An aggressive deck that can combo out of no where for the finish. It presents a lot of pressure and can really gum up the board, making it difficult to attack though. It is deceptively resilient and non-interactive, making it strong against both control and aggro decks. A lot of draws have the ability to finish on turn five fairly easily, while still interacting with the opponent.
Most importantly, this deck is so much goddamn fun. There are so many tricky interactions and it has such a really high learning curve. And it will surprise you, this deck can be very powerful.
23 lands to have more aggressive draws. You don't want to flood out, but you would also like to hit 4 lands on turn 4.
Ghost Quarter gives me more play against infect, affinity, tron, and some control decks. It has won me many games in this deck. It can even be a desperate mana fixer if you cant hit one of your colors. Kill one of your own lands to go find it if it can change the game.
Westvale Abbey
can randomly flip in this deck giving you a straight up mothafucka, often with some extra value on the side through death triggers. More importantly, it can pump out human tokens in grindy match-ups. I have won more games because of this than from flipping it. It is a great way to keep up pressure, especially after your opponent is out of gas. Sure, use a spell to kill my 1/1 token.
Doomed Traveler is very synergistic one drop. Gives you bodies to sac, a flyer to sneak in with, and is a human which can matter later on for some extra damage. It is also a 1 drop that your opponents will hesitate to bolt, which can let you start chipping away early. This card is one of the things you will be bringing back with Lili the most. That can let her generate insane amounts of bodies. Traveler is so annoying that some people will even Path it. And any Path that isn't saved for an Aristocrat or an Artist is a good path for us.
Bloodsoaked Champion is a more aggressive one drop, gives you a human body to sac, and can easily be brought back later game over and over at instant speed to help combo out. It is a very pesky and resilient threat. It helps you keep up your pressure and starts an early clock. You will see opponents Pathing it just to put an end to El Champion. Which, again, is great.
Viscera Seer gives us access to a one drop aristocrat that can help you fix your draws, which is fantastic. It can really help keep you on curve, and help you keep laying on the pressure. Late game it can help you find the piece you need or just be another body to sack. Being a one-drop is also nice for bringing back with Lili. It is also the only Aristocrat that can sac itself, letting you chump block and sac for a scry. It isn't the best drawing it late. But hey, at least you can sac it to help fix you next draw.
Cartel Aristocrat is one of the namesakes of the deck. It is a two drop aristocrat that forces through damage and is very hard to kill. As long as you have a body to cash in, this thing can reliably sneak in 2 damage over and over and possibly net you artist triggers or spirit tokens as a bonus. Or you can cash in to make this immune to spot removal. It even dodges Anger of the Gods and Pyroclasm. I have only two because drawing multiple is pretty rough.
Blood Artist lets you combo out by saccing a bunch of creatures to finish them off. Things get ridiculous when you have multiples of this effect on the board. It is particularly great in token match-ups or matches where you are trading off creatures. The 0 toughness is a drawback and one of the reasons we only use 2 of them.
Zulaport Cutthroat also lets you combo out. The 1 power is enough make me prefer it over Artist, despite it only being triggered when my creatures die. Mostly all of the creatures that die will be ours though, so that's okay. It is also a Human, which can turn into huge swings later on. Furthermore, Cutthroat gets around Leyline of Sanctity, which is very important distinction from Artist.
Dark Confidant is an absolute beast. Bob becomes public enemy number one when he hits the board. If they can't immediately kill him, then he nets you extra cards. In this deck, you often flip cards that are really worth two (or more) cards, giving you some extra value. He is also another creature with a fairly aggressive body to attack with or sac. On top of all of that, he is a human which is relevant with Falken. It is also nice to be able to bring him back with a Lili or a Kommand. Obviously, Bob is something you want to board out against burn and a lot of really aggro decks. But he is a destroyer against your grindy matchups and control.
Mogg War Marshal is pretty great in this deck. 3 bodies for 2 mana can be a huge deal in this deck. Returning it with Lili or Kommand is just insane value. When you have Artists or Aristocrats around, you got your self a potentially game winning engine. His normal value is worth it alone though. However, it can be one of your slower draws so he does get boarded out often in games where I am trying to push the pace.
Liliana, Heretical Healer
has amazing synergy with this deck. Lili is another human and lets you combo out very hard or at least get a lot of value. Its discard ability is also strong against combo or control decks a lot of the time, while I can just discard something that can be brought back. It is a must answer threat that can take over the game.
Falkenrath Aristocrat is the big finish. This card does work. It is very hard to kill in the deck, since I have a plethera of bodies to sac. It basically only does to Path and Dismember. Falken can get absolutely huge since we are incidentally running so many humans. You can get it to have 7-8 power basically incidentally. This card, combined with a couple bodies and an Artist or two is basically a win nearly every time. If they don't die on the first swing, they usually do by the second.
Lingering Souls for all the value. 4 bodies, 1 card. What more can this deck want? Not only does it give you currency to sac, but you will often just win games by swinging in with the flyers. Most decks have no answer to them.
Kolaghan's Command for even more value and removal. It adds main deck artifact removal as well as a way of removing a small creature and maintaining tempo. It can make the control or combo decks discard an important card. It can even bring back one of your important combo pieces. All of its abilities are highly relevant in this deck.
Mardu gives you access to 16 (or more) insane one drop removal spells in Path to Exile, Lightning Bolt, Fatal Push, and Thoughtseize. You even can have access to Tragic Slip, Inquisition of Kozilek, or Duress if you want. The choices are yours! Feel free to adjust according to your meta. I lean heavily on lightning bolt as its a nice early tempo play and late game it can help me close out if my combo is a few pings short.
SIDEBOARD:
Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet is good against CoCo, burn, zoo, and any other very aggro or creature based decks. He provides lifegain, a beater, extra value, and stops the CoCo combo.
Tidehollow Sculler for combo and control matches. Lets me take whatever card I need and gives me a bear to attack with and a body to sack later. If I want I can sac it with the trigger on the stack so they never get the card back.
Been testing with Grave Pact in the board. So far I have been nothing but impressed. In this deck, Grave Pact can make it nearly impossible for creature decks to beat me. CoCo can't keep enough of a board to combo or beatdown. Zoo is dead in the water. Bogles can't Bogle. Jund and Abzan lose their win cons. Valakut can't attack with their Primeval Titan. Gift's can't get their Elesh on. Nahiri can't Emerkul. After you Grave Pact Doomed travelers become a 2-1. Lingering Souls becomes a board wipe. And the Aristocats govern the battlefield from then on.
Path to Exile for creature match ups.
Ronom Unicorn for Boggles and enchantment removal.
Stony Silence for artifact hate, often against Affinity or G/R Tron.
Thoughtseize is amazing against control or combo decks.
Wear / Tear as extra artifact or enchantment hate.
Maybeboard is full of things people have recommended. I leave them here to show I have thought about them already, so they don't get repeated.
Cards I am bad against: Blood Moon, Spreading Seas, Ugin, the Spirit Dragon, Rest in Peace, Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet, and Sudden Shock.
Been testing it with some friends and a lot of random people online. Here are the results so far:
Total Matches: 58-4
Games: 114-31
vs. Tron - Matches: 2-0 Games: 4-0
vs. Affinity - Matches: 4-0 Games: 8-0
vs. Infect - Matches: 4-2 Games: 8-4
vs. Burn - Matches: 1-0 Games: 2-1
vs. Naya Zoo - Matches: 3-0 Games: 6-3
vs. 8-Rack - Matches: 1-0 Games: 2-1
vs. Selesnya Hatebears - Matches: 1-0 Games: 2-0
vs. Jund - Matches: 1-0 Games: 2-0
vs. Abzan - Matches: 1-0 Games: 2-0
vs. Lantern Control - Matches: 1-0 Games: 2-1
vs. Jeskai Control - Matches: 2-0 Games: 4-2
vs. Azorius Control - Matches: 1-0 Games: 2-0
vs. Esper Control - Matches: 1-0 Games: 2-1
vs. Grixis Control - Matches: 1-0 Games: 2-0
vs. Black Control - Matches: 1-0 Games: 2-0
vs. Jeskai Nahiri - Matches: 1-0 Games: 2-0
vs. Boros Nahiri - Matches: 1-0 Games: 2-1
vs. Merfolk - Matches: 0-1 Games: 1-2
vs. Scapeshift - Matches: 1-0 Games: 2-0
vs. Gruul Valakut - Matches: 0-1 Games: 0-2
vs. Bant Eldrazi - Matches: 1-0 Games: 2-1
vs. Izzet Eldrazi - Matches: 1-0 Games: 2-0
vs. Golgori Elves - Matches: 1-0 Games: 2-1
vs. Selesnya Tokens - Matches: 2-0 Games: 4-2
vs. Seismic Swans - Matches: 1-0 Games: 2-0
vs. Superfriends - Matches: 1-0 Games: 2-0
vs. Kiln Combo - Matches: 4-0 Games: 8-4
vs. Zombie Hunt - Matches: 2-0 Games: 4-1
vs. Rakdos Dragons - Matches: 1-0 Games: 2-0
vs. Deathcloud - Matches: 2-0 Games: 4-2
vs. Black Vampires - Matches: 2-0 Games: 4-0
vs. Gruul Land Destruction - Matches: 2-0 Games: 4-0
vs. Mono-G Stompy - Matches: 1-0 Games: 2-1
vs. Good Ol' Gruul - Matches: 1-0 Games: 2-1
vs. Free Win Red - Matches: 1-0 Games: 2-1
vs. Ironworks Combo - Matches: 1-0 Games: 2-1
vs. Dimir Delver - Matches: 1-0 Games: 2-0
vs. Jeskai Delver - Matches: 1-0 Games: 2-0
vs. Izzet Eminent Domain - Matches: 1-0 Games: 2-0
vs. Jeskai Tokens - Matches: 1-0 Games: 2-0
vs. Jeskai Thing - Matches: 1-0 Games: 2-1
vs. Orzhov Tokens - Matches: 1-0 Games: 2-0
