Dark Sacrifice Playtest

Oioi!  Welcome back to Fedger’s Furnace, where this week I’ll be playtesting Dark Ascension’s Dark Sacrifice.  My opponent today is Kelly and her undead hoards from Relentless Dead.  For a detailed rundown on the cards in both decks, check out these articles on Ertai’s Lament; Dark Sacrifice Review & Playtest, Relentless Dead Review & Playtest.  The foremost also contains a look at the history and controversy in games which have the occult theme present like Dark Sacrifice.  A good read that.

Now, on to the playtesting!

Game One

No time for a warm up game to decide who goes first – so we roll off.  Kelly wins the roll and goes first.  I mulligan away my first hand – and then stick with the second; a Champion of the Parish, a Doomed Traveler, a Skirsdag Flayer, a Galvanic Juggernaut, a Plains, a Swamp and a Haunted Fengraf.  Not too shabby!

Turns 1-2

Kelly opens with a Swamp into a Diregraf Ghoul.  I hit back with a Plains into a Champion of the Parish.  With the 2 humans in my hand, he’ll be outclassing her ghoul in 2 turns.  Kelly’s turn 2 consists of her attacking me with her Ghoul, which I let through, and then summoning a Screeching Skaab, which mills her two swamps.  Over to me and I cast the Skirsdag Flayer which pumps the Champion up to a 2/2.

Turn 3

Straight to Kelly’s attack phase where she attacks me with both zombies for 4.  I decline any sort of trade for my Champion or Flayer and take the 4 damage which puts me on 14 life.  She then adds a Walking Corpse to her growing ranks of undead and passes to me.  I draw and play a Village Cannibals which pumps Champ to a 3/3 hopefully halting Kelly’s advance for now.

Turn 4

Not quite!  Kelly summons a Diregraf Captain who gives all of her zombies a power & toughness boost.  Her three zombies are back on even footing with my champion.  She attacks with the Skaab, the Ghoul and the Corpse for 9.  Not wanting to lose any of my creatures – who all have their part to play – I decline the block and take 9 damage.  At the end of Kelly’s fourth turn she is winning 20-5.  Something must be done.  A plan formulates in my head and I lay the groundwork with a Haunted Fengraf, and pass to Kelly.

Turn 5

Kelly heads straight to her combat phase and attacks with 3 of her creatures (keeping the Captain back out of harm’s way).  I block the Corpse, the Ghoul and the Skaab with the Cannibals, the Flayer and Champ respectively.  Before the damage step I activate the Flayer’s ability (sacrificing himself) and destroying her Diregraf Captain.  This has a couple of knock on effects:

     1)  Her zombies revert back to their more manageable power 2 states. 

     2) My village cannibals grow to a 3/3 as they feast on the fallen Flayer.
 

My two remaining blockers outclass their zombie counterparts and when the dust settles Kelly is left with just the Ghoul.  Kelly replaces her Screeching Skaab with a Headless Skaab one and ends her turn.  Wary of my life total I opt to keep Champ on defence and send in the Village Cannibals for 3.  Kelly has no blockers and takes her first damage of the game putting her on 17.  I then add a Doomed Traveler to my force.   Champ, at 4/4, is happy to see him.

Turn 6

Kelly’s sixth turn is a blank except that I activate the Haunted Fengraf’s ability at instant speed to return the Skirsdag Flayer from my graveyard to hand.  On my turn I summon both the Skirsdag Flayer and an Elder Cathar.  Champ is now a 6/6 so I send him in to the red zone to cause mischief.  Kelly opts to gang block him with both Headless and the Ghoul, and she casts Corpse Lunge flinging her fallen Screeching Skaab at Champ.  Champ bravely fights on, taking down the headless skaab but succumbs to his wounds and heads to the graveyard.  On the plus side, he makes a fine meal for the Cannibals (4/4 now).

Turn 7

Another blank for Kelly.  I activate Skirsdag Flayer’s ability, this time sacrificing Elder Cathar (who adds three +1/+1 counters to the village cannibals all told) and destroying Kelly’s only defender.  The Cannibals take Champ’s place as my offensive threat (now at 7/7) and together with the traveller attack Kelly for 8.  After turn 7 the score is 9-5 to Kelly who needs an answer soon.

Turn 8

Kelly adds a Cellar Door but alas, is stuck on 4 land and cannot try for a zombie token.  I attack with everything for 9 on my turn and Kelly is unable to do anything about it.  Round 1 to Dark Sacrifice.

Game 2

Having no swamps or white spells I mulligan.  The next hand is a fair bit better; a Disciple Of Griselbrand, Galvanic Juggernaut, Unburial Rites, a Selfless Cathar and one each of a Swamp and Plains.

Turn 1 – 2

The first two turns consist of both of us hitting our land drops, Kelly summoning a Walking Corpse and me getting a Selfless Cathar and Skirsdag Flayer. 

Turn 3

Kelly plays Forbidden Alchemy discarding a Black Cat, a Swamp and a Diregraf Captain. She then attacks wi- wait, a Diregraf Captain!!??  Whatever she kept must be pretty special. I’m slightly worried.  Anyways, she attacks with the corpse what walks and I’m down to 18.  I return fire with the Flayer and the Cathar taking her down to 18 also then, I add a Disciple of Grieselbrand to the team.

Turns 4-5

Kelly attacks once again with the corpse for 2, and adds a Makeshift Mauler to her team.  I answer her 4/5 Mauler with my 5/5 Juggernaut and pass back to Kelly who’s turn is a blank.  I draw my foil rare: Fiend of the Shadows. Having hit all of my land drops I have just the right amount of land for it.  The Juggernaut attacks on its own volition, there’s nothing I could do even if I wanted to stop it and gets blocked by the Mauler.  Kelly finishes my Juggernaut off by Corpse Lunging her dead Diregraf Captain at it.  I end the turn on a high and summon my Fiend of the Shadows! The Shadow? The Shadow.

Turn 6

Kelly adds two ready-tapped zombies in the form of a Diregraf ghoul and a Headless Skaab.  I attack with the Fiend on my turn taking Kelly down to 15 and making Kelly exiles a Moan of the Unhallowed from her hand.  I like the fiend’s ability; it’s fun and can produce all kinds of random results.  When it comes to Fiddling with this deck I reckon she’ll be a sideboard though, brought in only if I’m playing against a Black or White deck to get consistent results. If I was playing against an off colour, I’d have to be lucky enough to get them to exile the correct land first.  After the fiend’s attack I bring back my Juggernaut with Unburial Rights.

Turn 7

Kelly plays an Endless Ranks of the Dead with much whimpering from me.  I need to start whittling those zombies down before it can have too much of an impact.  Currently she has 3 zombies which will net her one token next turn.  I summon an Unruly Mob (just in-case something dies) and the attack with my Fiend and Juggernaut for 8.  Kelly gang blocks the Juggernaut with her Headless Skaab and Diregraf Ghoul, currently forcing a trade (ghoul for Juggernaut).  The Selfless Cathar sees this and says “No”. He valiantly sacrifices himself for the greater good and gives everyone +1/+1.  This makes all the difference as now I can kill her headless Skaab and the Juggernaut lives to fight another turn.  A few other side effect from the Cathar’s demise include:

       1)        The Unruly Mob get a +1/+1 Counter.

       2)         The Fiend hits for 4 rather than 3.

       3)       The Juggernaut untaps

Thank you Selfless Cather, you’ve done a great thing on this day.

Oh and the Fiend makes Kelly exile a card from her hand!  At the end of turn 7, Kelly’s at 11 life and I’m at 16.

Turn 8

Kelly’s Endless Ranks enchantment spawns a Zombie token.  She then adds a Ghoulraiser to the party.  The ghoulraiser brings a zombie back from the graveyard to her hand though she knows it will eventually fall into my grasp via the Fiend.  I opt to attack with everyone bar the Skirsdag Flayer.  Kelly gang blocks the Unruly Mob with 2 of her zombies but the Skirsdag Flayer evens up the score by Sacing off the Disciple.  The mob grows to a 3/3 and dispatch the remaining zombie with ease.  Meanwhile, the Juggernaut and the Fiend hit for 8, the Juggernaut untaps and the Fiend forces Kelly to Exile a headless skaab from her hand.  I end with a Gravepurge to return the selfless Cathar and disciple to the top of my deck – ensuring I’ll have humans to sacrifice for the next couple of turns.

Turn 9

Kelly gets another zombie token from her enchantment and adds a Havengul Runebinder.  Over to me, I re-summon the selfless Cathar and attack with the Mob, the Fiend and the Juggernaut.  Kelly scoops.

Game 2 and set to Dark Sacrifice.

Game 3

Relentless dead is down two, can Kelly pull one back and avoid a 3-0 defeat?  I mulligan my first hand again and stick with a Doomed Traveler, Skirsdag Flayer, Gravepurge and Unburial Rights figuring I could probably use the recursion to keep sacing the traveler for removal.  Kelly starts.

Turns 1-2

Kelly has no one-drop so the first play is my Doomed Traveler.  Kelly sees my traveler with a Black Cat and declines the trade when the traveler attacks next turn.  Then, I summon my Skirsdag Flayer.

Turn 3

Kelly counters with the Cat for one and summons a walking corpse. She’s not willing to face a 1/1 flyer so she lets my traveler through again for 1.

Turn 4

Kelly hits back with both the cat and the corpse, hitting me for three, and Dead Weights my Flayer.  Unwilling to let him die for nothing I cast Altar’s Reap and get two cards for him (regrettably more land).   My turn 4 is a blank.

Turn 5

The Walking Corpse and pet zombie cat both attack me again for 3. I block the cat with the traveler hoping that the random discard will be one of the many lands occupying my hand.  Alas, Gravepurge hits the graveyard.  A 1/1 Spirit is my consolation prize.  Kelly ups her board position and zombie making potential with a Havengul Runebinder – uhoh!  I attack with the spirit on my turn and needing to answer that Runebinder sooner rather than later I reach for the only removal available to me, the Skirsdag Flayer via Unburial Rights.  The actual removing will have to wait one turn unfortunately.  The score is 17-14 to Kelly.

Turn 6

The Runebinder performs his Necromancy and brings forth a Zombie token and buffs both zombies to 3/3.  The Corpse then hits me for 3 reducing my life to 11.  Facing two 3/3 zombies is bad enough, I really don’t want to be facing three plus 4/4 Zombies so the Flayer bites the sacrificial dagger and takes Kelly’s necromancin’, runebindin’ wizard down with him.  My life isn’t looking too great so I keep my Spirit back for defensive duties.

Turn 7

Without hesitation Kelly attacks with both zombies, one of them gets chumped by the spirit, the other gets through putting me on 8.  Horrifyingly she casts Endless Ranks of the Undead.  I respond with a Fiend of the Shadows.

Turn 8

The hoard begins to grow as Kelly gets a free zombie token from the Endless Ranks enchantment.  The 3/3 zombies hit me for six which I allow through putting me on 2.  Relentless dead lives up to its name when a Moan of the unhallowed is cast adding two more zombies to the rapidly increasing horde.  My turn and what I wouldn’t give for a Fateful Hour Gather the Townsfolk or two.  All I can manage is flashbacking unburial rights to return Doomed traveller and playing a Lingering Souls to get two spirit tokens.

Turn 9

The ranks of undead swell to 7, 5 of which can attack and with only four blockers 2 damage gets through and Kelly wins.

Fedger’s Thoughts

Wow, I friggin’ love this deck – it’s so fun to play!  I’m always going to enjoy a deck with synergy, and this deck oozes the stuff.  Setting up big plays like on Game 2 Turn 7 is both satisfying and rewarding, where just the activation of the Selfless Cathar’s ability had so much knock-on effect – providing you have the time to set everything up! 

In the first game, Kelly had me down to 5 life before the Sacrifice engine started moving.  One turn longer and the outcome would have been completely different.  Game three also demonstrated well what happens when you don’t quite have the right components in place.

The star of the playtest for me was the Skirsdag flayer; his repeatable removal is a bit pricey but worth it given the environment he is performing his rituals in.  More often than not, activating his ability will be doing more than just destroying an opponent’s creature.

Timing is everything in this deck. You really need to squeeze as much as you possibly can out of each sacrifice.  One can’t just go activating sac effects willy-nilly.  If you can use them at instant speed, then wait until the sac’d creature chump blocks an opponent’s beater or sac a creature that has been targeted by an opponent’s removal.

Another card I really enjoyed was the Galvanic Juggernaut.  Firstly he’s a 5/5 for 4 colourless mana; a great deal!  Secondly, given that we frequently have the ability to sac on demand we have control over his taps/ untaps.  Even when he’s tapped an opponent will think twice before counting him out of a block if they suspect we have some instant speed sac ability lurking in our hands (or in plain sight on the battlefield).

Fiend of the Shadows worked well against Relentless dead.  Our colour in common meant that (had I needed to) I could have cast the exiled cards. Relentless Dead doesn’t have much in the way of anti-air so she was sailing over the zombies, combat phase after combat phase.  I’m not sure she would be as good against other decks so she’s likely to live on the side board in the future.

All in all, this deck is both fun and tactically rewarding.  I look forward to tweaking the deck list to really tighten up the synergy between the cards.  I’ll post the results next week.

See you then!

Fedger.