When I run allies I usually run 2x Magus of the Moon sideboard. I'm always guaranteed to see Tron and Jund - the magus buys enough time to grind out the win. I also run 3x Thalia's Lieutenant so it interacts well.

Thank you for the replies. Forgot to add Stony Silence, have a singleton of those. I will get a Beast Within instead of a Gideon I think. Got through both Karn and Ugin, on curve, Game1 Wednesday, but when Ulamog hit the board he exiled my last threats. I am running 2xThalia's Lieutenant as well - first time Wednesday, but like them for now!

Yesterday struck 2nd again, this time in 21 person tourney, with 4-1. Lost 1-2 against URW control. After sideboard, he had boarded out all counters and boarding in all his extra creature removal. No chance in game 2 and 3 :P

Postboard games against control I bring in 2x Lead the Stampede and 2x Return to the Ranks. It let's you out-grind their removal if you play conservatively.

for those running CoCo and Return to the Ranks in your 75, how many lands are you all running? 20? 21 or 22?

GW Allies

I'm working on getting into modern, and allies looked like fun. I'd really like some feed back on what changes I could make to my deck and sideboard. I took it to an FNM and learn a few things, but was missing some key sideboard cards to really be competitive.

Thanks in advance for taking the time to look.

Second week in a row of going 1-3, so I'm only 2 games above .500 now in tournament play :-(.

At least this week was notable for some variance - especially a land flood that was 1 in 2,500 draws bad. 14 of my first 25 cards were lands (and checked after to see there was another land before the first coco) --- and I only run 19 of them. Also got 3 Aether vials. We both got a good laugh out of it by the end as land after land came up in answer to his deck giving me every chance.

Hey guys I just now am trying to get into more competitive modern with abzan allies! Im running a very budget list but was wondering what you guys thought was better, return to the ranks or march from the tomb. I am right now running march and have had good success blocking while i have zullaport cutthroat on the feild then bringing them back, but is the ability to use it for less important? Also i think the bannings of splintertwin removes the desprate need for artifact/creature removal in the main.

MadHatting If you can comfortably hit 5 mana, why not march? Return to the ranks works works if you have a number of the same cmc costs guys. March lets you mix things up and it's more or less consistent in comparison. Personally I'm running return because I'm running Naya colours.

If you feel you can hit 5 mana reliably, then yes, March from the Tomb should be better. Another reason March from the Tomb doesn't see a ton of play is that the black allies overall are pretty underwhelming. Agadeem Occultist is a decent sideboard tech, Bojuka Brigand is a worse Oran-Rief Survivalist, Drana, Liberator of Malakir is solid, Zulaport Cutthroat is solid, and one could potentially make a case for Kalastria Healer. But if you want to make Abzan Allies work, then March from the Tomb is a good card to help make it tick. Another card I have found useful is Orzhov Charm -- but I would suggest using it only if you are also running both Hada Freeblade and Expedition Envoy.

Again the deck I am running is somewhat budget so hitting 5 mana only happens if I get a decent hand, i'm me deck i do have Agadeem Occultist but only 2 because I have a couple go for the throats for budget removal. I also have got 2 Bojuka Brigand as filler and another attacker as I can't see me keeping many blockers. In my meta there are a lot of board wipes and tribal decks going around, (also one really pesky bogles deck) I am considering Golgari Charm as a utility card to get rid of any particularly strong enchantments or keeping my board state alive if i dont have any March from the Tomb. But all in all i am really enjoying allies and hope to build this deck to its highest potential. One last question though, what should i use in Sideboard?

I updated my list: http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/adventure-awaits-budget-naya-allies/

Fudge... 5 points away to qualify for WMCQ 2016... I'm bummed out on this... Regardless, another year of training...

Is anyone keen in an Ally-theme deck tutorial channel on Youtube?

I'm contemplating a few ideas as followed:

• Ally strategy discussion (Deck design, overall deck piloting)
• Match-up analysis
• Card Analysis (what cards fit and what cards don't)

MTGprojectzer0 I would love to see that channel be made. Show all the different archetypes and lists + rank the best card in each colour

MTGprojectzer0 I'd be interested in that as well.

Abzan Hardened Scales Allies

This deck looks really wierd.

I suppose some of those spells are supposed to be in the Sideboard, as there are 62MD and 13SB cards.

At first glance, it really does look all over the place. I have to agree with the asessment that Noble Hierarch would likely be suited better than bird, for one it helps with early attacks and it also triggers Champion of the Parish in topdeck mode. The deck is build for attrition with a package of removal and lifegain in the maindeck, that can certainly give some percentages for certain matchups (thinking of some aggro matchups, maybe helps by outjunking jund and having answers for combos).

After a first pass, I must say this looks at least interesting. It's certainly a deviation from the standard full on aggro build based around CoCo and Vial. With the relatively low number of targets for CoCo (24), I'd think about how useful it is over things like MD Rally the Ancestors.

Can anyone shed light on how big this tournament was? On SCG I believe only the top 8 is listed. Would help put this in perspective. After all, only the 1st gets the invitation.

Seems like the right balance. I was the first one to put together allies with hardened scales and have success. (google MadKat magic) It always felt like aggro ally counter wanted Hardened Scales, but I had a hard time figuring out where and if collective company and AEther Vial fit in there. I like this guys balance, since it is hard casting coco with 20 lands, so one coco feels right. Abrupt Decay, Dromoka's Command and Anguished Unmaking, along with Oath of Gideon seems to really make the deck more prepared to go midrange, vs my earlier decks. Overall, it seems like a fun deck to pilot, though I don't know how well it would do.(must've done well to get first at scg though)

These tournaments seem fairly big. If you're making it to the top 8, you're looking at 10-12 rounds.

something to review: Bant Eldrazi vs Naya Allies

Awesome primer! Thank you!

Broke out my WurG Vial Allies after five months of playing mostly Bogles (and a little BG elves) because the meta seemed unhappy. Only nine players, but it felt good to go 3-1 for a few bucks of prize money. Between Bant Eldrazi (the loss), Grixis Delver, Jeskai, and BUG, there were lots of chances for Cavern and Vial to buy me time and it reminded me why this is my favorite deck to play. I'm glad there weren't a lot of Valakuts roaming around like there have been recently.

There were lots of Engineered Explosives around (including some in main boards), so Allies actually was a lot safer choice than Bogles would have been.

Favorite play was when one player out an unprotected Nahiri and ticked her to 6 when all I had left was Captain's Claws. Turns out that an entering Battlesinger with Captain's Claws leads to exactly that much ;-).

Once I found myself wishing I had a WR land to fetch, and once a WU, but I don't remember running into that much before.

I just found some interesting cards which can be played in ally decks:

Oona's Blackguard + Dream Salvage

In abzan decks with Drana, Liberator of Malakir and Bojuka Brigand it can be very powerful. What do you think?

makes me wish that Bala Ged Thief wasn't terrible... But I think they could work, but trying to include both and have them both work reliably sounds like a dream. I can certainly see using at least one of them though. I think Dream Salvage could be playable with a shell that utilizes Liliana of the Veil, and Oona's Blackguard can be utilized in pretty much any Abzan shell. Thye could very well both be used in the same deck, I don't really know. It might require some testing. But I feel it might dilute the shell a bit too much.

Metallic Mimic seems pretty snazzy.

@TheDuggernaught - Metallic mimic is quite interesting indeed.