Abzan Toolbox is a value-based midrange deck that focuses strongly on the cards Chord of Calling and Eldritch Evolution to access it's various silver bullets in order to hit opposing strategies' weakpoints.
The core concept of this deck is adaptability. We can play any role in a given match, although we won't excel at any of them in particular. We aren't as fast as the dedicated Aggro decks, neither can we control a game as well as an actual Control deck. Our strength is the ability to find ways of doing whatever our opponent doesn't want us to do.
There aren't many things this deck absolutely cannot beat. While this flexibility gives us a lot of power, it also can make it difficult to find the right play during complex, changing gamestates.
Reasons to play the deck
You're interested in gameplay that rewards (and punishes the lack of) proper role assessment and analysis of the matchup
Playing a somewhat different style of deck every game is appealing to you.
You like slightly tweaking decks to perfectly adapt to a given metagame.
You enjoy playing a fair deck that can turn unfair if needed.
Reasons to not play the deck
You want to focus on a single strategy that stays more or less the same every game.
You're uncomfortable with having to know your opponents decks/strategies.
You are looking for a deck that delivers a lot of "free wins".
Why not Melira Company?
This deck is similar to Melira Company in that both decks are based on tutor-effects, play some of the same creatures, and can finish the game by going infinite or grinding the opponent out and winning the fair way. However, where the Company deck is primarily focused on putting together their own combo while having a fair backup-plan, this deck focuses on that fair midrange gameplan first, with the option of going infinite as a backup if we need to go over the top.
Both decks are very powerful in their own right. If you're looking for a creature combo deck, Melira Company might be the deck for you. If you're looking for a (mostly) fair creature deck that gives a lot of options, this is probably the deck to play.
Due to the nature of this deck it's impossible to have a single decklist that perfectly fits every metagame (or playstyle). You are encouraged to experiment with the mainboard yourself to adapt it to whatever decks you're trying to beat. For example, if there is a lot of RG Tron in your area, consider mainboard Fulminator Mages, if there is a lot of combo, maybe have an Eidolon of Rhetoric in the main. Although there isn't yet enough data to have a 100% correct core list, experience so far has shown the following cards and (to a lesser degree) numbers to prove themselves throughout different builds of the deck:
Core List
22-23 Lands - the deck is fairly mana hungry, so having enough lands to cast your spells even if our mana dorks get shot down is pretty important. 23 is a good starting point, 22 might be enough if your mana curve is on the lower side.
4+ Tutors - the key element of the deck. Depending on what general playstyle the build is aiming for (removal heavy, creature heavy, is the focus on ramping out a certain creature...) it may require a stronger focus on either Chord of Calling or Eldritch Evolution, potentially making copies of the other tutor obsolete.
6+ Dorks - these allow us to ramp into expensive creatures or Chords early. Exact choice of number and type of dorks depend on the curve and the choice of tutors.
60 vs 61 cards
The presented list currently runs 61 cards to fit the 3rd Eldritch Evolution. There have been several discussions about running more than 60 mainboard cards in these style of decks (mostly additional silver bullets) due to our ability to find them a lot more easily than traditional decks. The concern with running additional cards is the reduced consistency of the entire deck (as every additional card makes it slightly less likely to draw any given card), however the difference in draw is very small and our deck is already built to work around running a somewhat clunky, inconsistent shell (which comes with running a lot of 1-of's to tutor for).
Tutors Chord of Calling - The key chard of the deck. Let's us find whatever piece we might need to deal with the given situation. Instant speed also makes for dangerous combat-tricks and end-of-turn plays that our opponents have to respect. Eldritch Evolution - More tutors to complement the Chords. Where Chord of Calling is about versatility and the value grind, Evolution is about speed. It let's us tutor out most relevant hate-creatures on turn 2 if we have a Birds of Paradise or Noble Hierarch on the board. The fact that the sacrifice clause is part of the casting cost however can make this pretty bad in the long, grindy matchups - especially against counterspell-based decks.
Mana Dorks Birds of Paradise - As this deck is pretty mana-intensive, early acceleration is mandatory. Birds of Paradise provides us with early access to black mana as well as with a flying body to later pump with Gavony Township. Noble Hierarch - Provides Exalted for our troops, which is often very relevant. This is our choice for an offensive dork, whereas Wall of Roots is the choice for defense. Wall of Roots - Has great synergy with Chord of Calling while providing us with a strong blocker. Remember that you can use the ability once in your turn and then again in your opponent's turn (often relevant for Chord or Scavenging Ooze).
Value Cards Eternal Witness - The Nr. 1 value card in the deck. Recurs Chord of Calling, hatebears, removal, combo pieces, fetch lands and really anything we want. Also has great synergy with Liliana, the Last Hope grindy games where you're not afraid of graveyard hate (see Gameplay below). Restoration Angel - Another very versatile card that let's us re-use any of our ETB creatures while providing strong beats in the air. Also allows us to reset our Kitchen Finks and Wall of Roots. Voice of Resurgence - A great card against control and midrange decks that try to beat us with countermagic and 1-for-1 trades. The token can grow very large very fast and put pressure on our opponents or serve as a brickwall against opposing troops. Kitchen Finks - A recurring threat with lifegain on top. Like Voice of Resurgence great against fair, attrition-based decks, as well as a huge beating against Burn or similar aggressive strategies that try to kill us with regular damage. Liliana, the Last Hope - Kills plenty of relevant creatures (Dark Confidant, Snapcaster Mage, Birds of Paradise, Blighted Agent...), slows down aggressive decks and even more (repeatable!) recursion for our creatures should they die. In desperate times the -2 also gives us another way of digging for a certain hatebear, blocker or similar. If we can protect her she also quickly becomes a very viable win condition. Thragtusk - Huge body with powerful lifegain that leaves a 3/3 Beast token behind. Keep in mind that we get the Beast when Thragtusk leaves the battlefield, not when it dies - which makes it a prime blink-target for Restoration Angel.
Utility Creatures Scavenging Ooze - Hoses graveyard-based strategies, shuts down Snapcaster Mage, shrinks Tarmogoyf and Grim Flayer, gains life and grows quickly to deliver the big beats. Selfless Spirit - Mainly here to protect our troops from Wrath effects or save our combo from destruction-based removal, but can also sometimes be used as a combat trick by chording it out after blocks and sacrificing it to take down opposing creatures without any losses of our own. Qasali Pridemage - Deals with annoying artifacts and enchantments and provides Exalted for our other guys. Keep in mind that Pridemage requires 1 mana to activate. Spellskite - Powerful protection for our other creatures as well as amazing hate for pump/buff-based decks like Infect or Bogles. It can also make the life of some combo decks harder if their win-con is targeting (Lightning Storm, Banefire). Orzhov Pontiff - A one-sided boardwipe for small creatures and tokens. The +1/+1 mode can also sometimes be used to punch in a lot of damage in racing situations if we already have a board. Siege Rhino - Lightning Helix on a stick - a very large, trampling stick that's out to get you! Can often finish games through walls of small chump-blockers or Ensnaring Bridge.
Combo Pieces Spike Feeder - Mainly here to combo, but the lifegain and ability to buff other creatures or reset Kitchen Finks does come up pretty often. Has great synergy with Gavony Township as you can use the +1/+1 counters for more and more lifegain if needed. Archangel of Thune - Our second combo piece. However, where Spike Feeder is primarily there to combo, Archangel of Thune is a very real threat in itself, that ends games very fast if it isn't immediately killed. Also has amazing synergy with all of our lifegain cards, especially Scavenging Ooze.
Removal Path to Exile - The best removal in the format, hands down. Permanently takes down anything, no matter how large, tough or indestructible (well, almost anything...). Deals with annyoing cards like Kalitas, Traiter of Ghet, Anafenza, the Foremost, Tasigur, the Golden Fang, Griselbrand...
Mana Base Windswept Heath/Verdant Catacombs/Marsh Flats - Fetchlands to get our colours online as soon as possible. Temple Garden/Overgrown Tomb/Godless Shrine - The best fetchable dual-lands we have access to. Basic Lands - Who want's to lose to Blood Moon? Not us. As many of these as we can run. Horizon Canopy - More colour-fixing and additional card-draw once we don't need it anymore. Gavony Township - Amazing utility that turns our mana dorks into threats, buffs our existing threats and resets Kitchen Finks and (kinda) Wall of Roots. One of our strongest weapons in the fair midrange and creature-heavy matchups. Stirring Wildwood - Another turn 1 play that can block Delver of Secrets and other small, annoying creatures. Pretty decent against planeswalkers as well, but the expected rise of Fatal Push might... ahem push this and all other creature lands out of the realm of playability for us. Time will tell. If so, we probably want to run one of the following in it's place: Blooming Marsh/Razorverge Thicket - Early access to multiple colours without taking damage. 1 of these (colours depending on the exact build) is probably enough, as the drawback of coming in tapped sometimes is very real in a deck that wants to cast 8 mana spells.
Sideboard
Thoughtseize - Allows us to take away anything that isn't a land. Great tool to slow our opponents down and disrupt their game plan, while allowing us to shape our own according to their hand. The life loss does matter, so be careful to not go overboard with it. Surgical Extraction - Amazing versatile card that can permanently deal with one threat. "Combos" with our discard and our Fulminator Mages, disrupts graveyard strategies, and gives information about the opponent's hand and deck. Information is very powerful, so even firing this off on a cantrip or removal spell might be worth it in the fair games, just to see their hand and maybe taking something out of it. Lost Legacy - Powerful card against anything that doesn't run a lot of different win conditions, especially dedicated combo decks. Even against fair decks, removing their most dangerous threats from the equation as soon as turn 2 usually buys us some important time. Knowing their hand and deck also makes it easier to formulate and execute a gameplan. Stony Silence - An extremely powerful hatecard against artifact-based strategies (Affinity, Lantern Control, Eggs) with very relevant splash damage against Tron (shuts down Expedition Map, Oblivion Stone and their cantrips). Ghostly Prison - Great card to stall aggro decks (especially swarm strategies) long enough for us to stabilize and turn the game around. Synergizes greatly with Voice of Resurgence, Kitchen Finks and Wall of Roots. Reclamation Sage - Additional tutorable removal for annoying artifacts or enchantments that can be blinked by Restoration Angel if needed. Also a very easy to cast answer for Blood Moon. Eidolon of Rhetoric - Amazing hatecard against all sorts of storm or cascade based strategies. Shuts down Snapcaster Mage as well, making it a decent card to bring against Delver and Control strategies. Fulminator Mage - Tutorable land-destruction. Absolutely necessary against Tron strategies. Combine this with Surgical Extraction to build your own Crumble to Dust.
Alternative Card Choices
Work In Progress
Value Creatures Reveillark - Extremely powerful recursion, especially with Eternal Witness in the graveyard. However, keep in mind that many strategies will bring graveyard hate against us, which can make Reveillark a pretty mediocre card. Better if we run ways of killing him ourselves (Viscera Seer for example). Has insane value when blinked by Restoration Angel, making him a considerable alternative for Thragtusk if you don't want the additional lifegain and don't care about being slightly more graveyard dependent.
Utility Creatures Burrenton Forge-Tender - Easily tutorable way to deal with Anger of the Gods, Pyroclasm, Conflagrate and similar things. Also blocks Goblin Guide forever. Useful if you find yourself needing more ways of dealing with red boardwipes. Sin Collector - Discard that exiles on a stick. A powerful tool against spell-combo and control, especially if we get to recur or blink him. Cataclysmic Gearhulk - Blows up complicated boardstates. Extremely powerful together with our recurring creatures. Can count as an artifact himself, allowing us to keep 2 creatures.
Removal Fatal Push - Good additional removal if you want to run more than the 4 Path and care mostly about killing creatures. Collective Brutality - A very versatile and powerful card that can create massive swings in tempo against the right decks (especially Burn and Infect). Great card if you're looking for something to kinda do everything. Abrupt Decay - Powerful additional removal if you want to run more than the 4 Path. Kills everything cheap, including Blood Moon and Ensnaring Bridge, so worth a thought if you're experiencing problems with those cards. Maelstrom Pulse - Great removal that will kill everything that can be killed, and all their buddies as well. Deals with planeswalkers and expensive enchantments or artifacts. A versatile sideboard card that get's rid of a lot of things we might have trouble with. Engineered Explosives - Very powerful card against certain threats. If there is a lot of Merfolk or Tokens around, running some of these is probably gonna make life very easy for us. Just keep in mind that it will often blow up some of our own stuff as well, so use it wisely.
Hatecards Phyrexian Revoker - A tutorable Pithing Needle that doesn't hit lands but shuts down mana abilities. Can be very sweet if chorded out in response to some huge planeswalker, but also dies very easily, often making him a tempo play only. Melira, Sylvok Outcast - Can put a serious damper on Infect's gameplan if they don't have the Dismember (or can kill us with regular damage). Usually only worth it if we're also running Viscera Seer to enable that combo as well. Kataki, War's Wage - A strong hatecard for artifact-based strategies. Beats down and is tutorable, but also dies easily and the effect is often somewhat weaker than Stony Silence. Gaddock Teeg - Stops a lot of powerful cards and niche strategies, as well as Dredge (shutting down Conflagrate is that powerful, yes). However, depending on the build, he can interfere with our own Chords, so use him carefully. Aven Mindcensor - A very powerful card that hates on tutors and fetchlands. Often considered as a hatecard for the Tron and RG Valakut matchups, but the fact that it dies very easily and the effect being based on variance makes it somewhat less attractive. Kambal, Consul of Allocation - A powerful, even maindeckable hatecard against Burn and cantrip-heavy decks. But even against strategies like BGx or Tron the 2 damage can add up quickly if he gets to stay alive. Linvala, Keeper of Silence - Very strong card against various creature-based decks, Bant Eldrazi and Elves being the most prominent. Generally plays better in a deck focused on Evolution instead of Chord due to the ability of getting her out on turn 3. Thrun, the Last Troll - Great beatstick against control decks. Survives through Supreme Verdict, laughs at spot removal, and presents a decent clock. Sigarda, Host of Herons - Great finisher against BGx midrange strategies. Their only removal for her is usually Damnation, which we often can play around (or power through with Selfless Spirit).
Pithing Needle - An extremely undervalued card that has flexibility like only very few other cards. It can help locking down strategies like Tron or Reanimator very early while providing loads of flexibility. Even just shutting down creature lands against fair decks can often make a big difference. There are few matchup where it does nothing, but keep in mind that it rarely straight-out wins the game, and we cannot tutor for it. Still always worth a consideration. Runed Halo - Similar to Pithing Needle a very flexible card that has uses in many different matchups and is hard to destroy for plenty of commonly played decks if they didn't see it coming.
Although it's hard to pinpoint a generic strategy for a deck like this due to it's adaptive nature, we usually want to start out by playing mana dorks and random good cards like Voice of Resurgence or Kitchen Finks to enable our tutors. Once we have a board presence and know what role we are taking in the matchup we can use our tutors to find more value (against fair decks), combo pieces (unfair decks) or relevant silver bullets. In game 2 and 3 we'll often want to mulligan down to certain hatecards against linear strategies.
Synergies, Combos, Tricks
This deck has a lot of obvious and less obvious interactions and tricks it can pull off that are worth knowing. Here are some of them, based on the example decklist given above.
Archangel of Thune + Spike Feeder
Our main combo, allowing us to gain any amount of life and put any number of +1/+1 counters on all of our creatures except the Spike Feeder. It works like this:
Remove a +1/+1 counter from Spike Feeder, gaining 2 life.
Archangel of Thune triggers and puts a +1/+1 counter on all our creatures, including Spike Feeder.
Remove the newly gained +1/+1 counter from Spike Feeder, gaining 2 life.
Repeat ad nauseam.
Kitchen Finks Persist and +1/+1 counters
It's a rule that +1/+1 and -1/-1 counters will cancel each other out if put on the same creature. This allows us to "reset" a Kitchen Finks that has already died once and is now sitting around with a -1/-1 counter in a few ways:
Spike Feeder - pay 2 to put a +1/+1 counter from the Feeder onto the Finks.
Archangel of Thune + lifegain - Archangel's trigger will reset the Kitchen Finks. With both cards in play the Finks can die infinite amounts of time, as they will gain us 2 life when they persist back to the battlefield, immediately resetting themselves.
Gavony Township - pay 2GW to reset the Finks. As this is repeatable we can sometimes put opponents into the soft-lock of "block with Finks, gain 2, reset it with Gavony at the end of your turn" until they can completely remove the Finks or overpower it.
Note that all these synergies are also true for Wall of Roots. The +1/+1 counters don't cancel out the -0/-1 counters, but as they increase the Wall's toughness it will allow us to use it once more per +1/+1 counter we put on it.
Eternal Witness + Chord of Calling
Kiki-Chord has a popular line of play that allows them to (eventually) combo-kill with a single Chord of Calling in hand. This line works like this:
Chord for 3, get Eternal Witness. Witness gets back the Chord.
(Now the Witness can be tapped for convoke) Chord for 4, get Restoration Angel, blink the Witness, get back Chord again.
Chord for 5, get Kiki-Jiki, copy Restoration Angel, blink Kiki-Jiki, go infinite.
While we can't go infinite with only one tutor, this line of play (obviously except the last step) can sometimes be very overpowering in fair matchups, as it gives us "free" creatures while letting us keep Chord open in case we need to tutor up a specific answer or threat.
Eternal Witness + Liliana, the Last Hope
Although it might seem unintuitive at first, sometimes a great way of grinding our opponents out in complex board stalls is to use Liliana's +1 ability to kill our own Eternal Witness to get her back with Liliana's -2 ability in the next turn. This allows us to recur removal, lands or non-creature sideboard cards over and over until our opponent finds a way to disrupt us. Of course we should be able to protect Liliana for at least a turn to make this work
Scavenging Ooze + Archangel of Thune
Scavenging Ooze is a very powerful enabler for Archangel triggers, as we can turn every G into (at least) three +1/+1 counters (2 on Ooze, 1 on Archangel) as long as there are dead creatures for the Ooze to eat. This can produce massive lifeswings if the pumped-up Archangel gets to connect or just end the game on the spot. Most fair decks have a hard time beating a 6/7 flying lifelink creature next to a 8/8 on the ground (this is with "only" three activations from Ooze).
Scavenging Ooze + Selfless Spirit
A minor, but sometimes helpful combat trick. As Selfless Spirit can be sacrificed at any time, it can serve as a free +1 life and a +1/+1 counter for the Ooze in addition to the indestructibility. This can sometimes mess up our opponents attacks if they didn't realize it - or if we can Chord for the Spirit during combat.
How to combo through removal
Assembling and executing the Angelfeeder combo is pretty straight forward. But what if we're up against an opponent that we know or suspect to have removal in his hand? There are a few ways to force the issue here.
The easiest way is to wait. If they get greedy and tap out to kill one of our combo pieces, or play their last card, we just combo off in response. If they cannot beat infinite life, we win. Even if they can, we might have just bought us a whole bunch of time to come back.
But what if they're patient? Or hold more than 1 removal? Remember that every +1/+1 counter on Spike Feeder gives except the last one gives us an additional try at comboing off. So the safest way of going off against disruption is to grow the Spike Feeder.
For example, after assembling the combo, go to attacks and swing with Archangel (if she'll survive combat only, of course). If she connects we'll gain life, growing our Feeder. Does the opponent try to kill something in response to the trigger? Time to go off in response to their removal. If they don't, we grow our team and do nothing. Now we repeat this every turn, hitting them for increasingly more damage every turn, gaining more and more life and growing our Spike Feeder while doing it. Eventually they'll be forced to do something and then we combo in response. It becomes even easier if we have any additional form of lifegain, like a Kitchen Finks or a Scavenging Ooze. Gavony Township activations also do the trick.
Another trick is to play or tutor up Orzhov Pontiff, giving your own team +1/+1. While this isn't as good as additional +1/+1 counters, it allows Spike Feeder to use up both +1/+1 counters without dying, effectively giving us another shot at the combo.
Mana Base & Fetch Priorities
Although our manabase is generally speaking pretty straight-forward and easy to work with we do have quite a number of cards that require multiples of one colour. Obviously in the end it always comes down to what's in your hand at the moment, but there are a few things to consider.
(Every advice assumes the decklist from above - if you're running a different build your colour priorities will probably differ)
Our mainboard priorities go something like this:
G - casts Mana Dorks turn 1.
GW, GG, WB, BB (in this order) - casts Path to Exile, Voice of Resurgence, Kitchen Finks, Eternal Witness, Eldritch Evolution, Orzhov Pontiff and Liliana, the Last Hope.
GGG - hardcasts Chord of Calling without green creatures
WW - hardcasts Archangel of Thune
So a good all-rounder start (ignoring mana dorks) would be
Turn 1 - Overgrown Tomb
Turn 2 - Godless Shrine
Turn 3 - Forest
Giving us the colours needed to cast every single card in our deck except for Chord without convoke and Archangel of Thune.
The more mana dorks we have (and can assume will stay alive) the more basics we can fetch out.
Post-board we often want to get black mana (and even BB) online ASAP as our sideboard is full of black cards. Especially against most combo decks, being able to cast a turn 2 or turn 3 Lost Legacy is often our Nr. 1 priority.
Another minor thing is to try to keep basics in the deck against opponents that are likely to Path to Exile a lot of our creatures to get as much back from the exchange as possible.
We generally are pretty 50/50 against most fair midrange or control decks due to the high densitiy of creatures that require multiple cards to deal with. We are usually very strong against aggressive decks if we don't stumble early (loads of blockers and lifegain) and very weak to big mana strategies like Tron and Valakut (can't interact with them in meaningful ways pre-board).
Our combo matchups are generally pretty bad game 1 and pretty good games 2 and 3 unless we run dedicated combo-hate in the main, like Eidolon of Rhetoric, Gaddock Teeg or Kambal, Consul of Allocation.
Midrange and Control Decks
Jund (Slightly unfavorable)
Gameplan: Jund wants to trade 1-for-1 as much as possible and overpower us with their superior early creatures. Voice of Resurgence, Kitchen Finks, Thragtusk and Eternal Witness are amazing at stopping them from doing their thing while giving us something to hit them back. Patience is the key in these matchups, try to gain us much value out of your creatures as possible. We usually have a lot of life, so use that as a resource before throwing your creatures in harms way. There aren't any easy ways to beat these matchups, tight, careful plays are the way. The combo is usually not great here, as they have a million ways of disrupting it, but if you can get there it's game over as they cannot beat infinite life.
Sideboard Options: Surgical Extraction (to strip them of threats or removal), Thoughtseize (to take their sideboard cards away), but neither are amazing.
Win Percentage; 47/53 pre and post board
Abzan Midrange (Slightly Favorable)
Gameplan: Very similar to Jund but somewhat more favorable as they don't have reach and we rarely care about their Lingering Souls.
Sideboard Options: same as Jund
Win Percentage; 53/47 pre and post board
BW Tokens (Favorable) Gameplan: We can often get them good with Orzhov Pontiff before they get a bunch of anthemeffects on the board, and we can blow those up with Qasali Pridemage if we want to. Liliana, the Last Hope is also a great card against them. If we get to a stable board we can usually grind them out with value and lifegain or combo them out.
Hatebears/Death & Taxes (Favorable) Gameplan: There are a couple of different decks out there that follow the same core strategy - mana denial and beats with small creatures. If we get past the first part of their strategy we can usually out-creature them easily in the mid/lategame. Be patient and careful with your fetches once they have Leonin Arbiter or potential Aven Mindcensors, make sure to keep hands with ~3 lands, and kill their Aether Vial early if you have the chance. An early Liliana, the Last Hope also often finishes the game very quickly.
Grixis Delver/Grixis Control (Slightly Favorable) Gameplan: pretty similar to Jund and Abzan, we wanna slam early Voices and Finks and rebuy our stuff with Eternal Witness. However, unlike BGx who let us resolve every Chord and Evolution, Grixis often runs some amount of counters to mess with our plays, so keep an eye out for that. Post board we gotta play around Anger of the Gods and potentially Damnation, but we also have access to Eidolon of Rhetoric, which is a pretty phenomenal card against all sorts of Grixis strategies.
UWR Control (Unfavorable) Gameplan: This matchup can be pretty tricky. Selfless Spirit is your best friend against the boardwipes they often play (main and from the board), so finding him is often key to building and keeping a board presence. If they play Nahiri, the Harbinger, we have to be more aggressive, sometimes forcing our hand if we don't want to take a hit from Big Mama herself. Post-board we'll load up on discard and extraction effects to strip away their win conditions and boardwipes, making the battle a lot more even.
Infect (Slightly Unfavorable) Gameplan: Deploy early blockers for their Glistener Elves, keep Path to Exile for Blighted Agents and Inkmoth Nexi. This is mostly decided by careful play and never getting too greedy.
Affinity (Favorable) Gameplan: Affinity is usually a pretty decent matchup pre- and post-board, but also one that we can lose with only one wrong decision. Pontiff, Liliana and our larger flyers together with Path+Witness gives us a lot of things for Affinity to have to get through. As usual for aggro MU's it's important to have early disruption and blockers. Our traditional anti-aggro cards (Finks, Voice) aren't that great in this matchup, since most of Affinity's creatures fly.
Post-board watch out for early Blood Moons and Girapur Aether Grid. As long as we don't get knocked out very early on we should be able to stabilize and grind them out of the game.
Burn (Favorable) Gameplan: This matchup can seem like an auto-win, but in reality can end up very badly for us if we don't get our lifegain cards out early. However, if we get out a Kitchen Finks or two we should be in a pretty good spot. Keep an eye out for Eidolon of the Great Revel - while it doesn't shut us down quite as hard as some other decks, it stops us from freely dropping mana dorks in the mid-game to ramp freely and make our Chords easier.
Sideboard Options: Eidolon of Rhetoric Win Percentage: 60/40 pre, 60/40 post board
Dredge (Slightly Favorable) Gameplan: Understanding what's important is the key to this matchup. We can outclass all their creatures quite easily and grind them out of the game if we get to keep a board presence alive. Their most dangerous card is Conflagrate, and by a mile. It's the absolute Nr. 1 target for Scavenging Ooze, unless they only have one and we have a Selfless Spirit for protection. An early Scavenging Ooze or an early combo is usually the plan for game 1. For game 2 and 3 we want to use Surgical Extraction and Lost Legacy to get rid of their Bloodghasts and Narcomoebas before they can use them to get Prized Amalgams out. Conflagrate is another good target for additional extraction effects. After that we should be able to outvalue them rather easily.
Fish (Even) Gameplan: Fish can be a very tricky matchup if they manage to tempo us out with value from Aether Vial and Spreading Seas. Otherwise we want to survive the early game and try to combo-kill them eventually. Game 2 and 3 that'll be a lot easier with the addition of Ghostly Prisons. Be careful not to get your tutors or removal spells countered by Cursecatcher and blow up their Spreading Seas if they only get one online to keep your blockers relevant.
Tron (all versions)(Unfavorable) Gameplan: Our second biggest enemy in the format. Our plan for Game 1 will be to hope for them to have a slow draw while we have a fast aggressive draw of early Kitchen Finks, lots of Exalted and multiple Siege Rhino triggers. Game 2 and 3 we want to strip away their threats with discard and Lost Legacy (usually naming Ugin, the Spirit Dragon, then Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre, then Karn Liberated) while slowing them down with Stony Silence. Still, even with everything we can bring the matchup is pretty hard.
Valakut Titan (Unfavorable) Gameplan: Our worst matchup by far. Mainboard Anger of the Gods and a "combo" that is usually a bit faster than our own makes for a horrible matchup. Post-board we can try to get them with Fulminator Mage + Surgical Extraction on Valakut, the Molten Pinaccle very early if the play one, or Lost Legacy away their Primeval Titans, but their speed puts a lot of pressure on us to basically have a near-perfect starting hand with some good draws on top of that.
Depending on their list (Scapeshift + Titan, Titan + Breach/Emrakul, Titan + Nahiri/Emrakul) the targets for Lost Legacy differ (and can be tricky to identify, since most of the decks play a very similar shell), but Primeval Titan is usually the best first target.
Ad Nauseam (Even) Gameplan: Game 1 is a race that we usually lose if they have a decent draw. Our only interaction are Qasali Pridemage and Spellskite. Game 2 and 3 we generally get the upper hand with lots of discard and extraction effects. They almost always run one Lightning Storm and one Laboratory Maniac as only win conditions, so 2 resolved Lost Legacy should finish the game every time.
If we have access to Spellskite and a bunch of life, we can sometimes survive a Lightning Storm kill by waiting for them to put a lethal amount of counters on the storm, then redirecting. Now they have to have more lands to discard (and redirect to us again) than we can pay life for Spellskite. Also remember to keep extra lands in hand to discard them to redirect the Lightning Storm to themselves.
Grishoalbrand (Even) Gameplan: Similar to Ad Nauseam but faster and less consistent. Try to keep up Path to Exile every turn to kill Griselbrand before they can connect with it. Scavenging Ooze can also do some work if they aren't super fast, but keep in mind that they can get their targets into play via Through the Breach as well. Game 2 and 3 we want to focus on exiling all their reanimation spells while slowing them down with discard and Eidolon. Exiling all their Griselbrands are often also a strong play early, but leaves them with outs, while if they lose Goryo's Vengeance and Through the Breach, they're usually done.
Melira Company (Favorable) Gameplan: This matchup tends to stall for long periods of time if no player get's off to a very fast start. We usually don't care about their infinite life and can protect our combo from their infinite damage as well if we get a Spellskite out. On top of that we have a bunch of very relevant cards against them: Path to Exile, Scavenging Ooze, Orzhov Pontiff and Liliana, the Last Hope. Be aware that they can win the midrange battle by chaining Collected Company if we aren't careful.
Post-board we want to get rid of Collected Company and Chord of Calling on their side to take away their options before beating them down or comboing them out. Keep in mind that Liliana, the Last Hope can kill them even after they gained a few million life as long as we can keep them from comboing (depending on how much life exactly they gained, obviously).
Lantern Control (Favorable) Gameplan: One of the classic "horror" matchups for many decks - for us it's actually pretty good. We have loads of relevant mainboard cards to break their Ensnaring Bridge or kill them through it. Even if they mill some of our important cards, we have plenty of recursion. On top of that we can break their mill lock with our tutors and their Academy Ruins lock with Scavenging Ooze. After boarding it gets even worse for them after we bring Stony Silence and our own discard and extraction effects.
Keep in mind that Exalted triggers go on the stack after attacks have been declared. So a 0/1 Birds of Paradise or Noble Hierarch can attack through Ensnaring Bridge and deal damage due to exalted. Another way of killing them is to assemble the combo, attack with a 0/1 creature and pump it infinitely after attacks.
8Rack (Favorable) Gameplan: This one is interesting. Sometimes they have the perfect start and we can't do anything about it (usually involves multiple Small Pox being cast). But most of the time we should be able to overwhelm their resources with Voice of Resurgence, Kitchen Finks and Eternal Witness, blowing up their artifactsandenchantments with Qasali Pridemage and Reclamation Sage (after boarding).
Keep a close eye on life totals. Games often come down to us being able to outrace their Racks, so make sure to not miss out on any potential damage.
Some of you might know me from the Kiki Chord or Abzan Company threads.. Anyways, I've been playing Pod and other toolbox/combo hybrids since I was first introduced to Modern. When Eldritch Evolution (calling it Evo for short from here on) was spoiled I immediately began brewing around Pod/Kiki Chord shells. I haven't seen a thread yet really diving into a value/combo Pod'like Abzan shell driven by Evo yet, so I figured I'd start one up.
Without getting too deep, here's my current list after about 80+ matches:
As always, even in Pods heday.. Big Mana Decks (GR Tron & Scapeshift variants) are posing the biggest issues. From there I've seen favorable to positive results across the other Tier 1 decks in the format aside from Fish.
Would love too see input & questions on card selection from others as I've seen a few brews going around in other "tier" threads similar to this.
I would very much like to see a "Why Abzan over Naya" question in the primer. Siege Rhino, Abrupt Decay would be the obvious suspects, but there is more to it.
Nice too see another Kiki Chord player pop up already. Hoping this could evolve into a primer eventually if the deck picks up steam.
I've been doing nothing but testing between the two since the spoiler. Admittedly, I haven't had time to dive into Naya only colors but have tested a ton with both the light blue & black splashes (I post about them all the time over in the Kiki Chord thread). But so far I've found the Kiki lists to just be a bit more fragile when it comes to grindier MU's where Siege Rhino/Kitchen Finks/Gavony Township just win games. Post board you're outfitted with better answers to the hate that's popular currently against Abzan Company and Kiki Chord (Abrupt Decay/Maelstrom Pulse/Thoughtseize).
Again, something I'm still back and forth on. If I have to Evo into one Reclamation Sage is the obvious better option. If I have to keep a hand or blind draw one in a MU where the destroy target artifact or enchantment is irrelevant pre-board.. Qasali Pridemage is the all around better card.
1CMC Dork #7 is easily land 23 or vice versa, I've enjoyed running the 3rd Horizon Canopy in the main over the 7th dork.
Thoughtseize is the most proactive answer available to any bad MU post board. Pod played 4 (often split in the main) for that reason.
See 2 points up
Edit: Also, here's Hoogland's 60 card main he'd streamed last night. Haven't had a chance to watch as I'm not subscribed to his twitch:
i've been playing something similar, although naya based for magus of the moon to fix tron and scapeshift. allosaurus rider and iona, shield of emeria could really help with some extra win button and an opportunity against fish and combo. allosaurus+EVO is fairly consistent, and allosaurus is not as bad as you would think as a card.
As someone who's MD'd Magus of the Moon for over a year in Coco Kiki Chord, it's not a reliable answer to either deck pre or post board. Allosaurus Rider/Iona/Elesh Norn is far and away the least consistent iteration of an Evo deck I've tested. I wouldn't recommend the grouping of cards to anyone for more than a casual FNM type setting.
Been looking for this thread, have been testing abzan pod online, am currently in league six with the deck and have made slight tweaks here and there and have kept notes throughout. I have done everything from having four lingering souls in the SB to moving all the hate bears to the MB and just siding out what I dont need, I have never tried the combo archangel version yet, will post list later.
I have been testing with a deck like this, so far I have done pretty well at local events and testing with friends against multiple Tier 1 and 2 decks. Right now I have the Melira and persist combos because it seems silly not to when running Finks and Archangel. There are just so many more outs and a lot of the time a Redcap is just as good as any other 4 drop. Anyway I hope there is still interest in this deck, it seems like almost everybody has given up on brewing. Here's my current list. I have developed it after pulling from my experience with Pod decks, Abzan Company, my testing in "competitive" FNM, and testing against my friends with tier 1. I got help from my friend who finished top 8 at GPLA with Abzan Company, and the best pod/company/chord players I Know or could learn from. Anyway its not perfect but its a step. I'm on my mobile, sorry for formatting.
These lists are interesting.. I'd tested out the Souls package in the deck and still found myself wanting some number of Chords. Admittedly, I've been playing Coco Kiki Chord far more than this lately prepping for SCG Milwaukee & Columbus Opens. Here's the Abzan Evo list I have I have sort of dismantled in a deckbox haha -
Are the mana dorks absolutely necessary? I remember watching one of Hoogland's latest iterations of Kiki Evolution and he looked to be maining Bolts over Birds. I know we lose speed with this kind of change, but are there any must-have reasons for the mana dorks? I've been thinking of a build without them. I'm currently an Abzan Company player and I understand the need for dorks in that deck (faster Chords and Companies), but in here, what are we really ramping into? Thanks for any answers.
How did I miss this?
Was thinking about making a thread for this kinda deck for a bit now, never got around to do it tho. Cheers Ludafish for starting it up!
I've been toying with Evolution/Chord decks since Evolution came out, been playing it in Soul Sisters, Kiki-Chord and all kinds of Bant/Abzan lists. Don't have any *proper* results yet (PTQ's, GP's, etc.) but I've had consistent success with the deck at my store so far, made 2nd place in a small open there as well. There is also a lot of grinding on Xmage and real life playtesting going on.
(Note: I don't have any Verdant Catacombs, so my rl mana base is kinda crap. Still worked fine so far tho.)
A few things I wanna bring up to discussion/share my thoughts on:
Landcount/Dorks: I found 23 lands to be necessary if running 5+ 4cmc+ creatures. Dork count is more tricky. I've played around with up to 8 (4 Birds/3 Noble/1 Wall of Roots), but that leaves us with a lot of bad topdecks, which hurts our BGx matchup. At the open I've tried out 2 Wall of Omens as a virtual 24th land and to increase overall consistency (as well as another blocker). I like Wall quite a bit, but I'm unsure about the numbers yet. I like a split of Birds and Nobles, as the Hierarchs allow for early beats - especially if there is a Qasali Pridemage involved. Atm I wouldn't go below at least 5 dorks, unless the meta is full of Jund.
Tutor Count: I've played with 3/3 splits between Chord and Evolution for a while, changing to 4 Evolution/2 Chord after not being able to cast Chord once too often in a tournament. Since then I've tried some 4/3 splits and was pretty happy with them. I think if we go for the full toolbox package, we want at least 6 tutor effects, what exactly will depend on the build.
Melira Combo: For me there's always the question of running the Melira combo or not. Upside would be a potentially fast combo that beats most of the big mana decks 'cept Tron, as they can't beat infinite life. However, I found that running even 1 Seer/1 Melira often makes the deck worse by having rather crappy and specific creatures in it. Sometimes it worked, but often felt like playing a bad Melira Company deck to me.
Pridemage vs Rec Sage: I found this to come up a lot during play. Often one of them will be better than the other by a lot. I usually ran no Pridemages at all, 1 Rec Sage in the main, but recently learned to love Pridemage for the early beats it provides in addition to the potential of killing stuff. Atm I'm running Pridemage main and the Rec Sage in the sideboard against Blood Moon and the likes.
Lingering Souls: Now here's a weird one. I played the card a lot in various strategies over the last couple years, and it always was a huge beating against control and midrange. While the former is still true, I've recently found it lacking against BGx due to the addition of Grim Flayer. It's obviously great against Affinity and Infect, but I'm unsure if it's a mainboard card. An alternative I've tried is Liliana, the Last Hope - good against Infect and Affinity, buys back our value guys and provides another wincon in grindy MU's. Not a lot of experience with her in the main yet, but I liked her quite a bit as a one-of SB choice.
Angelfeeder Combo: I always took this for granted, as it's one of the main reasons I play this deck, but I guess there's a choice of not running it at all. Personally I feel it's too powerful to not do so, but maybe a purely midrange/toolbox build exists that is the way to go. I've won plenty of games by assembling the combo and I like both cards on their own. Archangel closes games extremely fast on it's own, and Spike Feeder can provide surprising amounts of value during grindy games - and obviously helps a lot against Burn.
Sigarda, Host of Herons: I see more and more discussion about her, and I'm really glad about that. In my experience Sigarda is a complete bomb. She can murder fair decks completely on her own - especially if we get her out T3 via Evolution. She has utility against Emrakul, Liliana, Living End and closes out games very fast. I love her mainboard, but I feel that she definately should be somewhere in the 75.
There's obviously way more card analysis that has to happen, but that'll take more time than I have right now. I might write down one over the days, so we can start on that and get a primer going at some point, but for now the most important thing would be to define what we want out of the deck, then find a core to that.
Personally I feel like a rough core could look something like this
@Kamon.
That's also an interesting point you bring up. I feel that *some* amount of dorks are necessary. We run huge, expensive creatures that demand a lot of mana. We also (probably) run Chord of Calling and Gavony Township, both wanting lots of bodies on the field.
What are we ramping into? Sigardas, Siege Rhinos, Archangels, flying 6/6 tramplers... really whatever we want
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"I can call an army to my side in the blink of an eye. Best not blink."
- Yeva, Nature's Herald
So after streamlining the deck again (the big 4drops weren't doing it for me, neither the lovely Fox), I got promptly murderized in the weekly modern tournament at my LGS. Figured I'd write some notes and thoughts down, maybe we can get something from it.
Round 1 - Abzan Midrange [0-2]
We both mull to 5, I'm on the play with two Evolutions and lands. He goes Inquisition into Inquisition, stripping both my Evolutions away, then drops an Anafenza. I find a Rhino, eventually turn it into Sigarda and start racing his Anafenza+Ooze+Flayer combo, get him to 5, then he finds Souls and that's the game.
G2 I made a mistake with my t1 Thoughtseize, taking his Decay instead of one of his discard spells, which strip my hand of most of it's action. The next t3 or 4 Anafenza seals the deal as I could neither find one of my 4 Paths nor my 3 Decays from the board. No, I'm not salty, why would you ask?
Round 2 - Grixis Delver [2-0]
He never has counters for my Evolution, eats Sigarda t3 in the first game and double Rhino plus Resto in the second.
Round 3 - BUG Midrange [1-1]
Pretty close MU I feel. Lots of back and forth. The only thing I couldn't handle was his g2 Ooze (my own was exiled at that point), which eventually grew to an 8/8. Time was up in the middle of game 3 sadly, was looking pretty interesting.
Round 4 - RG Tron [0-2]
He mulls to 5 game 1, has t3 Tron into Wurmcoil. I path, he drops Ulamog. Game 2 I mull to 4, have nothing and die. At least we had a lot of fun being silly during the games : D
Round 5 - Emeria Control [0-2]
Game 1 he has triple Path into triple Sun Titan while I durdle around with a lonely Voice. Game 2 I overextend into Wrath and never come back. Was pretty frustrated at that point, so I didn't really care much, but definately could've played both games better.
All in all I feel there was a bunch of bad luck, some bad MU's and some bad plays. Some draws the deck felt really powerful, dropping T3 Sigarda and chaining Siege Rhinos and Voice of Resurgence, but others the deck was just durdling along, not really doing anything.
Spent some time during the night to play around with the deck and clarify what I want the deck to do and all that. Came up with some ideas and thoughts.
More removal mainboard: I want some additional ways of dealing with things like Anafenza mainboard, so I added Abrupt Decays. Not sure about the split between Paths and Decays yet.. runnng 3/2 at the moment, but I could like 4/2 or 3/3.
More toolbox guys instead of value guys: I cut the Resto and the Lark and added a Murderous Redcap and a Gilt-Leaf Winnower (more creature removal). While Resto/Lark can be crazy good, I often find myself in situations where they just do nothing, and rarely want to tutor them up.
Going over the top: I was trying a one-of Grave Titan to have something to dominate the board with in grindy games. Not sure if he's worth the trouble, but I feel the deck needs something big to overpower midrange and control decks after the initial skirmish. Maybe Rhino/Sigarda is enough tho.
Selfless Spirt: I cut the guy from the deck for now, as I'm super unsure he's where we want to be. There are moments where he's amazing if we chord for him, and sometimes a 2/1 flyer is good on it's own, but mostly I find him just sit there and be derpy. I can see him being great in a build that's more focused on Chord, but with the focus being on Evolution I'm kinda underwhelmed with him lately. Maybe still good enough for the sideboard.
I feel the deck wants to play a kinda weak Abzan Midrange plan, replacing the efficient beaters and discard with tutor targets and the ability to go over the top with huge dudes or Township value. Kiki Chord has a better value game and a better combo plan, while BGx Midrange has a better disruptive plan - I feel we're in the middle somewhere, being more disruptive than Kiki and having a stronger value game than BGx.
Maybe I'm wrong tho, and we should be going more all-in on the combo, adding Melira/Seer or more Spike Feeders and such, I don't know. Guess testing will tell.
The 3/3 split between Path to Exile and Abrupt Decay feels very solid. While Path is amazing and necessariy to deal with things like Kalitas ( ), Decay gives the deck the option of killing annoying critters early while letting us keep our Paths for bigger and badder threats. It also plays beautifully into the deck's "Answers For Everything" philosophy.
So far the 2 Lilianas in the sideboard have been great in several matchups, be it midrange grindfests, the mirror, or decks with lots of X/1's like Affinity or Infect. I'm also positivily surprised of how well Surgical Extraction fits into the deck's sideboard plans. I added them and the Fulminator Mage mainly because I wanted a potential answer for Urza Lands and Valakuts, while also having something against all kinds of reanimator strategies. With our ability to discard or destroy pretty much anything, Surgical seems really nice so far. I had a game against Tron where I had the line of T1 Bird, T2 Evolution Bird into Fulminator Mage, blow up an Urza Land and Extract it away - sadly the plan was foiled by a Warping Wail from the other side of the table
I've also tried a third Horizon Canopy instead of the 8th fetchland. So far they've been good. The additional card draw really goes a long way in these kind of strategies. Haven't faced too much aggro lately though, so I'm not sure how much it's gonna cost me in those MU's.
The 3/3 split between Path to Exile and Abrupt Decay feels very solid. While Path is amazing and necessariy to deal with things like Kalitas ( ), Decay gives the deck the option of killing annoying critters early while letting us keep our Paths for bigger and badder threats. It also plays beautifully into the deck's "Answers For Everything" philosophy.
So far the 2 Lilianas in the sideboard have been great in several matchups, be it midrange grindfests, the mirror, or decks with lots of X/1's like Affinity or Infect. I'm also positivily surprised of how well Surgical Extraction fits into the deck's sideboard plans. I added them and the Fulminator Mage mainly because I wanted a potential answer for Urza Lands and Valakuts, while also having something against all kinds of reanimator strategies. With our ability to discard or destroy pretty much anything, Surgical seems really nice so far. I had a game against Tron where I had the line of T1 Bird, T2 Evolution Bird into Fulminator Mage, blow up an Urza Land and Extract it away - sadly the plan was foiled by a Warping Wail from the other side of the table
I've also tried a third Horizon Canopy instead of the 8th fetchland. So far they've been good. The additional card draw really goes a long way in these kind of strategies. Haven't faced too much aggro lately though, so I'm not sure how much it's gonna cost me in those MU's.
Thanks for putting in the time with this deck. I can barely find any active discussion on Abzan Evolution, so it's nice to see something going on.
Thanks for putting in the time with this deck. I can barely find any active discussion on Abzan Evolution, so it's nice to see something going on.
No biggie, I love testing and experimenting with this deck And aye, it's somewhat quiet lately. Shame really, as I think the deck is easily T2 in regards to powerlevel and competetiveness.
Have you given your dork-less version a try? If so, how did it play?
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"I can call an army to my side in the blink of an eye. Best not blink."
- Yeva, Nature's Herald
I also want to thank you for your input. I also play the deck but there is so little to be found on the internet.
While I have the Exarch in my Sideboard, I haven't tried Murderous Redcap yet. Is he really worth the steeper curve?
Regarding you're Sideboard I wanted to ask are the Surgical Extractions and the Fulminator Mage enough to beat Tron? I have Gaddog Teeg and Aven Mindscensor in the Sideboard but the Matchup felt pretty loopsided.
Always glad to see people interested in the deck
Murderous Redcap has definately won me some games where my opponent would go down to 1 or 2 life during a racing situation and then die to Eldritch Evolution, but the same would be true for another Siege Rhino. I primarily like the Redcap for the ability to shoot down the likes of Dark Confidant or flipped Delver of Secrets early. Voice->Evolution->Removal is a pretty strong play early on.
Depending on your removal suite I guess you could replace him, but I like the additional removal and reach he provides.
The big mana decks are still bad matchups. Fulminator Mage can help a lot or do nothing, depending on how the game plays out, but the ceiling on the guy is very high (especially with Surgical), so I'll keep him in for now. Surgical Extraction is a generally neat card and can help a lot in weird matchups. It's not perfect and maybe another setup will work better, gotta keep testing on that one. Maybe we want to slam the good ol' triple Stony Silence as well. Time will tell.
Aven Mindcensor is weird card in that there's a lot of variance with the effect. In my experience, he comes down too late to do much to stop Tron, and he's easily killed by Pyroclasm and similar things. Haven't tried Gaddock Teeg lately, but he also dies so easily to red boardwipes that I'm not sure he's worth the slot. Depends on the rest of your build tho. I had fun games with him back when I teamed him up with Spellskite and Burrenton Forge-Tender against UWR Nahiri
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"I can call an army to my side in the blink of an eye. Best not blink."
- Yeva, Nature's Herald
Hi guys, I have also tried to figure out abzan evo for last times. For me the titan breach seems to impossible matchup. They can easily bolt gaddock or play anger of gods to swipe whole board. Few fulminators can slow down them but not enough, the best card against them has been turn two thalia.
Any ideas how beat this matchup?
Then I have tested few times now phyrexian obliterator and I love it.. voice/strangleroot -> evo -> obli is awesome (and it takes control quiet well againts burn and deathshadow). And now I'm also testing the higher curve, added one elesh nor and wurmcoil engine.
Also one thing to ponder is finks or filigree familiar? we dont have much card advantage.
Hi guys, I have also tried to figure out abzan evo for last times. For me the titan breach seems to impossible matchup. They can easily bolt gaddock or play anger of gods to swipe whole board. Few fulminators can slow down them but not enough, the best card against them has been turn two thalia.
Any ideas how beat this matchup?
Then I have tested few times now phyrexian obliterator and I love it.. voice/strangleroot -> evo -> obli is awesome (and it takes control quiet well againts burn and deathshadow). And now I'm also testing the higher curve, added one elesh nor and wurmcoil engine.
Also one thing to ponder is finks or filigree familiar? we dont have much card advantage.
Big mana decks are hard MU's, yeah. Against the Valakut/Breach decks I found early Discard and a fast infinite life combo is the way to go. We can load up on Fulminator Mages and the likes, but in the end I don't think it's worth the SB slots.
Don't know about Phyrexian Obliterator. I love the card and tried it in a few decks before, but he's crazy hard to cast and doesn't really *solve* any problems we have. Same really goes for Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite and Wurmcoil Engine. We can't reliably cheat out 6-7 drops, and we already have a very powerful lategame.
We also really want Kitchen Finks. I've tested Filigree Familiar in the deck before, and found that my lategame suffers a lot due to not having Gavony+Finks. Our card advantage comes from Eternal Witness, Entomber Exarch and innate 2-for-1's (Voice, Finks).
Quote from broesl66 »
What are your toughts on Skinrender instead of Murderous Redcap?
Keep in mind that he MUST put the -1/-1 counters on something. If you play him with no other guys on the board, he'll kill himself.
I thought about trying him a couple times, but never got around to do it. The effect can be sweet, but all in all I think he's too "cute". Redcap works with Gavony Township, gives reach and has only a slightly weaker body.
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We also really want Kitchen Finks. I've tested Filigree Familiar in the deck before, and found that my lategame suffers a lot due to not having Gavony+Finks. Our card advantage comes from Eternal Witness, Entomber Exarch and innate 2-for-1's (Voice, Finks).
Have you tested the mix beetween finks/familiar? I will probably test it next.
We also really want Kitchen Finks. I've tested Filigree Familiar in the deck before, and found that my lategame suffers a lot due to not having Gavony+Finks. Our card advantage comes from Eternal Witness, Entomber Exarch and innate 2-for-1's (Voice, Finks).
Have you tested the mix beetween finks/familiar? I will probably test it next.
Finks is far superior in any deck running 2+ copies of Gavony Township. Filigree Familiar is only worth your time if you're looking to replace Chord with Traverse the Ulvenwald to enable Delirium like we've seen Hoogland try with Kiki Chord. Outside of that, it's body is irrelevant against most threats in the format while doing a great job of pumping your opponents Goyfs.
Here's the list which I currently testing. Might add Anafenca, the Foremost in the sideboard. Otherwise the decks feels solid. Boseiju is there because the local meta is quiet heavy for control.
Here's the list which I currently testing. Might add Anafenca, the Foremost in the sideboard. Otherwise the decks feels solid. Boseiju is there because the local meta is quiet heavy for control.
I find the lack of Eternal Witness and tutorable Artifact/Enchantment hate disturbing. Also I'm pretty sure Strangleroot Geist is not where we want to be. What matchups is he good in from your testing experience so far?
@Stirring Wildwood
I'm considering swapping the 3rd Horizon Canopy for a Stirring Wildwood. It adds a flying blocker and acts as another turn 1 play for us. Not sure if it's better than drawing a card, but can't hurt to test it out I guess.
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"I can call an army to my side in the blink of an eye. Best not blink."
- Yeva, Nature's Herald
Here's the list which I currently testing. Might add Anafenca, the Foremost in the sideboard. Otherwise the decks feels solid. Boseiju is there because the local meta is quiet heavy for control.
I find the lack of Eternal Witness and tutorable Artifact/Enchantment hate disturbing. Also I'm pretty sure Strangleroot Geist is not where we want to be. What matchups is he good in from your testing experience so far?
@Stirring Wildwood
I'm considering swapping the 3rd Horizon Canopy for a Stirring Wildwood. It adds a flying blocker and acts as another turn 1 play for us. Not sure if it's better than drawing a card, but can't hurt to test it out I guess.
I started to play this deck with two chords and when it came to hand I always felt that it's too slow or unnecessary. First I cut them to one, then all of them. Strangleroot Geist is mostly super with Eldritch evolution and it has haste + great blocker. In my mind it's good against every matchups, but still it is in deck mostly because of evolution.
So, I've seen chordless lists before and generally never liked them much, but I found myself boarding one or two Chords out quite a bit lately due to being too slow, so I want to see how the deck plays without it. At the same time I found myself boarding in Liliana, the Last Hope a lot, so I'm switching her into the main.
To compare, without Chord we lose some grind potential (Chord->Witness->Chord etc.), our combo potential is lower, and we have less access to our silver bullets (which also will likely hurt the most). However, Liliana does a great job of grinding as well and works great with Eternal Witness (keep in mind that you can +1 to kill your own Witness to rebuy her again later). She also gives us even more removal (especially nice against Infect and Affinity game 1) and provides another angle of attack with her ultimate.
I also swapped 2 Noble Hierarch for 2 Wall of Omen, as well as 1 Entomber Exarch for 1 Tireless Tracker. While I love Nobles for the ramp and Exalted, I often feel like more card draw would really help the deck if we're going with more non-creature, non-tutor spells. Then, due to having slightly less mana (the 2 walls roughly act as 1 land, so we're on a total of -1 mana compared to my last build), and always wanting to give Tireless Tracker a try, I decided to cut a 4-drop for her.
The Walls protect us from early beats, keep our Lilianas alive, and can draw us into removal, Evolutions or sideboard cards. Tracker then gives us more card draw as well as providing a powerful beatstick and grind engine. At least that's the theory. I'm also toying with the idea of just running 4 Kitchen Finks in the main.
The mainboard Lilianas also gave me the room for the 2 Ghostly Prison I was really missing from the board lately. I'm also considering replacing the two Pithing Needle, but I'm unsure with what yet, and if it's worth it. Needle rarely feels like this insane bomb that you'd like to have after sideboarding, but it's versatility and quite gigantic potential for blowouts makes me want to keep it. Guess I'm mainly greedy and want more slots for addition hatebears
Abzan Toolbox
- Yeva, Nature's Herald
Abzan Toolbox Primer
GWBAbzan CompanyBWG
GWBUGifts RockUBWG
Some of you might know me from the Kiki Chord or Abzan Company threads.. Anyways, I've been playing Pod and other toolbox/combo hybrids since I was first introduced to Modern. When Eldritch Evolution (calling it Evo for short from here on) was spoiled I immediately began brewing around Pod/Kiki Chord shells. I haven't seen a thread yet really diving into a value/combo Pod'like Abzan shell driven by Evo yet, so I figured I'd start one up.
Without getting too deep, here's my current list after about 80+ matches:
1x Archangel of Thune
4x Birds of Paradise
2x Eternal Witness
3x Kitchen Finks
2x Noble Hierarch
1x Orzhov Pontiff
1x Qasali Pridemage
1x Restoration Angel
1x Reveillark
1x Scavenging Ooze
1x Shriekmaw
3x Siege Rhino
1x Sin Collector
1x Spellskite
1x Spike Feeder
3x Voice of Resurgence
1x Wall of Roots
2x Forest
2x Gavony Township
1x Godless Shrine
3x Horizon Canopy
2x Overgrown Tomb
1x Plains
2x Razorverge Thicket
1x Swamp
1x Temple Garden
4x Verdant Catacombs
4x Windswept Heath
Instant (5)
3x Chord of Calling
2x Path to Exile
Sorcery (4)
4x Eldritch Evolution
2x Abrupt Decay
1x Aven Mindcensor
1x Eidolon of Rhetoric
1x Anafenza, the Foremost
1x Kataki, War's Wage
1x Maelstrom Pulse
1x Reclamation Sage
1x Sigarda, Host of Herons
1x Spellskite
4x Thoughtseize
1x Thrun, the Last Troll
As always, even in Pods heday.. Big Mana Decks (GR Tron & Scapeshift variants) are posing the biggest issues. From there I've seen favorable to positive results across the other Tier 1 decks in the format aside from Fish.
Would love too see input & questions on card selection from others as I've seen a few brews going around in other "tier" threads similar to this.
Thanks!
Nice too see another Kiki Chord player pop up already. Hoping this could evolve into a primer eventually if the deck picks up steam.
Edit: Also, here's Hoogland's 60 card main he'd streamed last night. Haven't had a chance to watch as I'm not subscribed to his twitch:
3 Kitchen Finks
3 Noble Hierarch
1 Phyrexian Metamorph
1 Shriekmaw
1 Orzhov Pontiff
1 Fiend Hunter
1 Sigarda, Host Of Herons
1 Spellskite
1 Restoration Angel
3 Voice Of Resurgence
1 Archangel Of Thune
1 Scavenging Ooze
1 Courser Of Kruphix
2 Eternal Witness
4 Birds Of Paradise
1 Wall Of Roots
2 Siege Rhino
1 Spike Feeder
3 Chord Of Calling
2 Abrupt Decay
3 Eldritch Evolution
LAND (23)
2 Overgrown Tomb
2 Gavony Township
4 Verdant Catacombs
4 Windswept Heath
2 Horizon Canopy
1 Temple Garden
1 Godless Shrine
3 Forest
2 Razorverge Thicket
1 Plains
1 Swamp
As someone who's MD'd Magus of the Moon for over a year in Coco Kiki Chord, it's not a reliable answer to either deck pre or post board. Allosaurus Rider/Iona/Elesh Norn is far and away the least consistent iteration of an Evo deck I've tested. I wouldn't recommend the grouping of cards to anyone for more than a casual FNM type setting.
We will rebuild.
Abzan Evolution v2- 61 Cards
-31 Creatures-
4 Birds of Paradise
3 Noble Hierarch
2 Viscera Seer
1 Spellskite
2 Melira, Sylvok Outcast
2 Wall of Roots
1 Scavenging Ooze
2 Voice of Resurgence
4 Kitchen Finks
1 Spike Feeder
2 Eternal Witness
1 Restoration Angel
1 Glen Elendra Archmage
2 Siege Rhino
1 Murderous Redcap
1 Shriekmaw
1 Archangel of Thune
- 8 Instants/Sorceries-
4 Eldritch Evolution
4 Chord of Calling
-22 Lands-
4 Verdant Catacombs
4 Windswept Heath
2 Temple Garden
2 Overgrown Tomb
1 Breeding Pool
2 Forest
1 Plains
1 Swamp
2 Razorverge Thicket
1 Horizon Canopy
2 Gavony Township
-Sideboard- 15 cards
3 Path to Exile
3 Thoughtseize
1 Abrupt Decay
1 Kataki, War's Wage
1 Reclamation Sage
1 Orzhov Pontiff
1 Sin Collector
1 Anafenza, the Foremost
1 Linvala, Keeper of Silence
1 Thragtusk
1 Sigarda, Host of Herons
Source:
http://mtgtop8.com/event?e=13546&d=279707&f=MO
These lists are interesting.. I'd tested out the Souls package in the deck and still found myself wanting some number of Chords. Admittedly, I've been playing Coco Kiki Chord far more than this lately prepping for SCG Milwaukee & Columbus Opens. Here's the Abzan Evo list I have I have sort of dismantled in a deckbox haha -
1x Anafenza, the Foremost
1x Archangel of Thune
4x Birds of Paradise
2x Eternal Witness
2x Kitchen Finks
2x Noble Hierarch
1x Orzhov Pontiff
1x Qasali Pridemage
2x Restoration Angel
1x Reveillark
1x Scavenging Ooze
1x Shadowborn Demon
2x Siege Rhino
1x Spellskite
1x Spike Feeder
3x Voice of Resurgence
2x Forest
2x Gavony Township
1x Godless Shrine
2x Horizon Canopy
2x Overgrown Tomb
1x Plains
2x Razorverge Thicket
1x Swamp
1x Temple Garden
4x Verdant Catacombs
4x Windswept Heath
Instant (6)
2x Chord of Calling
4x Path to Exile
Sorcery (6)
4x Eldritch Evolution
2x Lingering Souls
2x Abrupt Decay
1x Aven Mindcensor
1x Eidolon of Rhetoric
1x Gaddock Teeg
1x Kataki, War's Wage
1x Lingering Souls
1x Obstinate Baloth
1x Reclamation Sage
1x Selfless Spirit
1x Spellskite
4x Thoughtseize
Was thinking about making a thread for this kinda deck for a bit now, never got around to do it tho. Cheers Ludafish for starting it up!
I've been toying with Evolution/Chord decks since Evolution came out, been playing it in Soul Sisters, Kiki-Chord and all kinds of Bant/Abzan lists. Don't have any *proper* results yet (PTQ's, GP's, etc.) but I've had consistent success with the deck at my store so far, made 2nd place in a small open there as well. There is also a lot of grinding on Xmage and real life playtesting going on.
4 Birds of Paradise
1 Noble Hierarch
4 Voice of Resurgence
2 Wall of Omens
1 Scavenging Ooze
1 Spellskite
2 Eternal Witness
1 Courser of Kruphix
1 Reclamation Sage
1 Spike Feeder
1 Orzhov Pontiff
1 Restoration Angel
1 Archangel of Tithes
1 Siege Rhino
1 Reveillark
1 Archangel of Thune
1 Sigarda, Host of Herons
4 Path to Exile
4 Eldritch Evolution
2 Chord of Calling
2 Lingering Souls
Lands (23)
4 Windswept Heath
3 Misty Rainforest
2 Polluted Delta
2 Temple Garden
1 Overgrown Tomb
1 Godless Shrine
3 Forest
1 Plains
1 Swamp
1 Razorverge Thicket
2 Horizon Canopy
2 Gavony Township
3 Thoughtseize
1 Stain the Mind
2 Pithing Needle
1 Engineered Explosives
1 Maelstrom Pulse
1 Liliana, the Last Hope
1 Ghostly Prison
1 Burrenton Forge-Tender
1 Kataki, War's Wage
1 Yixlid Jailer
1 Eidolon of Rhetoric
1 Linvala, Keeper of Silence
A few things I wanna bring up to discussion/share my thoughts on:
There's obviously way more card analysis that has to happen, but that'll take more time than I have right now. I might write down one over the days, so we can start on that and get a primer going at some point, but for now the most important thing would be to define what we want out of the deck, then find a core to that.
Personally I feel like a rough core could look something like this
Worked on a new list yesterday, testing a few new choices
4 Birds of Paradise
2 Noble Hierarch
4 Voice of Resurgence
1 Scavenging Ooze
1 Qasali Pridemage
1 Spellskite
3 Filigree Familiar
2 Eternal Witness
1 Spike Feeder
1 Orzhov Pontiff
1 Anafenza, the Foremost
2 Siege Rhino
1 Restoration Angel
1 Desecration Demon
1 Reveillark
1 Archangel of Thune
1 Sigarda, Host of Herons
3 Path to Exile
4 Eldritch Evolution
3 Chord of Calling
Lands (23)
4 Windswept Heath
4 Verdant Catacombs
2 Temple Garden
1 Overgrown Tomb
1 Godless Shrine
3 Forest
1 Plains
1 Swamp
2 Horizon Canopy
2 Razorverge Thicket
2 Gavony Township
3 Thoughtseize
1 Stain the Mind
2 Abrupt Decay
1 Maelstrom Pulse
1 Choke
1 Ghostly Prison
1 Kataki, War's Wage
1 Selfless Spirit
1 Aven Mindcensor
1 Eidolon of Rhetoric
1 Reclamation Sage
1 Linvala, Keeper of Silence
Desecretion Demon could as well be 2nd Resto, Polukranos, Thrun, Chameleon Colossus or Abyssal Persecutor... so much to test!
Alrighty, enough from me for now. Opinions? Questions? Fire away!
Really hope we can get this off the ground as the deck seems to have tons of potential
- Yeva, Nature's Herald
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That's also an interesting point you bring up. I feel that *some* amount of dorks are necessary. We run huge, expensive creatures that demand a lot of mana. We also (probably) run Chord of Calling and Gavony Township, both wanting lots of bodies on the field.
What are we ramping into? Sigardas, Siege Rhinos, Archangels, flying 6/6 tramplers... really whatever we want
- Yeva, Nature's Herald
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4 Birds of Paradise
2 Noble Hierarch
4 Voice of Resurgence
1 Scavenging Ooze
1 Selfless Spirit
1 Qasali Pridemage
1 Spellskite
3 Kitchen Finks
2 Eternal Witness
1 Spike Feeder
1 Orzhov Pontiff
1 Anafenza, the Foremost
2 Siege Rhino
1 Restoration Angel
1 Reveillark
1 Archangel of Thune
1 Sigarda, Host of Herons
4 Path to Exile
4 Eldritch Evolution
2 Chord of Calling
Lands (23)
4 Windswept Heath
4 Misty Rainforest
1 Polluted Delta
2 Temple Garden
1 Overgrown Tomb
1 Godless Shrine
3 Forest
1 Plains
1 Swamp
2 Horizon Canopy
1 Razorverge Thicket
2 Gavony Township
4 Thoughtseize
1 Memoricide
2 Pithing Needle
3 Abrupt Decay
1 Liliana, the Last Hope
1 Kataki, War's Wage
1 Reclamation Sage
1 Eidolon of Rhetoric
1 Linvala, Keeper of Silence
-Matchups-
Round 1 - Abzan Midrange [0-2]
We both mull to 5, I'm on the play with two Evolutions and lands. He goes Inquisition into Inquisition, stripping both my Evolutions away, then drops an Anafenza. I find a Rhino, eventually turn it into Sigarda and start racing his Anafenza+Ooze+Flayer combo, get him to 5, then he finds Souls and that's the game.
G2 I made a mistake with my t1 Thoughtseize, taking his Decay instead of one of his discard spells, which strip my hand of most of it's action. The next t3 or 4 Anafenza seals the deal as I could neither find one of my 4 Paths nor my 3 Decays from the board. No, I'm not salty, why would you ask?
Round 2 - Grixis Delver [2-0]
He never has counters for my Evolution, eats Sigarda t3 in the first game and double Rhino plus Resto in the second.
Round 3 - BUG Midrange [1-1]
Pretty close MU I feel. Lots of back and forth. The only thing I couldn't handle was his g2 Ooze (my own was exiled at that point), which eventually grew to an 8/8. Time was up in the middle of game 3 sadly, was looking pretty interesting.
Round 4 - RG Tron [0-2]
He mulls to 5 game 1, has t3 Tron into Wurmcoil. I path, he drops Ulamog. Game 2 I mull to 4, have nothing and die. At least we had a lot of fun being silly during the games : D
Round 5 - Emeria Control [0-2]
Game 1 he has triple Path into triple Sun Titan while I durdle around with a lonely Voice. Game 2 I overextend into Wrath and never come back. Was pretty frustrated at that point, so I didn't really care much, but definately could've played both games better.
All in all I feel there was a bunch of bad luck, some bad MU's and some bad plays. Some draws the deck felt really powerful, dropping T3 Sigarda and chaining Siege Rhinos and Voice of Resurgence, but others the deck was just durdling along, not really doing anything.
Spent some time during the night to play around with the deck and clarify what I want the deck to do and all that. Came up with some ideas and thoughts.
I feel the deck wants to play a kinda weak Abzan Midrange plan, replacing the efficient beaters and discard with tutor targets and the ability to go over the top with huge dudes or Township value. Kiki Chord has a better value game and a better combo plan, while BGx Midrange has a better disruptive plan - I feel we're in the middle somewhere, being more disruptive than Kiki and having a stronger value game than BGx.
Maybe I'm wrong tho, and we should be going more all-in on the combo, adding Melira/Seer or more Spike Feeders and such, I don't know. Guess testing will tell.
- Yeva, Nature's Herald
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4 Birds of Paradise
2 Noble Hierarch
4 Voice of Resurgence
1 Scavenging Ooze
1 Qasali Pridemage
1 Spellskite
3 Kitchen Finks
2 Eternal Witness
1 Spike Feeder
1 Orzhov Pontiff
2 Siege Rhino
1 Murderous Redcap
1 Entomber Exarch
1 Archangel of Thune
1 Sigarda, Host of Herons
4 Eldritch Evolution
2 Chord of Calling
3 Path to Exile
3 Abrupt Decay
Lands (23)
4 Windswept Heath
4 Verdant Catacombs
2 Temple Garden
1 Overgrown Tomb
1 Godless Shrine
3 Forest
1 Plains
1 Swamp
3 Horizon Canopy
1 Razorverge Thicket
2 Gavony Township
4 Thoughtseize
2 Surgical Extraction
2 Pithing Needle
2 Liliana, the Last Hope
1 Kataki, War's Wage
1 Reclamation Sage
1 Eidolon of Rhetoric
1 Fulminator Mage
1 Linvala, Keeper of Silence
I haven't missed Reveillark of Selfless Spirit from the 75 yet. Eternal Witness + Entomber Exarch do a great job of rebuilding the board after wraths and produce loads of value for drawn out grindfests.
The 3/3 split between Path to Exile and Abrupt Decay feels very solid. While Path is amazing and necessariy to deal with things like Kalitas ( ), Decay gives the deck the option of killing annoying critters early while letting us keep our Paths for bigger and badder threats. It also plays beautifully into the deck's "Answers For Everything" philosophy.
So far the 2 Lilianas in the sideboard have been great in several matchups, be it midrange grindfests, the mirror, or decks with lots of X/1's like Affinity or Infect. I'm also positivily surprised of how well Surgical Extraction fits into the deck's sideboard plans. I added them and the Fulminator Mage mainly because I wanted a potential answer for Urza Lands and Valakuts, while also having something against all kinds of reanimator strategies. With our ability to discard or destroy pretty much anything, Surgical seems really nice so far. I had a game against Tron where I had the line of T1 Bird, T2 Evolution Bird into Fulminator Mage, blow up an Urza Land and Extract it away - sadly the plan was foiled by a Warping Wail from the other side of the table
I've also tried a third Horizon Canopy instead of the 8th fetchland. So far they've been good. The additional card draw really goes a long way in these kind of strategies. Haven't faced too much aggro lately though, so I'm not sure how much it's gonna cost me in those MU's.
- Yeva, Nature's Herald
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Thanks for putting in the time with this deck. I can barely find any active discussion on Abzan Evolution, so it's nice to see something going on.
No biggie, I love testing and experimenting with this deck And aye, it's somewhat quiet lately. Shame really, as I think the deck is easily T2 in regards to powerlevel and competetiveness.
Have you given your dork-less version a try? If so, how did it play?
- Yeva, Nature's Herald
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Always glad to see people interested in the deck
Murderous Redcap has definately won me some games where my opponent would go down to 1 or 2 life during a racing situation and then die to Eldritch Evolution, but the same would be true for another Siege Rhino. I primarily like the Redcap for the ability to shoot down the likes of Dark Confidant or flipped Delver of Secrets early. Voice->Evolution->Removal is a pretty strong play early on.
Depending on your removal suite I guess you could replace him, but I like the additional removal and reach he provides.
The big mana decks are still bad matchups. Fulminator Mage can help a lot or do nothing, depending on how the game plays out, but the ceiling on the guy is very high (especially with Surgical), so I'll keep him in for now. Surgical Extraction is a generally neat card and can help a lot in weird matchups. It's not perfect and maybe another setup will work better, gotta keep testing on that one. Maybe we want to slam the good ol' triple Stony Silence as well. Time will tell.
Aven Mindcensor is weird card in that there's a lot of variance with the effect. In my experience, he comes down too late to do much to stop Tron, and he's easily killed by Pyroclasm and similar things. Haven't tried Gaddock Teeg lately, but he also dies so easily to red boardwipes that I'm not sure he's worth the slot. Depends on the rest of your build tho. I had fun games with him back when I teamed him up with Spellskite and Burrenton Forge-Tender against UWR Nahiri
- Yeva, Nature's Herald
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Any ideas how beat this matchup?
Then I have tested few times now phyrexian obliterator and I love it.. voice/strangleroot -> evo -> obli is awesome (and it takes control quiet well againts burn and deathshadow). And now I'm also testing the higher curve, added one elesh nor and wurmcoil engine.
Also one thing to ponder is finks or filigree familiar? we dont have much card advantage.
Big mana decks are hard MU's, yeah. Against the Valakut/Breach decks I found early Discard and a fast infinite life combo is the way to go. We can load up on Fulminator Mages and the likes, but in the end I don't think it's worth the SB slots.
Don't know about Phyrexian Obliterator. I love the card and tried it in a few decks before, but he's crazy hard to cast and doesn't really *solve* any problems we have. Same really goes for Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite and Wurmcoil Engine. We can't reliably cheat out 6-7 drops, and we already have a very powerful lategame.
We also really want Kitchen Finks. I've tested Filigree Familiar in the deck before, and found that my lategame suffers a lot due to not having Gavony+Finks. Our card advantage comes from Eternal Witness, Entomber Exarch and innate 2-for-1's (Voice, Finks).
Keep in mind that he MUST put the -1/-1 counters on something. If you play him with no other guys on the board, he'll kill himself.
I thought about trying him a couple times, but never got around to do it. The effect can be sweet, but all in all I think he's too "cute". Redcap works with Gavony Township, gives reach and has only a slightly weaker body.
- Yeva, Nature's Herald
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Have you tested the mix beetween finks/familiar? I will probably test it next.
Finks is far superior in any deck running 2+ copies of Gavony Township. Filigree Familiar is only worth your time if you're looking to replace Chord with Traverse the Ulvenwald to enable Delirium like we've seen Hoogland try with Kiki Chord. Outside of that, it's body is irrelevant against most threats in the format while doing a great job of pumping your opponents Goyfs.
4x Birds of Paradise
2x Noble Hierarch
1x Scavenging Ooze
4x Voice of Resurgence
2x Strangleroot Geist
1x Spellskite
4x Filigree Familiar
2x Kitchen Finks
1x Orzhov Pontiff
1x Spike Feeder
1x Murderous Redcap
2x Siege Rhino
1x Phyrexian Obliterator
1x Reveillark
1x Archangel of Thune
1x Sigarda, Host of Herons
2x Forest
2x Gavony Township
1x Godless Shrine
4x Blooming Marsh
1x Overgrown Tomb
1x Plains
1x Swamp
2x Temple Garden
4x Marsh Flats
4x Windswept Heath
1x Boseiju, Who Shelters All
Instant (5)
2x Abrupt Decay
2x Path to Exile
1x Murderous Cut
Sorcery (4)
4x Eldritch Evolution
1x Melira, Sylvok Outcast
1x Sin Collector
1x Aven Mindcensor
1x Qasali, Pridemage
1x Anafenza, the Foremost
2x Kataki, War's Wage
1x Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
1x Reclamation Sage
2x Surgical Extraction
4x Thoughtseize
1x Thrun, the Last Troll
Here's the list which I currently testing. Might add Anafenca, the Foremost in the sideboard. Otherwise the decks feels solid. Boseiju is there because the local meta is quiet heavy for control.
First off, no Chord of Calling?
I find the lack of Eternal Witness and tutorable Artifact/Enchantment hate disturbing. Also I'm pretty sure Strangleroot Geist is not where we want to be. What matchups is he good in from your testing experience so far?
@Stirring Wildwood
I'm considering swapping the 3rd Horizon Canopy for a Stirring Wildwood. It adds a flying blocker and acts as another turn 1 play for us. Not sure if it's better than drawing a card, but can't hurt to test it out I guess.
- Yeva, Nature's Herald
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I started to play this deck with two chords and when it came to hand I always felt that it's too slow or unnecessary. First I cut them to one, then all of them. Strangleroot Geist is mostly super with Eldritch evolution and it has haste + great blocker. In my mind it's good against every matchups, but still it is in deck mostly because of evolution.
4 Birds of Paradise
4 Voice of Resurgence
2 Wall of Omens
1 Scavenging Ooze
1 Qasali Pridemage
1 Spellskite
3 Kitchen Finks
2 Eternal Witness
1 Tireless Tracker
1 Spike Feeder
1 Orzhov Pontiff
2 Siege Rhino
1 Murderous Redcap
1 Archangel of Thune
1 Sigarda, Host of Herons
4 Eldritch Evolution
3 Path to Exile
3 Abrupt Decay
2 Liliana, the Last Hope
Lands (23)
4 Windswept Heath
4 Verdant Catacombs
2 Temple Garden
1 Overgrown Tomb
1 Godless Shrine
3 Forest
1 Plains
1 Swamp
1 Blooming Marsh
1 Stirring Wildwood
2 Horizon Canopy
2 Gavony Township
4 Thoughtseize
2 Surgical Extraction
2 Pithing Needle
2 Ghostly Prison
1 Kataki, War's Wage
1 Reclamation Sage
1 Eidolon of Rhetoric
1 Linvala, Keeper of Silence
So, I've seen chordless lists before and generally never liked them much, but I found myself boarding one or two Chords out quite a bit lately due to being too slow, so I want to see how the deck plays without it. At the same time I found myself boarding in Liliana, the Last Hope a lot, so I'm switching her into the main.
To compare, without Chord we lose some grind potential (Chord->Witness->Chord etc.), our combo potential is lower, and we have less access to our silver bullets (which also will likely hurt the most). However, Liliana does a great job of grinding as well and works great with Eternal Witness (keep in mind that you can +1 to kill your own Witness to rebuy her again later). She also gives us even more removal (especially nice against Infect and Affinity game 1) and provides another angle of attack with her ultimate.
I also swapped 2 Noble Hierarch for 2 Wall of Omen, as well as 1 Entomber Exarch for 1 Tireless Tracker. While I love Nobles for the ramp and Exalted, I often feel like more card draw would really help the deck if we're going with more non-creature, non-tutor spells. Then, due to having slightly less mana (the 2 walls roughly act as 1 land, so we're on a total of -1 mana compared to my last build), and always wanting to give Tireless Tracker a try, I decided to cut a 4-drop for her.
The Walls protect us from early beats, keep our Lilianas alive, and can draw us into removal, Evolutions or sideboard cards. Tracker then gives us more card draw as well as providing a powerful beatstick and grind engine. At least that's the theory. I'm also toying with the idea of just running 4 Kitchen Finks in the main.
The mainboard Lilianas also gave me the room for the 2 Ghostly Prison I was really missing from the board lately. I'm also considering replacing the two Pithing Needle, but I'm unsure with what yet, and if it's worth it. Needle rarely feels like this insane bomb that you'd like to have after sideboarding, but it's versatility and quite gigantic potential for blowouts makes me want to keep it. Guess I'm mainly greedy and want more slots for addition hatebears
- Yeva, Nature's Herald
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I will have next games tomorrow, we'll see what's the result. Will write some report after those.