Vampire creature tokens with lifelink, where X is Elenda's power. In a deck that is built around sacrificing creatures, Elenda becomes a powerful engine for generating tokens and gaining life. Furthermore, her lifelink ability can help stabilize your life total in the face of aggressive opponents. She is an ideal creature to black card cheat onto the field. Elenda's ability to convert her own death into a swarm of lifelinking vampires makes her a resilient and dangerous threat.
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