How Does This Aristocrats Deck Win?
Commander Deck Help forum
Posted on Nov. 29, 2020, 9:22 a.m. by theindigoeffect
Can someone provide a nuanced explanation of how this deck wins? I know that Ad Nauseam is crucial to the overall strategy.
https://www.moxfield.com/decks/O82jN2a3VUqmGnPjTuZhiQ
Noire_Samhain says... #3
From what I can see and my knowledge of aristocrats, their game plan seems to involve the grindy process of killing off your own creatures to gradually kill with Zulaport Cutthroat and Blood Artist, while abusing Mikaeus the Unhallowed's giving of Undying, Luminous Broodmoth's return to the battlefield ability, and Athreos' own ability. I'm assuming they're also banking on going infinite with Yawgmoth, Thran Physician, Mikaeus, and two non-human creatures (use Yawgmoth's ability to sac one of the non-humans, place a counter on the other, the first comes back with Mikaeus, and then do the same with the other one- it lets you draw as many cards as you have life and/or Blood Artist/Cutthroat people to death since a -1/-1 counter and a +1/+1 counter cancels each other out).
November 29, 2020 9:45 a.m.
GhostChieftain says... #5
They really should add in a Walking Ballista so they only need to get out mikaeus, sac outlet, damage outlet and ballista(cast for 0 mana). Ballista is also just a real good card imo.
November 29, 2020 10:25 a.m. Edited.
theindigoeffect says... #6
Any idea how the deck generates the nececcary mana once Ad Nauseam is in play? I guess it has something to do with Mikaeus, the Unhallowed Springleaf Drum and a sac outlet?
November 29, 2020 10:36 a.m.
To answer theindigoeffect:
Once it can create an endless supply of creatures it can generate mana with any of the following; Carnival of Souls, Ashnod's Altar and Phyrexian Altar. The deck has a number of ways to create very high creature counts to trigger enter the battlefield abilities, leave the battlefield abilities, or sacrifice events.
Once it can generate large numbers of creatures or infinite recursion or infinite mana, it will just bleed you dead with the triggers. Even the commander can go infinite off of any creature sacrifice once your opponent cannot afford the life loss to stop the return to hand trigger. So the deck is filled with punisher creatures or recursion creatures so your opponent is "damned if they do or damned if they don't".
The deck also has multiple ways to win via the storm mechanic by either draining you to death or removing your library from the game.
Basically it has many ways to achieve a recursion or storm engine following a few simple steps:
Step 1: Sacrifice or Cast a creature. Then profiting from sac or cast triggers.
Step 2: Return it to play with a trigger or ability or cast it again when returned to hand. Raising storm count or draining more life or other triggers or abilities.
Step 3: Repeating this process and winning or raising Storm count to win using one of the multiple storm cards.
November 29, 2020 3:55 p.m.
theindigoeffect says... #9
Thanks for such a helpful response. Do the snow lands serve any purpose at all?
November 29, 2020 7:31 p.m.
They only serve as interesting basic land.
I don't see a mechanical purpose for them. And I can't speak for the deck builder, but they may simply represent a "Winter is Coming" or cold harsh world motif for the deck.
November 29, 2020 11:15 p.m.
FormOverFunction says... #11
I think the snow lands are there for fairness, so my natural disaster deck at least has a chance of doing some damage with Cold Snap before I die.
November 30, 2020 1:03 a.m.
Master_Keeby says... #12
Actually, snow lands are usually used in conjunction with Extraplanar Lens in order to prevent opponents who are running non-snow lands from getting the benefit.
December 2, 2020 12:58 a.m.
The decklist the OP asked about is not running Extraplanar Lens.
theindigoeffect says... #2
I couldn't get the hyperlink to work.
November 29, 2020 9:24 a.m.