When Sephiroth, Fabled SOLDIER was initially spoiled, the card received a ton of hype. It’s a card advantage machine and a threatening win condition rolled up into one. Unfortunately, while it has shown up in a handful of Constructed decks, it hasn’t really had its time in the spotlight.
In a recent turn of events, though, a Golgari sacrifice shell has emerged in Modern that serves as a great home for Sephiroth. This archetype has put up handful of 5-0 results in Modern Leagues over the past few days and seems to be gaining traction in the format. For those who love playing long and grindy games, Golgari sacrifice is the perfect Modern deck for you.
Recursive Creatures
At a baseline, the engine that keeps this deck going and enables most of your synergies would not be present without a handful of recursive creatures. In order to maximize your sacrifice payoffs, including Sephiroth, you need lots of sacrifice fodder, and your creatures that repeatedly come back from your graveyard to play allow you to continue generating value.
With this in mind, Bloodghast and Gravecrawler are the cards that really make your deck tick. Nearly every card in your deck gets better if you can find one of these cards early.
Thanks to these recursive creatures, you’re free to play both Flare of Malice and Bone Shards as your removal spells. Most decks can’t afford to play these types of cards because they require you to give up resources in exchange for their efficiency and flexibility.
However, Bloodghast and Gravecrawler are super easy to get back into play, which successfully minimizes the downside of these spells. In games where you don’t draw one of these threats, Orcish Bowmasters at least gives you an Orc Army token to sacrifice at little cost.
Payoffs
What gives the deck such inevitability with these recursive threats is the plethora of payoffs that let you sacrifice them for value turn after turn. Sephiroth serves as a card draw engine when you can keep bringing back the creature you sacrifice. Even though there are only two copies of Sephiroth, you can often find them in games where you need them thanks to Birthing Ritual.
Birthing Ritual is yet another value machine that will flood the board with creatures over time. You don’t need to reveal anything super broken to get your money’s worth, since Bloodghast and friends will be able to close games eventually.
Definitely your best payoff to pair with Bloodghast is none other than Wight of the Reliquary. This is because when you sacrifice Bloodghast to Wight, you’ll immediately search for a land to resurrect Bloodghast right away. Wight is also a Zombie to pair with Gravecrawler. Urza’s Saga is definitely your strongest land to grab, though utility lands like Bojuka Bog can come in handy in certain scenarios.
Lastly, we wanted to highlight Grist, Voracious Larva. Grist hasn’t had its time to shine in Modern much at all, but in this deck, it’s actually quite powerful. Once Bloodghast or Gravecrawler come back to play with Grist out, you get to transform your one-drop into a scary Planeswalker that floods the board with elite blockers.
A Neat Archetype
All in all, this Golgari sacrifice shell has a lot going for it, especially against opposing creature decks. Your sacrifice synergies line up quite well versus removal that isn’t exile-based, and Flare of Malice and Bone Shards ensure that you can answer nearly any threat your opponent could put in your path. Flare even cleanly deals with a Scion of Draco with Hexproof out of Domain Zoo, making the matchup much easier.
Against Boros Energy, your mix of cheap removal, Orcish Bowmasters to keep Ocelot Pride in check, and Wight of the Reliquary which will quickly outsize most damage-based kill spells line up well. The one thing Golgari sacrifice lacks is the ability to apply early pressure. As such, your combo matchups aren’t ideal in game one, but there’s a reason you’ll find Thoughtseize and Duress in the sideboard.
You do also have to be weary of graveyard hate in games two and three. All your sacrifice synergies get significantly worse if you can’t recur your creatures. If you expect major hate pieces like Leyline of the Void, make sure you’re prepared with Pick Your Poison out of the sideboard.
Golgari sacrifice hasn’t had any major breakout performances yet, though the deck feels like the real deal. There’s a lot of room for innovation within the archetype, too, especially considering that some powerhouse enablers like Malevolent Rumble didn’t make the cut in this decklist. It’s nice to see Sephiroth get some more love. Make sure to keep Golgari sacrifice on your radar moving forward.
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