Type: Built Deck
Format (legal 👍) legLegacy
Approx. Value:
$10.54

0 Likes 0 Comments
Avg. CMC 2.4
Card Color Breakdown
Card Type Breakdown

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Main Deck - 60 cards, 19 distinct
Columns
Name  Edition $ Type Cost
Rarity Color
Creature (27)
4 Cartel Aristocrat
$0.16 Creature - Human Advisor
4 Cruel Celebrant
$0.53 Creature - Vampire
2 Disciple of Griselbrand
$0.16 Creature - Human Cleric
2 Doomed Traveler
$0.08 Creature - Human Soldier
2 Doomed Traveler
$0.04 Creature - Human Soldier
2 Maw of the Obzedat
$0.10 Creature - Thrull
3 Pious Evangel // Wayward Disciple
$0.14 Creature - Human Cleric // Creature - Human Cleric
2 Plaguecrafter
$0.26 Creature - Human Shaman
2 Vizkopa Guildmage
$0.38 Creature - Human Wizard
1 Vizkopa Guildmage
$0.40 Creature - Human Wizard
3 Wall of Limbs
$0.14 Creature - Zombie Wall
Instant (3)
3 Midnight Haunting
$0.18 Instant
Sorcery (2)
2 Flesh Allergy
$0.05 Sorcery
Enchantment (4)
2 Spirit Bonds
$0.43 Enchantment
2 Vampiric Rites
$0.16 Enchantment
Land (24)
4 Orzhov Basilica
$0.26 Land
8 Plains
$0.05 Basic Land - Plains
8 Swamp
$0.06 Basic Land - Swamp
4 Tainted Field
$0.19 Land
Sideboard - 0 cards, 0 distinct
No cards here. :(
Scratchpad - 0 cards, 0 distinct
Cards in the scratchpad represent cards that you are considering for this deck, but are not actually in the built deck. They do not count towards the in built decks count shown in your inventory. If you are using the Auto Trade feature, they will be still be marked for trade although cards in your main deck and sideboard will not.
No cards here. :(

Notes
 
Aristocrats deck.
Introduces alternate form cards (double faced), counters, non-basic lands, drain, lifelink.

Tokens Needed:
1/1 White Spirit w/ Flying
---------------------------------------------

This deck highlights the Aristocrats archetype. There are 3 components to the deck mechanism: fodder, "artists", and sacrifice outlets. The strategy is: 1) make creatures, 2) sacrifice our own creatures, 3) win.

The fodder: these are the cards that create our creatures, either as multiples or provide a benefit for us when they die. The most obvious fodder are the Doomed Traveler and Midnight Haunting , which both provide 2 creatures from one spell. Spirit Bonds is repeatable source for sacrifice fodder, and can also serve as a sac outlet (see below).

The "artists": these cards provide benefit to us when our creatures die. Blood Artist is representative of card of this type, and was in the original version of this budget deck. However, the price of the card has prohibitively gone up, and a budget alternative has been printed. Instead we use Cruel Celebrant . It grants us life and more importantly drains our opponent when a creature dies. This life drain is a big part of our win strategy. If we can flip our Pious Evangel  into a Wayward Disciple , then he serves the same role. Aside from the drain effect, the Wall of Limbs also benefits from creatures dying because of the artists (and would be overpowered if it was not a defender). The Vizkopa Guildmage interestingly also fits in this category. If we activate her second ability (when you gain life, opponent loses life), then she effectively doubles the drain effect of the artists.

The sacrifice outlets: these are the cards that provide a way for us to kill our own creatures. Cartel Aristocrat is the namesake card of this archetype, and has a repeatable, no cost sac ability. Protection is a strong ability making this quite a good card. Pious Evangel  and Disciple of Griselbrand can provide a little health when they sacrifice. Maw of the Obzedat is already good because it has a free trigger, but the way that it can pump the rest of the team can make late game combat challenging for the opponent and help stall while our drain triggers whittle away. Flesh Allergy and Plaguecrafter both provide removal when they sac one of our creatures. Vampiric Rites can be very helpful especially late in the game. Finally, Spirit Bonds has an added utility as an expensive but powerful sac trigger.

Maybeboard: There are a lot of good alternative options for this deck. The maybeboard I have here is actually the short list. I won't discuss every card, but there are a few worthy of special mention.

Originally I made the deck with Lingering Souls but it was too overpowered in playtesting, the other decks could not keep up with this card. Spectral Procession is also just a bit too good.

There is a whole subtheme that could be done with humans, including Requiem Angel , Gather the Townsfolk , Skirsdag Flayer , Unclaimed Territory and Avacyn's Collar . I opted to keep it a little simpler, and limited to one token type, as the deck is already complicated enough.

I did want to include a legendary card, but had a hard time finding a good fit. Kambal, Consul of Allocation is the best option, but he is just so strong against the blue deck that I opted not to include him. Ayli, Eternal Pilgrim is much stronger than Disciple of Griselbrand but it just seemed thematically out of place in the deck with its odd ability set. Baird, Steward of Argive would slow down attacking opponents, but the deck already has a pretty good stall game. Teysa Karlov would be a good fit, but is still a little pricey for multiple copies. If it drops in cost, I may remove an evangel and a haunting for two of her.

Death Grasp , and Consume Spirit both have excellent art, and were considered in my first runs of the deck. They gave the deck too much reach compared to the other decks, so I took them out to keep it interesting. I also wanted to include equipment, and considered Blade of the Bloodchief , but this made the original Blood Artist get out of hand way too fast.

Finally, I should mention Exquisite Blood . I really wanted to include this effect, because I don't yet have anything in the beginner decks that "goes infinite". This card, combined with the Vizkopa Guildmage ability causes an endless loop that wins the game. Regrettably, the card is way out of budget and there is no alternative.

The original version had Merciless Executioner , but for some reason the price spiked on this card. Plaguecrafter is a good cheaper substitution.

Rules To Learn
If multiple Cruel Celebrant or Wayward Disciple die at the same time due to a wrath, they all trigger for all of the artists. E.g. 3 artists that die at the same time cause 9 loss/gain life triggers
Pious Evangel  can sac multiple creatures before it transforms, if you activate the ability the second time while the first trigger is still on the stack.

http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/budget-beginner-teaching-decks-7-multi/

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Art is subjective to personal taste. Here are my suggestions for artwork:
Consider Return to Ravnica versions of the land art if you are not going to use original lands with text.
Blood Artist has exceptional art and could be considered, but has become cost prohibitive.
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