But they all looked either too narrow or too expensive.
Is the first list a good place to start? Will it enable an effective archetype?
I have supported this archetype for maybe three years now, and I want to make something clear: Blood Artist type cards are not actually the key to supporting the archetype. They are extremely powerful in the archetype, but given that the majority are narrow/expensive, as you pointed out, it is much better to support the archetype by pushing the deck to exist WITHOUT them so that you don't include so many cards like that in the cube that it becomes parasitic.
The best way to support Aristocrats is to support black aggro and Braids/Stax. You just make some alterations to your cube for black aggro with cards that reward the aristocrat strategies. Here is a short list of cubable cards that many don't currently run, but that have a huge impact on the Aristocrat archetype:
All of these cards are quite strong in normal black aggressive decks and some in other decks like Gargadon. They synergize with the recursive creatures, but also reward including cards like Blood Artist and Zulaport Cutthroat in your deck. When you design your cube this way, the fail-rate of the archetype plummets because it can function perfectly without any Blood Artist effects.
If you're looking for additional cards to push it even further, I would recommend the following, because they ALL fit into non-aristocrat strategies, but still provide incentive.
As you can tell from these lists, it's way more about sac outlets than it is the actual Blood Artist. Blood Artist enables some nutty kills, but, as I've said, it's narrow and parasitic. Provide incentive to draft recursive cards WITH good sacrifice outlets and then when Blood Artist becomes an option, it smoothly fits into a deck that was already shaping up to be great!
Lastly, one change I made this past year that skyrocketed the equity of the Aristocrats deck was to include support for the persist combo as well as humans. This is because Metallic Mimic fits beautifully into these strategies. Murderous Redcap is already a solid cube card, and one that the Aristocrats deck loves. Introducing an infinite combo to the deck to piece together with tutors/recruitors gives the deck lots of game. And the humans aggro deck loves picking up Xathrid Necromancer and Cartel Aristocrat.
Anyways, I hope that gives some context to how to seed this archetype into your cube. It doesn't cost as much as you think, and has been performing well over here for years. I'll conclude this with a link to some cubetutor decks to show how awesome it is. Notice how while plenty of these decks have Blood Artist, they are still functional and powerful without the card. Let me know if you have any questions
I think a really big key to supporting archetypes like this is minimizing the cards you include that only go in this deck while maximizing cards you include that can be played elsewhere, but excel in this deck. Blood Artist and the like already don't go in other decks, so you don't have as much room to play with cards like Spawning Pit. Feel free to try it out, but my gut says it's be lackluster.
The kinds of cards that really help support this archetype card are similar to Attrition. Sacrifice outlets and recursive cards that are playable alongside any cards completely disregarding Blood Artist are important to make sure you don't harm the draft experience with parasitic cards.
Similarly, the more "good cards" that incidentally synergize with the Aristocrats theme, the better it gets. A great example of that is Ranger of Eos. It's a solid card in your white aggro decks, but the ability to pick up *multiple* recursive black one-drops or even a sacrifice outlet (Carrion Feeder) makes it a great splash for Aristocrats. You'd be surprised at how many cards like this are already in many lists (e.g. Lingering Souls, Sorin, Lord of Innistrad, and Reveilark etc etc). It just needs a liiiiittle more of a push to get there
I support Aristocrats, and it 3-0s a good amount over here. In my cube composition, it's most commonly a variant of B aggro splashing either W or R. Occassionally you get versions that are more red or white, or full on Mardu. One of the things I like most about the archetype is that it doesn't really need Blood Artist or Zulaport Cutthroat, as it can always lean harder on the aggro plan.
And if you want to see much more, just check out the decks labeled Aristocrats on my cubetutor.
Also, for all you pod lovers over there, the Aristocrats theme works really well for a "Zombie Pod" deck with all the black recursive creatures. Here's an example of that deck in my cube: http://www.cubetutor.com/cubedeck/1034160
I have supported this archetype for maybe three years now, and I want to make something clear: Blood Artist type cards are not actually the key to supporting the archetype. They are extremely powerful in the archetype, but given that the majority are narrow/expensive, as you pointed out, it is much better to support the archetype by pushing the deck to exist WITHOUT them so that you don't include so many cards like that in the cube that it becomes parasitic.
The best way to support Aristocrats is to support black aggro and Braids/Stax. You just make some alterations to your cube for black aggro with cards that reward the aristocrat strategies. Here is a short list of cubable cards that many don't currently run, but that have a huge impact on the Aristocrat archetype:
All of these cards are quite strong in normal black aggressive decks and some in other decks like Gargadon. They synergize with the recursive creatures, but also reward including cards like Blood Artist and Zulaport Cutthroat in your deck. When you design your cube this way, the fail-rate of the archetype plummets because it can function perfectly without any Blood Artist effects.
If you're looking for additional cards to push it even further, I would recommend the following, because they ALL fit into non-aristocrat strategies, but still provide incentive.
As you can tell from these lists, it's way more about sac outlets than it is the actual Blood Artist. Blood Artist enables some nutty kills, but, as I've said, it's narrow and parasitic. Provide incentive to draft recursive cards WITH good sacrifice outlets and then when Blood Artist becomes an option, it smoothly fits into a deck that was already shaping up to be great!
Lastly, one change I made this past year that skyrocketed the equity of the Aristocrats deck was to include support for the persist combo as well as humans. This is because Metallic Mimic fits beautifully into these strategies. Murderous Redcap is already a solid cube card, and one that the Aristocrats deck loves. Introducing an infinite combo to the deck to piece together with tutors/recruitors gives the deck lots of game. And the humans aggro deck loves picking up Xathrid Necromancer and Cartel Aristocrat.
Anyways, I hope that gives some context to how to seed this archetype into your cube. It doesn't cost as much as you think, and has been performing well over here for years. I'll conclude this with a link to some cubetutor decks to show how awesome it is. Notice how while plenty of these decks have Blood Artist, they are still functional and powerful without the card. Let me know if you have any questions
Black Aggro with persist combo: http://www.cubetutor.com/cubedeck/1116456
Black Red Aristocrats: http://www.cubetutor.com/cubedeck/1110297
Black Red Aristocrats: http://www.cubetutor.com/cubedeck/1103525
Black Red Stax: http://www.cubetutor.com/cubedeck/1102138
Black White Aristocrats: http://www.cubetutor.com/cubedeck/1099028
Black White Aristocrats: http://www.cubetutor.com/cubedeck/1098609
Mardu Aristocrats: http://www.cubetutor.com/cubedeck/1098554
Social Media: Twitter, Twitch
MTG Articles: 200+ Articles on StarCityGames.com, MTG Draft AI Article
MTG AI Code: Limited Draft Bot, CubeCobra Recommender System
The kinds of cards that really help support this archetype card are similar to Attrition. Sacrifice outlets and recursive cards that are playable alongside any cards completely disregarding Blood Artist are important to make sure you don't harm the draft experience with parasitic cards.
Similarly, the more "good cards" that incidentally synergize with the Aristocrats theme, the better it gets. A great example of that is Ranger of Eos. It's a solid card in your white aggro decks, but the ability to pick up *multiple* recursive black one-drops or even a sacrifice outlet (Carrion Feeder) makes it a great splash for Aristocrats. You'd be surprised at how many cards like this are already in many lists (e.g. Lingering Souls, Sorin, Lord of Innistrad, and Reveilark etc etc). It just needs a liiiiittle more of a push to get there
Social Media: Twitter, Twitch
MTG Articles: 200+ Articles on StarCityGames.com, MTG Draft AI Article
MTG AI Code: Limited Draft Bot, CubeCobra Recommender System
Here's a good example deck: http://www.cubetutor.com/cubedeck/1042151
And if you want to see much more, just check out the decks labeled Aristocrats on my cubetutor.
Also, for all you pod lovers over there, the Aristocrats theme works really well for a "Zombie Pod" deck with all the black recursive creatures. Here's an example of that deck in my cube: http://www.cubetutor.com/cubedeck/1034160
Social Media: Twitter, Twitch
MTG Articles: 200+ Articles on StarCityGames.com, MTG Draft AI Article
MTG AI Code: Limited Draft Bot, CubeCobra Recommender System