MPDC League Season 2 - BG Sacrifice

Better late than never, right?

Yesterday's attempt at this post did not go well. The cool visual deck editor program I used last week isn't working for some reason, and it takes quite a bit of finesse to use the old PureMTGO Deck Editor, since it is no longer updated for the new cards. So eventually I gave up and went to bed. Fortunately, things seemed to go much smoother this afternoon, and as a result you're now reading this blogpost.

So for Week 2 of the MPDC League, we actually had two players go undefeated - Armont with a BG Sacrifice deck and afreeAk with a Izzet Spells deck. But Armont narrowly edged out afreeAk in tiebreakers to claim the trophy for this week - which was once again created by Polyjak. Let's take a look at Armont's list:

BG Sacrifice

1st Place MPDC League Season 2 Week 2

Creatures 4 Blisterpod 4 Doomed Dissenter 3 Bloodbriar 3 Defiant Salvager 3 Gavony Unhallowed 3 Primal Druid 3 Voracious Null 2 Gravedigger 25 cards Other Spells 4 Altar's Reap 3 Bone Splinters 3 Cartouche of Ambition 2 Dead Weight 1 Murder 13 cards

Lands 9 Swamp 5 Forest 4 Evolving Wilds 4 Foul Orchard 23 cards Sideboard 4 Festering Mummy 3 Pulse of Murasa 3 Appetite for the Unnatural 2 Soulstinger 2 Murder 1 Grasp of Darkness 15 cards

This deck thrives on Graveyard interactions. Blisterpod, Doomed Dissenter, and Primal Druid are perfect sacrifice targets, replacing themselves with another card while also fueling the boost to Power and Toughness on Bloodbriar, Defiant Salvager, Gavony Unhallowed, and/or Voracious Null. Altar's Reap and Bone Splinters are also perfect additions to this deck, providing needed card draw and creature removal while still synergizing with these creatures. And even once these creatures have entered the Graveyard, Gravedigger is there to return them to play again and again.

This deck is almost entirely creature based, but it does include a few additional spells. Dead Weight and Murder provide a few more choice for creature removal, while Cartouche of Ambition provides not only some much needed Lifegain but also helps to make sure combat is in your favor by shrinking your opponent's creatures while also buffing yours.

From the Sideboard, Festering Mummy and Soulstinger fit right into this deck's strategy of sacrificing creatures for big advantage while gaining a small advantage in the process. It also includes 2 more copies of Murder, as well as a singleton Grasp of Darkness, when you need a more removal-heavy option. Appetite for the Unnatural is there to target Enchantments and Artifacts, while the powerful Pulse of Murasa provides additional Lifegain as well as creature recursion, pushing an otherwise creature-centric deck into a more midrange option than can better survive over a longer game.

So congratulations to Armont for piloting this deck to a 5-0 finish and taking the 1st place prize for Week Two.