[EDH / Commander] Athreos Aristocrats

[SirHerpaderp]

Athreos Value Arictocrats: I gladly appreciate your advice and tips

https://deckstats.net/decks/112347/1255057-athreos-aristocrats-prototype

[Judaspriester]

Hmm.. in stead of more tokens, I would prefere ETB/LTB trigger that make your opponents think about paying 3 life in stead of giving the creature back to your hand. Plaguecrafter is a good example for this.
The other option would be more token generators and some stuff that generates value out of them like Teysa, Orzhov Scion.

If you want to drain you opponents slowly with your aristocrats, cards that deny life gain like Erebos, God of the Dead, Archfiend of Despair or Tainted Remedy could be useful.

[SirHerpaderp]

Hey Judaspriester! I swapped out the Basilica Bellhaunt for more Carddraw in form of Greed (it's more expensive in term of CMC than Aruel's  Blood Fast, but the usage is cheaper and I might get rid of Razaketh for an Altar of Dementia or a Smothering Abomination if he performs to slow. What doe you think of those changes? If the token guys are wasted, i might cut them as well, but for now i think they could deliver a nice balance between aristocrat fodder due to their recursion and Athreos Triggers.

[Judaspriester]

Cutting the Basilica Bell-Haunt is a good idea, it was okay, but not great.

Hmm.. the problem, at least for me is, that you want to try 2 strategies, tokens and aristocrats. I agree with you that orzhov usually needs some food for sacrifice effects, but i think the deck would be stronger if you focus more on one of the strategies. Mentor of the Meek for example is nice for a token strategy, but only okay for aristocrats.

Btw, what about Diabolic Intent? Its the cheapest (moneywise) of the good black tutors and usually you shouldn't care much about the additional cost.

Altar of Dementia is only interesting for you, if you can easily combo off to mill your opponents in one turn. otherwise it wouldn't have that great effect, since its the only mill card. Smothering Abomination seems better.

Razaketh is a great card, but hes damn expensive manawise. I think the decision on him depends a little on your playgroup. At long games he's fine, since you can tutor very cheap after you got him out. But if the group tends to combo off around turn 6 (or even earlier), its a wasted slot, since you usually don't get the necessary mana to play him, until the game is over.

[SirHerpaderp]

Revision 16

Added/removed cards:
-1 Imperious Oligarch
+1 Orzhov Enforcer

[SirHerpaderp]

Revision 19

Added/removed cards:
+1 Marsh Flats
+1 (SB) Corpse Knight

Changed amounts:
-1 Plains

[Red_Wyrm]

Hey just throwing this out there becauase it would be a totally different deck if you did this. Shadowborn Apostle is great with Athreos because you are either doing so good damage or you are getting to use their ability multiple times. I would be willing to bet though that your opponents would pay the 3 life for at least 1 of them though so you can't do it right away again by paying 7 to drop 6 and use the ability. That is where Secret Salvage comes in

But it looks like you are doing the aristocrats idea (which is totally fine).

You're already running Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth, so why not crypt ghast? It isn't as comboy as Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth and Cabal Coffers, but it is pretty kewl.

If Razaketh turns out to be too slow, Grave Titan might be a decent replacement in terms of power level. It doesn't do the same thing though. Maybe replace spawning pit with Grave Titan? It is a lot more mana but Spawning pit seems like it requires so much to get going. Also Sun Titan wouldn't be a bad idea. Both of those Titans have ETB effects as Judaspriester pointed out are good to have with your commander. And if your opponents don't give them back to you, you have your own reanimate package.

Entomb and Reanimate are wonderful cards, either together or by themselves, and Unburial rites seems like a good card as it can be used twice.

Ophiomancer is one of my favorite black token generators, along with bitterblossom (expensive) and Ogre Slumlord.

Okay so I run greed and Necropotence in my Ayli, Eternal Pilgrim deck and I much prefer Necropotence because it is half the life and no mana. Trust me the "draw backs" that is has aren't noticeable at all. Instead of drawing 1 card on your turn, before your opponent's endstep you activate necropotence to fill your hand back up to seven. If there is a specific card you are looking for, you can dig really deep. i drew 30 cards off it in a turn, looking for Teferi's Protection because my opponent had cast mystical tutor for cyclonic rift.

And if you are going to run necropotence, i have to suggest Bolas's Citadel too because it is SOOOOOOOOOOO good. This card has single handedly won me the game multiple times. And with necropotence, you can exile the top card if it is a land.

Pitiless Pontiff would be a nice sac outlet, not that you don't already have plenty. The deck looks fun. I would add a few one shot draw effects like sign in blood, but that is because I absolutely love the flavor of paying life for cards. Using your life as a resource, so that is just me.

[SirHerpaderp]

Revision 20

Added/removed cards:
+1 Day of Judgment
+1 Talisman of Hierarchy

Changed amounts:
-1 (Main) +1 (SB) Black Market
-1 (Main) +1 (SB) Fellwar Stone

[SirHerpaderp]

Hey Red_Wyrm! at first: Thank you for all the helpful advice I decided not to go with an apostle based atempt on athreos since i wanted a less linear gameplan of always tutoring up the same stuff and goind for the same strategy, so i decided to got with the aristocrat theme with a slight reanimation toolbox (in case my opponents continue to refusing to send my creatures back to my hand) instead.

After yesterdays games I decided to include a Necropotence since I found my self lacking a tiny bit of non creature based draw and got a copy a few days ago (+ the card is way to good not to play). I originally included Crypt Ghast, but needed some room for Yawgmoth, Thran Physician. The Ghast is a nice ramp, but turned out to be way to insecure and on top I rarely knew what to do with all the mana (since most of the cards are relatively cheap).

The Spawning Pit is mainly included since it's a free sac outlet which I prefer way more than costed ones. All in all I had some decent success with this deck so far, but it needs a lot more games to find out what's missing or not working out. I'll keep you updated!

[SirHerpaderp]

Revision 24

Changed amounts:
+1 (Main) -1 (SB) Kaya's Wrath
-1 (Main) +1 (SB) Vindictive Vampire

[SirHerpaderp]

Revision 25

Added/removed cards:
+1 Barren Moor
+1 Secluded Steppe

Changed amounts:
-1 Plains
-1 Swamp

[SirHerpaderp]

Revision 26

Changed amounts:
+1 Plains
-1 Swamp

[CleanBelwas]

Damn, I just ordered an Athreos yesterday to build an Aristocrats deck. I was kind of undecided on how to build it, but this list looks sweet. What fortunate timing. Thanks for the inspiration!

[SirHerpaderp]

Damn, I just ordered an Athreos yesterday to build an Aristocrats deck. I was kind of undecided on how to build it, but this list looks sweet. What fortunate timing. Thanks for the inspiration!

Hey CleanBelwas! It's nice that you like my list!Thanks for the compliment. Since it's my most recent deck it does need a little more of playtesting, but so far it rolled pretty promising! Still a little bit unsure about the land distribution tho since I have more black cards in generall but more white cards I want to play early. Other than that it went quite well, so give it a try!  

[CleanBelwas]

Thanks man, I'm really excited to play it.

One thing I'm a little unsure of is what I'd prefer my opponents to do with the Athreos triggers. Do I want them to feel like they need to take the three or do I want them to give me the creature back.

In your experience, what do you find people tend to do? Are they usually more willing to pay the life or more willing to let you have the creatures back? (Obviously this will depend on the creature in question, I mean just from a general stand point).

I know in my play group I have one person who doesn't really buy in to the whole "life is a resource" thing, so I can probably reliably target him for things I want back, but where I'm a little undecided is what to dedicate that last 10% of the deck too once I've sorted out all the ramp and card draw and what not.

Currently I'm torn between a reanimation package so that I can always get things back regardless of their choices, or a drain and gain package, partly to keep their life totals low enough that the decision becomes more pressured and partly because it gives me more resource for things like Bolas's Citadel and Greed. It's difficult to know which is going to be the better option without knowing which way the triggers will tend to go.

Like I say, I only ordered it yesterday so haven't had chance to play test it, so some feedback based on your own experiences would be massively appreciated.

Thanks again. Great deck!