Priest of the Blood Rite

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Tokens

Legality

Format Legality
1v1 Commander Legal
Archenemy Legal
Arena Legal
Block Constructed Legal
Canadian Highlander Legal
Casual Legal
Commander / EDH Legal
Commander: Rule 0 Legal
Custom Legal
Duel Commander Legal
Gladiator Legal
Highlander Legal
Historic Legal
Legacy Legal
Leviathan Legal
Limited Legal
Modern Legal
Oathbreaker Legal
Pioneer Legal
Planechase Legal
Quest Magic Legal
Vanguard Legal
Vintage Legal

Rules Q&A

Priest of the Blood Rite

Creature — Human Cleric

When Priest of the Blood Rite enters the battlefield, create a 5/5 black Demon creature token with flying.

At the beginning of your upkeep, you lose 2 life.

Tyrant-Thanatos on Your Cheap Obscure Overperformers?

1 year ago

Stave Off - This card just does everything. It's so easy to miss that this can target creatures other than just the ones you control, and it makes a world of difference. Prevent buffs, debuffs, swing the tide of combat, the shear number of options this affords me feels nuts. I have a very hard time saying no to this in any deck with white.

Supreme Will - Choose between Mana Leak or Impulse for just 1 more. When I'm holding up untapped Islands in blue, there are two options I want: Interaction, or Card Advantage. This gives me both in a single card.

Priest of the Blood Rite - Setting aside my love of the way the mechanics and flavor tie together in this card; this thing is really easy to abuse. Sac and reanimate, flicker or blink, you can lay down a lot of 5/5 flyers with this faster than people expect.

Unravel the Aether/Deglamer - Shuffling things back into my opponents deck is often worse for them than destroying. By now there are a fair handful of "better than Naturalize" cards, but these two are my favorites, and are often met with sighs from opponents that would rather have been Krosan Grip'd than this.

MeneerDutchy on Henzie “The Toolman” Taylor ETB

1 year ago

Torgaar, Famine Incarnate Dusk Mangler Gruul Ragebeast Hornet Queen Meteor Golem Overseer of the Damned Regal Force Rune-Scarred Demon Terror of Mount Velus Titan of Industry Verdant Sun's Avatar Baleful Beholder Bane of Progress Blight-Breath Catoblepas Blitz Leech Brutalizer Exarch Cleanup Crew Dakmor Lancer Dark Hatchling Duplicant Earthshaker Giant Goremand Grave Titan Great Oak Guardian Greenwarden of Murasa Kodama of the East Tree Kogla, the Titan Ape Massacre Wurm Noxious Gearhulk Patron of the Vein Ravager Wurm Regal Behemoth Soul of the Harvest Sower of Discord Thief of Blood Ulvenwald Hydra Whiptongue Hydra Bloodtithe Collector Blossom Prancer Cavalier of Thorns Conclave Naturalists Custodi Lich Demanding Dragon Emrakul's Hatcher Fury Giant Ambush Beetle Gilt-Leaf Winnower Gray Merchant of Asphodel God-Eternal Rhonas Gruesome Scourger Ingot Chewer Indrik Stomphowler Invader Parasite Keldon Firebombers Massacre Girl Mindclaw Shaman Morkrut Banshee Nessian Game Warden Obsidian Charmaw Pharika's Mender Phyrexian Delver Predatory Nightstalker Priest of the Blood Rite Puppeteer Clique Qasali Slingers Regisaur Alpha Serpent Assassin Shadowborn Demon Shriekmaw Silverglade Elemental Stuffy Doll Stingerfling Spider Whiptail Moloch Wei Assassins Wild Celebrants Agent of Erebos Ancestral Statue Balustrade Spy Bloodboil Sorcerer Bramble Sovereign Cackling Fiend Carrion Imp Chain Devil Coal Stoker Dagger Caster Disciple of Bolas Dread Presence Flametongue Kavu Foundation Breaker Grief Intellect Devourer Kozilek's Predator Llanowar Empath Masked Admirers Mausoleum Turnkey Misfortune Teller Myconid Spore Tender Nekrataal Nantuko Cultivator Ondu Giant Oxidda Scrapmelter Quirion Trailblazer Rampant Rejuvenator Ravenous Chupacabra Sawblade Slinger Slippery Bogbonder Solemn Simulacrum Summoner's Egg Sylvan Messenger Traxos, Scourge of Kroog Umori, the Collector Voice of Many

golgarigirl on Awkward Eye Contact with Death (retired)

3 years ago

I used to play a lot more of the ETB trigger cards, but cut them for more of the Toolbox theme. But I know where you're coming from. Since Mardu is very good at both tokens and aggro, you can be really selective with the few you use for your aggro suite...I would focus on ones that do something along with the tokens or make really good tokens. Corpse Knight, Angel of Invention, Sling-Gang Lieutenant, Ogre Battledriver, and Priest of the Blood Rite are some examples I can think of. Resolute Blademaster + Mirror Entity is one of my common win-cons if I have to go aggro and overwhelm the board with my somewhat tiny creatures.

You can easy accidentally slide or purposely build into full-on Aristocrats, which along with the ETB damage also deals leaving the battlefield damage with more of the Sir Konrad effects like Zulaport Cutthroat and Blood Artist and more cheap, efficient token makers.

Being conscious of yard-filling cards is always a trick. I would run at least 10 that can get cards from your hand and deck into your graveyard, and a few sacrifice outlets (another 5 or so) to get them off the board. Of course, having extra reanimation is a great idea to get at those things you dumped in case someone neutralizes your commander. I will never get tired of recommending Perpetual Timepiece, since it both mills and saves your good things from exile. Mire Triton has also been impressive recently.

Some of my choices for places to look for cuts (if you're struggling) include Marchesa's Decree, Leave/Chance, Batwing Brume, Sands of Delirium, Quietus Spike, and Raving Dead. Don't feel pressured if any of these are pet cards that you think work really well, they are just my picks for ones we can find replacements to work better for your deck.

golgarigirl on Alesha (BUDGET Commander & Primer)

3 years ago

@ Kalo_Wen

I have a lot more experience playing the non-budget deck, so here's how that usually goes as it may apply to both decks:

Early Game (turns 1-5): Dropping mana rocks, trying to set up at least one good reanimation target (either something that answers an immediate problem or to find fuel such as Mire Triton or Recruiter of the Guard) with cards like Entomb or Thrill of Possibility, running out defenses like Lightning Greaves, and getting Alesha out and attacking. Occasionally out-accelerate everyone with Burnished Hart.

Mid Game (turns 5-10): Try to recur fuel into either a more stacked graveyard or answers in-hand. We are usually not 'the threat' at this point, and you can usually engineer an attack by answering a problem, knowing the Fiend Hunter you use now to get damage in will come back to your benefit later when you need it most. Hold your non-creature answers until you absolutely need them. I also tend to be protective of sacrifice outlets, holding them until I need them as well, as my playgroup has grown wise to their importance. Baby Alesha will have more capability to go-wide and start pressuring on the ground here, since the non-budget build has sacrificed most of it's token compliment for more tutors and thus ability to really find answers. My playgroup plays a healthy amount of board clear, so there is often a lot of time spent re-building, something Alesha is very good at with a haste enabler in play.

Late Game (turn 11+): At this point we should be at or near a 1 vs 1. If not at that point, we decide which opponent is best for us to be at that point with and do our best to aid them (usually it's not a deck that is flat struggling, but not the strongest deck either...someone who can help us and perhaps draw the ire of the top deck, but one we can find the weakness of easily and utilize to cripple them at the right time). From there, the deck switches gears into aggro. Sometimes it's just whatever the deck has on-board at the moment, but Alesha can do a good Voltron impression with the right package, or even go full-on stompy with Mirror Entity + Resolute Blademaster.


At least in the non-budget build (and some of these are budget as well, but not necessarily in the budget decklist), the wincons I usually see are thus:

Most of the time the deck is going to win the long game through attrition. It's best not to become too early a threat unless you can really back it up (if you can go for the coveted Entomb + commander + Master of Cruelties on turn 3, we'd be remiss not to!). It is efficient at dealing with threats and re-using answers. Opponents are usually hesitant to kill the 'answers deck' (which is why I emphasize versatile and varied removal, especially if we can tutor or draw for it) too early in case someone has something they can't deal with it. One thing I aim for is to get into a 1 vs 1 situation...this deck, like any 'answers' deck, will be stronger the fewer opponents it has to worry about dealing with.

I try to keep easy infinite combos out of even the non-budget deck, but I can sideboard them in if a pod is more up to it. Reveillark + Karmic Guide + Gray Merchant of Asphodel/Blood Artist and friends + sac outlet of your choice is a pretty budget combo that is a pain to disrupt and I would happily use to kick it up a gear or two if I felt I needed to (and, with proper tutors and outlets, could start happening turn 4-5). Lark and Guide do pretty silly things with a lot of cards, as any Black/White aristocrats deck will happily show you. Karmic Guide itself is responsible for a lot of victories, just in the sheer amount of things it can chain reanimate with an Alesha activation. Or just carrying a piece of equipment against a black deck. Other card advantage engines and Recruiters are the subtle all-stars of the non-budget deck.

A beatdown end-game is often where it goes from here. Overrun victory with Mirror Entity + Resolute Blademaster is reliable if you need more than just your current board. Mirror Entity activation is instant speed, so you can tailor your mana use for what you need. The budget deck is actually better at this wincon in theory, as it has a larger token package to spread the damage wider or push the damage harder if needed. Voltron with some offensive equipments, even on Alesha herself, is often good enough to get us there. If nothing else, an army of demons off of Priest of the Blood Rite or just any large beaters are fine.

JANKYARD_DOG on Alesha's Amazing Automata!

4 years ago

+1 from another Alesha fan. A few suggestions: Nahiri, the Harbinger can be a good source of removal and/or filtering/filling the yard, and if you happen to get the ult off, bonus. Priest of the Blood Rite brings a 5/5 evil flap flap with him every time you rez him. Yahenni, Undying Partisan is great as a sac outlet and makes opponents think before they boardwipe. Ignition Team can get pretty big, and on the land topic, though not big as a creature Anathemancer can pack a punch. Don't ask what to take out... that not my forte, hope it helps.

Nelstar on $25 Alesha Reanimation EDH

4 years ago

Find a way to pull lands away from your library like fetchlands. You need to maintain tempo. After you have 7 or more lands, each land drawn from library actually slows down your tempo.

A good useful soldier like Solemn Simulacrum , Knight of the White Orchid will ensure that.

Next, your entire deck depends strongly on Alesha.

You need to:

  1. Protect Alesha from removals such as Murder , Swords to Plowshares , Path to Exile by using Lightning Greaves , Mask of Avacyn , Grand Abolisher

  2. Have threats that is deadly like Master of Cruelties , Embodiment of Agonies , Mirror Entity or even Priest of the Blood Rite with a way to sacrifice the Priest. This will ensure you maintain tempo even at late game.

  3. Have removals to prevent locks or graveyard hate like Stasis , Rest in Peace , Leyline of the Void . Example of cards to use will be like Duergar Hedge-Mage

  4. Have wipes against decks like Trostani, Selesnya's Voice / Edgar Markov where they flood with tokens. Some recommended wipes will be Merciless Eviction , Austere Command

  5. Outnumber your opponent instead with Siege-Gang Commander , Noosegraf Mob

pskinn01 on [Dimir Aristocrats] (Budget)

5 years ago

Here are some budget cards that are in my pile to build something similar:
Oversold Cemetery -recursion.
Smothering Abomination card draw.
Ravenous Chupacabra fun in funeral when repeayed.
Whisper, Blood Liturgist recursion that triggers death triggers two times.
Helm of Possession board control - I have left it untapped with tokens as a deterrent to being attacked.
Dawn of the Dead recursion - remember to sac the creature before end of turn.
Ogre Slumlord let's make tokens fun again.
Wonder flying is great for the whole family(team).
Priest of the Blood Rite cast, get 5/5 token, sac, repeat.
Shriekmaw removal that's good with creature recursion
Duplicant exiles indestructible creatures.
Torgaar, Famine Incarnate - for the opponent who likes to get way too much life.

Hope something in this list is helpful. Also Noxious Gearhulk might be good in the deck, but is not in my pile as I don't have an extra one ATM.

ZendikariWol on Grave Robbin'

5 years ago

So this deck doesn't have almost any really bad cards, but it does have quite a few suboptimal ones. Imma try to explain which and

Butcher of Malakir is almost always worse than Savra, Queen of the Golgari and than Dictate of Erebos. Both of them are much cheaper (mana-wise) and therefore can deal more damage before the opponents gather momentum.

Filth is really just not the best here. Not terrible, but this isn't a beatdown deck. Many of your dudes are always gonna have summoning sickness and the others are gonna just be too smol to deal any real damage.

Gonti, Lord of Luxury is a card that I love and have playtested a lot, but in the 4-mana slot, there are many better things. It's a good card, just not that good.

Hornet Queen is 7 mana and it's not worth it for 7 mana. It's not as good as Grave Titan and really, you should only be running about 4, 5 finishers.

It That Betrays is another badass card, but it is 12 freaking mana and not that great unless you have Butcher of Malakir or a Fleshbag Marauder effect being consistently repeated.

When you don't want your creatures to be sticking around, +1 counters aren't really a good plan. That makes Mazirek, Kraul Death Priest suboptimal.

Mitotic Slime is just slightly worse than Thragtusk here. Its main draw is being a LOT of sac targets, but by turn 5 you shouldn't really need that.

Mycoloth never makes it to your upkeep. Trust me.

Priest of the Blood Rite is fine, but there are better payoffs out there for five mana.

I'd say Sepulchral Primordial over Puppeteer Clique, but it's mostly a matter of preference.

Smothering Abomination, if you have a healthy number of sac outlets, is like Deathreap Ritual, but with a higher likelihood of decking you out.

Vulturous Zombie is only for opponents' graveyards.

Wood Elves is usually a worse Farhaven Elf. Sure the forest comes in untapped but are you going to use it that turn? Not very likely.

So yeah. That's it. If you want me to propose some cards to include I will, but for now I'll assume one very lengthy comment is enough. Have a nice day, and happy brewing!

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