This is a junk (Abzan) midrange deck with control and reanimator elements. The main theme behind this deck is "never a bad topdeck." As long as your hand is decent, topdecking virtually any card is never bad, even in the late game.
Card Choices
~Creatures~
Elvish Mystic: Dorks are nice. Gives that extra little boost you need to have a monstrous Lion T4. Not mandatory for the deck, but I enjoy them.
Satyr Wayfinder: Mulch on legs. An integral part of the deck because it makes iffy hands downright keepable, and fills up the graveyard, which is important for this deck to really shine.
Fleecemane Lion: Early beats and defends against aggro well early game. An absolute bomb late game when you can drop and monstrify it in the same round. Virtually removal-proof once monstrous.
Siege Rhino: The second most important reason I went Abzan. 6 life swing just for landing one, and up to a 14 life swing when he gets whipped back from the grave. If you are building a budget version of this deck, this is NOT the card to skip.
Wingmate Roc: Looks great on paper, but in this deck he's fairly lackluster. If I hard cast him with his raid trigger, I've usually already won. He is quite nice with whip though, and bringing him back after combat results in a permanent 3/4 flier on my side, which is still powerful. Not an integral part of the deck.
Hornet Queen: Absolute bomb against most decks. 5 flying deathtouchers shuts down your opponent unless they manage to get first strike creatures (and be able to race you) or land a board wipe.
Arbor Colossus
: Sort of a space filler at the moment, but devastating against mono black aggro that runs Master of the Feast. Also decent beats. Might move him to side and put a
Terra Stomper
in instead.
~Noncreature Spells~
Whip of Erebos: Provides much of the stability of this deck. Lifelink allows you to race opponents easily, and the reanimation capabilities can be ridiculous (see siege rhino above). Even with no big targets, whipping back a Satyr Wayfinder is good as it fills the grave and gives you more lands.
End Hostilities: This deck can be slow at times. If your opponent is blitzing you out, blowing the field gives you time to recover and build, not to mention you can whip back whatever creatures you lose. Synergy with Fleecemane Lion is incredible.
Scout the Borders
: Slower Grisly Salvage. Like the wayfinder, allows bad hands to be more keepable as it grabs lands, but also creatures if needed. It also fills the grave, and is pretty decent late game.
Endless Obedience
: Whips are nice, but permanently sticking creatures is awesome. Optional, but it also allows you to fish bombs out of your opponent's grave, which can be pretty fantastic.
Murderous Cut: 1 mana kill spell? Why not?! Works perfectly with all the graveyard fillers and can get you out of a tight spot for cheap.
Banishing Light: For those pesky non-creatures that can wreak havoc on your face, like Sarkhan, the Dragonspeaker, Jeskai Ascendancy, and Whip of Erebos
~Sideboard~
Arbor Colossus
: Stoppin that Master of the Feast all DAY.
Ashen Rider: For when you need a little bit more control and flying beats. Not really something I use often. Might be removing it soon.
Banishing Light: Mainly for the mirror match. Losing your rhinos to enchantments is pretty crappy, but bringing them back with your own enchantment or Erase is awesome! ETBs for days!
Erase: See above! Basically in here for dealing with whips and enchantment removal. Also nifty if they're running lots of enchantment creatures, so you can board this over Murderous Cut if you want.
End Hostilities: For when 3 booms isn't enough.
Rakshasa Deathdealer
: for control matchups/mirrors. Turns up the aggression a little bit to keep your opponent always playing catch up while you set up your next big play. Also can survive End Hostilities.
Terra Stomper
: For blue control matchups. Can't be countered, and even if it dies, it's going to come back swinging huge. Can be mainboarded over Arbor Colossus if flying threats aren't a big deal.
~Landbase~
As with most multicolor decks, the secret to consistant play is the lands. This deck is somewhat more forgiving than most because of the land searchers (Satyr Wayfinder
Scout the Borders
). Some people might consider them a wasted turn, but virtually guaranteeing every land drop is incredibly powerful in its own right. That being said, the landbase is somewhat pricy, but there are budget options. Painlands are good for fixing on curve, but for the value, basic lands aren't a terrible substitute. The same is true for fetchlands, which make a slightly bigger impact for a much bigger price tag. The most important lands, in my opinion, are the scrylands.Though they come in tapped and may prevent a T1 Elvish Mystic, they are amazing for smoothing out draws for a less than ideal hand. With plenty of green scrylands, landing a T2 Wayfinder is always possible, and then you're well on your way to fixing for whatever you need (BB for whip, WW for roc, GGG for the green fatties). After scrylands are trilands. They enter tapped and don't let you scry, but they tap for all 3 colors with no pain involved. Running 4 of these is not a bad idea, especially on a budget. Lastly are the 2 color tap lands. 1 life and no scry isn't ideal for a tapped land, but they do fix colors. Avoid running too many taplands though, or you'll constantly be a turn behind.
