Daily Archives: September 24, 2019

MTG: Dancing In The Cinders

Is it something about Aristocrats decks that get me to come out and play? Is that what pulls me into Standard? I feel dirty, like somehow it’s just the interaction between some junk drawer creature and a junk lord and suddenly I’m just an easy get for a standard environment.

Anyway, I’ve been playing Magic: The Gathering a little more, and rather than hanging around in the silly waters of Commander 1v1 (a format where I mostly goldfish), I’ve been playing Standard and Modern (and we’ll get to that), based on throwing together a reasonably cheap deck. Right now is one of the best times to get a standard deck with a good mana base together, because there’s a standard-legal Ravnica set, pulling the cost on Ravnica duals down to nearly a buck each on MTGO.

[d title=”Mardu Aristocrats, September 2019″ style=”embedded”]Creatures
4 Hunted Witness
4 Grim Initiate
4 Tithe Taker
4 Priest of Forgotten Gods
4 Cruel Celebrant
4 Mayhem Devil
2 Imperious Oligarch
2 Judith, The Scourge Diva
2 Midnight Reaper
1 Ministrant of Obligation
1 Demon of Catastrophes

Spells
4 Spark Harvest

Lands
4 Blood Crypt
4 Dragonskull Summit
4 Godless Shrine
4 Isolated Chapel
4 Sacred Foundry
4 Clifftop Retreat
[/d]

The basic anatomy of this kind of deck, known colloquially as an Aristocrats deck is threefold; you want cards that don’t mind being sacrificed (‘food’), you want things that can sacrifice cards for benefit (‘feeders’), and things that react to the interactions between the first two (‘zookeepers’). It’s a neat little ecosystem of a deck and part of what I like about it is how it makes a lot of creatures that are, at best, kinda cheap and durdly, into something your opponent has to spend their cards on, and even then, they’re not guaranteed to get ahead when that happens.

This deck is by no means what you’d call ‘good’ – the last time I did this I had [mtg_card]Zulaport Cutthroat[/mtg_card], and let me tell you, [mtg_card]Cruel Celebrant[/mtg_card] is no Cutthroat. Or maybe I’m just sour about mana in general. There’s also the way that [mtg_card]Mayhem Devil[/mtg_card] works, dealing damage wherever you like but also crucially making that damage require sacrifice. There are draws however where you get some mix like a [mtg_card]Hunted Witness[/mtg_card] into a [mtg_card]Priest of Forgotten Gods[/mtg_card] into [mtg_card]Cruel Celebrant[/mtg_card] and [mtg_card]Grim Initiate[/mtg_card], and you blow your opponent’s board up, draw some cards and then drop another Priest of the Forgotten Gods, and then they cheer and people pick you up and lead you around the room and you’re just the best.

And those games are pretty fun, especially in the low-stakes casual standard room where you are going to face things like Treefolk Tribal and Ladies Facing Left. Still, there are plenty of times you draw a hand and you’re looking at a fistful of 1/1s and a land, or 4 mayhem devils and three lands and know you’re probably not winning with that. It doesn’t mulligan great either – you kind of need a mix of your pieces, and every card you start down loses you a piece, and a chance at a better piece.

Nonetheless, I really enjoy this deck and it’s pretty rotation proof at the moment. I don’t know what’s going to add to it in the upcoming sets, but for now, it’s a fun little unit. I need to develop it a sideboard, though, so I can play it casually in the Tournament room, rather than hang in the much more variable space of the casual room.

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