Overview:

This is an aristocrats-style deck built around Yawgmoth, Thran Physician, utilizing sacrifice synergies, -1/-1 counters, and life drain effects to control the board while generating card advantage and eventually overwhelming opponents through attrition or combo wins.

Primer:

The deck operates primarily through its commander, Yawgmoth, Thran Physician, who serves as both a card draw engine and removal source. The strategy revolves around generating disposable creatures through tokens and recursive creatures, then sacrificing them for value while triggering various death payoffs like Blood Artist and Zulaport Cutthroat. The deck can also utilize -1/-1 counter synergies through cards like Nest of Scarabs and Blowfly Infestation for additional value and control.

The deck can win through multiple paths: grinding out opponents with death triggers, assembling infinite sacrifice loops with Mikaeus, the Unhallowed and persist creatures, or overwhelming the board with token generation and resource advantage. Key support pieces like Phyrexian Arena and Skullclamp help maintain card advantage, while recursion elements like Phyrexian Reclamation provide resilience. The deck's mono-black nature allows for strong mana acceleration through cards like Crypt Ghast and Cabal Stronghold.

Weaknesses:

The deck is heavily reliant on its commander for optimal functionality and can struggle if Yawgmoth is repeatedly removed. Graveyard hate significantly impacts the deck's recursion strategy, and the lack of enchantment removal outside of Feed the Swarm makes it vulnerable to problematic enchantments. The deck also has limited answers to flying creatures, though it can generally remove them through Yawgmoth's ability.

Most Important Cards:

1. Mikaeus, the Unhallowed
2. Blood Artist
3. Skullclamp
4. Phyrexian Arena
5. Dictate of Erebos
6. Bolas's Citadel
7. Black Market
8. Grave Crawler
9. Nest of Scarabs
10. Pitiless Plunderer

Attribute Ratings:

• Speed: 6/10
• Resilience: 7/10
• Consistency: 7/10
• Interaction: 8/10

Rating Justification:

This deck sits firmly in the 6.5-7.0 range due to its ability to consistently establish a strong board presence and threatening position by turns 6-7, with occasional faster starts through cards like Dark Ritual and Sol Ring. While it lacks the explosive speed of higher-powered decks, it makes up for it with strong interaction and resilience. The deck's ability to grind out value and maintain board control while threatening combo wins places it above typical casual builds but below truly competitive lists.

Final power level rating: 6.5 - 7.0