Annoiter (like Pious Evangel) is very good for prolonging the game but doesn't help close it out, that is why I'd swap it for Zulaport Cutthroat that gains life and can finish games with the life-drain. Doomed Dissenter blocks early and when you have Procession it produces multiple 2/2's to start going on the offensive if necessary.
If you manage to clog the board with tokens you should be fine against aggressive decks (unless they have trample/flying).
Removal helps us get there and set up the Stockpile + Procession engine.
(For context, I’m new(ish) to Amonkhet Standard, so please excuse any ignorance I might have about the format. Player of Magic for years, but totally new to this forum though.)
I have been playing Abzan token lists on MTG:O quite a bit for the past couple of days. I’ve tried decks with Zulaport Cutthroat and Annointer Priest.
He also seemed to need the support of a free sack outlet mainboard (Yahenni, Undying Partisan was my choice), or he needed a Cryptolith Rite out (so that each creature taps itself for mana that it uses to sacrifice itself to Hidden Stockpile). Zulaport was a monster on board in the mid-game, when I’m sacking tokens so often to scry, and was an okay deterrent for enemy attacks at the same time.
My Anointer Priest Experience: Annointer Priest acted as a nice blocker when really needed), but Embalm makes it nuts. Late in games, I sacked Annointer Priest to trigger revolt/scry effects, then Embalm'd it back (usually with 1 or more Anointed Procession in play).
Annointer Priest also helped a bit with flyers. Early Heart of Kiran and Aethersphere Harvester meant that either my engines had to outpace their damage with Annointer Priest triggers, or I that my engines just needed to buy me time until I found a removal spell. Glorybringer left me those two options as well, and with the added threat of its Exert ability able to hit two very powerful pieces, Annointer Priest and Catacomb Sifter. In the case of Priest, there is usually the option to Embalm though. Pre-boarding, flyers were still troublesome though. Whirler Virtuoso Thopters were near useless on offense against me, which was quite often. I had a number of games against Temur Energy where my board was threatening enough to discourage a ground attack and where I was triggering Annointer Priest faster than they could get in with Virtuoso thopters.
My only main complaint about Priest is it does stall the game, which can sometimes make timing out a possibility if you're having to stop and weigh your options often.
Quote from from="D90Dennis14 »"
Has anyone tried using [card »
Carrier Thrall[/card] as copies 5-8x of Blisterpod ?
I'm going to use it over Doomed Dissenter as having more tokens that sac' themselves for mana seems better than 2/2 tokens and the original creature being a 2/1 rather than 1/1 is also better.
That latest list looks super interesting. I have almost all of those cards, so I might do some testing with it in the near future. Reminds me of SaffronOlive’s W/B Aristocats deck, which I had a lot of fun and decent success with not long ago.
Definitely has room for improvement, but I like it so far.
Bontu the Glorified and Oketra the True have proved their worth I think. Bontu has pretty consistently been a great threat. He is almost always online, Menace deters greedy attacks at me, he’s a great blocker, and in grindy games, his sack ability does more than Hidden Stockpile. I've boarded him in many times against less established decks in MTG:O matches. Oketra can risk not being online occasionally, but her 1/1 Vigilance tokens can be a great dumping ground for spare mana, and Double Strike makes her a great blocker when online. Also doesn't get hit by Negate, which I anticipate in game 2 and 3, considering how low impact my creature spells appear and the 'must answer' nature of our spells.
(For context, I’m new(ish) to Amonkhet Standard, so please excuse any ignorance I might have about the format. Player of Magic for years, but totally new to this forum though.)
I have been playing Abzan token lists on MTG:O quite a bit for the past couple of days. I’ve tried decks with Zulaport Cutthroat and Annointer Priest.
My Zulaport experiences:
Zulaport cutthroat had great potential as a closer for me, but his 1 toughness and blatantly strong ability made him a massive target for counter spells, Harnessed Lightning, Fatal Push, and Unlicensed Disintegration, which can all also hit Annointer Priest, but Liliana, the Last Hope, Magma Spray, and any Walking Ballistaon 1 or over wrecked Cutthroat.
He also seemed to need the support of a free sack outlet mainboard (Yahenni, Undying Partisan was my choice), or he needed a Cryptolith Rite out (so that each creature taps itself for mana that it uses to sacrifice itself to Hidden Stockpile). Zulaport was a monster on board in the mid-game, when I’m sacking tokens so often to scry, and was an okay deterrent for enemy attacks at the same time.
My Anointer Priest Experience:
Annointer Priest acted as a nice blocker when really needed), but Embalm makes it nuts. Late in games, I sacked Annointer Priest to trigger revolt/scry effects, then Embalm'd it back (usually with 1 or more Anointed Procession in play).
Annointer Priest also helped a bit with flyers. Early Heart of Kiran and Aethersphere Harvester meant that either my engines had to outpace their damage with Annointer Priest triggers, or I that my engines just needed to buy me time until I found a removal spell. Glorybringer left me those two options as well, and with the added threat of its Exert ability able to hit two very powerful pieces, Annointer Priest and Catacomb Sifter. In the case of Priest, there is usually the option to Embalm though. Pre-boarding, flyers were still troublesome though. Whirler Virtuoso Thopters were near useless on offense against me, which was quite often. I had a number of games against Temur Energy where my board was threatening enough to discourage a ground attack and where I was triggering Annointer Priest faster than they could get in with Virtuoso thopters.
My only main complaint about Priest is it does stall the game, which can sometimes make timing out a possibility if you're having to stop and weigh your options often.
That latest list looks super interesting. I have almost all of those cards, so I might do some testing with it in the near future. Reminds me of SaffronOlive’s W/B Aristocats deck, which I had a lot of fun and decent success with not long ago.
I don’t know how interesting this will be to you particularly, but this B/W tokens list 5-0’d a competitive league on the 15th. It runs 3 Annointer Priest and other than Westvale Abbey and 4 Hidden Stockpile, Vampiric Rites is the only other main-board sac outlet. I think it leans on life gain a bit and closes with planeswalkers and Ormendahl, Profane Prince??
And by the way, the pilot of that 5-0 B/W deck posted his updated Abzan list on Reddit recently, which is an Ulvenwald Mysteries + Annointer Priest build.
Lastly, for anyone still kind enough to read this far, here is my current list:
1 Oketra the True
2 Angel of Sanctions
4 Anointer Priest
4 Blisterpod
4 Catacomb Sifter
4 Thraben Inspector
Lands
1 Shambling Vent
1 Forest
3 Plains
1 Swamp
4 Blooming Marsh
4 Concealed Courtyard
4 Evolving Wilds
3 Fortified Village
2 Scattered Groves
2 Westvale Abbey
4 Anointed Procession
3 Cryptolith Rite
4 Hidden Stockpile
3 Ulvenwald Mysteries
1 Gideon, Ally of Zendikar
1 Fumigate
1 Dread Wanderer
4 Fatal Push
2 Anguished Unmaking
3 Dusk/Dawn
1 Declaration in Stone
3 Cast Out
1 Bontu the Glorified
Definitely has room for improvement, but I like it so far.
Bontu the Glorified and Oketra the True have proved their worth I think. Bontu has pretty consistently been a great threat. He is almost always online, Menace deters greedy attacks at me, he’s a great blocker, and in grindy games, his sack ability does more than Hidden Stockpile. I've boarded him in many times against less established decks in MTG:O matches. Oketra can risk not being online occasionally, but her 1/1 Vigilance tokens can be a great dumping ground for spare mana, and Double Strike makes her a great blocker when online. Also doesn't get hit by Negate, which I anticipate in game 2 and 3, considering how low impact my creature spells appear and the 'must answer' nature of our spells.