Black Sacrifice
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Both decks are linear aggro, but only they can interact, so we are the aggressor and they play the tempo game: set our mana back a turn with cheap removal, then finish with a grown attacker and a Rite of Consumption drain. Snuff Out, Tragic Slip, Accursed Marauder and the death trigger on Shambling Ghast all aim at the Elves that make our burst, while their one-drops chip in and nothing we maindeck stops Carrion Feeder or Mortician Beetle from stacking counters. Our only maindeck interaction is Masked Vandal on Sadistic Glee, so we have to do the racing: our big bodies hold off their ground attackers, and the burst has to become lethal before their counters and a drain catch up. Neither side is clearly faster, because their removal on Priest of Titania slows us by about as much as Generous Ent slows their attack. Where they pull ahead is resilience: their creatures leave Squirrels, Insects, Mercenaries or a -1/-1 behind and can be sacrificed in response to anything we point at them, while our one-toughness Elves die to that -1/-1 and leave nothing. Where we pull ahead is card quality in a long game, since Generous Ent, Avenging Hunter, a big Nyxborn Hydra or Lead the Stampede beats any single one-mana body they draw.
The board we want has Priest of Titania and Timberwatch Elf next to a spare one-mana Elf and a big body. The spare dork is what we hand to Accursed Marauder, which makes us sacrifice a nontoken creature of our choice, so the engine stays intact. Generous Ent or another big creature should come down as soon as the mana allows: apart from the flying Insect tokens, their attackers are one-toughness ground creatures, and a 5/7 with reach shuts off that chip damage while their removal is busy with our Elves. Avenging Hunter waits until our blockers can keep their whole team off us, with reach from Generous Ent or Nyxborn Hydra covering the Insects, because the first creature of theirs to connect takes the initiative and its upkeep ventures with it.
Assume a free Snuff Out is waiting behind every Timberwatch Elf pump. Aim the pump at a creature carrying a bestowed Nyxborn Hydra, so killing the target still leaves the Hydra on the battlefield with its counters. Otherwise save the alpha for when they are at 4 life or less, where paying Snuff Out's life cost would lose them the game, unless they have four mana open to pay for it normally. Masked Vandal is held for Sadistic Glee, which grows their creature off every death on either side, including each of our Elves their removal kills; those same dead Elves are the creature cards in our graveyard that the trigger needs.
Carrion Feeder is the growth payoff our maindeck cannot touch: every creature they feed it gives it a +1/+1 counter, and since it cannot block it never slows our attack. Its job is to become their main attacker and then the creature Rite of Consumption sacrifices, so we have to end the game before it gets there. Give them a slow turn and they feed it their chump blockers and tokens, attack with it, then drain us for its full power and gain that much life back.
Shambling Ghast is a removal spell aimed at our engine. Its death trigger gives -1/-1 to one of our creatures, which kills Priest of Titania, Quirion Ranger or any mana Elf, and with Carrion Feeder or Bloodthrone Vampire as a free sacrifice outlet they fire it whenever they like. Do not build a turn around a Priest of Titania that has not tapped yet while a Ghast and an outlet sit across the table: they kill the Priest in our upkeep and the big spells stay stuck in hand. Keep a second Priest or a Lead the Stampede in hand so one kill does not end the plan.
Snuff Out, which about a third of lists run in the maindeck, kills anything we have for 4 life and no mana, even when they are tapped out, because every creature we play is green. That includes the target of a Timberwatch Elf pump, so pumping a lone attacker while they have a Swamp and more than 4 life wastes both the pump and the attack. Each copy they cast for free costs them 4 life, which counts toward our race. Tragic Slip fills the same role in a smaller share of maindecks: a free sacrifice turns on morbid at instant speed, so it kills a big body as easily as an Elf.
Rite of Consumption is their finisher and their way to win a race against our bigger creatures. It sacrifices their biggest creature to deal damage equal to its power and gain that much life, so a grown Carrion Feeder or a pumped Bloodthrone Vampire moves both life totals at once. Never let a grown Feeder connect: they attack with it, then sacrifice it to the Rite after combat, so its power hits us twice in one turn and they gain the second hit back.
In:
Out:
Vitu-Ghazi Inspector replaces one-toughness mana Elves with a 1/3 reach Elf that still counts for Priest of Titania and Timberwatch Elf. It survives Shambling Ghast's -1/-1, a non-morbid Tragic Slip and Drown in Sorrow, blocks their one-toughness attackers and the flying Insect tokens, and can collect evidence for a +1/+1 counter and 2 life.
Spinewoods Paladin takes two of Avenging Hunter's slots as a 5/4 trampler that pushes damage past Nested Shambler and token chump blocks. Its 3 life offsets a Rite of Consumption drain, and it has no initiative for their wide board to steal.
Monstrous Emergence kills Carrion Feeder or Mortician Beetle before the counters stack up, and revealing a 5-power card makes the target hard to save with a sacrifice or Mutagenic Growth. Two copies rather than four, because it is a sorcery their free sacrifice outlets can blank by sacrificing the target in response, and each extra copy thins the creature count Lead the Stampede and Winding Way need.
Avenging Hunter loses two copies. Against a wide board with flying Insect tokens and Bloodthrone Vampire pumps, one creature connecting hands them the initiative and its upkeep ventures, and Spinewoods Paladin fills the same 5/4 trample slot without that risk. Two copies stay because we only have two Paladins and still want four five-drop bodies, cast when our blockers can keep their team off us.
Elvish Mystic is a cut in numbers, not in quality, since our nine one-mana Elves are identical. Six stay so we still have a turn-one accelerant, and three go for Vitu-Ghazi Inspector, because a 1/1 dork is exactly what Shambling Ghast's trigger, Tragic Slip and Drown in Sorrow kill.
Timberwatch Elf loses two copies because its lethal pump runs into a free Snuff Out or a morbid Tragic Slip on the target, and after boarding they have more of both. Two stay because pumping a blocker still wins combat against a pumped Bloodthrone Vampire or a grown Carrion Feeder, and the alpha is still our fastest kill once their removal is used up.
Sideboarding shifts this pairing moderately toward them: their second wave of cheap removal is aimed squarely at our green creatures, while our tougher bodies and two removal spells patch holes in the plan without changing how the game is fought.
After boarding they bring more instant-speed removal, so three mana Elves become Vitu-Ghazi Inspector. It still counts as an Elf for Priest of Titania and Timberwatch Elf, but at 1/3 it lives through the -1/-1 effects and Drown in Sorrow, and its reach blocks the Insect tokens. Pay its evidence with spent Lead the Stampede and Winding Way copies before reaching for the dead Elves, so creature cards stay in the graveyard for Masked Vandal.
Spinewoods Paladin replaces two Avenging Hunter as the five-mana 5/4 trampler, and its 3 life offsets a Rite of Consumption drain instead of handing their wide board the initiative. Plot it on a turn with spare mana and cast it free later, which lets us rebuild after a Drown in Sorrow without spending that turn's mana. With only two Timberwatch Elf left, use the pump mostly on blockers against a pumped Bloodthrone Vampire or a grown Carrion Feeder, and save the alpha for after their removal is gone.
Monstrous Emergence is for Carrion Feeder and Mortician Beetle before they grow. Reveal a 5-power card (Generous Ent, Spinewoods Paladin or a remaining Avenging Hunter) instead of choosing a 1-power Elf, so a Mutagenic Growth or one extra counter cannot save a target that has not grown yet. If they sacrifice the target in response for value, their payoff is still gone. Masked Vandal gets more targets too, since Vampiric Link and Sylvok Lifestaff join Sadistic Glee as reasons to hold it.