Create expendable creatures and enchantments, turn their sacrifices into cards and removal, then use a growing menace threat or end-step damage to finish.
Create expendable creatures and enchantments, turn their sacrifices into cards and removal, then use a growing menace threat or end-step damage to finish.
Commit when repeated useful cards and enough support make a complete deck in these colors.
Four checks while you draft
Can I affect the board before the payoff?
A one-mana enchantment creature can trigger eerie and trade for damage when it dies. Its death trigger targets any target, but exiling it avoids that trigger and changes the value of a sacrifice setup.
Do my actual cards enable this plan?
Cast Disturbing Mirth and sacrifice Fear of Lost Teeth for two cards and its death trigger. Later sacrifice the Mirth to Sawblade Skinripper to manifest dread while growing the Skinripper.
Can I stop their strongest play and finish a stalled game?
Create expendable creatures and enchantments, turn their sacrifices into cards and removal, then use a growing menace threat or end-step damage to finish.
Choose the missing job before another reward that needs it.
The key card is present but its support is thin.
Prioritize useful support such as Fear of Lost Teeth or Popular Egotist.
Cast Disturbing Mirth and sacrifice Fear of Lost Teeth for two cards and its death trigger. Later sacrifice the Mirth to Sawblade Skinripper to manifest dread while growing the Skinripper.
Your deck enables the plan but is losing the early turns.
Take a castable early creature or efficient answer before another expensive payoff.
Each sacrifice pays one cost. Disturbing Mirth cannot sacrifice itself to its own entry ability, and Final Vengeance's additional sacrifice is already paid before the opponent can respond.
The support is missing
Favor independently useful creatures and interaction if the narrow support does not arrive.
Repeated useful cards are clues, not proof that the colors are open.
Each sacrifice pays one cost. Disturbing Mirth cannot sacrifice itself to its own entry ability, and Final Vengeance's additional sacrifice is already paid before the opponent can respond.
Exile or bounce expendable permanents when that avoids death rewards. Remove a sacrifice engine before the next setup, recognizing that a sacrifice already paid as a cost cannot be prevented afterward.
Disturbing Mirth62.1% GIH · 24,198 instances
Betrayer's Bargain60.1% GIH · 11,048 instances
Glassworks // Shattered Yard2R // 4R60.1% GIH · 18,905 instances
Nowhere to Run60.0% GIH · 9,167 instances
Final Vengeance59.8% GIH · 27,712 instances
Fear of Burning Alive59.7% GIH · 8,549 instances17Lands ↗ · Sep 24–Oct 28, 2024 · at least 100 card-in-hand instances in this pair’s no-splash decks. Choose the job your deck needs first.
Unholy Annex // Ritual Chamber 2B // 3BBRoom: statistics and whole-card assessments describe this card, not an individual door.Unholy Annex: The three-mana black door draws at your end step, then drains if you control a Demon or costs you life otherwise. Track your life total and access to a Demon rather than assuming the draw is free. Ritual Chamber: The five-mana black door makes a 6/6 flying Demon when unlocked. It can be cast first for a substantial threat, or later to switch Unholy Annex's life loss into a drain.
Overlord of the Boilerbilges 4RRIts four-mana impending mode deals four to any target immediately, even while it is not a creature. Six mana supplies the 5/5 body now; later attacks repeat the damage, so clear a blocker or finish the opponent according to the race.
Dissection Tools 5Five mana manifests a body and attaches this Equipment, making that face-down creature a 4/4 with deathtouch and lifelink. Later equips cost a sacrificed creature and still use sorcery timing; use expendable bodies to move the Tools onto a flyer or other threat likely to connect.17Lands Premier Draft ↗ · Sep 24–Oct 28, 2024 · 100-instance minimum
Fear of Lost TeethA one-mana enchantment creature can trigger eerie and trade for damage when it dies. Its death trigger targets any target, but exiling it avoids that trigger and changes the value of a sacrifice setup.
Balemurk Leech
Vengeful PossessionBorrow a creature to attack, then sacrifice it before the turn ends if you have a suitable outlet. You must pay both spells or abilities; without an outlet the creature normally returns to its owner.
Commune with Evil
Popular EgotistPay two mana and sacrifice another creature or enchantment to give this creature indestructible and tap it. Every permanent you sacrifice also creates a drain trigger; the ability does not increase its power or grant lifelink.
Balemurk LeechFinal VengeanceExiling a creature requires sacrificing a creature or enchantment as an additional cost. The sacrifice happens before a response and is not refunded if the target becomes illegal or the spell is countered.
Let's Play a Game
Sawblade SkinripperCast Disturbing Mirth and sacrifice Fear of Lost Teeth for two cards and its death trigger. Later sacrifice the Mirth to Sawblade Skinripper to manifest dread while growing the Skinripper.
Funeral Room2BRoom: cast this door from hand. On the battlefield, unlock a locked door by paying its cost as a sorcery; unlocking is not casting.The black three-mana door makes ordinary creature trades and sacrifice costs drain the opponent. Prefer expendable bodies that still develop your board; the eight-mana reanimation door is an additional late option, not the cost of starting this engine.
Examples apply the printed rules; judge the board, costs and timing.
| One-pick | Sealed |
|---|---|
| With one pick at a time, fill the missing early play, answer or support card before adding another narrow payoff. The plan must work without drawing its key card. | Compare complete builds from the cards you opened. Keep the castable curve and interaction even if the draft theme is only partly supported. |
