So I put aether vial in my deck and I'm 8-1 locally. 4-0 at fnm last night, and played a 30 man tournament today going 3-0 before double drawing in to top 8, losing in the semi finals to burn. Duskwatch Recruiter + Vial is one hell of a value train.
Look at the card. Now back to Jace. Now back to that card, now back to Jace! Sadly, it isn't Jace, but if it stopped being a junk rare and became relevant, it could act like it's Jace. Crack some Worldwake. What do you have? You have a Jace, the card you wish this card could be like. Look again. THE CARD IS NOW A $75 BILL. Anything possible when you play Magic with Jace and not junk rares. This is probably spam.
So I put aether vial in my deck and I'm 8-1 locally. 4-0 at fnm last night, and played a 30 man tournament today going 3-0 before double drawing in to top 8, losing in the semi finals to burn. Duskwatch Recruiter + Vial is one hell of a value train.
Aether vial and eternal witness is the best combo in magic
But I wonder what you took out for it, birds?
Surely it makes chord of calling much worse?
And company. Makes that worse too....
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Modern: G Tron, Vannifar, Jund, Druid/Vizier combo, Humans, Eldrazi Stompy (Serum Powder), Amulet, Grishoalbrand, Breach Titan, Turns, Eternal Command, As Foretold Living End, Elves, Cheerios, RUG Scapeshift
So I put aether vial in my deck and I'm 8-1 locally. 4-0 at fnm last night, and played a 30 man tournament today going 3-0 before double drawing in to top 8, losing in the semi finals to burn. Duskwatch Recruiter + Vial is one hell of a value train.
Aether vial and eternal witness is the best combo in magic
But I wonder what you took out for it, birds?
Surely it makes chord of calling much worse?
And company. Makes that worse too....
Dropped 1 hierarch, 1 chord, and 2 lands for 4 vials. Here's the list I ran yesterday:
Look at the card. Now back to Jace. Now back to that card, now back to Jace! Sadly, it isn't Jace, but if it stopped being a junk rare and became relevant, it could act like it's Jace. Crack some Worldwake. What do you have? You have a Jace, the card you wish this card could be like. Look again. THE CARD IS NOW A $75 BILL. Anything possible when you play Magic with Jace and not junk rares. This is probably spam.
I really like the amount of variety this deck allows while still remaining very competitive. Nothing wrong with brewing, if it works, why not right? I personally prefer a more traditional list (link in sig), but I might start messing around with different idea's soon enough. Not like I'm going to a Pro Tour or massive GP anyway haha
I really like the amount of variety this deck allows while still remaining very competitive. Nothing wrong with brewing, if it works, why not right? I personally prefer a more traditional list (link in sig), but I might start messing around with different idea's soon enough. Not like I'm going to a Pro Tour or massive GP anyway haha
Oh yeah if I was going to a competitive event and taking this deck I would bring a "stock" list. It has served me well in the past, but as much as I like to win at all costs, I am a brewer at heart so I have begun to do sleight experimentations with the deck at regular Modern events during the week. First it was the Knights, then trying out Knightfall with the Druid combo, then straight Ralliers, then Scullers, and now this value package. The stakes aren't high at casual weeknight events so why not try and experiment?
I have also been working on something like that, but it includes Stoneforge Mystic and Lightning Greaves, so not really something for this topic. Going the Vial route is super left field, and not really something that I think makes the deck better overall. I still want to try it trough so I may play a list like that this week.
- Because Aether Vial should take care of creatures you will hopefully have mana up a lot, so I'd be playing 4 Duskwatch Recruiter if I can, but no less than 3 for sure. Gotta try and pick up some foils this week.
- I think you could trim the dorks down to maaaybe 5, but at least play 4 Noble Hierarch/2 Birds of Paradise. The deck isn't that white intensive, and with only a 2 colour deck you can max out Hierarch and it's better because of Exalted. My argument for 5 dorks is that like Bant Eldrazi who wants their turn 1 plays to be a Dork or a Stirrings, here it is a Dork or a Vial. Usually I play 8 dorks, but dropping down to only 5 still lets me play 9 one drops with Vial so it in theory should up the Turn 1 consistency of the deck. You pick dork plan or Vial plan on turn 1 and go with it.
- I do think that dropping one Vizier of Remedies is ok since you can just hold it in hand and vial it in whenever you have a druid. It's not like anyone is going to Thoughtseize it over other impactful cards. That's how I'd justify playing three, but if I want to combo as often as possible I'd go the 4 Vizier route.
- When I originally designed my list I had it as 2 drop focused as I could for Vial. I am thinking about adding maybe another Renegade Rallier so that I can Vial it or EWit in in response to removal. That would allow you maybe 2 turns of 2 drops to get the druid combo off with Vial, and then move it to 3 counters and use your lands to play the 2 drops. I was doing it the other way around before because you still have a lot of mana flying around from dorks and stuff.
- I like the Kessig Wolf Run inclusion in lists with KotR. I had success with it before and I expect it to work again.
- I'm debating between +1 Horizon Canopy or +1 Forest. The life loss may be relevant, but that can be fixed post board. And if I'm winning fast enough it won't mater.
- Idk about Magus, I'd rather sideboard that. Same with Scavenging Ooze. I just want something more proactive Game 1. I am also uneasy of Voices, but they are 2 drops and kinda fill the roll of Finks for chumping and will be huge threats alongside KotR so they get included for now.
- Fauna Shaman is hilarious with Vial so we'll include it for now.
- Maybe cutting one Forest for a Ghost Quarter is correct, or just having one in the sideboard. It's a super low land count though so I'd be hesitant to play 3 colourless sources.
It can have some explosive attacks with large Knights and Voice tokens. The combo speed isn't really sacrificed as Knights can draw a card with Horizon Canopy, and Ralliers can do the same. Only the dorks, Voice and a summoning sick FShaman are the dud creatures. This is most likely the list I'll play with some minor tweaks.
I really like the amount of variety this deck allows while still remaining very competitive. Nothing wrong with brewing, if it works, why not right? I personally prefer a more traditional list (link in sig), but I might start messing around with different idea's soon enough. Not like I'm going to a Pro Tour or massive GP anyway haha
Oh yeah if I was going to a competitive event and taking this deck I would bring a "stock" list. It has served me well in the past, but as much as I like to win at all costs, I am a brewer at heart so I have begun to do sleight experimentations with the deck at regular Modern events during the week. First it was the Knights, then trying out Knightfall with the Druid combo, then straight Ralliers, then Scullers, and now this value package. The stakes aren't high at casual weeknight events so why not try and experiment?
I have also been working on something like that, but it includes Stoneforge Mystic and Lightning Greaves, so not really something for this topic. Going the Vial route is super left field, and not really something that I think makes the deck better overall. I still want to try it trough so I may play a list like that this week.
- Because Aether Vial should take care of creatures you will hopefully have mana up a lot, so I'd be playing 4 Duskwatch Recruiter if I can, but no less than 3 for sure. Gotta try and pick up some foils this week.
- I think you could trim the dorks down to maaaybe 5, but at least play 4 Noble Hierarch/2 Birds of Paradise. The deck isn't that white intensive, and with only a 2 colour deck you can max out Hierarch and it's better because of Exalted. My argument for 5 dorks is that like Bant Eldrazi who wants their turn 1 plays to be a Dork or a Stirrings, here it is a Dork or a Vial. Usually I play 8 dorks, but dropping down to only 5 still lets me play 9 one drops with Vial so it in theory should up the Turn 1 consistency of the deck. You pick dork plan or Vial plan on turn 1 and go with it.
- I do think that dropping one Vizier of Remedies is ok since you can just hold it in hand and vial it in whenever you have a druid. It's not like anyone is going to Thoughtseize it over other impactful cards. That's how I'd justify playing three, but if I want to combo as often as possible I'd go the 4 Vizier route.
- When I originally designed my list I had it as 2 drop focused as I could for Vial. I am thinking about adding maybe another Renegade Rallier so that I can Vial it or EWit in in response to removal. That would allow you maybe 2 turns of 2 drops to get the druid combo off with Vial, and then move it to 3 counters and use your lands to play the 2 drops. I was doing it the other way around before because you still have a lot of mana flying around from dorks and stuff.
- I like the Kessig Wolf Run inclusion in lists with KotR. I had success with it before and I expect it to work again.
- I'm debating between +1 Horizon Canopy or +1 Forest. The life loss may be relevant, but that can be fixed post board. And if I'm winning fast enough it won't mater.
- Idk about Magus, I'd rather sideboard that. Same with Scavenging Ooze. I just want something more proactive Game 1. I am also uneasy of Voices, but they are 2 drops and kinda fill the roll of Finks for chumping and will be huge threats alongside KotR so they get included for now.
- Fauna Shaman is hilarious with Vial so we'll include it for now.
- Maybe cutting one Forest for a Ghost Quarter is correct, or just having one in the sideboard. It's a super low land count though so I'd be hesitant to play 3 colourless sources.
-I'm not sure I want to shave the number of dorks down any further with only 20 lands in the deck, esp considering I still want to ramp into an early coco. playing a 3/3 split instead of 4/2 is also a concession to having kessig + magus in the MB. If I end up moving magus out of the MB I could see going back to a 4/2 split.
-Magus has actually been very good, and does a great job at randomly locking people out g1. It's actually just insane against humans as well, and just straight up locks them out of casting creatures. I might end up moving it to the sb once people catch on to it locally, but for now it has been great at catching people off guard and stealing games.
-Without the kitchen finks combo, vizier is a pretty awful creature on it's own and 3 has felt correct in any non-finks build I've played.
-Scooby is partially a concession to how bad the burn MU is. It is a flex spot, so it might just be better off as another recruiter or voice though.
Look at the card. Now back to Jace. Now back to that card, now back to Jace! Sadly, it isn't Jace, but if it stopped being a junk rare and became relevant, it could act like it's Jace. Crack some Worldwake. What do you have? You have a Jace, the card you wish this card could be like. Look again. THE CARD IS NOW A $75 BILL. Anything possible when you play Magic with Jace and not junk rares. This is probably spam.
-I'm not sure I want to shave the number of dorks down any further with only 20 lands in the deck, esp considering I still want to ramp into an early coco. playing a 3/3 split instead of 4/2 is also a concession to having kessig + magus in the MB. If I end up moving magus out of the MB I could see going back to a 4/2 split.
-Magus has actually been very good, and does a great job at randomly locking people out g1. It's actually just insane against humans as well, and just straight up locks them out of casting creatures. I might end up moving it to the sb once people catch on to it locally, but for now it has been great at catching people off guard and stealing games.
-Without the kitchen finks combo, vizier is a pretty awful creature on it's own and 3 has felt correct in any non-finks build I've played.
-Scooby is partially a concession to how bad the burn MU is. It is a flex spot, so it might just be better off as another recruiter or voice though.
I played the deck last Monday (the 28th) and went 4-0 (2-0 vs Elves, 2-0 vs Mono U Living End, 2-1 vs 4c Death's Shadow, 2-1 vs Merfolk). The list I used was:
I took your advice on some things, mainly the Magus of the Moon and upping birds a bit. I played 3 Hierarchs because I only have 3 foil, then the third bird because I didn't have a Fauna Shaman and I needed to fill that slot. I couldn't get a 4th duskwatch, and the sideboard was thrown together with whatever I had on me at the time. Comments on the deck are:
The deck was extremely explosive, which is what I found last time I played KotR's. Every card seems to be setting up for the combo in some way so that when the opponent falters and can't remove a Druid you just win.
As expected, there was always a turn 1 play in my opening hand. When I had both Aether Vial and a Dork I always played the dork since it's just faster and lets us win T3 more often. If I only had a Vial then I obviously played that, but I found games didn't go long enough to really get a ton of use out of it. The best was a stalemate vs Merfolk when I got it up to 3 to Vial in an EWit and recast a Company that got Negated. Your turn 1 really dictates how you are going to play the game, with the best play being a T1 Vial, T2 Druid and Vialing in a Dork, then winning on turn 3 because you are at the same board state you would be without playing a Vial. If the deck was a bit more 2drop centric then I could see this being the way to go.
Going up to 3 Duskwatch Recruiter was good. It kinda negated the dropped Chord, and was a good card advantage engine. 2 Renegade Rallier was a bit much. I'd drop it down to 1 as you don't have Revolt a lot of the time you'd want to be comboig in the first 3-4 turns. I like having 1 to Chord for in response to Druid dying eot though. It kinda acts as a Spellskite/Selfless Spirit in a way, but can also rebuy canopies to draw cards. Voice of Resurgence was the weakest card since it doesn't help combo. If I felt like I wanted to beat down then I'd pump some KotR to large amounts. These would be the first things to swap out. Magus of the Moon obliterated the 4c Death's Shadow guy on turn 2 in our third game. I think having both in the side is probably better though since game 1 it is useless against some decks (or 75% of the ones that I played...). I liked that I could also take out the combo and become a semi-GW Value deck. That's how I beat the DS player in the other game.
The sideboard was a mess. It was just what I had on me so I'll say don't look too far into it. Overall the deck played great and had some very very decisive wins. Like I was the first match done decisive wins. It'll take a ton of playing to say if it's really a viable improvement over just dorks though.
Trying to get back into the game and relearning how to play this deck. I have a hypothetical question about opening hands if anyone is game.
Your opening hand is one land (GW source), a one-mana dork, Vizier, Druid, and a combo kill card (Rhonas, Ballista, Recruiter, Chord, whatever). Last two cards are not a land or a one-mana dork, but otherwise basically irrelevant. You're on the play, and have T3 combo potential. Do you keep this blind? What about G2/G3? And does being on the draw make it better, or worse?
I ask because I had this come up twice at a recent open in games 2/3 and I kept both times. First was against Jeskai Delver, which in retrospect was probably a mistake since they seem fairly interactive. Second time was against Affinity, which I think it's correct to keep there except I knew he was playing Galvanic Blast. I took a risk and it just didn't pay off since he had a nut draw with a thopter, Blast, and two Plating.
@LinkChmofsky
Seems fine to me. Draw makes it better against fair decks, play better for race MU's where they're unlikely to interact. The other cards obviously will shape the decision once you have some sort of suspicion about the MU, but yeah, blind t3 seems perfectly fine.
Thinking a bit deeper - it also gives us a better fast matchup where the t3 kill is the most important. If they disrupt us, we can still draw lands, Witness, Finks, etc. to rebuild and have a game. If they disrupt us AND present a quick kill it's bad, but that situation is always bad for us, so meh. Also I think it's preferable to lose G1 to screw + interaction against a fair-ish (and thus slower) deck than to lose it to a combo mirror for not having the t3 kill, because post-board in the fast race we can still just lose the entire match if we stumble a single turn (mull to often to find hate, miss a landdrop, not have the combo backup after the hatecard, etc), whereas the fair MU's give us more wiggleroom to win the match in 3 games.
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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
Following the previous posts about the deck I was considering a totally different build to. But seeing that the deck was playing on the PT, I am considering going back to the Abzan build with Kitchen Finks. Right now I removed 4 Finks and 1 Viscera Seer for some Knight of the Reliquary. The card is bonkers and most of the time a 6/6 or 7/7 that blocks quite a bit better. Going forward with my testing I included Kessig Wolf Run and Stomping Ground for another finish with infinite mana.
Those cards can find you the cards you need to combo off, or generate enough value in a grind game.
Evaluating the deck overall, and being really honest. I do not think we are in a great spot right now. The meta is infested with grind decks who are stacked with removal. Take an example on the new ‘hyped’ Mardu Pyromancer, Grixis Shadow, Traverse Shadow and all the Jeskai. Next to that Tron is popular, and that is still a nightmare.
Looking and the rest of the meta, Humans? Can’t really judge that matchup jet. I think we are a bit favoured.
Overall I dislike the spot we are in. What do you think about it?!
Going forward with Abzan I have the following data from the Pro Tour lists: Core of the deck:
This data shows we have a straight forward plan and build within the deck. Hope it helps some of you guys with the deckbuilding in the upcoming months and preparation for tournaments.
Continuing off what Momsie said about tough positiong right now, Lucas Berthoud detailed some of his frustration with Vizier Company lists in his recent Humans tournament report:
In a very distant, pre-fatal push past I've had success with Collected Company decks by figuring out good sideboard plans against midrange decks (decks based around discard + Fatal Push and/or Snapcaster Mage and/or Cryptic Command). My plan for modern was to do it again and default to the team deck if I failed. And fail I did. Devoted Druid is dreamy in theory (you can race the fastest combos! you win OUT OF NOWHERE! you ramp into your sideboard cards! you can mesh and play two combos in the same deck!). But in practice the decks based around it don't line up well against what evil is doing. Druid + Company is an auto scoop to Collective Brutality and now even Tron is running it. Kitchen Finks isn't grinding out Path to Exile. Knight of the Reliquary dies to Fatal Push and Supreme Verdict. All the acceleration creatures that you need in order to beat fast combo and linear decks end up making Company a bad card advantage engine. The Backup Plan of small beats can't go under Gumag Angler and Death's Shadows. Gavony Township is a worse travel destination than Azcanta the Sunken Ruins. Midrange decks brought hell to my decks, then they casted Snapcaster Mage eot and flashbacked hell again.
It was frustrating. I hated Collected Company, Collected Company decks and the sight of 5 lands near a Noble Hierarch.
I've considered building Vizier for a while but found myself hesitant to pull the trigger after seeing the deck seem to progressively slip in meta-positioning over the last few months. I didn't really understand why this was happening at first, but Berthoud's quote seems like a reasonable explanation to me.
Do these frustrations resonate with you guys?
To what extent are they surmountable with deckbuilding choices?
Are there other strengths that he's not giving enough credit?
I think the deck is really neat but I'd be interested in a very frank and honest conversation about its strengths, weaknesses, and place moving forward.
In a very distant, pre-fatal push past I've had success with Collected Company decks by figuring out good sideboard plans against midrange decks (decks based around discard + Fatal Push and/or Snapcaster Mage and/or Cryptic Command). My plan for modern was to do it again and default to the team deck if I failed. And fail I did. Devoted Druid is dreamy in theory (you can race the fastest combos! you win OUT OF NOWHERE! you ramp into your sideboard cards! you can mesh and play two combos in the same deck!). But in practice the decks based around it don't line up well against what evil is doing. Druid + Company is an auto scoop to Collective Brutality and now even Tron is running it. Kitchen Finks isn't grinding out Path to Exile. Knight of the Reliquary dies to Fatal Push and Supreme Verdict. All the acceleration creatures that you need in order to beat fast combo and linear decks end up making Company a bad card advantage engine. The Backup Plan of small beats can't go under Gumag Angler and Death's Shadows. Gavony Township is a worse travel destination than Azcanta the Sunken Ruins. Midrange decks brought hell to my decks, then they casted Snapcaster Mage eot and flashbacked hell again.
It was frustrating. I hated Collected Company, Collected Company decks and the sight of 5 lands near a Noble Hierarch.
I've considered building Vizier for a while but found myself hesitant to pull the trigger after seeing the deck seem to progressively slip in meta-positioning over the last few months. I didn't really understand why this was happening at first, but Berthoud's quote seems like a reasonable explanation to me. Do these frustrations resonate with you guys? To what extent are they surmountable with deckbuilding choices?
I feel like the deck is definitely in a difficult spot right now. Any removal kills our creatures, and we rely on them to win. If we can't combo, we have to try the beatdown plan, which is also not great when facing Goyfs/Tasigurs/Gurmags, or a million tokens. It comes down to how much we can tax our opponents removal.
I've had games against Jeskai where they kill pretty much all my stuff, but eventually they run out of kill / counter spells, and I win with beatdowns. Then I've had games where the removal plus a clock (even a slow one like Snapcaster mage) will kill you in a very long and frustrating game.
Overall, I'm not too worried. Modern is a cyclical format. If combo decks are not in right now, I'll just play my Burn deck until a less interactive meta comes back, and I guarantee you it will eventually.
I agree that the PT results are not encouraging. Control is coming back and I think we are probably unfavored against Hollow One too (if not G1 then surely post board when they have Blood Moon, Push, and more Collective Brutality). The switch to the GW Value deck is an easy one and something I've considered, but it feels like you'd lose too much against unfair decks. And it's not like that deck did any better at the PT. It looks like combo/value hybrid versions have been discussed in this thread to little success but maybe now's the time?
My meta has a lot of unfair decks so I'm not that worried, but I am considering investing in a non-CoCo deck for bigger events. Humans or Burn or something, I dunno.
There's also the potential for WotC to unban something that changes the format so it could be too early to make a call on the deck now.
Had some testing over the last two weeks, going 9-2 vs Mardu Pyromancer, 9-9 vs Jeskai and 5-6 vs Humans. Borrowed a 4c Shadow Deck (Duke's list I think?) from a friend, played against my Company, went 1-4, then went like 3-1 against it with Eldrazi Tron.
I can't deny that Company isn't putting up results like we'd maybe wish it would, but I don't understand the frustration that a lot of people seem to have about the deck. After some initial trouble with Shadow decks, I haven't had problems with midrange decks for months now. Jeskai Control feels pretty 50/50 overall (heavily dependant on sideboard plans tho). Big mana can be hard, but having a very combo-centric build helps a good bit. The deck has a lot of variance that it can die to, but it also has a lot of insane comeback and grind potential.
Haven't had a chance to play against UR Pyro yet, but I'm pretty curious about the MU. Hollow One as well... faced them like 2, 3 times only, so no idea (their build has changed a lot too).
All in all still feel we're okay. Humans can be rough, but if everything was easy, what fun would that be?
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- Yeva, Nature's Herald
Had some testing over the last two weeks, going 9-2 vs Mardu Pyromancer, 9-9 vs Jeskai and 5-6 vs Humans. Borrowed a 4c Shadow Deck (Duke's list I think?) from a friend, played against my Company, went 1-4, then went like 3-1 against it with Eldrazi Tron.
I can't deny that Company isn't putting up results like we'd maybe wish it would, but I don't understand the frustration that a lot of people seem to have about the deck. After some initial trouble with Shadow decks, I haven't had problems with midrange decks for months now. Jeskai Control feels pretty 50/50 overall (heavily dependant on sideboard plans tho). Big mana can be hard, but having a very combo-centric build helps a good bit. The deck has a lot of variance that it can die to, but it also has a lot of insane comeback and grind potential.
Haven't had a chance to play against UR Pyro yet, but I'm pretty curious about the MU. Hollow One as well... faced them like 2, 3 times only, so no idea (their build has changed a lot too).
All in all still feel we're okay. Humans can be rough, but if everything was easy, what fun would that be?
I am playing a different build right now. Going 4/1 - 4/1 in competative leagues.
Ok, so for GP Toronto I am leaning towards playing a Tron variant (or something else), but I am also expecting a lot of Artifact hate to be flying around and for everyone to be gunning for Tron still. Those Pyromaner decks are playing Crumble to Dust in their boards, as well as Blood Moon and Molten Rain. Death's Shadow and BG/x has Fulminator Mage, and then there is Menfolk and UW Control with their Spreading Seas. Beyond that everyone seems to have some Ghost Quarter or Field of Ruin... I know Tron is a "safe deck" in a way, but I also expect to get hated out so I am weary.
I am thinking an alternate option could be to play Company and build the deck to fight against Death's Shadow, Midrange and Pyromancer decks. Here is my list as of right now, with what I am thinking for each card. If anyone has insights as to what could be done differently I'd love to hear em.
Maindeck:
- 7 Dorks and 21 lands. This means I'm going to be getting ~2 in the opener and at least one dork each time.
- 3 Duskwatch Recruiter means I can either grind out decks with it, or find it easier once I have infinite mana to win. I played 3 last week with only 3 Chords and liked it, so with 4 Chords it'll be even more consistent.
- 1 Scavenging Ooze I might as well put this in the maindeck to shore up some room in the sideboard. It can randomly hit some graveyard based decks game 1 or gain a bit of life to buy time. It doesn't help combo but that's fine.
- 1 Selfless Spirit & Spellskite are replacing 2 Renegade Ralliers. Ralliers, although great with Devoted Druid, just are dead cards a lot of the time once your hand is empty. This way I can get a bit of protection for my combo pieces game 1, and Spellskite can randomly mess up decks.
- 3 Horizon Canopy means I can draw cards whenever I have a ton of mana but no action. It basically digs for a Company and I'm not worried about the life loss because of Kitchen Finks.
- 2 Overgrown Tomb instead of 1 Tomb, 1 Godless Shrine. I like as many green sources as possible for Chord.
Sideboard:
- 2 Burrenton Forge-Tender because I really don't want to lose to Burn, Titanshift, or Anger of the Gods which the Pyromancer decks are playing. The second one could maybe be a second Selfless Spirit which would also protect against Supreme Verdict and Damnation.
- 1 Qasali Pridemage & Reclamation Sage to hurt key cards against Affinity and Lantern and buy me some time.
- 1 Aven Mindcensor against Storm, Titanshift, Death's Shadow, and any deck with a ton of fetches really. Playing this on turn 2 can really mess people up.
- 1 Orzhov Pontiff beats decks like Affinity, Infect, Pyromancer, and can do damage against Merfolk, Elves, and Humans if played right.
- 1 Eidolon of Rhetoric is for Storm and Ad Nauseaum. This is such a targeted card that I feel I could replace it because I will race Storm to a T3 combo, and I also have Aven Mindcensor and 3 Tidehollow Sculler to disrupt them already.
- 1 Pharika, God of Affliction is the gamewinning card against Death's Shadow and other Midrange decks. They can't remove it, and the deathtouch snakes just trade with their creatures. It's the only card I need really.
- 3 Path to Exile & 1 Abrupt Decay are removal for big must-deal with threats like Death's Shadow decks, Storm creatures, Primeval Titan, Tron Creatures, etc... everything else in the format really. Decay is for counters out of DS, or Grafdigger's Cage.
I feel with these 75 cards I am able to combo very fast and beat other combo decks, or anything that is uninteractive and lets me do my own thing. On a deck by deck basis it is: Storm - Race to combo. Scullers + Mindcensor + Path's can slow them down if I am not comboing fast. This matchup is a coinflip. Gx Tron - Get a T3 combo before their T3 card. They can't play an Ugin or Oblivion Stone until T4 so that is my window. Scullers + Mindcensor + Pridemage/Rec Sage disrupt them. Fatal Push sucks, and Collective Brutality is even worse (kills Durid and takes Company), but I can maybe get around that with luck. The matchup is really bad, but not unwinnable by any means. Humans - Try and combo and dodge Reflector Mage. Finks can buy a lot of time, and they do fold to infinite life if it happens. Matchup can go either way wince they can be fast but they don't interact much with us. Titanshift - Another bad matchup, but Burrenton Forge-Tender + Aven Mindcensor + Tidehollow Sculler can buy us a lot of time. Really it's all about avoiding that first sweeper or Bolt, then it is fine. We can win before they get a Titan out. If not then we lose. Burn - Burrenton Forge-Tender + Qasali Pridemage + Path to Exile deal with them fine. Finks comes in to shore up the matchup. This one is fine. Affinity - Pridemage + Rec Sage + Pontiff can slow them down then Path deals with things that are not Ravager. This one can be a good mathup. Death's Shadow - I board out all the dorks and go full grind. The game comes down to looping Companies with EWits and Duskwatch getting card advantage. Once there is a Pharika in play we can beat like everything but Temur Battle Rage. Just having good card quality here seems to work for me. Eldrazi Tron - Like all big mana, this one sucks too. Artifact hate, and Scullers will slow them down. Path's can deal with some stuff too. It's not great though. Jeskai Control - They have lots of removal and can tempo us out, so this one is played like Death's Shadow. Just better card quality overall and eventually the game gets to the point of flooding the board. Having removal for Spell Quellers is also key. Matchup can go either way and is worse for us.
Anything else linear like Merfolk, Elves, Dredge, Bogles, Infect, we race. Interactive stuff like UW Control, BG/x, Living End, D&T, Blue Moon, we grind.
Right now I feel that the sidebaord and deck are really geared to combo fast and mess with uninteractive decks (ie: Tron, Storm) post board. I feel good about those matchups, but just trying to fight Death's Shadow, Jeskai, and Pyromancer decks with the maindeck doesn't sit well with me. I could drop a Vizier, and put in a Tireless Tracker. Drop the Eidolon for a second one. Maybe swap out the Spellskite for a second Selfless Spirit which means I can drop the second Forge-Tender. That would make the deck look like this:
URURxUR
UWUWxUW
Aether vial and eternal witness is the best combo in magic
But I wonder what you took out for it, birds?
Surely it makes chord of calling much worse?
And company. Makes that worse too....
Dropped 1 hierarch, 1 chord, and 2 lands for 4 vials. Here's the list I ran yesterday:
4 Devoted Druid
3 Duskwatch Recruiter
3 Eternal Witness
3 Noble Hierarch
1 Renegade Rallier
3 Vizier of Remedies
1 Walking Ballista
2 Voice of Resurgence
3 Knight of the Reliquary
1 Magus of the Moon
1 Fauna Shaman
1 Scavenging Ooze
3 Chord of Calling
4 Collected Company
3 Forest
1 Stomping Ground
3 Temple Garden
4 Windswept Heath
4 Misty Rainforest
1 Snow-Covered Plains
1 Kessig Wolf Run
2 Horizon Canopy
1 Gavony Township
1 Burrenton Forge-Tender
1 Kataki, War's Wage
2 Qasali Pridemage
1 Aven Mindcensor
1 Sigarda, Host of Herons
1 Magus of the Moon
1 Selfless Spirit
1 Spellskite
1 Eidolon of Rhetoric
2 Kor Firewalker
3 Path to Exile
URURxUR
UWUWxUW
RWG Burn
GW Abzan Company
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StaffI have also been working on something like that, but it includes Stoneforge Mystic and Lightning Greaves, so not really something for this topic. Going the Vial route is super left field, and not really something that I think makes the deck better overall. I still want to try it trough so I may play a list like that this week.
- Because Aether Vial should take care of creatures you will hopefully have mana up a lot, so I'd be playing 4 Duskwatch Recruiter if I can, but no less than 3 for sure. Gotta try and pick up some foils this week.
- I think you could trim the dorks down to maaaybe 5, but at least play 4 Noble Hierarch/2 Birds of Paradise. The deck isn't that white intensive, and with only a 2 colour deck you can max out Hierarch and it's better because of Exalted. My argument for 5 dorks is that like Bant Eldrazi who wants their turn 1 plays to be a Dork or a Stirrings, here it is a Dork or a Vial. Usually I play 8 dorks, but dropping down to only 5 still lets me play 9 one drops with Vial so it in theory should up the Turn 1 consistency of the deck. You pick dork plan or Vial plan on turn 1 and go with it.
- I do think that dropping one Vizier of Remedies is ok since you can just hold it in hand and vial it in whenever you have a druid. It's not like anyone is going to Thoughtseize it over other impactful cards. That's how I'd justify playing three, but if I want to combo as often as possible I'd go the 4 Vizier route.
- When I originally designed my list I had it as 2 drop focused as I could for Vial. I am thinking about adding maybe another Renegade Rallier so that I can Vial it or EWit in in response to removal. That would allow you maybe 2 turns of 2 drops to get the druid combo off with Vial, and then move it to 3 counters and use your lands to play the 2 drops. I was doing it the other way around before because you still have a lot of mana flying around from dorks and stuff.
- I like the Kessig Wolf Run inclusion in lists with KotR. I had success with it before and I expect it to work again.
- I'm debating between +1 Horizon Canopy or +1 Forest. The life loss may be relevant, but that can be fixed post board. And if I'm winning fast enough it won't mater.
- Idk about Magus, I'd rather sideboard that. Same with Scavenging Ooze. I just want something more proactive Game 1. I am also uneasy of Voices, but they are 2 drops and kinda fill the roll of Finks for chumping and will be huge threats alongside KotR so they get included for now.
- Fauna Shaman is hilarious with Vial so we'll include it for now.
- Maybe cutting one Forest for a Ghost Quarter is correct, or just having one in the sideboard. It's a super low land count though so I'd be hesitant to play 3 colourless sources.
Using all that, this is where I am at:
1 Birds of Paradise
4 Noble Hierarch
4 Devoted Druid
4 Duskwatch Recruiter
3 Vizier of Remedies
1 Fauna Shaman
2 Voice of Resurgence
4 Eternal Witness
2 Renegade Rallier
3 Knight of the Reliquary
1 Walking Ballista
4 Aether Vial
3 Chord of Calling
4 Collected Company
Lands
4 Windswept Heath
2 Verdant Catacombs
2 Wooded Foothills
2 Temple Garden
1 Stomping Ground
2 Horizon Canopy
1 Gavony Township
1 Kessig Wolf Run
4 Forest
1 Plains
MTGO/MTGA: Tyclone
My Primers ~ GWx Vizier Company ~ Knightfall ~ RG Eldrazi ~ Green's Sun's Zenith
More Brews ~ Modern Four Horsemen ~ Gitrog Dredge
-I'm not sure I want to shave the number of dorks down any further with only 20 lands in the deck, esp considering I still want to ramp into an early coco. playing a 3/3 split instead of 4/2 is also a concession to having kessig + magus in the MB. If I end up moving magus out of the MB I could see going back to a 4/2 split.
-Magus has actually been very good, and does a great job at randomly locking people out g1. It's actually just insane against humans as well, and just straight up locks them out of casting creatures. I might end up moving it to the sb once people catch on to it locally, but for now it has been great at catching people off guard and stealing games.
-Without the kitchen finks combo, vizier is a pretty awful creature on it's own and 3 has felt correct in any non-finks build I've played.
-Scooby is partially a concession to how bad the burn MU is. It is a flex spot, so it might just be better off as another recruiter or voice though.
URURxUR
UWUWxUW
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Staff3 Birds of Paradise
3 Noble Hierarch
4 Devoted Druid
3 Duskwatch Recruiter
3 Vizier of Remedies
2 Voice of Resurgence
4 Eternal Witness
2 Renegade Rallier
3 Knight of the Reliquary
1 Magus of the Moon
1 Walking Ballista
4 Aether Vial
3 Chord of Calling
4 Collected Company
Lands
4 Windswept Heath
4 Verdant Catacombs
2 Temple Garden
1 Stomping Ground
2 Horizon Canopy
1 Gavony Township
1 Kessig Wolf Run
4 Forest
1 Plains
2 Burrenton Forge-Tender
1 Kataki, War's Wage
1 Selfless Spirit
1 Spellskite
1 Fiend Hunter
1 Eidolon of Rhetoric
1 Aven Mindcensor
1 Scavenging Ooze
1 Qasali Pridemage
1 Reclamation Sage
1 Courser of Kruphix
1 Magus of the Moon
2 Path to Exile
I took your advice on some things, mainly the Magus of the Moon and upping birds a bit. I played 3 Hierarchs because I only have 3 foil, then the third bird because I didn't have a Fauna Shaman and I needed to fill that slot. I couldn't get a 4th duskwatch, and the sideboard was thrown together with whatever I had on me at the time. Comments on the deck are:
The deck was extremely explosive, which is what I found last time I played KotR's. Every card seems to be setting up for the combo in some way so that when the opponent falters and can't remove a Druid you just win.
As expected, there was always a turn 1 play in my opening hand. When I had both Aether Vial and a Dork I always played the dork since it's just faster and lets us win T3 more often. If I only had a Vial then I obviously played that, but I found games didn't go long enough to really get a ton of use out of it. The best was a stalemate vs Merfolk when I got it up to 3 to Vial in an EWit and recast a Company that got Negated. Your turn 1 really dictates how you are going to play the game, with the best play being a T1 Vial, T2 Druid and Vialing in a Dork, then winning on turn 3 because you are at the same board state you would be without playing a Vial. If the deck was a bit more 2drop centric then I could see this being the way to go.
Going up to 3 Duskwatch Recruiter was good. It kinda negated the dropped Chord, and was a good card advantage engine. 2 Renegade Rallier was a bit much. I'd drop it down to 1 as you don't have Revolt a lot of the time you'd want to be comboig in the first 3-4 turns. I like having 1 to Chord for in response to Druid dying eot though. It kinda acts as a Spellskite/Selfless Spirit in a way, but can also rebuy canopies to draw cards. Voice of Resurgence was the weakest card since it doesn't help combo. If I felt like I wanted to beat down then I'd pump some KotR to large amounts. These would be the first things to swap out. Magus of the Moon obliterated the 4c Death's Shadow guy on turn 2 in our third game. I think having both in the side is probably better though since game 1 it is useless against some decks (or 75% of the ones that I played...). I liked that I could also take out the combo and become a semi-GW Value deck. That's how I beat the DS player in the other game.
The sideboard was a mess. It was just what I had on me so I'll say don't look too far into it. Overall the deck played great and had some very very decisive wins. Like I was the first match done decisive wins. It'll take a ton of playing to say if it's really a viable improvement over just dorks though.
MTGO/MTGA: Tyclone
My Primers ~ GWx Vizier Company ~ Knightfall ~ RG Eldrazi ~ Green's Sun's Zenith
More Brews ~ Modern Four Horsemen ~ Gitrog Dredge
Your opening hand is one land (GW source), a one-mana dork, Vizier, Druid, and a combo kill card (Rhonas, Ballista, Recruiter, Chord, whatever). Last two cards are not a land or a one-mana dork, but otherwise basically irrelevant. You're on the play, and have T3 combo potential. Do you keep this blind? What about G2/G3? And does being on the draw make it better, or worse?
I ask because I had this come up twice at a recent open in games 2/3 and I kept both times. First was against Jeskai Delver, which in retrospect was probably a mistake since they seem fairly interactive. Second time was against Affinity, which I think it's correct to keep there except I knew he was playing Galvanic Blast. I took a risk and it just didn't pay off since he had a nut draw with a thopter, Blast, and two Plating.
Seems fine to me. Draw makes it better against fair decks, play better for race MU's where they're unlikely to interact. The other cards obviously will shape the decision once you have some sort of suspicion about the MU, but yeah, blind t3 seems perfectly fine.
Thinking a bit deeper - it also gives us a better fast matchup where the t3 kill is the most important. If they disrupt us, we can still draw lands, Witness, Finks, etc. to rebuild and have a game. If they disrupt us AND present a quick kill it's bad, but that situation is always bad for us, so meh. Also I think it's preferable to lose G1 to screw + interaction against a fair-ish (and thus slower) deck than to lose it to a combo mirror for not having the t3 kill, because post-board in the fast race we can still just lose the entire match if we stumble a single turn (mull to often to find hate, miss a landdrop, not have the combo backup after the hatecard, etc), whereas the fair MU's give us more wiggleroom to win the match in 3 games.
- Yeva, Nature's Herald
Abzan Toolbox Primer
GWBAbzan CompanyBWG
GWBUGifts RockUBWG
I was analysing the decks from the last Pro tour. There were 3 decks who went 6-3-1 and 6-4.
The other list I used was from the latest Modern Challenge on MTGO.
Following the previous posts about the deck I was considering a totally different build to. But seeing that the deck was playing on the PT, I am considering going back to the Abzan build with Kitchen Finks. Right now I removed 4 Finks and 1 Viscera Seer for some Knight of the Reliquary. The card is bonkers and most of the time a 6/6 or 7/7 that blocks quite a bit better. Going forward with my testing I included Kessig Wolf Run and Stomping Ground for another finish with infinite mana.
I don’t think Aether Vial is the right way to go. It makes Collected Company a bit worse and it doesn’t really generate a lot of value. If I would make a deck with Vial it would include the following cards:
4 Fauna Shaman
4 Duskwatch Recruiter
4 Eternal Witness
Those cards can find you the cards you need to combo off, or generate enough value in a grind game.
Evaluating the deck overall, and being really honest. I do not think we are in a great spot right now. The meta is infested with grind decks who are stacked with removal. Take an example on the new ‘hyped’ Mardu Pyromancer, Grixis Shadow, Traverse Shadow and all the Jeskai. Next to that Tron is popular, and that is still a nightmare.
Looking and the rest of the meta, Humans? Can’t really judge that matchup jet. I think we are a bit favoured.
Overall I dislike the spot we are in. What do you think about it?!
Going forward with Abzan I have the following data from the Pro Tour lists:
Core of the deck:
4 Chord of Calling
4 Collected Company
4 Devoted Druid
4 Kitchen Finks
1 Walking Ballista
1 Tireless Tracker
1 Scavenging Ooze
2 Lists:
3 Eternal Witness
3 Noble Hierarch
2 Lists:
4 Eternal Witness
2 Noble Hierarch
1 Quasali Pridemage
3 Lists:
1 Viscera Seer
1 List:
2 Viscera Seer
1 Selfless Spirit
Landbase three of the four decks
2 Gavony Township
1 Godless Shrine
2 Horizon Canopy
2 Overgrown Tomb
1 Plains
2 Razorverge Thicket
2 Temple Garden
4 Verdant Catacombs
4 Windswept Heath
Difference
+ 1 Forest
- 1 Plains
Sideboard options:
Core in the board:
1 Orzhov Pontiff
3 lists:
(1 list) 2 Tidehollow Sculler
1 Burrenton Forge-Tender
1 Kataki War’s Wage
1 Reclamation Sage
2 Lists:
1 Ethersworn Canonist
1 Qasali Pridemage
1 Tireless Tracker
2 Tireless Tracker
2 Sin Collector
1 Sin Collector
1 List:
1 Loaming Shaman
1 Scavenging Ooze
1 Selfless Spirit
1 Chameleon Colossus
1 Linvala, Keeper of Silence
2 Mirran Crusader
This data shows we have a straight forward plan and build within the deck. Hope it helps some of you guys with the deckbuilding in the upcoming months and preparation for tournaments.
Greetings.
Do these frustrations resonate with you guys?
To what extent are they surmountable with deckbuilding choices?
Are there other strengths that he's not giving enough credit?
I think the deck is really neat but I'd be interested in a very frank and honest conversation about its strengths, weaknesses, and place moving forward.
I feel like the deck is definitely in a difficult spot right now. Any removal kills our creatures, and we rely on them to win. If we can't combo, we have to try the beatdown plan, which is also not great when facing Goyfs/Tasigurs/Gurmags, or a million tokens. It comes down to how much we can tax our opponents removal.
I've had games against Jeskai where they kill pretty much all my stuff, but eventually they run out of kill / counter spells, and I win with beatdowns. Then I've had games where the removal plus a clock (even a slow one like Snapcaster mage) will kill you in a very long and frustrating game.
Overall, I'm not too worried. Modern is a cyclical format. If combo decks are not in right now, I'll just play my Burn deck until a less interactive meta comes back, and I guarantee you it will eventually.
RWG Burn
GW Abzan Company
My meta has a lot of unfair decks so I'm not that worried, but I am considering investing in a non-CoCo deck for bigger events. Humans or Burn or something, I dunno.
There's also the potential for WotC to unban something that changes the format so it could be too early to make a call on the deck now.
I can't deny that Company isn't putting up results like we'd maybe wish it would, but I don't understand the frustration that a lot of people seem to have about the deck. After some initial trouble with Shadow decks, I haven't had problems with midrange decks for months now. Jeskai Control feels pretty 50/50 overall (heavily dependant on sideboard plans tho). Big mana can be hard, but having a very combo-centric build helps a good bit. The deck has a lot of variance that it can die to, but it also has a lot of insane comeback and grind potential.
Haven't had a chance to play against UR Pyro yet, but I'm pretty curious about the MU. Hollow One as well... faced them like 2, 3 times only, so no idea (their build has changed a lot too).
All in all still feel we're okay. Humans can be rough, but if everything was easy, what fun would that be?
- Yeva, Nature's Herald
Abzan Toolbox Primer
GWBAbzan CompanyBWG
GWBUGifts RockUBWG
I am playing a different build right now. Going 4/1 - 4/1 in competative leagues.
Kitchen Finks goes out, Knight of the Reliquary comes in. Viscera Seer goes out and Tireless Tracker came in.
Landbase got an addition of Stomping Ground and Kessig Wolf Run.
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StaffI am thinking an alternate option could be to play Company and build the deck to fight against Death's Shadow, Midrange and Pyromancer decks. Here is my list as of right now, with what I am thinking for each card. If anyone has insights as to what could be done differently I'd love to hear em.
4 Devoted Druid
4 Birds of Paradise
3 Noble Hierarch
1 Viscera Seer
4 Eternal Witness
1 Scavenging Ooze
3 Duskwatch Recruiter
1 Selfless Spirit
4 Vizier of Remedies
4 Kitchen Finks
Land
3 Horizon Canopy
2 Gavony Township
2 Overgrown Tomb
2 Temple Garden
4 Windswept Heath
4 Verdant Catacombs
3 Forest
1 Plains
1 Spellskite
1 Walking Ballista
Instant
4 Chord of Calling
4 Collected Company
1 Orzhov Pontiff
2 Burrenton Forge-Tender
1 Qasali Pridemage
1 Reclamation Sage
1 Aven Mindcensor
1 Eidolon of Rhetoric
1 Pharika, God of Affliction
3 Tidehollow Sculler
1 Abrupt Decay
3 Path to Exile
Maindeck:
- 7 Dorks and 21 lands. This means I'm going to be getting ~2 in the opener and at least one dork each time.
- 3 Duskwatch Recruiter means I can either grind out decks with it, or find it easier once I have infinite mana to win. I played 3 last week with only 3 Chords and liked it, so with 4 Chords it'll be even more consistent.
- 1 Scavenging Ooze I might as well put this in the maindeck to shore up some room in the sideboard. It can randomly hit some graveyard based decks game 1 or gain a bit of life to buy time. It doesn't help combo but that's fine.
- 1 Selfless Spirit & Spellskite are replacing 2 Renegade Ralliers. Ralliers, although great with Devoted Druid, just are dead cards a lot of the time once your hand is empty. This way I can get a bit of protection for my combo pieces game 1, and Spellskite can randomly mess up decks.
- 3 Horizon Canopy means I can draw cards whenever I have a ton of mana but no action. It basically digs for a Company and I'm not worried about the life loss because of Kitchen Finks.
- 2 Overgrown Tomb instead of 1 Tomb, 1 Godless Shrine. I like as many green sources as possible for Chord.
Sideboard:
- 2 Burrenton Forge-Tender because I really don't want to lose to Burn, Titanshift, or Anger of the Gods which the Pyromancer decks are playing. The second one could maybe be a second Selfless Spirit which would also protect against Supreme Verdict and Damnation.
- 1 Qasali Pridemage & Reclamation Sage to hurt key cards against Affinity and Lantern and buy me some time.
- 1 Aven Mindcensor against Storm, Titanshift, Death's Shadow, and any deck with a ton of fetches really. Playing this on turn 2 can really mess people up.
- 1 Orzhov Pontiff beats decks like Affinity, Infect, Pyromancer, and can do damage against Merfolk, Elves, and Humans if played right.
- 1 Eidolon of Rhetoric is for Storm and Ad Nauseaum. This is such a targeted card that I feel I could replace it because I will race Storm to a T3 combo, and I also have Aven Mindcensor and 3 Tidehollow Sculler to disrupt them already.
- 1 Pharika, God of Affliction is the gamewinning card against Death's Shadow and other Midrange decks. They can't remove it, and the deathtouch snakes just trade with their creatures. It's the only card I need really.
- 3 Path to Exile & 1 Abrupt Decay are removal for big must-deal with threats like Death's Shadow decks, Storm creatures, Primeval Titan, Tron Creatures, etc... everything else in the format really. Decay is for counters out of DS, or Grafdigger's Cage.
I feel with these 75 cards I am able to combo very fast and beat other combo decks, or anything that is uninteractive and lets me do my own thing. On a deck by deck basis it is:
Storm - Race to combo. Scullers + Mindcensor + Path's can slow them down if I am not comboing fast. This matchup is a coinflip.
Gx Tron - Get a T3 combo before their T3 card. They can't play an Ugin or Oblivion Stone until T4 so that is my window. Scullers + Mindcensor + Pridemage/Rec Sage disrupt them. Fatal Push sucks, and Collective Brutality is even worse (kills Durid and takes Company), but I can maybe get around that with luck. The matchup is really bad, but not unwinnable by any means.
Humans - Try and combo and dodge Reflector Mage. Finks can buy a lot of time, and they do fold to infinite life if it happens. Matchup can go either way wince they can be fast but they don't interact much with us.
Titanshift - Another bad matchup, but Burrenton Forge-Tender + Aven Mindcensor + Tidehollow Sculler can buy us a lot of time. Really it's all about avoiding that first sweeper or Bolt, then it is fine. We can win before they get a Titan out. If not then we lose.
Burn - Burrenton Forge-Tender + Qasali Pridemage + Path to Exile deal with them fine. Finks comes in to shore up the matchup. This one is fine.
Affinity - Pridemage + Rec Sage + Pontiff can slow them down then Path deals with things that are not Ravager. This one can be a good mathup.
Death's Shadow - I board out all the dorks and go full grind. The game comes down to looping Companies with EWits and Duskwatch getting card advantage. Once there is a Pharika in play we can beat like everything but Temur Battle Rage. Just having good card quality here seems to work for me.
Eldrazi Tron - Like all big mana, this one sucks too. Artifact hate, and Scullers will slow them down. Path's can deal with some stuff too. It's not great though.
Jeskai Control - They have lots of removal and can tempo us out, so this one is played like Death's Shadow. Just better card quality overall and eventually the game gets to the point of flooding the board. Having removal for Spell Quellers is also key. Matchup can go either way and is worse for us.
Anything else linear like Merfolk, Elves, Dredge, Bogles, Infect, we race. Interactive stuff like UW Control, BG/x, Living End, D&T, Blue Moon, we grind.
Right now I feel that the sidebaord and deck are really geared to combo fast and mess with uninteractive decks (ie: Tron, Storm) post board. I feel good about those matchups, but just trying to fight Death's Shadow, Jeskai, and Pyromancer decks with the maindeck doesn't sit well with me. I could drop a Vizier, and put in a Tireless Tracker. Drop the Eidolon for a second one. Maybe swap out the Spellskite for a second Selfless Spirit which means I can drop the second Forge-Tender. That would make the deck look like this:
4 Devoted Druid
4 Birds of Paradise
3 Noble Hierarch
1 Viscera Seer
4 Eternal Witness
1 Scavenging Ooze
3 Duskwatch Recruiter
1 Selfless Spirit
4 Vizier of Remedies
4 Kitchen Finks
1 Tireless Tracker
1 Walking Ballista
4 Chord of Calling
4 Collected Company
Land
3 Horizon Canopy
2 Gavony Township
2 Overgrown Tomb
2 Temple Garden
4 Windswept Heath
4 Verdant Catacombs
3 Forest
1 Plains
1 Burrenton Forge-Tender
1 Selfless Spirit
1 Qasali Pridemage
1 Reclamation Sage
1 Aven Mindcensor
1 Tireless Tracker
3 Tidehollow Sculler
1 Orzhov Pontiff
1 Pharika, God of Affliction
3 Path to Exile
1 Abrupt Decay
MTGO/MTGA: Tyclone
My Primers ~ GWx Vizier Company ~ Knightfall ~ RG Eldrazi ~ Green's Sun's Zenith
More Brews ~ Modern Four Horsemen ~ Gitrog Dredge
Looking at the pt, you can go either way. If I need to choose right now I would try the GW Value build. It rocks against all the fairness
TappedOut
Would love to have more input to improve!
Abzan all day. Bant gets spell queller but while that's a good card, I don't think it's similar enough to our gameplan to be played.