Deck Tech: BG Aristocratz, the terror of Gentry

As you would probably have noticed if you follow the Standard competitive scene, this deck is based on the LSV Pro Tour Madrid List. It’s basically the same list with a more basic mana base and only one Collected Company.  The decks idea is simple, you drop some early creatures (Loam Dryad, blisterpod, Visionary, …), into some midgame creatures (Sifter, Husk, Cutthroat), dominate the board and slowly kill your opponent with small damage (Cutthoat + small attacks).

It’s like one big puzzle, but whether it’s the kind of puzzle you made when you were 4 or a 5000 pieces puzzle which forms a Death Star big enough to run laps around is yet to be seen.  The pieces that fit together are obviously the creatures that bring a friend (Catacomb Sifter, Blisterpod), the cards that have triggers when something dies (Zulaport Cutthroat,  Ulvenwald Mysteries and (again) Catacomb Sifter) and the creature that is a sacrifice outlet (Nantuko Husk). Together they form a machine that creates a lot of damage, card draw, card selection and more creatures. Like some kind of Voltron, but scarier because it is present very near us, at your presumably safe Thursday night Gentry scene.

You don’t need all pieces to be a menace to your opponent, a couple and maybe some multiples are often more than enough. Plus you have a lot of tools to get the pieces you need.

First of all you have Catacomb Sifter, next to being a 2/3 (surviving the fearsome Flaying Tendrils) it also brings with him a Scion token and a trigger on death ability. During the game a lot of your creatures will die (either because they get destroyed or because you sacrifice them, triggering the scry ability and enabling you to dig for the answers you need.

 

Then there is the Duskwatch Recruiter, a card that is omnipresent in the current gentry Meta. Having a total of almost 30 creatures in your deck, this guys activated ability gives you a lot of value and more than often the exact monster you need. Plus a late game top deck that often puts you back in the game after (multiple) board wipe(s).

And last but definitely not least: Ulvenwald Mysteries! The only Uncommon I play less than 4 times, which pains me deeply, cause this card is insanely good and a lot of the time you win games that last longer than the early to mid game. It’s a small Machine on its own.  It’s only due to playtesting with Lars Meeussen, who said to try this card, that I discovered how insanely good it is and how badly this deck needs it. It’s your ultimate card versus control decks and is also often the card that wins the grindy match-ups like the mirror.

Now let’s talk about the rares, although the deck doesn’t rely on them (in Gentry, it’s often bad to build your deck around rares), they have a really big impact on the game.

First, Collected Company. With nearly 30 targets in the deck it’s an obvious choice, that’s why I’m not going to elaborate the choice any further.

Westvale Abbey, your sacrifice outlet when you don’t have Nantuko Husk. Since you play a lot of creatures and extra tokens you’ll easily get 5+ on the board, so why not make all those 1/1’s into a big 9/7 Indestructable, Flying, Haste, Lifelink monster? You’ll probably get more motivated to do so when in the process you drain some life with one or more Zulaport Cutthroats, and make some clues with Ulvenwald Mysteries.

Next up is Liliana, Heretical Healer. Again a 2/3 (I cannot stress enough how important that 3 thoughness is, knowing how much impact Flaying Tendrils and Dead Weight have on the deck), that, when played at the right moment (preferably next to a Nantuko Husk), will give you an extra token and a nifty planeswalker which will give you back any creature that already died this game. The Nantuko Husk, sacrifice Blisterpod, sacrifice scion token, return Blisterpod with Liliana, sacrifice Blisterpod, sacrifice scion token – combo is often more than enough to make such an impact on the board/opponents life total to win the game. Again in combination with some ‘go to the graveyard’-triggers, it’s not hard to imagine how good this is.

As my fourth rare I play Nissa, Voice of Zendikar. This because it’s both good to drop on turn 3 and later when u have a lot of 1/1’s but just not enough to push through. I know that other players such as Lars Meeussen prefere to play Dragonlord Atarka, which is easily splashable because of the Holdout Settlements and Loam Dryads. And some other players prefer to splash Sorin, Grim Nemesis. Since I haven’t tested them (testing rares is difficult in Gentry), I will not be able to give my opinion about them. Just know that the Nissa, Voice of Zendikar is replaceble.

Some of my choices may not appeal to everybody, so here are some alternatives I have considered that are also more budget friendly in case you don’t have access to a large collection.

Cryptolith Rite is an enchantment that will make it a lot easier to have your explosive start and that also makes for an insane end game in combination with Duskwatch Recruiter en Ulvenwald Mysteries.

Evolutionary Leap is a good card versus removal and on it’s own it will give you a lot of card advantage. Just sacrifice those Blisterpods, those tokens or the creatures you don’t need anymore to get more and more and more and hopefully better!

Smothering Abomination is a big evasive body and a card draw engine all wrapped in one tight little four mana package.It was a mainstay in the first Nantuko Husk decks and can still definitely hold its own.

lastly I can also suggest a Vile Redeemer, a good answer to mass removal or just a whole lot of extra creatures to sacrifice to your Nantuko Husk.