"The mere approach of an Abzan war beast is enough to send enemies fleeing in panic."
So you want to play Abzan? Here's where we make that happen. The shell are the essentials. The rest is the gravy. The idea is simple - your creatures are the most effective available. Your removal handles anything that comes your way. Testing so far shows strong matchups across the board - the meta is obviously still in its proto-infancy, but this deck is at a great place. Warning up front: this deck is going to cost you at least $700 to build.
You really hit your stride turns 4 or 5, where you can remove anything with downfall and charm, crush your opponent (and his or her dreams) with cashseize and cats and anafenzas, and regain lost early life with rhinos and sorins and rocs.
The Shell
Thoughtseize - Handles everything. Courser of Kruphix - Best card in standard. Effectively draws cards, gains life, blocks, etc. scry lands + fetch lands + courser = lots of filtering, too. Abzan Charm - Excellent removal and draw, plus the +1/+1 counters are never bad. Never a dead draw. Siege Rhino - All around spectacular card. Above the curve critter plus a 6 point life swing. Elspeth, Sun's Champion - Clogs up the board, wins attrition wars, beats aggro, wins games. randomly hoses G/x devotion. Sorin, Solemn Visitor - Nets a lot of life plus some evasive critters. The emblem can own the grindygame. Tasigur, the Golden Fang - Not enough can be said about the power of this card. Blocks rhinos, too big to burn, and will win you a grindy game. Standard Tarmogoyf.
You want some more creatures? With the essentials in place, proceed to the cat box and grab some two-drop friends:
Rakshasa Deathdealer - As a 1 to 3 of, a great mana dump, early threat, and difficult to answer critter. Competes with Fleecemane Lion. Fleecemane Lion - Way above the curve 2 drop that can be a mana sink. Hard to answer. Competes with Rakshasa Deathdealer. Cats are territorial.
Fill out the rest of the killers as follows, from most useful to most questionable:
Wingmate Roc - Amazing card. 6 evasive power, lifegain, impossible to deal with for your opponent without generating card advantage for you. also, cats like birds. Anafenza, the Foremost - Way above the curve, answers opposing dredge and delve shenanigans. Warden of the First Tree - For the more aggressive versions of Abzan, this guy is a nice curve smoother. Brutal Hordechief - Can serve as Rhinos 5-6 if you want to go down a creature heavy route. Hornet Queen - If you can't beat 'em... Heir of the Wilds - It's not terrible. good against other Courser decks. Herald of Torment - Good card with good evasion. Bestowing a cat or Anafenza is beastly. Nissa, Worldwaker - No forests really, but you can't argue with the power of the card. Brimaz, King of Oreskos - Unbelievably strong card, great against aggro and tokens. nuts with Sorin. Sylvan Caryatid - Fantastic fixing and blocking. - Great mana ramp, has fallen out of favor recently. Mastery of the Unseen - New anti-control hotness. Want to get to 500 life in a pro-level tournament? This card can get you that. Polukranos, World Eater - Mana dump, removal, 5/5 for 4. Mistcutter Hydra - Good against control, jeskai burn, and the temur monsters lists, but probably not maindeck material. Wildcall - Good, but not great, every turn after the first one.
You're going to need some answers. The deeper you go, the more meta dependent and/or sideboard specific you'll get:
Hero's Downfall - Against everything, really. Valorous Stance - One of the best cards to come out of Fate Reforged. An absolute must for more aggressive versions. Dromoka's Command - Dragons of Tarkir brings midrange and aggro versions a powerful command! Utter End - Against midrange and control and combo. Murderous Cut - Mid to late game spot removal. Bile Blight - Against rabble, mardu, elspeth, jeskai, hornet queen. Drown in Sorrow - Against tokens. Silence the Believers - Against pro-white, active gods, and graveyard shenanigans. Abzan Advantage - The best enchantment removal option for the aggro variants. End Hostilities - Wrath is always good. Great against Gx Devotion. Stain the Mind - Because you never know. If anything shows up that this deck can't handle, this will be an answer. Name Prognostic Sphinx, Jeskai Ascendancy, End Hostilities, etc. Back to Nature - Against decks running Banishing Light and Suspension Field. A blow out versus Constellation strategies, too. Deicide - Might be better than Erase. If the decks running Purphoros, Athreos, Pharika, Keranos, or Mogis get out of control, this is a decent sideboard card. Erase - See above. Courser, etc.
The only reason I didn't suggest her is that she kills Ana, Rhino and Reaper with the minus. She still might be worthy of inclusion.
Maybe the numbers on Hero's Downfall and Abzan Charm should be switched? Charm is a pretty strong card, but it doesn't kill three of the formats "must deal with" cards, Courser, Strombreath and Elspeth.
any specific suggestions? all we've got so far is abzan charm, which obviously has other uses as well. utter end maindeck, perhaps? it would give us an answer to gods as well as a way to deal with planeswalkers beyond just despise.
banishing light is excellent, of course, but feels sideboard since the deck should fare well against aggro without it. i could be way off, of course!
Maybe it's just me, but 24 lands + 4 Caryatids + 4 Coursers + 3 Satyr Wayfinder seems way much. Especially since you don't really have much high-CMC spells. Which can be turned around; you could probably include one or two big fat finishers with this mana base.
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MODERN Blue Lantern, UBx Tezzerator. OLD SCHOOL 93/94 «The Pain Train» Black Sligh, Esper «Machine Gun» Artifacts, Jund «Psycho» Ponza-Disko.
radouf, i agree on the land situation. right now it seems that we would effectively be ramping to nowhere. a couple copies of a huge beast are required. the search begins! suggestions?
edited the first post with a sorting of potential cards.
bile blight is an option to bring down the curve, since it's great against rabble red, potential mardu aggro, and let's our coursers kill opposing coursers. you're right though, it's looking skewed now.
i am not sold on cutting pharika at all, maybe keep her as one of! as big beast we could use a one of Garruk, Apex Predator
a 1-of pharika, god of affliction feels really promising, actually. let's face it - our courser of kruphix are going to eat removal and our sylvan caryatid make good chumpers in a pinch. i was hesitant at first because the lack of chumping satyr wayfinder made it worse, but to be honest i still like the idea of satyr wayfinder in the deck. i missed this post earlier. where would you recommend fitting her in?
bile blight is an option to bring down the curve, since it's great against rabble red, potential mardu aggro, and let's our coursers kill opposing coursers. you're right though, it's looking skewed now.
I don't think so, especially when there will be a bunch of lands entering the battlefield tapped. If nothing else, the Rakshasa Deathdealer you mentioned could go in some numbers.
I'm not sold on Ajani, Mentor of Heroes at this point, but I've never played with him, personally. I'd really like to hear some thoughts on his inclusion. Is he good enough without Wayfinder/Deathdealer? Killing people with a Courser of Kruphix is living the dream, but we need to accept that it's going to eat some heavy removal.
keep in mind that the preliminary decklists i've been posting are totally conjecture at this point. everything is open to debate!
To spurn thought - here's a Pharika list to compare and contrast with the nonPharika list. This version goes down to 23 lands and has a lower curve. Rakshasa Deathdealer probably needs a place though, so let the suggestions flow! Scout the Borders is out, and I feel pretty good about that. Pharika may be best as a 1-of still, which would open up a spot for a Deathdealer. Multiples of him in a game seem less than stellar.
I think I'd rather have an Abzan Ascendancy than Pharika, because turning her on is hardly ever going to happen, I think. You need at least 3 other creatures.
Another card worth questioning is the new Sorin.
I'm guessing any major choices for the deck depend on the shape of the meta and which deck become huge players.
Sorin, Solemn Visitor is definitely worth a look. In a creature heavier build, he's boss, I tend to think. Good call on Pharika being difficult to activate. Just swapping Sorin for Pharika makes the deck pretty interesting. Removing the Satyr Wayfinder opens up spots for Rakshasa Deathdealer and a bit more removal, which is always a good thing. Deathdealer also acts as a mana dump, which the deck needs. Sorin also allows our big 4 drops to bring our life total back up after the aggro rush.
EDIT - 1 of the Sorins removed from list at the moment, didn't look right. lands also shifted around slightly.
regarding the new meta: at this point, we can at least prepare to face Mardu Aggro, RabbleRed, that UR Ensoul Artifact thing, MonoBlack Aggro, MonoWhite Aggro, Temur Monsters, and some sort of BUG Control.
Well, I'm mostly interested because of the second ability. The tokens need to be answered once they kill a creature and it also gives a bit of Wrath protection.
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So you want to play Abzan? Here's where we make that happen. The shell are the essentials. The rest is the gravy. The idea is simple - your creatures are the most effective available. Your removal handles anything that comes your way. Testing so far shows strong matchups across the board - the meta is obviously still in its proto-infancy, but this deck is at a great place. Warning up front: this deck is going to cost you at least $700 to build.
You really hit your stride turns 4 or 5, where you can remove anything with downfall and charm, crush your opponent (and his or her dreams) with cashseize and cats and anafenzas, and regain lost early life with rhinos and sorins and rocs.
You want some more creatures? With the essentials in place, proceed to the cat box and grab some two-drop friends:
Fill out the rest of the killers as follows, from most useful to most questionable:
You're going to need some answers. The deeper you go, the more meta dependent and/or sideboard specific you'll get:
Finally, you can spice it up with some of this:
Other Resources (Feel free to suggest more!):
Sample Lists:
4 Fleecemane Lion
4 Rakshasa Deathdealer
4 Siege Rhino
3 Wingmate Roc
3 Courser of Kruphix
3 Anafenza, the Foremost
2 Tasigur, the Golden Fang
Planeswalkers
1 Sorin, Solemn Visitor
Lands
1 Forest
2 Plains
3 Caves of Koilos
3 Llanowar Wastes
4 Sandsteppe Citadel
3 Temple of Malady
1 Temple of Plenty
2 Temple of Silence
4 Windswept Heath
2 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
2 Abzan Charm
3 Bile Blight
4 Hero's Downfall
2 Thoughtseize
1 Back to Nature
1 Bile Blight
1 Murderous Cut
1 Elspeth, Sun's Champion
1 Liliana Vess
1 Nissa, Worldwaker
1 Sorin, Solemn Visitor
4 Drown in Sorrow
3 Glare of Heresy
1 Thoughtseize
4 Siege Rhino
4 Courser of Kruphix
2 Tasigur, the Golden Fang
Planeswalkers (5)
1 Ajani, Mentor of Heroes
3 Elspeth, Sun's Champion
1 Garruk, Apex Predator
Lands (26)
2 Forest
2 Plains
2 Caves of Koilos
3 Llanowar Wastes
4 Sandsteppe Citadel
4 Temple of Malady
4 Temple of Silence
4 Windswept Heath
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
4 Abzan Charm
3 Bile Blight
4 Hero's Downfall
1 Murderous Cut
1 Utter End
2 Read the Bones
4 Thoughtseize
4 Fleecemane Lion
2 Erase
2 Sorin, Solemn Visitor
3 Drown in Sorrow
2 End Hostilities
2 Glare of Heresy
4 Fleecemane Lion
4 Rakshasa Deathdealer
4 Siege Rhino
3 Wingmate Roc
3 Anafenza, the Foremost
2 Tasigur, the Golden Fang
Planeswalkers (2)
2 Sorin, Solemn Visitor
Lands (25)
2 Forest
2 Plains
3 Caves of Koilos
3 Llanowar Wastes
4 Sandsteppe Citadel
3 Temple of Malady
2 Temple of Silence
4 Windswept Heath
2 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
2 Abzan Charm
3 Bile Blight
3 Hero's Downfall
1 Murderous Cut
2 Valorous Stance
2 Thoughtseize
2 Whisperwood Elemental
1 Back to Nature
1 Bile Blight
1 Murderous Cut
1 Elspeth, Sun's Champion
1 Nissa, Worldwaker
4 Drown in Sorrow
2 Glare of Heresy
2 Thoughtseize
Post your lists and tourny/testing results! Ask questions! Make suggestions! And have fun!
Fantastic logo courtesy of PauloMauro!
GWU Bant Manifest - The Future Is Here. Or it will be at the end of turn. GWU
GWU Bant Manifest - The Future Is Here. Or it will be at the end of turn. GWU
Pharika, God of Affliction
Scout the Borders
Satyr Wayfinder
GWU Bant Manifest - The Future Is Here. Or it will be at the end of turn. GWU
1 urborg, tomb of yawgmoth
4 windswept heath
2 temple of malady
2 temple of silence
2 temple of plenty
1 caves of koilos
2 llanowar wastes
2 sandsteppe citadel
3 forest
3 swamp
2 plains
4 Sylvan Caryatid
4 Courser of Kruphix
4 Siege Rhino
3 Satyr Wayfinder
2 Anafenza, the Foremost
2 Pharika, God of Affliction
instants 7
4 abzan charm
3 hero's downfall
sorceries 10
4 thoughtseize
3 despise
3 scout the borders
4 drown in sorrow
1 despise
3 utter end
7 stuff
GWU Bant Manifest - The Future Is Here. Or it will be at the end of turn. GWU
Also, what about, Ajani, Mentor of heroes? He seems to fit in nicely.
Elspeth, Sun's Champion is also worth considering.
GWU Bant Manifest - The Future Is Here. Or it will be at the end of turn. GWU
Maybe the numbers on Hero's Downfall and Abzan Charm should be switched? Charm is a pretty strong card, but it doesn't kill three of the formats "must deal with" cards, Courser, Strombreath and Elspeth.
rakshasa deathdealer is also worth considering.
updating first post with all recommended/mentioned cards so far.
GWU Bant Manifest - The Future Is Here. Or it will be at the end of turn. GWU
banishing light is excellent, of course, but feels sideboard since the deck should fare well against aggro without it. i could be way off, of course!
drown in sorrow seems mandatory in the board for goblin rabblemaster.
GWU Bant Manifest - The Future Is Here. Or it will be at the end of turn. GWU
Isn't that what Abzan Charm is for?
OLD SCHOOL 93/94 «The Pain Train» Black Sligh, Esper «Machine Gun» Artifacts, Jund «Psycho» Ponza-Disko.
-3 Wayfinder
-2 Pharika
-3 Scout the Borders
+2 Ajani
+2 Reaper
+2 Utter End
+1 Murderous Cut
+1 something (maybe Garruk? )
radouf, i agree on the land situation. right now it seems that we would effectively be ramping to nowhere. a couple copies of a huge beast are required. the search begins! suggestions?
edited the first post with a sorting of potential cards.
GWU Bant Manifest - The Future Is Here. Or it will be at the end of turn. GWU
1 urborg, tomb of yawgmoth
4 windswept heath
2 temple of malady
2 temple of silence
2 temple of plenty
1 caves of koilos
2 llanowar wastes
2 sandsteppe citadel
3 forest
3 swamp
2 plains
4 Sylvan Caryatid
4 Courser of Kruphix
4 Siege Rhino
3 Satyr Wayfinder
2 Anafenza, the Foremost
2 Pharika, God of Affliction
instants 9
4 abzan charm
3 hero's downfall
2 utter end
sorceries 8
3 thoughtseize
2 despise
3 scout the borders
4 drown in sorrow
2 despise
1 thoughtseize
1 utter end
2 silence the believers
5 stuff
what gets cut for a couple of game ending fatties?
GWU Bant Manifest - The Future Is Here. Or it will be at the end of turn. GWU
The something could be Silence the Beliebers, too.
maybe it wants an elspeth, sun's champion instead of a thoughtseize or despise? or perhaps only 1 ajani and 2 elspeth?
version 0.3!
1 urborg, tomb of yawgmoth
4 windswept heath
2 temple of malady
2 temple of silence
2 temple of plenty
1 caves of koilos
2 llanowar wastes
2 sandsteppe citadel
3 forest
3 swamp
2 plains
creatures 16
4 Sylvan Caryatid
4 Courser of Kruphix
4 Siege Rhino
2 reaper of the wilds
2 Anafenza, the Foremost
4 abzan charm
3 hero's downfall
2 utter end
1 murderous cut
1 silence the believers
sorceries 7
4 thoughtseize
3 despise
planeswalkers 2
2 ajani, mentor of heroes
4 drown in sorrow
2 despise
1 thoughtseize
1 utter end
2 silence the believers
5 stuff
GWU Bant Manifest - The Future Is Here. Or it will be at the end of turn. GWU
is dedicating early turns to sylvan caryatid, thoughtseize, and despise that bad though?
GWU Bant Manifest - The Future Is Here. Or it will be at the end of turn. GWU
a 1-of pharika, god of affliction feels really promising, actually. let's face it - our courser of kruphix are going to eat removal and our sylvan caryatid make good chumpers in a pinch. i was hesitant at first because the lack of chumping satyr wayfinder made it worse, but to be honest i still like the idea of satyr wayfinder in the deck. i missed this post earlier. where would you recommend fitting her in?
GWU Bant Manifest - The Future Is Here. Or it will be at the end of turn. GWU
I don't think so, especially when there will be a bunch of lands entering the battlefield tapped. If nothing else, the Rakshasa Deathdealer you mentioned could go in some numbers.
Rakshasa Deathdealer could also up the creature count enough to help enable Pharika. A key point we probably need to figure out with whether or not Satyr Wayfinder/Pharika, God of Affliction is worth running.
I'm not sold on Ajani, Mentor of Heroes at this point, but I've never played with him, personally. I'd really like to hear some thoughts on his inclusion. Is he good enough without Wayfinder/Deathdealer? Killing people with a Courser of Kruphix is living the dream, but we need to accept that it's going to eat some heavy removal.
keep in mind that the preliminary decklists i've been posting are totally conjecture at this point. everything is open to debate!
GWU Bant Manifest - The Future Is Here. Or it will be at the end of turn. GWU
PharikAbzan 0.3
1 urborg, tomb of yawgmoth
4 windswept heath
2 temple of malady
2 temple of silence
2 temple of plenty
1 caves of koilos
2 llanowar wastes
1 sandsteppe citadel
3 forest
3 swamp
2 plains
4 Sylvan Caryatid
4 Satyr Wayfinder
2 Pharika, God of Affliction
4 Courser of Kruphix
4 Siege Rhino
2 reaper of the wilds
2 Anafenza, the Foremost
instants 9
4 abzan charm
3 hero's downfall
2 utter end
sorceries 6
4 thoughtseize
2 despise
4 drown in sorrow
2 despise
1 utter end
3 silence the believers
3 bile blight
2 elspeth, sun's champion
GWU Bant Manifest - The Future Is Here. Or it will be at the end of turn. GWU
Another card worth questioning is the new Sorin.
I'm guessing any major choices for the deck depend on the shape of the meta and which deck become huge players.
EDIT - 1 of the Sorins removed from list at the moment, didn't look right. lands also shifted around slightly.
Sorin Abzan 0.4 (NonPharika)
1 urborg, tomb of yawgmoth
4 windswept heath
2 temple of malady
2 temple of silence
2 temple of plenty
2 caves of koilos
2 llanowar wastes
1 sandsteppe citadel
1 mana confluence
3 forest
2 swamp
2 plains
4 Sylvan Caryatid
4 Courser of Kruphix
4 Siege Rhino
3 Rakshasa Deathdealer
2 reaper of the wilds
2 Anafenza, the Foremost
instants 10
4 abzan charm
2 hero's downfall
2 utter end
2 bile blight
planeswalkers 1
1 sorin, solemn visitor
sorceries 6
4 thoughtseize
2 despise
4 drown in sorrow
2 despise
1 utter end
3 silence the believers
2 bile blight
1 hero's downfall
2 elspeth, sun's champion
regarding the new meta: at this point, we can at least prepare to face Mardu Aggro, RabbleRed, that UR Ensoul Artifact thing, MonoBlack Aggro, MonoWhite Aggro, Temur Monsters, and some sort of BUG Control.
Elspeth, Sun's Champion in the board is silly. Replacement thoughts?
tell me some of your thoughts on Abzan Ascendancy.
GWU Bant Manifest - The Future Is Here. Or it will be at the end of turn. GWU