I did mean the vault, thanks. I used to play blood artists in rb zombies and they're fantastic, but between them and the pilgrim, I'd rather use the pilgrim for sideboard slots (as vs aggro I would keep the original cotp plan). I wonder about moment of heroism too, as I am still running 4 reckoners in my 75 and one of them blocking with moment of heroism feels like it'd be a blowout vs aggro.
Took 1st tonight in a small tournament of about 14 people. Four rounds. Beat Naya Humans, Bant Control, and a version of our deck that was running more mid-range cards like Olivia Voldaren and Chandra the Firebrand, then BUG aggro.
Anything aggro has been the most difficult match for me. With that in mind, I cut a lot of the cards that are just too slow against aggro, and went with a more human-centric aggro approach. Boros Reckoner was the first to go to the sideboard, because I could never reliably cast him until turn 4 if I played an early Cavern of Souls to get my humans out. Lingering Souls is another card that I absolutely love, but also decided to take out of the mainboard. Too much trample coming through with Rancor or Ghor-Clan Rampager, and ultimately, I felt like it was too slow. Lastly, I got rid of Blood Artist entirely. This hurts my soul, because that card does major work in a deck like this. But alas, there are more aggressive things I'd rather be doing for two mana.
Brought into the mainboard to help with aggro were Nearheath Pilgrim and High Priest of Penance. The former is awesome, being able to give you some early lifegain and buff your Champion of the Parish. He tends to draw removal from aggro also, which is nice. The latter usually just frustrates red-based aggro and slows them down.
For removal, I took out Orzhov Charm. I simply don't want any removal that's going to drop my life total down. Three Tragic Slip and Blasphemous Act is plenty for my liking.
I went with Slayers' Stronghold over Vault of the Archangel if only because it's cheaper to activate. I rarely had four mana available to use the latter, and I like the abilities of the former a bit better in this deck.
Blind Obedience is also great against aggro. I wish I could find room for more.
The deck I had been piloting since RTR is very soft to Junk Rites, and I really couldn't fix that without making it soft to everything else in the meta, so I jumped ship and started playing Aristocrats last week.
I play 100% on mtgo, so first and foremost I wanted a build that can beat aggro and Junk Rites, here's the reasoning for some of my choices:
I went with Reckoners over Silverblades, since they're better in almost every matchup other than Junk Rites and Control, and I haven't seen a Silverblade 'crats build yet that can outrace Naya Blitz anyways. They allow me to run B. act as well.
No Cavern of Souls, I don't have as much of a tribal theme, and the only matchup I would even want it in is Esper to cast Falkenraths safely. It just mucks up the manabase. I kind of don't understand why so many Arist. lists run more than 2 of these unless you play in a control heavy meta or you're almost completely tribal.
2x Doomed Traveler, 2x Gather The Townsfolk, 3x Lingering Souls. I really like this mix. Gather is better than Traveler in some cases since you can double boost a champion, provide two bodies instantly, and feed 2 to Falk. Doomed is better in some cases since you can get Skirsdag going faster with it, and it leaves an evasive body. Basically I think that if you're the beatdown, you want gather, if you're not, you want traveler.
No Orzhov charm. I don't understand the love for this card either. Its bad vs. aggro, and do you really want to take 6 to destroy an AOS that can just be recurred? I understand that it can be used as a combat trick to recur Traveler and protect/boost Falk. but I don't think that's enough to justify it. I dunno, maybe I'm wrong. Running only 2x traveler makes it an easy cut though.
Alms Beast/Rally The Peasants/Electrickery. Alms Beast is obviously for aggro. Its better than Faithmender, since it doesnt die to volley, ultimate priced etc, and it actually kills whatever it blocks along with being a threat on its own. For god's sake, don't block a Reckoner with it though. Rally the Peasants is for Junk Rites/Control, it can win games out of nowhere with all our tokens, and helps give us some much needed speed vs. Rites. Electrickery is primarily for Junk Rites, but is good in the mirror and Vs. Naya Blitz as well. Worst case scenario, its a non-morbid T. Slip, best case scenario you just turned a Craterhoofed board into a lone 6/6 Trampler, instead of an 11/11 trampler and 4 6/6s.
Anyways, I'm kind of looking for comments on my build, since you guys have been playing this deck longer than have. I'm especially curious as to how you guys deal with Junk Rites.
My SB plan for them is usually:-2 Skirsdag, -3 Tragic Slip, -1 B. Act, -2 Reckoner, -1 Doomed Traveler, +2 Purify The Grave, +2 Slaughter Games, +1 Rally The Peasants, +1 Mark of Mutiny, +1 Electrickery, +2 O-ring.
The most success I have had against them is some combination of Slaughter games targeting AOS, and stealing and attacking with Tusks before sac.ing them. Slip is really only good against dorks, and I need ways to deal with a resolved AOS if they hard cast it, hence O-rings. I've won games due to Rally and Electrickery against them too, and I think Purify is really the best way to deal with the GY, its the only thing they don't see coming (other than Rakdos charm), and it provides CA.
I'm not sure if I'm siding out correctly though. Skirsdag can help the aggro angle, but is a useless late topdeck, and requires a decent amount of board state to get going, and a single AOS usually ruins that plan. Reckoner is good vs. Tusks/healers/beasts, so maybe I'm cutting too many. Knight of Infamy is a good 2 drop that can't be AOS'd, and can usually swing through unless they have a tusk or a Troll on board, but maybe he should be cut instead of a Reckoner? I dunno. Any ideas?
Thanks for reading my book. haha. comments would be great.
@NoHeavenNoHell - Try a 1 of sever the bloodline in sb for junk rites. I find exiling angel of serenity and being able to flash it back for the next one has won me alot of games.
Actually I came here today to talk about sideboarding in the current metagame. Basically Aristocrats plays like a hybrid aggro/midrange deck with added resilience. This means our worst matchup's tend to be Hyper Aggro decks such as Naya Blitz as well as endgame decks such as any reanimator.
For reference this is my standard aristocrats list.
1. Nearheath Pilgrim VS Knight of Infamy: Im constantly switching between the two. Problem is that Knight of Infamy can hose the worst and most common matchup, Naya Blitz. Meanwhile Pilgrim is generally a better overall choice against all other Aggro decks.
Q: Which one would you play in the current metagame?
2. Silverblade VS Obzedat: Because of aggro in the current metagame alot of decks have begun running pillar of flame as a 2-3 off again or from the sb. When running Nearheath Pilgrim nothing is more insane than going Champ-> Pilgrim -> Paladin. However, Obzedat has won many control matches and dead board states by himself. Some decks are even siding in specific answers to him.
Q: Does Silverblade Paladin stay in this meta? If not what does he get replaced by?
3. Skirsdag High Priest: This guy seems to only be in the deck these days as a sort of Spellskite or something. This guy literally never lives till my next untap, even if he does he requires another 2 drop (Cartel) and possibly another turn (Lingering Souls) in order to come online and do anything. Looking at my replays, I have only made demons in 2 games.
Q: Is this guy worth keeping around just to eat removal and serve as further 2 drop?
4. Removal and Interactions: So im finding that Tragic Slip has some natural Synergy in this deck. Ive tried running 3/4 and found its too situational to be the main removal. As for Charm, I feel like its only in here because it has 2 relevant effects. Yet both effects seem extremely weak to me. I almost never bring back anything with it and the enemy cards we need removed are the ones with 5+ toughness (costing us 5 life). I feel overall our ability to interact with our opponent is already limited to 5 cards and yet 3 of them seem to be undesirable in the situations when we do need removal.
Q: Is it time to start looking at alternatives to Orhzov Charm? If so what do we have?
Next up is redesigning my Sideboard for the next major event. The metagame will of course shift a little after Dragons Maze.
Basically my current SB is meant to deal with Control. With the shift to Aggro and Rites I think I need some more options for those matches. Besides Blashemous Act (which I do not like..) nothing in my SB really helps against aggro. Pacifism is for reckoners and rites decks basically.
The suggested cards are ones commonly sideboarded by fellow aristocrats players. I don't believe any of them help against aggro or rites.
Q: What are you sideboarding against the aggro match. Also which cards do you all commonly side out (I'll reveal my outs after)
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@NoHeavenNoHell - Try a 1 of sever the bloodline in sb for junk rites. I find exiling angel of serenity and being able to flash it back for the next one has won me alot of games.
Actually I came here today to talk about sideboarding in the current metagame. Basically Aristocrats plays like a hybrid aggro/midrange deck with added resilience. This means our worst matchup's tend to be Hyper Aggro decks such as Naya Blitz as well as endgame decks such as any reanimator.
For reference this is my standard aristocrats list.
1. Nearheath Pilgrim VS Knight of Infamy: Im constantly switching between the two. Problem is that Knight of Infamy can hose the worst and most common matchup, Naya Blitz. Meanwhile Pilgrim is generally a better overall choice against all other Aggro decks.
Q: Which one would you play in the current metagame?
2. Silverblade VS Obzedat: Because of aggro in the current metagame alot of decks have begun running pillar of flame as a 2-3 off again or from the sb. When running Nearheath Pilgrim nothing is more insane than going Champ-> Pilgrim -> Paladin. However, Obzedat has won many control matches and dead board states by himself. Some decks are even siding in specific answers to him.
Q: Does Silverblade Paladin stay in this meta? If not what does he get replaced by?
3. Skirsdag High Priest: This guy seems to only be in the deck these days as a sort of Spellskite or something. This guy literally never lives till my next untap, even if he does he requires another 2 drop (Cartel) and possibly another turn (Lingering Souls) in order to come online and do anything. Looking at my replays, I have only made demons in 2 games.
Q: Is this guy worth keeping around just to eat removal and serve as further 2 drop?
4. Removal and Interactions: So im finding that Tragic Slip has some natural Synergy in this deck. Ive tried running 3/4 and found its too situational to be the main removal. As for Charm, I feel like its only in here because it has 2 relevant effects. Yet both effects seem extremely weak to me. I almost never bring back anything with it and the enemy cards we need removed are the ones with 5+ toughness (costing us 5 life). I feel overall our ability to interact with our opponent is already limited to 5 cards and yet 3 of them seem to be undesirable in the situations when we do need removal.
Q: Is it time to start looking at alternatives to Orhzov Charm? If so what do we have?
Next up is redesigning my Sideboard for the next major event. The metagame will of course shift a little after Dragons Maze.
Basically my current SB is meant to deal with Control. With the shift to Aggro and Rites I think I need some more options for those matches. Besides Blashemous Act (which I do not like..) nothing in my SB really helps against aggro. Pacifism is for reckoners and rites decks basically.
The suggested cards are ones commonly sideboarded by fellow aristocrats players. I don't believe any of them help against aggro or rites.
Q: What are you sideboarding against the aggro match. Also which cards do you all commonly side out (I'll reveal my outs after)
I dunno, Sever is an option, but I have very little wiggle room in my SB as is, and Sever really wouldn't be used in any other matchups. 4 mana is a lot to ask for a removal spell in this deck, and god forbid 7.
My SB against aggro is -2 Conscripts -1 Mark of Mutiny. +2 Alms Beast, +1 Electrickery(Naya) or +1 O-ring (non-naya). I don't run Orzhov charms, I dislike them and have a nagging feeling a lot of people include them just because of the sweet play the guy pulled with it in the PT and because everyone else has it in their lists. Skirsdag is a must answer for aggro actually, if they don't kill it you're going to start making flying 5/5 bricks within a turn or two.
Why Pacifisms? Especially against Rites and Reckoner? Morbid Slip kills Reckoner, and pacifism against Rites seems absolutely useless since they can just blink stuff with Restos. One of the best things you can do vs. Rites is steal and sac. Thrags, maybe put Mark of Mutiny in the SB?
The list I posted above is constructed 100% to deal with aggro and rites specifically, so maybe test that build out. I've had way more success against those two archetypes with that list than with the trad. Arist. lists.
I am considering Electrickery as a 2 of. Im not sure exactly what you mean about your deck countering aggro though. You have additional 1-1 removal. However, the main thing about aggro atm is its ability to drop 2 creatures a turn (otherwise it would fold to jund)
Really need some sideboard tech that can 2-1 or better their creatures. Atm this is blasphemous act... except that comes online turn 4 and only if you also have 2+ creatures and then it wipes yourself also... and sucks against other aggro running reckoner.
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I am considering Electrickery as a 2 of. Im not sure exactly what you mean about your deck countering aggro though. You have additional 1-1 removal. However, the main thing about aggro atm is its ability to drop 2 creatures a turn (otherwise it would fold to jund)
Really need some sideboard tech that can 2-1 or better their creatures. Atm this is blasphemous act... except that comes online turn 4 and only if you also have 2+ creatures and then it wipes yourself also... and sucks against other aggro running reckoner.
Alms Beast. I've been running him in some other decks since GTC came out and he bricks everything against aggro. He's extremely hard to remove - exile effects, Sever, Seles. Charm, Murder, morbid Slip get rid of him, but Blitz and R/x aggro don't run any of those. He doesn't trade with anything either, if they attack into you, they're losing a guy every turn, and if you have some tokens out too, its a bad position for them to be in. He sucks against Reckoner though.
Save spot removal for the big problems (Medic, Hellrider, etc), chump block with tokens, and if you can drop a Reckoner/Alms Beast early, you really shouldn't have a problem. Blasphemous act is still good, but I wouldn't rely on it, you'll be down to 6 life by the time you can cast if thats you're only out.
I really haven't had too much problems with aggro, if you have to mull 1-2x, and they have a god hand, obviously there's not much you can do about that, but other than those cases its held up well.
Silverblade Paladin paired with either one of the Aristocrats can win you some good games man.
Yeah, I just barely lost a mirror match in a daily to an Aristocrats build with Silverblade, g2 I was down to 8 by turn 4.
That build looks really weak to aggro and spot removal though, am I wrong about this? You can explode very quickly with the right draws, but without either aristocrat on board (or a KOI vs. white) the paladin seems pretty weak.
Sideboard:
2 Mark of Mutiny
2 Obzedat, Ghost Council
2 Rhox Faithmender
1 Sever the Bloodline
1 Cathedral Sanctifier
2 Slaughter Games
2 Sorin, Lord of Innistrad
2 Tragic Slip
2 Vampire Nighthawk
MVP's:
Skirsdag High Priest
Knight of Infamy
LVP's:
Cathedral Sanctifier
Cavern of Souls
Sever the Bloodline
Moving forward, I would cut the Cathedral Sanctifier for the 4th Skirsdag High Priest, since beating Naya Humans and Junk Rites is easier when you have 5/5 demons.
Cavern of Souls screwed me over a lot, so I'm at 2 and apparently Jacob Van Lunen is playing 0 Cavern of Souls (his list is on 4 Boros Reckoner).
Understand, Dredge is not really a Magic: The Gathering deck. When a card is playable in it, it doesn't mean it's a tournament playable card. It means it's playable in whatever crazy fantasy world that Dredge operates in.
I had a 3-1 finish tonight. My only loss was to Naya Humans, and only because I got mana screwed. Mulligan down to four cards round one, five cards round two. Never drew additional lands and just got stomped. I've never actually lost to Naya Humans before, and I'm fairly certain if I'd seen more than three lands in two rounds, I wouldn't have lost. I did beat UWR control, the mirror, and ironically, another Naya Humans.
Why debate on Knight of Infamy vs. Neaheath Pilgrim? Run both. It works great. If ever debating between the two, the Knight usually goes first, unless the deck isn't fast aggro or UWR control or anything running a lot of burn. Exalted is pretty meh, in my opinion, and protection from white seems pretty redundant when the deck is named after a creature that has protection from whatever you want. Most of the time, he's just beefing up an Aristocrat to go in for a solo attack. Running more Silverblade Paladin does essentially the same thing.
Nearheath Pilgrim and High Priest of Penance were two of the first additions I made to the stock list. They're why I keep beating aggro, and why I've never lost to the mirror.
Running 4 is another reason I've never lost to the mirror.
Slayers' Stronghold is a fantastic utility land. See above. It just works so much better than Vault of the Archangel. Jacking up an Aristocrat is priceless, and the haste really makes it easier to keep the pressure on control decks after a board wipe.
Orzhov Charm is bad. It was one of the first cards I cut, and I can't imagine using it again. I simply cannot be losing life against aggro, and that's where I want the removal the most. Bouncing Doomed Traveler is mediocre at best, and I've never used the bounce option. 3-4 Tragic Slip is enough. When that isn't, there's Blasphemous Act.
Cavern of Souls is at its best when you have uncounterable Vampires and Spirits. However its at its worse when you can't keep up mana for tricks like Tragic Slip, Orzhov Charm or falling off curve when you can't cast a Vampire Nighthawk.
That being said, I think 2 is a good number, since that keeps the deck away from clunky hands that have too many Cavern of Souls for mana.
The best way to beat the control decks is getting to 4 mana to cast your boom booms (Falkenrath Aristocrat and Sorin are very difficult for control decks to handle). At 5 mana you can start slamming Obzedats and Zealous Conscripts if your opponent is Bant control or Esper Planeswalkers.
Combining some early pressure and then dropping the hammer on them with a 4 or 5 mana bomb is why Aristocrats is excellent versus slow decks like UWx Control and some Midrange variants.
Understand, Dredge is not really a Magic: The Gathering deck. When a card is playable in it, it doesn't mean it's a tournament playable card. It means it's playable in whatever crazy fantasy world that Dredge operates in.
I like the idea of blood artist in the deck. However with junk rites at the top it seems unwise to allow your deck to be hosed by rest in peace so hard. This is the main reason sam blacks original list only ran 2 skirsdrag imho.
I think intangible virtue/Assemble could be fairly good from the sb though.
Im gonna go play a few hundred games with it this similar list though and see if its on to something.
Deck seem to just go all in the its sac synergy so decided to go brimstone over searing for that "extra reach"
EDIT: Feels like playing last years B/R zombies but weaker and with a gimmicky reckoner combo that any deck could throw in for no reason. Definitely a lot weaker overall than the original lists. Blood artist is also not the card to be playing with a 2-3 pillar making its way back into every list.
"10/1/2012 While Rest in Peace is on the battlefield, abilities that trigger whenever a creature dies won’t trigger because cards and tokens never reach a player’s graveyard."
Cavern of Souls is at its best when you have uncounterable Vampires and Spirits. However its at its worse when you can't keep up mana for tricks like Tragic Slip, Orzhov Charm or falling off curve when you can't cast a Vampire Nighthawk.
That being said, I think 2 is a good number, since that keeps the deck away from clunky hands that have too many Cavern of Souls for mana.
The best way to beat the control decks is getting to 4 mana to cast your boom booms (Falkenrath Aristocrat and Sorin are very difficult for control decks to handle). At 5 mana you can start slamming Obzedats and Zealous Conscripts if your opponent is Bant control or Esper Planeswalkers.
Combining some early pressure and then dropping the hammer on them with a 4 or 5 mana bomb is why Aristocrats is excellent versus slow decks like UWx Control and some Midrange variants.
I noticed your two 4-0s on mtgo-stats lately with your list, good job sir.
Whats your SB strategy vs. aggro and Junk Rites respectively, if you don't mind me asking?
I noticed your two 4-0s on mtgo-stats lately with your list, good job sir.
Whats your SB strategy vs. aggro and Junk Rites respectively, if you don't mind me asking?
Yah I have a few questions to add also... Wouldn't mind seeing some replays vs aggro where you use the High Priest. I see some people claiming its the MvP of the deck. Yet I removed him after 30 games straight of no demons...
1. SB vs Aggro? (No solutions found for me yet...)
2. SB vs Junk Rites? (2x Slaughter games, 2x Purify the Grave for me)
3. Vampire Nighthawk with our mana base?
4. Have you tried Nearheath Pilgrim? (Ended a game yesterday at 111 life. Opponent got up to 60 with bant control. Eventually beat him down. Would have lost without Nearheath)
5. Why is Knight of Infamy good? Seems alot weaker than Nearheath or Blood Artist or even more Paladins.
5. Has anyone considered basically the same list as now but with blood artist over high priest or knight?
Basically having trouble with Aggro.
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Yah I have a few questions to add also... Wouldn't mind seeing some replays vs aggro where you use the High Priest. I see some people claiming its the MvP of the deck. Yet I removed him after 30 games straight of no demons...
1. SB vs Aggro? (No solutions found for me yet...)
2. SB vs Junk Rites? (2x Slaughter games, 2x Purify the Grave for me)
3. Vampire Nighthawk with our mana base?
4. Have you tried Nearheath Pilgrim? (Ended a game yesterday at 111 life. Opponent got up to 60 with bant control. Eventually beat him down. Would have lost without Nearheath)
5. Why is Knight of Infamy good? Seems alot weaker than Nearheath or Blood Artist or even more Paladins.
5. Has anyone considered basically the same list as now but with blood artist over high priest or knight?
Basically having trouble with Aggro.
1. If its Naya Humans, I side out some number of Lingering Souls and a Falkenrath or two. I bring in extra Tragic Slips, Rhox Faithmender, extra Skirsdags and extra Nighthawks. If its RG Aggro, I do the same SB as Naya Humans, but I bring out Knight of Infamies as well (not sure if right).
2. I bring in Slaughter Games (sometimes only 1), extra Tragic slips, extra Skirsdags and Mark of Mutinies against Junk Rites. I bring out Orzhov Charms and Silverblade Paladins versus Junk Rites. I also bring out a Falkenrath or two if I think or know they are playing Lingering Souls.
1 and 2. Basically you want to keep up pressure against those two match ups, so that when you cast or top deck boom booms, like Zealous Conscripts or Falkenrath, you win on the spot. I also made the mistake of siding out Conscripts for Obzedat against aggro and that is wrong, since it is much better to steal their Flinthoof Boar or Frontline Medic for a turn than playing an Obzedat and being exposed to a bunch of tricks(Ghor Clan Rampager, Boros Charm, Frontline Medic trigger, etc. )
3. Nighthawk works in my mana base since I am playing extra black sources. Basically its a WB deck splashing Falkenrath Aristocrat and Zealous Conscripts.
4. I tried 2 Nearheath Pilgrims in my SB last night and it won me game 3 against Rg aggro when my Falkenrath Aristocrat started gaining me 4 life a turn. He did not have the removal for my Pilgrim as I drew the Pilgrim after he spent all his removal on my Skirsdags and Silverblade Paladins.
5. Knight of Infamy ranges from ok, to great. It trades with a creature or removal spell, after you gave one your 1 drops exalted for extra damage to race. Protection from White gives you extra win percentages versus UW/x control decks, Junk Rites builds leaning on 1GW creatures, and it holds back Champion of the Parish pretty well. But its mostly the exalted trigger that gives this deck a chance to race aggro decks.
6. I also played Aristocrats Take 2 (Jacob Van Lunen won a PTQ last weekend if it and Brad Neslon top8'ed Saturday's SCG Open with it). The Blood Artists were indeed powerful and the SB plan of Intangible Virtue with Lingering Souls and Sorin was great when it assembled. The deck is more powerful than a normal Aristocrats deck, but the deck is a bit too heavily built to beat aggro decks and the topdecks are slightly worse. Of course I could have been SBing and playing it incorrectly.
At this point I would rather play a normal Aristocrats list than Aristocrats Take 2, since I'm more familiar and I think it provides me with more chances to outplay my opponents, instead of hoping to combo them with Blood Artist/Boros Reckoner and Blasphemous Act.
For what its worth, using my other account (JWangWantsMOARFoWs), I went 3-1 in a DE with Aristocrats Take 2(losing to Jund in Round 4) and I went 3-1 in the next DE with a normal Aristocrats list (losing to Naya Midrange from a loose keep game 1 and a mull to 5 game 2.) Earlier, I 0-2ed dropped a PTQ and 1-2 dropped a Premeir Event with Aristocrats Take 2, due to some misplays on my part.
Understand, Dredge is not really a Magic: The Gathering deck. When a card is playable in it, it doesn't mean it's a tournament playable card. It means it's playable in whatever crazy fantasy world that Dredge operates in.
Yah I have a few questions to add also... Wouldn't mind seeing some replays vs aggro where you use the High Priest. I see some people claiming its the MvP of the deck. Yet I removed him after 30 games straight of no demons...
1. SB vs Aggro? (No solutions found for me yet...)
2. SB vs Junk Rites? (2x Slaughter games, 2x Purify the Grave for me)
3. Vampire Nighthawk with our mana base?
4. Have you tried Nearheath Pilgrim? (Ended a game yesterday at 111 life. Opponent got up to 60 with bant control. Eventually beat him down. Would have lost without Nearheath)
5. Why is Knight of Infamy good? Seems alot weaker than Nearheath or Blood Artist or even more Paladins.
5. Has anyone considered basically the same list as now but with blood artist over high priest or knight?
Basically having trouble with Aggro.
1. I keep the maindeck tuned to deal with aggro. I posted my list a few pages back. I find the most useful cards against aggro to be Nearheath Pilgrim and High Priest of Penance. For the sideboard, Blind Obedience is also quite helpful.
2. Slaughter Games is too slow. I've played at least three matches against Humanimator that have me in an infinite loop by turn 4. Going to try Tormod's Crypt or some other solution.
5. Knight of Infamy is good for the exalted triggers, but that's about it. Pushing through an unblockable double-striking Cartel Aristocrat hurts a lot more if there are a few exalted triggers applying. Honestly though, this is a card I'm looking to replace. Protection from white is redundant when your entire deck revolves around a creature that can have protection from any color you want. As to running more Silverblade Paladin the biggest failing in the stock list is a lack of 4 of these, in my opinion. There's no reason not to have four of this guy.
5. (6?) Yes. I've been posting about Blood Artist since page 2. He's great. He wins games. But aggro is the hardest match up for me, and he's not so great there. I'd almost always rather be dropping a human or something else. Nearheath Pilgrim does a lot of work gaining life, and I'm thinking about trying to squeeze in Vizkopa Guildmage to have access to the second ability, which is about as close to a Blood Artist type effect you can get on a human body. Three mana to make your Nearheath Pilgrim bonded human army that much more threatening, or to double the speed of your Obzedat, Ghost Council clock? Seems relevant.
If aggro is giving you trouble that Nearheath Pilgrim isn't solving, I suggest trying High Priest of Penance. Where High Priests are concerned (Skirsdag/Penance) he's the clear winner for the aggro match up. Most of the time he's on the board, your opponent won't block him. He gets extra annoying if he's exalted. Blind Obedience is also a lot of help.
When playing against aggro decks, you should try to nickel and dime them for damage so that eventually your Falkenrath Aristocrats, 5/5 demons, Spirit Tokens and Zealous Conscripts win the game.
Its a difficult balance between attacking and using 1/1s to chump block, but if anyone had experience with playing Faeries when it was legal its a lot like balancing your Bitterblossom tokens between attacking and blocking.
Understand, Dredge is not really a Magic: The Gathering deck. When a card is playable in it, it doesn't mean it's a tournament playable card. It means it's playable in whatever crazy fantasy world that Dredge operates in.
Understand, Dredge is not really a Magic: The Gathering deck. When a card is playable in it, it doesn't mean it's a tournament playable card. It means it's playable in whatever crazy fantasy world that Dredge operates in.
Sounds good. With Aristocrats failing to make any major top 8's in the recent PTQ's im really interested in seeing someone more experienced playing it.
(no top 8's as far as i've seen, could be wrong)
Seems like the major players are still Naya Blitz, UWR Midrange and Junk Reanimator. On a side note, the 2x purify the grave combined with slaughter games has been winning me retarded amounts of games vs reanimator... Still no good solution for Naya Aggro. Ive gone up to 3 Caverns and removed nighthawks. Cavern is invaluable now that UWR has switched to running 3-4 maindeck counters. (See Gerry Thompson's recent list.)
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Getting back into MTGO maybe, depending on the cost
I did mean the vault, thanks. I used to play blood artists in rb zombies and they're fantastic, but between them and the pilgrim, I'd rather use the pilgrim for sideboard slots (as vs aggro I would keep the original cotp plan). I wonder about moment of heroism too, as I am still running 4 reckoners in my 75 and one of them blocking with moment of heroism feels like it'd be a blowout vs aggro.
4 Champion of the Parish
4 Doomed Traveler
4 Cartel Aristocrat
4 High Priest of Penance
4 Knight of Infamy
3 Nearheath Pilgrim
4 Silverblade Paladin
4 Falkenrath Aristocrat
2 Zealous Conscripts
3 Tragic Slip
Lands: 24
4 Godless Shrine
4 Blood Crypt
3 Sacred Foundry
4 Clifftop Retreat
3 Dragonskull Summit
3 Isolated Chapel
2 Cavern of Souls
1 Slayers' Stronghold
2 Obzedat, Ghost Council
2 Sorin, Lord of Innistrad
4 Lingering Souls
2 Blasphemous Act
3 Boros Reckoner
2 Blind Obedience
Thoughts:
Anything aggro has been the most difficult match for me. With that in mind, I cut a lot of the cards that are just too slow against aggro, and went with a more human-centric aggro approach. Boros Reckoner was the first to go to the sideboard, because I could never reliably cast him until turn 4 if I played an early Cavern of Souls to get my humans out. Lingering Souls is another card that I absolutely love, but also decided to take out of the mainboard. Too much trample coming through with Rancor or Ghor-Clan Rampager, and ultimately, I felt like it was too slow. Lastly, I got rid of Blood Artist entirely. This hurts my soul, because that card does major work in a deck like this. But alas, there are more aggressive things I'd rather be doing for two mana.
Brought into the mainboard to help with aggro were Nearheath Pilgrim and High Priest of Penance. The former is awesome, being able to give you some early lifegain and buff your Champion of the Parish. He tends to draw removal from aggro also, which is nice. The latter usually just frustrates red-based aggro and slows them down.
For removal, I took out Orzhov Charm. I simply don't want any removal that's going to drop my life total down. Three Tragic Slip and Blasphemous Act is plenty for my liking.
I went with Slayers' Stronghold over Vault of the Archangel if only because it's cheaper to activate. I rarely had four mana available to use the latter, and I like the abilities of the former a bit better in this deck.
Blind Obedience is also great against aggro. I wish I could find room for more.
Last, I'm trying to make room for Rally the Peasants.
I definitely advocate the human-based approach, and really like running 4 of just about everything. Makes the deck a lot more consistent.
Here's where I'm currently at:
2x Doomed Traveler
4x Cartel Aristocrat
2x Knight of Infamy
2x Skirsdag High Priest
4x Boros Reckoner
4x Falkenrath Aristocrat
2x Zealous Conscripts
2x Gather The Townsfolk
3x Lingering Souls
3x Tragic Slip
1x Dreadbore
1x Ultimate Price
1x Blasphemous Act
1x Mark of Mutiny
4x Godless Shrine
4x Blood Crypt
4x Sacred Foundry
4x Isolated Chapel
4x Clifftop Retreat
3x Dragonskull Summit
1x Vault of the Archangel
2x Obzedat, Ghost Council
2x Slaughter Games
2x Purify The Grave
2x Oblivion Ring
1x Mark of Mutiny
1x Curse of Death's Hold
1x Electrickery
1x Rally the Peasants
1x Boros Charm
I play 100% on mtgo, so first and foremost I wanted a build that can beat aggro and Junk Rites, here's the reasoning for some of my choices:
I went with Reckoners over Silverblades, since they're better in almost every matchup other than Junk Rites and Control, and I haven't seen a Silverblade 'crats build yet that can outrace Naya Blitz anyways. They allow me to run B. act as well.
No Cavern of Souls, I don't have as much of a tribal theme, and the only matchup I would even want it in is Esper to cast Falkenraths safely. It just mucks up the manabase. I kind of don't understand why so many Arist. lists run more than 2 of these unless you play in a control heavy meta or you're almost completely tribal.
2x Doomed Traveler, 2x Gather The Townsfolk, 3x Lingering Souls. I really like this mix. Gather is better than Traveler in some cases since you can double boost a champion, provide two bodies instantly, and feed 2 to Falk. Doomed is better in some cases since you can get Skirsdag going faster with it, and it leaves an evasive body. Basically I think that if you're the beatdown, you want gather, if you're not, you want traveler.
No Orzhov charm. I don't understand the love for this card either. Its bad vs. aggro, and do you really want to take 6 to destroy an AOS that can just be recurred? I understand that it can be used as a combat trick to recur Traveler and protect/boost Falk. but I don't think that's enough to justify it. I dunno, maybe I'm wrong. Running only 2x traveler makes it an easy cut though.
Alms Beast/Rally The Peasants/Electrickery. Alms Beast is obviously for aggro. Its better than Faithmender, since it doesnt die to volley, ultimate priced etc, and it actually kills whatever it blocks along with being a threat on its own. For god's sake, don't block a Reckoner with it though. Rally the Peasants is for Junk Rites/Control, it can win games out of nowhere with all our tokens, and helps give us some much needed speed vs. Rites. Electrickery is primarily for Junk Rites, but is good in the mirror and Vs. Naya Blitz as well. Worst case scenario, its a non-morbid T. Slip, best case scenario you just turned a Craterhoofed board into a lone 6/6 Trampler, instead of an 11/11 trampler and 4 6/6s.
Anyways, I'm kind of looking for comments on my build, since you guys have been playing this deck longer than have. I'm especially curious as to how you guys deal with Junk Rites.
My SB plan for them is usually:-2 Skirsdag, -3 Tragic Slip, -1 B. Act, -2 Reckoner, -1 Doomed Traveler, +2 Purify The Grave, +2 Slaughter Games, +1 Rally The Peasants, +1 Mark of Mutiny, +1 Electrickery, +2 O-ring.
The most success I have had against them is some combination of Slaughter games targeting AOS, and stealing and attacking with Tusks before sac.ing them. Slip is really only good against dorks, and I need ways to deal with a resolved AOS if they hard cast it, hence O-rings. I've won games due to Rally and Electrickery against them too, and I think Purify is really the best way to deal with the GY, its the only thing they don't see coming (other than Rakdos charm), and it provides CA.
I'm not sure if I'm siding out correctly though. Skirsdag can help the aggro angle, but is a useless late topdeck, and requires a decent amount of board state to get going, and a single AOS usually ruins that plan. Reckoner is good vs. Tusks/healers/beasts, so maybe I'm cutting too many. Knight of Infamy is a good 2 drop that can't be AOS'd, and can usually swing through unless they have a tusk or a Troll on board, but maybe he should be cut instead of a Reckoner? I dunno. Any ideas?
Thanks for reading my book. haha. comments would be great.
Standard:
RW Boros devotion/Purphoros combo
RGB Jund Midrange
Modern:
WB Martyr.proc
Actually I came here today to talk about sideboarding in the current metagame. Basically Aristocrats plays like a hybrid aggro/midrange deck with added resilience. This means our worst matchup's tend to be Hyper Aggro decks such as Naya Blitz as well as endgame decks such as any reanimator.
For reference this is my standard aristocrats list.
4 Champion of the Parish
4 Doomed Traveler
3 Nearheath Pilgrim OR Knight of Infamy
4 Cartel Aristocrat
2 Skirsdag High Priest
2 Silverblade Paladin OR Obzedat, the Ghost Council
4 Boros Reckoner
4 Falkenrath Aristocrat
2 Zealous Conscripts
3 Lingering Souls
3 Orzhov Charm
2 Tragic Slip
// Lands
2 Blood Crypt
2 Cavern of Souls
4 Clifftop Retreat
4 Godless Shrine
4 Isolated Chapel
1 Plains
4 Sacred Foundry
2 Vault of the Archangel
1. Nearheath Pilgrim VS Knight of Infamy: Im constantly switching between the two. Problem is that Knight of Infamy can hose the worst and most common matchup, Naya Blitz. Meanwhile Pilgrim is generally a better overall choice against all other Aggro decks.
Q: Which one would you play in the current metagame?
2. Silverblade VS Obzedat: Because of aggro in the current metagame alot of decks have begun running pillar of flame as a 2-3 off again or from the sb. When running Nearheath Pilgrim nothing is more insane than going Champ-> Pilgrim -> Paladin. However, Obzedat has won many control matches and dead board states by himself. Some decks are even siding in specific answers to him.
Q: Does Silverblade Paladin stay in this meta? If not what does he get replaced by?
3. Skirsdag High Priest: This guy seems to only be in the deck these days as a sort of Spellskite or something. This guy literally never lives till my next untap, even if he does he requires another 2 drop (Cartel) and possibly another turn (Lingering Souls) in order to come online and do anything. Looking at my replays, I have only made demons in 2 games.
Q: Is this guy worth keeping around just to eat removal and serve as further 2 drop?
4. Removal and Interactions: So im finding that Tragic Slip has some natural Synergy in this deck. Ive tried running 3/4 and found its too situational to be the main removal. As for Charm, I feel like its only in here because it has 2 relevant effects. Yet both effects seem extremely weak to me. I almost never bring back anything with it and the enemy cards we need removed are the ones with 5+ toughness (costing us 5 life). I feel overall our ability to interact with our opponent is already limited to 5 cards and yet 3 of them seem to be undesirable in the situations when we do need removal.
Q: Is it time to start looking at alternatives to Orhzov Charm? If so what do we have?
Next up is redesigning my Sideboard for the next major event. The metagame will of course shift a little after Dragons Maze.
2 Mentor of the Meek
2 Purify the Grave
2 Blasphemous Act
2 Rhox Faithmender
2 Sorin, Lord of Innistrad
1 Sever the Bloodline
2 Slaughter Games
2 Pacifism
1 Curse of Death's Hold
1 Tragic Slip
3 Duress
1 War Priest of Thune
2 Obzedat, Ghost Council
1 Aurelia, the Warleader
Basically my current SB is meant to deal with Control. With the shift to Aggro and Rites I think I need some more options for those matches. Besides Blashemous Act (which I do not like..) nothing in my SB really helps against aggro. Pacifism is for reckoners and rites decks basically.
The suggested cards are ones commonly sideboarded by fellow aristocrats players. I don't believe any of them help against aggro or rites.
Q: What are you sideboarding against the aggro match. Also which cards do you all commonly side out (I'll reveal my outs after)
I dunno, Sever is an option, but I have very little wiggle room in my SB as is, and Sever really wouldn't be used in any other matchups. 4 mana is a lot to ask for a removal spell in this deck, and god forbid 7.
My SB against aggro is -2 Conscripts -1 Mark of Mutiny. +2 Alms Beast, +1 Electrickery(Naya) or +1 O-ring (non-naya). I don't run Orzhov charms, I dislike them and have a nagging feeling a lot of people include them just because of the sweet play the guy pulled with it in the PT and because everyone else has it in their lists. Skirsdag is a must answer for aggro actually, if they don't kill it you're going to start making flying 5/5 bricks within a turn or two.
Why Pacifisms? Especially against Rites and Reckoner? Morbid Slip kills Reckoner, and pacifism against Rites seems absolutely useless since they can just blink stuff with Restos. One of the best things you can do vs. Rites is steal and sac. Thrags, maybe put Mark of Mutiny in the SB?
The list I posted above is constructed 100% to deal with aggro and rites specifically, so maybe test that build out. I've had way more success against those two archetypes with that list than with the trad. Arist. lists.
Standard:
RW Boros devotion/Purphoros combo
RGB Jund Midrange
Modern:
WB Martyr.proc
Really need some sideboard tech that can 2-1 or better their creatures. Atm this is blasphemous act... except that comes online turn 4 and only if you also have 2+ creatures and then it wipes yourself also... and sucks against other aggro running reckoner.
Alms Beast. I've been running him in some other decks since GTC came out and he bricks everything against aggro. He's extremely hard to remove - exile effects, Sever, Seles. Charm, Murder, morbid Slip get rid of him, but Blitz and R/x aggro don't run any of those. He doesn't trade with anything either, if they attack into you, they're losing a guy every turn, and if you have some tokens out too, its a bad position for them to be in. He sucks against Reckoner though.
Save spot removal for the big problems (Medic, Hellrider, etc), chump block with tokens, and if you can drop a Reckoner/Alms Beast early, you really shouldn't have a problem. Blasphemous act is still good, but I wouldn't rely on it, you'll be down to 6 life by the time you can cast if thats you're only out.
I really haven't had too much problems with aggro, if you have to mull 1-2x, and they have a god hand, obviously there's not much you can do about that, but other than those cases its held up well.
Standard:
RW Boros devotion/Purphoros combo
RGB Jund Midrange
Modern:
WB Martyr.proc
Yeah, I just barely lost a mirror match in a daily to an Aristocrats build with Silverblade, g2 I was down to 8 by turn 4.
That build looks really weak to aggro and spot removal though, am I wrong about this? You can explode very quickly with the right draws, but without either aristocrat on board (or a KOI vs. white) the paladin seems pretty weak.
Standard:
RW Boros devotion/Purphoros combo
RGB Jund Midrange
Modern:
WB Martyr.proc
5-2'ed the Premier Event tonight. I lost round 1 to an opponent who promptly 0-2ed and dropped to demolish my breakers.
Round 1: Naya Humans Loss
Round 2: Naya midrange Humans Win
Round 3: Naya Humans Win
Round 4: Junk Rites Win
Round 5: Naya Humans Win
Round 6: UWR Flash Win
Round 7: Naya Humans Loss
4 Doomed Traveler
4 Champion of the Parish
3 Knight of Infamy
4 Cartel Aristocrat
3 Skirsdag High Priest
2 Silverblade Paladin
2 Vampire Nighthawk
4 Falkenrath Aristocrat
2 Zealous Conscripts
2 Tragic Slip
3 Orzhov Charm
3 Lingering Souls
2 Cavern of Souls
4 Blood Crypt
4 Godless Shrine
4 Sacred Foundry
2 Plains
1 Swamp
1 Vault of the Archangel
4 Isolated Chapel
1 Clifftop Retreat
1 Dragonskull Summit
Sideboard:
2 Mark of Mutiny
2 Obzedat, Ghost Council
2 Rhox Faithmender
1 Sever the Bloodline
1 Cathedral Sanctifier
2 Slaughter Games
2 Sorin, Lord of Innistrad
2 Tragic Slip
2 Vampire Nighthawk
MVP's:
Skirsdag High Priest
Knight of Infamy
LVP's:
Cathedral Sanctifier
Cavern of Souls
Sever the Bloodline
Moving forward, I would cut the Cathedral Sanctifier for the 4th Skirsdag High Priest, since beating Naya Humans and Junk Rites is easier when you have 5/5 demons.
Cavern of Souls screwed me over a lot, so I'm at 2 and apparently Jacob Van Lunen is playing 0 Cavern of Souls (his list is on 4 Boros Reckoner).
Modern:
Something new every week
Legacy:
Something new everyweek
4 Champion of the Parish
4 Doomed Traveler
4 Cartel Aristocrat
4 High Priest of Penance
4 Knight of Infamy
3 Nearheath Pilgrim
4 Silverblade Paladin
4 Falkenrath Aristocrat
Spells: 5
3 Tragic Slip
2 Lingering Souls
4 Godless Shrine
4 Blood Crypt
4 Clifftop Retreat
3 Dragonskull Summit
3 Isolated Chapel
3 Sacred Foundry
2 Cavern of Souls
1 Slayers' Stronghold
1 Tragic Slip
1 Lingering Souls
2 Blasphemous Act
4 Boros Reckoner
3 Blind Obedience
2 Rest in Peace
2 Obzedat, Ghost Council
Thoughts:
Why debate on Knight of Infamy vs. Neaheath Pilgrim? Run both. It works great. If ever debating between the two, the Knight usually goes first, unless the deck isn't fast aggro or UWR control or anything running a lot of burn. Exalted is pretty meh, in my opinion, and protection from white seems pretty redundant when the deck is named after a creature that has protection from whatever you want. Most of the time, he's just beefing up an Aristocrat to go in for a solo attack. Running more Silverblade Paladin does essentially the same thing.
High Priest of Penance is still a great two drop that both buffs up a Champion of the Parish and annoys your opponent.
Nearheath Pilgrim and High Priest of Penance were two of the first additions I made to the stock list. They're why I keep beating aggro, and why I've never lost to the mirror.
Silverblade Paladin should be an auto 4 of. I'm never sad to see this guy, and the opponent always is. Bonded with either Aristocrat or a Nearheath Pilgrim jacked up on a Slayers' Stronghold, he's awesome.
Running 4 is another reason I've never lost to the mirror.
Slayers' Stronghold is a fantastic utility land. See above. It just works so much better than Vault of the Archangel. Jacking up an Aristocrat is priceless, and the haste really makes it easier to keep the pressure on control decks after a board wipe.
Orzhov Charm is bad. It was one of the first cards I cut, and I can't imagine using it again. I simply cannot be losing life against aggro, and that's where I want the removal the most. Bouncing Doomed Traveler is mediocre at best, and I've never used the bounce option. 3-4 Tragic Slip is enough. When that isn't, there's Blasphemous Act.
Boros Reckoner works best in the sideboard. I'd rather have the maindeck mostly human to capitalize on Cavern of Souls and Champion of the Parish.
Some things I'd like to try:
Rally the Peasants
Thrill-Kill Assassin
Frontline Medic
EDIT - To the above poster. What would you do against control if you cut your Cavern of Souls? This card is the only chance I have against control.
That being said, I think 2 is a good number, since that keeps the deck away from clunky hands that have too many Cavern of Souls for mana.
The best way to beat the control decks is getting to 4 mana to cast your boom booms (Falkenrath Aristocrat and Sorin are very difficult for control decks to handle). At 5 mana you can start slamming Obzedats and Zealous Conscripts if your opponent is Bant control or Esper Planeswalkers.
Combining some early pressure and then dropping the hammer on them with a 4 or 5 mana bomb is why Aristocrats is excellent versus slow decks like UWx Control and some Midrange variants.
Modern:
Something new every week
Legacy:
Something new everyweek
I think intangible virtue/Assemble could be fairly good from the sb though.
Im gonna go play a few hundred games with it this similar list though and see if its on to something.
4 Cartel Aristocrat
4 Doomed Traveler
4 Falkenrath Aristocrat
4 Lingering Souls
4 Blood Crypt
2 Clifftop Retreat
4 Godless Shrine
4 Isolated Chapel
1 Plains
4 Sacred Foundry
2 Zealous Conscripts
3 Tragic Slip
4 Skirsdag High Priest
4 Blood Artist
2 Blasphemous Act
2 Brimstone Volley
4 Dragonskull Summit
Deck seem to just go all in the its sac synergy so decided to go brimstone over searing for that "extra reach"
EDIT: Feels like playing last years B/R zombies but weaker and with a gimmicky reckoner combo that any deck could throw in for no reason. Definitely a lot weaker overall than the original lists. Blood artist is also not the card to be playing with a 2-3 pillar making its way back into every list.
Rest in Peace rulings
"10/1/2012 While Rest in Peace is on the battlefield, abilities that trigger whenever a creature dies won’t trigger because cards and tokens never reach a player’s graveyard."
Since nothing goes to the GY nothing ever dies. No morbid triggers. Also truns off blood artist, lingering souls etc
I noticed your two 4-0s on mtgo-stats lately with your list, good job sir.
Whats your SB strategy vs. aggro and Junk Rites respectively, if you don't mind me asking?
Standard:
RW Boros devotion/Purphoros combo
RGB Jund Midrange
Modern:
WB Martyr.proc
Yah I have a few questions to add also... Wouldn't mind seeing some replays vs aggro where you use the High Priest. I see some people claiming its the MvP of the deck. Yet I removed him after 30 games straight of no demons...
1. SB vs Aggro? (No solutions found for me yet...)
2. SB vs Junk Rites? (2x Slaughter games, 2x Purify the Grave for me)
3. Vampire Nighthawk with our mana base?
4. Have you tried Nearheath Pilgrim? (Ended a game yesterday at 111 life. Opponent got up to 60 with bant control. Eventually beat him down. Would have lost without Nearheath)
5. Why is Knight of Infamy good? Seems alot weaker than Nearheath or Blood Artist or even more Paladins.
5. Has anyone considered basically the same list as now but with blood artist over high priest or knight?
Basically having trouble with Aggro.
1. If its Naya Humans, I side out some number of Lingering Souls and a Falkenrath or two. I bring in extra Tragic Slips, Rhox Faithmender, extra Skirsdags and extra Nighthawks. If its RG Aggro, I do the same SB as Naya Humans, but I bring out Knight of Infamies as well (not sure if right).
2. I bring in Slaughter Games (sometimes only 1), extra Tragic slips, extra Skirsdags and Mark of Mutinies against Junk Rites. I bring out Orzhov Charms and Silverblade Paladins versus Junk Rites. I also bring out a Falkenrath or two if I think or know they are playing Lingering Souls.
1 and 2. Basically you want to keep up pressure against those two match ups, so that when you cast or top deck boom booms, like Zealous Conscripts or Falkenrath, you win on the spot. I also made the mistake of siding out Conscripts for Obzedat against aggro and that is wrong, since it is much better to steal their Flinthoof Boar or Frontline Medic for a turn than playing an Obzedat and being exposed to a bunch of tricks(Ghor Clan Rampager, Boros Charm, Frontline Medic trigger, etc. )
3. Nighthawk works in my mana base since I am playing extra black sources. Basically its a WB deck splashing Falkenrath Aristocrat and Zealous Conscripts.
4. I tried 2 Nearheath Pilgrims in my SB last night and it won me game 3 against Rg aggro when my Falkenrath Aristocrat started gaining me 4 life a turn. He did not have the removal for my Pilgrim as I drew the Pilgrim after he spent all his removal on my Skirsdags and Silverblade Paladins.
5. Knight of Infamy ranges from ok, to great. It trades with a creature or removal spell, after you gave one your 1 drops exalted for extra damage to race. Protection from White gives you extra win percentages versus UW/x control decks, Junk Rites builds leaning on 1GW creatures, and it holds back Champion of the Parish pretty well. But its mostly the exalted trigger that gives this deck a chance to race aggro decks.
6. I also played Aristocrats Take 2 (Jacob Van Lunen won a PTQ last weekend if it and Brad Neslon top8'ed Saturday's SCG Open with it). The Blood Artists were indeed powerful and the SB plan of Intangible Virtue with Lingering Souls and Sorin was great when it assembled. The deck is more powerful than a normal Aristocrats deck, but the deck is a bit too heavily built to beat aggro decks and the topdecks are slightly worse. Of course I could have been SBing and playing it incorrectly.
At this point I would rather play a normal Aristocrats list than Aristocrats Take 2, since I'm more familiar and I think it provides me with more chances to outplay my opponents, instead of hoping to combo them with Blood Artist/Boros Reckoner and Blasphemous Act.
For what its worth, using my other account (JWangWantsMOARFoWs), I went 3-1 in a DE with Aristocrats Take 2(losing to Jund in Round 4) and I went 3-1 in the next DE with a normal Aristocrats list (losing to Naya Midrange from a loose keep game 1 and a mull to 5 game 2.) Earlier, I 0-2ed dropped a PTQ and 1-2 dropped a Premeir Event with Aristocrats Take 2, due to some misplays on my part.
Modern:
Something new every week
Legacy:
Something new everyweek
1. I keep the maindeck tuned to deal with aggro. I posted my list a few pages back. I find the most useful cards against aggro to be Nearheath Pilgrim and High Priest of Penance. For the sideboard, Blind Obedience is also quite helpful.
2. Slaughter Games is too slow. I've played at least three matches against Humanimator that have me in an infinite loop by turn 4. Going to try Tormod's Crypt or some other solution.
3. Not crazy about Vampire Nighthawk or any of the non-humans. You get way more mileage out of Champion of the Parish this way, and the mana base using Cavern of Souls is better.
4. Nearheath Pilgrim is great. I run three mainboard.
5. Knight of Infamy is good for the exalted triggers, but that's about it. Pushing through an unblockable double-striking Cartel Aristocrat hurts a lot more if there are a few exalted triggers applying. Honestly though, this is a card I'm looking to replace. Protection from white is redundant when your entire deck revolves around a creature that can have protection from any color you want. As to running more Silverblade Paladin the biggest failing in the stock list is a lack of 4 of these, in my opinion. There's no reason not to have four of this guy.
5. (6?) Yes. I've been posting about Blood Artist since page 2. He's great. He wins games. But aggro is the hardest match up for me, and he's not so great there. I'd almost always rather be dropping a human or something else. Nearheath Pilgrim does a lot of work gaining life, and I'm thinking about trying to squeeze in Vizkopa Guildmage to have access to the second ability, which is about as close to a Blood Artist type effect you can get on a human body. Three mana to make your Nearheath Pilgrim bonded human army that much more threatening, or to double the speed of your Obzedat, Ghost Council clock? Seems relevant.
If aggro is giving you trouble that Nearheath Pilgrim isn't solving, I suggest trying High Priest of Penance. Where High Priests are concerned (Skirsdag/Penance) he's the clear winner for the aggro match up. Most of the time he's on the board, your opponent won't block him. He gets extra annoying if he's exalted. Blind Obedience is also a lot of help.
Its a difficult balance between attacking and using 1/1s to chump block, but if anyone had experience with playing Faeries when it was legal its a lot like balancing your Bitterblossom tokens between attacking and blocking.
Modern:
Something new every week
Legacy:
Something new everyweek
Perhaps thats why I like this deck. Its very hard to sideboard against outside tragic slip .
Im actually thinking of 3 nearheath in the sideboard for aggro. It really only shines against aggro when ive got rhox faithmender on board also.
EDIT: Can you record any replays specifically vs aggro or with good high priest usage?
Modern:
Something new every week
Legacy:
Something new everyweek
(no top 8's as far as i've seen, could be wrong)
Seems like the major players are still Naya Blitz, UWR Midrange and Junk Reanimator. On a side note, the 2x purify the grave combined with slaughter games has been winning me retarded amounts of games vs reanimator... Still no good solution for Naya Aggro. Ive gone up to 3 Caverns and removed nighthawks. Cavern is invaluable now that UWR has switched to running 3-4 maindeck counters. (See Gerry Thompson's recent list.)
Thats why im playing it ;p