Outlasting rotation with Abzan

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M16man66

12 October 2014

2388 views

Hello everybody and welcome to my inaugural TappedOut article!

I will be evaluating my current build of Abzan Midrange as well as present an interesting Abzan deck. So without further ado, Let's get started!

**Abzan Overview**

It is widely accepted that some of the most impactful cards of the Abzan colors from Theros block are:
Elspeth, Sun's Champion
Hero's Downfall
Thoughtseize
Brimaz, King of Oreskos
Courser of Kruphix
Ajani, Mentor of Heroes
Sylvan Caryatid

Elspeth, Sun's Champion is the best late game threat in standard currently, and her success at the last pro tour was not a fluke. She takes over games very quickly and needs to be answered relatively fast, or you will be buried under her incremental advantage. In Standard, as in block, you have to either be playing Elspeth and/or be able to consistently answer her. Courser of Kruphix is another example of a format-defining card. If you are playing green, courser is essentially a mandatory component of your deck. If you are not playing green, then you need to be doing something powerful that justifies your decision of not playing green.

The best reactive cards coming out of Theros block coincidently are able to effectively answer both of those cards. Thoughtseize, a staple in almost every format, is one of the most efficient ways to answer almost any nonland card that your opponent is holding. With Thoughtseize in the format, it is more difficult for combo/synergy-based decks to perform well. Hero's Downfall is one of the cheapest, most flexible removal spells in standard as well as being a relatively cheap way to answer almost every threat that your opponent may present.

Sylvan Caryatid is similar to Courser in that it should be played in essentially every green deck. The fact that 3-color wedges are going to be played heavily during their time in standard creates a need for excellent mana fixing. Caryatid is also very good against aggressive decks (hard to kill mana-accelerating road block that comes down early), and gives player more of an incentive to play green decks.

Brimaz, King of Oreskos and Ajani, Mentor of Heroes have seen less play than they deserve, and I believe they will be seeing more play as standard moves forward. Brimaz is a legacy played card that can take over games if unopposed. His flexibility as an effective attacker and blocker allows you to be aggressive against aggro decks while in fact increasingthe number of blockers you have. Brimaz also works very well with convoke. Ajani is an effective late game threat that shines in grindier matchups. An unopposed Ajani against another midrange deck essentially spells victory.

M15 has also brought some all-stars to the table:
Chord of Calling
Ajani Steadfast
Caves of Koilos
Llanowar Wastes
Soul of Theros

Caves of Koilos and Llanowar Wastes are very important for Abzan decks, for they provide an untapped source of 2 colors of mana. Ajani Steadfast is an excellent card in conjunction with Elspeth; he can help Elspeth ultimate a turn or two early as well as make her tokens into larger threats as the game progresses. Chord of Calling is an excellent way to be able to access your sideboarded “silver bullets” more frequently. Soul of Theros is an excellent chord target, and can turn the game around if you are allowed to untap with it.

**Abzan Midrange**

These cards are a reasonable place to start, creating a solid shell for any Abzan midrange deck. The first deck we will explore is my current build of Abzan midrange:

Abzan Midrange

Standard M16man66

SCORE: 14 | 15 COMMENTS | 3140 VIEWS | IN 7 FOLDERS

As you can see, there is nothing truly insane about this list. This is a relatively “safe” deck (we're not going deep or attempting to break the format with this one).

Consistency is the name of the game, and with 10 mana accelerators, we can cast our spells ahead of schedule most of the time. Our mana is a little shaky, which is I do not have many fetchlands and/or basic lands, but the fact that fetchlands synergize so well with Courser of Kruphix forced me to add a couple.

Right out of the gate we can see that the 3 -drop spot is jam-packed with solid spells, and the fact that morph has returned doesn’t help our curve. There are so many solid 3 drops to choose from. Here are a few:
Courser of Kruphix
Hero's Downfall
Brimaz, King of Oreskos
Abzan Charm
Abzan Ascendancy
Devouring Light
Anafenza, the Foremost
Chord of Calling

The interesting inclusions/exclusions of my deck have raised a few questions, so I intend to explain my card choices:

10 Painlands – I wanted to be able to cast my 3-drops on turn three or earlier every single game, so I wanted to have most of my lands come into play untapped.

4 Temples and 4 Citadels – I wanted to have ten or fewer lands that come into play tapped and I believe that mana fixing is better than scrying. If I decide to cut the “fetchland Package”, I will add in more temples.

4 Elvish Mystic, 3 Sylvan Caryatid, 3 Rattleclaw Mystic – I believe that Elvish Mystic is a necessity in every green deck because it allows a player to play either a temple and caryatid on turn 2, or a courser on turn two, both of which are extremely powerful. Rattleclaw Mystic allows me to play a 6-drop on turn 3-4 pretty consistently, but is more susceptible to removal. Sylvan Caryatid is a card that I believe is excellent, but can be far worse than Rattleclaw, so I decided to split it 3-3 for now.

Bile Blight Maindeck – Bile Blight is one of the only ‘playable’ 2 mana removal spell in the format for Abzan colors, and It can kill so many things, from Zombie Tokens to Goblin Rabblemaster to Sidisi, Blood Tyrant to Insect Tokens. Playing 2 maindeck allows me to have a pretty close game against more aggressive/devotion decks.

Chord Package – Chord of Calling allows me to consistently have access to many one-ofs in my sideboard. Chording for a Siege Rhino is also pretty sweet.

The rest of the deck should seem rather straightforward, and with the new Standard just starting, my sideboard is pretty broad, and I have not finely tuned the decklist yet.

**Abzan Tokens**

Abzan Tokens is a strategy that could be competitive, with great support from Ajani Steadfast, Soul of Theros, Sorin, Solemn Visitor and dozens more.

A rough sketch of an Abzan token deck would look like:

Abzan Tokens

Standard M16man66

SCORE: 3 | 788 VIEWS | IN 1 FOLDER

The shell of both these decks are very similar, but the overall gameplan of each deck is very different.

The Abzan Midrange deck is a deck that can interact and win in various stages of the game. Its individually powerful cards allow the deck to grind its opponent out, being able to take either the aggressive or controlling role. Its flexible gameplan allows it to contain a various answers as well as present unbeatable threats in certain. The big drawback to this style of deck is that against the extreme archetypes (Sligh-Type aggressive decks as well as Extremely Reactive Control decks), the midrange deck does not have specific enough ‘hate cards’ in order to have a favorable matchup against them.

The Abzan Tokens Deck is largely a beatdown deck that aims to flood the board and overwhelm its opponent with creatures and 'anthem' effects. This deck contains less interaction because it is looking to end the game swiftly, usually with a huge attack in one turn or incremental damage. Despite all of this, the token strategy has individual cards that can take over games, as well as the ability to flood the board fast. This all comes at a price, which is consistency and weakness to mass removal, for the token deck can easily be two-for-oned. Bile Blight and Drown in Sorrow are both extremely strong against this type of archetype.

Thank you all for reading and tune in next week for more! I will be testing various versions of Abzan Midrange and posting my progress, let me know what you guys want me to write about!

M16man66