Summary
Aristocrats is a popular and well-known archetype inMagic: The Gathering. The name is slang for sacrifice decks, and derives from the nickname for an old Standard deck using cards like Falkenrath Aristocrat and Cartel Aristocrat. This is usually a three-pronged strategy, relying on sacrifice outlets, sacrifice fodder, and the pivotal ‘Blood Artist’ effects.
There have been plenty of creatures that bleed your opponents out as creatures die, but Blood Artist popularized the ability, and paved the way for an endless wave of clones and spin-offs. They don’t always gain life, they don’t always hit all your opponents, but one thing is always true: They attack life totals as creatures die.
11Vicious Shadows
Costly, But Deadly
Not all Blood Artists are creatures. In fact, the non-creature versions of these effects are usually more resilient, since they can’t be picked off by creature removal. Vicious Shadows costs an exorbitant seven mana, but it’s a hidden gem for artistocrats decks that can handle expensive spells.
Vicious Shadows counts every creature that dies, and each trigger is usually worth around four to seven damage, maybe more against greedyopponents stockpiling huge hands. Once this enchantment hits the board, players should race to empty their hands as quickly as possible.
10Vein Ripper
Ripping Through Life Totals
Vein Ripper’s what you get when you scale a Blood Artist up to six mana, punishing playershardfor allowing creatures to die, which they don’t always have control over. A four-point life swing oneverycreature death puts you so far out of death’s reach while Ripper’s in play.
Ward is the bloody icing on the cake.Targeting Vein Ripper demands a sacrifice, which in turn triggers Ripper’s ability. If that results in Ripper dying, it’ll trigger again on its own death. Simply killing the Ripper results in four points of damage and four life for you.
9Zulaport Cutthroat
The Runner Up
Zulaport Cutthroat and Blood Artist often come up in conversation together, and there’s debate about which is the preferred aristocrat effect. The back-and-forth isn’t very productive though, since any deck interested in one is likely equally interested in both.
Unlikeits vampiric friend, Cutthroat doesn’t count your opponents' creatures dying. It does, however, affect each opponents' life total on any individual trigger. So a single creature dying under your control is worth three total damage in situations where Blood Artist would only deal one.
8Blood Artist
Perfection From The Beginning
Nothing quite like the original, right? Blood Artist hit the mark when it first released in Avacyn Restored, and even though it was a reworked version of Falkenrath Noble from a few sets before, it perfected the package we now know as the ‘Blood Artist’ ability.
The card contributes pretty much nothing to combat aside from being the occasional chump blocker, but the damage it stacks up from creature combat andremoval spellsmakes up for that. Many versions of this effect came after, but rarely do they count the creatures that die under an opponent’s control as well.
If a board wipe kills Blood Artist at the same time as other creatures, itwilltrigger for itself and each other creature that died at the same time.
Red’s Take On The Formula
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Spiteful Prankster isn’t a particularly innovative card, but it showcases what a mono-red Blood Artist can do. Since it deals damage instead of making opponents lose life, its effect can be amplified with damage doublers like Furnace of Rath and Dictate of the Twin Gods.
Prankster’s also a decent combatant, something that most cards like this can’t claim. A 3/2 with first strike half the time rumbles well enough, adding damage in combat on top of its death triggers. Shame it’s such an obscure card, having only ever been printedin Jumpstart products.
5Bastion Of Remembrance
Blood Artist As An Enchantment
Think of Bastion of Remembrance as a three-mana Zulaport Cutthroat on an enchantment. It’s not as easy to recur since the body it creates is a token, but being an enchantment keeps it safe from a larger swathe of removal and board wipes.
Let Bastion be a lesson tonever skimp on your enchantment removal; it’s a terrible feeling when you board wipe and your opponent’s still left with a key Blood Artist effect in play. There’s also theoutlaw-centricRakish Crew, so you can double up on this effect in a deck built around outlaws.
4Marionette Apprentice
Puppeteering A New Age For Aristocrats
Marionette Apprentice redefines what it means to be a ‘Blood Artist.’ No more must these creatures have negligible stats and sit on the sidelines while other creatures engage in combat. Apprentice can come down as a burly 2/3 for two and attack and block just as well as anything.
On top of that, Apprentice triggers on artifacts hitting the graveyardanddings all of your opponents on each trigger. It’s the next evolution of Blood Artist appropriate for modern Magic, something you’d absolutely expect from a Modern Horizons card.
Grim Prospects For Your Opponents
Syr Konrad has an intimidating novel’s worth of abilities, a hallmark of Throne of Eldraine cards. It triggers on just about any interaction between a creature and a graveyard, even shaving a point off opposing life totals when creaturesleaveyour graveyard. Konrad even fuels itself withan activated abilitythat mills everyone.
A ‘fair’ Konrad sitting in play will usually be worth a decent amount of damage. However, you may also take a combo route, filling your graveyard with creatures, thenexilingyour owngraveyardwith something like Bojuka Bog to chain together a huge number of triggers.
2Elasil-Kor, Sadistic Pilgrim
A Legendary Artist
Elasil-Kor looks like your standard Blood Artist with extra steps, but there’s a key distinction here. Legendary makes this a huge role-player in Commander, where it can lead an aristocrats deck entirely centered on Blood Artist variants. The black and white ones, at least.
Deathtouch is a welcome addition to the package too. Most Blood Artists have weaker bodies meant to offset their powerful effects, but not so with Elas. This Pilgrim isperfectly fine as a 2/2 for two, and deathtouch means it can spar and trade off with just about anything that comes your way.
