Aristocrats. Nothing fills a Black mana-devouring heart with as much joy as getting value from sacrificing creatures. Sure, if you take the word for its literal meaning - there isn't much to connect nobility with the nefariousness of blood sacrifice. But, in Magic: The Gathering, the aristocrats is a strategy focused on getting maximum value from your creatures dying.

The strengths of this archetype lies in the redundancy and depth of its cardpool. Win conditions are aplenty, and in commander, there are a number of strong options to lead an aristocrats deck. But first, let's talk staples.

Win Conditions

The goal of the archetype is to win via sacrificing creatures (and sometimes, artifacts) the way this is typically done is via draining your opponents dry. Leading the charge are Blood Artist, Cruel Celebrant, Zulaprt Cutthroat, and Marionette Apprentice. All four of these sadistic creatures are 2-drops. Going up the mana value chain there's the excellent Bastion of Remembrance and Mayhem Devil. In this archetype, you rarely want to spend more than three mana for this effect, but Syr Konrad, the Grim is an exception.

Sacrifice Engines

There are many ways to skin a cat, and in this case unalive a critter, but the best ones are repeatable sac outlets. These are cards that don't require tapping and are free to activate which are obviously open to be abused. Experienced aristocrat players also know when to sacrifice in response getting their things targeted.

Mana producing sacrifice outlets like Phyrexian Altar and Ashnod's Altar are must-haves to power out combos or synergies.

Another altar to worship on is Altar of Dementia. This is indispensable in mill-oriented strategies like reanimator and well, mill.

Aristocrat players also can get card draw and card selection from Viscera Seer and Greater Good.

And if you want to just make the world burn, Goblin Bombardment can fling bodies at anything.

There are other cards that tap to sacrifice or are consumed after casting (read: can only be used once - typically) that should be shoe-ins. Priest of Forgotten Gods is a card that should never be err forgotten, Plumb the Forbidden's draw scales up to how much blood you can shed, Phyrexian Tower ramps you up for two Black mana. The list is honestly endless, and you can even look at your commons and uncommons to find other cards that can play the sac outlet role.

Blasting Station waves a fiery hello as well.

Payoffs

Aside from inducing mass blood loss, everyone knows that playing aristocrats pays off nicely. Pitiless Plunderer is a pirate you'd love to have on your crew as he gives you a Treasure for each creature that dies. Skullclamp, arguably one of the most powerful cards in the commander format, is a no-brainer inclusion. Midnight Reaper, Grim Haruspex, and Moldervine Reclamation draws you deeper into your necromantic build.

To control the board, enchantments Dictate of Erebos and Gravepact ensure that you're not the only planeswalker holding funerals.

Permanents with dies triggers also are synergistic to every aristocrat strategy. Solemn Simulacrum is an all-star at this: ramping and drawing you card. Butcher of Malakir (seven mana, I know but there are ways to cheat this out from the 'yard) does its best Gravepact impression. Critters that replace themselves are also good inclusions (especially for aristocrats who dip into reanimation strategies) like Doomed Traveler and Young Wolf. Protean Hulk is another rockstar, tutoring combo pieces when it goes to the graveyard.

Drivnod, Carnage Dominus is an inclusion that doubles the payoff and can be sticky when made indestructible too.

Fueling the Ritual

To do all of the above, we need bodies and lots of 'em. Aristocrat decks pack a lot of token producers so that their side of the battlefield is nice and healthy for the reaping.

Upkeep factories Bitterblossom, Awakening Zone, Dreadhorde Invasion, and Skrelv's Hive are low mana value enchantments that produce tokens each turn.

Liliana, Dreadhorde General, Elspeth's, Sun's Champion, and Tevesh Szat, Doom of Fools are planeswalkers who you can ally with for your aristocratic agenda.

Sifter of Skulls, Abzan Ascendancy, and Pawn of Ulamog replace your nontoken creatures with more fodder.

Of course, token doublers like Anointed Procession and Doubling Season should be in the mix.

Commander Options

Now that you know the staples in your 99, let's talk about which noble general can wear the aristocratic mantle. There's one for almost every color pairing involved in the dark arts of blood Magic, here's the cream of the crop.

In Mono-Black, Yawgmoth, Thran Physician is your go-to. He's a sacrifice outlet, card draw provider, removal machine, and proliferation machine. He can also help you discard a card if you want anything in the bin.

Orzhov has the femme fatale Teysa Karlov as the de facto aristocrats commander. Like Drivnod, she doubles up dies triggers but also buffs your tokens with vigilance and lifelink. Honorable mention goes to Elas il-Kor, Sadistic Pilgrim for beeing a Blood Artist in the command zone.

Rakdos has Judith, the Scourge Diva bringing her own Goblin Bombardment in tow as she flings and pings at any target.

Abzan has my favourite commander in Ghave, Guru of Spores. This token-making an +1/+1 counter producing Fungus Shaman enables combos like no other. I read somewhere that you need only sneeze and have Ghave on the battlefield to have an infinite combo. More often than not, it's true.

To crown the king of aristocrats, we look at the Jund wedge. Where the regal Korvold, Fae-Cursed King holds court. A cEDH and EDH (that's competitive and casual commander for you, folks!) all-star, Korovld is notorious for being a card draw engine and a win-con (read: beatstick) like no other.

Truly, the aristocrat archetype offers an embarrassment of riches when it comes to card selection. I always find myself in multiple dilemmas when deck-building as there's too many good options for this strategy. For every sadistic planeswalker who loves draining the table out, getting maximum value from blood sacricies, and pumping out chumps infinity and beyond - there's an aristocrat commander and build that fits your noble style.

Any aristocratic tech you're hiding up your sleeve? Share your favorite archetype staples in the comments below and let death reign!