I haven’t played on my original MTG Arena account for a while due to a fair combination of burnout, shifting metas, and the growing commitment required to stay competitive in the Standard format.

Over time, the game’s constant rotation of Standard sets and the introduction of new mechanics made it difficult to keep up without investing significant time or resources. Grinding for wildcards or spending gold to stay current with top-tier decks started to feel more like a chore than an enjoyable experience.

Additionally, some of my favorite strategies and archetypes rotated out, making it harder to stay engaged. Recently, I decided to open the original account again to claim some of the prize packs I got when I played during the Aetherdrift Prerelease. I also found that they replaced the codes by auto-adding the rewards through Arena Mail and letting the players claim them.

After opening the booster packs, I checked my current card pool and the account also received some premade decks specifically using the strategies of sets such as Murders at Karlov Manor and Lost Caverns of Ixalan. Out of those decks, I chose one potential archetype and improved it with some Commons and Uncommons which I converted from my Wildcards.

The deck I came up with is Orzhov Lifegain Aggro. The bunch of Ajani’s Pridemate, Hinterland Sanctifier, Healer’s Hawk, and Deep-cavern Bat goes well in an aggro with disruption deck strategy.

Lifegain-based Orzhov Aggro has the potential to be a powerful contender in Standard, blending aggressive early-game pressure with strong resilience. Unlike traditional aggro decks that rely solely on speed and damage output, Orzhov Aggro leverages lifegain synergies to sustain pressure while making it difficult for opponents to race.

What sets Orzhov Aggro apart from other aggressive archetypes is its ability to pivot between offense and defense seamlessly. Cards that reward lifegain, mainly the Ajani’s Pridemate allow the deck to stay aggressive while also punishing opponents who struggle to remove threats quickly.

Additionally, access to Black’s removal suite, including spells like Go for the Throat and Bitter Triumph, ensures that Orzhov Aggro can deal with blockers or relevant creature threats efficiently. With the right balance of aggression, lifegain synergies, and disruption, this archetype could carve out a strong position in the Standard meta though not expecting to be a Top-tier category. I have no exact decklist for now as the build is still under beta testing, though you get the idea.   

Here are some matchup recaps of my Arena gameplay of the deck, as my list has been continuously updating based on my matchup observations. I will call this part one for now.

The matchup with the Goblins aggro deck was quiet but with the combination of lifegain and card draw, I was able to race against his aggressive start and stabilize with the pridemate continuously growing.

Mono-Red variants is a common deck opponents play in the ranked ladder and this version played the Boros build. Some combination of lifegain and optimized blocks got me the win here while not entirely touching the Nemesis.

Esper Pixies is again another tough matchup with the bounce shenanigans and hand disruption. The good thing here is he ran out of gas while my lifegain effects and card draw from Enduring Innocence made my board presence better in the late game.

This is wrap-up for now. Stay tuned for the second part and thank you for reading and I hope you guys enjoy my discussions and ramblings here.