What do you all think about Abzan traverse in modern right now? Having never played it before, what are its strengths and weaknesses compared with the usual Abzan or BGx deck? Been watching the São Paulo coverage and there’s an Abzan traverse deck running pretty deep, looks neat and I like the ability to tutor silver bullet creatures.
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Modern UMerfolk GBWMelira PodRIP GBW Abzan Midrange GBR Jund Midrange
More results from my rockdrazi list over past 2 weeks. No changes to decklist.
previous week 2-2. lost to hollow one and humans both having the most literal best draws vs me. Sometimes I draw well, sometimes they do, that's magic I guess. Both had games they killed me on t3. I beat jeskai control and sultai midrange.
This weeks results:
r1: colorless eldrazi (serum powder version)
Not much to say this is a decent matchup for me I have good removal and interaction for most of their guys. thing of note was g2 he on the play pitches 2 spirit guides and t1 TKS me...ouch. Thankfully I found removal after a couple turns and was able to turn the corner but my life was super low for the whole game.
1-0
r2: UR thing in the ice
Another easy match for me. I have discard and huge guys. Once I dealt with thing in the ice there's not much he can do to me.
2-0
r3: KCI
UGH this deck...g1 he mulls to 4 and STILL WINS through a scooze and a pulse....what the actual F. Admittedly I punted pretty hard with a wrong sequence of collective brutality and scooze activation so I deserved it but still. It was a mull to 4 in a combo deck. G2 I just get wrecked. Deck is so resilient it's really dumb.
2-1
r4: Jund
I get wrecked in this match. All his cards just lined up perfectly for what I was doing. He drew really well and I didn't. That's magic though sometimes these things happen. I drew 3 lands in a row and he drew all gas.
2-2
r5: burn
So far I've played burn about 10 times and lost only once. I can't say it's a good matchup as they are almost always close but maybe it's actually pretty good for me despite not having much in my board. g3 my opponent attacked into my guys for some reason and just threw them away. I can't figure out why. He was in a very bad position anyways, as I have 2 tks in play and a goyf vs his no cards in hand and a swifty+eidolon to my 11 life. Blocking gives him another turn maybe 2 but to just throw it away? I dunno.
3-2
So I was VERY lucky to only lost to undefeated players meaning my breakers were awesome despite my mediocre record. I lucked into top 8. I'm not going to complain. I was the only 9 pointer to make it.
top8: jund
different player but fun games. g1 he does jund things and just buries me. g2 I draw lucky and rip a second temple t3 like a boss and smasher him into another smasher. GG. g3 I was able to strip him of any of him cards and leave him stuck with a couple 4 drops thanks to brutality and TKS. He doesn't draw his 4th land until too late.
4-2
top4: mardu pyro
As expected I lose g1 pretty convincingly. I don't have any good way to deal with spirit tokens and didn't draw any removal for pyro for some reason. g2 and g3 were grindy but liliana last hope was straight up MVP. I have so much in the board to help with this match and I definitely need it.
5-2
We split finals and went home it was like 230 am...ouch. I think I might cut a tracker and play another liliana or scooze or something. I'm undecided. I love trackers and I think 2 might be the right amount. I may cut tasigur too but I never saw him once last night. I'll keep him in for now as he's been good in the past.
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Current Decks:
Modern: BG eldrazi midrange BWG Abzan value evolution BUG BUG Midrange
The deck that made finals in Sao Paolo looks fun and powerful, but doesn’t strike me as the greatest creature toolbox deck in the world, given how overwhelmingly dependent it’s tutoring (and threat roster) is on the graveyard. Granted, the Abzan suite of interaction is more likely to successfully combat graveyard hate than your typical CoCo/Chord toolbox deck; then again, those slots reserved for interaction come at the price of fewer slots dedicated to card advantage, tutor effects, and the toolbox creatures themselves. A double-edged sword, without doubt.
Personally, I have never been comfortable with a strategy that’s all-in on the yard unless it’s part of a combo deck that more or less forces the opponent to disrupt your graveyard shenanigans or lose (this is why I’m looking forward to playing with SFM, someday).
Still, huge congratulations to the pilot! Very well done.
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It's soft to gy hate, sure, but would you really mulligan for gy hate against a discard deck only to end up with a bad hand with gy hate. Top end of this deck works fine without graveyard too in LoTV, Souls and Rhino.
Good insights here. This leads me to wonder how SFM would fit into a Traverse build, between the ability to tutor for her and the strength of having another non-graveyard-dependent threat.
Gaddock Teeg in the side of this list has caught my eye. What is everyone’s opinion on the little guy? Is he worth a slot in non-Traverse builds where tutoring for him isn’t an option? I could potentially see him replacing Thrun in my current setup; I’d lose some percentage points against Jeskai, but that’s about it, as Teeg is still quite strong vs UW, while also serving as powerful hate against Tron and KCI.
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I noticed the abzan traverse list too. Love to see a deck back at the top similar to my pet-deck. I might try Abzan for a change since i already own all the pieces. Path to Exile is just to good right now.
Two questions:
Does anybody know why the decklist on WotC only contains 14 sideboard cards?
And why Treetop Village over Shambling Vent?
Treetop is much better for the reasons Brightmist already stated. The only reason to play Shambling Vent is because of mana fixing. Being able to produce only one color of mana in a 3 color deck can be annoying sometimes.
Treetop has trample and costs less to activate. The deck runs well on 3-4 mana and looks to close out game fast with all the tramplers in Rhino/Flayer or a huge Goyf.
Sounds reasonable. The green mana can probably be awkward at times, but is great when traversing for scooze.
Last SB card is missing from everywhere pretty much. I'm running Kambal there atm but open to other suggestions.
I'm going for Plague Mare in my traverse build as a traversable tokens hate card. Should be very good versus Mardu Pyro and other token strategies.
edit: Come to think of it, The trample is obviously allready good versus these strategies.
Making a SB Guide atm and I have Teeg boarding in against: KCI, Storm, Tron, UW/UWR Control, Ad Nauseam, Valakut/Scapeshift/Breach Titan decks so far but I think it'll also board in against Blue Moon variants, Esper Gifts and maybe all Company decks, not sure. It's a pretty broken card if it can stay on the board, stopping a lot of payoff/combo spells for a lot decks but they can just remove it and keep doing their things I guess since it has 2 thoughness and 2 cmc.
Seems pretty much correct to me. Teeg actually covers a fair amount of the field these days, especially given the prominence of KCI and Tron. I do think I’ll be giving him a spin in place of Thrun.
As for SFM, I rate her a bit more highly than you do. Lots of people seem to think she’s borderline unplayable in the format, while a minority still contend that she’s so overpowered that she should stay banned for eternity. I think she’ll end up more like JtMS: a strong but not broken or overbearing option, and that only in shells that actually suit her, as opposed to being an automatic 4-of in anything white. That said, I totally understand omitting her from a Traverse build, given the power of Flayer there.
Treetop Village is an insane manland; it has won me a few games that I had no business winning. The activation cost is a thing of beauty. That said, I’ve also won a few off the back of Shambling Vent; the Lifelink has proven surprisingly relevant. With 4 Bobs and a high density of interaction, my list is more likely than most to take over the game at a low life total, so bear that in mind, but Vent has been great on the whole. The only time my Abzan manlands have felt bad, in general, is against Jund. Raging Ravine OP.
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r1: bushwhacker zoo
g1 she doesn't have a blistering start and I'm on the play so after a few removal spells liliana is able to stabilize and then my huge idiots just take over. g2 she plays like a million guys and swings for 14 on t3 putting me to 4. I untap rip an untapped black source like a boss and flaying tendrils the entire board. from there I just had to dodge multiple bolts and TKS cleaned up her hand and stopped anything from coming in.
1-0
r2 grixis control
This was a very hard match tons of removal, counters and interaction. Notably Ashiok from opponent was just a huge beating and it won him g2 pretty convincingly even after I killed it, it just got so much value I couldn't come back. g3 I mull to 5 (ouch) but still end up making good choices and eventually winning the game. At the end he chose not to counter lili of the veil and hold it for something else and that really came back to bite him in the ass as Lili just controlled the entire board after a few turns. I was kinda surprised but I suppose I can't blame him I didn't know what he had in hand at that point but being forced to discard feels like a bad thing in a control deck.
2-0
r3 grixis goryo/breach fury of the horde combo
g1 his deck doesn't do much. My discard takes any key cards and scooze strips the griselbrands from his yard. I guess I was lucky he never drew emrakul or another gdaddy he could through the breach but I had a real deal clock. g2 he also doesn't do much and keeps a mega sketchy hand. My discard takes anything relevant and I eventually land a scooze which takes over combined with goyf. I saw the deck and let me tell you I was lucky to dodge leyline of sanctity. I coincidentally had a pulse in hand but that means I would have had to waste a turn killing that and not disrupting. which is 110% necessary that deck can nut draw you very quick.
3-0
r4 esper control standard....
yes this was a standard deck. AT 2-0-1 WTF?! IS THIS NARNIA what world are we in?! he actually beat real decks too, he drew only to mono white pillow fort. SO long story short my deck has a VERY hard time with teferi and the scarab god when combined with counters, multiple settle the wreckage and fumigates and things like vraska's contempt. He basically got shorted on white mana for too long and I was able to just stomp him but had he had double white when he needed it we would have had an entirely different match. I'm not gonna lie the majority of my deck was from the standard just before this one so who am I to say haha.
4-0
we split top 4 to cube but got to play a Bonus round
bonus: hollow one
game 1 my removal lined up very well for once and his deck didn't do a whole heck of a lot. g2 we have a very long game and both end at 1 life each but he missed an attack for 2 by playing defensive which I can respect but I would have just gone aggro. he went through most of his deck and didn't see many phoenix or bloodghast (2 each) I was able to deal with those albeit poorly and managed to sneak it out with the help of treetop village. I have a lot in the board to help with this match and when they aren't nut drawing me the deck is actually not that ba to beat. That being said, the deck is no joke and it is FAR from ever being a good matchup but it is certainly beatable. I'm now 4-2 vs it.
5-0
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Current Decks:
Modern: BG eldrazi midrange BWG Abzan value evolution BUG BUG Midrange
One Abzan Traverse list (10th place), and two Jund lists (4th and 22nd) in the top 32 here—and Mardu Pyromancer is conspicuously absent. I have always disagreed with the notion that Mardu decks are objectively the strongest midrange decks in the format; I therefore predict (and hope) that BGx decks will begin to creep back up in meta share over the coming weeks.
I’m also now forced to walk back my threat of replacing Thrun with Teeg in the side of my traditional Abzan list, lol...I went 14-3 in the tournament practice lobby over the weekend, and Thrun put in real work, making a much larger impact over a greater number of matches than I had yet seen. He’s always been a bomb in theory, but that theory has finally translated to practice for me, and with the sustained dominance of Jeskai and the resurgence of UW: he retains his place.
I’m approaching 150 matches in the tourney practice lobby now, and my winrate is still in the mid-70s; feels great, even though I can expect a drop to the tune of 15-25% in competitive leagues. Still, since my results are at least consistently decent, I’m toying with the idea of making a YouTube channel dedicated to Abzan midrange: mostly MTGO gameplay, of course, but maybe a little deck tech or even paper action if I can get a friend or two on board. I’m not the most experienced player (only a couple years under my belt in Modern, my first huge Open attendance will come later this year), but this theoretical content may still prove valuable, or at least enjoyable, especially because there seems to be a real dearth of Abzan gameplay out there. Just figured I’d float the idea to gauge interest!
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anyone tried manamorphose? I've playtested and it seems so powerful. delirium comes online faster and I've got down to 18 lands. And traverse the ulvenwald its more a tutor than land search. its more consistent and find cards I need. but also hard to play, sometimes its right and wrong to play manamorphose early. fights blood moon too on a pinch, so I took out plains. also don't play path to exile, I play cast down or go for the throat. Mardu is good matchup because of trample creatures, and sideboard cards can come online consistently.
One Abzan Traverse list (10th place), and two Jund lists (4th and 22nd) in the top 32 here—and Mardu Pyromancer is conspicuously absent. I have always disagreed with the notion that Mardu decks are objectively the strongest midrange decks in the format; I therefore predict (and hope) that BGx decks will begin to creep back up in meta share over the coming weeks.
Honestly just from one challange you can't depict something like that. It doesn't just prove that Mardu is bad or anything, this is just one week where Mardu has been having a tougher time since everyone expected it.
Nevertheless, this Abzan Traverse build gives Abzan some hope for a solid place in the meta, for which reason I included it in the primer as a first change. I will gradually keep it updated of course. As always, if there is anything wrong in your mind, let me know about that.
That Golgari Charm is a Surgical Extraction in paper, but Extraction’s MTGO price tag put me off, and I’ve been having good results with Charm.
As you can see, it’s very traditional: 4 Bob, 4 LoTV. These cards have come under scrutiny by the community of late, and are no longer considered guaranteed 4-ofs either here or in Jund, but they have served me very well so far.
One Abzan Traverse list (10th place), and two Jund lists (4th and 22nd) in the top 32 here—and Mardu Pyromancer is conspicuously absent. I have always disagreed with the notion that Mardu decks are objectively the strongest midrange decks in the format; I therefore predict (and hope) that BGx decks will begin to creep back up in meta share over the coming weeks.
Honestly just from one challange you can't depict something like that. It doesn't just prove that Mardu is bad or anything, this is just one week where Mardu has been having a tougher time since everyone expected it.
You’re completely right, of course. I even included the caveat “it’s only one event, but...” the first time I wrote up my post, which I lost to a page refresh. Forgot to include it on the rewrite.
Mardu is a great deck without question, but it gets hated out more easily than BGx does, and has a slower clock. I’m not saying that BGx is better, but I am saying that I don’t think Mardu’s superiority in the midrange hierarchy is eminently clear; and if Mardu is, in fact, the objectively better deck, I don’t think the gap is as large as the community (not referring to anyone here, rather the general chatter on Reddit and in person) makes it out to be.
And yeah, I’m biased.
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Mardu was the most played deck in GP Sao Paulo in Day 1 and Day 2. It's a fan favorite since it's one of the best midrange decks. It also took down GP Sao Paulo and there's an argument to be made that it will be hated out slightly.
@guitar60x
Manamorphose and Grisly Salvage play similiar roles. Thing is you end up with Delirium and at least one or more threats more consistently with Grisly Salvage and you end up with more mana and delirium early with manamorphose. I honestly like Grisly Salvage is better since it also mills lingering souls to the graveyard and it can also help with making 3rd or 4th land drop. You can EoT Grisly Salvage too so it helps giving you an option to hold mana/removal up on T2(preferably on the draw) and if your opponent doesn't play into your removal, it's another tutor for lands/threats. It's also way better lategame.
Go for the Throat is unplayable in a meta with Hollow Ones, Affinity, Hardened Scales and KCI tbh. It's low on the list for traverse shell since you can just play Shriekmaw for more consistent delirium instead if you need more removal. Path is a really big advantage for this deck since it's an universal answer and can help you tutor lands when you need to and it's mana efficient. It can't really be replaced with cast down. You also probably value Manamorphose higher since you have trouble putting instants in your graveyard because you cut paths so you're low on T1 castable instants and end up valuing manamorphose higher than Grisly Salvage.
It's okay to go up to 20 lands tbh since we want to make 4 land drops. Plains is probably the worst land in the deck and it's open to discussion but it's mostly there as a tutor target for traverse and a hedge against blood moon. Similiarly, Bojuka Bog gives us an option to go up to 20 lands on the play post board. On the draw, it's not really necessary.
I agree in frank karstens math but he also said that cantrips, mana dorks and scry cards are can be considered as mana sources too.
that's why grixis shadow was mana flooding too when they first built it even tho its 18 lands. because it has lots of cantrips. I think we can also imitate the same build.
magus of the tabernacle seems good to replace the 2nd damnation. It can be tutored in a pinch.
if gaddock teeg is playable then I think aven mindcensor has a place too. for people have experience with it, how often it gets removed?
if gaddock teeg is playable then I think aven mindcensor has a place too. for people have experience with it, how often it gets removed?
the problem with aven mindcensor in my mind is, that you optimally want to flash it in in response to a fetch being on the stack or a Chord/Scapeshift or whatever. With Traverse, you have to tutor it up at sorcery speed first, at which point the opponent knows about Mindcensor already and won't play into it.
if gaddock teeg is playable then I think aven mindcensor has a place too. for people have experience with it, how often it gets removed?
the problem with aven mindcensor in my mind is, that you optimally want to flash it in in response to a fetch being on the stack or a Chord/Scapeshift or whatever. With Traverse, you have to tutor it up at sorcery speed first, at which point the opponent knows about Mindcensor already and won't play into it.
i can see the scenario happening often. my problem with teeg is its only non-creature. what does it do to amulet titan? (this is just a wonder not a putoff coz i just played it awhile ago).
Oh yeah I think Teeg is rather narrow as a card in modern actually. It could be good vs KCI in theory though. If it sticks before they have KCI or EE on 2 in play, their only out is to find a Pyrite Spellbomb to remove him.
UMerfolkGBW
Melira PodRIPGBW Abzan Midrange
GBR Jund Midrange
EDH
GBR Prossh
1 Liliana, the Last Hope
4 Grim Flayer
4 Tarmogoyf
2 Siege Rhino
1 Scavenging Ooze
4 Lingering Souls
3 Inquisition of Kozilek
3 Thoughtseize
3 Traverse the Ulvenwald
1 Collective Brutality
3 Fatal Push
2 Abrupt Decay
2 Path to Exile
1 Grisly Salvage
Land (19)
1 Plains
1 Forest
1 Swamp
2 Overgrown Tomb
1 Godless Shrine
1 Temple Garden
1 Treetop Village
1 Ghost Quarter
4 Verdant Catacombs
2 Blooming Marsh
2 Windswept Heath
2 Marsh Flats
1 Thrun, the Last Troll
2 Damnation
2 Surgical Extraction
2 Fulminator Mage
1 Kataki, War's Wage
1 Gaddock Teeg
1 Eidolon of Rhetoric
1 Shriekmaw
1 Reclamation Sage
1 Maelstrom Pulse
1 Bojuka Bog
Dunno why there is only 14 SB cards.
previous week 2-2. lost to hollow one and humans both having the most literal best draws vs me. Sometimes I draw well, sometimes they do, that's magic I guess. Both had games they killed me on t3. I beat jeskai control and sultai midrange.
This weeks results:
r1: colorless eldrazi (serum powder version)
Not much to say this is a decent matchup for me I have good removal and interaction for most of their guys. thing of note was g2 he on the play pitches 2 spirit guides and t1 TKS me...ouch. Thankfully I found removal after a couple turns and was able to turn the corner but my life was super low for the whole game.
1-0
r2: UR thing in the ice
Another easy match for me. I have discard and huge guys. Once I dealt with thing in the ice there's not much he can do to me.
2-0
r3: KCI
UGH this deck...g1 he mulls to 4 and STILL WINS through a scooze and a pulse....what the actual F. Admittedly I punted pretty hard with a wrong sequence of collective brutality and scooze activation so I deserved it but still. It was a mull to 4 in a combo deck. G2 I just get wrecked. Deck is so resilient it's really dumb.
2-1
r4: Jund
I get wrecked in this match. All his cards just lined up perfectly for what I was doing. He drew really well and I didn't. That's magic though sometimes these things happen. I drew 3 lands in a row and he drew all gas.
2-2
r5: burn
So far I've played burn about 10 times and lost only once. I can't say it's a good matchup as they are almost always close but maybe it's actually pretty good for me despite not having much in my board. g3 my opponent attacked into my guys for some reason and just threw them away. I can't figure out why. He was in a very bad position anyways, as I have 2 tks in play and a goyf vs his no cards in hand and a swifty+eidolon to my 11 life. Blocking gives him another turn maybe 2 but to just throw it away? I dunno.
3-2
So I was VERY lucky to only lost to undefeated players meaning my breakers were awesome despite my mediocre record. I lucked into top 8. I'm not going to complain. I was the only 9 pointer to make it.
top8: jund
different player but fun games. g1 he does jund things and just buries me. g2 I draw lucky and rip a second temple t3 like a boss and smasher him into another smasher. GG. g3 I was able to strip him of any of him cards and leave him stuck with a couple 4 drops thanks to brutality and TKS. He doesn't draw his 4th land until too late.
4-2
top4: mardu pyro
As expected I lose g1 pretty convincingly. I don't have any good way to deal with spirit tokens and didn't draw any removal for pyro for some reason. g2 and g3 were grindy but liliana last hope was straight up MVP. I have so much in the board to help with this match and I definitely need it.
5-2
We split finals and went home it was like 230 am...ouch. I think I might cut a tracker and play another liliana or scooze or something. I'm undecided. I love trackers and I think 2 might be the right amount. I may cut tasigur too but I never saw him once last night. I'll keep him in for now as he's been good in the past.
Modern: BG eldrazi midrange
BWG Abzan value evolution
BUG BUG Midrange
Tiny Leaders: BW Athreos Zombies
Commander: BG Gitrog Monster
Personally, I have never been comfortable with a strategy that’s all-in on the yard unless it’s part of a combo deck that more or less forces the opponent to disrupt your graveyard shenanigans or lose (this is why I’m looking forward to playing with SFM, someday).
Still, huge congratulations to the pilot! Very well done.
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Good insights here. This leads me to wonder how SFM would fit into a Traverse build, between the ability to tutor for her and the strength of having another non-graveyard-dependent threat.
Gaddock Teeg in the side of this list has caught my eye. What is everyone’s opinion on the little guy? Is he worth a slot in non-Traverse builds where tutoring for him isn’t an option? I could potentially see him replacing Thrun in my current setup; I’d lose some percentage points against Jeskai, but that’s about it, as Teeg is still quite strong vs UW, while also serving as powerful hate against Tron and KCI.
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Two questions:
Does anybody know why the decklist on WotC only contains 14 sideboard cards?
And why Treetop Village over Shambling Vent?
Modern: WUBRG Humans - GBW Traverse - GWU Knightfall - GRW Bushwhacker Zoo -
Sounds reasonable. The green mana can probably be awkward at times, but is great when traversing for scooze.
I'm going for Plague Mare in my traverse build as a traversable tokens hate card. Should be very good versus Mardu Pyro and other token strategies.
edit: Come to think of it, The trample is obviously allready good versus these strategies.
Modern: WUBRG Humans - GBW Traverse - GWU Knightfall - GRW Bushwhacker Zoo -
Seems pretty much correct to me. Teeg actually covers a fair amount of the field these days, especially given the prominence of KCI and Tron. I do think I’ll be giving him a spin in place of Thrun.
As for SFM, I rate her a bit more highly than you do. Lots of people seem to think she’s borderline unplayable in the format, while a minority still contend that she’s so overpowered that she should stay banned for eternity. I think she’ll end up more like JtMS: a strong but not broken or overbearing option, and that only in shells that actually suit her, as opposed to being an automatic 4-of in anything white. That said, I totally understand omitting her from a Traverse build, given the power of Flayer there.
Treetop Village is an insane manland; it has won me a few games that I had no business winning. The activation cost is a thing of beauty. That said, I’ve also won a few off the back of Shambling Vent; the Lifelink has proven surprisingly relevant. With 4 Bobs and a high density of interaction, my list is more likely than most to take over the game at a low life total, so bear that in mind, but Vent has been great on the whole. The only time my Abzan manlands have felt bad, in general, is against Jund. Raging Ravine OP.
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2 scavenging ooze
4 tarmogoyf
3 tireless tracker
4 thought-knot seer
3 reality smasher
1 Tasigur, the golden fang
spells
2 inquisition of kozilek
2 thoughtseize
4 fatal push
4 oath of nissa
1 abrupt decay
2 collective brutality
2 liliana of the veil
1 liliana, the last hope
1 maelstrom pulse
2 llanowar wastes
2 Blooming marsh
4 verdant catacombs
1 overgrown tomb
3 swamp
2 forest
1 twilight mire
1 hissing quagmire
1 treetop village
4 eldrazi temple
3 field of ruin
1 surgical extraction
1 lost legacy
1 grafdigger's cage
1 golgari charm
2 flaying tendrils
1 damnation
1 night of souls' betrayal
1 thrun, the last troll
1 Kalitas, traitor of ghet
1 reclamation sage
1 fulminator mage
1 ratchet bomb
2 damping sphere
r1: bushwhacker zoo
g1 she doesn't have a blistering start and I'm on the play so after a few removal spells liliana is able to stabilize and then my huge idiots just take over. g2 she plays like a million guys and swings for 14 on t3 putting me to 4. I untap rip an untapped black source like a boss and flaying tendrils the entire board. from there I just had to dodge multiple bolts and TKS cleaned up her hand and stopped anything from coming in.
1-0
r2 grixis control
This was a very hard match tons of removal, counters and interaction. Notably Ashiok from opponent was just a huge beating and it won him g2 pretty convincingly even after I killed it, it just got so much value I couldn't come back. g3 I mull to 5 (ouch) but still end up making good choices and eventually winning the game. At the end he chose not to counter lili of the veil and hold it for something else and that really came back to bite him in the ass as Lili just controlled the entire board after a few turns. I was kinda surprised but I suppose I can't blame him I didn't know what he had in hand at that point but being forced to discard feels like a bad thing in a control deck.
2-0
r3 grixis goryo/breach fury of the horde combo
g1 his deck doesn't do much. My discard takes any key cards and scooze strips the griselbrands from his yard. I guess I was lucky he never drew emrakul or another gdaddy he could through the breach but I had a real deal clock. g2 he also doesn't do much and keeps a mega sketchy hand. My discard takes anything relevant and I eventually land a scooze which takes over combined with goyf. I saw the deck and let me tell you I was lucky to dodge leyline of sanctity. I coincidentally had a pulse in hand but that means I would have had to waste a turn killing that and not disrupting. which is 110% necessary that deck can nut draw you very quick.
3-0
r4 esper control standard....
yes this was a standard deck. AT 2-0-1 WTF?! IS THIS NARNIA what world are we in?! he actually beat real decks too, he drew only to mono white pillow fort. SO long story short my deck has a VERY hard time with teferi and the scarab god when combined with counters, multiple settle the wreckage and fumigates and things like vraska's contempt. He basically got shorted on white mana for too long and I was able to just stomp him but had he had double white when he needed it we would have had an entirely different match. I'm not gonna lie the majority of my deck was from the standard just before this one so who am I to say haha.
4-0
we split top 4 to cube but got to play a Bonus round
bonus: hollow one
game 1 my removal lined up very well for once and his deck didn't do a whole heck of a lot. g2 we have a very long game and both end at 1 life each but he missed an attack for 2 by playing defensive which I can respect but I would have just gone aggro. he went through most of his deck and didn't see many phoenix or bloodghast (2 each) I was able to deal with those albeit poorly and managed to sneak it out with the help of treetop village. I have a lot in the board to help with this match and when they aren't nut drawing me the deck is actually not that ba to beat. That being said, the deck is no joke and it is FAR from ever being a good matchup but it is certainly beatable. I'm now 4-2 vs it.
5-0
Modern: BG eldrazi midrange
BWG Abzan value evolution
BUG BUG Midrange
Tiny Leaders: BW Athreos Zombies
Commander: BG Gitrog Monster
One Abzan Traverse list (10th place), and two Jund lists (4th and 22nd) in the top 32 here—and Mardu Pyromancer is conspicuously absent. I have always disagreed with the notion that Mardu decks are objectively the strongest midrange decks in the format; I therefore predict (and hope) that BGx decks will begin to creep back up in meta share over the coming weeks.
I’m also now forced to walk back my threat of replacing Thrun with Teeg in the side of my traditional Abzan list, lol...I went 14-3 in the tournament practice lobby over the weekend, and Thrun put in real work, making a much larger impact over a greater number of matches than I had yet seen. He’s always been a bomb in theory, but that theory has finally translated to practice for me, and with the sustained dominance of Jeskai and the resurgence of UW: he retains his place.
I’m approaching 150 matches in the tourney practice lobby now, and my winrate is still in the mid-70s; feels great, even though I can expect a drop to the tune of 15-25% in competitive leagues. Still, since my results are at least consistently decent, I’m toying with the idea of making a YouTube channel dedicated to Abzan midrange: mostly MTGO gameplay, of course, but maybe a little deck tech or even paper action if I can get a friend or two on board. I’m not the most experienced player (only a couple years under my belt in Modern, my first huge Open attendance will come later this year), but this theoretical content may still prove valuable, or at least enjoyable, especially because there seems to be a real dearth of Abzan gameplay out there. Just figured I’d float the idea to gauge interest!
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Honestly just from one challange you can't depict something like that. It doesn't just prove that Mardu is bad or anything, this is just one week where Mardu has been having a tougher time since everyone expected it.
Sounds good to me! Yeah, here’s my list:
1x Forest
1x Godless Shrine
4x Marsh Flats
2x Overgrown Tomb
1x Plains
2x Shambling Vent
2x Swamp
1x Temple Garden
1x Treetop Village
4x Verdant Catacombs
4x Liliana of the Veil
3x Inquisition of Kozilek
3x Lingering Souls
2x Maelstrom Pulse
3x Thoughtseize
4x Dark Confidant
2x Grim Flayer
2x Scavenging Ooze
4x Tarmogoyf
1x Tireless Tracker
2x Abrupt Decay
3x Fatal Push
3x Path to Exile
2x Collective Brutality
1x Damnation
1x Engineered Explosives
3x Fulminator Mage
1x Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet
1x Liliana, the Last Hope
2x Nihil Spellbomb
2x Stony Silence
1x Golgari Charm
1x Thrun, the Last Troll
That Golgari Charm is a Surgical Extraction in paper, but Extraction’s MTGO price tag put me off, and I’ve been having good results with Charm.
As you can see, it’s very traditional: 4 Bob, 4 LoTV. These cards have come under scrutiny by the community of late, and are no longer considered guaranteed 4-ofs either here or in Jund, but they have served me very well so far.
You’re completely right, of course. I even included the caveat “it’s only one event, but...” the first time I wrote up my post, which I lost to a page refresh. Forgot to include it on the rewrite.
Mardu is a great deck without question, but it gets hated out more easily than BGx does, and has a slower clock. I’m not saying that BGx is better, but I am saying that I don’t think Mardu’s superiority in the midrange hierarchy is eminently clear; and if Mardu is, in fact, the objectively better deck, I don’t think the gap is as large as the community (not referring to anyone here, rather the general chatter on Reddit and in person) makes it out to be.
And yeah, I’m biased.
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any know whats the last sideboard card in his list? coz its incomplete. 14 sideboard cards.
I agree in frank karstens math but he also said that cantrips, mana dorks and scry cards are can be considered as mana sources too.
https://www.channelfireball.com/articles/frank-analysis-how-many-colored-mana-sources-do-you-need-to-consistently-cast-your-spells/
that's why grixis shadow was mana flooding too when they first built it even tho its 18 lands. because it has lots of cantrips. I think we can also imitate the same build.
magus of the tabernacle seems good to replace the 2nd damnation. It can be tutored in a pinch.
if gaddock teeg is playable then I think aven mindcensor has a place too. for people have experience with it, how often it gets removed?
the problem with aven mindcensor in my mind is, that you optimally want to flash it in in response to a fetch being on the stack or a Chord/Scapeshift or whatever. With Traverse, you have to tutor it up at sorcery speed first, at which point the opponent knows about Mindcensor already and won't play into it.
i can see the scenario happening often. my problem with teeg is its only non-creature. what does it do to amulet titan? (this is just a wonder not a putoff coz i just played it awhile ago).
thalia could be a good sideboard too.