I think u re trying to do a lot of things at the same time and doing nothing at its best after all. If you pretend to combo, focus on the combo and use beatdown as plan B (Im running right now Counters Company). My version on Abzan Aggro is to beat fast and try to avoid opponents plan. If u try to run midrange, the discard is a must to keep opponents plan on check and so on
If you're referring to my deck then the primary play is still aggro, but let's be honest Wilt-Leaf aggro is simply outclassed by other decks at the moment.
This is why I'm trying to build a deck which can pivot either to;
A) Silver-bullet side-board cards that can slow down or prevent the opponent from playing
B) Combo for infinite life / counters (Although it's still too early for me to tell if this is properly viable)
If we're going to play Eldritch Evolution then it makes sense to try and get the most out of it.
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Decks - Modern Currently active
- Humans
- Evolve Zoo
Ok, so I’m happy to say this deck isn’t quite dead yet. Tweaked the deck for my local FNM and I’m pretty happy with the results.
I removed the janky pseudo-combo of Anafenza / Viscera Seer. Replaced them with 1 Scavenging Ooze and 1 Siege Rhino. I’m very happy with 2 scooze main, it very rarely feels like a dead draw and is very helpful against all the decks utilizing the graveyard these days. I’m not quite as certain about running a third Rhino, most matchups I’m very happy to draw Rhino but there are times where it can get stuck in the hand, WBG isn’t always easy to cast especially when playing blood moon decks.
Fairgrounds warden is actually pretty solid, being able to tutor an exile effect is pretty useful and is basically permanent removal when playing against tribal decks or those without kill control. Side out against decks with lots of kill / damage spells.
Eternal witness is… ok. In theory she can help return cards like Path and Abrupt Decay if I need them however most of the time I’m using her to accelerate lands.
The Archangel / Spike-feeder combo looks very sketchy but for the cost of two card slots it gives occasional free wins. Angel of Thune is generally synergistic with this deck anyway so is not much of a cost, and spike feeder can sometimes be useful as a way of chumping a block and gaining health at the same time or moving a counter onto Finks to recur it.
Mardu Pyromancer 0 - 2
Game 1: Well I had hoped that cards like Finks and Voice would work in my favour but he kept my board state shredded and targeted all my Eldritch Evo’s with discard to prevent me getting anywhere. Eventually lands Blood Moon, which I forgot was in that deck. Oops.
Game 2: Had to mulligan to 5 due to low land hands / unplayable land colours. Kept a playable hand with Eidolon of Rhetoric. Eidolon slowed the game down but he eventually outvalues me by casting multiple Bedlam Revellers. Oh well.
Eldrazi Tron 2 - 1
Game 1: Had a good hand but he used Thought-knot to remove my Evo’s. Eventually he uses the exiling Eldrazi plus Thought-knot to chain together exiling effects and remove all the good cards out of my hand.
Game 2: Fairgrounds warden keeps him from combo-ing his exile effects, multiple finks and Ralliers eventually go wide for the win.
Game 3: Thoughtseize prevents him from making powerful early plays, he lands a Thought-knot but chooses to take Path from my hand instead of Worship, his mistake. Cast Worship, he has no way to deal with it so I go wide for the win.
Gifts Storm 2 - 1
Game 1: Good hand with lots of removal keeps two storm dorks off the board, turn 4 he plays another Baral and combos off. Didn’t get an opportunity to Evo for Shalai since I had her in my hand and didn’t get my 4th turn.
Game 2: Thoughtseize and some kill spells slow him down enough that I can get beats in before he can go off.
Game 3: Getting Remorseful Cleric down early lets me go at my pace, later get a scooze down as insurance, he attempts to combo the turn before I would swing for lethal but Remorseful Cleric shuts him down. Good times.
So I've played against a variety of decks and it can really hold its own against tough match-ups likes Death's Shadow and Humans. The real problem is it feels like it has weak Game one match-ups against a lot of decks. After sideboard our chances improve greatly of course as we can tune our hate-cards for particular strategies.
I definitely think Knight of Autumn is an upgrade over Reclamation Sage. About the only situation I can think of where Rec Sage is better is when Blood Moon is already on the board.
..but in all the times I've been hosed by it.. I don't even think Rec Sage would have helped in that situation.
So I think Assassin’s Trophy and Knight of Autumn are great additions for us. I’ve been doing a little brewing, and have been going back and forth between a more token heavy build (with Gideon, Souls, etc.) and a build with Eldritch Evolution partially in mind. I didn’t want to focus too heavily on Evolution, but I think with even just three it adds some redundancy to our creatures, a nice minor toolbox effect, and can cause some blowouts in the right setting. I think we’re pretty much already playing the right creatures to make it work. But again, I didn’t want to focus heavily on it, and I didn’t want to add an “oops I win” combo in there because frankly there’s just not enough room and I didn’t want to water the Aggro/Hatebearish strategy down.
Anyway, my list is pretty rough still but I’ve been having some great results with it on Cockatrice. Here goes:
I’d really appreciate some input. Just know it’s a rough sketch, but I like the direction. The landbase needs some work, and I’m not sure about the sideboard yet, but I’m pretty happy with the creature base. Still, I’m sure it’ll go through some changes before I’m done. Honestly, I’d like to find a slot or two for Tireless Tracker.Renegade Rallier is pretty fantastic, even without a lot of cute/cool tricks like with Safi. He’s solid with Voice and all those fetchlands, and can get two of my big hate cards back, namely Spellbomb and Teeg, not to mention GQ. Also, only having one Township makes me nervous as it’s sure to get blown up, but at least having Rallier can get it back for me. Path, Trophy, Ghost Quarter, and StW are all meant to really put a strain on most people’s already strained basic lands. Plus, they’re just phenomenal removal. I’m going with Surgical Extraction here also for combo/Tron hate because it pairs very well with Trophy. That’s what I’m on with Jund right now too.
There’s a lot of hate there for graveyards and combo and control. It has a little bit of Grind, but not nearly enough for what I’m used to. I really think I need a couple of Trackers in there somewhere.
All input is welcome. I’m excited about our new cards. I think we’re in a good spot again.
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Playing Eldritch Evolution without some sort of combo seems bad, especially since the opportunity cost of running it is so low. At least maybe include a partial counters combo, or maybe Archangel? I guess Voice into Liege is a pretty sick play...
Has anyone else considered the taxes applications if we're running both Trophy and Path? I'm thinking something like:
I would imagine the life gain potential from Finks/Rhino and abuse with Restoration Angel would offset the extra damage I'll take from the shock lands but I haven't tested this yet. Open to critique here
It's an interesting idea but I think it will be too awkward in practice. Running a tri-color deck without fetches sounds tight. In particular you do not have enough black sources to reliably cast those cards before turn 4-5, which is ok for late Trophy but casting 1WBG Rhino might get tricky and you will not be able to cast early Thoughtseize reliably at all. Renegade Rallier also becomes significantly worse without fetches.
I've also enjoyed Eldritch Evolution without any combo. Voice into Liege or Rhino is as good as you say, and its ability to act as extra Eidolons or Knight of Autumns in a pinch is nice. I'm not sure it's better than Lingering Souls, however.
Evolution without combo is solid. Voice, WLL, Rallier, and Rhino all play together very nicely. I think the opportunity cost of including a small combo is more than it appears at a glance. The combos all include really lackluster creatures, and I just don’t think the deck can afford to run them unless it’s going to really go full in on them. Watering down our Aggro plan and our Hatebearish plan (even if just slightly) could be fatal. On the other hand, I think Evolution easily earns its keep. Our creatures are tailored for it. The value (and tutoring) we get from it warrants its inclusion without the combo. At least I think so.
I do want to brew a Combo-centric deck with Liege and Evolution though. I still love the old Finks combos. I want to see if I can make a super grindy deck like Pod used to be. But it’ll almost definitely be worse than valuetown and Abzan Company. That’s never stopped me from trying in the past though.
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MODERN: BRGJUNDGRB---BRHOLLOW ONERB---BGELVESGB---BRGLIVING ENDGRB---GWBOGLESWG EDH: BRGKARRTHUS, TYRANT OF JUNDGRB
So I’m thinking a Bant shell instead of Abzan, (co)starring the criminally underplayed Tamiyo, Field Researcher. She’s gonna be my ‘ace in the hole’. I really think she could put a very aggressive Bant list over the top. I like her a lot more than Jace and Teferi in that role. I’ll post a list soon, hopefully. Unless I forget.
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MODERN: BRGJUNDGRB---BRHOLLOW ONERB---BGELVESGB---BRGLIVING ENDGRB---GWBOGLESWG EDH: BRGKARRTHUS, TYRANT OF JUNDGRB
How have you guys been doing with the deck? A few months ago, I was considering running Little Kid Abzan, mostly because of the uptick of Hollow One at my LGS, along with the occasional Burn/Jund players.
I never did end up doing it, although some of my friends and I put together some rough drafts.
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Legacy - Sneak Show, BR Reanimator, Miracles, UW Stoneblade
Premodern - Trix, RecSur, Enchantress, Reanimator, Elves https://www.facebook.com/groups/PremodernUSA/ Modern - Neobrand, Hogaak Vine, Elves
Standard - Mono Red (6-2 and 5-3 in 2 McQ)
Draft - (I wish I had more time for limited...)
Commander - Norin the Wary, Grimgrin, Adun Oakenshield (taking forever to build) (dead format for me)
How have you guys been doing with the deck? A few months ago, I was considering running Little Kid Abzan, mostly because of the uptick of Hollow One at my LGS, along with the occasional Burn/Jund players.
I never did end up doing it, although some of my friends and I put together some rough drafts.
I haven't been running it much. The discard hate just doesn't seem that relevant right now. However, giving utility creatures +2/+2 and turning them into substantial fatties always seems good.
I'm going to post my rough-draft Bant list. I'm actually pretty excited about it. I know this is technically an Abzan Primer but I don't know where else to post it, as Wilt-Leaf Liege is a major player for this deck, and it really doesn't fit elsewhere:
There's a really cool and abusable knight theme there. Between History of Benalia (HoB) and Wilt-Leaf Liege, Knight of Autumn is almost always more than just a utility creature (and it's already a great utility creature). HoB is great alongside the PW's (especially after G1) because you can set it and forget it and play the pseudo-control game and do things on your opponents' turns with your mana. Tamiyo, Field Researcher is an incredible CA engine. She's just really generally powerful. Her +1 ability works really well with all the Vigilance creatures, as they can potentially trigger it twice each, drawing you stupid amounts of cards. Gideon is always solid and can provide a fast clock with his +1 or 0 ability (especially when combined with HoB). Spell Queller is in there for the same reason it's in any deck. It's disruption on a stick with reach. I'd like to find a spot for a third one.
Still not sure the best way to run the Sideboard. I don't know if I'd be better off running the applicable hatebears (like Eidolon of Rhetoric or Mirran Crusader) instead of the more powerful enchantments/artifacts.
Any thoughts? I'm stoked about it, but am open to any criticism. It's a pretty fresh list.
Edit: I hate that there’s no maindeck graveyard hate. I’d at least like a couple of Scavenging Oozes in there, but I’m not sure where they would fit. Selesnya Charm is the easiest cut for one of them, but I wouldn’t know what to cut for the other.
Brought out good ol' Siege Rhino & friends for FNM and went 3-1-1.
Round 1: Grixis Shadow, L (1-2)
Round 2: Wb Eldrazi Taxes, W (2-0)
Round 3: Mono-Red Phoenix, W (2-1)
Round 4: Living End, W (2-1)
Round 5: Merfolk, ID but we played and I won 2-1
See list in attachments. I wasn't too happy with Thoughtseize, and will probably replace them with either Assassin's Trophy or Collective Brutality.
ATTACHMENTS
ModernJunk_Jan19
ModernJunkSB_Jan19
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Do you like Green midrange decks? Check out my My Magic Blog!
Brought out good ol' Siege Rhino & friends for FNM and went 3-1-1.
Round 1: Grixis Shadow, L (1-2)
Round 2: Wb Eldrazi Taxes, W (2-0)
Round 3: Mono-Red Phoenix, W (2-1)
Round 4: Living End, W (2-1)
Round 5: Merfolk, ID but we played and I won 2-1
See list in attachments. I wasn't too happy with Thoughtseize, and will probably replace them with either Assassin's Trophy or Collective Brutality.
That’s about as no bulls***, straightforward as they come. List looks tight. Congrats on the strong finish. Did the Sword ever come into play and prove useful?
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MODERN: BRGJUNDGRB---BRHOLLOW ONERB---BGELVESGB---BRGLIVING ENDGRB---GWBOGLESWG EDH: BRGKARRTHUS, TYRANT OF JUNDGRB
That’s about as no bulls***, straightforward as they come. List looks tight. Congrats on the strong finish. Did the Sword ever come into play and prove useful?
The Sword is a holdover from the original PT FRF list, but I still find it useful against UWx Control plus basically any combo or big mana deck. That night it only showed up against Living End, and reduced my opponent's life total to zero in two hits.
Round 1: Humans (W 2-1)
Round 2: Living End (W 2-1)
Round 3: 0-2 Burn (L 0-2)
Round 4: UW Midrange/Control (W 2-0)
Living End should be an awful matchup but I always seem to have turn 2 RIP against them. Likewise, Burn should be a decent matchup, but only if you draw the relevant cards. Gearhulk is probably too cute, but it was sick against Humans. The deck seems to be fine overall, so I'll keep playing it.
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Kitchen Finks is not a card that excites me but this is about as basic as Abzan Aggro/Midrange gets. I'm not sure you still want a full play set of Path to Exile if you're also going to play that many Assassin's Trophy, but I do like that combo of spells for my removal suite. I'm also certain Loxodon Hierarch is supposed to be Loxodon Smiter instead. Loxodon Hierarch doesn't really make sense to me. There are way better 4-cmc spells we could play while staying aggressive. That said, playing 1 or 2 wouldn't be the worst thing in the world. I just don't think it's a card that normally sees play in this shell.
This is why I'm trying to build a deck which can pivot either to;
A) Silver-bullet side-board cards that can slow down or prevent the opponent from playing
B) Combo for infinite life / counters (Although it's still too early for me to tell if this is properly viable)
If we're going to play Eldritch Evolution then it makes sense to try and get the most out of it.
Currently active
- Humans
- Evolve Zoo
2 Forest
2 Gavony Township
1 Godless Shrine
2 Horizon Canopy
1 Overgrown Tomb
1 Plains
2 Razorverge Thicket
1 Swamp
2 Temple Garden
4 Verdant Catacombs
4 Windswept Heath
Creatures (29)
1 Archangel of Thune
2 Birds of Paradise
1 Eternal Witness
1 Fairgrounds Warden
4 Kitchen Finks
4 Noble Hierarch
2 Scavenging Ooze
2 Renegade Rallier
1 Shalai, Voice of Plenty
3 Siege Rhino
1 Sigarda, Host of Herons
1 Spike Feeder
4 Voice of Resurgence
2 Wilt-Leaf Liege
2 Abrupt Decay
3 Path to Exile
Sorcery (4)
4 Eldritch Evolution
1 Cataclysmic Gearhulk
1 Eidolon of Rhetoric
1 Gaddock Teeg
1 Kambal, Consul of Allocation
1 Kataki, War's Wage
1 Linvala, Keeper of Silence
1 Orzhov Pontiff
1 Phyrexian Revoker
1 Quasali Pridemage
1 Reclamation Sage
1 Remorseful Cleric
1 Tocatli Honor Guard
1 Worship
3 Thoughtseize
FNM Report
Overall 2 - 1
Ok, so I’m happy to say this deck isn’t quite dead yet. Tweaked the deck for my local FNM and I’m pretty happy with the results.
I removed the janky pseudo-combo of Anafenza / Viscera Seer. Replaced them with 1 Scavenging Ooze and 1 Siege Rhino. I’m very happy with 2 scooze main, it very rarely feels like a dead draw and is very helpful against all the decks utilizing the graveyard these days. I’m not quite as certain about running a third Rhino, most matchups I’m very happy to draw Rhino but there are times where it can get stuck in the hand, WBG isn’t always easy to cast especially when playing blood moon decks.
Fairgrounds warden is actually pretty solid, being able to tutor an exile effect is pretty useful and is basically permanent removal when playing against tribal decks or those without kill control. Side out against decks with lots of kill / damage spells.
Eternal witness is… ok. In theory she can help return cards like Path and Abrupt Decay if I need them however most of the time I’m using her to accelerate lands.
The Archangel / Spike-feeder combo looks very sketchy but for the cost of two card slots it gives occasional free wins. Angel of Thune is generally synergistic with this deck anyway so is not much of a cost, and spike feeder can sometimes be useful as a way of chumping a block and gaining health at the same time or moving a counter onto Finks to recur it.
Mardu Pyromancer 0 - 2
Game 1: Well I had hoped that cards like Finks and Voice would work in my favour but he kept my board state shredded and targeted all my Eldritch Evo’s with discard to prevent me getting anywhere. Eventually lands Blood Moon, which I forgot was in that deck. Oops.
Game 2: Had to mulligan to 5 due to low land hands / unplayable land colours. Kept a playable hand with Eidolon of Rhetoric. Eidolon slowed the game down but he eventually outvalues me by casting multiple Bedlam Revellers. Oh well.
Eldrazi Tron 2 - 1
Game 1: Had a good hand but he used Thought-knot to remove my Evo’s. Eventually he uses the exiling Eldrazi plus Thought-knot to chain together exiling effects and remove all the good cards out of my hand.
Game 2: Fairgrounds warden keeps him from combo-ing his exile effects, multiple finks and Ralliers eventually go wide for the win.
Game 3: Thoughtseize prevents him from making powerful early plays, he lands a Thought-knot but chooses to take Path from my hand instead of Worship, his mistake. Cast Worship, he has no way to deal with it so I go wide for the win.
Gifts Storm 2 - 1
Game 1: Good hand with lots of removal keeps two storm dorks off the board, turn 4 he plays another Baral and combos off. Didn’t get an opportunity to Evo for Shalai since I had her in my hand and didn’t get my 4th turn.
Game 2: Thoughtseize and some kill spells slow him down enough that I can get beats in before he can go off.
Game 3: Getting Remorseful Cleric down early lets me go at my pace, later get a scooze down as insurance, he attempts to combo the turn before I would swing for lethal but Remorseful Cleric shuts him down. Good times.
So I've played against a variety of decks and it can really hold its own against tough match-ups likes Death's Shadow and Humans. The real problem is it feels like it has weak Game one match-ups against a lot of decks. After sideboard our chances improve greatly of course as we can tune our hate-cards for particular strategies.
Currently active
- Humans
- Evolve Zoo
At least as a sidboard options, instead of Reclamation Sage and, maybe, Quasali Pridmage
Commander: WUBRG Superfriends, GW Rhys Tokens, WUBRG Scion of the Ur-Dragon
Kitchen Table (now that's real Magic): WUBRG Domain, GU Biovisionary, UB Korlash Grandeur, UW Merfolk Mill
..but in all the times I've been hosed by it.. I don't even think Rec Sage would have helped in that situation.
Assassin's Trophy could improve the matchup tho.
I would run 3-4 Trophies I guess.
2 Forest
2 Gavony Township
1 Godless Shrine
2 Overgrown Tomb
1 Plains
2 Razorverge Thicket
1 Blooming Marsh
1 Swamp
1 Temple Garden
1 Marsh Flats
1 Stirring Wildwood
4 Verdant Catacombs
4 Windswept Heath
Creatures (24)
2 Birds of Paradise
2 Knight of Autumn
4 Noble Hierarch
2 Scavenging Ooze
4 Siege Rhino
4 Voice of Resurgence
3 Loxodon Smiter
3 Wilt-Leaf Liege
3 Fatal Push
3 Assassin's Trophy
1 Gideon, Ally of Zendikar
3 Lingering Souls
1 Maelstrom Pulse
2 Choke
2 Thoughtseize
2 Zealous Persecution
2 Relics of Progenitus
1 Eidolon of Rhetoric
1 Damping Sphere
1 Worship
1 Vraska, Golgari Queen
This is the post ravnica Wilted-Leaf I will be brewing, will see if it works well
EDH: Xenagos, God of Revels.
Anyway, my list is pretty rough still but I’ve been having some great results with it on Cockatrice. Here goes:
4x Noble Hierarch
3x Birds of Paradise
4x Voice of Resurgance
4x Knight of the Reliquary
2x Renegade Rallier
1x Anafenza, the Foremost
1x Knight of Autumn
4x Wilt-Leaf Liege
2x Siege Rhino
1x Sigarda, Host of Herons
Instants & Sorceries (10)
4x Path to Exile
3x Assassin’s Trophy
3x Eldritch Evolution
2x Forest
1x Plains
1x Swamp
2x Temple Garden
2x Overgrown Tomb
1x Godless Shrine
4x Verdant Catacombs
4x Windswept Heath
2x Wooded Foothills
2x Stirring Wildwood
1x Ghost Quarter
1x Gavony Township
1x Horizon Canopy
2x Knight of Autumn
3x Gaddock Teeg
2x Nihil Spellbomb
2x Surgical Extraction
1x Bojuka Bog
2x Fatal Push
1x Assassin’s Trophy
1x Settle the Wreckage
1x Choke
I’d really appreciate some input. Just know it’s a rough sketch, but I like the direction. The landbase needs some work, and I’m not sure about the sideboard yet, but I’m pretty happy with the creature base. Still, I’m sure it’ll go through some changes before I’m done. Honestly, I’d like to find a slot or two for Tireless Tracker.Renegade Rallier is pretty fantastic, even without a lot of cute/cool tricks like with Safi. He’s solid with Voice and all those fetchlands, and can get two of my big hate cards back, namely Spellbomb and Teeg, not to mention GQ. Also, only having one Township makes me nervous as it’s sure to get blown up, but at least having Rallier can get it back for me. Path, Trophy, Ghost Quarter, and StW are all meant to really put a strain on most people’s already strained basic lands. Plus, they’re just phenomenal removal. I’m going with Surgical Extraction here also for combo/Tron hate because it pairs very well with Trophy. That’s what I’m on with Jund right now too.
There’s a lot of hate there for graveyards and combo and control. It has a little bit of Grind, but not nearly enough for what I’m used to. I really think I need a couple of Trackers in there somewhere.
All input is welcome. I’m excited about our new cards. I think we’re in a good spot again.
BRGJUNDGRB---BRHOLLOW ONERB---BGELVESGB---BRGLIVING ENDGRB---GWBOGLESWG
EDH:
BRGKARRTHUS, TYRANT OF JUNDGRB
Has anyone else considered the taxes applications if we're running both Trophy and Path? I'm thinking something like:
4 Birds of Paradise
4 Noble Hierarch
4 Voice of Resurgence
4 Leonin Arbiter
3 Kitchen Finks
1 Renegade Rallier
1 Eternal Witness
1 Aven Mindcensor
2 Wilt-Leaf Liege
1 Siege Rhino
1 Restoration Angel
4 Path to Exile
4 Assassin's Trophy
3 Eldritch Evolution
Lands (23)
4 Razorverge Thicket
4 Temple Garden
4 Overgrown Tomb
4 Godless Shrine
1 Stirring Wildwood
4 Forest
1 Plains
1 Swamp
1 Thragtusk
1 Thrun, the last troll
3 Lingering Souls
3 Thoughtseize
2 Damping Sphere
1 Abrupt decay
1 Unburial Rites
1 Gaddock Teeg
1 Anafenza, the Foremost
1 Melira, Sylvok Outcast
I would imagine the life gain potential from Finks/Rhino and abuse with Restoration Angel would offset the extra damage I'll take from the shock lands but I haven't tested this yet. Open to critique here
Draft My Cube!
I've also enjoyed Eldritch Evolution without any combo. Voice into Liege or Rhino is as good as you say, and its ability to act as extra Eidolons or Knight of Autumns in a pinch is nice. I'm not sure it's better than Lingering Souls, however.
I do want to brew a Combo-centric deck with Liege and Evolution though. I still love the old Finks combos. I want to see if I can make a super grindy deck like Pod used to be. But it’ll almost definitely be worse than valuetown and Abzan Company. That’s never stopped me from trying in the past though.
BRGJUNDGRB---BRHOLLOW ONERB---BGELVESGB---BRGLIVING ENDGRB---GWBOGLESWG
EDH:
BRGKARRTHUS, TYRANT OF JUNDGRB
BRGJUNDGRB---BRHOLLOW ONERB---BGELVESGB---BRGLIVING ENDGRB---GWBOGLESWG
EDH:
BRGKARRTHUS, TYRANT OF JUNDGRB
I never did end up doing it, although some of my friends and I put together some rough drafts.
Premodern - Trix, RecSur, Enchantress, Reanimator, Elves https://www.facebook.com/groups/PremodernUSA/
Modern - Neobrand, Hogaak Vine, Elves
Standard - Mono Red (6-2 and 5-3 in 2 McQ)
Draft - (I wish I had more time for limited...)
Commander -
Norin the Wary, Grimgrin, Adun Oakenshield (taking forever to build)(dead format for me)I haven't been running it much. The discard hate just doesn't seem that relevant right now. However, giving utility creatures +2/+2 and turning them into substantial fatties always seems good.
I'm going to post my rough-draft Bant list. I'm actually pretty excited about it. I know this is technically an Abzan Primer but I don't know where else to post it, as Wilt-Leaf Liege is a major player for this deck, and it really doesn't fit elsewhere:
4 Wilt-Leaf Liege
4 Voice of Resurgence
4 Knight of Autumn
4 Noble Hierarch
3 Birds of Paradise
2 Spell Queller
Enchantments (4)
4 History of Benalia
Instants (6)
4 Path to Exile
1 Dromoka's Command
1 Selesnya Charm
Planeswalkers (5)
3 Tamiyo, Field Researcher
2 Gideon, Ally of Zendikar
Lands (24)
1 Gavony Township
1 Horizon Canopy
4 Windswept Heath
2 Stirring Wildwood
1 Hallowed Fountain
1 Breeding Pool
2 Temple Garden
1 Island
1 Plains
2 Forest
4 Misty Rainforest
1 Celestial Colonnade
1 Flooded Strand
2 Razorverge Thicket
2 Damping Sphere
2 Rest in Peace
2 Worship
2 Stony Silence
2 Settle the Wreckage
3 Negate
1 Dromoka's Command
1 Elspeth, Sun's Champion
There's a really cool and abusable knight theme there. Between History of Benalia (HoB) and Wilt-Leaf Liege, Knight of Autumn is almost always more than just a utility creature (and it's already a great utility creature). HoB is great alongside the PW's (especially after G1) because you can set it and forget it and play the pseudo-control game and do things on your opponents' turns with your mana. Tamiyo, Field Researcher is an incredible CA engine. She's just really generally powerful. Her +1 ability works really well with all the Vigilance creatures, as they can potentially trigger it twice each, drawing you stupid amounts of cards. Gideon is always solid and can provide a fast clock with his +1 or 0 ability (especially when combined with HoB). Spell Queller is in there for the same reason it's in any deck. It's disruption on a stick with reach. I'd like to find a spot for a third one.
Still not sure the best way to run the Sideboard. I don't know if I'd be better off running the applicable hatebears (like Eidolon of Rhetoric or Mirran Crusader) instead of the more powerful enchantments/artifacts.
Any thoughts? I'm stoked about it, but am open to any criticism. It's a pretty fresh list.
Edit: I hate that there’s no maindeck graveyard hate. I’d at least like a couple of Scavenging Oozes in there, but I’m not sure where they would fit. Selesnya Charm is the easiest cut for one of them, but I wouldn’t know what to cut for the other.
BRGJUNDGRB---BRHOLLOW ONERB---BGELVESGB---BRGLIVING ENDGRB---GWBOGLESWG
EDH:
BRGKARRTHUS, TYRANT OF JUNDGRB
Round 1: Grixis Shadow, L (1-2)
Round 2: Wb Eldrazi Taxes, W (2-0)
Round 3: Mono-Red Phoenix, W (2-1)
Round 4: Living End, W (2-1)
Round 5: Merfolk, ID but we played and I won 2-1
See list in attachments. I wasn't too happy with Thoughtseize, and will probably replace them with either Assassin's Trophy or Collective Brutality.
That’s about as no bulls***, straightforward as they come. List looks tight. Congrats on the strong finish. Did the Sword ever come into play and prove useful?
BRGJUNDGRB---BRHOLLOW ONERB---BGELVESGB---BRGLIVING ENDGRB---GWBOGLESWG
EDH:
BRGKARRTHUS, TYRANT OF JUNDGRB
The Sword is a holdover from the original PT FRF list, but I still find it useful against UWx Control plus basically any combo or big mana deck. That night it only showed up against Living End, and reduced my opponent's life total to zero in two hits.
I ran this back the following FNM (18 January) with a few changes-
Maindeck: -2 Thoughtseize / +1 Collective Brutality, +1 Dromoka's Command
Sideboard: -1 Stony Silence, -1 Damping Sphere / +1 Cataclysmic Gearhulk, +1 Maelstrom Pulse
Round 1: Humans (W 2-1)
Round 2: Living End (W 2-1)
Round 3: 0-2 Burn (L 0-2)
Round 4: UW Midrange/Control (W 2-0)
Living End should be an awful matchup but I always seem to have turn 2 RIP against them. Likewise, Burn should be a decent matchup, but only if you draw the relevant cards. Gearhulk is probably too cute, but it was sick against Humans. The deck seems to be fine overall, so I'll keep playing it.
https://www.mtggoldfish.com/archetype/modern-abzan-65818#paper
I'm going to buy it
it could work?
any change?
Kitchen Finks is not a card that excites me but this is about as basic as Abzan Aggro/Midrange gets. I'm not sure you still want a full play set of Path to Exile if you're also going to play that many Assassin's Trophy, but I do like that combo of spells for my removal suite. I'm also certain Loxodon Hierarch is supposed to be Loxodon Smiter instead. Loxodon Hierarch doesn't really make sense to me. There are way better 4-cmc spells we could play while staying aggressive. That said, playing 1 or 2 wouldn't be the worst thing in the world. I just don't think it's a card that normally sees play in this shell.
It's think it's better option