{"ops":[{"attributes":{"bold":true},"insert":"Shirei \"Taking Care\" of Elves"},{"insert":"\n\nA lot of elves are pretty weak, many of them with 1/1 or fairly small bodies. This deck leads them into battle with a commander who knows how to take care of the fairfolk.\n\nShirei, Shizo’s Caretaker doesn’t mention Elves, tribal synergies, or creature types of any kind. What Shirei does care about is small creatures dying. Specifically, whenever a creature with power 1 or less dies, Shirei brings it back at the next end step.\n\nConveniently, black has a surprising number of Elves that either already fit that requirement or can be made to fit it. So the plan is to build a mono-black Elf aristocrats deck where Shirei “takes care” of the Elves by making them smaller, and benefiting from their death, recursion, and very likely death again.\n\n"},{"attributes":{"bold":true},"insert":"Making Elves Small Enough for Shirei"},{"insert":"\n\nA normal Shirei deck simply fills itself with creatures that naturally have 1 power. This deck takes the more complicated route.\n\nCards like Umezawa’s Jitte, Serrated Arrows, and Darkblast let us temporarily reduce the power of our own creatures before sacrificing them. That means a 2-power Elf like Ayara, First of Locthwain can become a 1-power creature long enough for Shirei to see it die and bring it back.\n\nThe really fun cards are the effects that shrink the entire team. Heartless Summoning, Geth, Thane of Contracts, Kaervek, the Spiteful, and Night of Souls’ Betrayal all reduce the power of our creatures, turning cards that would normally be too large for Shirei into legitimate recursion targets.\n\nBut the crown jewel is Vampirism. Enchant Shirei with it and two things happen:\nShirei gets bigger for every other creature we control."},{"attributes":{"list":"bullet"},"insert":"\n"},{"insert":"Every other creature we control gets -1/-1."},{"attributes":{"list":"bullet"},"insert":"\n"},{"insert":"\nIn other words, Shirei becomes enormous while making all of his Elves smaller so that he can keep bringing them back from the dead. Remember that this happens at EVERY end step, meaning that if Shirei can stay on the board through a whole turn cycle, we can churn our entire board state four times. Normally it would be frustrating to immediately lose 1/1 creatures. But with cards like Ayara and Zulaport Cutthroat, we get to ping all of our opponents with each, juicing much more value than a 1/1 body would normally give.\n\nWhat a thoughtful caretaker.\n\n"},{"attributes":{"bold":true},"insert":"The Elf Engine"},{"insert":"\n\nThe deck is still very much an Elf deck rather than a generic Shirei aristocrats shell. Miara, Thorn of the Glade and Skemfar Avenger turn dying Elves into card advantage. Prowess of the Fair gives us a fresh 1/1 Elf Warrior whenever one of our nontoken Elves dies. Eyeblight Cullers is especially fun. Normally it is too large for Shirei at 3 power, but with enough power reduction we can get it down to 1 power before sacrificing it. When it dies, it creates three 1/1 Elf Warriors, and then Shirei brings it back at the end step. \n\nWith Prowess of the Fair in play, one dying Cullers produces four Elves before returning. Repeat that process and the board gets crowded very quickly.\n\nSkemfar Shadowsage gives the deck another particularly flavorful payoff. Once reduced from 2 power to 1, it can repeatedly die and return through Shirei, triggering its enter-the-battlefield ability each time. With a large Elf board, Shadowsage can drain the table for a significant amount of life every turn cycle.\n\n"},{"attributes":{"bold":true},"insert":"Sacrifice Everything"},{"insert":"\nOf course, none of this matters unless our Elves can actually die on command.\nThe deck therefore runs several free sacrifice outlets, including:\nAshnod’s Altar"},{"attributes":{"list":"ordered"},"insert":"\n"},{"insert":"Phyrexian Altar"},{"attributes":{"list":"ordered"},"insert":"\n"},{"insert":"Viscera Seer"},{"attributes":{"list":"ordered"},"insert":"\n"},{"insert":"Spawning Pit"},{"attributes":{"list":"ordered"},"insert":"\n"},{"insert":"Altar of Dementia"},{"attributes":{"list":"ordered"},"insert":"\n"},{"insert":"Phyrexian Tower"},{"attributes":{"list":"ordered"},"insert":"\n"},{"insert":"\nThese let us sacrifice eligible creatures after they have been shrunk, trigger all of our death payoffs, and then let Shirei return them at the next end step. The Altars also turn our recurring Elves into mana, letting us convert the same creatures into resources over and over again.\n\n"},{"attributes":{"bold":true},"insert":"Winning the Game"},{"insert":"\nThe most straightforward win condition is Ayara, First of Locthwain.\n\nMost of our creatures are black, so every creature that Shirei returns drains each opponent. If several creatures are dying and coming back every turn, Ayara quickly turns the recursion engine into a clock.\nZulaport Cutthroat, Bastion of Remembrance, and Agent of the Iron Throne provide additional aristocrats payoffs, allowing us to drain opponents simply by cycling creatures through our sacrifice outlets.\nThe more Elf-centric win condition is to simply generate an absurd number of bodies.\n\nProwess of the Fair, Eyeblight Cullers, and our other token makers can continually increase the size of the Elf army even while the original creatures are being sacrificed and returned by Shirei.\nOnce enough Elves are on the battlefield, Skemfar Shadowsage can turn that board presence directly into life loss.\n\nThere is also Altar of Dementia, which converts our endlessly recurring creatures into a completely different win condition by milling opponents.\n\n"},{"attributes":{"bold":true},"insert":"Shirei Must Survive"},{"insert":"\nThere is one very important restriction on Shirei’s ability: Shirei has to stay on the battlefield. If Shirei dies before the delayed return trigger resolves, the creatures stay dead. That makes protecting our commander unusually important.\n\nLightning Greaves and Swiftfoot Boots protect Shirei from targeted removal, while Mithril Coat and Darksteel Plate protect against destruction-based sweepers. Kaya’s Ghostform, Malakir Rebirth, and Blessing of Leeches give us additional ways to keep Shirei around.\n\nConveniently, several of our global shrinking effects also make Shirei relatively large compared with the rest of our board. Vampirism in particular can turn Shirei into the biggest creature on the battlefield while everyone else gets smaller.\n\n"},{"attributes":{"bold":true},"insert":"Why No Skullclamp?"},{"insert":"\nThere is one extremely conspicuous omission from a deck full of small creatures: Skullclamp. That is intentional. Skullclamp gives a creature +1/-1. Put it on a 1/1 Elf and that creature becomes a 2/0.\nIt dies, and we draw two cards. But it died with 2 power. Shirei therefore does not bring it back.\n\nIn most aristocrats decks Skullclamp is one of the best cards available. In this deck, it actively interferes with our commander’s central mechanic. The same logic is why the deck mostly avoids traditional Elf lords. Normally an Elf deck wants to make all of its Elves bigger. This one very much does not.\n\n"},{"attributes":{"bold":true},"insert":"The Caretaker"},{"insert":"\nThat tension is what makes the deck fun. Elf decks traditionally want to accumulate mana, build an army, play lords, and make their creatures enormous. Shirei wants exactly the opposite.\n\nThe smaller our Elves become, the harder they are to permanently get rid of. A 3-power creature might only live once, but a 1-power creature under Shirei’s care can die every turn.\n\nSo instead of empowering the Elves, Shirei spends the game shrinking them, sacrificing them, bringing them back, and doing it all over again.\n\nAfter all, Shirei is the Caretaker.\n\nHe never said he was a particularly good one.\n"}]}