PrimerMulligansSideboardMatchupsCommunity
Black Sacrifice has to race us, and it knows it. Its creature removal, whether that is the Accursed Marauder many builds run, or the Tragic Slip or Snuff Out some lists carry, has no creature of ours to hit, nothing in its game-one deck counters a spell or touches our hand, Pentad Prism or our lands, and the poison counters we place never come off however much life Rite of Consumption gains them. If the game goes long, we win it. What they have is speed: their one-drops start attacking while our depletion lands are still entering tapped, every creature they deploy connects because we have no blockers, and a post-combat Rite of Consumption lets them close about a turn ahead of our poison chain. So we take the role of protecting the combo: build the chain on curve without baiting anything, and spend every real decision on buying back that one turn with Weather the Storm and Snap.
Hold Weather the Storm for their turn and cast it as late as their damage allows: in response to Rite of Consumption, or at the end of their turn if no Rite comes. Storm counts every spell cast before it that turn by either player, and their turns are full of one-mana plays, Village Rites and Supernatural Stamina, so the same card gains far more life there than an early cast on our own turn. Count the Rite into every life decision as well. With Carrion Feeder or Bloodthrone Vampire out, they can feed the board that just attacked to one creature after combat and sacrifice it to the Rite for that damage again or more. Pay Infectious Inquiry's 2 life with that in mind, and start poison with Prologue to Phyresis instead when life is tight.
Snap's best moment is when they start feeding Bloodthrone Vampire or Carrion Feeder, in combat or after it to set up Rite of Consumption. Bounce the creature being fed in response: the sacrificed bodies are already gone as the cost, and the pumps or counters leave with it. Point it at what they least want to lose, the creature being fed, a Carrion Feeder or Mortician Beetle carrying counters, or whatever wears Sadistic Glee in the many builds that run it. If that window is not coming, save Snap for the chain turn as usual.
Carrion Feeder is their main clock against a deck that cannot block, since every body they feed it becomes a permanent +1/+1 counter. It is also why our Snap must target something they want to keep: as a free sacrifice outlet it lets them sacrifice any lesser target in response. Never Snap a token or a spare 1/1 while it is out, because they feed the target to the Feeder in response, Snap finds no target, the land untap never happens and the Feeder takes the counter.
Rite of Consumption is their finisher and the only way they damage us outside combat. After attacking they feed the rest of the board to Bloodthrone Vampire or Carrion Feeder and sacrifice that creature, so a board that has just connected hits us again. The life it gains them does nothing to slow poison. What it punishes is tapping out on our own turn with no Weather the Storm or Snap held up: the board that just attacked comes back at us through one post-combat Rite.
Mesmeric Fiend is their post-board answer to our combo and sits in nearly every sideboard. It takes a card from our hand, and a sorcery-speed piece like Infectious Inquiry or Pentad Prism cannot be cast in response. With Carrion Feeder or Bloodthrone Vampire out, they sacrifice it while its enter trigger is on the stack, so the card stays exiled. Do not do their work for them: if we bounce or kill the Fiend while that enter trigger is still on the stack, the leave trigger resolves first with nothing to return and the card it then takes is gone for good. Wait for the trigger to resolve, then Snap it to get the card back.
In:
Out:
Moment's Peace comes in because Black Sacrifice damages us only in combat and through Rite of Consumption, and we have no blockers. The cast and the flashback each wipe out a full attack, two turns per card, which covers the turn their clock has on our chain. Green for both halves comes from Hickory Woodlot, the Forest, a Pentad Prism charge or Manamorphose, so the mainboard already covers the flashback.
Breath Weapon comes in as two copies rather than three. Their creatures are all printed with 1 toughness and their tokens have at most 2, so on a board with no Carrion Feeder (before one lands, or right after Snap bounces it) two damage clears everything that has not grown. Against Bloodthrone Vampire, cast it on our turn so the pump it uses to survive ends with the turn. The Feeder is in every list, though, and with one out they feed it the doomed bodies and their death tokens in response, so the sweep only moves their power onto the Feeder. That window is too narrow to spend another chain card on a third copy.
Teach by Example goes out to make room for Moment's Peace. Black Sacrifice has no counterspell to fight our chain and is a turn ahead of us, so the mana it costs up front comes out of the turns we need to survive, while its copy only pays off on the kill turn. When the problem is time, it is the weakest of our chain cards.
Focus the Mind goes out to make room for Breath Weapon. It adds neither poison nor counters, and it is the only draw spell besides the free Manamorphose that does not. In a race against their one-drops, it is the first card-draw slot to trade for a card that buys time.
Sideboarding moves this matchup moderately in our favor: two fogs that each erase two attacks hit a deck that damages us almost entirely in combat, while their main upgrade, Mesmeric Fiend, takes one card and needs a sacrifice outlet already on the battlefield to keep it.
Each Moment's Peace adds two turns of no combat damage against a deck that only damages us in combat and through Rite of Consumption, buying the turn we are short in game one, while they trade their blank creature removal for Mesmeric Fiend to pick a poison starter or Pentad Prism out of our hand. Cast the fog late in their combat so any pump they spend is wasted, and keep green mana open for the flashback on the next attack that matters. Weather the Storm stays our answer to the Rite. Once they have seen Moment's Peace, expect Rotten Reunion to exile it from our graveyard at instant speed before we flash it back, with the decayed Zombie it leaves behind as one more attacker and one more body to sacrifice.
Against Mesmeric Fiend, land Pentad Prism and cast Infectious Inquiry at the first chance, since sorcery-speed cards cannot be cast in response. When the Fiend's enter trigger is on the stack, cast the instants we cannot afford to lose: Prologue to Phyresis, or Moment's Peace, which in their main phase still prevents that turn's combat damage. If the Fiend stays after the trigger resolves, Snap or Breath Weapon it to get the card back, and never while the trigger is still on the stack. With Carrion Feeder or Bloodthrone Vampire out, expect them to sacrifice it in response to its own trigger, which exiles the card for good.
Breath Weapon is about their sacrifice outlets. With no outlet on the battlefield, the sweep clears everything that has not grown, and in their combat it kills the attackers before damage, leaving only the tokens their death triggers make after it resolves. A Bloodthrone Vampire can sacrifice the doomed bodies to itself and survive, so against one, cast it on our own turn: the pump ends with the turn and the fodder is gone. Carrion Feeder is the problem, since in response they feed it each doomed creature and then the tokens those deaths leave, handing it that many permanent counters while any Mortician Beetle grows off every sacrifice too. Cast it before a Feeder lands or right after Snap has bounced one. Some lists also bring in Mutagenic Growth, which keeps one creature alive through the sweep and adds damage against a deck with no blockers, so a Feeder left standing is not the only way the sweep can come up short.