Athreos, Death's Guide

Modern Casual Death and Taxes Reanimator Sacrifice Suicide Black WB (Orzhov)

Zarthalius

Creature (22)

• 3x Athreos, God of Passage
• 4x Bile Urchin
• 4x Death Cultist
• 3x Grim Haruspex
• 4x Kami of False Hope
• 2x Viscera Seer
• 2x Zulaport Cutthroat

Artifact (3)

• 1x Deathrender
• 2x Lightning Coils

Land (20)

• 2x Brightclimb Pathway  ^Flip
• 2x Fetid Heath
• 2x Godless Shrine
• 4x Isolated Chapel
• 3x Plains
• 7x Swamp

Sorcery (11)

• 4x Beseech the Queen
• 3x Immortal Servitude
• 2x Killing Wave
• 2x Revoke Existence

Instant (4)

• 2x Mortify
• 2x Rally the Ancestors

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When mortals die, their souls must cross the "rivers that ring the world" to reach the Underworld. The shrouded god Athreos is their guide, ferrying the dead to their ultimate rest.

Athreos is never without his signature staff, a gnarled length of dark wood. When the dead arrive on the shores of the rivers, he lays it across the water to transform it into a barge. His role, the easing the passage to and from the underworld.

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This deck grants the opportunity to experience the bliss of being the gatekeeper of the Underworld. Immerse your identity as Athreos and guide your army constantly to and from the Underworld.

Get Athreos, God of Passage on the field as fast as possible; Beseech the Queen for him if required. Then, self-sacrifice your 1 drop martyrs for their powers. As Athreos, gratefully ferry your martyrs to the underworld. Then, if not bribed by the enemy, ferry them back to life!

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Noteworthy mentions:

• Turn 3 can start pumping out an incredible 4 damage per sacrifice (1 mana)!

• Killing Wave can ether be played as a burn card and/or a board wipe. It all depends on the situation you are in, the effect you need, and the mana you dump into it. Likely, you wont have any creatures on the field so it wont effect you. If you do, you can sac most of them in response so it doesn't effect you as much. Also, Athreos is not effected unless your devotion is high enough. Sacrificing in response to Killing Wave will reduce your devotion before it resolves. This protects Athreos.

• Grim Haruspex and Viscera Seer. With just one of these two, going through your deck becomes quick and just part of a typical match. With both, things get out of control for 1 mana will scry 1 and draw 1. However, since Grim doesn't give a choice to not draw, the deck can get very thin. Here, Viscera fills another important role; she is also the draw engine's kill switch. Typically, the first part of a match will be sacrificing creatures through Viscera. This allows for your field, hand, and graveyard to be filled with your 1 drop martyrs and other critical cards. Then, when ready, each martyr switches over to self-sacrificing for its offensive power. Usually, players will notice that they don't have to pay Athreos's cost anymore because your cards in hand exceed limits and a forced discard will happen anyways. This is typically ok. If Immortal Servitude or Rally the Ancestors is in hand, discarding the 1 drops anyways is not a bad thing. Plus, if Deathrender is on the field and equipped to the sacrificed creature, this nullifies this negative side effect anyways (see Deathrender's section for more details).

• Rally the Ancestors vs Immortal Servitude. When you feel Athreos has been over bribed, these cards offer the ultimate counter bribe. Remind your martyrs of their immortal servitude. Easier to cast, powerful still, their immortal servitude is usually enough. When more is required, go deeper and rally the ancestors, catch the enemy off guard, and watch Athreos be a god! Rally is cheaper and instant speed. Revive all your martyrs from the graveyard right before an attack. Block and, before damage is done, sac the martyrs to reap their effects and trigger Athreos multiple times. Athreos is a grateful god, when his martyrs die for this cause, they are changed. Now in the graveyard or your hand, they are not the same entity they were when revived; they are infused with the power to dodge the Rally's "exile curse". Imagine, for only 1 mana more than Immortal Servitude, you'll get back your entire graveyard! Imagine your enemy's surprise when you "flash" in Athreos, God of Passage and all his sacable martyrs!

• Deathrender provides an interesting mechanic. Sac a martyr with Deathrender attached. This puts both Deathrender's ability and Athreos, God of Passage's ability on the stack (Deathrender's ability on first). When Athreos's ability resolves, if the player can't pay (only has 1 or 2 life) or wont pay the 3 life, the martyr goes back to your hand. Deathrender's ability will now resolve putting the returned martyr right back on the battlefield with Deathrender equipped to it. By repeating, you'd go infinite. However, since they'll most likely pay, this forces them to take 3 life for each creature you have in hand (or on the BF if you have 2 open mana each). With Grim Haruspex on the field, you'd also draw a card each iteration fueling the life burn! These cards together create this ability loop for the martyrs. This combo is a deadly game ender in a more than 2 player game. It can allow you to insta-kill all players with either Death Cultist or Bile Urchin.

Date added	5 years
Last updated	1 year
Legality	This deck is Modern legal.
Rarity (main - side)	3 - 0 Mythic Rares 23 - 0 Rares 8 - 0 Uncommons 16 - 0 Commons
Cards	60
Avg. CMC	2.25
Tokens	Elemental 3/1 R, Morph 2/2 C