Most competitive Abzan decks are around $1000. That's stupid. Tarmogoyf, Liliana of the Veil and fancy fetches are really good and all, but I cry every time I see their pricetags.
My aim for this deck was to budget-ize the Abzan archetype, but still have a competitive deck in the end. Some people think that this is a nearly impossible feat, but I'd argue otherwise. Enter Wilt-Leaf Liege Aggro, the best "budget" Abzan deck in the Modern format (not combo, ofc)
So, let's look at some notable exclusions real quick before you go screaming in the comments about how these cards should be in here:
Noble Hierarch: The best mana dork in Modern, Hierarch is a beast. Her Exalted triggers helps you win in attrition-based matchups (Ex. My Siege Rhino beats your Siege Rhino because of a +1/+1 trigger from my dork). If you don't care about your wallet, by all means run her. She's a bit out of my range though, and Birds of Paradise fills her slot well.
Verdant Catacombs and Marsh Flats: The Zendikar fetches are expensive asf. So, I'm not running them until they see a reprint.
Now that that's out of the way, let's look at why this is a great deck:
No. 1: IT'S EFFECTIVE VS Liliana of the Veil
No. 2: IT'S CREATURES ARE HUGE
- Now don't get me wrong, Tarmogoyf can potentially be a big beater. However, this deck's synergy with Wilt-Leaf Liege is unparalleled by most other creature-centric decks in the format. Since most creatures in the deck have in their mana cost (and all of them are at least ), they all get +2/+2 from a single Liege, which is outstanding value for a 4-mana 4/4. This makes a Loxodon Smiter a 3-mana 6/6, Siege Rhino a 4-mana 6/7 with a
Lightning Helix
tacked onto it, and don't even get me started on Voice of Resurgence tokens.
No. 3: "THERE AREN'T THAT MANY UNFAVORABLE MATCHUPS"
- Don't get me wrong, this deck can be hit pretty hard in some situations, such as an early Twin combo or an extremely fast start from Burn. But, overall, this deck has the tools necessary to be good in almost any matchup. Kitchen Finks mainboard helps vs Burn, Qasali Pridemage can help against Affinity, Voice of Resurgence helps against Control, etc.
I hope you like the deck! Again, it's not as good as the more expensive Abzan Liege decks (no Hierarchs, Zen fetches, etc.), but overall I think that even with opting for some budget inclusions the deck is really solid. Please leave any feedback, especially on the Sideboard.
Thanks for stopping by, +1's are greatly appreciated! :)
