I'm not sure if "Obzedat" is a specific council
member or the Ravnican name for the council
itself. I am sure that Obzedat is everything
that was good about the original Ghost Council
of Orzhova made better at what it does, yet not
so darn frustrating for the other guy.
Obzedat drains your opponent for 2 life instead
of 1 when it enters the battlefield, and is a
5/5 for five instead of a 4/4 for four. It has
an ability that exiles it and brings it back to
play later, which re-triggers its
enter-the-battlefield ability. Just like the
first Ghost Council.
The biggest difference is that instead of paying
1 mana and sacrificing a creature, you simply
choose to do it at the end of your turn. On the
one hand, no more having to slowly lose your
token army just to slowly bleed out an opponent.
On the other, only doing it when your turn ends
means that you can't use it to dodge kill
spells-- if your opponent has the Go for the
Throat or what have you in hand, you're done.
But having it blink out when your turn ends, and
come back on your upkeep, means that it hides
from play during your opponent's turn. You'd
have to choose not to use the ability for it to
be in play during your opponent's turn, and that
means it's impossible to kill with anything
sorcery-speed unless you don't exile it. It also
can never block unless you don't exile it, but
since you're gaining 2 life a turn and your
opponent is losing 2 (and likely getting
attacked for 5), you dont' need it to block.
It's unfortunate that they already used up the
arguably more flowing-off-the-tongue name on the
original incarnation of the Ghost Council.
Regardless, this version also brings something
interesting to the table, supporting the
"bleeding" theme of the Orzhov cards in a highly
aggressive manner. Its fundamentally offensive
nature means that it doesn't necessarily fit the
same sorts of decks that the original Ghost
Council did, but it's much simpler to use and
doesn't demand other creatures as sacrifices,
making it easier to use. Even I forget to use my
cards' activated abilities once in a while. I
could see this as the only creature in a theme
deck based on extort, or a ridiculous attacker
in a deck based on the exalted mechanic in its
new M13 color distribution.
Today's card of the day is Obzedat, Ghost
Council which is a five mana White and Black 5/5
that lifetaps for two when it enters play and
can blink out at your end step then return on
your next upkeep with Haste.
The cost is both high and specific, with two
White and two Black, and having no evasion or
real combat effects reduces the impact of being
a
5/5 as does the reduced chance of blocking with
him. The blinking and lifetapping is
definitely worthwhile though and in a removal
heavy build to allow mostly safe attacks it is a
powerful card. Overall in an Orzhov deck
with support this is a good choice to sit at the
top of the mana curve alongside the Extort
mechanic that can avoid many forms of removal.
In Limited this can be a great finisher for
Orzhov that is extremely difficult to remove, by
avoiding Sorcery speed spells, and puts a clock
on the opponent while granting you a nice
cushion of life points. Any attacks with
Obzedat need to be carefully considered as one
of the only in format ways to deal with it is
through combat tricks like Smite or Furious
Resistance. An automatic inclusion in a
guild Sealed and good first pick in Booster that
either locks you into Orzhov or gets sidedecked
as a hate draft thanks to the mana cost being
fairly difficult to splash.
Welcome to another week of
card of the day reviews right here at Pojo.com!
To begin the week we are looking at the Guild
leader for the Orzhov, Obzedat, Ghost Council.
Obzedat is a mythic rare white and black
legendary creature spirit advisor. Obzedat costs
one generic, two white, and two black mana for a
5/5. Obzedat says whenever it enters the
battlefield, target opponent loses two life and
you gain two life. At the beginning of your end
step, you may exile Obzedat and return it to the
battlefield at the beginning of your next
upkeep, Obzedat gains haste.
While a lot of people are drooling over the potential behind
Obzedat, Ghost Council, I for one have not yet
been sold on it. I am not a fan of paying five
mana for a card that sees it's best potential in
disappearing when I may need it most. Sure, that
ability is optional, but in order to truly get
it's full value, it seems necessary.
Now many people say that it is great at avoiding Supreme
Verdict, while still dealing significant damage.
My reply is as of some of the recent
tournaments, Alchemist's Refuge doesn't care
about Supreme Verdict being a sorcery.
A solid card that I know a lot of people are crazy about. I
agree that it is a really good card, but will
have to wait and see if it is as good as it is
being made out to be.
To say that this card is ridiculous is an
understatement. The ability to cause a 4
point lifeswing every turn by doing nearly
nothing is sick. Against the right board,
it can be as much as 9. If you're worried
about them offing it as a sorcery, they won't be
able to since it's gone on their turn. If
you need it as a blocker, a 5/5 is pretty beefy.
This is the type of card that completely affects
your sealed pool and a reason to play Black and
White. In draft, if I cracked this 3rd
pack and was in either black OR white, I would
almost certainly take it and find a way to play
it. It's absolutely game breaking in
nearly every sense of the word.
In constructed, I think it's slightly less
powerful, but only slightly. This card is
likely to see heavy play in at least standard
and block, and frankly likely a lot more
formats. It's been a while since I've seen
a creature I felt was as good and versatile as
this. In my opinion the best creature from
the set.
