Overview:

This mono-black deck is a synergistic aristocrats build centered around Sephiroth, Fabled SOLDIER, leveraging creature sacrifice, death triggers, and life drain as its core strategy. Sephiroth acts as both an engine (drawing cards on sacrifice) and a win-con accelerator (transforming after four death triggers to amplify drain effects). The deck floods the board with fodder via tokens and recursive creatures, then sacrifices them to drain opponents with cards like Blood Artist and Zulaport Cutthroat, while enabling explosive turns with altars (Ashnod's Altar, Phyrexian Altar) and value engines like Yawgmoth, Thran Physician. Key themes include forced sacrifice, token generation, and graveyard recursion.

Primer:

Core Strategy Execution:

1. Early Setup (Turns 1-4): Play mana rocks (Sol Ring, Arcane Signet), fodder generators (Gravecrawler, Bastion of Remembrance), and sacrifice outlets (Viscera Seer, High Market). Cast Sephiroth early to start accruing value.
2. Engine Assembly (Turns 3-6): Deploy key drain enablers (Blood Artist, Mirkwood Bats, The Meathook Massacre) and sacrifice-for-value cards (Pitiless Plunderer, Ayara, First of Locthwain). Use forced-sacrifice creatures (Fleshbag Marauder, Merciless Executioner) to disrupt opponents and trigger Sephiroth.
3. Win Execution (Turns 5-9):
   • Drain Loop: Sacrifice multiple creatures to altars/outlets with drain effects on board (e.g., Pitiless Plunderer + Gravecrawler + Phyrexian Altar + Zulaport Cutthroat = infinite death triggers).
   • Overwhelm: Transform Sephiroth via rapid sacrifices, then attack to draw massively and drain with the emblem. Finish with Bolas's Citadel or The Final Days for burst damage.

Mulligan Priorities:

• Keep hands with 2-3 lands (including utility lands like Command Beacon).
• Prioritize early sacrifice outlets (Viscera Seer), fodder (Gravecrawler), or a key engine piece (Yawgmoth, Ayara).
• Avoid hands lacking early plays or without black mana.

Key Tips:

• Accelerate Transformation: Use instant-speed sacrifices (e.g., Village Rites on an opponent's turn) to hit Sephiroth's four-trigger threshold faster.
• Protect Engines: Equip Swiftfoot Boots to Sephiroth or Yawgmoth. Recur key pieces with Buried Ruin or Fight On!.
• Maximize Drain: Pair The Masamune with transformed Sephiroth or Lolth, Spider Queen to double death-trigger emblems.
• Combo Lines: Pitiless Plunderer + Gravecrawler + any free sac outlet (e.g., Viscera Seer) + any drainer = infinite death/life loss.

Weaknesses:

Critical

• Graveyard Hate: Bojuka Bog or Rest in Peace cripples recursion (Gravecrawler, Reanimate, The Final Days).
• Enchantment/Artifact Removal: Losing Bastion of Remembrance, Black Market, or altars severely disrupts the engine.
• Board Wipes: Mass removal (e.g., Damnation) resets the board, outpacing recovery without key draw engines.

Moderate

• Targeted Removal: Killing Sephiroth repeatedly increases commander tax, delaying the strategy.
• Rule of Law Effects: Limits the deck's ability to chain multiple sacrifices/spells per turn.
• Life Gain Decks: Outpaces the incremental drain strategy.

Minor

• Flyers: Limited reach; relies on deathtouch (Ahriman) or The Meathook Massacre for defense.
• Hand Disruption: Forced discards can remove combo pieces, but recursion mitigates this.

Most Important Cards:

• Pitiless Plunderer (Treasure generation, combo enabler)
• Yawgmoth, Thran Physician (Sacrifice outlet, card draw, proliferation)
• Phyrexian Altar (Mana acceleration, combo piece)
• The Meathook Massacre (Board control, global drain)
• Ashnod's Altar (Mana acceleration, sacrifice outlet)
• Blood Artist (Primary life-drain engine)
• Bolas's Citadel (Card advantage, win condition)
• Gravecrawler (Recursive fodder, combo piece)
• Bastion of Remembrance (Token generation, drain)
• Zulaport Cutthroat (Redundant drain effect)

Attribute Ratings:

Speed: 6/10

• Can threaten wins via combo or drain around turns 7-9, but requires significant board setup and lacks fast mana beyond Dark Ritual.

Resilience: 5/10

• Recursion (Gravecrawler, Fight On!) and protection (Swiftfoot Boots) exist but folds to repeated wipes or graveyard exile.

Consistency: 6/10

• Redundant drain effects and fodder generators provide stability, but limited tutors (only Worldly Tutor equivalents) hinder combo assembly.

Interaction: 5/10

• Targeted removal (Snuff Out, Sephiroth's Intervention) and forced sacrifice are present, but lacks counterspells and struggles against noncreature threats.

Rating Justification:

The deck executes a focused aristocrats strategy with synergistic combos and drain, capable of winning via combat or combo by turns 8-10, aligning with Optimized Casual. However, its vulnerability to common disruption (graveyard hate, wipes) and slower setup compared to high-power decks caps its ceiling.

Power level: 5.0 - 5.5