@kingdom2468 Liliana, Heretical Healer  ^Flip used to be a 2-of in this deck, but it got cut for Catacomb Sifter because I found Sifter to just be better in this deck. Liliana is always something I've kept in mind, though. I don't know if this version of the deck really wants it since it can be hard to cast on curve because of the mana base, but I'll put it back in the maybe board for now.

Why isn't there one Mountain in your land base? You've got eight fetch cards that can be cracked to get a Mountain. You only have three cards that can be tapped for red mana. Not good odds.

@PhantomWang Yes, there was a Mountain. I took it out because it was awful to draw. Your math is actually incorrect, though. All 12 fetch lands can get red mana, and there are 3 fetchable red sources. That's 15/25 lands that make red mana. I've never had a problem getting red, it's actually slightly harder to find white.

On the note of the Mountain, would it not be a good idea to have the one in case you need an untapped red source?

@evncrbch That was the thinking when I added done a week or two ago, but in practice it was always pretty terrible. The only main deck red card is Butcher of the Horde, and that comes down on turn 4. Sure, there is Rending Volley in the board, but it's easy enough to just fetch a tapped land on turn 1 if I really need to have it up on turn 2 for some reason. I haven't had a problem with being constrained on red mana, so there is no mountain.

Why did you pick Arashin Cleric over Jaddi Offshoot?

@Shuper Arashin Cleric has an immediate impact on my life total and can kill off opposing creatures like goblin tokens and unprowessed Abbot of Keral Keeps, whereas Jaddi Offshoot has to stick around for a few turns to gain the same amount of life and doesn't ever kill anything.

I'm sure you've already thought of it. But, I would rather liliana over sorin IMO. I've been seeing the U/B aristocrat builds run her and have just been flawless using it. Now obviously being U/B you don't have access to sorin, but the token and bring back seems to be more useful than just the lifegain. With cutthroat and butcher you really shouldn't need additional life gain. +1 anyways, currently building the deck so haven't tested just yet. Plan to by next week at channelfireball :D

Hey I was just wondering if you could give me some advice on my deck since our decks have very similar builds Red Aristocrats. I'm really having a lot of trouble deciding my mana base I don't know if i should keep pain lands or replace them with Wooded Foothills and i don't know if i should put more mountains because i run radiant flames in the main board. Any advice at all is much appreciated

I love it! I think it needs more removal though.

@Thee_Irishman Glad to hear that you're building the deck! The reason I don't currently have Liliana, Heretical Healer  ^Flip in here is that it can be difficult to cast a spell on turn 3, and sometimes even later. If they print a / battle land in Oath of the Gatewatch, that will likely change and Liliana will be able to make the cut. Sorin, Solemn Visitor is not the card I would cut to fit her in, though. His +1/+0 and lifelink ability turns my army of small creatures into a fast clock that's almost impossible to race, so it's staying in here for now. I think a better card to cut would actually be Nantuko Husk, which I often sideboard out.

@thatsuperopguy I would like to have removal, the problem is finding out where to fit it in. Decks like this that are based on heavy synergy often have a hard time playing large amounts of removal because I need a critical mass of cards that work together. I've considered cutting a Nantuko Husk for a fourth Murderous Cut, but I haven't made the switch yet because I feel that the extra sacrifice outlet may be too important.

In terms of removal, you could try either Bone Splinters or Merciless Executioner. Also, would it be worth it to put in a Smothering Abomination?

@Bongzilla420 I ran Bone Splinters for a while, but honestly it was just really bad. Sorcery speed removal just isn't good enough in this metagame, where a Temur Battle Rage can just kill you out of nowhere. Merciless Executioner is great against control and some midrange strategies, but it's quite bad against aggressive decks and Hangarback Walker decks. Smothering Abomination is a great card and I've considered adding it in the past (it is actually in the old Abzan version). I just don't think there is room for it right now.

@thefanatic i would suggest dropping the basic mountain and adding a extra plains and fitting Gideon, Ally of Zendikar in ...the ability make a token can then allow you to either attack with it then sac it.Its always great having a extra token per turn or even a emblem pumping your cretures up 1/1

As much as Artistocrats is already strong, a new card is coming for it in OGW: Nissa, Voice of Zendikar. Although it might be hard to fit in your 4 color version.

Seems like a really fun deck. I have just constructed something similar if you want to take a look at it Abzan-Du Aristocrats and let me know what you think. for some reason I really do like the Grim Haruspex in this genre, it seems to help stabilize things. Opponents dont really like to me cards.

I'm so sad that this deck will not be as good as it was post rotation, Butcher of the Horde was soooo good and I liked so much playing this deck.

@IsatisSnowfox I agree. I had a blast playing this deck, but the rotation definitely killed it. I'm working on GW Company now, since I don't think Aristocrats is possible anymore.

@TheFanatic i'll definitely follow your work since it's the only competitive standard deck that I enjoyed playing so much (:

Apparently Aristocrats are not dead xD

@IsatisSnowfox So I've seen! I totally missed Cryptolith Rite when I made a new version of the deck. Looks great!

I'm so sad it's too late for the gameday xDThough, I slightly like the version with the Butcher xD