MTG Top 10 Best Sacrifice Commanders

Sacrifice decks are MTG decks that rely on deliberately sending their own permanents to the graveyard for beneficial effects. Decks built around sacrificing creatures are sometimes known as Aristocrats decks due to cards like Falkenrath Aristocrat Falkenrath Aristocrat Flying, haste
Sacrifice a creature: This creature gains indestructible until end of turn. If the sacrificed creature was a Human, put a +1/+1 counter on this creature. and Vampire Aristocrat Vampire Aristocrat Sacrifice a creature: This creature gets +2/+2 until end of turn. which have sacrifice effects that power them up. Though it may seem counterintuitive to deliberately get rid of your own permanents, pay-off cards like Deadly Dispute Deadly Dispute As an additional cost to cast this spell, sacrifice an artifact or creature.
Draw two cards and create a Treasure token. (It's an artifact with "{T}, Sacrifice this token: Add one mana of any color.") and Ashnod’s Altar Ashnod’s Altar Sacrifice a creature: Add {C}{C}. can ensure the reward is worth the cost. Here are 10 of the best Commanders you can build around if you’re looking to try out a sacrifice strategy.

10. Ashnod the Uncaring

The newest Commander on our list was released only last November in the Mishra’s Burnished Banner Brothers’ War Commander deck. Ashnod the Uncaring Ashnod the Uncaring Deathtouch
Whenever you activate an ability of an artifact or creature that isn't a mana ability, if one or more permanents were sacrificed to activate it, you may copy that ability. You may choose new targets for the copy. (Sacrificing an artifact for mana to activate an ability doesn't count.) allows you to copy activated abilities, from creatures and artifacts, which require a sacrifice. Your Burnished Harts will fetch you four lands, your Mindslavers will let you control two different opponents and your Time Sieves will give you two additional turns! The limitation that Ashnod can’t duplicate mana abilities exists solely to prevent her from completely breaking the game with treasure tokens. Though she may be new, Ashnod, the Uncaring Ashnod, the Uncaring Deathtouch
Whenever you activate an ability of an artifact or creature that isn't a mana ability, if one or more permanents were sacrificed to activate it, you may copy that ability. You may choose new targets for the copy. (Sacrificing an artifact for mana to activate an ability doesn't count.) is definitely a Commander to watch out for.

9. Baba Lysaga, Night Witch

Baba Lysaga, Night Witch Baba Lysaga, Night Witch {T}, Sacrifice up to three permanents: If there were three or more card types among the sacrificed permanents, each opponent loses 3 life, you gain 3 life, and you draw three cards. or “Baby Lasagna” as the community has nicknamed her is a Commander who opens up some really creative deck-building possibilities. Baba Lysaga can be tapped down in order to sacrifice up to three permeants. If those permanents have three or more card types each opponent loses three life, you gain three life and draw three cards. The key to making a Baba Lysaga decks work is to fill it with permanents with as many card types as possible. Cards like Mishra’s Factory Mishra’s Factory {T}: Add {C}.
{1}: This land becomes a 2/2 Assembly-Worker artifact creature until end of turn. It's still a land.
{T}: Target Assembly-Worker creature gets +1/+1 until end of turn. and Inkmoth Nexus Inkmoth Nexus {T}: Add {C}.
{1}: This land becomes a 1/1 Phyrexian Blinkmoth artifact creature with flying and infect until end of turn. It's still a land. (It deals damage to creatures in the form of -1/-1 counters and to players in the form of poison counters.) work great in Baba Lysaga decks because they can have three cards types simultaneously, enabling her effect with only a single sacrifice. Make sure you keep a few cards like Patriar’s Seal Patriar’s Seal {T}: Add one mana of any color.
{1}, {T}: Untap target legendary creature you control. and Thousand-Year Elixir Thousand-Year Elixir You may activate abilities of creatures you control as though those creatures had haste.
{1}, {T}: Untap target creature. in the deck so that you can activate Baba Lysaga’s effect multiple times in a turn.

8. Shirei, Shizo’s Caretaker

Shirei, Shizo’s Caretaker Shirei, Shizo’s Caretaker Whenever a creature with power 1 or less is put into your graveyard from the battlefield, you may return that card to the battlefield at the beginning of the next end step if Shirei is still on the battlefield. is the oldest card on our list, dating back to the set Betrayers of Kamigawa from 2005. During the end step, Shirei brings back all of the creatures with power one or less which went from the battlefield to the graveyard that turn. A Shirei deck wants to be loaded full of as many one or zero-power creatures you can find with powerful enter the battlefield effects or death triggers. Take cards like Bone Shredder Bone Shredder Flying
Echo {2}{B} (At the beginning of your upkeep, if this came under your control since the beginning of your last upkeep, sacrifice it unless you pay its echo cost.)
When this creature enters, destroy target nonartifact, nonblack creature. , Serrated Scorpion Serrated Scorpion When this creature dies, it deals 2 damage to each opponent and you gain 2 life. and Sling-Gang Lieutenant Sling-Gang Lieutenant When this creature enters, create two 1/1 red Goblin creature tokens.
Sacrifice a Goblin: Target player loses 1 life and you gain 1 life. , mix them in with some sacrifice outlets like Deadly Dispute Deadly Dispute As an additional cost to cast this spell, sacrifice an artifact or creature.
Draw two cards and create a Treasure token. (It's an artifact with "{T}, Sacrifice this token: Add one mana of any color.") , Viscera Seer Viscera Seer Sacrifice a creature: Scry 1. (Look at the top card of your library. You may put that card on the bottom.) , and Bolas’s Citadel Bolas’s Citadel You may look at the top card of your library any time.
You may play lands and cast spells from the top of your library. If you cast a spell this way, pay life equal to its mana value rather than pay its mana cost.
{T}, Sacrifice ten nonland permanents: Each opponent loses 10 life. and you’ll have the makings of a Shirei deck. Notably, Shirei returns creatures from the graveyard both during your end step and the end step of your opponents’ turns. Don’t be afraid to use your horde of 1/1s to chump block or to sacrifice them repeatedly.

7. Juri, Master of the Revue

Juri, Master of the Revue Juri, Master of the Revue Whenever you sacrifice a permanent, put a +1/+1 counter on Juri.
When Juri dies, it deals damage equal to its power to any target. decks have a simple game plan, but one which is undeniably effective. Every time you sacrifice a creature, Juri gets a +1/+1 counter if, at any point, Juri should die he deals damage equal to his power to any target. For only two mana Juri can be brought out exceedingly early in the game. You can buff Juri to be very strong, very quickly through some sacrifices, and then punch through and finish off opponents with Commander damage. In an emergency, or as a means of closing out the game, you can even use one of your sacrifice outlets to kill Juri himself, activating his death trigger and dealing a potentially huge amount of damage to an opponent.

6. Mazirek, Kraul Death Priest

The Sub-Commander of the 2015 Precon “Waking the Graves”. Mazirek, Kraul Death Priest Mazirek, Kraul Death Priest Flying
Whenever a player sacrifices another permanent, put a +1/+1 counter on each creature you control. is a five-mana 2/2 flyer that grants every creature you control a +1/+1 counter whenever a creature gets sacrificed. One thing which makes Mazirek stand out is that his ability triggers whenever any player sacrifices a permanent. This combos exceedingly well with cards like Plaguecrafter Plaguecrafter When this creature enters, each player sacrifices a creature or planeswalker of their choice. Each player who can't discards a card. and Fleshbag Marauder Fleshbag Marauder When this creature enters, each player sacrifices a creature of their choice. who will grant every creature you control four +1/+1 counters, in a four-player game where every player sacrifices at least one creature. Mazirek decks require you to strike the right balance between going wide, and also reliably having enough creatures to sacrifice to activate Mazirek’s ability. If you can thread this needle you can brew some really powerful decks around this insect shaman.

5. Ziatora, the Incinerator

Ziatora, the Incinerator Ziatora, the Incinerator Flying
At the beginning of your end step, you may sacrifice another creature. When you do, Ziatora deals damage equal to that creature's power to any target and you create three Treasure tokens. is the draconic head of the Riveteers, one of the crime families of New Capenna. Ziatora is slightly unusual as a sacrifice Commander because she wants you to sacrifice powerful creatures. Most sacrifice Commanders end up sacrificing lots of 1/1s and weak tokens because these don’t cost a lot of mana to generate. While it is certainly possible to sacrifice 1/1s to Ziatora, her ability rewards you for sacrificing stronger creatures. Cards like Phytotitan Phytotitan When this creature dies, return it to the battlefield tapped under its owner's control at the beginning of their next upkeep. , Malignus Malignus Malignus's power and toughness are each equal to half the highest life total among your opponents, rounded up.
Damage that would be dealt by this creature can't be prevented. , and Daemogoth Titan Daemogoth Titan Whenever this creature attacks or blocks, sacrifice a creature. are all great targets to be sacrificed to Ziatora in order to deal some real damage, The treasures generated by Ziatora also enable you to work some artifact synergies into your deck, or even pull off a Revel in Riches Revel in Riches Whenever a creature an opponent controls dies, create a Treasure token. (It's an artifact with "{T}, Sacrifice this token: Add one mana of any color.")
At the beginning of your upkeep, if you control ten or more Treasures, you win the game. win.

4. Yawgmoth, Thran Physician

Yawgmoth, Thran Physician Yawgmoth, Thran Physician Protection from Humans
Pay 1 life, Sacrifice another creature: Put a -1/-1 counter on up to one target creature and draw a card.
{B}{B}, Discard a card: Proliferate. (Choose any number of permanents and/or players, then give each another counter of each kind already there.) One of the most impactful cards released in Modern Horizons, which was a very powerful set. Yawgmoth brings together sacrifice strategies and counter-based strategies due to being a sacrifice outlet that also has a powerful proliferate effect. Use Yawgmoth’s first ability to cover your opponents’ creatures in -1/-1 counters and then proliferate to build those counters up until they reduce threats to nothing. If you can put some poison counter-generating cards like Infectious Inquiry Infectious Inquiry You draw two cards and you lose 2 life. Each opponent gets a poison counter. and Ichor Rats Ichor Rats Infect (This creature deals damage to creatures in the form of -1/-1 counters and to players in the form of poison counters.)
When this creature enters, each player gets a poison counter. into your deck, Yawgmoth can proliferate those as well, though this does risk making you public enemy number one at your table.

3. Teysa Karlov

Teysa Karlov Teysa Karlov If a creature dying causes a triggered ability of a permanent you control to trigger, that ability triggers an additional time.
Creature tokens you control have vigilance and lifelink. doubles all of your death triggers and also buffs all of your creature tokens. By building a Sacrifice-focussed deck around Teysa, you can activate these death triggers at will. This card debuted in Ravnica Allegiance and was designed to support the Afterlife mechanic in the set, doubling the number of spirit tokens generated when cards like Ministrant of Obligation Ministrant of Obligation Afterlife 2 (When this creature dies, create two 1/1 white and black Spirit creature tokens with flying.) and Orzhov Enforcer Orzhov Enforcer Deathtouch
Afterlife 1 (When this creature dies, create a 1/1 white and black Spirit creature token with flying.) die and also giving those tokens some useful keyword abilities. With the vastly increased card pool in Commander, there is so much more that Teysa can do. Drain 10 life from every opponent when your Kokusho, the Evening Star Kokusho, the Evening Star Flying
When Kokusho dies, each opponent loses 5 life. You gain life equal to the life lost this way. dies, or create two treasures whenever anything dies with Pitiless Plunderer Pitiless Plunderer Whenever another creature you control dies, create a Treasure token. (It's an artifact with "{T}, Sacrifice this token: Add one mana of any color.") . The possibilities are endless.

2. Meren of Clan Nel Toth

Meren of Clan Nel Toth Meren of Clan Nel Toth Whenever another creature you control dies, you get an experience counter.
At the beginning of your end step, choose target creature card in your graveyard. If that card's mana value is less than or equal to the number of experience counters you have, return it to the battlefield. Otherwise, put it into your hand. was the primary Commander of the 2015 Precon “Waking the Graves”. Meren is a significantly more popular Commander than Mazirek and it’s easy to see why. Meren gives you an experience counter whenever a creature you control dies, meaning it’s very easy to generate a huge number of these counters in a sacrifice deck. Then, during your end step, Meren reanimates a creature in your graveyard with a mana value less than or equal to the number of experience counters you have. With some self-mill or discard effects it’s easy to get a powerful creature like a Butcher of Malakir Butcher of Malakir Flying
Whenever this creature or another creature you control dies, each opponent sacrifices a creature of their choice. into your graveyard and then reanimate it with Meren significantly earlier than you would be able to hard cast it. Meren also lets you loop powerful enter the battlefield effects, or death triggers by repeatedly reanimating and then sacrificing your creatures.

1. Korvold, Fae-Cursed King

Throne of Eldraine was an infamously powerful set and this was especially true of the Brawl decks that were released alongside it. Korvold, Fae-Cursed King Korvold, Fae-Cursed King Flying
Whenever Korvold enters or attacks, sacrifice another permanent.
Whenever you sacrifice a permanent, put a +1/+1 counter on Korvold and draw a card. is, at the time of writing, the tenth most popular Commander of all time according to EDHREC data. What makes Korvold so powerful is that the card is a both a sacrifice enabler and a payoff. Korvold sacrifices a creature when he enters play or attacks and then rewards you for sacrificing a creature by drawing a card and gaining a +1/+1 counter. Drawing a card every single time a creature gets sacrificed is an exceedingly powerful effect that shouldn’t be underestimated and Korvold decks should never have problems with card advantage as long as they keep the sacrifices flowing.

Ziatora, the Incinerator Ziatora, the Incinerator Flying
At the beginning of your end step, you may sacrifice another creature. When you do, Ziatora deals damage equal to that creature's power to any target and you create three Treasure tokens. is a pretty powerful card, but when it comes to Draconic sacrifice Commanders, Korvold is the one true king.

Read more: Top 10 MTG Best Commander Cards in Phyrexia: All Will Be One