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PrimerMulligansSideboardMatchups

Aggro Matchups

  1. Black Sacrifice
  2. Bogles
  3. Elves
  4. Madness Burn
  5. Mono Red Madness
  6. Mono Red Rally
  7. White Aggro

Aggro-Control Matchups

  1. Blue Terror
  2. Dimir Faeries
  3. Dimir Terror
  4. Mono Blue Faeries

Combo Matchups

  1. Altar Tron
  2. Ruby Storm
  3. Spy Combo

Combo-Control Matchups

  1. Familiars

Control Matchups

  1. Dimir Control
  2. Golgari Gardens
  3. Jeskai Ephemerate

Midrange Matchups

  1. Esper Affinity
  2. Grixis Affinity
  3. Jund Wildfire

Ramp Matchups

  1. Flicker Tron
  2. Gruul Ponza
  3. Gruul Ramp
  4. Monster Tron

Black Sacrifice

Carrion Feeder - emblematic card for this matchup
Read the Black Sacrifice full guide →

Matchup

Black Sacrifice has to race us. In a long game our draw-and-discard spells, the Eidolon and Sneaky Snacker recursion and the kill itself pull ahead of a board of 1/1s that refills by feeding its own bodies to Village Rites, so their one-drops, Carrion Feeder's counters and a Rite of Consumption finish have to land before our kill does. That makes them the beatdown and us the side protecting one kill turn: their Snuff Out, Tragic Slip, Shambling Ghast triggers and Accursed Marauder all go toward killing Tireless Tribe to buy turns, and our job is to make that one turn stick rather than to fight their board.

We are usually about a turn faster than they are, and Fling or an Escape Tunnel attack goes past the token blockers they would use to slow us. What they have going for them is that every answer in their deck hits the single creature our kill runs through, and their free sacrifice outlets let them sacrifice a creature in response to a targeted Lightning Bolt and keep its death trigger. The die roll also matters more than usual: most of their nonland cards cost one mana, so being on the play is an extra attack before our kill turn, while on the draw the extra card helps us find Inside Out and Loran's Escape.

Hold Loran's Escape for the first targeted answer to Tireless Tribe on the kill turn, and count on its hexproof rather than its indestructible: a -1/-1 from a Shambling Ghast trigger or Tragic Slip that lands on Tribe at any point that turn, before the switch included, leaves the switched Tribe at 0 toughness, and indestructible does nothing about that. With mana for both Inside Out and Fling, cast Fling with the priority we get as soon as Inside Out resolves: the switched Tribe is sacrificed as a cost, so nothing in their main deck gets a window after the switch and their token blockers never matter. An Escape Tunnel attack instead leaves the 1-toughness Tribe on the battlefield through combat, so make it only with Loran's Escape up or Fling ready to sacrifice Tribe in response to their removal.

Don't pass the turn with Tireless Tribe as our only nontoken creature, because Accursed Marauder's forced sacrifice goes around hexproof. Keep Sneaky Snacker or Magmakin Artillerist next to it, or cast Tribe on a five-mana turn and Fling it right away; Bitter Reunion's haste also lets a fresh Tribe attack through Escape Tunnel the turn it comes down. Lightning Bolt goes at Carrion Feeder or Mortician Beetle before they have fodder and an outlet to sacrifice in response, or at their life total to trim the number of discards the kill needs; pointing it at Nested Shambler, Infestation Sage or Nezumi Linkbreaker just hands them a token. Magmakin Artillerist is the backup route: it blocks their 1/1s without dying and turns every discarded card into damage, so a game where their removal keeps finding Tribe can still end through Artillerist and the draw-and-discard spells.

Key Threats

Shambling Ghast is in nearly every list, and next to a free sacrifice outlet such as Carrion Feeder or Bloodthrone Vampire its death trigger is an instant-speed -1/-1 they can fire in any window of our kill turn. Landing on Tireless Tribe before or after Inside Out, it leaves the switched Tribe at 0 toughness. Never cast Inside Out without white mana open for Loran's Escape while a Ghast and an outlet sit on their board: they sacrifice the Ghast in response, Tribe dies, and every card we discarded to it is gone.

Snuff Out is the targeted removal to respect; about a third of lists run it main, and Tragic Slip does the same job in the lists that main it, since even its -1/-1 mode kills the switched Tribe. Snuff Out is paid with 4 life, so they hold it through our whole kill turn with no mana open, and it kills Magmakin Artillerist as well. Committing our discards to Tireless Tribe without Loran's Escape up is the mistake it punishes: one free spell for Tribe and the whole hand we pitched. The life it costs them is the small consolation, because it lowers what Fling has to deal.

Accursed Marauder, which many builds run main, is the edict Loran's Escape can't stop. Whenever Tireless Tribe is our only nontoken creature, its enters trigger takes it, so it decides whether Tribe can sit on the battlefield between our turns at all. Passing with a lone Tribe is what feeds it, and both players' sacrifices put counters on any Mortician Beetle they control.

Carrion Feeder is their main clock and a free sacrifice outlet in one card: it grows off the fodder our Lightning Bolt would otherwise hit, and it lets them fire Shambling Ghast and switch on Tragic Slip's morbid at instant speed during our kill turn. Waiting on Lightning Bolt until they have spare bodies is the error: they sacrifice them in response to grow it out of range, and those counters stay for the rest of the game.

Sideboard Plan

In:

  • 2 Loran's Escape
  • 2 Prismatic Strands

Out:

  • 2 Sandstorm Eidolon
  • 2 Lightning Bolt

Loran's Escape comes in because their post-board Tragic Slip, Snuff Out and Spinning Darkness all target Tireless Tribe at instant speed alongside the main-deck Shambling Ghast trigger. Going to four copies means hexproof is more often in hand on the kill turn, and cast in response it leaves each of them with an illegal target, including the -1/-1 that indestructible alone can't survive.

Prismatic Strands comes in for the race: their creature cards and Rite of Consumption are black sources, so naming black on their big attack turn blanks that combat damage and the Rite's drain and life gain, though the green Squirrel tokens from Nested Shambler and the red Mercenary tokens from Nezumi Linkbreaker still deal theirs. Pitched to a Tribe pump or a draw spell it still flashes back by tapping a white creature, and Tireless Tribe plus Aurora Eidolon give the post-board deck eight of them, while the hard cast needs neither. Two rather than three, since a third would cost another of the draw-and-discard or recursion slots the kill needs.

Sandstorm Eidolon goes out to make room for Loran's Escape: stopping one creature from blocking does nothing against a board of 1/1 tokens that Fling and Escape Tunnel already get past, and Carrion Feeder can't block anyway, so only its role as recurring discard fodder was worth anything here. Aurora Eidolon stays as that fodder because on the battlefield it is a white creature that pays Prismatic Strands' flashback, and its shield prevents 3 damage from a Rite of Consumption.

Lightning Bolt loses two copies to make room for Prismatic Strands: their free sacrifice outlets answer a targeted Bolt by sacrificing the creature in response and keeping its death trigger, so its removal mode loses most of its value in this pairing. Two copies stay to kill a Carrion Feeder or Mortician Beetle before fodder lands, to kill a Mesmeric Fiend and get back the card it took, and to shave the life Rite of Consumption gains.

Sideboarding shifts this pairing moderately in their favor: we add protection for the kill turn and a way to blank one big attack, but their board brings in more instant-speed answers to Tireless Tribe, extra edicts, hand disruption and graveyard hate, all aimed at the one creature and the recursion our plan depends on.

Post-board Strategy

Their sideboard aims Tragic Slip, Snuff Out, Spinning Darkness, extra Accursed Marauder and Mesmeric Fiend at our one combo creature and our hand, so every kill turn needs Loran's Escape up for the targeted answers and a second nontoken creature against the edicts. With four Loran's Escape, keep white mana open on every kill turn and spend it on the first targeted answer to Tireless Tribe, whether Tragic Slip, Snuff Out, Spinning Darkness or a Shambling Ghast trigger. Spinning Darkness, which about half the lists bring in, needs the same respect as the -1/-1 effects: damage it marks on a pumped Tribe before the switch is lethal once the switch drops Tribe's toughness to 1. Accursed Marauder comes in as well and gets around hexproof, so go into their turn with Sneaky Snacker or Magmakin Artillerist beside Tribe, or cast Tribe and Fling it on the same turn.

Prismatic Strands is the tool for the race: cast it during their big attack naming black and their black attackers and the Rite of Consumption that follows deal no damage and gain them no life, though Squirrel and Mercenary tokens are green and red and still connect. Pitched to a Tribe pump or a draw spell, it can still be flashed back by tapping Tireless Tribe or Aurora Eidolon, after blockers are declared so a tapped Tribe still blocks. Rotten Reunion, which every list boards, and Nihil Spellbomb, which about two-thirds bring in, can exile it from our graveyard first, so don't lean on the flashback while either is available to them.

Mesmeric Fiend, boarded in by nearly every list, and the graveyard hate change how we build toward the kill. The Fiend takes Inside Out or Loran's Escape, and if they sacrifice it while its enters trigger is still on the stack the card is gone for good, so keep casting Thrilling Discovery and Pursue the Past to find second copies; once the trigger has resolved, a Lightning Bolt on the Fiend brings the card back. Rotten Reunion can pull Sneaky Snacker out of the graveyard in response to its return trigger, and Nihil Spellbomb clears the Eidolons, Snacker and Pursue the Past's flashback in one go, but the draw spells still dig toward Inside Out and fresh copies of Tireless Tribe without the recursion.

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