17. Aristocrats

Format: Commander

Commander: Jenova, Ancient Calamity

Bracket: 3

DeckCheck Threat Index: 40

Deck overview

Jenova, Ancient Calamity leads a Golgari Aristocrats strategy that blends +1/+1 counters with sacrifice-based card draw and life drain. The deck accelerates in the opening turns with ramp spells like Nature's Lore and Arcane Signet before casting Jenova on Turn 4. At combat, Jenova strengthens an ally and makes it a Mutant. When that Mutant dies on your turn, Jenova turns its power directly into drawn cards. This continuous card flow fuels sacrifice engines centered around Blood Artist, Zulaport Cutthroat, Bastion of Remembrance, and Ninja Teen. Token creators like Pawn of Ulamog, Blight Mound, and recursive creatures like Forsaken Miner provide steady sacrifice fodder. In the midgame, the deck uses creature tutors like Natural Order and Eldritch Evolution to find Protean Hulk, setting up game-winning swings with Living Death or drain loops with Kokusho, the Evening Star to eliminate all opponents by Turn 7.

Decklist (100 cards)

• 1 Abrupt Decay
• 1 Arachnogenesis
• 1 Arcane Signet
• 1 Awakening Zone
• 1 Bastion of Remembrance
• 1 Beast Within
• 1 Black Market Connections
• 1 Blight Mound
• 1 Blood Artist
• 1 Bloodline Pretender
• 1 Bloodsoaked Champion
• 1 Braids, Arisen Nightmare
• 1 Cankerbloom
• 1 Changeling Outcast
• 1 Command Tower
• 1 Dark Prophecy
• 1 Deadly Rollick
• 1 Deathcap Glade
• 1 Eldritch Evolution
• 1 Emeritus of Abundance // Regrowth
• 1 Eternal Witness
• 1 Evolution Witness
• 1 Field of the Dead
• 1 Flare of Malice
• 4 Forest
• 1 Forsaken Miner
• 1 Garruk, Cursed Huntsman
• 1 Golgari Germination
• 1 Grave Researcher // Reanimate
• 1 Haywire Mite
• 1 High Market
• 1 Honest Rutstein
• 1 Insidious Roots
• 1 Jenova, Ancient Calamity
• 1 Junji, the Midnight Sky
• 1 Kami of Whispered Hopes
• 1 Kokusho, the Evening Star
• 1 Living Death
• 1 Llanowar Wastes
• 1 Mana Confluence
• 1 Masked Vandal
• 1 Moldervine Reclamation
• 1 Natural Order
• 1 Nature's Lore
• 1 Necroblossom Snarl
• 1 Nether Traitor
• 1 Ninja Teen
• 1 Nurturing Peatland
• 1 Overgrown Tomb
• 1 Pawn of Ulamog
• 1 Pest Infestation
• 1 Phyrexian Altar
• 1 Primal Growth
• 1 Protean Hulk
• 1 Putrid Goblin
• 1 Rampant Growth
• 1 Reassembling Skeleton
• 1 Reflecting Pool
• 1 Reliquary Tower
• 1 Rise of the Witch-king
• 1 Sakura-Tribe Elder
• 1 Sifter of Skulls
• 1 Skullclamp
• 4 Snow-Covered Forest
• 4 Snow-Covered Swamp
• 1 Sol Ring
• 1 Spore Frog
• 1 Studious First-Year // Rampant Growth
• 5 Swamp
• 1 Tainted Wood
• 1 Tear Asunder
• 1 Temple of Malady
• 1 Teval's Judgment
• 1 The Great Henge
• 1 The One Ring
• 1 Toxic Deluge
• 1 Tragic Slip
• 1 Twilight Mire
• 1 Undergrowth Stadium
• 1 Verdant Catacombs
• 1 Vernal Fen
• 1 Victimize
• 1 Viridescent Bog
• 1 Viscera Seer
• 1 Wastewood Verge
• 1 Woodland Cemetery
• 1 Zulaport Cutthroat