Which Orzhov Commander should I choose?

[OCPunisher]

Hello friends,

I've managed to assemble a rather large collection of Orzhov commanders, and I'm having trouble deciding which one to play with. Traditionally, I've always been a fan of the graveyard, enchantments, and flexible removal spells. I have the following commanders available to choose from:
- Athreos, God of Passage
- Karlov of the Ghost Council
- Ayli, Eternal Pilgrim
- Daxos the Returned
- Ravos/Tymna

Budget is "mostly" not an obstacle, though I do prefer to keep my decks hovering near 75% optimal. Any ideas or direction would be greatly appreciated.

[Rumpy5897]

Daxos, easy. I'm absolutely unbiased it's not like I've maintained a primer on him since 2016

For real though, it's pretty much down to a toss-up between graveyard and enchantments. Daxos does the latter well, some of your other options do the former well (where's Teysa Karlov, by the way?). I don't think your choice of commander should impact your removal suite too much.

[Mookie]

Hard to give a recommendation without knowing your exact goals. Orzhov in general has a lot of strong enchantments, graveyard synergies, and removal, and that will be true no matter which commander you choose. Of the commanders proposed, I would probably recommend Ravos + Tymna. Having access to both card draw and recursion in the command zone covers a lot of bases, which lets you devote more deck slots to other things. After that, I'd probably recommend Ayli, who gives easy access to lifegain and sacrifice synergies (and also removal, if you build around the lifegain a bit).

(I do feel obligated to give a shout to Teysa, Orzhov Scion)

[Beyondnoxx]

I played daxos. And I Liked it. However i missed green. But Yeah. Its a good time. Id do that

[OCPunisher]

Daxos, easy. I'm absolutely unbiased it's not like I've maintained a primer on him since 2016

For real though, it's pretty much down to a toss-up between graveyard and enchantments. Daxos does the latter well, some of your other options do the former well (where's Teysa Karlov, by the way?). I don't think your choice of commander should impact your removal suite too much.

Teysa Karlov is not on the list because I don't (yet) own a copy of her? and I own enough other ones that I'd rather use one of them.

I should also mention that my Athreos is a shiny foil!

[SocorroTortoise]

I've played all of them other than Ayli and play against an Ayli deck on a regular basis. I had the most fun with Athreos, looping lots of relatively inconsequential creatures. I completely agree that it's easier to give a good recommendation if you can elaborate on what you want to do with the deck. Most decks in this color combo are going to have excellent removal and some kind of GY interaction so gameplay goals matter.

[tarotplz]

I think that in a vacuum Tymna the Weaver (even if alone) is probably the strongest commander in Orzhov colors. It really depends on what you want the deck to be like though.

[OCPunisher]

Unfortunately I don't think I can give too much more information about a direction. I think I'm leaning towards Daxos because I don't currently have anything enchantment-based, but the build path for Daxos seems a bit linear.

I do have several "pet" cards that look like they'd be a lot of fun to cast on the surface, and none of them currently have a home. They include things like Ethereal Absolution, Revel in Riches, Debtors' Knell, and Grave Betrayal. Not sure if that helps or not.

[RedCheese]

Well it looks like its Daxos, since he has the msot synergy with enchantments amoung the commanders that you listed. You can even put Athreos in the deck.

[Cyberium]

I move myself away from stereotypical themes of each color pie/wedge, such as Boros combat and Orzhov life gain. Amongst your list, Daxos is the only one that's interesting.

[pokken]

I voted Tymna/Ravos because I really like them. However:

You may want to try an off-beat route for an Orzhov commander. Play Golos, Tireless Pilgrim as Orzhov (+cascading cataracts and/or celestial dawn) enchantments.

What I find with most enchantment decks I've played is that they really wish the commander was Serra's Sanctum. The mana production from utility lands (coffers, sanctum, nykthos) really makes the decks tick.

I'm trying that out with mono white Golos, so I'll let ya know how that goes at some point I'm sure

[benjameenbear]

I voted Ayli because Sacrifice shenanigans are great and Kelzam's Primer is beautiful enough that you could build it on principle.

[motleyslayer]

I've always found Ayli and Daxos interesting commanders. they're noth really different but I've wanted to build them

[Melua]

Daxos is interesting, though he does lend himself to a fairly controlly shell. Then again, I do use a good chunk of Rumpy's build for my Daxos

[Magiqmaster]

Gotta say Karlov has had an amazing career so far for me, as a Voltron build. He's quick and can get out of hand rather easily just by gaining life (soul sisters and all).