The Aristocrats Act 3
So this is the Aristocrats Act 3 mini-primer. Sorry it took so long, but I’m a junior high school teacher and last week was the first week of the new school year.
Inspiration:
Last weekend I played in a GP:T and in the second round I played what appeared to be a mirror match. He had a slow start, but eventually got out a lot of the regular players we expect in Act 1. The game was close, but I was able to edge him out with a well-timed
Zealous Conscripts. Game 2, I sideboarded for the mirror, but on Turn 2 he played a
Blood Artist, rather than a
Knight of Infamy. He got the raised eye-brow from me, and my, WTF bells were going off. He never found the
Blasphemous Act, and I steam rolled when I curved out, but after the match I
asked him about the deck. He had come to the same conclusion that I had, that the deck’s only bad match-up was Naya Blitz. I had been playing the
Boros Reckoner-less version of the deck for weeks, but had recently put my reckoners back in, since Blitz were the only matches I was losing. Blitz also represents about 50% of the meta at my LGS, and I’d estimate 30% of the meta in my city.. Beyond that, I was dedicating 6 sideboard slots to fast aggro, focussing on life gain. However, my opponent had a different approach, and packed the transformational sideboard to make Act 1 into Act 2. I now believe this is the most elegant solution if you have a meta like mine.
Why not play Act 1 or Act 2? Aren’t you just a bad version of those decks?
As I mentioned, my local meta is skewed toward Blitz, and I feel the need to improve that match rather than accepting it as a bad match up when it seems to be the most popular deck here. If Blitz was all I was
concerned with, I would likely just play Act 2. However, my meta also has a heavy Esper presence, which I would estimate at about 25%. In any given GP:T I play Esper twice, and
Burning-Tree Emissarydecks three times. As I’m sure most of you are aware, Aristocrats Act 1 basically can’t lose post-sideboard against Esper. Act 2 is actually really bad against Esper. I don’t want to lose those “Byes” vs Esper. Act 2 on the other hand, is almost auto-win vs. Blitz and fast aggro. The other match-ups in the meta don’t concern me as much, because I am consistently winning them. I believe Act 1 is the better of the two versions against the majority of the field. More importantly, it is a deck I like to play. Act 1 is where I want to be, but without the soft underbelly that fast aggro can take advantage of. It is not as good at Act 2-ing as Act 2 is, but some compromises must be made.
What do you have to give up?
Not a lot. 2 sideboard slots (I used the
GY hate slots, since I never really need them vs. Junk anyway with 3-4 steal effects and 8 sacrifice effects), the 1x odd-ball
Restoration Angel(never liked the one of resto much anyway) and 1 x MB
Zealous Conscripts. Since this is something I typically dislike in multiples, it’s no big deal to me. Z’s RDW last year had it as a 1 of too, so it can’t be totally crazy.
What do you gain?
A deck with no bad match-ups. While the deck likely isn’t as good at Act 2 as Brad Nelson’s Act 2 is, we can’t quite squeeze in the full set of
Lingering Souls/
Skirsdag Highpriest. As I said above, some compromises must be made.
The Deck List
Creatures (28)[deck]
4x Champion of the Parish
4x Doomed Traveller
4x Cartel Aristocrat
3x Knight of Infamy
2x Skirsdag Highpriest
4x Boros Reckoner
2x Silverblade Paladin
4x Falkenrath
Aristocrat
1x Zealous Conscripts
Spells (8)
3x Tragic Slip
2x Orzhov Charm
3x Lingering Souls
Land (24)
3x Cavern of Souls
4x Blood Crypt
4x Sacred Foundry
4x Godless Shrine
4x Isolated Chapel
1x Dragonskull Summit
1x Clifftop Retreat
2x Plains
1x Vault of the Archangel
Sideboard (15)
2x Sorin, Lord of Innistrad
2x Obzedat Ghost Council
4x Blasphemous Act
4x Blood Artist
2x Mark of Mutiny
1x Tragic Slip [/deck]
Sideboarding Guide:
Esper:
-2
Skirsdag Highpriest, -1
Zealous Conscripts, -1
Tragic Slip
+ 2
Sorin, Lord of Innistrad, +2
Obzedat, Ghost Council
Jund:
-4
Champion of the Parish, -3
Knight of Infamy
+2
Mark of Mutiny, +2 [card]Obzedat,
Ghost Council[/card], +2
Sorin, Lord of Innistrad, +1
Tragic Slip
Blitz:
-4
Champion of the Parish, -3
Knight of Infamy, - 2
Silverblade Paladin, - 1
Zealous Conscripts, -1x
Cavern of Souls
+4
Blasphemous Act, +4
Blood Artist, +1
Tragic Slip, +2
Mark of Mutiny(reckoner 5+6.)
RDW / Gruul : See vs. blitz
UWR:
-2
Skirsdag Highpriest, (You: EoT, sac a guy, tap tap tap, make a demon! Them: Untap, Verdict! LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL,You: FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUU) -3
Lingering Souls(because Thundermaw)
+2 [card]Obzedat,
Ghost Council[/card], +1
Tragic Slip, +2
Mark of Mutiny(looking to take Thundermaws)
Junk: Not sure, but I think it depends if you see Lingering Souls in Game 1 or not.
No
Lingering Souls(play aggro):
-2
Orzhov Charm-1
Lingering Souls
+2
Mark of Mutiny, +1
Tragic Slip
With
Lingering Souls(play combo):
-4
Champion of the Parish, -3
Knight of Infamy, - 2
Silverblade Paladin, - 1
Zealous Conscripts, -1x
Cavern of Souls
+4
Blasphemous Act, +4
Blood Artist, +1
Tragic Slip, +2 [
card]Mark of Mutiny[/card]
Mirror: Do not go Act 2 on the play like my opponent did. On the draw… maybe.
-3
Knight of Infamy(dodges
Orzhov Charm, but eats non-morbid
Tragic Slip)
+1
Tragic Slip, +2
Mark of Mutiny.
Bant:
-2
Skirsdag Highpriest (verdict), -4
Champion of the Parish(
Azoruis Charm…yuck)
+2
Mark of Mutiny, +2
Sorin, Lord of Innistrad, +2
Obzedat, Ghost Council.
Do not flashback your
Lingering Souls until they sweep and prepare to GRIND.
Dega Control: See
Jund.
Hope this was helpful. Think about
sleeving it up if you want to try a traditional Aristocrats deck that has a strong Aggro SB plan. Thanks for reading.
