General idea is to drop stall the game early and bait out early removal with Brain Maggots while filling up your yard so you can make a decent size zombie during their end step. I haven't really seen what the meta's like, so some help on how to tune this for the next FNM would be greatly appreciated. I also don't really know about most of the cards in Fate Reforged, so I may have missed some useful cards from that set.
Eh, I never know if it'll be standard fnm or modern fnm.
I've been looking at all the lists, and I can't help think that going white or staying GB is the best option. Adding blue to my deck just isn't working for me, and the deck is way less consistent than it was last standard. Is it just me?
One thing to remember, Back to Nature is in standard right now, so running a resilient sideboard alongside sweepers like Extinguish All Hopes and Drown in Sorrow will help with early aggro and midrange strategies.
Why no Kruphix, god of horizons? Storing absurd amounts of mana after each turn just to have more available because prophet? Yes. Plus, villainous wealth for 60, pass turn.
Kruphix actually works a little against delve, actually. Previous standard I found the fastest way to filter our hand was with a pair of Eidolon of Blossoms and end of turn discarding. That's usually when we're the winning boardstate, but still. I was considering it if Back to Nature saw play, as a way to both play a more controlling list while hard casting things like villianous wealth for 40 and empty the pits for 20 zombies (my friends list made it to 200+ mana without a hydra to dump it in, it was hilarious) but it all depends on if I can play it as a more controlling list.
Hate to say it Hamaon, but that list has little to no interaction against opposing board states, as well as being squishy to sweepers.
I've been considering the GU options that are available, and I keep falling back to a BUG list a friend of mine was running last season, mainly superfriends with prophet and Kruphix together to generate absurd amounts of mana. Makes me wanna make my sideboard based around those 2 and villainous wealth as a joke-mill wincon.
I know last standard (what little constellation saw) that it struggled with planeswalkers. Overall, how well did your Abzan list fare against the various walkers once they were on board? Better than last season or worse?
My list is slowly coming together (trying to get 8 polluted delta for both this and modern is a MAJOR pain) but I'm seeing all these Abzan lists, makes me hope that people don't start packing Back to Nature and Erase before I've even completed my list.
Athreos and Grim Haruspex looks pure evil against sweepers, but does it actually do well? I'm split on including Grim Haruspex in my sideboard, and I don't really see when I would side into it except maybe in a control match up.
We're a week away from the Pro Tour, do you think that any constellation lists will be showing up? I do, and I hope it's both Abzan and Sultai lists.
I'd imagine VERY smart, and VERY self-interested. Someone who wants the world around their own order (as Sidisi and Damia are). But it really depends on what each color brings, so it may as well be a cult leader who finds natural order continues in unlife/undeath/however-you-wanna-say-smart-zombie.
From my experience with stain the mind, it really a skill intensive card. Having hand disruption alongside it did help when I had it sideboarded, but I still think it needs a bit more... Something... I would say a singleton mainboarded Worst Fears to let you check sideboards and predict what they'll probably board in, but I'm still not convinced til a meta is fully established.
On the brighter side of things, it's good to see the white splash being good. With Mardu being the prime removal color, along with the prime Aggro color, I imagine that we'll be dealing with Mardu the most these next few months. I'm tempted to run Master of Waves in the side as a counter against Mardu in case it does become the deck to beat and if blue is the splash I want to run.
I see it more as giving yourself an untouchable extra hand of cards, and when you have courser and eidolon out, it can matter a small amount. But the best I can think of is using flashed constellation triggers with prophet and arbiter, and looping brain maggots with riptide chimera to disrupt any meaningful plays.
Removal-wise, I do think I need more. I think running bounce spells alongside thoughtseize and brain maggot may be good too, but I don't know which to cut. If nothing else, I'll be making a second deck splashing white for a better removal suite.
The lack of removal, as well as Thoughtseize in just the SB, bothers me. As well, Sylvan Carytid should be enough green fixing alone, since your running more forest than anything else. Prophet as a singleton is to open of a target, and no main board counters or hand disruption means no protection for it til games 2 and 3. Maybe take out the mystic for Thoughtseize, and bring Dark Betrayal into the sideboard, since there is a very likely chance of facing a deck also running black.
Maybe we should compile a list of splash-able white and blue cards that support out strategy, as well as give us ideas for how to use them in the upcoming, tri-color metas.
Blue has:
Treasure Cruise
Sultai Charm
Sultai ascendency
Jace, living guild pact
Kiora, the crashing wave
Disdainful stroke
Riptide Chimera
Dig Through Time
Villainous Wealth
And I'm sure there's more
Edit: Here’s a decklist I’ve been tinkering with, using Prophet of Kruphix and Arbiter of the Ideal as a top-end
Obviously, since we have far more deck filtering ability we are able to better make use of arbiter, ensuring our spells go to our hand and our lands, creatures, and enchantments are on the field. I’ve said this before, but being able to repeatedly thoughtseize a hand with brain maggot/riptide chimera means that we’ll be MILES ahead of any surprise turn arounds.
4 Llanowar Wastes
6 Forest
8 Swamp
4 Elvish Mystic
4 Brain Maggot
4 Satyr Wayfinder
4 Sylvan Caryatid
4 Risen Executioner
2 Tasigur, the Golden Fang
4 Sidisi, Undead Vizier
4 Corpseweft
3 Drown in Sorrow
2 Hero's Downfall
2 Murderous Cut
General idea is to drop stall the game early and bait out early removal with Brain Maggots while filling up your yard so you can make a decent size zombie during their end step. I haven't really seen what the meta's like, so some help on how to tune this for the next FNM would be greatly appreciated. I also don't really know about most of the cards in Fate Reforged, so I may have missed some useful cards from that set.
I've been looking at all the lists, and I can't help think that going white or staying GB is the best option. Adding blue to my deck just isn't working for me, and the deck is way less consistent than it was last standard. Is it just me?
One thing to remember, Back to Nature is in standard right now, so running a resilient sideboard alongside sweepers like Extinguish All Hopes and Drown in Sorrow will help with early aggro and midrange strategies.
I've been considering the GU options that are available, and I keep falling back to a BUG list a friend of mine was running last season, mainly superfriends with prophet and Kruphix together to generate absurd amounts of mana. Makes me wanna make my sideboard based around those 2 and villainous wealth as a joke-mill wincon.
I know last standard (what little constellation saw) that it struggled with planeswalkers. Overall, how well did your Abzan list fare against the various walkers once they were on board? Better than last season or worse?
Athreos and Grim Haruspex looks pure evil against sweepers, but does it actually do well? I'm split on including Grim Haruspex in my sideboard, and I don't really see when I would side into it except maybe in a control match up.
We're a week away from the Pro Tour, do you think that any constellation lists will be showing up? I do, and I hope it's both Abzan and Sultai lists.
7 Forests
3 Island
3 Swamp
4 Polluted Delta
1 Opulent Palaces
2 Llanowar Wastes
2 Yavimaya Coast
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
Creatures
3 Sylvan Carytid
3 Brain Maggot
4 Courser of Kruphix
4 Eidolon of Blossoms
2 Prophet of Kruphix
1 Riptide Chimera
1 Arbiter of the Ideal
2 Tiagam’s Scheming
3 Disdainful Stroke
2 Negate
2 Hero’s Downfall
2 Sultai Charm
4 Thoughtseize
3 Sultai Ascendency
2 Murderous Cut
2 Doomwake Giants
4 Despise
2 Villainous Wealth
2 Hero’s Downfall
1 Necropolis Fiend
2 Dig Through Time
2 Dead Drop
2 Grim Haruspex
On the brighter side of things, it's good to see the white splash being good. With Mardu being the prime removal color, along with the prime Aggro color, I imagine that we'll be dealing with Mardu the most these next few months. I'm tempted to run Master of Waves in the side as a counter against Mardu in case it does become the deck to beat and if blue is the splash I want to run.
Removal-wise, I do think I need more. I think running bounce spells alongside thoughtseize and brain maggot may be good too, but I don't know which to cut. If nothing else, I'll be making a second deck splashing white for a better removal suite.
Maybe we should compile a list of splash-able white and blue cards that support out strategy, as well as give us ideas for how to use them in the upcoming, tri-color metas.
Blue has:
Treasure Cruise
Sultai Charm
Sultai ascendency
Jace, living guild pact
Kiora, the crashing wave
Disdainful stroke
Riptide Chimera
Dig Through Time
Villainous Wealth
And I'm sure there's more
Edit: Here’s a decklist I’ve been tinkering with, using Prophet of Kruphix and Arbiter of the Ideal as a top-end
7 Forests
3 Island
3 Swamp
4 Polluted Delta
1 Opulent Palaces
2 Llanowar Wastes
2 Yavimaya Coast
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
Creatures
3 Sylvan Carytid
3 Brain Maggot
4 Courser of Kruphix
4 Eidolon of Blossoms
2 Prophet of Kruphix
1 Riptide Chimera
1 Arbiter of the Ideal
3 Tiagam’s Scheming
4 Disdainful Stroke
2 Hero’s Downfall
2 Sultai Charm
4 Thoughtseize
3 Sultai Ascendency
2 Murderous Cut
2 Doomwake Giants
4 Despise
2 Villainous Wealth
2 Hero’s Downfall
1 Necropolis Fiend
2 Dig Through Time
2 Dead Drop
2 Grim Haruspex
Obviously, since we have far more deck filtering ability we are able to better make use of arbiter, ensuring our spells go to our hand and our lands, creatures, and enchantments are on the field. I’ve said this before, but being able to repeatedly thoughtseize a hand with brain maggot/riptide chimera means that we’ll be MILES ahead of any surprise turn arounds.