This is predominantly a / list with a splash of for Abrupt Decay (and Noxious Revival, but that's essentially a free spell). Because Abrupt Decay is arguably the best removal spell in the format, and certainly worth splashing in my opinion.
Unfortunately, Liliana of the Veil is not going in here because she costs way too damn much and I wouldn't be able to afford her. There's no questioning the work she would do in here, but she's just too expensive. Deal with it.
Lantern of Insight allows us to see everything our opponents and ourselves are going to draw. Even with a multiple-draw spell like Sphinx's Revelation, our opponent has to flip the top of their library before every draw, thus letting us know exactly what's going into their hands. It also acts as an emergency shuffler if we don't like what our opponent's about to draw but can't mill it away. We want to see this card as many times as possible, so it gets 4x slots.
Codex Shredder and
Ghoulcaller's Bell
double as our mill win conditions and the way to control our opponent's draws. Don't like what they're going to draw? Mill it away for something more to your liking! Codex Shredder, while being shut down by Leyline of Sanctity, is the better miller since it only mills one player, so it gets 4x slots to see it as often as possible.
Ghoulcaller's Bell
is a tad weaker due to it milling both players, but gets around the Leyline. It gets 2x spots because it is slightly inferior to Codex Shredder, and also to free up a bit of space for other cards.
Ensnaring Bridge is the most vital part of the entire win condition, because it keeps creatures off our backs so you can actually last in games. With a very low average converted mana cost, it's relatively easy to use our entire hand within the first few turns. It is essentially the only card keeping us in the games, otherwise we'd likely be overrun by creatures. This means it's going to be a prime target for removal, which means we want to see extra copies as soon as possible. However, holding an extra copy in hand just waiting to be used is generally a bad idea, since it lets pesky 1-power creatures slip through. Be aware that even with no cards in our hand 0-power creatures like Ornithopter, Signal Pest, and Noble Hierarch will still be able to attack. So we have 3x slots to maximize the amount of times we see it, but to minimize the amount of times it just sits in our hand.
THE HAND DISRUPTION
For discard, we have a full playset of Inquisition of Kozilek, 3x Thoughtseize, and 3x
Scepter of Fugue
. Inquisition and Thoughtseize are amazing discards to use against our opponents while Scepter is a great way for us to pitch excess cards that we'd be holding onto.
Inquisition of Kozilek and
Thoughseize
take care of some of our early problem cards, such as Abrupt Decay, counterspells like Spell Pierce, and opposing Thoughtseize and Inquisition of Kozilek. These cards easily disrupt some of our key cards and generally make life miserable for us until we can grind to our next copy. If our opponent has a turn 1 Thoughtseize and we have an Ensnaring Bridge in our hand.... gulp. Inquisition and 'Seize are almost the same card, but Thoughtseize can hit more things like Splinter Twin and Karn Liberated, but isn't an ideal turn 1 fetch -> shock -> Thoughtseize play. Inquisition his most of the needed cards, and doesn't Shock us.
Scepter of Fugue
is excellent for getting rid of cards in our hands late-game that may just sit there when we have an ensnaring bridge in play, like Thoughtseize. It can also be used on the opponent to decrease their hands, of course. Scepter was chosen over Pack Rat because the Rat is more mana intensive per turn and is an outlet for the opponent's usually-dead removal spells.
Scepter of Fugue
gets 2 spots because it's not always necessary and we don't exactly want to run into more than one of these.
Abrupt Decay is one of the best removal spells in the format, hitting almost all of the threats in Modern. In this deck, it'll often be hitting less of the powerful creatures like Tarmogoyf and more often be hitting pesky permanents. Permanents like Blood Moon, Cranial Plating, Stony Silence, Liliana of the Veil, and Deceiver Exarch that could cause a lot of damage to the deck and its function. Creatures can mostly be left alone because they'll be unable to attack the majority of the time. 3 slots mean we'll see it often but won't be flooded.
Path to Exile is more flexible in the creatures it can hit, though it can only hit creatures which usually aren't that big of threats. However, the fact that there's another form of spot removal means we can keep Abrupt Decay once again primarily focused on large non-creature threats. The fact that the opponent can search for a land actually furthers our win condition.
Engineered Explosives is great against token decks and deck that have low converted mana cost creatures. Most of the time it'll be blowing up for X = 0 or X = 1 to remove those cheap permanents that we can't immediately protect against with Ensnaring Bridge. Obviously at X = 1 we're removing quite a bit of our own stuff, but sometimes it's better to blow everything up and restart again than just let ourselves be overrun because we like our boardstate
UTILITY CARDS
These cards make up the rest of the deck. They all have different functions according to the weaknesses of the deck and the versatility of the cards.
Infernal Tutor is essentially a Demonic Tutor once our hand is depleted. Which is often, so it's usually a Demonic Tutor. Able to find anything once Hellbent is online, search up whatever suits the situation. It's not a needed draw all the time, so it gets 2 slots.
Mox Opal, while not as effective as in Affinity, still acts as lands 19-21. Though Metalcraft may not be active until turn 3, it's not a big deal if it isn't until then. Turn 1 Mox Opal, Inquisition of Kozilek into turn 2 Lantern of Insight, Codex Shredder, 1-drop is a great start. Unlike Affinity, it's not necessary to have a playset, but we do want to see it often. 3x is the max that allows us to see it most games and not have our hand clogged up with extra copies.
Noxious Revival is just pure value. It's essentially a free spell, just pay 2 life and it's good. This card lets us get back a card in our graveyard, like a destroyed Ensnaring Bridge. It can also be used in the offensive; if our opponent has a card on top of their library you don't want them to have and our mill cards are all tapped, we can use Noxious Revival to put a useless card from their graveyard on top of their library so they draw that instead. It's not needed every game, but it's a welcome addition when drawn. 2x for useability.
Sun Droplet is good against decks that are aggro or have a lot of burn. It'll slowly tick up your health while they rage at you from behind the line of an Ensnaring Bridge. It isn't very good against a lot of decks though, so it only gets 1 slot.
Sunbeam Spellbomb
is almost never bad. It's a good chunk of life when we need it, especially against fast decks, or a card draw when we don't. It's the only source of card draw in the deck, which does work just fine since we want to drop our hand to zero ASAP. It's very useful because it can be used whenever, and increases the Metalcraft count when sitting on the battlefield. It gets 3x spots because it's very versatile and a necessary draw against aggro decks, yet we don't want to swarm ourselves with these.
Timely Reinforcements is our ultimate "screw you" to aggro. It's almost certain that our opponent will have more life than us (especially if we lack Ensnaring Bridge) and it'll always give us chump blockers against grounded forces. Gaining the equivalent of 2 Lightning Bolts and 3 Tarmogoyf chumps is enormous value for us when we're playing the slow game.
THE LANDBASE
To maximize efficiency, the deck wants to have access to , , and by turn two, with either of the latter colors on turn 1. Thankfully, this is relatively easy to pull off with fetchlands and shocklands, and the fact that none of my colored spells with the exception of
Scepter of Fugue
cost more than one of any color helps as well.
Temple Garden is a 1-of because there doesn't need to be more than 1 with 5 fetches and 5 other sources of green.
Ghost Quarter is to defend against Tron and manlands. 2x to see fairly consistently.
Plains, because Blood Moon tends to be a problem if not removed right away. 2 to be fetchable if one is drawn.
Marsh Flats is the best fetch in the deck, since it is able to get everything except the lonesome Forest. It gets 3 spots because 4 is just too many in an 18 land deck.
Swamp for the basic powers. Die Blood Moon, die! 3 fills out the rest of the land.
Godless Shrine is the land we'll end up fetching most often, particularly turns 1 and 2. It produces the colors we most heavily play so we can fetch it for a turn 1 Inquisition of Kozilek/Thoughtseize or Path to Exile. Once again, 3x slots is enough with the land count and the fetches available.
THE SIDEBOARD
Right now the sideboard's a little up in the air. It needs a little more tuning, but what is what I've started with to cover some of its weaknesses.
Damnation for creature-heavy decks that like to swarm the field. Can be replaced with Wrath of God (in the maybeboard) if Damnation's price tag is too high
Engineered Explosives is still very good against low-costing permanent decks like Affinity, token decka
Leyline of Sanctity is excellent sideboard tech for anything with a burn and/or discard theme. A full playset isn't needed though.
Nature's Claim is hate for Affinity, Tron, and other decks that rely on their artifacts and enchantments. Even though it's in my splashed color, I'm rarely unable to cast it due to its very low cost, and it's "downside" is very very good, especially when I'm holding a Timely Reinforcements.
Which seems better, this Abzan Top Control deck or the original Sultai list? Of the changes I've made here, which should I also incorporate in the original Sultai list?
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