The biggest fall I've always had with this deck has been the mirror match I just can't get it down any tips people can give would be appreciated and how to approach side boarding now that the deck has changed. Should we take a minimalistic sideboard approach in matchups now.
Linvala. I had a Phyrexian Revoker SB, but not sure it's going to earn it's stay, would be pretty darned good here against a mirror with very little removal. And Anafenza, the Foremost, Living End a real thing now.
Just got back from GP Montreal, a few AC decks there, and they did quite well, I believe one player was undefeated (11-0) at the time I left, and am sure our moderator will give you update on his own successes. My deck seemed fine, but personally I played horrendously all day and Chord hid from me all day, so will try not to impart wisdom from my matchups, but a few observations:
was perfectly fine at 22 lands; although 9 fetches seemed excessive (3xHC,3xGavony)
my best sideboard all day was Gideon (maybe because I could never draw Chord !)
Eldritch Evolution is fantastic; threw one mainboard after never drawing Chords in early matches
was very happy with ratio of 3 Witness / 1 Ralliers
was troubled by fliers all day, 11-0 guy had a sideboard Sigarda to good effect, not only for flier of course.... will try
last sideboard card I cut was Anafenza, the Foremost, and then drew Living End, ugh. T3 Vizier Combo against it but had no sink, and got board wiped on their T3... twice
Couldn't help but wonder all day how vulnerable this deck would be to RIP and Cage and Scooze (with regards to 4 Witness/Ralliers and fewer Qasali/Sage), since AC has always been subject to RIP/Cage), but never saw RIP played anywhere (the DS effect? where were the Hate Bears?). The answer there perhaps is the much-discussed red splash, and think I will try that.
Other players seemed to like the deck, drew a lot of interest, am sorry I didn't represent it well. Keep brewing !
I agree with cutting LotV and IoK against Abzan Company, strongly disagree with cutting Lingering Souls. They bring in more removal and become a midrange value-creature deck, so you need to have your grindy tools to deal with that. Gideon, Ally of Zendikar is great against them and you should definitely bring him in if he's in your sideboard. My current plan for Abzan Company also has me bringing in Sorin, Solemn Visitor out of the sideboard. We tend to lose when we fall behind on 2-for-1's because their creatures are so sticky, and Eternal Witness buying back Coco is brutal.
I play both of these decks, and the new Vizier Druid needs different sideboard than the old Abzan Company. It has less removal and more protection. It's combo is more potent, but it's grind is somewhat compromised and depends heavily on Gavony.
You really want IoK to toss out combo pieces and Chord of Calling. Funny thing is Abzan Company will bring in Gideon against you, Gideon might not be worth the slot because Company goes wide and has Finks to block. Number one sideboard is Grafdigger's Cage. Linvala is tech to bring back (and Elves seems to have staying power too). Collective Brutality is brutal. Surgical Extraction. LLH pretty good. Sorin is good but usually only after going hellbent. Tireless Tracker can aid the long game.
Here is my list for FNM tomorrow night. Couple of meta-calls... Qasali MB for a Blue Moon player carrying Blood Moon MB. Couple of trial moves (not defending either) with Quillspike and Wooded Bastion. Definitely want the Wall of Roots, can go down T2 with DD sometimes. SB Eidolon for our local Storm player, I would love VoR mainboard, but couldn't muster it. Still not sure what Maelstrom Pulse is in there for, but since so many folks have run 2, am trusting its needed. Otherwise nothing rocket science.
Thanks for the detail Pokken, will help me sideboard for FNM, do you think I can drop Kataki? I also have a lot of GBx hate, but probably do not need it all.
My son plays Bant Eldrazi and I am 6-0 against him, has never even been close. Eldrazi-Tron might be a different matter. Also has Blue Moon which I am 0-3 against and Storm, which completely depends on home draw, who plays first, and whether or not I get my Eidolon or a Chord in hand. I should add I've played 3 matches against Kiki Chord, which Hooglund now has inspired a mainboard Linvala for, and Linvala/Spellskite is a tough lock against a deck that can grind better. I did win one game through Linvala with Gavony. And those where Linvala was not found/chorded for.
It's probably spread out here among the posts, but would be grateful if the experienced here share their view of the matchups easiest to most difficult with Vizier Abzan.
Been applying Rhonas to Abzan Company, comes in sideboard to replace Walking Ballista as a wincon Games 2 and 3 as opponent inevitably brings in more removal, but there it is a CoCo target. For Junk, could see one sideboard as well for UW control and against any deck featuring Blood Moon since it is so easy to cast and activate, where it might get hard to cast Gideon for example. Would probably sub out a Flayer if I had 3, or Nobles if on that build. I like it's interaction with Kalitas as well, and can help Souls swing hard under Bridge.
While the Naya combo deck posted does indeed seem potent and fast, it surrenders the entire second game-plan that defines Abzan Company, notably grinding out wins. Vulnerable to Linvala, RIP, Surgical Extraction, Cage, Scavenging Ooze, Orzhov Pontiff. I find the Druid combo potent enough in Abzan, and the Naya build feels win more in the combo dept.
I really like the Flickerwisp, because we have a Kiki Chord player here who hoses me with Linvala, and always holds up removal for Fiend Hunter. That extra half-turn can get the combo off and can deal with an occasional Phyrexian Revoker and Harsh Mentor as well.
The Abzan version is also vulnerable to Surgical Extraction, a Grixis player extracted all my Chords and Companies instead of Druid probably because he did not know the extent of the second combo. And here is an argument for those additional pieces (other than that Kitchen Finks may be a top 5 card in the modern meta right now). While I often too felt Seer was a pretty flat play, if you put down Seer, Anafenza, or Finks, you exhaust your opponents removal/extraction trying to handle/imagine every which way you have, puts them on their heels. I have had several opponents wonder/worry out loud if I had Angel/Feeder (I don't).
Biggest decks around here (and everywhere?) are Burn, Eldrazi, and DS. All 3 of these hate to see Finks and have potent answers in Anger of the Gods, Cage, Pithing Needle, Relic, Surgical Extraction, and mass removal and disruption in DS. Gavony Township is also threatening to all of these decks.
Got beat finally by Grafdigger's Cage, could not grind so well without Finks coming back, but Witness is even a big help there and wish I had more at the time. Had great fun turning Witness >> Rallier >> Voice after sacking voice (different match).
Anafenza is sick with Druid even without the combo.
Solid list Fyrithil, Noble vs. not is really a tie in my book, but would still have a singleton Spellbomb or Nameless Inversion mainboard, since Inversion is removal, I run 3 Exile, 2 Push, 1 NI and I keep a Celestial Purge sideboard as extra removal that can hit Nahiri, Blood Moon, Tasigur, Liliana (Last Hope in DS decks give me fits), etc. I played Kalitas a long time and loved it, but right now IMHO Gideon or Sorin seem better in a tool slot, I am going with Sorin for now since my home meta has lots of red.
Ad Nauseam does not care about leyline. As Nauseam has been my tournament deck for a while and I am thrilled every time I see someone drop a leyline. You want stoney silence, rule of law effects and a fast clock. Discard is great but they will usually have a leyline of their own so don't keep a *****ty hand just because it has 2-3 discard spells.
Thanks for clarifying, fortunately always carrying Stoney Silence and Eidolon of Rhetoric for other decks too.
SCG Atlanta results out. As I suspected, Junk was just good, not great, with 3 in top 32, but looks like no wins in the 32. Great at being good, but not good at being great !
Abzan Company is a big splash. Is that one of the big mana decks mentioned? Linvala is good SB for that and Paradox Engine Combo. Also good shredding of their hands and extraction always a good thing.
Burn is still premier, and I like Sorin MB these days, my local is very burn heavy and it is excellent against DS Jund.
Need to decide for GP Montreal to play Junk or Abzan Company (Devoted Company), have tested this deck recently and it wrecked the big decks, Shadow and Eldrazi, was closer to 50-50 versus control, is so versatile, I swear I only hit a couple of bad topdecks in 30 games. While Junk is closer to my heart, I was on Company all last spring/summer.
Have been wondering about Leyline of Sanctity. Burn not a great matchup, and Leyline very effective against DS decks. Ad Naseum won Atlanta, stops that and they only have 1 SB card against it.
Not disputing, just looking for clarification/explanation on 2 Maelstrom Pulse sideboard, why 2 and what are expected targets? (Been playing Junk with just 1 for a long time). Would like to swap one for Abrupt Decay or another path.
One thing about Fiend Hunter (vs. Warden), mostly when Viscera Seer is down but also against aggro, can Fiend your own creature, especially off of CoCo, to protect a combo piece until you have it, and then have a creature your opponent does not want to block or remove. I did this probably 3x last year, and 2x it was very relevent.
Linvala. I had a Phyrexian Revoker SB, but not sure it's going to earn it's stay, would be pretty darned good here against a mirror with very little removal. And Anafenza, the Foremost, Living End a real thing now.
- was perfectly fine at 22 lands; although 9 fetches seemed excessive (3xHC,3xGavony)
- my best sideboard all day was Gideon (maybe because I could never draw Chord !)
- Eldritch Evolution is fantastic; threw one mainboard after never drawing Chords in early matches
- was very happy with ratio of 3 Witness / 1 Ralliers
- was troubled by fliers all day, 11-0 guy had a sideboard Sigarda to good effect, not only for flier of course.... will try
- last sideboard card I cut was Anafenza, the Foremost, and then drew Living End, ugh. T3 Vizier Combo against it but had no sink, and got board wiped on their T3... twice
Couldn't help but wonder all day how vulnerable this deck would be to RIP and Cage and Scooze (with regards to 4 Witness/Ralliers and fewer Qasali/Sage), since AC has always been subject to RIP/Cage), but never saw RIP played anywhere (the DS effect? where were the Hate Bears?). The answer there perhaps is the much-discussed red splash, and think I will try that.Other players seemed to like the deck, drew a lot of interest, am sorry I didn't represent it well. Keep brewing !
+1 sacrifice one poster
I play both of these decks, and the new Vizier Druid needs different sideboard than the old Abzan Company. It has less removal and more protection. It's combo is more potent, but it's grind is somewhat compromised and depends heavily on Gavony.
You really want IoK to toss out combo pieces and Chord of Calling. Funny thing is Abzan Company will bring in Gideon against you, Gideon might not be worth the slot because Company goes wide and has Finks to block. Number one sideboard is Grafdigger's Cage. Linvala is tech to bring back (and Elves seems to have staying power too). Collective Brutality is brutal. Surgical Extraction. LLH pretty good. Sorin is good but usually only after going hellbent. Tireless Tracker can aid the long game.
1 Anafenza, Kin-Tree Spirit
4 Birds of Paradise
4 Devoted Druid
1 Duskwatch Recruiter Flip
2 Eternal Witness
1 Fiend Hunter
4 Kitchen Finks
2 Noble Hierarch
1 Qasali Pridemage
1 Quillspike
2 Renegade Rallier
1 Rhonas the Indomitable
1 Viscera Seer
4 Vizier of Remedies
1 Wall of Roots
2 Forest
3 Gavony Township
1 Godless Shrine
2 Horizon Canopy
1 Marsh Flats
1 Overgrown Tomb
1 Plains
2 Temple Garden
4 Verdant Catacombs
4 Windswept Heath
1 Wooded Bastion
Spells (8)
4 Chord of Calling
4 Collected Company
1 Abrupt Decay
1 Anafenza, the Foremost
1 Burrenton Forge-Tender
1 Eidolon of Rhetoric
1 Maelstrom Pulse
1 Orzhov Pontiff
2 Path to Exile
1 Pharika, God of Affliction
1 Phyrexian Revoker
1 Reclamation Sage
1 Scavenging Ooze
1 Selfless Spirit
1 Spellskite
1 Voice of Resurgence
My son plays Bant Eldrazi and I am 6-0 against him, has never even been close. Eldrazi-Tron might be a different matter. Also has Blue Moon which I am 0-3 against and Storm, which completely depends on home draw, who plays first, and whether or not I get my Eidolon or a Chord in hand. I should add I've played 3 matches against Kiki Chord, which Hooglund now has inspired a mainboard Linvala for, and Linvala/Spellskite is a tough lock against a deck that can grind better. I did win one game through Linvala with Gavony. And those where Linvala was not found/chorded for.
I really like the Flickerwisp, because we have a Kiki Chord player here who hoses me with Linvala, and always holds up removal for Fiend Hunter. That extra half-turn can get the combo off and can deal with an occasional Phyrexian Revoker and Harsh Mentor as well.
The Abzan version is also vulnerable to Surgical Extraction, a Grixis player extracted all my Chords and Companies instead of Druid probably because he did not know the extent of the second combo. And here is an argument for those additional pieces (other than that Kitchen Finks may be a top 5 card in the modern meta right now). While I often too felt Seer was a pretty flat play, if you put down Seer, Anafenza, or Finks, you exhaust your opponents removal/extraction trying to handle/imagine every which way you have, puts them on their heels. I have had several opponents wonder/worry out loud if I had Angel/Feeder (I don't).
Biggest decks around here (and everywhere?) are Burn, Eldrazi, and DS. All 3 of these hate to see Finks and have potent answers in Anger of the Gods, Cage, Pithing Needle, Relic, Surgical Extraction, and mass removal and disruption in DS. Gavony Township is also threatening to all of these decks.
Anafenza is sick with Druid even without the combo.
Thanks for clarifying, fortunately always carrying Stoney Silence and Eidolon of Rhetoric for other decks too.
Abzan Company is a big splash. Is that one of the big mana decks mentioned? Linvala is good SB for that and Paradox Engine Combo. Also good shredding of their hands and extraction always a good thing.
Burn is still premier, and I like Sorin MB these days, my local is very burn heavy and it is excellent against DS Jund.
Need to decide for GP Montreal to play Junk or Abzan Company (Devoted Company), have tested this deck recently and it wrecked the big decks, Shadow and Eldrazi, was closer to 50-50 versus control, is so versatile, I swear I only hit a couple of bad topdecks in 30 games. While Junk is closer to my heart, I was on Company all last spring/summer.
Have been wondering about Leyline of Sanctity. Burn not a great matchup, and Leyline very effective against DS decks. Ad Naseum won Atlanta, stops that and they only have 1 SB card against it.
One thing about Fiend Hunter (vs. Warden), mostly when Viscera Seer is down but also against aggro, can Fiend your own creature, especially off of CoCo, to protect a combo piece until you have it, and then have a creature your opponent does not want to block or remove. I did this probably 3x last year, and 2x it was very relevent.