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Commander Nexus
  1. Commander Nexus
  2. Archetypes
  3. Aristocrats
Aristocrats artwork

Aristocrats

decks their own creatures on purpose and profit every time one dies, often by draining life from each opponent. A , a card that lets you sacrifice whenever you like, decides when that happens.

  • KindArchetype
  • Cards2,726

An archetype is a whole game plan: the way a deck tries to win.

Find these cards in the app Commanders with this archetype

How it plays

You put creatures on the table that you are happy to lose, then feed them to a , a card that lets you a creature whenever you want. Every time one dies, other cards pay you back: a card drawn, a made, or a bit of life drained from each opponent. The creatures are cheap and come back often, so you never run out of things to sacrifice.

How it wins

Each death drains a little life from every opponent at once, and at a four-player table that adds up three times as fast as it looks. A few dozen deaths over a game is enough, and a loop that keeps a creature dying and returning can end the game on the spot.

What beats it

effects stop a creature coming back, and a card that stops creatures dying (or stops abilities from triggering) switches the whole deck off. A player who removes your leaves you with a board of small creatures and nothing to do with them.

If this is your first deck

A fine second deck. The plan is simple to say but busy to play: lots of small each turn, and you have to track them all. Start with a deck that attacks, then come here.

Commanders to Start With

The most played commanders where Aristocrats is one of their two main plans, in order from EDHREC, a site that counts the Commander decks players post online.

Example Cards

Sacrifice OutletA card that lets you sacrifice your own creatures or other permanents whenever you want, usually for little or no cost, such as Viscera Seer or Ashnod's Altar. Sacrifice means putting your own card into the graveyard on purpose. Decks use an outlet to cash in creatures that are about to be destroyed or stolen, and to set off cards that reward a creature dying.Open the full glossaryAristocratsA play style that sacrifices your own creatures on purpose and profits from them dying, usually draining opponents' life a little at a time.Open the full glossarySacrificeTo put one of your own permanents into your graveyard because a card tells you to or lets you. You can only sacrifice things you control, and it does not count as destroying them, so effects that stop a card from being destroyed do not stop it.Viscera SeerOpen the full glossaryTokenA permanent that is not a card. Tokens are made by other cards' effects, and a token that leaves the battlefield stops existing. Creature tokens, Treasures and Clues are all tokens.Secure the WastesOpen the full glossaryExileRemoves a card from the game entirely rather than putting it in the graveyard. Exiled cards are much harder to get back, which is why exile is the strongest answer to recursion.Open the full glossaryTriggerAn ability that fires automatically when a specific event happens, usually written "when" or "whenever". You do not choose to use it; it happens on its own.Open the full glossary