Overview:

This Esper (WUB) aristocrats deck helmed by Bane, Lord of Darkness focuses on sacrificing creatures to generate value, drain opponents with death triggers, and recur key pieces. The strategy leverages sacrifice outlets like Carrion Feeder and Altar of Dementia, paired with payoff cards like Blood Artist and Revel in Riches. Bane acts as a value engine, offering card advantage or free creature deployment when opponents decline life loss. The deck thrives on layered recursion via Sun Titan, Luminous Broodmoth, and Phyrexian Reclamation, with "hidden commanders" like Teysa Karlov and Drivnod, Carnage Dominus amplifying death triggers.

Primer:

Core Strategy Execution:

1. Early Setup (Turns 1-4): Deploy sacrifice outlets (Carrion Feeder, Bartolomé del Presidio), death triggers (Cruel Celebrant, Elas il-Kor), and value engines (Morbid Opportunist, Midnight Reaper). Use Sol Ring, signets, and Pitiless Plunderer for ramp.
2. Midgame Engine (Turns 5-7): Cast Bane or Teysa Karlov to amplify death triggers. Sacrifice recursive creatures (Reassembling Skeleton, Cult Conscript) to drain opponents and refuel with Phyrexian Reclamation or Gixian Puppeteer. Use Revel in Riches or Gray Merchant of Asphodel as win-con accelerators.
3. Endgame (Turns 8+): Overwhelm with repeated Sun Titan/Reveillark loops, drain via stacked triggers from Drivnod, or win outright with Revel in Riches or Altar of Dementia mill.

Mulligan Priorities:

• Keep hands with 2-3 lands, a sacrifice outlet, and at least one payoff (e.g., Blood Artist + Carrion Feeder).
• Prioritize ramp (Dimir Signet, Sol Ring) in slow hands.
• Avoid hands lacking early plays or with only high-CMC cards.

Key Tips:

• Use Luminous Broodmoth + sacrifice outlets to create infinite flying tokens with Nine-Lives Familiar.
• Altar of Dementia can mill opponents or fuel your own graveyard for recursion.
• Teysa Karlov doubles Revel in Riches triggers, accelerating the alt-win condition.

Weaknesses:

Critical

• Graveyard hate (Rest in Peace, Leyline of the Void) cripples recursion engines and key combos.
• Board wipes reset the board state, forcing slow rebuilds despite recursion.

Moderate

• Stax effects (Torpor Orb, Hushbringer) nullify death triggers.
• Fast combo decks can outpace the incremental drain strategy.

Minor

• Limited stack interaction (only 3 counterspells) struggles against spell-based wins.
• Relies on opponents’ creatures for some triggers (Dictate of Erebos, Revel in Riches).

Most Important Cards:

• Teysa Karlov (Doubles death triggers, enables faster wins)
• Drivnod, Carnage Dominus (Triples death triggers)
• Revel in Riches (Alt-win condition, Treasure synergy)
• Gray Merchant of Asphodel (Massive life swing)
• Sun Titan (Recurs key permanents ≤3 CMC)
• Phyrexian Reclamation (Graveyard recursion engine)
• Pitiless Plunderer (Mana generation from deaths)
• Luminous Broodmoth (Recursion with flying counters)
• Altar of Dementia (Sac outlet + mill win-con)
• Blood Artist (Primary drain effect)

Attribute Ratings:

Speed: 5/10

• Wins typically around turns 9-11 via incremental drain or Revel in Riches. No fast combos, but can threaten earlier with explosive Gray Merchant turns.

Resilience: 6/10

• Redundant recursion (Reassembling Skeleton, Sun Titan) and protection (Luminous Broodmoth) mitigate removal, but graveyard reliance is a liability.

Consistency: 7/10

• Strong card draw (Midnight Reaper, Phyrexian Arena) and multiple overlapping engines ensure access to key pieces.

Interaction: 5/10

• Targeted removal (Swords to Plowshares, Anguished Unmaking) and board wipes (Supreme Verdict) are present but lack countermagic density.

Rating Justification:

This deck operates as a focused aristocrats build with moderate speed (T9-11 wins) and high consistency but falters against graveyard hate and fast combos. Its resilience and synergy align with the "Focused Casual" tier, but slower clock caps its ceiling.

Power level: 4.5 - 5.0