I feel like I would want my Herald to be Sorin 100% of the time. A 2/2 flier for 4 > a 3/3 flier for 3 that auto dies to Dromoka's Command and pings me for 1 every turn, and +1/+0 and life link for the whole team > +3/+3 and flying for one bro.
Main difference is Bile Blight is back in the 75. I don't like it, but it's a necessary evil against a lot of decks out there and smooths out Game 1 against them too. I'm also considering switching one Elspeth for the Tasigur in the side.
Some cards that I can't make up my mind about: Nissa, Worldwaker- She was my go-to against Abzan and control, but Ojutai has made her worse. I really want to put her back into the 75.
3rd Self-Inflicted Wound- The card just wins you games against Abzan better than any other removal. I'm conflicted because Abzan is finally on the rise in my meta, but is still only a small part as a whole for me to justify running 3. Whip of Erebos- I'd like to run a one-of in the side if it weren't for Dromoka's Command. Crux of Fate- I wish there was an aggro shell that can run Crux. If there is, I haven't found it. Liliana Vess- She can really put in some work against reactive decks, but aggro is running enough "finishers" or one-ofs that need to be tutored, but could still be worth it. Ajani, Mentor of Heroes- Doesn't necessarily put you out of a jam and is only good if you're in a decent to good position.
The point of Herald is to alpha strike. Sorin is almost always answered. Herald is only bad vs dragons and easily sided out. That extra evasion is just so clutch imo. Roc has evasion, but w/o the ability to haste in, hes cleared away pretty easily.
Round 1: Dromoka... Something (2-1)
Deck was piloted by an inexperienced (or just bad, I'm not sure which) player and was... not even a true "budget" deck. It's "budget" in the sense that the guy clearly didn't go out and buy good cards, but it's not "budget" in the sense that he tried to build the best deck with a limited budget. It's just a collection of cards he had.
Fortunately for him, that collection included Dragonlord Dromoka and some card that bolstered 4, giving him the win in game 2 when I couldn't find removal. Turns out a 9/11 flying lifelinker is a pretty good creature.
In-between I just rolled him with good cards and he didn't really put up much resistance.
Round 2: Gruul Dragons (2-0)
Game 1 was almost scary. I got Anafenza turn 3 and Brimaz turn 4... and he got Dragonlord Atarka turn 4 thanks to a really big ramp. (t1 Elf, t2 morphed Rattleclaw). I had removal though so it wasn't an actual problem, just startling. He had no real follow-up and I just kept playing creatures and won.
Game 2 he kept a really sketchy hand (one-lander!) and played Elf, dork, Courser. I Priced the Courser and another showed up, but he never found more than 2 lands, so even with the two mana dorks he couldn't actually cast but one threat a turn. Again, just overran him with beats and removal.
Round 3: Simic Devotion (2-1)
Game 1 he got two Master of Waves on the field. Six 3/2 Elementals is hard to deal with. Fortunately I got Sorin out, and I was just able to clock him with Wingmate Roc. Game 2 he got two Master of Waves out again, and I didn't have the removal to get rid of them in time. Game 3 he didn't get the godhand and I stomped him. I think Simic Devotion w/Collected Company has a chance to be decent, but Abzan just has too much goodstuff.
Round 4: Dimir Control (2-1)
Game 1 I lost a tough game, we were running stride for stride for 10-12 turns and then I topdecked lands for 4 turns while he topdecked Jace's Ingenuity and found nothing but goods. Game 2 was my favorite endgame in all of Magic. Situation:
I activate Tasigur's ability, he casts Hero's Downfall in response, I activate Tasigur's ability again. He gives me back Elspeth, Sun's Champion after I mill double lands, because I can't cast it this turn. I milled a Siege Rhino and a Duress, which he promptly handed back to me. He cast Tasigur and activated his ability, I Downfalled in response and gave him back Crux of Fate. He spawned a Rhino so we both went to 5 life. I drew a tapped land (11th land of the game) and passed, he popped Anafenza and swung with Rhino (blocked with Lion). I topdecked a Rhino!!! Cast Duress, made him get rid of Aetherspouts (only card left in hand!), cast Elspeth, nuked board, swung for 4 with Lion to put him to 1, cast Siege Rhino, got him!! Everyone was watching at that point because we had gone so late and I was undefeated at that point. It was really awesome.
Game 3 I stuck a t4 Siege Rhino and beat him down to 5 life before turns ended. He conceded to me since a draw would put him at x-1-1 (and out of prizes). Really cool dude.
Round 5: Selesnya Megamorph (1-2)
Game 1 he clocked me with 2 Deathmist Raptors and 1 Den Protector. Not much to be done, I kept a slow-ish hand and never had exile effects so I couldn't keep up. Game 2 I got pretty much everything I needed (Abzan Charm for the only Raptor I saw, a Wingmate Roc, and a Sorin that got two Vampires out), flew over his board before he could get going. Game 3 he found pretty much the best cards in his deck against me - Radiant Purge to KO my Deathdealer, two Hornet Nests to stop everything and eventually just beat me with Raptors. I couldn't find my flying creatures and lost for it.
4-1 tonight barely making top 8 because of bad tiebreakers due to opponents dropping like flies. Nothing worth talking about, although it was amusing that I played against GW Devotion starting Game 3 with a minute left on the clock and somehow I managed to win on my last turn.
So one thing I've noticed is that I have 12 removals in the side. So many of them seem to come in most of the time and I realized, I should just be playing Abzan Control right now since it's in a good position in my meta. Here is my list:
I had to adjust the standard control list to do well against Stormbreath decks in my meta. I honestly don't like Dromoka's Command in a control list, so they've been replaced with Utter End and Murderous Cut. I'm still iffy on the choice since Command keeps the curve lower.
If I had the parts to sleeve up Abzan Control for the IQ then I probably would. I've been itching to try it out, and no better time than an IQ, right? Haha.
Basically combining Jacob Wilson's Wayfinder/Sidisi package with Protector/Raptor. No Coursers make me weak to aggro I feel, but maybe Deathmist Raptor stops that.
Took third at FNM last night on tie breakers. Lost to an Abzan Deathmist Raptor build where all 3 of our games went very long and ended with a top decked Den Protector in G3 to pull 2 raptors and an Abzan Charm from the graveyard with him at 2 life. In another universe, I top decked Siege Rhino and won - just wasn't this one I've been away a couple weeks and haven't seen the meta changing. Seeing what I saw, which had just 1 Esper Dragons pilot I could count, I'm making the switch to Abzan Control, which I think will beat up on those Abzan Aggro decks better than the close calls that can be the mirror. Will return with a list once I sort it out.
Courser is pretty dynamic in that deck as it just generates so much card advantage, Im running both currently in my Abzan Control list. I cut Sidisi as she ended up being lackluster.
The changes:
Sideboard: -1 Duress, -1 Tasigur, the Golden Fang, +2 Pharika, God of Affliction
Rationale: Esper Control has been crowded out of my meta in a big big way, and I think I can make do with five discard spells instead of six against them. The second Tasigur has also been a lot less impacting than the first; probably because it's a sideboard card, probably because finding multiples sucks a lot. Whatever the case, I've been underwhelmed no matter the matchup.
Esper Control specifically got crowded out by Abzan/Selesnya Megamorph. I've seen almost all of the good players running that right now, so I want to be one step ahead of them. I'm testing 2 Pharikas and really liking them. You can't respond to the morph, but you can respond to the trigger by exiling their Raptors. Giving them deathtouch snakes sucks, but it sucks a lot less than giving them infinite Raptors... In combination with 4 Anafenzas and 4 Abzan Charms, all while maintaining the core curve and four flying generators, I think I'm probably slightly favored in that matchup.
The changes:
Sideboard: -1 Duress, -1 Tasigur, the Golden Fang, +2 Pharika, God of Affliction
Rationale: Esper Control has been crowded out of my meta in a big big way, and I think I can make do with five discard spells instead of six against them. The second Tasigur has also been a lot less impacting than the first; probably because it's a sideboard card, probably because finding multiples sucks a lot. Whatever the case, I've been underwhelmed no matter the matchup.
Esper Control specifically got crowded out by Abzan/Selesnya Megamorph. I've seen almost all of the good players running that right now, so I want to be one step ahead of them. I'm testing 2 Pharikas and really liking them. You can't respond to the morph, but you can respond to the trigger by exiling their Raptors. Giving them deathtouch snakes sucks, but it sucks a lot less than giving them infinite Raptors... In combination with 4 Anafenzas and 4 Abzan Charms, all while maintaining the core curve and four flying generators, I think I'm probably slightly favored in that matchup.
I think if you're willing to go as narrow as Pharika, God of Affliction to beat Deathmist Raptor, you'd probably be better off with 2x Devouring Light in your SB. That card at least has cross function against the rest of Abzan's creatures and especially Rakshasa Deathdealer. The convoke is more relevant than I gave it credit for at first and has good synergy with Brimaz, King of Oreskos. The only card I can think of that it is actively bad against is Stormbreath Dragon.
The other card I'm high on right now against Deathmist Raptor is Bile Blight. I don't find my opponents recurring their Deathmist Raptors more than once or twice a game. Bile Blight lets you send them back to the yard, which is sometimes all you need to win. I like this solution a little less because of the +1/+1 counter abilities on Abzan Charm and Dromoka's Command.
I prefer Pharika to the nonpermanent answers because she's there to answer everything from the graveyard. Raptor? Check. Den Protector? Check. Other creatures Den Protector might buy back? If that creature is worse for me than an enchantment typhoid rat, sure.
And Pharika also can't be answered by conventional cards. Utter End is a fringe SB card that has just as much of a chance of anything else at being used on something before Pharika drops in. Radiant Purge actually worries me a bit, but only because I know someone who will be in the IQ (the guy who beat me in Round 5 of FNM, actually) that's on Selesnya instead of Bant/Abzan -- it's really not a great card, but it's good enough to use in a meta full of Abzan if you're in GW. All of our old anti-enchantment cards disappeared from the meta, and even then Erase is the only one that actually does anything to Pharika to begin with. Dromoka's Command doesn't work if I'm not stupid/desperate enough to drop her in without the ability to crank out a Snake.
So basically I park Pharika and unless my opponent happens to (a) have narrow SB cards themselves, (b) boards them in for me and (c) draws into them, I just win, because without graveyard recursion Abzan Megamorph is a weaker Abzan Aggro/Control (depending on the rest of the shell).
I do agree that she's a narrow answer -- she's only coming in for that one matchup. But the rest of my board is tuned well enough to let me indulge in it, and it's a really good card for that matchup, and I'm bad at that matchup, and that matchup will be all over the place at the IQ, so I think the combination of circumstances warrants it. I wouldn't normally recommend it, to be sure.
Giving your opponents 1/1 deathtouchers can be more trouble than it's worth though. If it were in some package with Virulent Plague or using it next to Elspeth to block the tokens it may be okay but still not worth it.
If you really want to be cute just play Agent of Erebos. At least you get the convenience of exiling the entire graveyard in one shot when it's played.
I'm not really worried about the deathtouchy snakes. Rakshasa Deathdealer (god bless) eats them harmlessly for 2 mana, monstrous Lion handles them, Elspeth tokens block them, and if the ground is STILL cluttered then I just fly over with Wingmate Roc and Sorin's Vampires. They're annoying, but I can manage them. I mean, they'd otherwise be Deathmist Raptors. Pretty sure I still upgraded, right?
I went 5-1 during the Swiss of the IQ, taking the top overall seed. Scrubbed out in top eight to Gruul Dragons. I only saw Pharika once and I'd already taken decisive control of the matchup where she came in, but I also didn't miss the 2nd Tasigur or 2nd Duress (only playing 1 control deck). I'm not sure if I'm going to bother with her going forward either, the recursion engine isn't as prevalent as I thought and it really seemed like it fizzled out. Just don't know what I'd want instead! Full report coming in a little while.
Round 1: Mardu Dragons (2-0)
Game 1: After a t2 Thoughtseize took away his Goblin Rabblemaster, I resolved t3 Brimaz and he went the distance with removal backup. Dromoka's Command handled a Thunderbreak Regent, Abzan Charm handled a second, and I dropped a Sorin after he landed Stormbreath Dragon to get too far ahead in the race.
SIDEBOARDING:
OUT: 2 Thoughtseize, 2 Wingmate Roc, 1 Brimaz, King of Oreskos
IN: 2 Elspeth, Sun's Champion, 3 Ultimate Price
Brimaz soloed g1 and then got to ride the bench g2, lol. It felt weird boarding out the two cards that basically won me the first game, but it was the right call not to get sucked into the myopic trap of keeping bad cards because they worked once. Thoughtseize comes out here because we beat this deck by winning the tempo battle, not punching holes in their hand and trying to 1-for-1 them all day. We don't even really have the removal to do it in the first place, even postboard. Wingmate Roc isn't as bad as you'd think, since just having it to block stops Thunderbreak and Kolaghan from swinging in as long as you have the Bird (or if you managed to get a stray +1/+1 counter on them, or you used Sorin's +1, or...), but again, we aren't trying to grind them out, we're trying to grind them into dust. A card whose calling card in the matchup is "Sure, I can't attack, but neither can one of their dudes!" isn't exactly the way to win there. I took out a Brimaz because he scales poorly in the matchup - especially on the draw, Brimaz feels like a wasted turn when they drop Thunderbreak turn 4.
Game 2: I don't remember the exact line of play that saw me through this game. All I remember is that he resolved THREE Goblin Rabblemasters and somehow I never felt remotely threatened or endangered by them. Some of them ate kill spells, some of them pissed themselves at the sight of a Siege Rhino, none of them made me worry much. He didn't draw any other beats, and it's just a sad reality of Standard (for Rabble players, I guess, anyway) that Rabblemaster doesn't cut it anymore.
Round 2: Selesnya Megamorph (2-0)
Game 1: Ran him over before he got going. Fleecemane Lion into Anafenza, the Foremost into kill spells exiling the single Raptor and Protector I saw did some work, and he just couldn't get the engine online. He got Mastery of the Unseen out t2, but again, didn't find the Raptor and Protector quick enough and didn't get the mana to start manifesting bros.
SIDEBOARDING:
OUT: 2 Thoughtseize, 2 Brimaz, King of Oreskos, 2 Rakshasa Deathdealer (!), 1 Hero's Downfall
IN: 2 Elspeth, Sun's Champion, 2 Pharika, God of Affliction, 3 Self-Inflicted Wound
I'm still figuring out the sideboarding strategy for this matchup. Initially I was going to board out all 4 Deathdealers and bring in 2 Drown in Sorrow. I'm honestly torn as to whether this is correct or incorrect. On the one hand, he at one point during g2 had a board with 10-11 creatures that would have died to a Drown (and I had Anafenza, so key players like Den Protector would have been exiled). This included the Hornet Nests that I knew he would likely board in. On the other hand, Rakshasa Deathdealer was INSTRUMENTAL in my win, and on paper is very strong here. I'm going to need to test this matchup more to see what the right call is. I think Thoughtseize and Brimaz are easy outs because they don't scale well into grindy games, and the miser's Downfall was fine since I still had two (which seems to be the widely-accepted "correct" number to have). Command has some sick game here since the deck runs Coursers and Masteries, but it can also be awkward when it's your only removal for a Deathmist Raptor. I just find myself in this place where I have very few clearly bad cards against them and a plethora of "ehhhhh, could be good could be bad" cards, and it's hard to board.
One thing I'm thinking was incorrect was using Self-Inflicted Wound (the absence of which might open things up). I board it in almost reflexively against GWx anything, but when the core game plan postboard is to outgrind them by using Elspeth to go wider than them and Pharika to take away their recursion machine, Wound is terrible. It's easy to get giddy about Shock attached to an edict, but sometimes those edicts require really creative lines of play, and again, I don't like creative lines of play.
Game 2: Welcome to The Grindfest 2015. This game was long so TL;DR:
- He knocked my Elspeth to 1 loyalty twice with Den Protectors
- I got her emblem anyway
- I had >20 soldiers at one point
- Plunging for >70 damage in the air is hilarious, and I wish my opponents wouldn't scoop right before I get to do it
- Anafenza dropped on turn 3 and save for a Dromoka's Command briefly taking her out (for one turn, before I dropped #2), she was there the whole game
- Rakshasa Deathdealer is a very good Magic card, especially when you're bad at Magic and board down to 2 of them and find them anyway
- Hornet Nest is bu11$#!7, recurring Hornet Nest with Den Protector is mondo bu11$#!7, flying over Hornet Nest feels great man
Basically Elspeth works exactly like we've said in here all along. Deathmist Raptor is just unimpressive without evasion IF we can stick an Elspeth. That's easier said than done, but she does a lot of work. Den Protector can be scary, especially when they start putting Dromoka's Command counters on it. They honestly only need to get her to 4 power a fair amount of the time; we don't really WANT to block with Anafenza without backup available, and only Rhino and a pumping Deathdealer can block her otherwise. Not even him getting two Whisperwoods out was enough to slow me down. I think Abzan Megamorph would have been a lot scarier, since I took a very conservative game plan and leaned entirely on Elspeth to get me there, and a single Downfall would have been huge. Selesnya Megamorph just doesn't have the planeswalker hate to handle a resolved Elspeth. It's too dependent on Den Protector.
Round 3: Jund CoCo Aggro (1-2)
This deck looked kinda tight. It's one of a million reasonably-sound Collected Company brews, this time looking to get there with Goblin Rabblemaster, Heir of the Wilds, Boon Satyr and Rakshasa Deathdealer as the cornerstones. I don't think the power level is really there, but it was obvious that I didn't know how to play against it, because I made several really dumb mistakes that cost me.
Game 1: I got to play t2 Thoughtseize and saw Deathdealer, Heir, Collected Company, Thoughtseize, and Wooded Foothills with 2 lands in play. I took the Deathdealer because I didn't have convenient kill spells and had a slow-ish hand -- I think I was just hoping he wouldn't hit t4/t5 Company somehow. I don't know what the right take was. The game didn't end well for me at all, I just couldn't stabilize with my superior cards and he got me.
I don't remember my sideboard All I remember was that I boarded in Pharika and never saw either part of the combo. I probably should have realized that with Thoughtseize and Hero's Downfall alongside a third color, it was unlikely he would run the green-heavy Raptor/Protector engine, but down a game I figured I would want the trump card just to ensure I don't lose on the spot to dinosaurs.
Game 2: We traded blows for a while, I eventually resolved a Rhino and a Raided Roc and he couldn't close me out.
Game 3: Was also short and not in my favor. I couldn't stick a threat and by the time I did, I was dumb and tapped out to attack when he had open mana for Boon Satyr. It's one of those things that you can perhaps understand being surprised by; if it just doesn't occur to you then too bad. Sometimes you just don't think of things. But if I had thought harder about the deck design and the available creatures, Boon Satyr is pretty much a shoe-in for any Jund Company deck given the lack of high-quality 3-drops in those colors. I feel silly for walking into it because it's something that I should have been able to anticipate given my knowledge of the format.
Round 4: Esper Control (2-0)
He mulled to six both games, so I had a big leg up there.
Game 1: I stuck a Fleecemane Lion that got monstrous and made some significant headway there. I had to fight through 3 Ojutais without any edicts... and I suceeded! Dromoka's Command actually helped a lot there, effectively giving me Reach. I eventually lost the Lion to a Foul-Tongue Invocation, and I almost screwed up because I missed ticking Sorin up on one turn. I got the emblem right before his 3rd Ojutai could attack me, though, and I got through his counterspells and removal before he could draw into more of them.
This is pretty easy sideboarding. Roc is hard to trigger Raid in this matchup and leaves us open to Crux getting a 2+ for 1. Brimaz is actually decent, but we want all the removal and discard effects that I leave in, and Brimaz is the worst of a bunch of good threats. Command is bad against hexproof non-enchantments, film at 11. Self-Inflicted Wound is an incredible tempo play for us, KOing an Ojutai as they tap out and Shocking them for 2 mana. As people get away from Drifty D, this only gets better. Discard effects are the bane of control so it's no surprise to see them.
Game 2: This one was rough for him. He really needed to stick an Ojutai, and he had Haven of the Spirit Dragon to bring it back, so he was in a decent spot. Unfortunately, I'd resolved Anafenza, the Foremost and nailed his Ojutai with Self-Inflicted Wound. Exiling Ojutai and dealing 6 dmg in one turn is a pretty successful turn. I dropped a Rhino after that, and I'm pretty sure I had a Lion backup, but it didn't matter, he just didn't have what he needed. Mulligans hurt control so bad.
Round 5: Abzan Control (2-1)
Game 1: I ran away with a win here by playing a tempo game. I stuck an early beat (don't remember which) and just killed everything in its way until he played Siege Rhino. Then I resolved Wingmate Roc and flew over him for lethal.
SIDEBOARDING
OUT: 2 Thoughtseize, 2 Brimaz, King of Oreskos, 1 Anafenza, the Foremost
IN: 2 Elspeth, Sun's Champion, 3 Self-Inflicted Wound
Out goes the 4 cards that scale poorly into the grind, and one miser's Anafenza as a concession to the fact that I wanted to board in one more card than I wanted to board out. In come the two trump cards against big green midrange decks and the three Wounds.
Game 2: I fought hard through a ton of Courser pings but eventually the 2nd or 3rd Siege Rhino got me. I never really got close to pressuring his life total all in all.
Game 3: I don't remember this one too well, but there's a pristine, unmarked "20" in my life total column so it must not have been too bad. I want to say that I got a Fleecemane out early and used a bunch of removal to keep punching damage through, but I just don't remember it. :/
Round 6: 4c Not-Red Midrange (2-0)
This was a neat brew. I'm honestly not sure what the base is. It has Hero's Downfall, so I figure it's not Bant Midrange splashing black. Green was pretty prevalent, so I'm assuming it's Abzan splashing blue for Dragonlord Ojutai, some card draw (didn't see any) and counterspells (didn't see any in my match, but I watched her in an earlier round and she had Disdainful Stroke, presumably out of the side). It was a pretty cool concept, but I think it's weak against my deck -- the pilot said she hadn't tested a lot against Abzan Aggro, and I don't really know whether it has the top end of Abzan Control or the long game of Abzan Megamorph. Both games I just raced her, and despite what she had to throw at me I was able to maintain leverage in the matchup and keep putting the pressure on her deck to keep up. Put it this way, she resolved two Dragonlord Ojutai in g2 and had to use both of them as chump blockers to avoid lethal from Fleecemane Lion and Wingmate Roc.
Quarterfinals: Gruul Dragons (0-2)
Hey, did you know this curve is really good?
t1: Elvish Mystic
t2: Courser of Kruphix
t3: Xenagos, the Reveler
t4: Crater's Claws (RIP the OG Fleecemane Lion)
t5: Thunderbreak Regent
t6: Stormbreath Dragon
I learned that today. I didn't leverage my removal properly (using Downfall on a Courser of Kruphix to play the tempo game when Dromoka's Command was coming two turns later and I wasn't under immediate pressure to kill Courser), but I'm not sure how much it even mattered. On to sideboarding.
SIDEBOARDING
OUT: 2 Thoughtseize, 2 Wingmate Roc, 1 Brimaz, King of Oreskos
IN: 2 Elspeth, Sun's Champion, 3 Ultimate Price
Same boarding and strategy as with Mardu Dragons. I generally like this matchup better because they trade the removal from black/white for ramp from green -- which means that sometimes they get ultra-explosive starts and we just lose, but most of the time we can at least race reasonably well, because they aren't interacting with our beats and we have stuff like Sorin and Elspeth as trumps.
Game 2: Did you know this is a pretty good sequence of plays?
t1: Temple of Abandon
t2: Draconic Roar revealing Dragon (RIP the OG Fleecemane Lion 2014-2015)
t3: Courser of Kruphix
t4: Courser of Kruphix
t5: Thunderbreak Regent
t6: Stormbreath Dragon
I actually didn't just lose on the spot to this, because I made a very aggressive play where I swung in with Anafenza and Rhino, threatening lethal if unblocked (2x Abzan Charm was a possible play), and I got him to block both with one Courser each. I dropped Elspeth and nuked the board, leaving me at 3 life and an Elspeth at one loyalty. Sorin was my topdeck so as long as I didn't see another Stormbreath next turn, I had a chance (Sorin can create a chump blocker to stop Thunderbreak, Elspeth makes chump blockers to stop ground shenanigans).
t7: Stormbreath Dragon
$#!7 happens. I mean, I had the god curve Lion into Annie into Rhino, AND I was about to drop the Elspeth/Sorin wombo-combo to get mondo lifegain to buy time until I found the beats to win. It's not like I just drew nothing but lands and couldn't do anything, we just both got our strong curves and I didn't get my walkers in time to go over the top of him.
MOVING FORWARD
I'm generally pretty happy with this list. I think it's incredibly well-positioned against the field right now. It's weak to the best things our opponents can be doing, but over the long run they just won't be doing them often enough to care. For every game where the guy I'm facing in top 8 plays five dragons and a walker in 14 turns across 2 games, there's four or five where he's only playing 1-2 top-end threats or I'm holding removal to handle all those threats or he just draws into nothing but ramp and I just kill him. You just have to be accepting of the fact that this is Magic, your opponents are smart, clever human beings, and there is no uncontested tier 1 deck. If you can do that, and you're a competent player yourself, Abzan Aggro is a superb choice, because it gives you 50/50 to 55/45 against the whole field and lets you win as long as your skill will let you.
One thing I felt inadequately prepared for was Courser of Kruphix, actually. It seems weird to say with all the 4-power creatures and the existence of Dromoka's Command, but there were multiple games where it dropped in and walled me off for a few turns. I'm wondering whether it's worth having a third Command in the sideboard; sac'ing a Courser and getting other value is really good.
I'm disappointed by the fact that Pharika just didn't end up getting to do anything; my testing is still inconclusive with her. She certainly had the potential to do good things in the one game where I found her, I just also happened to have taken complete control of the game with Elspeth by the time I found her. Ultimately, she's a narrow option and a meta call in an event where I expected most of my biggest threats as players to be running the recursion engine with an Abzan Control style shell. I think her inclusion was justifiable for this event, but I don't think I'm going to keep her in the sideboard for Standard league play Tuesday.
Right now I'm thinking about going -2 Pharika, +1 Tasigur, +1 Command sideboard. Thoughts?
I like Brimaz more than Warden because I find my more difficult matchups are against the decks that go under me. Red Aggro is the main culprit in competitive play, but more casual stuff like Warriors gives me trouble as well. Warden is much better than Brimaz against big green midrange decks and significantly (but not by a large amount) better than Brimaz against control decks, but I just don't find that I need the extra help most of the time in those matchups; my game 1 against them is okay and I have a lot of help in the sideboard that comes in for Brimaz and puts me over the top. Even postboard with Drown in Sorrow, though, I struggle with those decks. Brimaz is unreal against these decks, where Warden usually ends up on chump blocking duty.
The mana base follows from the following.
(TL;DR: Casting Brimaz forces us toward more white sources than usual, and we actually end up with a lot of black sources without Temple of Malady, so we go for Temple of Plenty to round everything out.)
(1) The need to be flexible enough to hit BG -or- WG turn 2;
(2) The need to hit 1WW and 1BB turn 3.
The first thing we notice is that we have no turn 1 plays. (Thoughtseize is ideally a turn 2 play in this meta, since so many decks play t1 tapland.) So we really want to be playing a tapped land there to maximize mana fixing, and we want to hit untapped lands every turn after that.
The second thing we notice is that the best chance we have of hitting requirement #1 is to play an untapped green source turn 2. This is true because we run 10 lands that only tap for one color (noting that the fetchlands, while capable of tapping for two, must commit to one or the other), which means that the most likely untapped land to have is an untapped land tapping for one color. (We can change this by playing more painlands, but in extensive testing and in consultation with Frank Karsten's numbers, I find that six painlands without any Mana Confluence is optimal; any further and you do too much damage to yourself.) The only common source between the mana costs of Fleecemane Lion and Rakshasa Deathdealer is green, so therefore our tapped dual/triland needs to be tapping for BW(g) and our untapped mono-land needs to be tapping for green.
This gives us the following mana base:
4 Sandsteppe Citadel
4 Temple of Silence
4 Windswept Heath
2 Forest
2 Plains
2 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
From there, to increase our odds of finding the requisite untapped green sources, we run a full four Llanowar Wastes. Since we can afford to run six painlands total, we also pack two Caves of Koilos.
4 Sandsteppe Citadel
4 Temple of Silence
4 Llanowar Wastes
2 Caves of Koilos
4 Windswept Heath
2 Forest
2 Plains
2 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
We have two lands left, and per Karsten's numbers and our own experience with painlands, we want them to be either 2 temples or 1 temple and 1 basic land. (We want a minimum of five scry lands to give us a chance to dig for land for our double-costed cards.) Let's look at our sources right now:
Green: 13*
White: 13*
Black: 17**
(*: Although we nominally have 14 sources, four of them are fetchlands. Karsten assigns a 1-source penalty to a playset of those, because they can only fetch for one color per land, despite having the capacity to fetch for two.
**: Karsten assigns a 1-source bonus to multiple Urborgs. Nevelo makes a pretty good point earlier that this bonus really should only matter for double-costed spells, but we're going to count it in full here, because the most mana-intensive black spell we have is Hero's Downfall, which costs double-black. We easily cast every other black spell in the deck at 16 sources.)
So we're really cutting it close with green, and we're way behind on white, while we're in pretty good shape with black. We ideally want at least fourteen green sources and want as many as we can afford so that we don't miss a green source, because green is the most important color to the deck. We ideally want eighteen sources of white for Brimaz. This clearly implies that the last two lands should be white-green dual lands, which implies Temple of Plenty. 2 Temple of Plenty puts us at 10 tapped sources, which is acceptable, although a bit high. It gives us a scry bonus toward our double-costed sources and leaves us with this:
White: 15/16
Green: 15/16
Black: 17/18
So black is excellent, we have the sweet spot for Hero's Downfall and ample for every other black spell. We would be a bit tight if we added Bile Blight, but we're not adding Bile Blight, so here we are. Green is also in a superb place; Tasigur's ability is a 2GG cost in our deck and we hit that perfectly fine (not to mention that by the time we're activating it, we should easily have 2 green anyway), and all of our other spells are single-costed, which makes 15 sources ample. White is still tight for Brimaz; 16 is the bare minimum of acceptability and we would really want 18 to be safe, or at least 17. But that's the sacrifice we make with this list. If we wanted, we could cut a Llanowar Wastes for a Caves of Koilos, giving us an acceptable 17 white sources and 14 green sources, but I find I don't like this much because it starts to dilute our core game plan. Brimaz is a nice auxiliary piece; he's not the centerpiece of the strategy. We want to curve out Lion/Deathdealer into Anafenza into Rhino with this deck. Diluting our chances of that by sacrificing green sources (and untapped ones at that!) to make our auxiliary piece a little easier to cast is a losing gambit.
In summary, our core curve dictates a mana base that wants BW(g) land t1, G land t2, which skews us toward a distribution of lands that maxes out on tapped BWg lands and untapped Gx lands. This skew dictates that we use Temple of Plenty to round out the mana base for Brimaz.
I treat Mardu matches like GR Dragons with control aspects, so I actually keep in the Thoughtseizes since removing dragons in their hands is crucial to their removal package.
Meanwhile with GW/x Devotion or Morph my deck sides into CRUSHKILLDESTROY mode by bringing in all the removals I can. The key for me is to stick one threat on the board and just kill everything on their board as they come out. They have no way of refilling their hand outside of Den Protector, but they won't get to 5 mana easily without mana dorks since you're killing them too. They're left to top deck mode, which green decks can be really bad at doing.
Thanks for the positive feedback guys, it means a lot!
After some further reflection during work downtime, this is what I'm looking at changing for tomorrow night's Standard league.
Demoting both Thoughtseize to the sideboard. Control is just so fringe in my local meta and is bordering on fringe even in the broader Standard metagame right now. You do need a way to deal with Esper Control, but it's something like 3% of the field according to MTGTop8. As long as Deathmist Raptor is widespread, it's gonna stay that way, too. And since I board out Thoughtseize almost all the time outside of my control matchups, and my deck is highly capable of winning without a discard effect, it seems prudent to sacrifice some percentage points in the matchup to gain some elsewhere.
I'm removing the two Pharika, God of Affliction from the sideboard for the Thoughtseizes. They were a cool enough tech in theory for the IQ but they didn't end up mattering.
I'm adding a third Dromoka's Command and miser's copy of Valorous Stance to the mainboard to replace the Thoughtseizes. I've found that Courser of Kruphix is a real pain in a lot of circumstances for us. If we stick Lion into Anafenza or we play Deathdealer turn 2, then sure, it's not that big a deal, but I found myself using premium removal (Downfall, basically) to clear a Courser out for my Lion, and that's not where we can afford to be against the Courser decks. An additional Command gives us a greater ability to make them sac Courser and either fight another smaller creature (Satyr Wayfinder, Elvish Mystic) or bolster a Fleecemane Lion so that we don't get walled off by the second one. To make room I yanked one Thoughtseize, since it underperformed, and that left me with a miser's copy of Thoughtseize, which is terrible. Since I had an extra SB spot, it made sense to boot the other one. Then it comes down to wanting a fourth Hero's Downfall (not really), fourth Dromoka's Command (not really), or a card that is really sweet if we find it but nonessential otherwise. A single Den Protector is a reasonable option, but there are times where you just don't want to find Protector at all; can you think of a time where you drew a Valorous Stance and said "Damn, I really can't find a use for this card right now?" Me neither.
Got another Iq coming up soon, question is do I play the Deathmist Package or do I play more removal. Both are incredibly strong, but not entirely sure which I should be utilzing for the particular tournament.
The list is based off of Yuuki Ichikawa's list from GP Shanghai with some changes to fit my play style. It's cut down to 60 cards and Wayfinders are replaced with Lions. Since Wayfinders are out I felt only one Tasigur was good enough. Added in Bile Blights to ease game one against faster decks to be more favorable.
Round 1: GR Dragons
Game one I had Courser and Raptor holding the ground from mana dorks and other Raptors. Eventually a Stormbreath hit the field but I was holding a Downfall for it. It got grindy from there on but all I remember was Elspeth got to ultimate. Game two he curved out perfectly, but lucky for me I had a had of removals that answered everything he played. Two Rhinos got there for me. 2-0
Round 2: Mardu Warriors
Game one I didn't see any red so I assumed it was just BW. I curved Lion > Courser > Rhino while he played two creatures the whole time. Game two it surprised me when he played a red source and Lightning Striked my Lion. Turn 4 he over extended by playing three creatures and I was able to Drown the whole board. He didn't recover after that. 2-0
Round 3: Abzan Aggro
I flooded game one and was too late when I recovered and drew a Crux. Game two he was mana screwed. Game three was an actual match. I played the control role and just removed everything he played except a Deathdealer that came down turn 4. I had to throw some blockers in its path but I couldn't get any Den Protectors to bring back two of my Raptors in the graveyard. Eventually he was able to raid trigger a Wingmate Roc and still had two open mana for Deathdealer. I top deck a Crux and wipe out his flyers, but he regens his Deathdealer. He untaps and swings in for 8, putting me down to 4. I lucked out and top decked a Den Protector and was able to morph and bring back some blockers and put Abzan Charm back into my hand, making it unable for him to risk pumping. He lucks out and top decks a Rhino, putting me at 1. Lucky top decks continues and I get an Elspeth and make tokens, praying he doesn't get another Rhino. He top decks his own Elspeth and we both just laugh at this point. I make a comment that I was going to top deck the game changer and I did. My single Sorin. It completely turns the game around and I won. Afterwards my opponent and I agreed it was the best Abzan vs Abzan match we've ever played. 2-1
Round 4: Abzan Megamoprh
I was burnt out by this point from the previous match and my opponent and I both knew what we were playing. He didn't want to play the mirror so we both just drew and went home, even though we didn't get anything for doing so, we didn't care. Draw
Overall I feel it is VERY solid. I was scared of Mardu, but I figured my best chance is to just Thoughtseize/Duress Anger of the Gods over everything else.
GW ~ Angels ~ WG
Modern:
RBW ~ Shadowmancer ~ WBR
Legacy:
BUG ~ Shadow Delver ~ GUB
RNA Standard: Grixis Midrange, Jund Deathwhirler, Sultai Vannifar
GRN Standard: Red Midrange, Mono-Blue Tempo, Wr Aggro, Gruul Experimental Dinosaurs, Sultai Midrange, Jeskai Midrange
Modern: Bant Spirits
Forcing a single archetype in all formats: too many colors, bad mana.
2 Warden of the First Tree
4 Fleecemane Lion
4 Rakshasa Deathdealer
3 Anafenza, the Foremost
2 Brimaz, King of Oreskos
4 Siege Rhino
Spells:
2 Elspeth, Sun's Champion
1 Sorin, Solemn Visitor
3 Abzan Charm
3 Hero's Downfall
2 Dromoka's Command
2 Bile Blight
3 Thoughtseize
2 Caves of Koilos
3 Forest
4 Llanowar Wastes
2 Plains
4 Sandsteppe Citadel
2 Temple of Malady
2 Temple of Silence
2 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
4 Windswept Heath
1 Tasigur, the Golden Fang
2 Den Protector
3 Drown in Sorrow
2 Self-Inflicted Wound
1 Foul Tongue Invocation
1 Glare of Heresy
3 Ultimate Price
2 Duress
Main difference is Bile Blight is back in the 75. I don't like it, but it's a necessary evil against a lot of decks out there and smooths out Game 1 against them too. I'm also considering switching one Elspeth for the Tasigur in the side.
Some cards that I can't make up my mind about:
Nissa, Worldwaker- She was my go-to against Abzan and control, but Ojutai has made her worse. I really want to put her back into the 75.
3rd Self-Inflicted Wound- The card just wins you games against Abzan better than any other removal. I'm conflicted because Abzan is finally on the rise in my meta, but is still only a small part as a whole for me to justify running 3.
Whip of Erebos- I'd like to run a one-of in the side if it weren't for Dromoka's Command.
Crux of Fate- I wish there was an aggro shell that can run Crux. If there is, I haven't found it.
Liliana Vess- She can really put in some work against reactive decks, but aggro is running enough "finishers" or one-ofs that need to be tutored, but could still be worth it.
Ajani, Mentor of Heroes- Doesn't necessarily put you out of a jam and is only good if you're in a decent to good position.
Standard: BG Golgari Midrange
Modern: U Merfolk GWUBR 5 Color Humans UBW Esper Gifts GW Bogles
Round 1: Dromoka... Something (2-1)
Deck was piloted by an inexperienced (or just bad, I'm not sure which) player and was... not even a true "budget" deck. It's "budget" in the sense that the guy clearly didn't go out and buy good cards, but it's not "budget" in the sense that he tried to build the best deck with a limited budget. It's just a collection of cards he had.
Fortunately for him, that collection included Dragonlord Dromoka and some card that bolstered 4, giving him the win in game 2 when I couldn't find removal. Turns out a 9/11 flying lifelinker is a pretty good creature.
In-between I just rolled him with good cards and he didn't really put up much resistance.
Round 2: Gruul Dragons (2-0)
Game 1 was almost scary. I got Anafenza turn 3 and Brimaz turn 4... and he got Dragonlord Atarka turn 4 thanks to a really big ramp. (t1 Elf, t2 morphed Rattleclaw). I had removal though so it wasn't an actual problem, just startling. He had no real follow-up and I just kept playing creatures and won.
Game 2 he kept a really sketchy hand (one-lander!) and played Elf, dork, Courser. I Priced the Courser and another showed up, but he never found more than 2 lands, so even with the two mana dorks he couldn't actually cast but one threat a turn. Again, just overran him with beats and removal.
Round 3: Simic Devotion (2-1)
Game 1 he got two Master of Waves on the field. Six 3/2 Elementals is hard to deal with. Fortunately I got Sorin out, and I was just able to clock him with Wingmate Roc. Game 2 he got two Master of Waves out again, and I didn't have the removal to get rid of them in time. Game 3 he didn't get the godhand and I stomped him. I think Simic Devotion w/Collected Company has a chance to be decent, but Abzan just has too much goodstuff.
Round 4: Dimir Control (2-1)
Game 1 I lost a tough game, we were running stride for stride for 10-12 turns and then I topdecked lands for 4 turns while he topdecked Jace's Ingenuity and found nothing but goods. Game 2 was my favorite endgame in all of Magic. Situation:
Opponent: Ashiok, the Nightmare Weaver with Anafenza, the Foremost and Siege Rhino exiled. Aetherspouts revealed in hand. Ashiok is at 9 loyalty.
Me: Tasigur, the Golden Fang, Fleecemane Lion (monstrous). Hero's Downfall in hand.
I activate Tasigur's ability, he casts Hero's Downfall in response, I activate Tasigur's ability again. He gives me back Elspeth, Sun's Champion after I mill double lands, because I can't cast it this turn. I milled a Siege Rhino and a Duress, which he promptly handed back to me. He cast Tasigur and activated his ability, I Downfalled in response and gave him back Crux of Fate. He spawned a Rhino so we both went to 5 life. I drew a tapped land (11th land of the game) and passed, he popped Anafenza and swung with Rhino (blocked with Lion). I topdecked a Rhino!!! Cast Duress, made him get rid of Aetherspouts (only card left in hand!), cast Elspeth, nuked board, swung for 4 with Lion to put him to 1, cast Siege Rhino, got him!! Everyone was watching at that point because we had gone so late and I was undefeated at that point. It was really awesome.
Game 3 I stuck a t4 Siege Rhino and beat him down to 5 life before turns ended. He conceded to me since a draw would put him at x-1-1 (and out of prizes). Really cool dude.
Round 5: Selesnya Megamorph (1-2)
Game 1 he clocked me with 2 Deathmist Raptors and 1 Den Protector. Not much to be done, I kept a slow-ish hand and never had exile effects so I couldn't keep up. Game 2 I got pretty much everything I needed (Abzan Charm for the only Raptor I saw, a Wingmate Roc, and a Sorin that got two Vampires out), flew over his board before he could get going. Game 3 he found pretty much the best cards in his deck against me - Radiant Purge to KO my Deathdealer, two Hornet Nests to stop everything and eventually just beat me with Raptors. I couldn't find my flying creatures and lost for it.
GW ~ Angels ~ WG
Modern:
RBW ~ Shadowmancer ~ WBR
Legacy:
BUG ~ Shadow Delver ~ GUB
So one thing I've noticed is that I have 12 removals in the side. So many of them seem to come in most of the time and I realized, I should just be playing Abzan Control right now since it's in a good position in my meta. Here is my list:
3 Courser of Kruphix
3 Den Protector
3 Fleecemane Lion
4 Siege Rhino
1 Tasigur, the Golden Fang
Planeswalkers
3 Elspeth, Sun's Champion
Spells
4 Abzan Charm
2 Bile Blight
4 Hero's Downfall
4 Thoughtseize
1 Utter End
1 Crux of Fate
1 Murderous Cut
2 Caves of Koilos
2 Forest
3 Llanowar Wastes
2 Plains
4 Sandsteppe Citadel
4 Temple of Malady
4 Temple of Silence
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
4 Windswept Heath
1 Crux of Fate
2 Duress
3 Drown in Sorrow
1 Ugin, the Spirit Dragon
1 Liliana Vess
2 Nissa, Worldwaker
2 Read the Bones
2 Ultimate Price
1 Glare of Heresy
I had to adjust the standard control list to do well against Stormbreath decks in my meta. I honestly don't like Dromoka's Command in a control list, so they've been replaced with Utter End and Murderous Cut. I'm still iffy on the choice since Command keeps the curve lower.
Standard: BG Golgari Midrange
Modern: U Merfolk GWUBR 5 Color Humans UBW Esper Gifts GW Bogles
3 Den Protector
4 Fleecemane Lion
4 Siege Rhino
1 Tasigur, the Golden Fang
1 Wingmate Roc
4 Abzan Charm
2 Bile Blight
2 Dromoka's Command
3 Hero's Downfall
4 Thoughtseize
2 Elspeth, Sun's Champion
2 Forest
4 Llanowar Wastes
2 Plains
4 Sandsteppe Citadel
4 Temple of Malady
3 Temple of Silence
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
4 Windswept Heath
4 Arashin Cleric
1 Dromoka's Command
4 Drown in Sorrow
2 Duress
1 End Hostilities
1 Tasigur, the Golden Fang
1 Ultimate Price
1 Valorous Stance
Fairly uneventful rounds made for an easy time
Rd 1 - Sultai Megamorph (2-0) W
Rd 2 - 4 Color Ramp (2-0) W
Rd 3 - Jeskai Control (0-0-1) D
Rd 4 - R/B Aggro (2-0) W
All things said, pretty good night.
Made some changes post FNM
-1 downfall, -1 wrath, +1 thoughtseize, +1 command (main)
-1 bile blight, -1 thoughtseize, +1 drown, +1 wrath (board)
(246-174-26)
Well, maybe not Control. A list like this:
4 Den Protector
4 Deathmist Raptor
4 Siege Rhino
2 Sidisi, Undead Vizier
2 Tasigur, the Golden Fang
1 Garruk, Apex Predator
1 Ugin, the Spirit Dragon
rest removal and lands.
Basically combining Jacob Wilson's Wayfinder/Sidisi package with Protector/Raptor. No Coursers make me weak to aggro I feel, but maybe Deathmist Raptor stops that.
GW ~ Angels ~ WG
Modern:
RBW ~ Shadowmancer ~ WBR
Legacy:
BUG ~ Shadow Delver ~ GUB
UBRGrixis Kiki Control
BGUSultai Shadow
GWRBushwhacker Zoo
EDH:
BGU Sidisi, Brood Tyrant
UBR Marchesa, the Black Rose
GWU Roon of the Hidden Realm
4 Fleecemane Lion
4 Rakshasa Deathdealer
4 Anafenza, the Foremost
4 Siege Rhino
2 Brimaz, King of Oreskos
2 Wingmate Roc
1 Tasigur, the Golden Fang
Planeswalkers (2)
2 Sorin, Solemn Visitor
Spells (11)
4 Abzan Charm
3 Hero's Downfall
2 Dromoka's Command
2 Thoughtseize
4 Sandsteppe Citadel
4 Temple of Silence
2 Temple of Plenty
4 Llanowar Wastes
2 Caves of Koilos
4 Windswept Heath
2 Forest
2 Plains
2 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
2 Drown in Sorrow
1 Duress
2 Elspeth, Sun's Champion
2 Pharika, God of Affliction
3 Self-Inflicted Wound
2 Thoughtseize
3 Ultimate Price
The changes:
Sideboard: -1 Duress, -1 Tasigur, the Golden Fang, +2 Pharika, God of Affliction
Rationale: Esper Control has been crowded out of my meta in a big big way, and I think I can make do with five discard spells instead of six against them. The second Tasigur has also been a lot less impacting than the first; probably because it's a sideboard card, probably because finding multiples sucks a lot. Whatever the case, I've been underwhelmed no matter the matchup.
Esper Control specifically got crowded out by Abzan/Selesnya Megamorph. I've seen almost all of the good players running that right now, so I want to be one step ahead of them. I'm testing 2 Pharikas and really liking them. You can't respond to the morph, but you can respond to the trigger by exiling their Raptors. Giving them deathtouch snakes sucks, but it sucks a lot less than giving them infinite Raptors... In combination with 4 Anafenzas and 4 Abzan Charms, all while maintaining the core curve and four flying generators, I think I'm probably slightly favored in that matchup.
GW ~ Angels ~ WG
Modern:
RBW ~ Shadowmancer ~ WBR
Legacy:
BUG ~ Shadow Delver ~ GUB
I think if you're willing to go as narrow as Pharika, God of Affliction to beat Deathmist Raptor, you'd probably be better off with 2x Devouring Light in your SB. That card at least has cross function against the rest of Abzan's creatures and especially Rakshasa Deathdealer. The convoke is more relevant than I gave it credit for at first and has good synergy with Brimaz, King of Oreskos. The only card I can think of that it is actively bad against is Stormbreath Dragon.
The other card I'm high on right now against Deathmist Raptor is Bile Blight. I don't find my opponents recurring their Deathmist Raptors more than once or twice a game. Bile Blight lets you send them back to the yard, which is sometimes all you need to win. I like this solution a little less because of the +1/+1 counter abilities on Abzan Charm and Dromoka's Command.
UBRGrixis Kiki Control
BGUSultai Shadow
GWRBushwhacker Zoo
EDH:
BGU Sidisi, Brood Tyrant
UBR Marchesa, the Black Rose
GWU Roon of the Hidden Realm
And Pharika also can't be answered by conventional cards. Utter End is a fringe SB card that has just as much of a chance of anything else at being used on something before Pharika drops in. Radiant Purge actually worries me a bit, but only because I know someone who will be in the IQ (the guy who beat me in Round 5 of FNM, actually) that's on Selesnya instead of Bant/Abzan -- it's really not a great card, but it's good enough to use in a meta full of Abzan if you're in GW. All of our old anti-enchantment cards disappeared from the meta, and even then Erase is the only one that actually does anything to Pharika to begin with. Dromoka's Command doesn't work if I'm not stupid/desperate enough to drop her in without the ability to crank out a Snake.
So basically I park Pharika and unless my opponent happens to (a) have narrow SB cards themselves, (b) boards them in for me and (c) draws into them, I just win, because without graveyard recursion Abzan Megamorph is a weaker Abzan Aggro/Control (depending on the rest of the shell).
I do agree that she's a narrow answer -- she's only coming in for that one matchup. But the rest of my board is tuned well enough to let me indulge in it, and it's a really good card for that matchup, and I'm bad at that matchup, and that matchup will be all over the place at the IQ, so I think the combination of circumstances warrants it. I wouldn't normally recommend it, to be sure.
GW ~ Angels ~ WG
Modern:
RBW ~ Shadowmancer ~ WBR
Legacy:
BUG ~ Shadow Delver ~ GUB
If you really want to be cute just play Agent of Erebos. At least you get the convenience of exiling the entire graveyard in one shot when it's played.
Standard: BG Golgari Midrange
Modern: U Merfolk GWUBR 5 Color Humans UBW Esper Gifts GW Bogles
GW ~ Angels ~ WG
Modern:
RBW ~ Shadowmancer ~ WBR
Legacy:
BUG ~ Shadow Delver ~ GUB
GW ~ Angels ~ WG
Modern:
RBW ~ Shadowmancer ~ WBR
Legacy:
BUG ~ Shadow Delver ~ GUB
4 Fleecemane Lion
4 Rakshasa Deathdealer
4 Anafenza, the Foremost
4 Siege Rhino
2 Brimaz, King of Oreskos
2 Wingmate Roc
1 Tasigur, the Golden Fang
Spells (13)
4 Abzan Charm
3 Hero's Downfall
2 Dromoka's Command
2 Thoughtseize
4 Sandsteppe Citadel
4 Temple of Silence
2 Temple of Plenty
4 Llanowar Wastes
2 Caves of Koilos
4 Windswept Heath
2 Forest
2 Plains
2 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
2 Drown in Sorrow
1 Duress
2 Elspeth, Sun's Champion
2 Pharika, God of Affliction
3 Self-Inflicted Wound
2 Thoughtseize
3 Ultimate Price
Round 1: Mardu Dragons (2-0)
Game 1: After a t2 Thoughtseize took away his Goblin Rabblemaster, I resolved t3 Brimaz and he went the distance with removal backup. Dromoka's Command handled a Thunderbreak Regent, Abzan Charm handled a second, and I dropped a Sorin after he landed Stormbreath Dragon to get too far ahead in the race.
SIDEBOARDING:
OUT: 2 Thoughtseize, 2 Wingmate Roc, 1 Brimaz, King of Oreskos
IN: 2 Elspeth, Sun's Champion, 3 Ultimate Price
Brimaz soloed g1 and then got to ride the bench g2, lol. It felt weird boarding out the two cards that basically won me the first game, but it was the right call not to get sucked into the myopic trap of keeping bad cards because they worked once. Thoughtseize comes out here because we beat this deck by winning the tempo battle, not punching holes in their hand and trying to 1-for-1 them all day. We don't even really have the removal to do it in the first place, even postboard. Wingmate Roc isn't as bad as you'd think, since just having it to block stops Thunderbreak and Kolaghan from swinging in as long as you have the Bird (or if you managed to get a stray +1/+1 counter on them, or you used Sorin's +1, or...), but again, we aren't trying to grind them out, we're trying to grind them into dust. A card whose calling card in the matchup is "Sure, I can't attack, but neither can one of their dudes!" isn't exactly the way to win there. I took out a Brimaz because he scales poorly in the matchup - especially on the draw, Brimaz feels like a wasted turn when they drop Thunderbreak turn 4.
Game 2: I don't remember the exact line of play that saw me through this game. All I remember is that he resolved THREE Goblin Rabblemasters and somehow I never felt remotely threatened or endangered by them. Some of them ate kill spells, some of them pissed themselves at the sight of a Siege Rhino, none of them made me worry much. He didn't draw any other beats, and it's just a sad reality of Standard (for Rabble players, I guess, anyway) that Rabblemaster doesn't cut it anymore.
Round 2: Selesnya Megamorph (2-0)
Game 1: Ran him over before he got going. Fleecemane Lion into Anafenza, the Foremost into kill spells exiling the single Raptor and Protector I saw did some work, and he just couldn't get the engine online. He got Mastery of the Unseen out t2, but again, didn't find the Raptor and Protector quick enough and didn't get the mana to start manifesting bros.
SIDEBOARDING:
OUT: 2 Thoughtseize, 2 Brimaz, King of Oreskos, 2 Rakshasa Deathdealer (!), 1 Hero's Downfall
IN: 2 Elspeth, Sun's Champion, 2 Pharika, God of Affliction, 3 Self-Inflicted Wound
I'm still figuring out the sideboarding strategy for this matchup. Initially I was going to board out all 4 Deathdealers and bring in 2 Drown in Sorrow. I'm honestly torn as to whether this is correct or incorrect. On the one hand, he at one point during g2 had a board with 10-11 creatures that would have died to a Drown (and I had Anafenza, so key players like Den Protector would have been exiled). This included the Hornet Nests that I knew he would likely board in. On the other hand, Rakshasa Deathdealer was INSTRUMENTAL in my win, and on paper is very strong here. I'm going to need to test this matchup more to see what the right call is. I think Thoughtseize and Brimaz are easy outs because they don't scale well into grindy games, and the miser's Downfall was fine since I still had two (which seems to be the widely-accepted "correct" number to have). Command has some sick game here since the deck runs Coursers and Masteries, but it can also be awkward when it's your only removal for a Deathmist Raptor. I just find myself in this place where I have very few clearly bad cards against them and a plethora of "ehhhhh, could be good could be bad" cards, and it's hard to board.
One thing I'm thinking was incorrect was using Self-Inflicted Wound (the absence of which might open things up). I board it in almost reflexively against GWx anything, but when the core game plan postboard is to outgrind them by using Elspeth to go wider than them and Pharika to take away their recursion machine, Wound is terrible. It's easy to get giddy about Shock attached to an edict, but sometimes those edicts require really creative lines of play, and again, I don't like creative lines of play.
Game 2: Welcome to The Grindfest 2015. This game was long so TL;DR:
- He knocked my Elspeth to 1 loyalty twice with Den Protectors
- I got her emblem anyway
- I had >20 soldiers at one point
- Plunging for >70 damage in the air is hilarious, and I wish my opponents wouldn't scoop right before I get to do it
- Anafenza dropped on turn 3 and save for a Dromoka's Command briefly taking her out (for one turn, before I dropped #2), she was there the whole game
- Rakshasa Deathdealer is a very good Magic card, especially when you're bad at Magic and board down to 2 of them and find them anyway
- Hornet Nest is bu11$#!7, recurring Hornet Nest with Den Protector is mondo bu11$#!7, flying over Hornet Nest feels great man
Basically Elspeth works exactly like we've said in here all along. Deathmist Raptor is just unimpressive without evasion IF we can stick an Elspeth. That's easier said than done, but she does a lot of work. Den Protector can be scary, especially when they start putting Dromoka's Command counters on it. They honestly only need to get her to 4 power a fair amount of the time; we don't really WANT to block with Anafenza without backup available, and only Rhino and a pumping Deathdealer can block her otherwise. Not even him getting two Whisperwoods out was enough to slow me down. I think Abzan Megamorph would have been a lot scarier, since I took a very conservative game plan and leaned entirely on Elspeth to get me there, and a single Downfall would have been huge. Selesnya Megamorph just doesn't have the planeswalker hate to handle a resolved Elspeth. It's too dependent on Den Protector.
Round 3: Jund CoCo Aggro (1-2)
This deck looked kinda tight. It's one of a million reasonably-sound Collected Company brews, this time looking to get there with Goblin Rabblemaster, Heir of the Wilds, Boon Satyr and Rakshasa Deathdealer as the cornerstones. I don't think the power level is really there, but it was obvious that I didn't know how to play against it, because I made several really dumb mistakes that cost me.
Game 1: I got to play t2 Thoughtseize and saw Deathdealer, Heir, Collected Company, Thoughtseize, and Wooded Foothills with 2 lands in play. I took the Deathdealer because I didn't have convenient kill spells and had a slow-ish hand -- I think I was just hoping he wouldn't hit t4/t5 Company somehow. I don't know what the right take was. The game didn't end well for me at all, I just couldn't stabilize with my superior cards and he got me.
I don't remember my sideboard All I remember was that I boarded in Pharika and never saw either part of the combo. I probably should have realized that with Thoughtseize and Hero's Downfall alongside a third color, it was unlikely he would run the green-heavy Raptor/Protector engine, but down a game I figured I would want the trump card just to ensure I don't lose on the spot to dinosaurs.
Game 2: We traded blows for a while, I eventually resolved a Rhino and a Raided Roc and he couldn't close me out.
Game 3: Was also short and not in my favor. I couldn't stick a threat and by the time I did, I was dumb and tapped out to attack when he had open mana for Boon Satyr. It's one of those things that you can perhaps understand being surprised by; if it just doesn't occur to you then too bad. Sometimes you just don't think of things. But if I had thought harder about the deck design and the available creatures, Boon Satyr is pretty much a shoe-in for any Jund Company deck given the lack of high-quality 3-drops in those colors. I feel silly for walking into it because it's something that I should have been able to anticipate given my knowledge of the format.
Round 4: Esper Control (2-0)
He mulled to six both games, so I had a big leg up there.
Game 1: I stuck a Fleecemane Lion that got monstrous and made some significant headway there. I had to fight through 3 Ojutais without any edicts... and I suceeded! Dromoka's Command actually helped a lot there, effectively giving me Reach. I eventually lost the Lion to a Foul-Tongue Invocation, and I almost screwed up because I missed ticking Sorin up on one turn. I got the emblem right before his 3rd Ojutai could attack me, though, and I got through his counterspells and removal before he could draw into more of them.
SIDEBOARDING
OUT: 2 Dromoka's Command, 2 Wingmate Roc, 2 Brimaz, King of Oreskos
IN: 2 Thoughtseize, 1 Duress, 3 Self-Inflicted Wound
This is pretty easy sideboarding. Roc is hard to trigger Raid in this matchup and leaves us open to Crux getting a 2+ for 1. Brimaz is actually decent, but we want all the removal and discard effects that I leave in, and Brimaz is the worst of a bunch of good threats. Command is bad against hexproof non-enchantments, film at 11. Self-Inflicted Wound is an incredible tempo play for us, KOing an Ojutai as they tap out and Shocking them for 2 mana. As people get away from Drifty D, this only gets better. Discard effects are the bane of control so it's no surprise to see them.
Game 2: This one was rough for him. He really needed to stick an Ojutai, and he had Haven of the Spirit Dragon to bring it back, so he was in a decent spot. Unfortunately, I'd resolved Anafenza, the Foremost and nailed his Ojutai with Self-Inflicted Wound. Exiling Ojutai and dealing 6 dmg in one turn is a pretty successful turn. I dropped a Rhino after that, and I'm pretty sure I had a Lion backup, but it didn't matter, he just didn't have what he needed. Mulligans hurt control so bad.
Round 5: Abzan Control (2-1)
Game 1: I ran away with a win here by playing a tempo game. I stuck an early beat (don't remember which) and just killed everything in its way until he played Siege Rhino. Then I resolved Wingmate Roc and flew over him for lethal.
SIDEBOARDING
OUT: 2 Thoughtseize, 2 Brimaz, King of Oreskos, 1 Anafenza, the Foremost
IN: 2 Elspeth, Sun's Champion, 3 Self-Inflicted Wound
Out goes the 4 cards that scale poorly into the grind, and one miser's Anafenza as a concession to the fact that I wanted to board in one more card than I wanted to board out. In come the two trump cards against big green midrange decks and the three Wounds.
Game 2: I fought hard through a ton of Courser pings but eventually the 2nd or 3rd Siege Rhino got me. I never really got close to pressuring his life total all in all.
Game 3: I don't remember this one too well, but there's a pristine, unmarked "20" in my life total column so it must not have been too bad. I want to say that I got a Fleecemane out early and used a bunch of removal to keep punching damage through, but I just don't remember it. :/
Round 6: 4c Not-Red Midrange (2-0)
This was a neat brew. I'm honestly not sure what the base is. It has Hero's Downfall, so I figure it's not Bant Midrange splashing black. Green was pretty prevalent, so I'm assuming it's Abzan splashing blue for Dragonlord Ojutai, some card draw (didn't see any) and counterspells (didn't see any in my match, but I watched her in an earlier round and she had Disdainful Stroke, presumably out of the side). It was a pretty cool concept, but I think it's weak against my deck -- the pilot said she hadn't tested a lot against Abzan Aggro, and I don't really know whether it has the top end of Abzan Control or the long game of Abzan Megamorph. Both games I just raced her, and despite what she had to throw at me I was able to maintain leverage in the matchup and keep putting the pressure on her deck to keep up. Put it this way, she resolved two Dragonlord Ojutai in g2 and had to use both of them as chump blockers to avoid lethal from Fleecemane Lion and Wingmate Roc.
Quarterfinals: Gruul Dragons (0-2)
Hey, did you know this curve is really good?
t1: Elvish Mystic
t2: Courser of Kruphix
t3: Xenagos, the Reveler
t4: Crater's Claws (RIP the OG Fleecemane Lion)
t5: Thunderbreak Regent
t6: Stormbreath Dragon
I learned that today. I didn't leverage my removal properly (using Downfall on a Courser of Kruphix to play the tempo game when Dromoka's Command was coming two turns later and I wasn't under immediate pressure to kill Courser), but I'm not sure how much it even mattered. On to sideboarding.
SIDEBOARDING
OUT: 2 Thoughtseize, 2 Wingmate Roc, 1 Brimaz, King of Oreskos
IN: 2 Elspeth, Sun's Champion, 3 Ultimate Price
Same boarding and strategy as with Mardu Dragons. I generally like this matchup better because they trade the removal from black/white for ramp from green -- which means that sometimes they get ultra-explosive starts and we just lose, but most of the time we can at least race reasonably well, because they aren't interacting with our beats and we have stuff like Sorin and Elspeth as trumps.
Game 2: Did you know this is a pretty good sequence of plays?
t1: Temple of Abandon
t2: Draconic Roar revealing Dragon (RIP the OG Fleecemane Lion 2014-2015)
t3: Courser of Kruphix
t4: Courser of Kruphix
t5: Thunderbreak Regent
t6: Stormbreath Dragon
I actually didn't just lose on the spot to this, because I made a very aggressive play where I swung in with Anafenza and Rhino, threatening lethal if unblocked (2x Abzan Charm was a possible play), and I got him to block both with one Courser each. I dropped Elspeth and nuked the board, leaving me at 3 life and an Elspeth at one loyalty. Sorin was my topdeck so as long as I didn't see another Stormbreath next turn, I had a chance (Sorin can create a chump blocker to stop Thunderbreak, Elspeth makes chump blockers to stop ground shenanigans).
t7: Stormbreath Dragon
$#!7 happens. I mean, I had the god curve Lion into Annie into Rhino, AND I was about to drop the Elspeth/Sorin wombo-combo to get mondo lifegain to buy time until I found the beats to win. It's not like I just drew nothing but lands and couldn't do anything, we just both got our strong curves and I didn't get my walkers in time to go over the top of him.
MOVING FORWARD
I'm generally pretty happy with this list. I think it's incredibly well-positioned against the field right now. It's weak to the best things our opponents can be doing, but over the long run they just won't be doing them often enough to care. For every game where the guy I'm facing in top 8 plays five dragons and a walker in 14 turns across 2 games, there's four or five where he's only playing 1-2 top-end threats or I'm holding removal to handle all those threats or he just draws into nothing but ramp and I just kill him. You just have to be accepting of the fact that this is Magic, your opponents are smart, clever human beings, and there is no uncontested tier 1 deck. If you can do that, and you're a competent player yourself, Abzan Aggro is a superb choice, because it gives you 50/50 to 55/45 against the whole field and lets you win as long as your skill will let you.
One thing I felt inadequately prepared for was Courser of Kruphix, actually. It seems weird to say with all the 4-power creatures and the existence of Dromoka's Command, but there were multiple games where it dropped in and walled me off for a few turns. I'm wondering whether it's worth having a third Command in the sideboard; sac'ing a Courser and getting other value is really good.
I'm disappointed by the fact that Pharika just didn't end up getting to do anything; my testing is still inconclusive with her. She certainly had the potential to do good things in the one game where I found her, I just also happened to have taken complete control of the game with Elspeth by the time I found her. Ultimately, she's a narrow option and a meta call in an event where I expected most of my biggest threats as players to be running the recursion engine with an Abzan Control style shell. I think her inclusion was justifiable for this event, but I don't think I'm going to keep her in the sideboard for Standard league play Tuesday.
Right now I'm thinking about going -2 Pharika, +1 Tasigur, +1 Command sideboard. Thoughts?
GW ~ Angels ~ WG
Modern:
RBW ~ Shadowmancer ~ WBR
Legacy:
BUG ~ Shadow Delver ~ GUB
The mana base follows from the following.
(TL;DR: Casting Brimaz forces us toward more white sources than usual, and we actually end up with a lot of black sources without Temple of Malady, so we go for Temple of Plenty to round everything out.)
(1) The need to be flexible enough to hit BG -or- WG turn 2;
(2) The need to hit 1WW and 1BB turn 3.
The first thing we notice is that we have no turn 1 plays. (Thoughtseize is ideally a turn 2 play in this meta, since so many decks play t1 tapland.) So we really want to be playing a tapped land there to maximize mana fixing, and we want to hit untapped lands every turn after that.
The second thing we notice is that the best chance we have of hitting requirement #1 is to play an untapped green source turn 2. This is true because we run 10 lands that only tap for one color (noting that the fetchlands, while capable of tapping for two, must commit to one or the other), which means that the most likely untapped land to have is an untapped land tapping for one color. (We can change this by playing more painlands, but in extensive testing and in consultation with Frank Karsten's numbers, I find that six painlands without any Mana Confluence is optimal; any further and you do too much damage to yourself.) The only common source between the mana costs of Fleecemane Lion and Rakshasa Deathdealer is green, so therefore our tapped dual/triland needs to be tapping for BW(g) and our untapped mono-land needs to be tapping for green.
This gives us the following mana base:
4 Sandsteppe Citadel
4 Temple of Silence
4 Windswept Heath
2 Forest
2 Plains
2 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
From there, to increase our odds of finding the requisite untapped green sources, we run a full four Llanowar Wastes. Since we can afford to run six painlands total, we also pack two Caves of Koilos.
4 Sandsteppe Citadel
4 Temple of Silence
4 Llanowar Wastes
2 Caves of Koilos
4 Windswept Heath
2 Forest
2 Plains
2 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
We have two lands left, and per Karsten's numbers and our own experience with painlands, we want them to be either 2 temples or 1 temple and 1 basic land. (We want a minimum of five scry lands to give us a chance to dig for land for our double-costed cards.) Let's look at our sources right now:
Green: 13*
White: 13*
Black: 17**
(*: Although we nominally have 14 sources, four of them are fetchlands. Karsten assigns a 1-source penalty to a playset of those, because they can only fetch for one color per land, despite having the capacity to fetch for two.
**: Karsten assigns a 1-source bonus to multiple Urborgs. Nevelo makes a pretty good point earlier that this bonus really should only matter for double-costed spells, but we're going to count it in full here, because the most mana-intensive black spell we have is Hero's Downfall, which costs double-black. We easily cast every other black spell in the deck at 16 sources.)
So we're really cutting it close with green, and we're way behind on white, while we're in pretty good shape with black. We ideally want at least fourteen green sources and want as many as we can afford so that we don't miss a green source, because green is the most important color to the deck. We ideally want eighteen sources of white for Brimaz. This clearly implies that the last two lands should be white-green dual lands, which implies Temple of Plenty. 2 Temple of Plenty puts us at 10 tapped sources, which is acceptable, although a bit high. It gives us a scry bonus toward our double-costed sources and leaves us with this:
White: 15/16
Green: 15/16
Black: 17/18
So black is excellent, we have the sweet spot for Hero's Downfall and ample for every other black spell. We would be a bit tight if we added Bile Blight, but we're not adding Bile Blight, so here we are. Green is also in a superb place; Tasigur's ability is a 2GG cost in our deck and we hit that perfectly fine (not to mention that by the time we're activating it, we should easily have 2 green anyway), and all of our other spells are single-costed, which makes 15 sources ample. White is still tight for Brimaz; 16 is the bare minimum of acceptability and we would really want 18 to be safe, or at least 17. But that's the sacrifice we make with this list. If we wanted, we could cut a Llanowar Wastes for a Caves of Koilos, giving us an acceptable 17 white sources and 14 green sources, but I find I don't like this much because it starts to dilute our core game plan. Brimaz is a nice auxiliary piece; he's not the centerpiece of the strategy. We want to curve out Lion/Deathdealer into Anafenza into Rhino with this deck. Diluting our chances of that by sacrificing green sources (and untapped ones at that!) to make our auxiliary piece a little easier to cast is a losing gambit.
In summary, our core curve dictates a mana base that wants BW(g) land t1, G land t2, which skews us toward a distribution of lands that maxes out on tapped BWg lands and untapped Gx lands. This skew dictates that we use Temple of Plenty to round out the mana base for Brimaz.
GW ~ Angels ~ WG
Modern:
RBW ~ Shadowmancer ~ WBR
Legacy:
BUG ~ Shadow Delver ~ GUB
Meanwhile with GW/x Devotion or Morph my deck sides into CRUSHKILLDESTROY mode by bringing in all the removals I can. The key for me is to stick one threat on the board and just kill everything on their board as they come out. They have no way of refilling their hand outside of Den Protector, but they won't get to 5 mana easily without mana dorks since you're killing them too. They're left to top deck mode, which green decks can be really bad at doing.
Standard: BG Golgari Midrange
Modern: U Merfolk GWUBR 5 Color Humans UBW Esper Gifts GW Bogles
After some further reflection during work downtime, this is what I'm looking at changing for tomorrow night's Standard league.
GW ~ Angels ~ WG
Modern:
RBW ~ Shadowmancer ~ WBR
Legacy:
BUG ~ Shadow Delver ~ GUB
3 Fleecemane Lion
3 Courser of Kruphix
4 Deathmist Raptor
4 Den Protector
4 Siege Rhino
1 Tasigur, the Golden Fang
Spells
3 Elspeth, Sun's Champion
3 Thoughtseize
2 Bile Blight
2 Crux of Fate
3 Abzan Charm
3 Hero's Downfall
4 Sandsteppe Citadel
4 Temple of Malady
2 Temple of Silence
4 Windswept Heath
4 Llanowar Wastes
2 Caves of Kolios
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
2 Forest
2 Plains
1 Ugin, the Spirit Dragon
3 Drown in Sorrow
3 Ultimate Price
2 Duress
2 Nissa, Worldwaker
2 Dromoka's Command
1 Glare of Heresy
1 Sorin, Solemn Visitor
The list is based off of Yuuki Ichikawa's list from GP Shanghai with some changes to fit my play style. It's cut down to 60 cards and Wayfinders are replaced with Lions. Since Wayfinders are out I felt only one Tasigur was good enough. Added in Bile Blights to ease game one against faster decks to be more favorable.
Round 1: GR Dragons
Game one I had Courser and Raptor holding the ground from mana dorks and other Raptors. Eventually a Stormbreath hit the field but I was holding a Downfall for it. It got grindy from there on but all I remember was Elspeth got to ultimate. Game two he curved out perfectly, but lucky for me I had a had of removals that answered everything he played. Two Rhinos got there for me.
2-0
Round 2: Mardu Warriors
Game one I didn't see any red so I assumed it was just BW. I curved Lion > Courser > Rhino while he played two creatures the whole time. Game two it surprised me when he played a red source and Lightning Striked my Lion. Turn 4 he over extended by playing three creatures and I was able to Drown the whole board. He didn't recover after that.
2-0
Round 3: Abzan Aggro
I flooded game one and was too late when I recovered and drew a Crux. Game two he was mana screwed. Game three was an actual match. I played the control role and just removed everything he played except a Deathdealer that came down turn 4. I had to throw some blockers in its path but I couldn't get any Den Protectors to bring back two of my Raptors in the graveyard. Eventually he was able to raid trigger a Wingmate Roc and still had two open mana for Deathdealer. I top deck a Crux and wipe out his flyers, but he regens his Deathdealer. He untaps and swings in for 8, putting me down to 4. I lucked out and top decked a Den Protector and was able to morph and bring back some blockers and put Abzan Charm back into my hand, making it unable for him to risk pumping. He lucks out and top decks a Rhino, putting me at 1. Lucky top decks continues and I get an Elspeth and make tokens, praying he doesn't get another Rhino. He top decks his own Elspeth and we both just laugh at this point. I make a comment that I was going to top deck the game changer and I did. My single Sorin. It completely turns the game around and I won. Afterwards my opponent and I agreed it was the best Abzan vs Abzan match we've ever played.
2-1
Round 4: Abzan Megamoprh
I was burnt out by this point from the previous match and my opponent and I both knew what we were playing. He didn't want to play the mirror so we both just drew and went home, even though we didn't get anything for doing so, we didn't care.
Draw
Overall I feel it is VERY solid. I was scared of Mardu, but I figured my best chance is to just Thoughtseize/Duress Anger of the Gods over everything else.
Standard: BG Golgari Midrange
Modern: U Merfolk GWUBR 5 Color Humans UBW Esper Gifts GW Bogles