A new Magic TCG set is always an opportunity to see what opportunities there are to improve my Orzhov Cleric Tribal for Arena B01 Standard. I’m later posting this than I would have liked but once you see how March of the Machine influences the deck, I expect that you’ll understand.

If you’ll recall, Phyrexia: All Will Be One introduced 10 new cleric cards, with seven of them possibilities for an Orzhov deck. March of the Machine only brings five new Clerics, of which four are possible candidates for my purposes. It did not bode well if only based on the quantity of cards.

Let’s have a closer look at those five cards:

Alabaster Host Sanctifier: A 2/2 with Lifelink and no other upside does not offer enough to warrant putting it in the deck at the expense of one of the cards currently in the deck.

Progenitor Cat Cleric: I like Incubate as a mechanic. You can go with a simple artifacts matter strategy or convert them to artifact creatures for a more aggressive strategy). The choice is yours. Unfortunately, it is not cheap, especially if you want to go with the latter. At its cheapest, you get a 1/2 for 1 with no upside (unless you have other Incubate cards). Each Incubate token costs an additional 2 when casting and an additional 2 later to turn each into a creature. Frankly, my deck is slow enough as it is.

Sun-Blessed Guardian is an interesting card. A 2/2 that can transform into a 3/3 and generate an attacking token is certainly worthy of consideration. Except for that cost. 5 mana and two life (given the lack of red mana) is not cheap. And it remains prone to removal. Too expensive for too little.

Quintorius, Loremaster is out simply due to it being Boros rather than Orzhov.

Seedpod Caretaker comes with two ETB options to chose from. The first certainly could work but the second requires at least one source of Incubator tokens. As you saw above, from a Cleric standpoint, pickings are pretty slim.

If I was to consider some substitutions, I think I would need to pull into the deck Progenitor Cat Cleric, Sun Blessed Guardian and Seedpod Caretaker to leverage the synergy between them. But then, what do I pull? I may try it but I have a feeling that it will not work. I’m better off to try to build an Incubate deck instead.

For now, let’s leave the deck as is:

• 3 Infernal Grasp (MID) 107
• 2 Anointed Peacekeeper (DMU) 2
• 2 Valorous Stance (VOW) 42
• 3 Evolved Sleeper (DMU) 93
• 9 Plains (THB) 250
• 7 Swamp (THB) 252
• 3 Shadow-Rite Priest (DMU) 106
• 2 Voice of the Blessed (VOW) 44
• 3 Shattered Sanctum (VOW) 264
• 4 Lunarch Veteran (MID) 27
• 2 Scoured Barrens (NEO) 274
• 1 Takenuma, Abandoned Mire (NEO) 278
• 2 Eiganjo, Seat of the Empire (NEO) 268
• 2 Loran’s Escape (BRO) 14
• 4 Markov Purifier (VOW) 241
• 2 Elas il-Kor, Sadistic Pilgrim (DMU) 198
• 2 Phyrexian Missionary (DMU) 27
• 2 Liliana of the Veil (DMU) 97
• 3 Yotian Medic (BRO) 33
• 2 Annex Sentry (ONE) 2

Sideboard:

• 2 Farewell (NEO) 13
• 1 Cut Down (DMU) 89
• 2 Chaplain of Alms (MID) 13
• 1 Voice of the Blessed (VOW) 44
• 1 Intercessor’s Arrest (NEO) 20

As always, feel free to drop in a comment with your thoughts and suggestions for this deck.