Grixis Sacrifice Deck Guide

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Hello everyone! Today I will present a deck guide for one of the newest decks in the Standard format: Grixis Sacrifice!

A couple of months ago, I published the Rakdos Anvil guide, which – at the time – was an undisputed S-Tier Standard deck. After this came the Meathook Massacre Ban, which was a very heavy blow against our Rakdos Anvil Strategy.

Now, with the Brothers’ War, new cards have emerged – new game mechanics, and, of course, new strategies for the competitive Standard scene.

Last week, I was working on my new deck for competitive Standard for both MTGO and MTGArena. I wanted to pick up with a strategy that I already knew very well, so I started with Rakdos Anvil. Little by little, I was configuring the deck with the most important cards that could be relevant to this new Standard format with the Brothers’ War.

I quickly became very interested in testing these three new cards:

These three cards bring a new core to the deck and also give us another angle of play on many occasions.

Perhaps one of the most difficult tasks is to design an adequate mana base to be able to develop these new cards in our deck without any problem. After that, all that is left is to choose the correct number of copies of each card.

Winning the Standard Challenge

In the MtGO Standard Challenge last Saturday, I registered my Grixis Anvil list. I tried to go with a list as simple as possible and with the cards that I felt really comfortable with. After nine rounds, I managed to position myself in first place in the Standard Challenge, only losing one match in round four. I had a very good feeling with the deck I had registered, as a large number of my matches ended with resounding victories on my side. Last weekend, I decided to improve some things that I did not like about the deck, and now I will share the list with which I would play in future!

Deck Tech

This type of Strategy is characterized by generating a very considerable card advantage with a very cheap mana curve (with Shaeeli topping the curve at four).

Overall, the deck is a midrange deck. We have lines of play that can be quite aggressive, but generally we will win in a mid or late game.

Decks that contain cards like Oni-Cult Anvil, Experimental Synthesizer and Mishra’s Research desk are usually very complex decks to play, since those cards are very powerful when you use them at the right time and can be game-losing if you use them in table states where it is not a correct play.

I think, at the moment, Grixis Anvil is the deck that has the most mid-game chops compared to other decks, since we have a mix of card advantage, quality removal and enough pressure with creatures and Oni-Cult Anvil damage to win any matchup.

It may be incorrect to say that Grixis Artifacts is the best deck in Standard right now, since this new Standard format is very immature, but I will say that it is a Tier 1 deck with a lot of potential to become the best deck over the next few weeks.

I would also like to mention some cards that can be headaches for Grixis Artifacts: so much so that if they become more prevalently played, we may be forced to modify our list.

Artifact Core

This is the core of artifacts , a very important addition to the format has been Mishra’s Research Desk. It is a completely out-of-control card in this strategy. I even dare to say that it is far superior to Experimental Synthesizer, both for its flexibility of use and for the Unearth ability it has.

I am up to four copies of Research Desk, four copies of Anvil, two Synthesizers and two Reckoner Bankbusters. Synthesizer and Reckoner Bankbuster have gone into the background this time, since they are not so decisive right now, but their power level in our strategy deserves their inclusion.

Removal Spells

Go For the Throat is the new star removal in Standard at the moment, thus displacing Infernal Grasp. These two cards will probably split if the format starts to revolve around artifact creatures that are real threats.

Voltage Surge has left the map this last month, due to the large influx of Esper Midrange, where Cut Down is much more effective. In the current uncertain meta, though, I believe Voltage Surge is one of the more effective removal spells for this deck.

Threats

Undoubtedly, Third Path Iconoclast and Saheli, Filigree Master are the new MVPs of the deck. They are just exactly what this deck needed to have a chance in this new Standard metagame.

Third Path Iconoclast is a pain in the ass if our opponent can’t get rid of it soon. It’s a new win condition in our deck that allows us to put more pressure on our opponent with small creatures while generating card advantage and resolving our opponent’s threats.

Saheeli is insanely good in this archetype. Just by casting it, you already feel that you are one step ahead of your opponent. Just try it and you will see how powerful this card is.

Sideboard Guide

Soldiers/Mono-Red Aggro

On the Draw

On the Play

Mono-Black Midrange

On the Draw

On the Play

Mirror Match

Esper Legends/Esper Midrange