Overview:

Raphael, Fiendish Savior leads a synergistic aristocrats strategy focused on sacrificing Demons, Devils, and tokens to drain opponents through death triggers. The deck combines recursive threats like Orca, Siege Demon with sacrifice payoffs like Zulaport Cutthroat and The Meathook Massacre, generating value through Treasure tokens and creature recursion. While lacking infinite combos, it can produce explosive damage through amplified triggers from Fiendish Duo and Bloodletter of Aclazotz.

Primer:

Core Strategy: This deck aims to flood the board with disposable creatures (primarily Devils/Demons), sacrifice them for value using outlets like Ashnod's Altar, and amplify the resulting death triggers through damage multipliers. Key phases:

1. Setup (Turns 1-4): Deploy mana rocks, token generators like Bitterblossom, and key engines like Pitiless Plunderer
2. Value Engine (Turns 5-7): Activate sacrifice outlets while building board presence with recursive threats like Whisper, Blood Liturgist
3. Payoff (Turns 8+): Leverage stacked triggers from Syr Konrad, the Grim and Fiery Emancipation for lethal damage

Mulligan Priorities:

• Keep hands with 3 lands and 1-2 ramp pieces
• Prioritize early token generators or sacrifice outlets
• Avoid hands without black mana sources

Key Interactions:

• Pitiless Plunderer + Ashnod's Altar enables creature sacrifice loops
• The Meathook Massacre clears boards while draining opponents
• Bloodletter of Aclazotz doubles life loss during your turn

Avoid Traps:

• Overextending into board wipes before establishing recursion
• Casting high-cost demons without sacrifice protection
• Keeping slow hands without early plays

Weaknesses:

Critical:

• Heavy reliance on graveyard (vulnerable to Rest in Peace)
• No infinite combos for guaranteed wins

Moderate:

• Limited protection for key pieces
• Slow recovery from board wipes

Minor:

• Sufficient removal for common threats

Most Important Cards:

• Pitiless Plunderer
• Ashnod's Altar
• The Meathook Massacre
• Syr Konrad, the Grim
• Zulaport Cutthroat
• Fiendish Duo
• Fiery Emancipation
• Mayhem Devil
• Bitterblossom
• Ophiomancer

Attribute Ratings:

Speed: 5/10

• No T3-4 wins, but establishes engine by T5-6
• Relies on incremental damage rather than explosive combos

Resilience: 6/10

• Multiple recursion engines (Oversold Cemetery, Whisper)
• Vulnerable to graveyard hate but has alternate lines

Consistency: 6/10

• 8+ token generators and 6 sacrifice outlets
• Limited tutors outside Deadly Dispute

Interaction: 5/10

• 6 targeted removal spells
• Lacks counterspells/protection

Rating Justification:

This deck sits between Optimized Casual (5.0) and High-Power Casual (5.5) on the rubric. It has focused synergies and multiple win paths through amplified damage triggers, but lacks the speed (T8-10 wins vs T7-8 benchmark) and redundancy of higher tiers. The moderate interaction suite and vulnerability to graveyard hate prevent it from reaching optimized levels, while its engine-building capability exceeds typical precon power.

Power level: 4.5 - 5.0