MTG Salvation

Oona's Blackguard works really well with Abzan overall.

Don't forget it's entirely possible to get 10+ cards into your graveyard before you can get 10+ mana within same number of turns. While other spells require hard mana, Delve spells can be paid with BOTH mana and cards in grave.

Should an opponent casts a board wipe, one would recover quicker with Treasure Cruise than with other drawing spells you mentioned ([c[Ancestral Recall[/c] excluded, of course. Ancestral Vision requires timing). If an opponent casts Cataclysm, Set Adrift can foil his/her plan easier than other return-to-library spells you mentioned (unless you get lucky with Vanishment, of course).

Do we have the deck lists for KtK Precons yet?

Quote from Planeswalker420 »

It was mentioned in Maro's article today that development added the ability on for the sake of metagame concerns. There appears to be no flavour intended behind the addition.

Indeed, although regardless of their intention for balance, lore wise her ability also makes sense. It's possible that the lore team worked with the development team to incorporate the flavor together.

Quote from cdmagic »

Use Mindshrieker on your own 8-10cc delve cards if you don't need them...I'm getting closer to being right when I said that this card will be playable one day...use Noxious Revival and/or Brainstorm and/or Sensei's Divining Top to get them to the top

my, that reminds me of YuGiOh's card, Berserker Soul, which let you rape your opponent's face for each creature you flip over.

Now we have all the cards and Prerelease is in one week. Which banner will you congregate under?

Treasure Cruise and Dig Through Time are the only two I see truly worthwhile. After testing some BUG variants, the power to quickly recover from opponent's board wipe, using the cards he/she destroyed no less, is very satisfying, not to mention Treasure Cruise requires only a single colored mana, easy splashing. Being able to cast Deadbridge Chant then immediately follow up with either of the aforementioned cards is pure card advantage.

Quote from Singe »

Lightning Volley + Jeskai Ascendancy = Tap your creatures to deal 1 damage each. Play another spell. Repeat.

That would be Kung-Fu pew pew, Hadouken everywhere

Misthollow Griffin with any Delve card would work out great. I can picture usage such as Careful Study/Intuition -> get Griffins into graveyard, then Treasure Cruise Griffins alongside fetch lands.

Delve cards combo with themselves, really. Rather than finding a way to get them back, it's easier just to use them as Delve fodder. Sultai is evil like that!

Quote from Aejann »

Anafenza's (the white clan's leader) exile clause not only neuters Sidisi (the black clan), but also prevents Zurgo's (the red clan) +1/+1 counter ability to activate.

According to Planeswalker's guide's description, Abzan boarders Jeskai and Mardu closest. While Jeskai and them have more civil interactions, they really disliked Mardu, as evident by all Abzan orcs were orphans from Mardu.

Mardu borders Sultai and Temur as far as the description goes, for they seem to take caution of each other intensely, and consider Abzan's orc population they are probably neighbor also, because long distance horseback riding is not effective on sand.

Sultai have been shown battling Temur (Debilitating Injury), Mardu (Blinding Spray), and Abzan (Death Frenzy).

Temur only battles those invading their territory, most often Mardu, but judging from the art there's also Abzan Houses (see Roar of Challenge and Icy Blast).

Jeskai doesn't leave their territory much either, and most of their battles are them outsmarting the Mardu. In fact, there's no picture showing Jeskai being beaten at all, amazing.

Geographically speaking, Abzan can be Gobi Desert, Sultai similar to Southeast Asia, Jeskai Mid-China, Mardu Northern China, and Temur even further Northern China. These are all climates and landscape available in China, thus we can picture their locations accordingly (base on China): Albzan is within the center of other four clans, Mardu and Temur both North, Sultai Southwest, Jeskai Southeast. I'm uncertain if Mardu is Northeast or Northwest, consider they are Tarkir biker gangs who could go anywhere they (impulsively) want, but base on the abundance of (frozen) water in Temur art, I think Temur is more towards Northeast while Mardu Northwest. Again, purely base on China's climates where the Tarkir set seems to be based on.

Here is what was written in Planeswalker's Guide to Tarkir:

"We do not pile the skulls of our enemies, nor make them into ornaments. We grind them into dust. We leave nothing for their families to weep over, nothing for their descendants to honor."

For Abzan, ancestry is everything, so denying their opponent any source of that lineage is what they consider to be the worst punishment. Anafenza's ability to exile dead creatures probably originate from this belief.

Spirit Bonds and Abzan Ascendency works as a continuous headache for your opponent in long battle, ensures one would always have a token to manipulate. Add Twilight Drover to sweeten the deal further.

Narset, Enlightened Master and Reconnaissance, allow you to safely attack and remove her from situation and still get to cast spells for free.

Deadbridge Chant + any Delve cards, remove unnecessary lands and mana dorks to power Delve spells while recur cards efficiently with Chant.

Savage Knuckleblade and Training Ground, while straightforward, fuels multiple other combos for cheaper. For one, the obvious Temur Ascendency when you can return Knuckleblade turn after turn to draw cards (and gives him haste for free). Pandemonium allow you to deal damage every time you cast Knuckleblade, and you can return and recast more rapidly with Training Ground.

Ancient Tomb, turn 1 cast Mirrodin mana Talisman then cast Ghostfire Blade, turn 2 Morph a creature and equip it with the blade as a 4/4.

Quote from mu1000 »

Pure life gain cards have never been playable, AFAIK. I don't think this is either.

Martyr of Sands is a pure life gain card and it's also fully playable. I'm not saying Feed the Clan is tournament worthy (yet), merely saying that huge life gain for cheap can be deceptively threatening.

I tested out the card on Cockatrice and as everyone has predicted, once it's out it's quiet a massacre, especially in multiple, but when it's not, either not having it or it got destroyed, everything slowed down to a halt.

My version takes the route of Fires of Yavimaya where creatures are mostly midrange cost (Tarmogoyf, while being one of the best creature choice for this deck, is anything but fair), such as Obstinate Baloth, Blastoderm, Flametongue Kavu, and Shivan Wurm. The deck doesn't use Imaginary Pet due to its drawback without Ascendency, instead I used Saproling Burst, literally is 12 damage + 3 cards the turn it comes into play, then remain as blockers later as you chump out other biggies. I like this approach better because it allows the deck to function without Ascendency (which makes me wonder if I should have Fires of Yavimaya in addition to Ascendency).

Temur Ascendency + Kaldra equipments (Helm of Kaldra, Shield of Kaldra, and Sword of Kaldra), once assembled, allow you to draw a card every time you pay 1, and the token also gains haste.

And the combo I mentioned two weeks ago: Saproling Burst and Temur Ascendency.

Rampaging Baloths can be very deadly too if you have cards like Exploration in play ahead of time. You draw more cards, and put more lands, create more tokens, then draw some more.

Cipher ability + jeskai in general.

Vesuvan Shapeshifter + Thousand Winds or Kheru Spellsnatcher nullifies opponent's play turn after turn.

Equilibrium and any Raid creatures, allow multiple triggers per.

And of the Wish card (such as Cunning Wish) and Delve mechanic. Not sure if this one works anymore.