I played Magic until a couple of years ago but some friends and I decided to get back into it with casual 100€ budget decks with modern restrictions. I want to try out the Aristocrats strategy with Orzhov colors. I came up with the following deck by googling and tinkered with the cards a little bit.
Maybe you can give me some feedback here.
The general idea should be pretty clear: Play a ton of "when a creature dies, your opponent loses 1 life and you gain 1 life" effects in combination with creatures who can sacrifice other creatures. The best targets for those sacrifices are self replacing cheap creatures. The final blow can be given by Rally the Ancestors.
My thoughts in detail:
1. I decided to put 10 sac outlets into the deck, of which 6 are creature permanents. The other 4 are draw spells to keep the engine running. I think this is enough, since creatures will die through other effects anyway, so I don't want to clump up my deck with it.
2. The aristocrat number is 11, because the best one is Cruel Celebrant and I'm not sure if we play 1v1 or 1v1v1 or 2v2 in the future. So Blood Artist is included only 3 times since it affects only 1 opponent at a time but has the advantage of the effect triggering whenever another creature dies (opponents included). So, Blood Artist and Zulaport Cutthroat are 3-offs. Athreos, God of Passage, well, it's included only once because I wanted some room so I reduced it from 2 to 1 and moved the 2nd one into the sideboard. It's cool and a nice recursion but not needed that often.
3. Only 20 lands, yes. The average mana cost is 1.38, so I think 20 should be enough. Not sure if 22 is too much.
4. I included Tragic Slip while knowing that I can block many creatures with my fodder, but with it and Morbid I can kill off even larger creatures (green stompys) easily but can also finish of some unwanted key creatures (Sliver, Elves).
5. In the past, we usually didn't play with sideboards, but we wanted to try it out in 1v1 plays. So, here my thoughts were:
- Change 4x Tragic Slip with 4x Duress against Control / Combo decks
- Change 3x Rally the Ancestors with 2x Rest in Peace and 1x Athreos, God of Passage against decks which interact with their graveyard. The idea is to shut the opponent down while bypass my original graveyard interaction with Rally through bouncing dead creatures into my hand with Athreos. Not sure, if this works the way I think it works.
- Against artifact / enchantment heavy decks the idea is to switch Tragic Slip with Disenchant / Duress. Either prevent it fro being cast or remove it once it hits the table. Not sure what I should go for here.
- Against Burn / Shooter decks I would trade 4x Tragic Slip fleshing out my aristocrat bodys to 4 / 2 each and a 4th Rally to be somewhat more resistant against creature removal.
So, what do you think about this deck? Is it to cheap in its mana curve? Do I last long enough to win the game or am I constantly mana screwed due to only 20 lands? Would you change some cards?
Rest in Peace prevents your death triggers ("Whenever x dies"). Nihil Spellbomb is a good alternative. Rite of Oblivion, Vindicate, or something similar in the sideboard (over Disenchant/Fracture) fights opposing hate without needing to know what it will be. You don't want to face an unanswerable Hushbringer (don't tell anyone about Sanctifier en-Vec).
Hidden Stockpile, I think, will prevent you from getting hated out. I don't know where to put it, but it looks really strong with this setup.
I played against some other casual, Modern, sub-$100 decks (W Tokens, BR midrange, G Elves with Hurricane, R, and a U deck that cheated like crazy on budget). I intended to play sideboard games, but I wasn't winning, so I thought maindeck adjustments were needed first.
I was barely too slow, even playing first every game and getting free mulligans. I could drain for about 15, but couldn't force my opponent into winning traps. I went 0-15, though a couple may have been winnable.
Even losing, the deck is fun to play, with lots of options and hidden information.
Maindeck hate or semi-hate got me. Tokens played Auriok Champion, BR had Dauthi Voidwalker, R had Etching of Kumano, and Jace, Architect of Thought was annoying from U (that deck doesn't count, but Architect is good in budget play).
Between sac and drain, my opponent could often keep me off one or the other. I could not attack or block well as a result.
I was always looking for a permanent sac outlet, Rally, or land.
Tragic Slip was easy to play around when it would have mattered, and doesn't work with anti-death hate in play.
Isolated Chapel kept biting me, and the first game ended by topdecking a winning Rally with three Swamps and a Chapel. My opponent could ignore the threat of Rally when I had one white mana.
I never wanted Athreos. Carrion Feeder was necessary, but I couldn't take advantage of its size.
Viscera Seer and Rally are the stars. Seer's scry is invaluable. Village Rites was good, but opponents didn't have to play into it. Against BR I drew a ton, but they play 3-for-1's, I need 10-for-1's. Leyline of the Void and Rest in Peace aren't auto-includes for decks due to budget. Fury and Wrenn and Six can't hate out tribal here, so Plague Engineer is a concern and option.
Hate cards are going to vary by meta. I'll have to face Cursed Totem because of Elves.
My changes:
-3 Blood Artist
-1 Athreos
+1 Zulaport Cutthroat
+2 Carrion Feeder
+1 Rally the Ancestors
Balancing effects. Blood Artist is the best, but also the most expensive, poor in multiplayer, and I want to diversify creature types against Plague Engineer. Except switching Athreos for Rally, this could be an over-correction.
-4 Tragic Slip
+4 Tidehollow Sculler
Switching to creature-based disruption.
-4 Village Rites
+2 Return to the Ranks
+2 Plains
This could be a mistake. Rites is good, I just want to try Return to the Ranks and focus on combo kills.
-4 Isolated Chapel
+4 Secluded Courtyard
Courtyard is cheaper and better on turn one.
-4 Swamp
+4 Caves of Koilos
Cave is a bad Silent Clearing here, but I couldn't fit that in the budget. This gives 15 B and 19 W, all on turn one, so trim it if you like.
-3 Godless Shrine
+3 Marsh Flats
The price is similar, but Marsh Flats is usable in more decks. If that's not an issue, keep the Shrines.
You may want to consider Return to the Ranks and Vesperlark Plumb the Forbidden can help you draw some cards and can kill your opponent with the death triggers. I think that if you have blood artist, this shouldn't kill you if you're low on life.
I might go with Tormod's Crypt for graveyard hate.
pucatrade
big receipts
alpha mox emerald
beta time walk
4 goyfs received
3 liliana of the veil
4 karn liberated
3 force of will
4 grove of the burnwillows
snapcaster mage
3 horizon canopy
2 full art damnation
Played some more. Return to the Ranks works, Stitcher's Supplier is key, and I've refactored my sideboard, which is still basic.
Carrion Feeder can attack now that it's easier to restore the board.
I may cut a land for a third Return, but budget makes the fourth difficult. With Seer, one Return/Rally leads to another, and makes killing easier with one or even zero starting artists.
Thanks to price drops, Elves now plays Chord of Calling over Hurricane and has maindeck Phyrexian Revoker, which is annoying.
Caves of Koilos hasn't hurt, even opening with two against R.
Maindeck hate makes me want Prismatic Ending or Conclave Tribunal main, but only 2, 3 tops. Land and Witness would be the potential cuts.
Side: 4 Leonin Relic-Warder, 4 Dawnbringer Cleric, 3 Prismatic Ending, 2 Inquisition of Kozilek, 2 Duress. I mostly care about hate and faster decks. I side down to 20 lands for slogs.
EDIT: If you play with sideboards, be prepared for some auto-losses. Without sideboards, expect a variety of hate and bring a couple versatile answers.
I played Magic until a couple of years ago but some friends and I decided to get back into it with casual 100€ budget decks with modern restrictions. I want to try out the Aristocrats strategy with Orzhov colors. I came up with the following deck by googling and tinkered with the cards a little bit.
Maybe you can give me some feedback here.
The general idea should be pretty clear: Play a ton of "when a creature dies, your opponent loses 1 life and you gain 1 life" effects in combination with creatures who can sacrifice other creatures. The best targets for those sacrifices are self replacing cheap creatures. The final blow can be given by Rally the Ancestors.
My thoughts in detail:
1. I decided to put 10 sac outlets into the deck, of which 6 are creature permanents. The other 4 are draw spells to keep the engine running. I think this is enough, since creatures will die through other effects anyway, so I don't want to clump up my deck with it.
2. The aristocrat number is 11, because the best one is Cruel Celebrant and I'm not sure if we play 1v1 or 1v1v1 or 2v2 in the future. So Blood Artist is included only 3 times since it affects only 1 opponent at a time but has the advantage of the effect triggering whenever another creature dies (opponents included). So, Blood Artist and Zulaport Cutthroat are 3-offs. Athreos, God of Passage, well, it's included only once because I wanted some room so I reduced it from 2 to 1 and moved the 2nd one into the sideboard. It's cool and a nice recursion but not needed that often.
3. Only 20 lands, yes. The average mana cost is 1.38, so I think 20 should be enough. Not sure if 22 is too much.
4. I included Tragic Slip while knowing that I can block many creatures with my fodder, but with it and Morbid I can kill off even larger creatures (green stompys) easily but can also finish of some unwanted key creatures (Sliver, Elves).
5. In the past, we usually didn't play with sideboards, but we wanted to try it out in 1v1 plays. So, here my thoughts were:
- Change 4x Tragic Slip with 4x Duress against Control / Combo decks
- Change 3x Rally the Ancestors with 2x Rest in Peace and 1x Athreos, God of Passage against decks which interact with their graveyard. The idea is to shut the opponent down while bypass my original graveyard interaction with Rally through bouncing dead creatures into my hand with Athreos. Not sure, if this works the way I think it works.
- Against artifact / enchantment heavy decks the idea is to switch Tragic Slip with Disenchant / Duress. Either prevent it fro being cast or remove it once it hits the table. Not sure what I should go for here.
- Against Burn / Shooter decks I would trade 4x Tragic Slip fleshing out my aristocrat bodys to 4 / 2 each and a 4th Rally to be somewhat more resistant against creature removal.
So, what do you think about this deck? Is it to cheap in its mana curve? Do I last long enough to win the game or am I constantly mana screwed due to only 20 lands? Would you change some cards?
4 Godless Shrine
4 Isolated Chapel
5 Plains
7 Swamp
// Sac-Outlets
2 Carrion Feeder
4 Viscera Seer
4 Village Rites
// Fodder
4 Doomed Traveler
4 Garrison Cat
4 Hunted Witness
4 Cruel Celebrant
3 Blood Artist
3 Zulaport Cutthroat
1 Athreos, God of Passage
// Win Condition
3 Rally the Ancestors
// Spot Removal
4 Tragic Slip
4 Duress
4 Disenchant
1 Athreos, God of Passage
2 Rest in Peace
1 Rally the Ancestors
1 Blood Artist
1 Zulaport Cutthroat
Hidden Stockpile, I think, will prevent you from getting hated out. I don't know where to put it, but it looks really strong with this setup.
I was barely too slow, even playing first every game and getting free mulligans. I could drain for about 15, but couldn't force my opponent into winning traps. I went 0-15, though a couple may have been winnable.
Even losing, the deck is fun to play, with lots of options and hidden information.
Maindeck hate or semi-hate got me. Tokens played Auriok Champion, BR had Dauthi Voidwalker, R had Etching of Kumano, and Jace, Architect of Thought was annoying from U (that deck doesn't count, but Architect is good in budget play).
Between sac and drain, my opponent could often keep me off one or the other. I could not attack or block well as a result.
I was always looking for a permanent sac outlet, Rally, or land.
Tragic Slip was easy to play around when it would have mattered, and doesn't work with anti-death hate in play.
Isolated Chapel kept biting me, and the first game ended by topdecking a winning Rally with three Swamps and a Chapel. My opponent could ignore the threat of Rally when I had one white mana.
I never wanted Athreos. Carrion Feeder was necessary, but I couldn't take advantage of its size.
Viscera Seer and Rally are the stars. Seer's scry is invaluable. Village Rites was good, but opponents didn't have to play into it. Against BR I drew a ton, but they play 3-for-1's, I need 10-for-1's.
Leyline of the Void and Rest in Peace aren't auto-includes for decks due to budget.
Fury and Wrenn and Six can't hate out tribal here, so Plague Engineer is a concern and option.
Hate cards are going to vary by meta. I'll have to face Cursed Totem because of Elves.
My changes:
-3 Blood Artist
-1 Athreos
+1 Zulaport Cutthroat
+2 Carrion Feeder
+1 Rally the Ancestors
Balancing effects. Blood Artist is the best, but also the most expensive, poor in multiplayer, and I want to diversify creature types against Plague Engineer. Except switching Athreos for Rally, this could be an over-correction.
-4 Garrison Cat
+4 Stitcher's Supplier
Stitcher turbo-powers Rally. I'm considering Undead Butler over Hunted Witness, as well.
-4 Tragic Slip
+4 Tidehollow Sculler
Switching to creature-based disruption.
-4 Village Rites
+2 Return to the Ranks
+2 Plains
This could be a mistake. Rites is good, I just want to try Return to the Ranks and focus on combo kills.
-4 Isolated Chapel
+4 Secluded Courtyard
Courtyard is cheaper and better on turn one.
-4 Swamp
+4 Caves of Koilos
Cave is a bad Silent Clearing here, but I couldn't fit that in the budget. This gives 15 B and 19 W, all on turn one, so trim it if you like.
-3 Godless Shrine
+3 Marsh Flats
The price is similar, but Marsh Flats is usable in more decks. If that's not an issue, keep the Shrines.
I've only played a couple of games, and Stitcher's Supplier won both.
My tentative sideboard:
1 Duress
2 Inquisition of Kozilek
1 Nihil Spellbomb
2 Prismatic Ending
2 Cathar Commando
2 Dawnbringer Cleric
2 Declaration in Stone
1 Remorseful Cleric
2 Skyclave Apparition
Budget and meta size are factors with these choices, so they likely don't apply. If your meta is small, you can play specific threats and answers. Prismatic Ending over Portable Hole so they can't get their hate piece back. The idea is that someone will be slowing sideboard games way down.
That was my experience so far.
Plumb the Forbidden can help you draw some cards and can kill your opponent with the death triggers. I think that if you have blood artist, this shouldn't kill you if you're low on life.
I might go with Tormod's Crypt for graveyard hate.
pucatrade
big receipts
alpha mox emerald
beta time walk
4 goyfs received
3 liliana of the veil
4 karn liberated
3 force of will
4 grove of the burnwillows
snapcaster mage
3 horizon canopy
2 full art damnation
Carrion Feeder can attack now that it's easier to restore the board.
I may cut a land for a third Return, but budget makes the fourth difficult. With Seer, one Return/Rally leads to another, and makes killing easier with one or even zero starting artists.
Thanks to price drops, Elves now plays Chord of Calling over Hurricane and has maindeck Phyrexian Revoker, which is annoying.
Caves of Koilos hasn't hurt, even opening with two against R.
Maindeck hate makes me want Prismatic Ending or Conclave Tribunal main, but only 2, 3 tops. Land and Witness would be the potential cuts.
Side: 4 Leonin Relic-Warder, 4 Dawnbringer Cleric, 3 Prismatic Ending, 2 Inquisition of Kozilek, 2 Duress. I mostly care about hate and faster decks. I side down to 20 lands for slogs.
EDIT: If you play with sideboards, be prepared for some auto-losses. Without sideboards, expect a variety of hate and bring a couple versatile answers.