"Priest of the Blood Rite:Like A Splicer...Splicing for the very first time."

"Priest of the Blood Rite:Like A Splicer...Splicing for the very first time."

by:

Virgilio F. De leon Jr. 

It seems like Black has been getting a lot of loving lately and most of the cards that I would want to have are in this color. One card in paticular doesnt seem to generate enough buzz and that is Priest of the Blood Rite. A 5 to cast 2/2 creature that allows you to have a 5/5 demon token creature with flying unto the battlefield. This guy actually reminds me of the Splicers from the Scars of Mirrodin block. I would take a 5/5 Flying demon over a golem any day though. So of course my thoughts turn on how to abuse this guy for fun and profit.

1) Priest of the Blood Rite + Mimic Vat

The first thing that came to mind was this , imprinting it on a Mimic Vat. Since the token it produces does not actually go away when it dies you are still left with a tough 5/5 creature on the battlefield and when you activate the mimic vat at the end of your turn you get the 2/2 Priest and another 5/5 Demon token. 

All in all this is 12 points of damage on the upcoming turn. Then on the opponents next turn you could activate the mimic vat again to have yet another priest and another token which adds up to 17 points of damage. Granted that this strategy is powerful it is more of a mid to late game plan. The early part of this particular deck means a lot of early hand disruption via discard or very mean creature control.I don't think will have any problem in that regard.

2) Priest of the Blood Rite + Alesha , Who Smiles at death

Another great way to cheat the card into play is with Alesha. This one could actually work in Standard and since Alesha only cares about power 2 creatures the Priest of the Blood Rite is an ideal target and fits in her color scheme as well.So assuming that you already have the Priest of the Blood Rite in your graveyard you could pay 2 mana in any combination of black or white and then get it on the battlefield attacking with Alesha. Opponents would then have the choice of blocking it and then having it come into play again on your next attack. The really cool thing is that even if it dies you still have a 5/5 Demon as a blocker and another attacker on the next turn. Abusive!

3) Priest of the Blood Rite  + Gift of Immortality + Nantuko Husk

With Nantuko Husk being reprinted in Magic Origins we now have another sacrifice outlet for the Priest of the Blood Rite and with the Aura Gift of Immortality we could be producing a lot of 5/5 Demon Flying tokens. 

Simply put you enchant the Priest of the Blood Rite with the Gift of Immortality and sacrfice it to the Nantuko Husk. The Priest Returns instantly and gives you another 5/5 token. Wait for the end of your turn to have the Gift of Immortality return and enchant the Priest again. This particular combo is also impressive on your opponents turn since you could sacrifice the priest instantly and give yourself an extra blocker when it comes back into play. 

Given that the combo is not fool proof and a well aimed Ultimate Price could mess up your plans , it would still be impressive to pull off. Plus 5/5 creatures are always welcome on your side of the board right?

Oh and I would also like to add here that Blink effects that exile the Priest would work just as well. An example would be the Restoration Angel or if you want to play Blue/Black in EDH you might as well Soulbound it to a Deadeye Navigator for Multiple Activations for a much cheaper price.

Well that is all for today. Have fun. Keep on Splicing.