Magic the Gathering - Mages of the Guild - Orzhov Guildmage vs Vizkopa Guildmage

by ElspethFTW, Old School Duelist

Today, on Mages of the Guild, we take a look at the Guildmages from Orzhov, the black/white guild of Ravnica. First, here's the original  Orzhov Guildmage.

Orzhov Guildmage hails from the set of  Guildpact. He also saw a reprint in the original Commander pre-constructed product in 2011. He has two interesting abilities. The first for 2W has target player gain 1 life. The second ability has each player lose 1 life. There are cases where this ability could prove rather relevant, especially in Commander where you have a lot of mana floating around, and plenty of ways to abuse life gain and life loss effects. However, from a Constructed standpoint, Orzhov Guildmage doesn’t do a whole lot.

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Vizkopa Guildmage, from Gatecrash, on the other hand, is a part of some particularly nasty infinite combos, one of which is with an Enchantment from Avacyn Restored called  Exquisite Blood. Vizkopa Guildmage has two abilities, both which cost 1WB (1 colorless, 1 White, 1 Black). The first gives a target creature lifelink until end of turn, which seems nice enough. But the second ability says “Whenever you gain life this turn, each opponent loses that much life.”

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That Enchantment, Exquisite Blood, costs 4B, and reads “Whenever an opponent loses life, you gain that much life.” Since Vizkopa Guildmage’s second ability and Exquisite Blood’s ability work in tandem, as soon as you deal 1 damage or gain 1 life, it creates an infinite loop which runs until every opponent is at zero life and you win the game.

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There are some other infinite life combos that the Guildmage can also turn into a win condition. Boros Reckoner has a very nifty ability that many people might be aware of: whenever he is dealt damage, he deals that much damage to target creature or player. If you find a way to make the Reckoner indestructible, give him lifelink, and target him with a card that deals damage (or if he’s blocked by someone unaware you have the combo), it creates the ability to target himself an infinite number of times. As long as he’s indestructible, you can deal as much damage as you want off of a single target, since his ability will trigger endlessly, giving you infinite life.

What Vizkopa Guildmage in this case can do is one or two things. First of all, the Guildmage can give a creature lifelink until end of turn, which is an important part of the combo, although there are certainly other ways to do this. But when you do pull off the combo, if you activate the Guildmage’s second ability, that infinite life combo also becomes a win condition, draining your opponents down to zero. (Note that Guildmage’s ability says “each opponent” so this win condition works in multi-player, as well.)

It’s fairly easy to see who wins here. You might play Orzhov Guildmage in a Commander deck, even one with this combo in it, but Vizkopa Guildmage is the enabler. This is an easy win for the new kid on the block.

WINNER: Vizkopa Guildmage, for enabling infinite combos that lead to win conditions.

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