Description
Playing
Card Choices
Spells
3x
Unburial Rites
- Can't have a reanimator deck without a reanimation spell. This spell is preferred because it can be cast from the graveyard when we Dredge it.
4x
Bone Shards
- This was a nearly straight upgrade from
Lightning Axe
. Since the
Faithless Looting
ban, and with this change, the red in this deck is now more of a splash for sideboard cards instead of a turn-one requirement. We generally want to use the "discard" option for this. Save it for something important or a turn-one dork. But there are corner cases -- I used it against Living End to discard my Elesh Norn and kill my own Stitcher's Supplier before they went off. This is also our best way to deal with Planeswalkers.
3x-4x
Collective Brutality
- Discards our reanimation targets or our dredgers, drains, kills smaller creatures, and helps make sure the coast is clear for Unburial Rites.
3x-4x
Life from the Loam
- Getting an early dredger is pretty important, so I prefer 4. Dredges 3, recurs your lands for land drops and Raven's Crime fodder, and recurs your Ghost Quarters to lock out decks without a lot of basics.
3x-4x
Lingering Souls
- Slows the game down for us, as we usually want to play slowly. It also pitches well to our discard outlets, works when dredged, and turns into a lethal force with Elesh Norn.
2x
Raven's Crime
- Not useful in all matchups, but when it's good, it's outstanding. Turns the game into a board stall with your opponent hellbent, and we win almost all games that go that way. Works when dredged, and combos nicely with Life from the Loam. If you think your opponent is going to interact with your reanimation, clear their hand first.
0x-1x
Witherbloom Command
- While this card can generate incredible value, it might be best only in the sideboard -- there are quite a few decks where it doesn't do as much as we want. However, post-sideboard, it does a LOT of work. Clear out almost any graveyard hate in the format, recur your Ghost Quarters, kill mana dorks, drain, mill, and/or just hit your land drops. Remember this grabs ANY land in your yard, not just what you mill, unlike Satyr Wayfinder.
Creatures
2x
Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite
- Reanimation target that can ruin your opponents board and/or let you swing for crazy amounts.
2x
Iona, Shield of Emeria
- Locks a LOT of decks out of the game, plus it's a 7/7 flyer. If you're playing against a mono-color deck the choice is obvious, but against multi-colored decks, you usually want to name the color of their removal.
4x
Satyr Wayfinder
- This card could be
Mulch
or
Grisly Salvage
. You can determine what the right meta call is for you. Mulch can put multiple lands in your hand. Salvage digs an extra card deeper, is instant speed (but we are mostly a sorcery speed deck), and can grab a creature. Wayfinder leaves a body behind, which I've found to be the most important factor. I've also had the rare case where I wasn't hitting Norn or Iona, and I needed to reanimate a Wayfinder to mill further and live one more turn. It ended up winning me the game, but, it was still pretty unlikely.
4x
Stinkweed Imp
- Dredge 5 is the most important line of text on this card. However, a deathtouch flyer does help slow down the game for us, which is significant.
4x
Stitcher's Supplier
- This card went in when Faithless Looting got banned, and it turns out, it's not half bad for 1 mana.
Lands
9x Fetches - Generally a 3/3/3 mix of
Marsh Flats
,
Verdant Catacombs
, and
Windswept Heath
, but the exact mix barely matters if you happen to have more of one and less of another.
6x Primary Color Shocklands - This deck is pretty balanced in what colors it needs across Abzan, so ideally we run 2x each of
Godless Shrine
,
Overgrown Tomb
, and
Temple Garden
. If you need to mix this up due to card constraints, lean more into green -- you really want to be able to hit Satyr Wayfinder and Life from the Loam.
3x Splash Color Shocklands - One each of
Blood Crypt
,
Sacred Foundry
, and
Stomping Ground
, so we can fetch into them for our sideboard Grudges.
1x
Indatha Triome
- Good for fetching into all our colors on a turn where coming in tapped doesn't matter.
3x Basics - One each of Forest, Plains, and Swamp, for when we don't want our mana base to hurt as much when fetching.
1x-2x
Ghost Quarter
- I tend to play just one because it's not that great against a lot of decks. But when it's good, it's really, really good. Especially with all the
Urza's Saga
running around. Recur it with Life from the Loam, and lock out decks that don't run enough basics. Or just destroy some Tron lands.
Sideboard
4x
Ancient Grudge
- The reason for the splash of red. Without this, we are hoping to draw Witherbloom Command, and we mainly want to be dredging, not drawing. If you're trying to play a more budget-friendly version of this deck, you can drop this card and the entire red splash to save on the mana base. However, the win rate definitely goes up significantly just because of this. This could maybe be
Shenanigans
, but I prefer an instant-speed Flashback the moment it hits the yard.
3x
Ray of Revelation
- Pretty much Ancient Grudge, but against Enchantments. Also good against
Urza's Saga
decks, since it's an Enchantment too.
3x-4x
Witherbloom Command
- Hits most of the graveyard hate commonly used in the format, and advances our gameplan at the same time. Also brings back Ghost Quarters. The problem is, we have to draw it. Still worth it after game 1, but don't rush it out if you can help it.
1x
Raven's Crime
- Just more of a good thing against decks that can't handle it. We become Control's nightmare matchup.
2x-3x
Bojuka Bog
- We generally only want to run one-sided graveyard hate, and we need a way to use it from the graveyard. Life from the Loam solves that issue for us. Also keep in mind that, in long games, you can Ghost Quarter your own Bog so you can bring it back. I've only ever had to do that once, though.
2x-3x
Ghost Quarter
- Same reasoning behind the 1x-2x in the mainboard.
Matchups and Sideboarding
Cards That Did Not Work
Vengeful Pharaoh
is currently bugged on MTGO. Instead of triggering when your opponent's creatures deal damage, it triggers when YOUR creatures do so. It's been this way for over a year, and I don't see them fixing it anytime soon. Works on paper though, if you remember the trigger.
Gemstone Mine
was actually solid when this deck was more 4-color than just a red splash, especially combined with Life from the Loam. But now, it's not really needed. The Triome really helps that too.
"Regular" Abzan Cards - I generally didn't make use of most cards that couldn't be used from the graveyard, unless it really advances the gameplan and generates a lot of value.
Tarmogoyf
is a cheap, big, dumb beater, but this deck doesn't really clear the way for him to beat up the opponent.
Liliana of the Veil
is solid, but just gets milled out in 90% of games. Same problem with things like
Thoughtseize
or
Path to Exile
or so on.
Ox of Agonas
- What problem does this solve? Generally if the game goes long enough, we're going to win. It also doesn't have any evasion. I could be wrong though.
Kroxa, Titan of Death's Hunger
- Could be good, but we are only splashing red, so BBRR is kinda rough.
