After getting my butt handed to me at FNM last night (see update above), I have made some changes. Spent some money on the landbase, but it was necessary.

Please, I need people to review & playtest this deck, and then provide me feedback. I will do the same for you, plz just ask me.

Thanks!

Try this manabase. It looks sorta off, but since 5 scry lands are equal to 1 extra mana source in mathematical context, this has 18 Green sources, 18 Black sources, and 14 White sources, which is all you'll really need for consistency.

4x Sandsteppe Citadel4x Temple of Malady2x Temple of Silence4x Llanowar Wastes2x Caves of Koilos4x Windswept Heath2x Forest2x Plains1x Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth

Also, it seems like you're running some meh cards in your board that sort of make your deck subpar. They are the following:

Butcher's Glee, Dromoka, the Eternal, Gaea's Revenge, Dragonlord Dromoka, Ajani, Mentor of Heroes, Duress

Glee is a bad card. You ought to be running Sorin, Solemn Visitor if you wanted lifelink.

Both Dromokas are too slow for their mana cost. For the 5-drop, you ought to be running Wingmate Roc or Gilt-Leaf Winnower, and you ought to not be running 7-drops in Abzan. The only reason Ugin works there is because that guy wins games single-handedly. Dragonlord Dromoka can't say the same for itself, as it dies to lots of removal spells.

Gaea's Revenge doesn't belong in a no-ramp deck.

Ajani, Mentor of Heroes is too slow to work in the current meta we're in, which is aggro. It's cute, but subpar for a 5-drop.

Duress belongs in the sideboard. If you want to main disruption, you ought to be running Thoughtseize.

Get rid of those, and add some of the better options Abzan has, like Surrak, the Hunt Caller, Fleecemane Lion, and the list goes on. You also might want to look into 3-4ing Abzan Charms.

In terms of you're sideboard, I think you need Glare of Heresy. 2 Read the Bones is also a pretty solid choice for control matchups.

+1ing this deck for being Abzan. Hope you found this helpful :)

Thanks Somnus21 I have incorporated some of your suggestions. The landbase that you suggest was pretty much what I had before. I was taking too much damage off of Caves & Llanowar (tapping for black, double black for Hero's Downfall), doing 4-8 damage to myself was a main reason why I was not able to stabilize in time - costing me many matches.

As far as Duress, I wish I could shell out for a playset of Thoughtseize. Duress is doing major work for me, giving me a peak at their hand and getting rid of cards like:

• Infinite Obliteration
  
• Stoke the Flames, Roast
  
• Languish
  
• Deflecting Palm (I hate this card with a passion)
  
• Any Planeswalker
  

Gaea's Revenge is absolutely bonkers against any control deck, or any matchup that goes into long-game. I played a Jeskai deck the other night at FNM and we went to T16 first game and T10 the second. Dropping Gaea's on T7 would end the game, opp might as well scoop.

Good call on the duress which can take out Languish which can destroy our board presence. With Thoughtseize rotating out soon, Duress and Despise will be our best bets against specific threats. +1I've found Den Protector to be useful in getting your best spells back, and has won me quite a few games :)

mmmdonuts,

Thanks, and I am contemplating about -2 Rakshasa, +2 Den Protector. My only reservation is that while it is morphed, DP is susceptible to many removal/burns.

Bringing back a Rhino would be a nice benefit, but have to weigh this against Rakshasa's ability to pump (early game extra few damage sneak thru) and then regen.

It's also not a big secret, people know that a morph on an Abzan board is either DP or Deathmist Raptor ;-)

7/19/2015 Deck Rank:

38

Woo hoo, keep it up everyone! I have received a lot of great feedback that has allowed me to transform this deck into something fun, exciting, and competitive, but I am always looking for ways to improve ;-)

mmmdonuts,

I forgot that I have Whip, so DP's are less important.

Maybe in a few months (say around Oct 2) I will change my mind ;-)

Nice deck, I upvoted.

Thinking about upcoming rotation, I am going to lose (-9):

- Whip
- Bow
- 3x Fleecemane Lion
- 2x Courser
- 2x Hero's Downfall


I am currently at 62 cards, with the intention of getting to 60 with rotation.

I am thinking (+7):

- +2x Sorin, Solemn Visitor
- +2x Den Protector
- +1x Abzan Charm
- +2x Citadel Castellan or Avatar of the Resolute or Heir of the Wilds

Lands: fingers crossed while knocking on wood for some land goodness from BfZ!!

7/20/2015 Deck Rank:

24

7/21/2015 Deck Update:

-1 Bow of Nylea (added 2x to the SB, good against aggro)
-1 Whip of Erebos
-2 Courser of Kruphix

+1 Surrak, the Hunt Caller
+2 Sorin, Solemn Visitor

Potential upcoming changes:
-3x Fleecemane Lion --> +3x Den Protector

7/21/2015 Deck Ranking:

16

:-)

I only need one more upvote to make it to #20!

Lands were too slow, had to make a slight change:

-2x Blossoming Sands
+1 Windswept Heath
+1 Caves of Koilos

Nice deck, would you mind taking a look at mine? http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/18-07-15-budget-abzan-aggro/

plantlord98 I provided feedback and upvoted you deck, thanks!

+1 nice deck

Thank you irishraider, appreciated!

In preparation for Wednesday Night Standard @ my LGS, I have playtested (to T3 only) this deck 100 times over the past 24 hrs.

Here are my findings:

- Chance of Mulliganing starting hand: 33% (I aggressively mulligan)
- Chance of having a T1 play: 26%
- Chance of having a T2 play: 60%
- Chance of having T3 board control+: 40%
- # Times "flooded" in opening hand: 2 (out of 100)
- # Times "drought" in opening hand: 8 (out of 100)
- Avg # lands in staring hand: 2.4

+Board control, as I define it within the context of this deck, is either:
1. Having a decent creature (Ana, pumped WotFT, HotW, Fleecemane Lion) on battlefield & two decent spells in hand (Valorous Stance, Dromoka's Command, Abzan Charm)

2. Having two decent creatures on battlefield and one supporting spell in hand

7/25/2015 Deck Ranking:

10!!

What is your response to Tainted Remedy in particular, or Enchantment decks in general? I feel like ORI really ushered in the W/B Enchantment deck into standard these days. Anyway, +1 from me! Great build.

Moonbar,

Tainted Remedy has no impact on me unless I have sided in Bow of Nylea and am relying on its lifegain ability (this is the case against RDW or Dasher decks usually). I would use Sorin to make 2/2 flyers. Overall, my game plan against enchantments would be to bash face with more potent creatures (my creatures come in ahead of the curve or can ramp up quickly, i.e. I pay 2 CMC for a 3/3, or pay 1 CMC for a 1/1 that becomes a 3/3 next turn), and use Duress & Utter End to take away their stuff.

Thanks for the +1, let me go and check out your decks and see if there's anything that I like ;-)

Hi everyone, I have a new brew - please check it out and help make it as successful as this Abzan deck!!

A UB Control Deck That Bashes Face Playtest

Standard haysmafia1

SCORE: 3 | 11 COMMENTS | 608 VIEWS

APPRECIATED!!

I dig the deck a lot. You can check out my abzan deck if you'd like. It's modern, though, but still abzan shell.

+1

I would be running infinite obliterations if I were you. And I would definitely suggest Putrefy if only it were standard legal. I also sometimes tun Garruk, Apex Predator in my deck as well. He creates deathmist raptor tokens as a plus one (obviously wothout the morph and recurrence though)

Thanks Tfthoresen, I'll go check out you deck now.

Yeah, there's probably a lot of goodies that you have access to in modern for this type of deck ;-)