My first draft of a deck for Tiny Leaders. The Leader is Athreos, God of Passage, so I decided to build it with a nod to The Aristocrats of INN-RTR standard, with a hint of mono-Black devotion decks from last standard.
Here's some reasons why I included the cards I chose:
Creature: 15
Blood Artist- essential to the aristocrat sub-theme, helping regain life by draining the opponent.
Brimaz, King of Oreskos- great threat while producing things to sac for blood artist/morbid triggers.
Cartel Aristocrat- sac outlet
Champion of the Parish- part of the human sub-theme, but I'm not sure how it'll fare in a format that lacks consistency due to being a singleton format.
Dark Confidant- just good old fashion value/card advantage, that can also swing/be sacrificed.
Doomed Traveler- good blocker/aristocrat value.
Fiend Hunter- removal on a stick
Mentor of the Meek- card draw
Pack Rat- one of the main plans of the deck
Silverblade Paladin- double strike seems decent enough, but I'm not sure.
Sin Collector- information is always good, and I can snag a kill spell possibly.
Skirsdag High Priest- morbid triggers makes a 5/5 flier, what's not to like?
Suture Priest- some life gain from the influx of token creatures
Tidehollow Sculler- see Sin Collector
Viscera Seer- similar to Cartel Aristocrat, but helps fixing draws
Instant: 5
Altar's Reap
Path to Exile
Smother
Swords to Plowshares
Tragic Slip
Just solid, unconditional spot removal for the most part, with a dash of card draw.
Sorcery: 4
Lingering Souls
Raven's Crime
Read the Bones
Toxic Deluge
Lingering Souls for value. Raven's Crime as a repeatable discard spell + another way to dump excess lands (in addition to Pack Rat). Read the Bones is solid card advantage, and Toxic Deluge as unconditional mass removal. Not one sided exactly, but my creatures will probably end up coming back.
Artifacts: 2
Sword of Feast and Famine/Sword of Fire and Ice
Protection from most colors, as well as decent effects.
Enchantments: 5
Bitterblossom
Blind Obedience
Land Tax
Oblivion Ring
Underworld Connections
Bitterblossom, like Lingering Souls, is mainly for value while letting me apply pressure. Blind Obedience helps regain some life, while giving me an edge versus haste creatures/artifact strategies. Land Tax helps accelerate, and got the idea from another deck. Oblivion Ring works as my non-creature removal. Underworld Connections helps me grind out card advantage for the slower match ups.
Land: 18
I think the land base is solid, since the format forces a curve being capped out at 3CMC. If I flood, I can pitch lands to Pack Rat/Raven's Crime, and the lands I chose seem straight-forward. I like the Lighthouse to turn on spot removal against Hexproof creatures, and the Vault to gain back some life I'd be losing from various cards. Mutavault for the synergy with Pack Rat.
The sideboard/maybeboard is a work in progress since I haven't had a chance to play the deck yet and see what I want.
