There are some Magic: The Gathering players who love their Creatures, players who load them up with Auras and Equipment to make them indestructible and resilient.

Other players, like me, see minions as completely disposable. If the latter describes your philosophy or playstyle, you're a perfect candidate for an Aristocrats deck.

Back in 2013, Tom Martell took down Pro Tour Gatecrash with a brew that exploited both small Creatures and midrange threats.

The deck took its name from two of the linchpin cards that made up the deck's sacrifice engine, namely Cartel Aristocrat and Falkenrath Aristocrat. It was a beautiful machine, developed by Sam Black, and gave rise to a new name for an old strategy.

Gatecrash Aristocrats

This was a hyper aggressive deck that could pivot into a more midrange strategy once its smaller Creatures were rendered irrelevant. Both Cartel Aristocrat and Falkenrath Aristocrat can turn a humble Doomed Traveler or a Spirit token into immunity from removal and swing through for damage unimpeded.

Boros Reckoner and Silverblade Paladin punched above their mana value and Skirsdag High Priest could produce 5/5 Demons on demand once an Aristocrat hit the board. It was a carefully crafted deck:

Gatecrash Aristocrats | Standard | Tom Martell, 1st Place PT Gatecrash

• Creatures (30)
• 4 Boros Reckoner
• 4 Cartel Aristocrat
• 4 Champion of the Parish
• 4 Doomed Traveler
• 4 Falkenrath Aristocrat
• 3 Knight of Infamy
• 1 Restoration Angel
• 2 Silverblade Paladin
• 2 Skirsdag High Priest
• 2 Zealous Conscripts

• Instants (4)
• 4 Orzhov Charm

• Sorceries (2)
• 2 Lingering Souls

• Lands (24)
• 3 Plains
• 4 Blood Crypt
• 3 Cavern of Souls
• 1 Clifftop Retreat
• 4 Godless Shrine
• 4 Isolated Chapel
• 4 Sacred Foundry
• 1 Vault of the Archangel

• Sideboard (15)
• 2 Blasphemous Act
• 2 Lingering Souls
• 1 Mentor of the Meek
• 2 Obzedat, Ghost Council
• 2 Rest in Peace
• 1 Skirsdag High Priest
• 2 Sorin, Lord of Innistrad
• 3 Tragic Slip

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Martell's deck had a few more extremely fun innovations, including Zealous Conscripts to steal an opposing Creature and then Blink it with Restoration Angel or sacrifice it to an Aristocrat, but the lasting impression offered by the deck was "cheap Creatures that could be sacrificed at Instant speed for benefits." The name stuck for this specific archetype.

This model has proven its worth over the last fifteen years. Modern Golgari Yawgmoth is a deck in the Aristocrats mode that gets in a few damage with Young Wolf and Ignoble Hierarch before comboing out with Yawgmoth, Thran Physician and Blood Artist.

In Pioneer, Return to the Ranks keeps the Aristocrats dream alive. In Commander, Aristocrats decks like Sephiroth, Fabled SOLDIER, Ygra, Eater of All, and Caesar, Legion's Emperor use Blood Artist to drain the table and Grave Pact to control the board.

The beauty of an Aristocrats deck is that it's difficult to interact with and attacks on a different axis from most aggressive decks. Generally, if you can remove or mitigate an opponent's attackers, you can neutralize an aggro deck.

With Aristocrats, though, attacking is a strategy that's backed up by the deck's second angle of attack: a pseudo-combo finish.

The issue with aggressive decks is that they can get gassed out if they draw nothing but cheap Creatures against an opponent with plentiful removal or midrange Creatures that can blunt the assault. When the game reaches that stage, a well-built Aristocrats deck can then throw their cheap Creatures into certain death for the triggers and drain their opponent out.

Defining Aristocrats

The Aristocrats deck that won PT Genesis secured the archetype's place in Magic's history and slang, but Aristocrat's real beginnings came earlier. Sol Malka's The Rock and His Millions was an innovative deck that fused Phyrexian Plaguelord with Deranged Hermit to wipe his opponent's board.

While a bit different from Martell's Aristocrats, the Instant-speed sacrifice effects of Malka's deck are very familiar.

Post-millennial Standard boogeyman Ravager Affinity was an aggro deck with a combo finish; you would often get your opponent down to single digits and then sacrifice your board to Arcbound Ravager with a Disciple of the Vault out in order to squeeze out the last few points of damage.

To go back even further, Legends' Fallen Angel was the progenitor of Falkenrath Aristocrat, but Goblin Bombardment was the archetypal Aristocrats card before the archetype had a name. With Bombardment out, every Creature becomes a Mogg Fanatic, able to sacrifice itself for a single point of damage.

That is what makes an Aristocrats deck unique. It must be able to sacrifice permanents at a moment's notice and that sacrifice must be repeatable rather than just once per turn. It's the difference between Goblin Bombardment and Barrage of Expendables or between Skirk Prospector and Bolg's Company.

The PT Gatecrash Aristocrats deck succeeded because it had three components that interacted well:

1. A core of small Creatures that could level up in some way (Champion of the Parish and Doomed Traveler).
2. Midrange Creatures that could sacrifice the early drops to become more powerful (Cartel Aristocrat and Falkenrath Aristocrat).
3. Payoff for Creatures dying (Skirsdag High Priest or Blood Artist).

Playing Aristocrats in Commander

In Commander, the Aristocrats archetype scales well. Cards like Grave Pact, Dictate of Erebos, and Sothera, the Supervoid make sure your opponents suffer when you sacrifice a Creature, while Cruel Celebrant, Elas il-Kor, Sadistic Pilgrim, and Zulaport Cutthroat can drain the table out over the course of several turns.

The first thing any MTG Aristocrats deck needs is cheap bodies. Bitterblossom, Bitterbloom Bearer, Sengir Autocrat, and Ophiomancer are cost-effective ways to make multiple pieces of cardboard. Infernal Genesis is much more dangerous, but also worth exploring.

The second piece of an Aristocrats deck is the sacrifice component. Ideally, this is a mana-free sacrifice, as it was with Cartel Aristocrat and Falkenrath Aristocrat. Luckily, we have plenty of options, as Warren Soultrader, Ashnod's Altar, and Phyrexian Altar make mana from corpses, while Altar of Dementia turns killing into milling.

Carrion Feeder can turn tokens or doomed Creatures into +1/+1 counters and Nantuko Husk can make blocking a nightmare for your opponent. Viscera Seer can smooth your draw for each Creature you feed it or serve as a free engine for combo decks. Flesh-Eater Imp can devour eight tokens to kill a player with Infect damage.

Finally, you need the payoff. Some valuable Creatures, like Carrion Feeder, are both sacrifice outlet and payoff, but you'll also want Pitiless Plunderer, Morbid Opportunist, Marionette Apprentice, Blood Artist, Grave Pact, etc. to make sure that your troops get you paid from the grave.

While not truly in the spirit of Aristocrats, as you can only use them once per turn, Phyrexian Tower and Lazotep Quarry do help you turn Creatures into mana and are easy picks for an Aristocrats deck.

In terms of Commanders, the top Aristocrats decks are often helmed by one of the following:

• Caesar, Legion's Emperor
• Elas il-Kor, Sadistic Pilgrim
• Sephiroth, Fabled SOLDIER
• Chatterfang, Squirrel General
• Meren of Clan Nel Toth
• Teysa Karlov
• Wilhelt, the Rotcleaver

Personally, Teysa is just too perfect of an Aristocrat Commander in both flavor and gameplay to pass up, and she lets you run Elas il-Kor and Sephiroth in the 99.

Playing Aristocrats in Other Formats

In Standard right now, we have a superb Aristocrats shell that functions just as it did fifteen years ago. Infestation Sage and Nesting Bot are our Doomed Traveler equivalents, Umbral Collar Zealot and Bartolome del Presidio are analogues for Cartel Aristocrat, and Sephiroth, Fabled SOLDIER serves as our Falkenrath Aristocrat at the top end.

Here's what I've been running for the last couple of weeks:

The Aristocrats Junior | Standard | Robert Bockman

• Creatures (31)
• 2 Arnyn, Deathbloom Botanist
• 2 Bartolome del Presidio
• 2 Cecil, Dark Knight
• 4 Infestation Sage
• 4 Nesting Bot
• 4 Sephiroth, Fabled SOLDIER
• 4 Snarling Gorehound
• 2 Syr Vondam, Sunstar Exemplar
• 4 Umbral Collar Zealot
• 3 Voice of Victory

• Instants (4)
• 3 Erode
• 1 Get Lost

• Sorceries (2)
• 2 Raise the Past

• Lands (23)
• 2 Plains
• 3 Swamp
• 4 Bleachbone Verge
• 4 Concealed Courtyard
• 1 Dalkovan Encampment
• 4 Godless Shrine
• 3 Multiversal Passage
• 2 Shattered Sanctum

• Sideboard (15)
• 3 Curious Farm Animals
• 2 Lord Skitter, Sewer King
• 2 Pinnacle Starcage
• 2 Scheming Silvertongue
• 4 Strategic Betrayal
• 2 Super Shredder

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I experimented with Sothera, the Supervoid as a Grave Pact, but it's truly too slow to run in this speedy Standard. Similarly, I tried Silverquill Charm to replace Orzhov Charm but Erode proved better and more versatile. Destroying your own Nesting Bot to ramp is a great hidden side to the card.

That's what Aristocrats does best: pivot based on the board state and use its Creatures more efficiently than your opponent. Infestation Sage is no one's idea of a tournament contender, but when you curve Sage into Bartolome into Sephiroth, you can surprise an unprepared opponent.

Syr Vondam, Sunstar Exemplar has performed far better than anticipated in Aristocrats as a payoff for sacrificing permanents, but also as an on-board Vindicate. I expected to cut Vondam for Super Shredder, but Shredder has been less impressive than the spacefaring Knight in my testing.

This deck is adaptable to Pioneer and it can be switched up into a Mardu () base with Bloodtithe Harvester or a Cauldron Familiar model if that's preferable. It plays on a slower and fairer axis than many Pioneer decks, but it's possible to approach something closer to Martell's version of Aristocrats in the format.

In Modern, I wouldn't consider this a viable archetype, but if you have a playgroup that enjoys budget Modern in a casual setting, Aristocrats is a great choice.

Wrapping Up

Doomed Traveler is not a powerful card, but in an Aristocrats shell, it overperforms and synergizes well with the rest of your deck. The beauty of the Aristocrats archetype is that it lets you build an efficient machine out of inefficient parts and adjust your game plan based on your opponent's actions.

Magic: The Gathering has changed in the last fifteen years. We may have more Robots, Ninjas, and Spider Heroes than anyone could ever have imagined, but some classics stick around even as the world around them changes, and saying "In response, I sacrifice my board" is a classic. Whatever format you're building for, Aristocrats lets you class it up.