PrimerMulligansSideboardMatchupsCommunity
Black Sacrifice is the beatdown and we are the control deck. They have the faster start by a wide margin: one-drops hit the table before our first cantrip, and Carrion Feeder and Mortician Beetle grow off the creatures they sacrifice, so their plan is to win before Tolarian Terror or Murmuring Mystic walls the ground, with a Rite of Consumption drain to finish the job. Outside combat, only Accursed Marauder (and Snuff Out or Tragic Slip in some lists) removes a 5/5 with ward, and once the first wave is answered their topdecked 1/1s do far less than our discounted Tolarian Terror, Breath Weapon, Lórien Revealed or Azure Fleet Admiral. We have no lifegain and no threat before the mid-game, so we trade early to stabilize and let the card quality take over rather than trying to race. Being on the draw hurts more than usual, since their first creatures land before our first land and start collecting fodder to sacrifice.
The early removal goes on the growth payoffs, and it goes early. Skred, Torch the Tower or Lightning Bolt at Carrion Feeder, Mortician Beetle or whatever wears Sadistic Glee while it is their only creature is a clean kill; once they have other creatures, they sacrifice them in response and grow the target out of range. Pointing burn at Nested Shambler, Infestation Sage or Nezumi Linkbreaker only turns it into a token, so those are not targets. Torch the Tower is the removal spell to hold for a payoff: it exiles what it kills, so a creature they don't sacrifice in response leaves no token and can't come back with Supernatural Stamina or Unearth. A removal spell they fizzle by sacrificing the target is not wasted either, since it still goes to our graveyard and lowers Tolarian Terror's cost, so keep casting cantrips and interaction every turn.
Breath Weapon is our only card that hits their whole board, and it is best fired once the payoffs are dead or with Skred or Lightning Bolt ready the same turn. Against a live Carrion Feeder or Mortician Beetle they sacrifice the creatures that were dying anyway to grow it past 2 damage (a Nested Shambler and the Squirrel it leaves count as two sacrifices), and a creature wearing Sadistic Glee gets a counter for every death. The sweep's damage stays marked for the turn, though, so one more burn spell finishes the payoff once they run out of fodder. Sweep before Murmuring Mystic starts making Bird tokens. Counterspell is reserved for Accursed Marauder whenever Tolarian Terror would be our only nontoken creature, and for Rite of Consumption, whose sacrifice is already paid when we counter it; spending it on a one-drop is a losing trade against a deck where most of the nonland cards cost one mana. Take the monarch with Azure Fleet Admiral only when our blockers cover their attackers, because any creature of theirs that connects takes it.
Carrion Feeder is the first thing to kill, and the window is while it is their only creature. Every creature they sacrifice to it in response to our burn becomes a permanent +1/+1 counter, so spending the early removal on fodder instead lets it grow past Skred and Breath Weapon off the sacrifices they make in response. It can't block, so it attacks every turn, and it is the creature that ends up fed to Rite of Consumption for a drain equal to its power.
Mortician Beetle gets a counter whenever any player sacrifices a creature: every outlet activation, every Village Rites, both halves of Accursed Marauder's edict, and our own Torch the Tower when we bargain it with a Bird token. While it is on the battlefield, bargain Torch the Tower only if Mortician Beetle itself is the target; aimed anywhere else, the bargain hands it a free counter, so skip the bargain instead.
Accursed Marauder, in many lists main deck and nearly all sideboards, is their clean answer to Tolarian Terror: the edict ignores ward and can't take a Bird token, and Unearth brings it back for a second edict. Casting Tolarian Terror as our only nontoken creature with no Counterspell up is how it punishes us. Spell Pierce can't target a creature spell, so the answers are Counterspell or Lose Focus on the stack, or a second nontoken creature such as Murmuring Mystic beside Terror to feed the edict. Their own half can be a Nested Shambler that leaves a Squirrel behind, and with Mortician Beetle out the two sacrifices put two counters on it.
Rite of Consumption is the finisher that turns a safe-looking life total into a loss: after combat they sacrifice their biggest creature to drain us for its power and gain the same amount. Tapping out on our own turn once Carrion Feeder has grown or Bloodthrone Vampire has creatures to eat is what lets it end the game. The sacrifice is a cost, so Counterspell, or Spell Pierce when they can't pay the tax, leaves them with neither the creature nor the drain.
In:
Out:
Cast into the Fire comes in because every creature in their main deck and every creature token it makes has 1 toughness, so it kills two of them at instant speed for two mana. One sacrifice in response gives both Carrion Feeder and Mortician Beetle a counter, so aim it at a lone payoff before they have creatures to spare, or at the tokens their deaths leave behind.
Lose Focus goes out. Their main-deck spells cost one or two mana, apart from Snuff Out, which they cast for life, so paying two mana to tax one loses tempo, and from the mid-game on their spare lands cover the tax. Spell Pierce taxes the same noncreature spells for one mana, so this is the soft counter that leaves.
Crimson Fleet Commodore goes out. Bloodthrone Vampire after one sacrifice, or a 1/1 pumped by a Mercenary token, trades with its 2 toughness, and our own Breath Weapon kills it. Both copies of Azure Fleet Admiral stay because its 3 toughness survives the sweep we want to fire freely here, and it can't be blocked by their creatures once they have taken the monarch.
One Spell Pierce goes out. It can't target any of their roughly 28 main-deck creatures, and their cheap spells leave two mana spare from the mid-game on, so a third copy is too many. Two stay because Village Rites and Rite of Consumption take their sacrifice as a cost, so countering either leaves them down the creature they already gave up, and Spell Pierce on top of ward makes Snuff Out or Tragic Slip on Tolarian Terror expensive.
Sideboarding shifts this matchup moderately toward them: we gain three copies of Cast into the Fire against a board of 1-toughness creatures, but they bring in more edicts, free removal and hand disruption aimed squarely at Tolarian Terror, plus graveyard exile that pushes its cost back up.
The headline change is that their extra copies of Tragic Slip, Accursed Marauder and Snuff Out all come for Tolarian Terror, so Counterspell mana or a second nontoken creature beside Terror matters more than in game one. When Terror would be our only nontoken creature, keep Counterspell up for Accursed Marauder, or land Terror next to Murmuring Mystic or Azure Fleet Admiral so that creature feeds the edict instead. Against their targeted removal, ward plus Spell Pierce makes Tragic Slip cost them five mana, and Snuff Out four mana on top of its 4 life; a free sacrifice outlet switches on morbid at instant speed, so a Tragic Slip pointed at Murmuring Mystic or Azure Fleet Admiral always kills.
Cast into the Fire replaces the cut cards and wants a lone payoff before they have creatures to spare, or the tokens their deaths leave behind, starting with Infestation Sage's flying Insects, the only creatures they have that can block our Birds. Like Breath Weapon's, its damage stays marked for the turn, so the two together can kill a payoff they grew in response to the first.
Mesmeric Fiend, in nearly every sideboard, will try to take Breath Weapon, Counterspell or Tolarian Terror, and with a free sacrifice outlet out they sacrifice it while its enter trigger is on the stack so the card never comes back. Counterspell is the only counter we keep that can stop it. Once it resolves, respond to the trigger by casting the instant they would take, or by putting our two best cards back on top with Brainstorm.
Many lists also bring Nihil Spellbomb, which can exile our graveyard before our main phase to push Tolarian Terror back toward full price, and cashing it in lets them pay one mana to draw a card. Hold a cantrip or two to cast before Terror on the turn we plan to land it, so the discount is rebuilt after the exile rather than lost with it.