It is very true, that Skin Invasion  ^Flip is weak to the very popular Path to Exile and less Cryptic Command. Two for one is really bad. Might actually be the only, but also most relevant reason not to play Skin Invasion  ^Flip. Maybe a two-of? You are not going all in on it, but you can still draw it and get value out of it. Another thought might also be, that we sacrifice the enchante creture, before the exile/bounce hits. That would grant us the complete effect.

Well... now I wanna try Bloodsoaked Champion again. I kinda hate you right now, but thats mostly, because your reasoning is rational. What broke the deal for him to me, is his inability to block and that he only shines lategame. There is no lategame in the shop were I play.

Concerning the number of Aristocrats; I kinda loathed it to draw them, if I already had one. Most of the time I already had a hard to remove Cartel Aristocrat out. Every Aristocrat after that one is just not needed. While Falkenrath Aristocrat is awesome, it happened far to often, that Dark Confidant would kill me. Four-of is just to much. Two is where I want to be. All in all, that makes six hard to remove Aristocrats. After all I just need one. Viscera Seer sounds nice with the draw fixing, but he can be removed and is unreliable through taht.

The only reason, that I am heavily investing in Bitterblossom is, because I play eight Blood Artists and Shambling Vent(/Lightning Helix in SB) in my new version. It proved to be fairly sturdy. Two Bitterblossoms can be maintained and three are critical. Just always remember, that you need Aristocrat + Blood Artist + Bitterblossom out.

Maybe remove one fetchland and a Ghost Quarter? Shambling Vent is definitly worth it and can be useful to stabilize in some cases. Not really a new angle of attack, more like a safetynet.

Sadly, I had to drop the swords from the deck. They were awesome, but they got annihilated in my completly aggro dominated meta. It is bad at the moment. I am so close to mainboarding Lightning Helix as a playset...

LordDerrien that is an excellent point about playing around Path. I can wait to commit the Skin Invasion  ^Flip until I already have a sac outlet if I am worried about the path. And it also adds insurance against boardwipes. And this deck is already fairly resistant to that. Could you imagine a board with 2 Spirit tokens 1 with Skin Invasion  ^Flip, a Doomed Traveler, and a Falkenrath Aristocrat. Opponent is UWx control. They obviously need to Supreme Verdict, so they do. I still will have the Falken, a spirit token, and the 3/4.

The inability to block on Bloodsoaked Champion does come up. And that point about your meta is good. My friends love control so an early threat has been strong for me so far. And the way I see it, he isn't there for blocks. My Doomed Travelers, Lingering Souls, and Mogg War Marshals are instead. So El Champion gets to play some fun games. You basically swing with him every chance you get, unless it makes no sense. But often he gets some good damage in if they don't kill him fast, and by the time they do kill him I can get a trigger off artist or a counter for Falken and most likely I will just be able to bring him back instant speed to keep swinging next turn. He is a relentless little bugger. His trigger is easy to get, you only need to attack with one lowly Traveler or Spirit if you want.

That's a fair point about the Aristocrats. Though Falkenrath Aristocrat is sort of my way of hedging the problem of to many Aristocrats. You are never really upset if you already have an aristocrat and you draw a Falken. And if you already have a Falken, then a Cartel at the very least becomes a +1/+1 counter and invulnerability. And Seer of course would at least be a creature to sac and scry with. I have been burned by Bob finding my Falken before, but on a very rare occasion. Usually I can kill Bob before he is a problem, and I usually board out Bob in matches where I am worried about racing.

Also I am totally starting to understand where you are coming from now. I really like the variant of the deck you are taking. So you are committing all in on the Artists and Tokens. With the Bitterblossoms, Lingering Souls and all the Artists. Plus Lightning Helix as an option. That sounds really fun. Your variant is going to be pretty hard to deal with, since it is really reliable and steady. You are just pumping out steady incremental advantage every turn and its really hard to interact with. And the Bitterblossom in addition to Bob makes total sense of why you are hesitant to add Falkenrath as well.

My variant is a bit more on the volatile side. Where you are gaining steady advantage and having a constant attack before the big combo off, I am front loading my attack a bit more aggressively. By going all in on the Falkenrath Aristocrat rather than the Bitterblossom I am focusing less on building up my board and comboing off and a bit more on sneaking early damage in before forcing a big attack and a smaller combo.

This also makes the land suggestions make a ton of sense as well. I am less worried about the average race than you might be, since mine forces the issue a little faster. I am more worried about races with things like infect and affinity. So I am slightly less worried about needing to gain life, as I am about killing that pesky Inkmoth Nexus or the control decks Celestial Colonnade. Since you have Blossom, Colonnades are a non issue for you. I may test with one in place of the Isolated Chapel though. Or maybe one Ghost Quarter. In games I flood, it seems like a nice way to gain advantage or at least have a creature available when I need.

And Honestly, it sounds like Helix might be a solid choice in your meta. Especially with the Blossoms. Adding the steady damage to yourself can be scary, but Helix will mess up their clock and often times give you just the time you need to lock things up. I need to test my version against burn a bit more, but I have a REALLY strong game against Affinity and Zoo already. And I haven't dropped a match against Burn, Deaths Shadow, or Kiln fiend combos yet. Helix has been near the top of the list of things to rotate into my side for a while now though.

Have you considered Spawning Pit as tech against boardwipe?

lagotripha I have not, I actually didn't know that card. Really cool idea. I am going to keep that one in mind. Its literally just an artifact aristocrat that can make creatures... That could be really insane actually. Thanks a ton for the idea! If it doesn't work in this version, that thing would be just insane in a Cryptolith Rite version. That thing could just go off like crazy. You would have soooo much mana to be able to abuse that, and green gives you so many creatures that replace themselves.

How does this deck fare against ad nauseum? or have you got the chance to play against it yet?

@Jzbeast Unfortunately, I have only tested against it once I think, and I believe that was the first time I had ever seen the deck. I am sure I lost but it was before I was recording games so I dont know exactly how they went. I think the deck would fare a bit better now but I would have to test more to be sure. I would probably lose game one, I am not good against fast combo. I got some solid sideboard cards though so games 2-3 would be very interesting. I really want to test it more.

@Lordsnow yea I have been playing with your list against a friend of mine trying a Sliver Company idea and the aristocrats are great, I mean Falkenrath alone is just a brick to the face. But the two decks that scare me the most in modern is infect and ad nauseum. I don't see much to deal with combo in the board and minimal hate towards infect. Have you thought about chalice maybe? Chalice for 1 breaks ad nauseum combo and all pump spells for infect.

@Jzbeast Thanks so much for trying it out! Pretty sweet least right? "Brick to the face" is a great way to describe Falken. That card is an absolute beast. It is so hard to kill and it can just finish the game very quickly.

So far, the infect match actually seems pretty good for this deck. Its hard to block Blighted Agent and Become Immense is very good against us too. With that said, our ability to gum up the board and block anything else is very strong. The 3 main deck Ghost Quarters hose Inkmoth Nexus. Bolt will kill most of their stuff unless they blow a pump spell. Path is great unless they have Vines, but if they are using vines to protect their critter then that saves you 4 infect damage. And if they cant kill you by the time you plop a Grave Pact they essentially cant win. Of course,they will have a random hand that just wins sometimes, but generally this deck has a great infect match up.

Ad Nauseum I would have to learn a lot more about. Right now the best hate I have is the 4 Thoughtseize and 2 Tidehollow Sculler. It may be worth bringing in Ronom Unicorn and Wear / Tear for Phyrexian Unlife as well. Does seem like a really tough match though.

Chalice of the Void is something I have not thought about with this deck. It could be good. I would be a little worried that we have so many one drops though. We wouldn't be able to play things like Doomed Traveler, Bloodsoaked Champion, Bolt, Path, or Thoughtseize. Might still be worth it in certain matches though. Worth some testing at least.

I would probably run more Viscera Seers over Falkenrath Aristocrat, due to it's speed. Bloodsoaked Champion is way too much mana to sink into a card, for reanimator you should run Rally the Ancestors or Return to the Ranks. Skin Invasion is nice, I'd go to 22 lands and 3 Confidants to throw in a couple. Blood Artist is better than Zulaport Cutthroat as it triggers on opponent's creatures deaths as well, so 4 and 2. I would mainboard Kalitas and sideboard Liliana. However, most of the deck looks great!

@Turn8ScornfulEgotist: Those are intersting ideas, though most would not be correct for the deck. If you want speed, 4 of Seer over Falkenrath doesnt make a ton of sense. While seer is 1 drop, it also is not much of a clock at all. Falkenrath is insanely powerful and can finish the game in a turn or two. A few other reasons it is the better 4 of for this deck are:

• Which card is harder to kill?
• Which card is better when you already have an aristocrat?
• Which card is better alone?
• Which card would you rather draw 2 of in a game?
• Which card is a better top deck later on in the game?

As for Bloodsoaked Champion, I would have to agree to disagree. You only have to sink one mana into it and you can put pressure on an opponant turn 1. In must be answered and can return instant speed later on if I run out of creatures. And if I have a falkenrath and an artist out (aka oneone of the the only times I would be machinegunning him, for 4 mana I would be getting 4 damage and gaining 2 life out of a card in my graveyard. That is solid value. Especially since he probably got in their earlier in the game. Not to mention he is an absolute beast vs. Control decks.

Speaking of speed, both Return and Rally are a bit slow for this deck. If I were to drop one turn e or 4 it would be returning almost nothing. Maybe a one drop or a two drop. By the time I am getting a lot of value out of either I honestly should be closing up the game.

If I cut any more lands I would have a lot of trouble playing 4 drops on curve. That means no Falkenrath, less reliable Lingering Souls and probably no chance of Return or Rally. With this deck turn 3 and 4 I want a 3 or 4 drop or to be playing 2 spells in the turn. Need enough mana to do that. Skin Invasion  ^Flip is okay, but it is also asking to for a blow out. You can easily get 2 for 1ed with a Path or something. And a 3/4 doesnt do a ton for me. I most likely would not be flipping it until turn 3 or later and at that point a 3/4 doesnt do a ton. Especially for taking a slot of a non-creature spell. You really only want so many of those. It is also a simole terrible topdeck on a weak board state. You need creatures out already for it to be worth anything at all. Definitely not worth cutting a Bob. Bob is pretty damn great vs anything that isnt super aggressive.

Zulaport Cutthroat and Blood Artist are totally different cards. Neither is "better" than the other. However with this deck, I generally prefer Zulaport. Blood artist cant attack, so unless you are comboing out it usually does a lot less for you. Zulaport generally can sneak on a couple damage and is a human, giving me yet another extra damage when I sack it to Falkenrath. Most of the creatures dying will always be mine. Half my removal doesnt even kill their creature, it exiles it. The only time Blood artist is a better card in this deck is if I am in a tokens match-up where I am trading or against a heavy creature match-up where I have Grave Pact. Basically any other time I would rather take the Cutthroat

Finally, out of curiosity, why would you maindeck Kalitas? Lili has some insanse synergy with the deck and can easily net me 3-4 or even more creatures when I flip her. She is also really powerful against contol decks. Since she both recurs creatures and makes them discard. Unless I am playing against Abzan Combo, Kalitis is basically just a lifelinking 3/4 that very sparingly gives me a 2/2 token. A lot of times I wouldn't even get that. He doesnt do a lot to synergize with the rest of the deck. He is just a nice way to stop their combo. Unless I am missing something?

Any other ideas? Thanks for the input, this stuff always gets me thinking.

hey there, that's one good looking deck you have there.

@dahhahm Thanks! I appreciate it. Please try it out and let me know what you think! This thing is an insanely fun deck and actually pretty damn powerful. I don't have as much time to test it out as I would like, so its great getting other people's feedback.

So let me go ahead and shut down this blood artist/zulaport cutthroat argument. Hands down zulaport is best for this deck and in most cases any deck that is wanting to say out their creatures to kill someone, you know why? magic lesson read the text on zulaport because there is VERY key wording that differentiates the two. Sadly blood artist says the terrible word 'target' meaning that the most ran SB card in modern makes your artist essentially useless. Zulaport on the other hand says 'each' opponent which is ridiculously powerful since almost any deck running white (and some that aren't ha) run leyline of sanctity. THAT IS WHY ZULAPORT IS BETTER BRUHHHH!!!

@Jzbeast Oh yeah, forgot to mention that! That is a huge deal as well. Honestly, the only reason I have the second Blood Artist is because when it is good, it can be stupid good. Against other token deck or against other decks that flood the board or when I have Grave Pact, it can be a game changer.

Not saying artist isn't great, I love the dude. But zulaport is on a whole different level. Wizards printed him to get around leyline, same with manic scribe for mill. Leyline is almost too powerful and now WE have a way around it for some extra beats. BTW my friend is playing a Sliver Company deck and I sided in kalitas and grave pact, combine them with a viscera seer and watch a board state of 8 slivers die at instant speed.... including his mutavault XD

@Jzbeast Yup, thats a great point. I also didn't even notice that about Manic Scribe and I love that card. Good looking out. And dude is that not the most satisfying thing? At first I really underestimated Grave Pact but that thing is a goddamn allstar! Can totally lock out a game. My most memorable one was vs Abzan Company. On the play, turn one Blackcleave Cliffs. Bolt their bird on their turn. Turn 2 Viscera Seer and a Doomed Traveler. Turn 3 Lingering Souls. Turn 4 Grave Pact. Pretty much over on the spot. Gotta love it.

I love your deck man but sadly I don't feel like it can keep up with a lot of the decks that are running the top tiers. I'm going to try tron and see what this next set gives me. I did buy a falkenrath aristocrat in your honor though in case I change my mind! Good luck out there.

Jzbeast Thanks for trying out the deck. Pretty fun at the very least, right? I have had hot and cold experiences against tier 1 decks. I have had excellent success against Affinity, Tron, Zoo, and Infect. But I feel I have a bad match-up against Merfolk and Bogles. And a very shaky match up against Abzan Company. All the rest, I would really need to test a lot more to know about. What were you losing too? It would be helpful info to have.

Fast aggro decks honestly, but I did have fun with it. Add more kalitas he shuts down Abzan easily

It occurs to me that with your sacrifice theme, both Kitchen Finks and Murderous Redcap would be good here.

@KaraZorEl I could see why you would initially think that, but I don't think either have a spot in the deck. Both are nice because they give value and extra bodies, but double white is pretty hard to hit reliably for kitchen finks. It could be an alright sideboard option though. With both cards, I feel like I am just not getting enough. All of my 3 and 4 drops have to do something very serious like give a ton of bodies or be able to finish the game.

Surprised to not see Sengir Autocrat here. 4-drop is high, but getting a 4-for-1 (one of which is human) is nice. Just re-released in Eternal Masters, so it's Modern-legal

@mortilus Just so you know, a lot of things in Eternal Masters are NOT Modern-legal. Sengir Autocrat is, but a lot of the others stuff isn't (ex. Baleful Strix and Bloodbraid Elf). And while Sengir Autocrat is a really cool card, it is basically just a worse Lingering Souls if you think about it. The Serfs having no power is a problem for this deck. The 4-drop slot needs to be reserved for things that can really swing a game. I don't know what I could replace it for with out slowing things down a bit.

im thinking that you should probably try and find a way to bring your path's up to 4 of. or Terminate could work if you're worried about the land (some people don't like giving the acceleration). but i think it's important to have instant speed removal.

i feel like k-mand is good enough to bring up to a 2 or 3 of, but i dont know what would be cut to find room for it. i personally think you only need 3 falk aristocrats, but that might just be personal preference.

good luck with your deck. +1 from me.

@aholder7 You wouldn't be too far off with those thoughts. I used to have all 4 Paths maindeck and only 3 Falkenraths. As well as 2 or 3 K-Mands between the main and side. However, I felt I was drawing too much removal. My Affinity match was already fantastic so I took out the extra K-mands and replaced the sideboard one with the Wear / Tear to bring in enchantment hate. I needed to remove about 2 more removal spells so I chose to take out a couple Paths, since bolt can be used to the face to help me finish them off. So far it has seemed like the right decision but it us up to player preference. I preferred to go the faster (and perhaps slightly riskier) route.

As to the Falkenrath, it just seemed so damn good every time I drew it, I simply had to make it a 4 of. It very often just finishes the game then and there. I also don't like going below 7 aristocrats. Its really important that you get one by turn 4 or so to really "go off".

And thanks! I appreciate all feedback. Try it out sometime, it is a ton of fun.