Goldman Sachs: The Tale of a Butcher out for Blood by Connor Bryant

If you have ever listened to the Mindcrank podcast, you know that my cohost Max Brown and I love some value creatures (If you haven’t, what are you doing with your life?). Rumor has it, Max once made out with an ouphe under a kitchen table.  When Max told me about Catacomb Sifter, he had stars in his eyes and I was on board. I had been known to sacrifice some Doomed Travelers for the cause, and that isn’t a quote from Donald Trump on the Syrian Refugees. Regardless, I went home and got to brewing for an in store PPTQ on Release Day.

I started with Abzan; I added some colors; I subtracted some colors; I added some colorless creatures. I was trying to get a sense of what was possible. There are so many playable cards for this style strategy, sorting through the swath of options was overwhelming.  Abzan Ascendancy was a combo card and made it very easy to deal twenty with Nantuko Husk and Zulaport Cutthroat. It also just let you grind out your opponents with a haunted house full of spirits. Liliana was great with sacrifice outlets and a great payoff and engine card. I figured out that From Beyond could tutor for Smothering Abomination and tried a Scion centric version. I loved Bone Splinters as mana efficient removal. It also dealt with Anafenza, the Foremost; which just hoses this whole strategy.  I played against the Abzan Aggro lists that were floating around in articles and was left unsatisfied. I kept getting into board stalls and not being able to break through unless I fully combo’d with Zulaport Cutthroat and sacrificing my whole board, which was difficult against the cheap interaction in the format. I needed the deck to do more chip damage, a few points there, a few points here and big drain from the Cutthroats and we had a plan.  As I was formulating this, I happened upon this list from brewmaster Ali Aintrazi.

Mardu Aristocrats by Ali Aintrazi

Creature (29)

4x Bloodsoaked Champion
4x Butcher of the Horde
4x Hangarback Walker
3x Liliana, Heretical Healer
4x Nantuko Husk
2x Smothering Abomination
4x Sultai Emissary
4x Zulaport Cutthroat

Sorcery (4)

4x Bone Splinters

Land (24)

3x Battlefield Forge
4x Bloodstained Mire
3x Caves of Koilos
1x Mountain
4x Nomad Outpost
1x Shambling Vent
4x Smoldering Marsh
4x Swamp

Instant (3)

3x Mardu Charm

Sideboard

3x Act of Treason
1x Archfiend of Depravity
4x Duress
2x Felidar Cub
2x Outpost Siege
2x Sorin, Solemn Visitor
1x Utter End

Butcher of the Horde, Goldman Sachs himself, was exactly what I was looking for. The Mardu shell becomes an aggro deck with a potential combo finish. I knew this was where I wanted to be. I liked a lot of what was going on this list and provided the general shell for the deck that Max Brown and I would bring to the tournament.

Goldmann Sachs

Creatures (27)
4x Bloodsoaked Champion
4x Carrier Thrall
4x Hangarback Walker
1x Sultai Emissary
3x Zulaport Cutthroat
4x Nantuko Husk
3x Liliana, Heretical Healer
4x Butcher of the Horde

Spells (9)
4x Bone Splinters
2x Crackling Doom
1x Mardu Charm
2x Outpost Siege

Lands (24)
4x Bloodstained Mire
3x Battlefield Forge
3x Caves of Koilos
1x Mountain
3x Polluted Delta
1x Prairie Stream
3x Shambling Vent
2x Smoldering Marsh
4x Swamp

Sideboard:
2x Roast
3x Act of Treason
1x Rending Volley
1x Crackling Doom
1x Mardu Charm
2x Sorin, Solemn Visitor
1x Transgress the Mind
2x Arashin Cleric
1x Despoiler of Souls
1x Outpost Siege

The main change from Ali’s list was the adaptation of Outpost Siege in the maindeck over Smothering Abomination. The cards fill similar roles. Both act as payoff cards when you have a board full of creatures and sacrifice outlets. Outpost Siege being set on Khans helps you build up your board when things are not going right, unlike Smothering Abomination. Smothering Abomination can also be blown out by instant speed removal by the opponent responding to his upkeep trigger. This deck has a lot of value built, but it still does not want to get 2 for 1’d. I originally had 3 Crackling Doom main but Max talked me into the 2-1 Doom- Mardu Charm Split. In synergy based decks, it is important to not flood on spells that do not contribute to the harmony of the deck. Mardu Charm allows us to kill pesky Anafenza’s and make 1/1 bodies if we want. The Duress mode can also be great against Languish decks. I trimmed a Zulaport Cutthroat for a Sultai Emissary because I was afraid of flooding on payoff spells and not having enough bodies to sacrifice. Playing 3 Polluted Delta and 1 Prairie Stream over 4 Nomad Outpost allowed the deck to cut down on tapped lands. Polluted Delta is arguably better than Bloodstained Mire; it can get either Smoldering Marsh, Swamp or Prairie Stream. This interaction is the crux of the Battle for Zendikar mana bases and I arguably could have played more fetches over the painlands. This mana base seemed safer to me Week One and could be changed in the future.

Max and I played very similar lists for the tournament and liked the deck overall. Max had 2 Altar’s Reap in the sideboard, and that card seemed great in the deck. I was 3-2 after the swiss, losing once to Max in the mirror match and once to Flipside Streamer Max Mitchell and his Abzan Aggro deck. I managed to sneak into the 8^th seed and defeated Abzan Aggro with Drana, 4 Color Aristocrats and traditional Abzan Aggro on my way to winning the event. My final record was 6-2, Max was 4-2-1. I like the deck a lot and am excited to play it moving forward. I would play the same maindeck with the following sideboard.

1x Roast
1x Outpost Siege
3x Act of Treason
1x Rending Volley
1x Crackling Doom
1x Mardu Charm
1x Sorin, Solemn Visitor
3x Wild Slash
1x Duress
2xAltar's Read

Tips and Tricks

The deck has a lot of moving parts and can be complicated with its operations and play decisions. An interaction that is very powerful is Bloodsoaked Champion being able to be raided multiple times in the same turn at instant speed. This means it can be fed to a Butcher of the Horde or Nantuko Husk to give as many effects as you have two mana.

Act of Treason plus a sacrifice outlet is not only a removal spell that deals your opponent damage, if that creature has a trigger when it dies, you receive the bonus. I can’t think of anywhere this would come up… besides Hangarback Walker. It will also flip Liliana, Heretical Healer.

The deck has some interesting lines of play where you create an enormous amount of tempo with Liliana flipping or playing a Butcher of the Horde with haste. I recommend the deck going forward if you like this style strategy. There is a lot of counting and Zulaport Cutthroat math, but if you like engine style decks, Goldman Sachs can bail you out too.