Hi, I saw your post on reddit and always loved to look at fellow Aristocrat players deck.

Your build looks very nice, but it has a few choices I do not really understand and in my opinion weaken the deck.

• Not having a playset of Lingering Souls seems very counter-intuitive. This card alone can grind out wins and is amazing value, mana sink and sacrifice fodder. Actually everything this deck wants.

• Path to Exile as a one-of. While I can understand not playing the whole playset, at least two of this 'get rid of it for good' speel should be included. Maybe do a 3 - 2 split with Lightning Bolt. I know it is heresy to say this about Lightning Bolt, but for me at least it works. Preference, I guess.

• Absence of Rally the Ancestors. This is in my opinion a grave mistake, because it allows the deck to win out of the blue with a single destructive turn. Not only for shooting damage with resurected creatures through Blood Artist, but also a Falkenrath Aristocrat. After all she has build-in haste and can attack the same turn. Maybe even severely bumped.

  Rally the Ancestors might not be a four-of, but its blow out potential in my opinion justify a two-of. At least test it, it is strong.

• Is Bloodsoaked Champion really cutting it for you? I played him myself as a two-of, but always felt him being so lackluster, that in the end I cut him from the deck.

Last, but not least, something I really love to see. Mogg War Marshal! Seriously, this dude is the stuff. Three triggers for Blood Artist at 2cmc aswell as potentinal late game mana sink. He at times feels like a lesser Lingering Souls. He also works really damn well with Rally the Ancestors, because he leaves tokens behind.

How are the Ghost Quarters performing in your build? Can you sustain the drain in your mana base?

Some additional suggestions of me would be Wear / Tear ,Rakdos Charm and a fourth Thoughtseize (instead of Lingering Souls) for the SB. Cards you also might want to look into are Sword of Light and Shadow as well as Sword of Feast and Famine. Both of them excel in token deck (especially Lingering Souls) and Cartel Aristocrat with 2-3+ kinds of protections is disgusting. Not to speak of the effects of the swords themselves.

Here is my decklist, if you want to have a look:

Mardu Aristocrats | Being the tyrant, or not to be

Modern LordDerrien

SCORE: 3 | 5 COMMENTS | 244 VIEWS | IN 1 FOLDER

Also, +1 :P

LordDerrien Thanks for posting! Your deck looks really cool. I agree not having 4 Lingering Souls was a problem. That decision was a left over from the Twin Days. The reason I have the 4 main deck Lightning Bolts! over Path to Exile is because while they are both good early game removal, Lightning Bolt also has the upside of being able help finish the game. I have 4 Path to Exile between the main and side.

So far, Rally the Ancestors hasn't seemed has not seemed to fit. It feels to slow. I don't really dump that many creatures into the graveyard until I am going off. And at the point the game is basically over anyways. I may test it again at some point.

Bloodsoaked Champion has definitely seemed worth it so far. I have thought about dropping down to one but I am not convinced yet. He puts on a good early clock, and being able to machine gun off with him late game is really powerful. Especially with Falkenrath Aristocrat as its another human.

Mogg War Marshal has really impressed me and if I find anything I want to cut its one of the first choices to add.

Ghost Quarter has been great. I haven't had problems with running 4 colorless lands but I would not run more. It is so good against utility lands like Inkmoth Nexus, Blinkmoth Nexus, and Celestial Colonnade.

I used to have Wear / Tear but I didn't feel like it was worth it. Not enough enchantments and my other artifact answers seem stronger. Rakdos Charm could be nice as graveyard hate, or even burn. I do like the idea of 4 Thoughtseize as well. The Swords are something I will think of too. That seems like another good way to add variety to my attack and gain extra value.

@LordSnow Great, now I also want to pack 4 Lightning Bolts...

On another note, now I am definitly thinking about four colorless lands. I already play Westvale Abbey  ^Flip, but two Ghost Quarter and a single Vault of the Archangel definitly look tasty to have.

At the moment it feels like your deck is more of an aggressive approach, while mine likes to let things proceed into midrange territory.

Always loved that about Aristocrats; the sheer diversity in the builds possible is just awesome. The only thing you basically need are 6-8 Aristocrats, ~4 Blood Artist effects, Lingering Souls and at least 7-8 others main things just their for sacrifice.

That makes 24 core cards + 22-24 lands and you have 12-14 slots open for the stuff you feel the strongest about!

@LordDerrien Try it out, its pretty nice. And yes, you hit it spot on. Mine is more aggressive. I mean to finish people early and just barely get into mid game. Though of course my mid-game is fairly solid because of Souls and stuff like that.

I would say try adding some utility lands. Ghost Quarter is insanely strong right now. People are playing a ton of creature lands, plus Academy Ruins, and Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle. Vault of the Archangel would be great in a more midrange focused deck.

And isn't it a fun archetype? So many different variations. And if Wizards keeps supporting it we the possibilities only grow.

@LordSnow I did not even know this Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle even existed, but hell does it look scary. Must have been in a cycle with Emeria, The Sky Ruin.

I will definitly try to add them than, but it might take some time, because I really loathe it to work on a mana base...

We are kinda lucky, that we sit in the same car as Jund, Junk and Dega, the all out Midrange approaches to the G/B/x decks. Everything they try and is really powerful, might just find the way into our decks. One could say, that we are to poor for Tarmogoyf, but like to play the removal suit! :D

And you are right Kolaghan's Command, Zulaport Cutthroat and Liliana, Heretical Healer  ^Flip are very recent editions. I actually thought about adding the new Liliana, but I always wanted to have Liliana of the Veil and play her in a deck, that fits thight to her devilish attitude and arrogant good looks...

@LordDerrien Yup, its in Scapeshift. Some scary shit. It seems worth it if you can fit them in.

And we are lucky, lots of choices and not forced into Tarmogoyf. Its a nice sweet spot.

The New Lili is definitely worth a try. With Doomed Traveler or Mogg War Marshal she can be just insnae. And way cheaper than Liliana of the Veil.

Westvale Abbey  ^Flip is another big new one! Crackling Doom seems nice as well.

@LordSnow Indeed the new Liliana, Heretical Healer  ^Flip seems nice and maybe I will pick her up after rotation, but at the moment Sword of Light and Shadow does the same and in my opinion better, but that is a matter of taste. Her Lifelink for example and token when she flips are not to be undervalued.

The only reason I could pick up Liliana of the Veil was me going out of Standard and seeling a big number of cards I had not played in years. She was definitly worth it and if they reprint her, I do not care. The card is a flavor and value win and I will propably never sell her. She also makes Crackling Doom kinda redundant, which I do not really like, because I love my foil version, which sadly got kicked out of the Sideboard (Bogles really should not be a problem).

An alternative to Ghost Quarter may als be Crumble to Dust, also a new card. Not to speak Westvale Abbey  ^Flip. That one will only go up, because it can go in every token and creature deck, that floods the board. Also sacrificing five creatures while a Blood Artist effect is out creates the possibility of drain 5 and swing in for 9 with Ormendahl, the Profane Prince, not only dealing 14 damage, but also gaining us 14 life.

@LordDerrien Yup, 14 can be a huge swing and can probably finish the game. Its not even that difficult to set up. And you may even still have a left over spirit or two afterwords too. Definitely worth being at least a one-of.