It's a Mid-Range deck that focuses on Knight Tribal Synergies. One card I'd like to find room for is Aryel, Knight of Windgrace because she can spawn her own army and remove problem creatures. This deck is weak to Flying creatures so it might be a good idea to include Shalai, Voice of Plenty in some number.
"To keep things 100, anything I state is an opinion and not intended to be a fact. Any and all suggestions I give are a 100% opinion. If you need further clarification take the conversation to a PM. I am not in the business of assuming things. I'm only interested in 1 business and that business serves 2 things, Cold L's and Hot Dub's."
I think the incidental lifegain from Elenda, along with the signficant Knight Tribal Lords (ie History of Benalia, Benalish Marshal, and Valiant Knight) will actually make her stats relevant. I look at her as a win/win: she's either a really huge Life-gaining Knight that pads our life total while applying pressure or she's an army in a can that STILL pads our life total after Wraths, Combat, or Removal. I think the deck has a lot of built in resiliency that makes it an interesting take.
I don't think that you need sac outlets for Midnight Reaper. The Reaper is to make trades in combat favorable for us or to help us keep card advantage when a Wrath effect hits. I'm not trying to abuse it in an Aristocrats kinda way. It's in the deck to again give resiliency to the list and make sure that the inevitably gummed up board state we create is favorable for us.
The Assassin's Trophy is a flex spot, in all honesty. I'm not sure what I want to be in that spot but I think it should be a removal effect of some kind. I really want to have a couple of removal effects so that we can pry apart a terrible battlefield if necessary. Perhaps the Tribunal enchantment can make an appearance here to supplement the list.
I think the incidental lifegain from Elenda, along with the signficant Knight Tribal Lords (ie History of Benalia, Benalish Marshal, and Valiant Knight) will actually make her stats relevant. I look at her as a win/win: she's either a really huge Life-gaining Knight that pads our life total while applying pressure or she's an army in a can that STILL pads our life total after Wraths, Combat, or Removal. I think the deck has a lot of built in resiliency that makes it an interesting take.
I don't think that you need sac outlets for Midnight Reaper. The Reaper is to make trades in combat favorable for us or to help us keep card advantage when a Wrath effect hits. I'm not trying to abuse it in an Aristocrats kinda way. It's in the deck to again give resiliency to the list and make sure that the inevitably gummed up board state we create is favorable for us.
The Assassin's Trophy is a flex spot, in all honesty. I'm not sure what I want to be in that spot but I think it should be a removal effect of some kind. I really want to have a couple of removal effects so that we can pry apart a terrible battlefield if necessary. Perhaps the Tribunal enchantment can make an appearance here to supplement the list.
Doubt OP would waste time on wrathing the board. Exiling/countering are the plays that would undermine you. I digress, can't remember any of the abzan lists packing in aryel,elenda, or reaper. Most just brought in Lyra/shalai/planewalkers to handle that. Maybe when the new set of shocks come out other pros will pick it up and tinker with it. Though I suspect as 9tailz said about Venerated Loxodon. That card may make more of these decks vs. the others mentioned.
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"To keep things 100, anything I state is an opinion and not intended to be a fact. Any and all suggestions I give are a 100% opinion. If you need further clarification take the conversation to a PM. I am not in the business of assuming things. I'm only interested in 1 business and that business serves 2 things, Cold L's and Hot Dub's."
I'd add 4x Dauntless Bodyguard for a better early game pressure and if drawn later they can protect your lords.
Find // Finality should probably be in the SB and I'd replace it with the catch-all Conclave Tribunal which can be pretty cheap with a such a high creature density.
I keep trying to justify Aryel but 7cmc for a 2/2 knight doesn't seem like a good idea. Feels like the same problem with Ledev Champion and Conclave Guildmage where you essentially pay out 8cmc to get a token.
I can't remember does Aryel still tap when you produce the token despite having vigilance?
Private Mod Note
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Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
"To keep things 100, anything I state is an opinion and not intended to be a fact. Any and all suggestions I give are a 100% opinion. If you need further clarification take the conversation to a PM. I am not in the business of assuming things. I'm only interested in 1 business and that business serves 2 things, Cold L's and Hot Dub's."
Great discussion points. I do agree that the list is heavy at the 4 CMC slot. I do admit that it was built with fighting Golgari Mid-Range decks in mind, hence the mainboard Find // Finality. Conclave Tribunal is probably just better since it's a catch-all answer that should be easy to cast.
Yeah, Aryel still needs to tap to produce a Knight token. I think she would be useful as a 2-of in the Sideboard since she can break open gummed up battlefields with her second ability. Being able to destroy key creatures seems to be very strong.
Lots to think about here. While I don't play this deck too frequently on Arena I did want to have a thread created for this archetype because I think it has legs to be a solid option. I think that Orzhov will help fill in some of the removal gaps that the deck has since Knights are naturally an Orzhov focused theme. I'll try and edit the list later today.
3x Knight of Malice
4x Knight of Grace
4x Knight of Autumn
3x Benalish Marshal
3x Midnight Reaper
4x Conclave Cavalier
3x Elenda, the Dusk Rose
3x Valiant Knight
4x History of Benalia
3x Assassin's Trophy
3x Find // Finality
Lands (24)
4x Temple Garden
2x Overgrown Tomb
4x Sunpetal Grove
4x Isolated Chapel
4x Unclaimed Territory
4x Plains
1x Forest
1x Swamp
It's a Mid-Range deck that focuses on Knight Tribal Synergies. One card I'd like to find room for is Aryel, Knight of Windgrace because she can spawn her own army and remove problem creatures. This deck is weak to Flying creatures so it might be a good idea to include Shalai, Voice of Plenty in some number.
UB Dralnu, Lich Lord
RBW [Primer]-Kaalia of the Vast
BUG [Primer]-Tasigur, the Golden Fang
GWU [Primer]-Arcades, the Strategist
WUB Primer-Aminatou, the Fateshifter
UBR Nicol Bolas, the Ravager
Assassin's trophy just ramps the other person deck
11 forest (15)
16 white (20)
7 swamp (11)
() are for addition with unclaimed territory.
you kinda need sac outlets for midnight Reaper and Elenda, the dusk rose. Problem with knight decks is that they get too greedy.
Imo, I think the 2 color versions of the deck (orzhov, selesnya) are the better iterations of the deck.
-Stay Frosty
I think the incidental lifegain from Elenda, along with the signficant Knight Tribal Lords (ie History of Benalia, Benalish Marshal, and Valiant Knight) will actually make her stats relevant. I look at her as a win/win: she's either a really huge Life-gaining Knight that pads our life total while applying pressure or she's an army in a can that STILL pads our life total after Wraths, Combat, or Removal. I think the deck has a lot of built in resiliency that makes it an interesting take.
I don't think that you need sac outlets for Midnight Reaper. The Reaper is to make trades in combat favorable for us or to help us keep card advantage when a Wrath effect hits. I'm not trying to abuse it in an Aristocrats kinda way. It's in the deck to again give resiliency to the list and make sure that the inevitably gummed up board state we create is favorable for us.
The Assassin's Trophy is a flex spot, in all honesty. I'm not sure what I want to be in that spot but I think it should be a removal effect of some kind. I really want to have a couple of removal effects so that we can pry apart a terrible battlefield if necessary. Perhaps the Tribunal enchantment can make an appearance here to supplement the list.
UB Dralnu, Lich Lord
RBW [Primer]-Kaalia of the Vast
BUG [Primer]-Tasigur, the Golden Fang
GWU [Primer]-Arcades, the Strategist
WUB Primer-Aminatou, the Fateshifter
UBR Nicol Bolas, the Ravager
Doubt OP would waste time on wrathing the board. Exiling/countering are the plays that would undermine you. I digress, can't remember any of the abzan lists packing in aryel,elenda, or reaper. Most just brought in Lyra/shalai/planewalkers to handle that. Maybe when the new set of shocks come out other pros will pick it up and tinker with it. Though I suspect as 9tailz said about Venerated Loxodon. That card may make more of these decks vs. the others mentioned.
-Stay Frosty
Another possible option at 4-mana is Ajani, Adversary of Tyrants though it may be more of a SB option (like Vivien Reid and Aryel, Knight of Windgrace).
I'd add 4x Dauntless Bodyguard for a better early game pressure and if drawn later they can protect your lords.
Find // Finality should probably be in the SB and I'd replace it with the catch-all Conclave Tribunal which can be pretty cheap with a such a high creature density.
I keep trying to justify Aryel but 7cmc for a 2/2 knight doesn't seem like a good idea. Feels like the same problem with Ledev Champion and Conclave Guildmage where you essentially pay out 8cmc to get a token.
I can't remember does Aryel still tap when you produce the token despite having vigilance?
-Stay Frosty
Dauntless Bodyguard. Duh. Can't believe I forgot about that card.
Yeah, Aryel still needs to tap to produce a Knight token. I think she would be useful as a 2-of in the Sideboard since she can break open gummed up battlefields with her second ability. Being able to destroy key creatures seems to be very strong.
Lots to think about here. While I don't play this deck too frequently on Arena I did want to have a thread created for this archetype because I think it has legs to be a solid option. I think that Orzhov will help fill in some of the removal gaps that the deck has since Knights are naturally an Orzhov focused theme. I'll try and edit the list later today.
UB Dralnu, Lich Lord
RBW [Primer]-Kaalia of the Vast
BUG [Primer]-Tasigur, the Golden Fang
GWU [Primer]-Arcades, the Strategist
WUB Primer-Aminatou, the Fateshifter
UBR Nicol Bolas, the Ravager