Historic Sibsig Ceremony Sac: Fun & Jank Episode 32

Hello friends, it’s Plum, and welcome back to Fun & Jank Episode 32!

This week we’re looking at one of my recent takes on a mono-black sacrifice deck featuring a fun new card from Tarkir: Dragonstorm.

The Sibsig Ceremony

I’ve been itching to build around The Sibsig Ceremony since it came out, and finally found some inspiration after revisiting Kami-Kaze from Episode 1. This list takes advantage of one of my favorite engines in Historic: Kami of Mourning sacrifice loops. We dropped down to just color and focused on grinding value from death triggers, recursion, and efficient ways to convert board presence into pressure.

Although we’re playing a lot of similar cards to decks like Jet Storm, a popular deck in Historic right now, we’re trying to do something a little different. This list is by no means optimized and our goal here isn’t to copy what’s already out there, but to explore new ideas and concepts. In Fun & Jank, the aim is always to find new angles, push overlooked cards, and see what happens when we take a weird idea and build something new. Just something to keep in my mind!

The Idea

Let me take you through my initial thoughts when I sat down to brew this list. I think it’s always good to share why I made the choices I did, and how one idea connects to the next.

So let’s look at Ceremony again, and what went through my head:

1.) It makes our creatures cost 2 less. Meaning its easier to play multiple spells each turn.
2.) It kills our creatures on ETB, meaning we get death-based triggers right away.
3.) Although our creatures get destroyed, we get 2/2 Zombies in their place. That means we’re not really losing value on board.
4.) If we want to still be able to abuse our strongest cards after they’re destroyed by Ceremony, we’re going to need a way to recur them cheaply.
5.) I’d like to be able to get Ceremony or Kami of Mourning out as quick as possible.
6.) We still need to be a decent sac-based list even if we don’t have Ceremony on board.
7.) We still get the Zombie even if the creature isn’t around for the trigger (we can sac in response).

It’s quite a lot to think about, but I tend to do quick little bullet points like this when starting a brew so I can keep all aspects of the card in mind when coming up with a game plan for the list.

In summary, the main idea here is making sure we’re actually getting value from creatures before they’re replaced with Zombies. That’s why the deck is full of ETB triggers and death triggers. But since our actual engines (like Kami of Mourning) also die to Ceremony, the deck has to be built with recursion in mind.

The Deck

Core Creatures

These are the creatures that make the deck function—either by recurring themselves, drawing cards, or enabling loops with other pieces.

Kami of Mourning
Still one of my favorite pieces in this archetype. It helps chain death triggers into value, especially when you’re using low-mana creatures to loop back stronger ones. When paired with Ceremony, it’s a self-recycling value engine that just keeps coming back for more. Important to note that Kami’s trigger happens before Ceremony’s, meaning you immediately recur whatever you target with its ability.

Priest of Forgotten Gods
This deck floods the board with tokens without really trying, which means Priest is regularly online. It’s a sac outlet, drain effect, removal spell, and ramp tool all in one. We love her. She’s especially strong with our 8 treasure-creating one-drops, making it easy to chain multiple creatures in a turn.

Shambling Ghast and Greedy Freebooter
These two are the main glue holding this deck together. You get value when they die (a Treasure or -1/-1), they’re cheap, and post-Ceremony, they leave a Zombie behind. These guys are also the reason for playing four Phyrexian Tower, allowing us to play Ceremony or Kami on turn 2 in most games.

The Support

Bloodghast
A classic sac deck card, and an all-star here. It comes back for free with land drops and turns into a 2/2 Zombie if cast post-Ceremony. Basically, it’s just good fodder.

Scorn-Blade Berserker
Criminally underrated. Backup lets you throw the sac-draw ability on whatever makes the most sense, which can be huge when you’re trying to filter your hand or set up loops. Great to target with Kami’s ability to recur and get extra draws every turn.

Marionette Apprentice
When things start dying left and right, this can close games quickly. Keep in mind this deck also creates a lot of treasures off of our one-drops, which drain our opponent every time we use them for mana. I also like that it creates two creatures for Priest to sacrifice with only one card.

Midnight Reaper
Probably the best “dies trigger” in black. Once it’s down, every creature that gets fed into the grinder draws a card. Pairs nicely with our token production.

The Recursion

These are the cards that let us keep the game going after our real threats get blown up by Ceremony (or just combat).

Unearth
MVP of the deck. It brings back practically everything we care about for one mana and lets us go for “combo” turns or rebuild midgame. Also can be cycled when needed.

Agadeem's Awakening
More expensive, but can bring back multiple things at once. Especially strong in longer games where we’ve stocked the yard and want to rebuild fast after a board wipe.

Chthonian Nightmare
Honestly, this card is gross. It turns any Zombie token into a reanimation spell, and it keeps your the value rolling. Works hilariously well with Kami loops and basically acts as your engine when you can’t stick a Reaper or Kami.

Notable Lands

These two are a package I’ve been trying to put in a shell for a long time. I’ve messed with Tower + Ghast/Freebooter/Ornithopter before, but this list is probably the best deck to abuse them I’ve brewed so far. I’d like to keep Tower in all future iterations because it’s been that good.

Vault is our other secret win condition. In the gameplay I’ve posted below, you can see quite a few games where we were able to get 5+ death triggers in a turn and churn through our deck while growing a creature at the same time.

Gameplay

(Fun Games at 15:45 and 55:30)

The deck plays like a grindy midrange deck with backup aggression. You’re not trying to combo off in one turn, but you are building toward turns where everything dies, you draw a bunch of cards, make a bunch of mana, and suddenly your opponent is just kinda dead. It’s rather easy to pick off small creatures with the -1/-1 from Shambling Ghast, or generate enough bodies to activate Priest every turn.

Early Game: Set Up the Floor

Your goal here is to get creatures on board that generate value when they die—or enable your later engines.

• Play cheap bodies: Prioritize cards like Shambling Ghast, Greedy Freebooter, and Scorn-Blade Berserker.
• Ramp ahead: Use Treasure tokens and Phyrexian Tower to accelerate into The Sibsig Ceremony or Kami of Mourning as early as turn two or three.
• Don’t panic-sac: Early on, try not to blow your one-shot recursion pieces unless you’re sure you’ll get value back that turn. Patience pays off.

Midgame: Ceremony Time

This is where the deck starts to shine.

• Stick Ceremony or Kami: Once The Sibsig Ceremony hits the board, your cheap creatures become part of a sacrifice engine. Cast them, let them die, and enjoy the flood of triggers.
• Stack your triggers carefully: If you have a Priest of Forgotten Gods, Chthonian Nightmare, or Midnight Reaper, make sure to stack triggers so you draw, recur, or sac at the right time before Ceremony wipes your creature.
• Turn tokens into fuel: Once you’ve got a few Zombies on board, start cashing them in. Priest, Tower, and Vault all let you turn disposable bodies into gas or pressure.
• Kami loops: This is where things get silly. When you Kami back a creature, cast it (for one thanks to Ceremony), let it die, get the Zombie, recur and loop again.

Late Game: Lean on Recursion, Close the Game

If you’re still going strong, hopefully it means you’ve out-resourced your opponent—and now you get to close it.

• Marionette Apprentice shines here: Between Treasures and zombie tokens, it starts draining your opponent fast.
• Draw into lethal: Cards like Midnight Reaper and Vault let you churn through your deck. You’ll often find yourself drawing 5–8 cards in a single turn once the engine is humming.
• Don’t forget the Zombies: They aren’t just bodies. They swing, they sac, but surprise alpha swing with 2/2s can end a game just as easily as a looping things.

Closing Thoughts

Once again, Kami of Mourning proves it’s one of those sleeper cards that feels like it’s just waiting to be broken in the right shell. Every time I build around it, I’m reminded how much raw potential it has—even if the pieces around it aren’t quite there yet.

This list didn’t blow the doors off in testing. It was inconsistent at times, and definitely still in the “exploration” phase. But honestly? I had a ton of fun brewing and playing it. Watching the loops come together, trying to sequence around The Sibsig Ceremony, and figuring out the balance between pressure and grind—it hit all the right notes for me as a brewer.

Even if this version doesn’t stick, I’m looking forward to refining the core and seeing what other shells they can thrive in.

Thanks for reading.

As always feel free to comment and leave any questions you have below! Make sure to come back next week for even more Fun & Jank!

If you want to see these decks in action, come hang out with me on stream where we test, refine, and have a ton of fun together!

Happy Brewing!