How do you balance the ratios of sac outlets/sac pay offs/ token generators to things like removal and card draw when building an aristocrats deck?
Been tinkering with this [[Zurgo stormrender]] list for the past couple of days and it got me wondering as to what ratios of sac outlets to sac pay offs to token generators people are putting in their decks.
I felt like 10 sac outlets allow me to consistently have at least one in my opening hand or in the my first couple of draws but I saw a couple of comments on older posts suggesting to put up to 12-14.
Same thing with sac pay offs and to a lesser degree token generators.
goldfishing this deck made me realize that I would like more a bit more token generators but at the same time I reached the number I have in my list for those three categories by cutting some cards to make room for stuff like card draw and removal.
I know that there is cards that have a double function like [[ashnod's altar]] being a sac outlet and a ramp piece or spells like [[plumb the forbidden]] and [[deadly dispute]] acting as a one time sac outlet and card draw and I tried to take advantage of that by including the cards mentioned above as well as others like them but I still feel like the ratios are a little bit off.
So what ratios do you guys use for your aristocrat decks? Do you have a specific number that you start with then adjust according to what the deck needs? How many turns is it acceptable for you to goldfish until you find all three gameplan pieces I mentioned (Sac outlet, sac pay off, token generators)?
Posted Sep 11, 2025, 7:49 PM UTC