This deck is an evolution of the Zombie-based sacrifice deck, most commonly known as "Kamikaze" thanks to Jesse Smith's efforts to push the archetype.
The deck is about direct damage and life drain, pure and simple. The key players are:
Blood Artist - Artist each transfer 1 life from your opponent to you for each creature death on the field. Fielding multiple Artists quickly sets up significant drain.
Geralf's Messenger - The primary soldier for the deck as well as another source of direct damage to the opponent due to his ETB Shock. Undying makes him excellent on the battlefield and also means 4 points of dlrect damage even if he never hits a player before going to the GY.
Gravecrawler - Super-cheap recurring beater that also serves here as key fodder for machine-gun life drain by cyclic sacrifice and recast. A couple of crawlers on the field with Artists and an open sac source can turn every open mana into direct damage.
Dross Hopper and Bloodflow Connoisseur - These are creature-based sacrifice outlets. Both will accept sacs at instant speed as soon as they hit the battlefield as an endgame, or they can operate as part of the army. Connoisseur, since she grows with each sac, can be a source of combat tricks using "block and sac" to feint then overpower a larger opposing creature.
Phantasmal Image and Phyrexian Metamorph - The clones are the Swiss army knife of the deck and are key to its success. They can copy Artists to up the life drain multiplier, make a second sac source, or copy Messengers to add to direct damage and board presence. They also serve as a primary removal strategy for legendary creatures or to copy tough opposing creatures and act as blockers. Metamorph can also copy and thus basically steal or nullify the advantages of opposing artifacts.
Black Sun's Zenith and Killing Wave - At their simplest, they are board sweepers. With Artists on the board, however, either can serve as a wincon by causing mass lifedrain. BSZ can also serve to reverse persistent anthem effects at low casting cost (or reduce the size of the opposition in general). Since it reshuffles after use, it is value-added.
Ghostly Flicker - Blinking synergizes well with this deck. Messengers can be "renewed" while pinging for 2 in the process and key creatures can be protected from removal.
