Result of the day :
Temur midrange 2-0
Mardu Prowess 0-2 (lost first game because I was not expecting Sorin)
RW Prison 2-1 (seem like he was not playing Anger. Brew?)
Goryo 2-0
Esper Delver 2-0
Jund DS 0-2
What are your win/loss ration againts Jund DS ? Esper DS is easier because it's slower.
I tried to remove 1 Eternal Witness for Rhonas. I think it will be good against grindy match up, but are they bad MU ? Today, I didn't had the chance to play Rhonas, but I think it will have been a good Chord/Evo target a couple of time. The +2/0 Trample can be good to improve the clock.
r1: bye
I dunno who bye is but they never showed up. What a loser.
1-0
r2: Gr ramp Ponzi?
This was a weird deck. I'm assuming it was semi budget. Essentially a ramp deck that played land destruction, blood moon into things like inferno titans and huntmansters. Regardless I drew pretty well and had removal I needed for his mana dorks and drew goyfs which was good as I didn't have much mana. g2 was similar except he flooded pretty hard but it wouldn't have mattered I could easily fight through anything he could play. His deck probably crushes many of the decks in my meta, but mine is certainly a bad match for him.
2-0 (1-0)
r3: eldrazi tron
I know what he's playing and still keep a hand with a bunch of 1 drops and of course a t2 chalice shuts those down. he then plays TKS into double smasher. g2 I have a much better hand and make a match losing misplay by playing fetch into finks. I MEANT to play rallier and get back my land as I was holding 2 resto and a thragtusk. Long story short by missing that land I was 1 turn too slow through his insane top decks. I still had him dead on board at 1 point later but he tops his 3rd all is dust. Later he needs exactly smasher to kill me and he top decks that I deserved to lose that match I don't feel too bad. I also should have mulled g1 into interaction or GQ. Mistakes made all around.
2-1 (1-1)
r4: burn
I know what he's on but it doesn't matter both games my hands held a mana dork and some sort of life gain. g1 I had to beat through 3 eidolon of the great revel but it didn't matter as I was able to remove the first 2 and kill him with the might battle cattle. g2 he has a slow hand of lots of creature removal which is totally fine with me. I had a sin collector into goyf+removal into a fully powered collective brutality into rhino again and just ignored his anger of the gods completely. It's always enjoyable beating burn.
3-1 (2-1)
r4: G/x enchantress combo
Both games were extremely easy for me. I have removal and GQ, and cheap beats. We played an extra game and that too was a slaughter. I'm sure I can lose the game if he has a solid draw and I have no removal but that's unlikely. I never once felt like I was going to lose.
4-1 (3-1)
Thoughts: I'm now 9-2 with this deck over 3 tourneys. This week was a little easier it felt in my matchups than previous weeks. I'm not sure how my match with eldrazi Tron would have ended up but I should have given myself a game 3 in the least. Oh well. It feels like a bad matchup for sure but I do know it's winnable at least. I was glad I added the decays over a finks/evolution. Feels bad cutting evolution but I wasn't sure what else to cut. SB is getting there I think. I still need to pick up a Linvala. I also like the idea of cataclysmic gearhulk too for aggro matches.
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Long time away! Havent been playing much modern lately because I have been drafting the new set. Finally got around to playing a FNM and went 4-0. So due to shifts in the meta I made several changes. Pathrogas - made changes of the walls for finks. You were right there. the finks felt great all night. Took out sin collector, and a witness and reduced souls to 2. Also shoved back in anafenza, and a path. Finally i switched brutalities for decays. I think we now want more instant speed interaction with the devoted druid combo. I looked at yuhy's lists from 5-0 for inspirations and guidance. If yuhy is on this sub would love to have a chat.
Round 1- Goblins - 2-0. One game i had multiple finks and the other was multiple voices. First game was great as i evolution a voice for a pontiff. That is always back breaking as they dont play lords.
Round 2 - Esper Shadow 2-1. First game i managed to win with souls and voice tokens. Second game was sweet. We both ripped each other's hands apart. I knew he had damnation so there was always a dance to how much i extended out. Liliana for him did serious work. Eventually i forced it but lost to a second tasigur that got in for lethal. Third game, was similar to game 2. Except i had the decay for lili. Finks did serious work chumping. Got down to the final turn where he had a souls token and a tasigur and was at 3. I had a heirarch, souls and a peristed finks and was at 4. In hand i had a EE, i drew path. I ee for 0 to destroy souls tokens then path the tasigur and exalted for the win! Was such a sick game. He said that esper shadow was the best version im not so sure. I still prefer the jund version. The games against it are always great.
Round 3 - Madcap Experiment 2-1. First two games fairly boring. First game i mulled to 5 but he drew absolutely nothing and i managed to beat him down. Second game he got down moon, i got greedy with my keep. Third game he played 3 serum visions but kept drawing nothing important. I thoughtseized away his counter magic and landed a sigarda, UR has no real way of beating her. I also had pridemage down which was great because he showed madcap when he scoooped. I hadnt seen it all game!
Round 4 - GR Tron 2-1. Ugh tron. First game he got natural tron, easy game :),and crushed me with ulamog. Game 2 i landed an early stony silence and he had all rocks. I thoughtsiezed relevant stuff away and managed to get in with finks and voice. Game 3 - I had thougthsieze turn 1 and he didnt have much but a lot of ramp. He eventually had tron but found nothing off a stirrings. Thankfully he didnt have stuff in time and I decayed my voice to get a massive token combined with souls to get the win. In hindsight i should have evoltuioned for the feeder combo to have a faster clock but i was afraid of a sweeper so took a line that allowed for me to be safe from that.
The deck is great and very fun. I think it is very solid to have a combo out too. Ill try and clean up my results to post. Thanks bow and arrow for posting yours
Really glad you shared your results guys ! I'm playing a lot of diffenrent decks these days (still toying with the new combo Devoted-Vizier that indeed prove to be quite good !). I updated my list and tried to cut the combo all together. Not sure yet it's the right choice but so far my result are good. You will find my list and my result bellow. As you can see, so far Counter Company look like an easy MU and I also have such an easy time against Grixis DS. My only game against Jund DS has been rough, but I didn't draw any hate. I think Jund DS is still fine with my deck.
I added a Aven Mindcenser in side to improve my MU against Valakut and Titan after my loss. Burn seem easier (thank to Baneslayer and Collective in main) now.
Liege has been AMAZING in some MU so far. I'm cutting him for sure against many MU with a lot of removal, but EE VoR into Liege when you have Lingering Soul +- Rhino is just amazing.
So far I think this list is my best Abzan Toolbox list and I will keep playing it and sending you my results.
Thanks for your update. Do you play online? I have been seeing omse 5-0 lists with liege and baneslayer angel. To be honest I can udnerstand liege a lot and think it can be good. I dont understand baneslayer? it just seems so easy to get rid of. Sigarda is boss because of hexproof
Hey Devtin !
I'm playing online but I'm not the one who made those 5-0 list. I got the idea of Baneslayer from that list though. Si far I found that Baneslayer is good when Sigarda isn't. After I removed Thune I was looking for another 5 drop to help against aggro or low removal deck. Card is good against Push too. I have to play the card more yet to decide if it really worth it by my guess is that it's strong against those deck : Burn, Elves, Merfolk, Dredge, Bant Eldra or Eldra Tron maybee
Cool thanks for the reply. I can see the logic there. I also like thragtusk for that idea too. Thune even without the combo also has the benfit of pumping the team which seems like a good thing with liege. Just food for thought
You are right Devtin ! I guess it's a good choice too. Probly easier to cast and more resilient than Baneslayer. Both have some advantage I guess. Baneslayer is stronger against deck with no removal at all. But I think those 2 are great choice beside Sigarda
r1: RW prison/walkers/Land destruction
game 1, t2 I play voice. t3 I attack then evolution into rallier for mega pressure and killed him no problem. g2 was similar but I fetched for basics and made sure to play around weird things like boom/bust and blood moon. Neither game were very hard but he flooded out pretty hard g2.
1-0
r2 dredge
g1 t2 scooze takes me there. g2 I had a chance to evolution my finks on t3 to get sigarda but i happen to draw it that turn then I draw not much relevant and after a million turns I lose while on 2 lands and all 3 drops in hand. g3 was similar except I thought I was going to have him as on my t2 I play witness to get back a fetch. My plan is next turn into sigarda or scooze and win. he conflags my guys and I then draw air for like 10 turns and eventually get overrun. I should have just mulled to some sort of interaction. I think I will be rethinking my SB some. Maybe more scoozes which are just so good in many matchups. Or just go 4 leylines and ditch my other GY stuff.
1-1
r3 UW control
g1 Was a good game but eventually just get out ground and he lands an elspeth, sun's champion and then a gideon and I can't come back. g2 I make a match losing bone head play. I bait out his cryptic and play gaddock teeg. I then decide stupidly to surgical his cryptic FOR NO REASON instead of his path to exile. I realized it immediately after I said cryptic. I see his hand of insane bombs all 4+cmc. I proceeded to lose as he plays snapcaster/path on his turn. sigh I so deserved that. I would have won easy barring him ripping a detention sphere which he didn't.
1-2
r4 affinity
Both games were easy and over quickly. I just happened to have the removal I needed for cranial and other random threats. g2 stony shut him off early.
2-2
thoughts: My #1 thing to change is add in 2-3 manlands of some kind. I never played or got to sigarda. She would have been great in a couple of the board states I had. Playing against UW was a brutal experience of slow grinding. g1 he resolved 3 ancestral visions and a jace, architect of thought. I have the tools to fight UW though it just didn't line up. Not having a plethora of discard feels bad. Still debating going up to 2 scooze and 2 rallier. Scooze is great and Rallier has impressed me more than any other card in my list. He has so much play to him and is super versatile. I get back GQ a lot or a goyf/voice always feels good. There's also a possibility to get back enchantments like RIP/stony/grafdiggers/explosives but that hasn't come up yet. I'm too afraid to play RIP but I'm assuming in the matches I want it the drawbacks are fine. I'm up to 11-4 with this deck now
Hey Akalah ! I was wondering, how large is usualy your Goyfs ? Do you feel you need artefact or PW in your deck ? Thanks and nice result so far with that 11-4
they hover around the usual size of 3/4 - 5/6 on average. Against the DS decks they are always on the larger side. I've always loved goyf but it's also that I'm just personally biased towards the card. There have been times I've had like a 4/5 goyf with an evolution in hand and wanted to play evolution but didn't want to lose my goyf. I really wish abzan had a huntmaster type card. Rhino is great but sometimes he's not the value I want. Sometimes I want just a super utility 4 drop but there aren't really any.
to get back to your question I don't usually feel I need artifacts or walkers even though liliana is one of my favorite walkers. I miss her but she's not necessarily needed. I had played a verdurous gearhulk which i really liked before i managed to pick up a sigarda. I may trade thragtusk for it and move swag daddy to SB but it's not necessary.
Besides linvala, Kalitas, restoration angel and rhino what other 4 drops are there that are really good utility?
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they hover around the usual size of 3/4 - 5/6 on average. Against the DS decks they are always on the larger side. I've always loved goyf but it's also that I'm just personally biased towards the card. There have been times I've had like a 4/5 goyf with an evolution in hand and wanted to play evolution but didn't want to lose my goyf. I really wish abzan had a huntmaster type card. Rhino is great but sometimes he's not the value I want. Sometimes I want just a super utility 4 drop but there aren't really any.
to get back to your question I don't usually feel I need artifacts or walkers even though liliana is one of my favorite walkers. I miss her but she's not necessarily needed. I had played a verdurous gearhulk which i really liked before i managed to pick up a sigarda. I may trade thragtusk for it and move swag daddy to SB but it's not necessary.
Besides linvala, Kalitas, restoration angel and rhino what other 4 drops are there that are really good utility?
Off the top of my head, there is also Thrunn, wilt-leaf liege. Other off the wall options could be sublime archnagel, mystic enforcer (pro-black is good), master of the hunt, Ghost council of Orzhova.You are right though that without red there is no Huntmaster of P&K. I was looking for a creature like that and the best i could find was Hero of bladehold or creakwood liege.
Here is my updated result (still playing the same list - see page 14). I'm 3-0 against Grixis DS and 2-0 against Counter company which is good in the current meta. However, I still feel my deck is missing something. Some hands can get really weird. I will play more of it this week-end and keep you updated.
As for 4 drop, Wilt-Leaf Liege has been great for me. Maybee Chameleon Collossus? Really not convince on Siege Rhino. It win me 1 or 2 games against Grixis Death Shadow, but it can also be so bad in many MU. Maybee just 1 ? I was also thinking about Leyline of Sanctity in sideboard. That would be really great against many of our bad MU like Valakut, Burn, Storm, Ad Nauseum. It's also really good against heavy discard deck like this new mardu (that I lost too, and Jund DS). I could probly then probly cut 1 TS, 1 Aven Mindcensor and 1 Lost Legacy maybee?
Played in a win-a-goyf modern event on the weekend. Had 42 players due to no real modern around at the moment. PPTQ season soon though! Went 3-2-1. Wasn't playing the sharpest but manages to get enough wins then split the last round to walk away with some store credit. Haven't changed my list at all recently.
Beat Mono-red Burn, 8-Rack, Living End
Lost to Mono-Green ramp eldrazi?, Naya Burn.
Drew against elves.
Some highlights were having three siege rhinos (one witnessed back) against against naya burn. Evolving into Anafenza against living end turn 2. Woof.
Lowlights were punting against the Mono ramp deck, he had the Emrakul/Xenagos combo. Underestimated his mana count to entwine tooth and nail.
Deck is still great. The games i lost i felt were due to variance (burn) or just poor play (ramp. I really love modern at the moment and the feeling in the room was positive. Tons of interesting decks and games.
r1: RW burn. There was like 4-5 burn players there. Very strange that's like unheard of in my meta. I played super poorly game 3 and lost. I fetched for a plains with thalia and engineered explosives in hand with 3 lands in play vs 2 swiftspears. I then proceed to play thalia and lock myself out of playing the explosives. He then lands eidolon and i'm forced to take way too much dmg. brutal. Kinda surprised I even had problems considering how much lifegain my deck has.
0-1
r2: 4 color midrange. Veerrry similar to mine but no evolution. We go to game 3 he just draws gas and I draw hot garbage. I never saw any removal but he had what he needed every game.
0-2
r3: elves vizier combo. He quickly combos me out in game 1 then I kill him with linvala. Then game 3 he's locked under linvala but manages to go wide vs me and again I draw nothing relevant. I'm not sure why this has happened to me lately. I think I need more removal or more dudes but It's just surprising considering my deck has like 26 guys. Maybe I can shave a couple mana dorks for something. We play a couple more games and end up going 50-50 in games. Linvala is a beast but his deck is so resilient. It feels like a great deck.
0-3
r4+5: Jund DS. These Matches were relatively easy and both went the way I would expect. If he doesn't curve out perfectly I win. Basically happened that way and thalia was great. and I drew well a few key turns. As expected, sigarda was a straight house.
2-3
Thoughts, I'm debating adding thalia in the main. She was great and looking back at all my matches up to this point she would have been great in almost all of them. I'm not sure the angle I want to go from here. I love the deck and it generally does play excellently. Do I want to bring back in the pushes or go a slightly more taxing route. If I do go thalia, I am certainly playing more renegade rallier, I think that's one of my new favorite cards. It has always been insane. Things to ponder. Hopefully HoD has something spicy for us.
Sidenote: There was more than 1 game I wish I had Rhonas the Indomitable. I might try one as a fun-of.
Hey Aklah, Thanks for your update!. A few things I can see with your list. Firstly, with the manabase, playing 4 colourless sources seems very risky for the number of opening hands you can keep. It also raises your reliance on birds/hierarch. Also is there any reason you arent running 4 catacombs? Playing untapped forest into a dork is very good against burn and saves us life.
With thalia, i think she is a bit of a nonbo with the deck. Making your removal costs more and more importantly evolution cost more seems tough. Unless do you side thalia in for the evolutions? Also would much rather a second EE over a wrath. Wiping our board seems not the best even with finks and voices. I agree that your deck is being torn between D&T and abzan midrange? I think its best to decide which way you want to prefer because doing both will compromise both options.
There is actually only 3 colorless. I forgot to add in my 3 manlands, 1 stirring wildwood (will be 2 when i get another) and 2 shambling vent. I would have to see what I cut, I can't remember off hand. I don't run 4 catacombs cuz, i dunno why I could see going up to 3 for sure. I think my reasoning for now is I have 2 vents and I don't want to have to be forced into fetching shocks all the time to activate them.
Thalia is not really a big deal at all, sure I screwed myself over but that was because I'm bad. It was an easily avoidable mistake. It would be different if she were main. I would hardly consider her inclusion though on the D&T side, she's my only tax creature. I'm far on the abzan midrange side of things but because I run so many dudes her inclusion isn't really that painful. The last 2 tournies I've been in i've hardly even seen evolution so it's hard to say how much she would actually hurt me. For now, I'm just going to keep her side as she was excellent when I did need her. Without any really awesome utility 4 drops I don't tend to evolution 2 drops unless I need something like pontiff or a rallier. I've evolultioned a voice into rallier many times, it always feels great.
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Thanks for the reply. The reason i mentioned 4 is 3 ghost quarters and a gavony township. do you find the number of manlands hurts when you desperately need the mana?
I agree with evo, i never use it unless it is needed. It usually is the best card in the deck.
Thanks for sharing your results guys ! Don't have much time to play this week, but I will try to bring the deck to an event on sunday. For Rhonas, I have try it, but quickly removed it. It was not strong in my deck. However, Akalah, since you're playing some Goyf it might be better (easier to turn it on). Are you guys checking Hours of Devastation spoilers ? I have not seen any good cards yet for us, but I hope we will have some. Dev, are you still playing Collective main ? So good against burn.
nah i have moved them to the side for more spot removal game 1. Playing the three finks means that im not too bad vs burn. Their god hand is still good
what is everyone's thoughts on the right number of lands? I am running 22 but some games have seen me regret that. Considering turning one finks back into land 23.
depends how many mana guys you run. I would say if you have 6+ 22 is fine. However, depends on your meta, I have had games against dredge for instance where I had few lands and a bunch of dorks and 1 conflag just totally wrecked me. 22 does sometimes, require you to rely on mana dorks even if it is semi-rarely. Overall, I would say 22 but if you curve is slightly on the higher end, 23 is right but certainly not more. I run 23 with 6 dorks, with a highly volatile meta but there are certainly plenty of times in the late game I flood. I also tend to always go for rallier whenever possible so I want the fetches and ghost quarters.
As for HOU, there are some really neat cards but certainly not for this archetype so far. If we had a better sac outlet solemnity is a great. Probably still worth SB regardless as it makes finks pretty great and to my knowledge shuts down the devoted druid combo. I wonder if taking this in a heavy black direction with geralf's messenger and a sac outlet could be a viable route. Probably not but sounds fun in the least.
Temur midrange 2-0
Mardu Prowess 0-2 (lost first game because I was not expecting Sorin)
RW Prison 2-1 (seem like he was not playing Anger. Brew?)
Goryo 2-0
Esper Delver 2-0
Jund DS 0-2
What are your win/loss ration againts Jund DS ? Esper DS is easier because it's slower.
I tried to remove 1 Eternal Witness for Rhonas. I think it will be good against grindy match up, but are they bad MU ? Today, I didn't had the chance to play Rhonas, but I think it will have been a good Chord/Evo target a couple of time. The +2/0 Trample can be good to improve the clock.
3 birds of paradise
3 noble hierarch
4 tarmogoyf
4 voice of resurgence
1 eternal witness
1 renegade rallier
1 orzhov pontiff
2 kitchen finks
3 restoration angel
2 siege rhino
1 thragtusk
1 verdurous gearhulk
spells
2 fatal push
2 abrupt decay
4 path to exile
3 eldritch evolution
2 forest
1 plains
1 swamp
3 ghost quarter
1 gavony township
1 vault of the archangel
4 windswept heath
2 verdant catacombs
2 marsh flats
1 overgrown tomb
1 godless shrine
1 temple garden
3 razorverge thicket
1 Gaddock Teeg
1 aven mindcensor
1 Sin collector
1 reclamation sage
1 grafdigger's cage
1 pithing needle
2 surgical extraction
1 blessed alliance
1 dromoka's command
2 stony silence
1 engineered explosives
1 wrath of god
1 collective brutality
r1: bye
I dunno who bye is but they never showed up. What a loser.
1-0
r2: Gr ramp Ponzi?
This was a weird deck. I'm assuming it was semi budget. Essentially a ramp deck that played land destruction, blood moon into things like inferno titans and huntmansters. Regardless I drew pretty well and had removal I needed for his mana dorks and drew goyfs which was good as I didn't have much mana. g2 was similar except he flooded pretty hard but it wouldn't have mattered I could easily fight through anything he could play. His deck probably crushes many of the decks in my meta, but mine is certainly a bad match for him.
2-0 (1-0)
r3: eldrazi tron
I know what he's playing and still keep a hand with a bunch of 1 drops and of course a t2 chalice shuts those down. he then plays TKS into double smasher. g2 I have a much better hand and make a match losing misplay by playing fetch into finks. I MEANT to play rallier and get back my land as I was holding 2 resto and a thragtusk. Long story short by missing that land I was 1 turn too slow through his insane top decks. I still had him dead on board at 1 point later but he tops his 3rd all is dust. Later he needs exactly smasher to kill me and he top decks that I deserved to lose that match I don't feel too bad. I also should have mulled g1 into interaction or GQ. Mistakes made all around.
2-1 (1-1)
r4: burn
I know what he's on but it doesn't matter both games my hands held a mana dork and some sort of life gain. g1 I had to beat through 3 eidolon of the great revel but it didn't matter as I was able to remove the first 2 and kill him with the might battle cattle. g2 he has a slow hand of lots of creature removal which is totally fine with me. I had a sin collector into goyf+removal into a fully powered collective brutality into rhino again and just ignored his anger of the gods completely. It's always enjoyable beating burn.
3-1 (2-1)
r4: G/x enchantress combo
Both games were extremely easy for me. I have removal and GQ, and cheap beats. We played an extra game and that too was a slaughter. I'm sure I can lose the game if he has a solid draw and I have no removal but that's unlikely. I never once felt like I was going to lose.
4-1 (3-1)
Thoughts: I'm now 9-2 with this deck over 3 tourneys. This week was a little easier it felt in my matchups than previous weeks. I'm not sure how my match with eldrazi Tron would have ended up but I should have given myself a game 3 in the least. Oh well. It feels like a bad matchup for sure but I do know it's winnable at least. I was glad I added the decays over a finks/evolution. Feels bad cutting evolution but I wasn't sure what else to cut. SB is getting there I think. I still need to pick up a Linvala. I also like the idea of cataclysmic gearhulk too for aggro matches.
Modern: BG eldrazi midrange
BWG Abzan value evolution
BUG BUG Midrange
Tiny Leaders: BW Athreos Zombies
Commander: BG Gitrog Monster
4 Windswept Heath
1 Razorverge Thicket
1 Godless Shrine
2 Temple Garden
1 Overgrown Tomb
2 Gavony Township
1 Horizon Canopy
2 Forest
1 Plains
1 Swamp
1 Blooming Marsh
1 Stirring Wildwood
2 Birds of Paradise
1 Archangel of Thune
1 Renegade Rallier
2 Siege Rhino
1 Restoration Angel
1 Orzhov Pontiff
3 Eldritch Evolution
4 Path to Exile
1 Sigarda, Host of Herons
4 Voice of Resurgence
1 Scavenging Ooze
1 Linvala, Keeper of Silence
4 Noble Hierarch
2 Abrupt Decay
1 Qasali Pridemage
1 Eternal Witness
1 Spike Feeder
2 Lingering Souls
3 Kitchen Finks
1 Maelstrom Pulse
1 Anafenza, the Foremost
4 Thoughtseize
2 Stony Silence
2 Relic of Progenitus
2 Engineered Explosives
1 Eidolon of Rhetoric
2 Collective Brutality
Long time away! Havent been playing much modern lately because I have been drafting the new set. Finally got around to playing a FNM and went 4-0. So due to shifts in the meta I made several changes. Pathrogas - made changes of the walls for finks. You were right there. the finks felt great all night. Took out sin collector, and a witness and reduced souls to 2. Also shoved back in anafenza, and a path. Finally i switched brutalities for decays. I think we now want more instant speed interaction with the devoted druid combo. I looked at yuhy's lists from 5-0 for inspirations and guidance. If yuhy is on this sub would love to have a chat.
Round 1- Goblins - 2-0. One game i had multiple finks and the other was multiple voices. First game was great as i evolution a voice for a pontiff. That is always back breaking as they dont play lords.
Round 2 - Esper Shadow 2-1. First game i managed to win with souls and voice tokens. Second game was sweet. We both ripped each other's hands apart. I knew he had damnation so there was always a dance to how much i extended out. Liliana for him did serious work. Eventually i forced it but lost to a second tasigur that got in for lethal. Third game, was similar to game 2. Except i had the decay for lili. Finks did serious work chumping. Got down to the final turn where he had a souls token and a tasigur and was at 3. I had a heirarch, souls and a peristed finks and was at 4. In hand i had a EE, i drew path. I ee for 0 to destroy souls tokens then path the tasigur and exalted for the win! Was such a sick game. He said that esper shadow was the best version im not so sure. I still prefer the jund version. The games against it are always great.
Round 3 - Madcap Experiment 2-1. First two games fairly boring. First game i mulled to 5 but he drew absolutely nothing and i managed to beat him down. Second game he got down moon, i got greedy with my keep. Third game he played 3 serum visions but kept drawing nothing important. I thoughtseized away his counter magic and landed a sigarda, UR has no real way of beating her. I also had pridemage down which was great because he showed madcap when he scoooped. I hadnt seen it all game!
Round 4 - GR Tron 2-1. Ugh tron. First game he got natural tron, easy game :),and crushed me with ulamog. Game 2 i landed an early stony silence and he had all rocks. I thoughtsiezed relevant stuff away and managed to get in with finks and voice. Game 3 - I had thougthsieze turn 1 and he didnt have much but a lot of ramp. He eventually had tron but found nothing off a stirrings. Thankfully he didnt have stuff in time and I decayed my voice to get a massive token combined with souls to get the win. In hindsight i should have evoltuioned for the feeder combo to have a faster clock but i was afraid of a sweeper so took a line that allowed for me to be safe from that.
The deck is great and very fun. I think it is very solid to have a combo out too. Ill try and clean up my results to post. Thanks bow and arrow for posting yours
I added a Aven Mindcenser in side to improve my MU against Valakut and Titan after my loss. Burn seem easier (thank to Baneslayer and Collective in main) now.
Liege has been AMAZING in some MU so far. I'm cutting him for sure against many MU with a lot of removal, but EE VoR into Liege when you have Lingering Soul +- Rhino is just amazing.
So far I think this list is my best Abzan Toolbox list and I will keep playing it and sending you my results.
Creatures:23
3 Birds of Paradise
3 Noble Hierarch
2 Scavenging Ooze
4 Voice of Resurgence
1 Eternal Witness
2 Kitchen Finks
1 Renegade Rallier
1 Tireless Tracker
1 Linvala, Keeper of Silence
2 Siege Rhino
1 Wilt-Leaf Liege
1 Baneslayer Angel
1 Sigarda, Host of Herons
Spells:15
4 Path to Exile
2 Abrupt Decay
2 Collective Brutality
3 Eldritch Evolution
1 Liliana, the Last Hope
3 Lingering Souls
Lands:22
2 Forest
2 Gavony Township
1 Ghost Quarter
1 Godless Shrine
2 Marsh Flats
1 Overgrown Tomb
1 Plains
1 Stirring Wildwood
1 Swamp
2 Temple Garden
4 Verdant Catacombs
4 Windswept Heath
Sideboard:15
1 Gaddock Teeg
1 Qasali Pridemage
1 Eidolon of Rhetoric
1 Orzhov Pontiff
1 Aven Mindcensor
3 Thoughtseize
2 Rest in Peace
3 Stony Silence
1 Lost Legacy
1 Maelstrom Pulse
I'm playing online but I'm not the one who made those 5-0 list. I got the idea of Baneslayer from that list though. Si far I found that Baneslayer is good when Sigarda isn't. After I removed Thune I was looking for another 5 drop to help against aggro or low removal deck. Card is good against Push too. I have to play the card more yet to decide if it really worth it by my guess is that it's strong against those deck : Burn, Elves, Merfolk, Dredge, Bant Eldra or Eldra Tron maybee
3 birds of paradise
3 noble hierarch
4 tarmogoyf
4 voice of resurgence
1 scavenging ooze
1 eternal witness
1 renegade rallier
1 orzhov pontiff
2 kitchen finks
3 restoration angel
2 siege rhino
1 thragtusk
1 sigarda, host of herons
spells
2 fatal push
2 abrupt decay
4 path to exile
3 eldritch evolution
2 forest
1 plains
1 swamp
3 ghost quarter
1 gavony township
1 vault of the archangel
4 windswept heath
2 verdant catacombs
2 marsh flats
1 overgrown tomb
1 godless shrine
1 temple garden
3 razorverge thicket
1 Gaddock Teeg
1 aven mindcensor
1 Sin collector
1 reclamation sage
1 grafdigger's cage
1 pithing needle
2 surgical extraction
1 blessed alliance
1 maelstrom pulse
2 stony silence
1 engineered explosives
1 wrath of god
1 collective brutality
r1: RW prison/walkers/Land destruction
game 1, t2 I play voice. t3 I attack then evolution into rallier for mega pressure and killed him no problem. g2 was similar but I fetched for basics and made sure to play around weird things like boom/bust and blood moon. Neither game were very hard but he flooded out pretty hard g2.
1-0
r2 dredge
g1 t2 scooze takes me there. g2 I had a chance to evolution my finks on t3 to get sigarda but i happen to draw it that turn then I draw not much relevant and after a million turns I lose while on 2 lands and all 3 drops in hand. g3 was similar except I thought I was going to have him as on my t2 I play witness to get back a fetch. My plan is next turn into sigarda or scooze and win. he conflags my guys and I then draw air for like 10 turns and eventually get overrun. I should have just mulled to some sort of interaction. I think I will be rethinking my SB some. Maybe more scoozes which are just so good in many matchups. Or just go 4 leylines and ditch my other GY stuff.
1-1
r3 UW control
g1 Was a good game but eventually just get out ground and he lands an elspeth, sun's champion and then a gideon and I can't come back. g2 I make a match losing bone head play. I bait out his cryptic and play gaddock teeg. I then decide stupidly to surgical his cryptic FOR NO REASON instead of his path to exile. I realized it immediately after I said cryptic. I see his hand of insane bombs all 4+cmc. I proceeded to lose as he plays snapcaster/path on his turn. sigh I so deserved that. I would have won easy barring him ripping a detention sphere which he didn't.
1-2
r4 affinity
Both games were easy and over quickly. I just happened to have the removal I needed for cranial and other random threats. g2 stony shut him off early.
2-2
thoughts: My #1 thing to change is add in 2-3 manlands of some kind. I never played or got to sigarda. She would have been great in a couple of the board states I had. Playing against UW was a brutal experience of slow grinding. g1 he resolved 3 ancestral visions and a jace, architect of thought. I have the tools to fight UW though it just didn't line up. Not having a plethora of discard feels bad. Still debating going up to 2 scooze and 2 rallier. Scooze is great and Rallier has impressed me more than any other card in my list. He has so much play to him and is super versatile. I get back GQ a lot or a goyf/voice always feels good. There's also a possibility to get back enchantments like RIP/stony/grafdiggers/explosives but that hasn't come up yet. I'm too afraid to play RIP but I'm assuming in the matches I want it the drawbacks are fine. I'm up to 11-4 with this deck now
Modern: BG eldrazi midrange
BWG Abzan value evolution
BUG BUG Midrange
Tiny Leaders: BW Athreos Zombies
Commander: BG Gitrog Monster
to get back to your question I don't usually feel I need artifacts or walkers even though liliana is one of my favorite walkers. I miss her but she's not necessarily needed. I had played a verdurous gearhulk which i really liked before i managed to pick up a sigarda. I may trade thragtusk for it and move swag daddy to SB but it's not necessary.
Besides linvala, Kalitas, restoration angel and rhino what other 4 drops are there that are really good utility?
Modern: BG eldrazi midrange
BWG Abzan value evolution
BUG BUG Midrange
Tiny Leaders: BW Athreos Zombies
Commander: BG Gitrog Monster
Off the top of my head, there is also Thrunn, wilt-leaf liege. Other off the wall options could be sublime archnagel, mystic enforcer (pro-black is good), master of the hunt, Ghost council of Orzhova.You are right though that without red there is no Huntmaster of P&K. I was looking for a creature like that and the best i could find was Hero of bladehold or creakwood liege.
As for 4 drop, Wilt-Leaf Liege has been great for me. Maybee Chameleon Collossus? Really not convince on Siege Rhino. It win me 1 or 2 games against Grixis Death Shadow, but it can also be so bad in many MU. Maybee just 1 ? I was also thinking about Leyline of Sanctity in sideboard. That would be really great against many of our bad MU like Valakut, Burn, Storm, Ad Nauseum. It's also really good against heavy discard deck like this new mardu (that I lost too, and Jund DS). I could probly then probly cut 1 TS, 1 Aven Mindcensor and 1 Lost Legacy maybee?
What do you guys think ?
Beat Mono-red Burn, 8-Rack, Living End
Lost to Mono-Green ramp eldrazi?, Naya Burn.
Drew against elves.
Some highlights were having three siege rhinos (one witnessed back) against against naya burn. Evolving into Anafenza against living end turn 2. Woof.
Lowlights were punting against the Mono ramp deck, he had the Emrakul/Xenagos combo. Underestimated his mana count to entwine tooth and nail.
Deck is still great. The games i lost i felt were due to variance (burn) or just poor play (ramp. I really love modern at the moment and the feeling in the room was positive. Tons of interesting decks and games.
3 birds of paradise
3 noble hierarch
4 tarmogoyf
4 voice of resurgence
2 scavenging ooze
1 eternal witness
1 renegade rallier
1 orzhov pontiff
3 kitchen finks
2 restoration angel
1 siege rhino
1 thragtusk
1 sigarda, host of herons
spells
2 abrupt decay
4 path to exile
3 eldritch evolution
2 forest
1 plains
1 swamp
3 ghost quarter
1 gavony township
4 windswept heath
2 verdant catacombs
2 marsh flats
1 overgrown tomb
1 godless shrine
1 temple garden
3 razorverge thicket
1 Linvala, keeper of Silence
3 thalia, guardian of thraben
1 eidolon of rhetoric
1 reclamation sage
1 fulminator mage
1 pithing needle
1 surgical extraction
1 blessed alliance
1 maelstrom pulse
2 stony silence
1 engineered explosives
1 wrath of god
r1: RW burn. There was like 4-5 burn players there. Very strange that's like unheard of in my meta. I played super poorly game 3 and lost. I fetched for a plains with thalia and engineered explosives in hand with 3 lands in play vs 2 swiftspears. I then proceed to play thalia and lock myself out of playing the explosives. He then lands eidolon and i'm forced to take way too much dmg. brutal. Kinda surprised I even had problems considering how much lifegain my deck has.
0-1
r2: 4 color midrange. Veerrry similar to mine but no evolution. We go to game 3 he just draws gas and I draw hot garbage. I never saw any removal but he had what he needed every game.
0-2
r3: elves vizier combo. He quickly combos me out in game 1 then I kill him with linvala. Then game 3 he's locked under linvala but manages to go wide vs me and again I draw nothing relevant. I'm not sure why this has happened to me lately. I think I need more removal or more dudes but It's just surprising considering my deck has like 26 guys. Maybe I can shave a couple mana dorks for something. We play a couple more games and end up going 50-50 in games. Linvala is a beast but his deck is so resilient. It feels like a great deck.
0-3
r4+5: Jund DS. These Matches were relatively easy and both went the way I would expect. If he doesn't curve out perfectly I win. Basically happened that way and thalia was great. and I drew well a few key turns. As expected, sigarda was a straight house.
2-3
Thoughts, I'm debating adding thalia in the main. She was great and looking back at all my matches up to this point she would have been great in almost all of them. I'm not sure the angle I want to go from here. I love the deck and it generally does play excellently. Do I want to bring back in the pushes or go a slightly more taxing route. If I do go thalia, I am certainly playing more renegade rallier, I think that's one of my new favorite cards. It has always been insane. Things to ponder. Hopefully HoD has something spicy for us.
Sidenote: There was more than 1 game I wish I had Rhonas the Indomitable. I might try one as a fun-of.
Modern: BG eldrazi midrange
BWG Abzan value evolution
BUG BUG Midrange
Tiny Leaders: BW Athreos Zombies
Commander: BG Gitrog Monster
With thalia, i think she is a bit of a nonbo with the deck. Making your removal costs more and more importantly evolution cost more seems tough. Unless do you side thalia in for the evolutions? Also would much rather a second EE over a wrath. Wiping our board seems not the best even with finks and voices. I agree that your deck is being torn between D&T and abzan midrange? I think its best to decide which way you want to prefer because doing both will compromise both options.
Thalia is not really a big deal at all, sure I screwed myself over but that was because I'm bad. It was an easily avoidable mistake. It would be different if she were main. I would hardly consider her inclusion though on the D&T side, she's my only tax creature. I'm far on the abzan midrange side of things but because I run so many dudes her inclusion isn't really that painful. The last 2 tournies I've been in i've hardly even seen evolution so it's hard to say how much she would actually hurt me. For now, I'm just going to keep her side as she was excellent when I did need her. Without any really awesome utility 4 drops I don't tend to evolution 2 drops unless I need something like pontiff or a rallier. I've evolultioned a voice into rallier many times, it always feels great.
Modern: BG eldrazi midrange
BWG Abzan value evolution
BUG BUG Midrange
Tiny Leaders: BW Athreos Zombies
Commander: BG Gitrog Monster
I agree with evo, i never use it unless it is needed. It usually is the best card in the deck.
As for HOU, there are some really neat cards but certainly not for this archetype so far. If we had a better sac outlet solemnity is a great. Probably still worth SB regardless as it makes finks pretty great and to my knowledge shuts down the devoted druid combo. I wonder if taking this in a heavy black direction with geralf's messenger and a sac outlet could be a viable route. Probably not but sounds fun in the least.
Modern: BG eldrazi midrange
BWG Abzan value evolution
BUG BUG Midrange
Tiny Leaders: BW Athreos Zombies
Commander: BG Gitrog Monster