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Hello everyone! As I have been saying, alchemy is definitely an explosion for me, and many decks have the opportunity to shine. One of my favorite prototypes, I have been working hard for a while at a sacrifice, but so far, for the standard 2022 and the standard, it just doesn't work for me. Gone are the days of Cauldron Familiar and Witch's Oven. Although this is not an interesting synergy, it is "nostalgic" for me.

The interesting fact is that the first Mythic Championship (Pro Tour, PT) I played was PT Oko (oh my goodness). Although some Oko mid-speed decks are clear decks that can be played, there is a team Brought the combination of Sultai Oko and Cat/Oven, which eventually became the deck with the highest win rate. However, after Oko's suspension, the magic pot fell off the map. It was brought back a few months later, because Chris Kvartek used it in the Mythic Point challenge (it is Rakdos Cat, an existing but unpopular deck) to get the biggest victory and spread from there.

I digress, because the cat has gone and the sacrifice has disappeared from the menu. The most obvious reason is not creatures, because there are many good creatures that can be sacrificed, but rewards. Cat/Oven decks have Mayhem Devil, Korvold, Fae-Cursed King (if you are green), and the Cat cycle itself to reward you. In the Standard, we only have Extus, Oriq Overlord as the biggest return, and Fading Hope is very popular, this is a very primitive deal.

We did get The Meathook Massacre shortly after that, it did serve as a pseudo-remembrance fortress, but it was not enough by itself. However, in Alchemy, we get another Blood Artist effect in a more literal sense: Sanguine Brushstroke. I have a feeling that when the creature dies, there are more ways to draw the deck, and finally reach the critical mass, and prepare a preliminary list as a starting point.

I think this deck has many uses. 12 creatures that like to be sacrificed, 16 creatures that like to be sacrificed, 8 card advantages (not including the warlock profession), 2 removal spells and lands. The whole deck only cares about deploying creatures, letting go of things that like to see creatures die, and then just do it.

I am a little worried that this deck might be too slow, but I think this concept is worth testing. So I lined up for a game and faced Mono Green Aggro, I had to face my fear immediately. They have multiple large trampling threats, I have a lot of small bodies and some cards that hurt me. I feel and support the entire game, but actually just feel that I am slowly dying and postponing the inevitable. I was sad because I thought the concept was cool, but it was problematic to be so confused by a deck that might be popular...until I hit 15 of them in one turn.

The pause is not just for theatrical effect, it is more or less what happened to me. I felt that I was behind, as if I could die at any time, but I lowered the minimum to keep the creature on board, and beat the blood-colored brush strokes into a small The Meathook Massacre to cause 1 million damage. This is good, but more testing is needed. Line up again and face the Omnith mid-speed deck. Well, this is where things get difficult, Omnith is good at crossing decks that are not super fast or super bad, and I erased them.

Okay, okay, but once you face control, everything will fall apart! I lined up against Dimir control and they have works. Turn 3 meat hook to wipe my chessboard, the key of the file turns 4, the second sun comes to 5, and I have almost no chessboard, turn 6 meat hook massacre, and then they were hooked again after a few laps, I still won, even though it was a super close match. The flexibility of this deck is very good. You might think you just managed to hold on a lot, but it rewards a truly meticulous game. Unlike other sacrifice decks I have tried recently, it can pull you out of any place.

However, none of the decks were perfect on the first attempt. I have been playing and adjusting, because I think there is still a lot of room for improvement. After I finish all the work, this is where I end up.

If you have trouble seeing the difference, I replaced the fourth Jadar with the third Infernal Grasp, cut two warlock classes for 2 Agadeem's Awakening, and replaced Confront the Past on the board with the second Necrotic Fumes. I usually like to play with decks, but the basic feel is already very good. The only thing I'm still not sure about is how many warlock classes I should play (I think the correct answer is 2 or 3), but it feels really good.

Like any good sacrifice strategy, you must start with a drop! The staggering ghast is usually questionable because it can help kill a small creature or get treasure upon death, both of which are unremarkable but good. Eyetwitch is of course another excellent drop, because you draw a card after it dies, which is obscene for a mana! For the last dropped creature, I knew that Cursing the Witch would be good because it is similar to Eyetwitch, but I downgraded it to the worse Eyetwitch. After playing more, I am now going to revise my statement to say that witches are roughly as good, sometimes even better! The spell book cards it can grab are usually at least as good as the course cards. Maybe I’m just lucky, but they are usually better.

For the last drop in the deck, we have two warlock professions. The Warlock profession is by far the weakest of the sacrifice rewards, because it will only be triggered once in your end step, but it does replace itself with level 2, and then if you get to that step, the final level can win the game. I think 2 is the correct number, although their multiples have increased, but you can decide for yourself.

Next we have two drops, which means that the only two drops are Nephalia’s Ghoul Jadar. In a deck that cares about death triggers, Jadar spawns a zombie who is willing to die and come back every turn, whether you attack for value or sacrifice it, this is great. Deadly Dispute has completely replaced Village Rites as the advantage of choosing cards, because it can generate treasures and sacrifice artifacts without wanting to lose creatures.

Although not really two drops, the Meat Hook Massacre can be deployed on both ends to start triggering the death trigger, and it can obviously be extended well into the late game. Infernal Grasp is the last of the two drops and is definitely the most difficult card in the deck to balance. It doesn't work in synergy with anything, it's just a hedge against creatures. Generally speaking, sacrificial decks shouldn't be difficult to deal with. I think 3 is the correct number for large creatures that can screw us up, but honestly, I'm still not sure.

Reaching the top of the curve at 3 is a wonderful thing and one of the advantages of playing this deck. Fell Stinger is a card I really liked when Crimson Vow was released, and I am very happy to see that I was right. The blood on the stick is obviously pretty good, especially when that stick allows you to sacrifice something and is 3/2 dead touch!

Then we have the last card, which makes blood-colored brushstrokes possible. I know this card will be good (Blood Artist will be crazy if you have never played in Standard), but it is definitely a great value for me. I'm happy to pay 3 mana for Blood Artist, but getting a free filter and blood sucker and Blood token is just gravy.

This deck is super streamlined, can consume a little or a lot of mana, and can enter the mid-game well. This may be a challenge for the pilot, but it is definitely a pleasure to play, and it usually provides interesting decisions every round.

I don't really like to combine biologically with Faceless Haven, but playing 1 may not be unreasonable.

I have always had a little bit of curtain technique in other decks, because grabbing the opponent's best card and getting 3/4 in the process is not a bad thing. If the metadata is full of controls, you can consider playing this to help there.

Living alive is a popular removal spell in the sacrifice strategy, but I don't think it is much better than Hell's Grip. In addition, I find that you want to save your sacrifices at the most appropriate time, not just when you can manage to obtain them.

This limited main game has not yet been staged in the construction match, but honestly it may be good enough. Maybe you can try to reduce the warlock profession, but they may be too weak.

In theory, I like this card because it might be cool to buy a valuable creature again, but it's usually hard to get a lot of value from it. It needs 2 lives, otherwise it's a tapped land. I don’t blame anyone for throwing a copy or two, but I don’t like it compared to the 2022 Mardu Sacrifice deck that can retrieve Orcus, Undead Prince, or Goldspan Dragon.

If we have more sacrifice material, I might play a copy or two, but we don't always have extras, and we already have Fell Stinger.

If planeswalking becomes a big event, then maybe you can play this, but eating and living will almost certainly be better.

Older sacrifice decks feel more or less forced to play this, rather than what they definitely want. This is not a bad card because it allows you to always use Pest Summoning on 3, but it is far from good.

I like this card very much and can perform well in the correct meta game. If the versions are all about slower decks, I would definitely consider playing this on Infernal Grasp.

This is an interesting option because it works well with Sanguine Brushstroke, but I feel that without Brushstroke, Blood is too weak to justify the use of Welkin Tern.

Good effect, because you usually trade a better creature for a worse creature, but 3 mana is not a small problem, and 3/1 is very bad.

Skullport is interesting because it can trade cards with creatures, and its blocking effect is very good. I can see some copies played, but I am not optimistic about editing to make room.

In theory, I do like to sacrifice Henrika in strategy, but the appeal of this deck is that it has a low degree of curvature, and Henrika is not strong enough to justify us using it.

Almost the same reasoning as Henrika, but Lolth is definitely much better and thinks much higher, even though I ultimately think it does not belong to it.

Robert "DoggertQBones" Lee is the content manager of MTGAZone and a senior arena player. He owns a top 8 GP and created popular prototypes such as UB 8 Shark, UB Yorion and GW Company in Historic. In addition to magic, his passion is writing and coaching! Join our community on Twitch and Discord.

I am really surprised how awesome the cursed witch is. It's crazy. The randomness of the spellbook mechanism made me greatly underestimate it. I haven't gotten a draft that I think is useless, and I managed to get rid of Oven+Cat surprisingly high.

I have been playing the more blood-focused version of this deck, running Falkenrath Forebear and Voldaren Bloodcaster instead of zombie packs or warlock classes. Especially Forebear's Sanguine Brushstroke is amazing, while providing a circulatory sacrificial outlet and a use of blood (using the blood circulation Forebear will still trigger the Sanguine Brushstroke). Bloodcaster has always been...good, it’s clean every time I put a bunch of blood on the board or sacrifice something, but I haven’t flipped it once in about a dozen games because I almost always Use my blood to circulate Forebear. Really, it only exists as an enabler.

I was surprised to see that you chose Snow Pack instead of Tyrant’s Hive, because it has been weakened, and the Graveyard Interaction is very good against the opponent's sacrifice deck. To be honest, I didn't even think about it, so I went straight to Hive. I have to try the snow version. I have also been running a copy of Hostile Hotel, just to have another victim export on hand.

As always, thank you for posting! I have been playing the blood version, and I am also happy to try this version.

What is the use of alchemy? I have played against this deck for 6 consecutive games, and we are back to where the standard stopped. Use the same deck over and over in Meta. Of course, we will use nerfs and buffs for faster rotation, but it also adds a smaller card pool. Most people will want to take advantage of new cards and mechanics, but if this is to keep the arena fresh, I think it will become more the same, and even faster access to the limited number of decks in the element. Wizards of the Coast adjusted the formula to enrich our wallet. Gone are the days of brewing and seeing various decks.

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