Have not tested this at all, but the potential synergy between Venser and most of the rest of the deck seems pretty strong. Even helps with the beatdown plan by opening the way past blockers.
One note though: this is probably more suited for a grindy meta as opposed to super-linear.
Great write-up oPs.bertu, and grats on top 4! This is a really good example of how to properly tune for a meta (eg with the 4x Abrupt Decay). Also, I was formerly of the "side out the dorks" mindset in grindy matchups, but I've been siding out the combo for a while now and it feels awesome, totally agree with that call.
Your links section at the bottom of the post actually brought the new DeMars article to my attention, and it doesn't look like that's been posted here yet, so hey everybody, here's the new Brian DeMars article! Looks like he's gone off of the maindeck Paths and added Slaughter Pact and Surgical Extraction into the sideboard. Surgical actually looks kinda nutty with multiple Fulminators.
Yeah, Fulminator + Surgical Extraction makes total sense! Extraction is a good enough card against dredge because taking out the conflagrates is often sufficient.
However, I couldn't fit Fulminators in my sideboard because they aren't impactiful enough against BGx or blue midrange, and I really wanted to make sure I had several heavy hitters for those matchups, which came at the expense of giving some equity against Tron. Note that Demars' version has Tireless Tracker in the main instead of extra combo pieces, so he can afford to have less impactful cards in his sideboard for grindy matchups - it's like he is partially pre-boarded already. Without Fulminator, I opted to go with Ravenous Trap as my dredge hate instead, as it's a bit more impactful.
So I think his sideboard is more well rounded overall, while the one I used was aiming harder at a specific metagame.
Have not tested this at all, but the potential synergy between Venser and most of the rest of the deck seems pretty strong. Even helps with the beatdown plan by opening the way past blockers.
One note though: this is probably more suited for a grindy meta as opposed to super-linear.
So, just a thought I had concerning how to make the above list, well, janky. I know I brought up the idea of Eldrazi Displacer before, but if I recall correctly I couldn't find a use for it outside of a glorified reset button. Recently, however, after re-examining the above list, I realize I could still go a semi-traditional route, using Displacer over Venser 2.0 and Chords over Oath (as much as I believe Oath is a strong selective cantrip), fitting in a few Wall of Roots and increasing the Brushland count in the mana base.
The thought of activating Displacer to blink Flickerwisp during my opponent's upkeep, keeping Karn or Nahiri locked down makes me giddy; almost as giddy as when they go to Anger of the Gods and I can save as many creatures as I can pay for (2C each, so maybe not a lot, but enough to be helpful).
Just a question though: how should I go about building a sideboard for a blind meta (assuming more weight towards proven/tier strategies)?
Such a thorough guide, thanks Torpf for putting this together!
I've been building a deck with an unusual spin on Melira Company and I'd be very interested in any feedback from the community. It's a work in progress; I haven't bought many fetchlands or $$ cards (yet). Apologies for the lack of card tags, I'm new to this site.
@EpicLevelCommoner - Your question about sideboarding starts with examining your main deck flex slot options. Co-Co has about 4 to 5 flex slots to fill in for your meta of choice. In this case you have added Spellskite, Qasali Pridemage, 2 x Flickerwisp, and Eldrazi Displacer. One might go as far to say as also the Murderous Redcap, Fiend Hunter, and Scavenging Ooze as well. But lets focus on the first 5.
How do these cards interact with the tier 1 decks in modern: Infect, Burn, Jund, Abzan, Bant Eldrazi, Dredge and Affinity. Against all of these decks your primary goal is to infinite life combo as soon as possible. Spellskite is the only card that really helps against most or all of these decks. The rest of the cards are too slow to help.
The secondary plan of a beat down deck works against most of these decks as long as you live past turn 4, heres looking at Infect, Burn, Dredge, Affinity. Eldrazi has a better beat down plan plus they have Displacer to really mess with you. Jund/Abzan just kill stuff and tries to beat down. Burn has no late game past turn 6 or 7 so if you live this long then you should win.
Next take a look at all of the Tier 2 decks. My percentages might not be entirely accurate but in general my experience indicates that: Merfolk (50-50), Delver (Co-Co slight favorite), Grixis Control (wrecks Co-Co), Jeskai Control (wrecks Co-Co), Scapeshift (50-50), Death and Taxes (50-50), Ad Nauseam (not sure), Zoo (50-50), Death's Shadow aka Zooicide (50-50), Grishoalbrand (50-50).
You should expect to fight against mostly tier 1 decks and hope to avoid Tron, Jeskai Control, and Grixis Control because they are favored to heavily favored. This means that your side board should include these cards at the very least: Orzhov Pontif (Used against Infect, Affinity, Abzan) Kataki, War's Wage (Used against Affinity, Lantern Control) Sigarda, Host of Heron (Used against: Jund, Abzan, Control, Eldrazi, Death and Taxes) Anafenza, The foremost (Used against: Dredge, Co-Co Mirror, Control) Surgical Extraction (Used against: Dredge primarily but can be used against decks running Path or Terminate) Maelstrom Pulse or Abrupt Decay or Path to Exile (Fill similar role in that would be used to remove very problematic creatures such as Scavenging Ooze, Kalitas, Anafenza, the foremost) Reclamation Sage or Qasali Pridemage (An additional copy or two alongside of the one in the main for Rest In Peace, Leyline of the Void, Bloodmoon, Graftdigger's Cage
Additional cards for you to consider based on your meta call are:
Burrenton Forge-Tender (Used against: Anger of the God, and any deck packing Bolts, Electrolyze, Lightning Helix) Fulminator Mage (Used against mostly man-lands but can be used in the Tron or Valakut match up along side of Surgical Extraction) Pharika, God of Affliction (Used against: Jund, Abzan, Eldrazi, Control) Linvala, Keeper of Silence (Used against: Jund, Abazan, Eldrazi, Death and Taxes, Affinity and any other deck that has a lot of activated abilities or revolve around activated abilities) Selfless Spirit (Used agasint: Wrath / Verdict or any deck siding in anger although I prefer Burrenton Forge-Tender against anger) Yixlid Jailer (Used against Dredge) Sin Collector (Used against a lot of decks but primarily control) Tidehollow Sculler (Used against a lot of decks but I prefer Sin Collector)
If your intent is to make list a bit different and maybe try some fun things then I would cut Flickerwips and just run 4 displacers and add a Waste to your mana base so that when they Path a creature you can grab it. For the first 4 or 5 turns this list is tapping out to cast creatures I'm not sure how effect holding a Flickerwisp up is going to be if you are constantly tapping out or holding up mana for Co-Co or Chord.
@pbanker - Interesting take on the list shaving effectively down to a B/G version. I don't know if township works with only 1 white source and no fetch lands. Sure two Sylvan Caryatid help but relying on creature mana is a bit of challenge during some match ups.
Main deck wise I would not play Retribution of the Ancients. It looks fun and it does have synergy but this deck is not generating that many counters. Sure it resets Geralf's Messanger but given the power level of some of the creatures it seems sub-optimal and slow.
On that note have you considered moving Courser of Kruphix to the main instead of Geralf's Messanger? A potential bit of life gain and potential card draw?
Also you should have 4 Chord. I understand that Beseech The Queen tutors but I'm not sure what you want to tutor for ... at sorcery speed ... that Chord doesn't find?
Side board wise I don't like Brain Maggot the same way I don't like Tidehollow Sculler. At least Tidehollow Sculler you can sack with trigger on stack and exile the care permanently. In the removal heavy modern having a conditional take away card is just bad in my opinion. I would rather just play Ravenous Rats and force them to pitch a card entirely. There are plenty of black discard effects I would choose to add even more Thoughtseize or Inquisition of Kozilek
Also in the side if you can get your hands on them consider 1 or 2 Thrun, the last troll. They work well against Control and other removal heavy match ups.
My hope for Gavony Township was that 6 dorks capable of producing white mana and 2 white land sources would be enough since the ability won't need be activated until midgame. That being said I might need more white mana.
Retribution of the Ancients is considered a bad card...but...in this deck it opens up the possibility of a (non-infinite) damage combo when in play with Viscera Seer + Geralf's Messenger. There's a fringe benefit of some creature removal when used with Gavony Township for counters. I may remove this 1 copy but I'm looking forward to trying it at FNM first.
I may move Courser of Kruphix into the main. If it replaces Geralf's Messenger then I'll just turn this into a "real" Abzan Company deck which is very likely my end result anyways
Beseech the Queen is also an experiment. Valid non-creature targets for tutor would be Gavony Township & Retribution in my main deck, then Abrupt Decay, Go for the Throat & Thoughtseize in my sideboard. Granted, sorcery speed is a huge downside and the value of tutoring an Abrupt Decay may be questionable. A fringe benefit is being able to play around Grafdigger's cage to summon a card from my deck to my hand.
Tidehollow Sculler seems popular so I thought Brain Maggot could be a mana-friendly substitute. I've thought about Ravenous Rats and may try it out. Between the Maggots/Rats and Thoughtseize that gives me 4 hand disruption spells and 4 board removal spells (2 Abrupt Decay and 2 Go for the Throat) in my sideboard. It may be a better idea to focus on removal, that seems to be the orthodox choice.
Thrun is a good suggestion too, thanks again for all your feedback.
@pbanker - I overlooked the interaction with Retribution of the Ancients working with Seer / Messanger. Diversity of options is a good thing. Might as well give it a try. If your primary target is finding Gavony Township then that makes sense. Township effect is very powerful.
I don't see your second white land source. I see a Windswept Heath that can help you fetch Godless Shrine but I don't see a different white source? I dwell on it because in my experience mana dorks get killed quite quickly once people realise that they may be your only source for a particular color.
@sys41o - You are correct, just the Windswept Heath & Godless Shrine. I was considering them to be 2 different "targets" for draw purposes but yes they would only yield 1 white mana source when taken together. Beseech the Queen could also tutor the Godless Shrine as an emergency.
Eternal Witness can recur land cards from the GY but yeah it's still very thin for white mana. I'll probably purchase more once I test this deck a little bit.
I got a chance to try the deck at FNM last night and have a few follow-up thoughts.
Cards I liked:
Main Deck
* Geralf's Messenger - worked great keeping pressure on my opponents. I think I'm going to drop to 3 copies though.
* Retribution of the Ancients - the 1 copy did its job, removing counters from Geralf's and working with Gavony Township to kill opponent creatures.
Sideboard
* Phyrexian Revoker - used it against a Lotus Bloom, slowed down my Ad Nauseum opponent which was nice.
* Thoughtseize - so much better than temporary hand disruption
Cards I didn't like:
Main Deck
* Blood Artist - doesn't seem like the right deck for this card
* Liliana, Heretical Healer - pretty "meh" without Viscera Seer in play for the quick sac
* Beseech the Queen - Chord of Calling is flat-out better most of the time, but think I'm going to try a 3/1 split for my next FNM instead of running the full 4 Chords.
Sideboard
* Brain Maggot - this actually worked well for me removing a Phyrexian Unlife from my Ad Nauseum opponent's hand. But in general it didn't feel quite powerful enough and I think I'm going to run a full 4 copies of Thoughtseize in my sideboard instead.
The idea is for this to be a GBw deck as opposed to GWb, so WW requirements like Fiend Hunter look prohibitive for now.
Lastly, to help out with white mana I plan to purchase 3x Windswept Heath (brings me up to 4 total) and 1x Temple Garden (in addition to the 1x Godless Shrine). Not sure if this is optimal but I think it's a step in the right direction.
@pbanker - If you are concerned about Anger of the Gods I encourage you to try Burrenton Forge-Tender instead of Selfless Spirit. Forge-Tender protects itself from the most common removal spells like Lightning Bolt and Terminate that tend to go in the same decks that use Anger of the Gods. Selfless Spirit can be bolted / terminated end step setting up an Anger. Yes ideally you can just chord out a spirit in response but it has been my experience that once you cast a forge-tender they stick around and often create problems for most of the decks running red. Of course some decks might just cast Supreme Verdict or Wrath of God and that is when Selfless Sprit shines but there is only one deck that is any where close to competitive running Verdict / Wrath and that is Jeskai control which I think straight up Thrun, the last troll is the best sideboard card against Jeskai followed next by Sigarda, host of heron
Give Forge-Tender a try. It protects itself. It is cheaper to chord into play. Stops Anger. Plus it has utility in several match ups (Naya Burn, Zooicide) where as Selfless Spirit is really about 3 cards (Anger, Wrath, Verdict).
@pbanker - If you are concerned about Anger of the Gods I encourage you to try Burrenton Forge-Tender instead of Selfless Spirit. Forge-Tender protects itself from the most common removal spells like Lightning Bolt and Terminate that tend to go in the same decks that use Anger of the Gods. Selfless Spirit can be bolted / terminated end step setting up an Anger. Yes ideally you can just chord out a spirit in response but it has been my experience that once you cast a forge-tender they stick around and often create problems for most of the decks running red. Of course some decks might just cast Supreme Verdict or Wrath of God and that is when Selfless Sprit shines but there is only one deck that is any where close to competitive running Verdict / Wrath and that is Jeskai control which I think straight up Thrun, the last troll is the best sideboard card against Jeskai followed next by Sigarda, host of heron
Give Forge-Tender a try. It protects itself. It is cheaper to chord into play. Stops Anger. Plus it has utility in several match ups (Naya Burn, Zooicide) where as Selfless Spirit is really about 3 cards (Anger, Wrath, Verdict).
I would like to add that Selfless Spirit is CMC 2 as opposed to BFT being CMC 1. This means BFT is both easier to chord for and Spell Snare proof.
Spoilery questions for all you smart people: Fatal Push may be a reasonable SB alternative to Path, but on the whole I can't see how it is anything but a net negative to have more cheap instant removal around. We rely on so many juicy targets. Does this accelerate the transition of Abzan Company from Plan A combo to Plan A midrange/Tracker/Gavony beats?
Does that then perhaps make Winding Constrictor playable?
Thanks gang
I'm not quite sure if it will prove useful as a means to provide lots of mana with Gavony Township in grindfests, but it looks interesting as a reset button and pseudo-replacement to Wall of Roots
Re: Rishkar, I don't think it makes the cut. Wall ramps two for chord, this doesn't (at least, not on or before T3, when it matters). And it's win-more in a grindfest if you're already activating township on a wide board -- we don't really tend to run out of mana.
Re: Metallic Mimic, that's interesting, especially since a lot of ppl are experimenting with cutting Redcap anyway. We already have two Meliras though, and they're both just better. But it's worth noting that the card exists.
Re: Winding Constrictor, it's interesting but seems too cute. I don't think an extra 1/1 counter here and there will make it worthwhile, and the liability against infect is huge.
Re: Push, honestly it makes me a bit nervous. I love the card, and I think it'll be great for modern, and I think it's totally worth sideboard consideration for us (though I think Path wins out 90% of the time). But if the metagame slows down significantly, like people are hoping it will with this printing, then we're gonna have some problems. A metagame full of midrange / tron / control is our worst nightmare.
The other spoiler I'm interested in is Renegade Railer -- I think Eternal Witness is significantly better for obvious reasons, so I don't really know where this card would find a spot, but a 3/2 Witness that brings back a combo piece directly to the battlefield definitely seems like the sort of thing that's worth looking at. There are a lot of corner cases where it's easy to imagine this being good.
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Introducing (in all its janky glory) the Venser Oath variant.
3 Gavony Township
2 Forest
1 Swamp
1 Plains
4 Windswept Heath
4 Verdant Catacombs
2 Temple Garden
1 Brushland
2 Overgrown Tomb
1 Godless Shrine
4 Noble Hierarch
2 Anafenza, Kin-Tree Spirit
1 Scavenging Ooze
3 Flickerwisp
1 Spellskite
1 Murderous Redcap
4 Birds of Paradise
3 Viscera Seer
2 Eternal Witness
4 Kitchen Finks
1 Qasali Pridemage
1 Venser, the Sojourner
4 Collected Company
Have not tested this at all, but the potential synergy between Venser and most of the rest of the deck seems pretty strong. Even helps with the beatdown plan by opening the way past blockers.
One note though: this is probably more suited for a grindy meta as opposed to super-linear.
Avatar and Signature by XenoNinja via Heroes of the Plane Studios
https://www.reddit.com/r/spikes/comments/5htsi4/modern_rptq_report_abzan_company_top4/?st=iwlej96e&sh=ed7b5784
4 Verdant Catacombs
3 Gavony Township
2 Forest
2 Temple Garden
1 Swamp
1 Plains
1 Marsh Flats
1 Godless Shrine
2 Overgrown Tomb
4 Windswept Heath
1 Anafenza, the Foremost
1 Anafenza, Kin-Tree Spirit
4 Birds of Paradise
2 Wall of Roots
1 Fiend Hunter
1 Spellskite
3 Noble Hierarch
4 Kitchen Finks
3 Melira, Sylvok Outcast
3 Eternal Witness
3 Viscera Seer
4 Chord of Calling
4 Collected Company
2 Abrupt Decay
1 Murderous Redcap
1 Anafenza, the Foremost
2 Distended Mindbender
1 Kataki, War's Wage
2 Qasali Pridemage
3 Tireless Tracker
2 Ravenous Trap
2 Abrupt Decay
2 Gideon, Ally of Zendikar
Tks everyone in this thread, it was really useful in relearning the deck.
Your links section at the bottom of the post actually brought the new DeMars article to my attention, and it doesn't look like that's been posted here yet, so hey everybody, here's the new Brian DeMars article! Looks like he's gone off of the maindeck Paths and added Slaughter Pact and Surgical Extraction into the sideboard. Surgical actually looks kinda nutty with multiple Fulminators.
However, I couldn't fit Fulminators in my sideboard because they aren't impactiful enough against BGx or blue midrange, and I really wanted to make sure I had several heavy hitters for those matchups, which came at the expense of giving some equity against Tron. Note that Demars' version has Tireless Tracker in the main instead of extra combo pieces, so he can afford to have less impactful cards in his sideboard for grindy matchups - it's like he is partially pre-boarded already. Without Fulminator, I opted to go with Ravenous Trap as my dredge hate instead, as it's a bit more impactful.
So I think his sideboard is more well rounded overall, while the one I used was aiming harder at a specific metagame.
So, just a thought I had concerning how to make the above list, well, janky. I know I brought up the idea of Eldrazi Displacer before, but if I recall correctly I couldn't find a use for it outside of a glorified reset button. Recently, however, after re-examining the above list, I realize I could still go a semi-traditional route, using Displacer over Venser 2.0 and Chords over Oath (as much as I believe Oath is a strong selective cantrip), fitting in a few Wall of Roots and increasing the Brushland count in the mana base.
1 Horizon Canopy
3 Gavony Township
2 Forest
1 Swamp
1 Plains
4 Windswept Heath
4 Verdant Catacombs
2 Temple Garden
2 Overgrown Tomb
1 Godless Shrine
2 Brushland
4 Birds of Paradise
3 Noble Hierarch
2 Wall of Roots
3 Viscera Seer
2 Melira, Sylvok Outcast
2 Anafenza, Kin-Tree Spirit
4 Kitchen Finks
1 Murderous Redcap
2 Eternal Witness
1 Fiend Hunter
1 Scavenging Ooze
1 Spellskite
1 Qasali Pridemage
2 Flickerwisp
1 Eldrazi Displacer
3 Chord of Calling
4 Collected Company
The thought of activating Displacer to blink Flickerwisp during my opponent's upkeep, keeping Karn or Nahiri locked down makes me giddy; almost as giddy as when they go to Anger of the Gods and I can save as many creatures as I can pay for (2C each, so maybe not a lot, but enough to be helpful).
Just a question though: how should I go about building a sideboard for a blind meta (assuming more weight towards proven/tier strategies)?
Avatar and Signature by XenoNinja via Heroes of the Plane Studios
I've been building a deck with an unusual spin on Melira Company and I'd be very interested in any feedback from the community. It's a work in progress; I haven't bought many fetchlands or $$ cards (yet). Apologies for the lack of card tags, I'm new to this site.
4 Birds of Paradise
3 Llanowar Elves
2 Sylvan Caryatid
3 Viscera Seer
3 Melira, Sylvok Outcast
4 Kitchen Finks
1 Murderous Redcap
3 Eternal Witness
1 Liliana, Heretical Healer
4 Geralf's Messenger
1 Blood Artist
Instant: 6
4 Collected Company
2 Chord of Calling
2 Beseech the Queen
Enchantment: 1
1 Retribution of the Ancients
Land: 22
4 Blooming Marsh
4 Overgrown Tomb
4 Llanowar Wastes
2 Woodland Cemetery
2 Swamp
2 Forest
2 Gavony Township
1 Windswept Heath
1 Godless Shrine
3 Brain Maggot
2 Phyrexian Revoker
1 Scavenging Ooze
1 Reclamation Sage
1 Courser of Kruphix
1 Pharika, God of Affliction
2 Abrupt Decay
2 Thoughtseize
2 Go for the Throat
Thanks!
Added decktags. - Torpf
How do these cards interact with the tier 1 decks in modern: Infect, Burn, Jund, Abzan, Bant Eldrazi, Dredge and Affinity. Against all of these decks your primary goal is to infinite life combo as soon as possible. Spellskite is the only card that really helps against most or all of these decks. The rest of the cards are too slow to help.
The secondary plan of a beat down deck works against most of these decks as long as you live past turn 4, heres looking at Infect, Burn, Dredge, Affinity. Eldrazi has a better beat down plan plus they have Displacer to really mess with you. Jund/Abzan just kill stuff and tries to beat down. Burn has no late game past turn 6 or 7 so if you live this long then you should win.
Next take a look at all of the Tier 2 decks. My percentages might not be entirely accurate but in general my experience indicates that: Merfolk (50-50), Delver (Co-Co slight favorite), Grixis Control (wrecks Co-Co), Jeskai Control (wrecks Co-Co), Scapeshift (50-50), Death and Taxes (50-50), Ad Nauseam (not sure), Zoo (50-50), Death's Shadow aka Zooicide (50-50), Grishoalbrand (50-50).
You should expect to fight against mostly tier 1 decks and hope to avoid Tron, Jeskai Control, and Grixis Control because they are favored to heavily favored. This means that your side board should include these cards at the very least:
Orzhov Pontif (Used against Infect, Affinity, Abzan)
Kataki, War's Wage (Used against Affinity, Lantern Control)
Sigarda, Host of Heron (Used against: Jund, Abzan, Control, Eldrazi, Death and Taxes)
Anafenza, The foremost (Used against: Dredge, Co-Co Mirror, Control)
Surgical Extraction (Used against: Dredge primarily but can be used against decks running Path or Terminate)
Maelstrom Pulse or Abrupt Decay or Path to Exile (Fill similar role in that would be used to remove very problematic creatures such as Scavenging Ooze, Kalitas, Anafenza, the foremost)
Reclamation Sage or Qasali Pridemage (An additional copy or two alongside of the one in the main for Rest In Peace, Leyline of the Void, Bloodmoon, Graftdigger's Cage
Additional cards for you to consider based on your meta call are:
Burrenton Forge-Tender (Used against: Anger of the God, and any deck packing Bolts, Electrolyze, Lightning Helix)
Fulminator Mage (Used against mostly man-lands but can be used in the Tron or Valakut match up along side of Surgical Extraction)
Pharika, God of Affliction (Used against: Jund, Abzan, Eldrazi, Control)
Linvala, Keeper of Silence (Used against: Jund, Abazan, Eldrazi, Death and Taxes, Affinity and any other deck that has a lot of activated abilities or revolve around activated abilities)
Selfless Spirit (Used agasint: Wrath / Verdict or any deck siding in anger although I prefer Burrenton Forge-Tender against anger)
Yixlid Jailer (Used against Dredge)
Sin Collector (Used against a lot of decks but primarily control)
Tidehollow Sculler (Used against a lot of decks but I prefer Sin Collector)
If your intent is to make list a bit different and maybe try some fun things then I would cut Flickerwips and just run 4 displacers and add a Waste to your mana base so that when they Path a creature you can grab it. For the first 4 or 5 turns this list is tapping out to cast creatures I'm not sure how effect holding a Flickerwisp up is going to be if you are constantly tapping out or holding up mana for Co-Co or Chord.
@pbanker - Interesting take on the list shaving effectively down to a B/G version. I don't know if township works with only 1 white source and no fetch lands. Sure two Sylvan Caryatid help but relying on creature mana is a bit of challenge during some match ups.
Main deck wise I would not play Retribution of the Ancients. It looks fun and it does have synergy but this deck is not generating that many counters. Sure it resets Geralf's Messanger but given the power level of some of the creatures it seems sub-optimal and slow.
On that note have you considered moving Courser of Kruphix to the main instead of Geralf's Messanger? A potential bit of life gain and potential card draw?
Also you should have 4 Chord. I understand that Beseech The Queen tutors but I'm not sure what you want to tutor for ... at sorcery speed ... that Chord doesn't find?
Side board wise I don't like Brain Maggot the same way I don't like Tidehollow Sculler. At least Tidehollow Sculler you can sack with trigger on stack and exile the care permanently. In the removal heavy modern having a conditional take away card is just bad in my opinion. I would rather just play Ravenous Rats and force them to pitch a card entirely. There are plenty of black discard effects I would choose to add even more Thoughtseize or Inquisition of Kozilek
Also in the side if you can get your hands on them consider 1 or 2 Thrun, the last troll. They work well against Control and other removal heavy match ups.
My hope for Gavony Township was that 6 dorks capable of producing white mana and 2 white land sources would be enough since the ability won't need be activated until midgame. That being said I might need more white mana.
Retribution of the Ancients is considered a bad card...but...in this deck it opens up the possibility of a (non-infinite) damage combo when in play with Viscera Seer + Geralf's Messenger. There's a fringe benefit of some creature removal when used with Gavony Township for counters. I may remove this 1 copy but I'm looking forward to trying it at FNM first.
I may move Courser of Kruphix into the main. If it replaces Geralf's Messenger then I'll just turn this into a "real" Abzan Company deck which is very likely my end result anyways
Beseech the Queen is also an experiment. Valid non-creature targets for tutor would be Gavony Township & Retribution in my main deck, then Abrupt Decay, Go for the Throat & Thoughtseize in my sideboard. Granted, sorcery speed is a huge downside and the value of tutoring an Abrupt Decay may be questionable. A fringe benefit is being able to play around Grafdigger's cage to summon a card from my deck to my hand.
Tidehollow Sculler seems popular so I thought Brain Maggot could be a mana-friendly substitute. I've thought about Ravenous Rats and may try it out. Between the Maggots/Rats and Thoughtseize that gives me 4 hand disruption spells and 4 board removal spells (2 Abrupt Decay and 2 Go for the Throat) in my sideboard. It may be a better idea to focus on removal, that seems to be the orthodox choice.
Thrun is a good suggestion too, thanks again for all your feedback.
I don't see your second white land source. I see a Windswept Heath that can help you fetch Godless Shrine but I don't see a different white source? I dwell on it because in my experience mana dorks get killed quite quickly once people realise that they may be your only source for a particular color.
Eternal Witness can recur land cards from the GY but yeah it's still very thin for white mana. I'll probably purchase more once I test this deck a little bit.
Cards I liked:
Main Deck
* Geralf's Messenger - worked great keeping pressure on my opponents. I think I'm going to drop to 3 copies though.
* Retribution of the Ancients - the 1 copy did its job, removing counters from Geralf's and working with Gavony Township to kill opponent creatures.
Sideboard
* Phyrexian Revoker - used it against a Lotus Bloom, slowed down my Ad Nauseum opponent which was nice.
* Thoughtseize - so much better than temporary hand disruption
Cards I didn't like:
Main Deck
* Blood Artist - doesn't seem like the right deck for this card
* Liliana, Heretical Healer - pretty "meh" without Viscera Seer in play for the quick sac
* Beseech the Queen - Chord of Calling is flat-out better most of the time, but think I'm going to try a 3/1 split for my next FNM instead of running the full 4 Chords.
Sideboard
* Brain Maggot - this actually worked well for me removing a Phyrexian Unlife from my Ad Nauseum opponent's hand. But in general it didn't feel quite powerful enough and I think I'm going to run a full 4 copies of Thoughtseize in my sideboard instead.
Right now I'm looking at options to replace the cards I'll be cutting. Top of the list are Spellskite, Anafenza, the Foremost, Tireless Tracker and Aven Mindcensor. Selfless Spirit also seems nice since I got hit by Anger of the Gods quite a few times. Also Sin Collector, my LGS features a fair number of control decks.
The idea is for this to be a GBw deck as opposed to GWb, so WW requirements like Fiend Hunter look prohibitive for now.
Lastly, to help out with white mana I plan to purchase 3x Windswept Heath (brings me up to 4 total) and 1x Temple Garden (in addition to the 1x Godless Shrine). Not sure if this is optimal but I think it's a step in the right direction.
To be continued!
Give Forge-Tender a try. It protects itself. It is cheaper to chord into play. Stops Anger. Plus it has utility in several match ups (Naya Burn, Zooicide) where as Selfless Spirit is really about 3 cards (Anger, Wrath, Verdict).
I would like to add that Selfless Spirit is CMC 2 as opposed to BFT being CMC 1. This means BFT is both easier to chord for and Spell Snare proof.
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UW Ephara Hatebears [Primer], GB Gitrog Lands, BRU Inalla Combo-Control, URG Maelstrom Wanderer Landfall
Fatal Push may be a reasonable SB alternative to Path, but on the whole I can't see how it is anything but a net negative to have more cheap instant removal around. We rely on so many juicy targets. Does this accelerate the transition of Abzan Company from Plan A combo to Plan A midrange/Tracker/Gavony beats?
Does that then perhaps make Winding Constrictor playable?
Thanks gang
Burrenton Forge-Tender is a great call, thanks for the feedback.
After doing more research I think Tireless Tracker would also fit my deck well so I'm thinking of running that & Courser of Kruphix in the main.
Here's my latest iteration:
(4) Birds of Paradise
(3) Llanowar Elves
(2) Sylvan Caryatid
(3) Viscera Seer
(3) Melira, Sylvok Outcast
(4) Kitchen Finks
(1) Murderous Redcap
(2) Eternal Witness
(3) Geralf's Messenger
(1) Scavenging Ooze
(1) Courser of Kruphix
(1) Tireless Tracker
(1) Spellskite
(4) Collected Company
(3) Chord of Calling
(1) Beseech the Queen
(1) Retribution of the Ancients
Sideboard: (4) Thoughtseize, (2) Abrupt Decay, (1) Go for the Throat, (1) Phyrexian Revoker, (1) Reclamation Sage, (1) Qasali Pridemage, (1) Kataki, War's Wage, (1) Orzhov Pontiff, (1) Burrenton Forge-Tender, (1) Pharika, God of Affliction (1) Anafenza, the Foremost
Mana: (4) Windswept Heath, (4) Blooming Marsh, (3) Overgrown Tomb, (2) Llanowar Wastes, (2) Woodland Cemetery, (2) Temple Garden, (1) Godless Shrine, (1) Forest, (1) Swamp, (2) Gavony Township
Thrun could be a good fit, I like everything about it but the 4 cmc. It could be a great Chord target though so I'm keeping it on my radar.
Grim Backwoods isn't gonna do it
UW Ephara Hatebears [Primer], GB Gitrog Lands, BRU Inalla Combo-Control, URG Maelstrom Wanderer Landfall
I'm not quite sure if it will prove useful as a means to provide lots of mana with Gavony Township in grindfests, but it looks interesting as a reset button and pseudo-replacement to Wall of Roots
Avatar and Signature by XenoNinja via Heroes of the Plane Studios
Re: Metallic Mimic, that's interesting, especially since a lot of ppl are experimenting with cutting Redcap anyway. We already have two Meliras though, and they're both just better. But it's worth noting that the card exists.
Re: Winding Constrictor, it's interesting but seems too cute. I don't think an extra 1/1 counter here and there will make it worthwhile, and the liability against infect is huge.
Re: Push, honestly it makes me a bit nervous. I love the card, and I think it'll be great for modern, and I think it's totally worth sideboard consideration for us (though I think Path wins out 90% of the time). But if the metagame slows down significantly, like people are hoping it will with this printing, then we're gonna have some problems. A metagame full of midrange / tron / control is our worst nightmare.
The other spoiler I'm interested in is Renegade Railer -- I think Eternal Witness is significantly better for obvious reasons, so I don't really know where this card would find a spot, but a 3/2 Witness that brings back a combo piece directly to the battlefield definitely seems like the sort of thing that's worth looking at. There are a lot of corner cases where it's easy to imagine this being good.