Leatherback Baloth, great as it is, is an aggro card. It is power and thoughness, but no ability that allows you to grind through the game. The reason this deck playes Tarmogoyf is to have a finisher and because it's instead of , which kind of makes it broken.

I can't say for sure that Junk wouldn't have played it if it was , but as it is, it being hard to cats and all, I don't it's worth it.

It's a combination of the fact that it's hard to cast and not very efficient. Baloth is 3 mana for a 4/5. Tarmogoyf does that for 2 mana, tasigur does it for 1, and siege rhino does it for 4 but comes with an instant Lightning Helix as well, which is huge.

The three drop slots in Abzan should really be utility creatures. These are threats that not only hit the opponent hard but also serve a greater purpose. Anafenza, the Foremost, is specifically chosen to stop dredge and reanimation, as well as being a 4/4 and buffing other creatures. Kitchen Finks is chosen to oppose aggro decks with lifegain and to oppose killspells with persist, but being a 3/2 isn't bad either.

The 3 drop slot is really important and it's about more than just the power you're swinging with - it's also an opportunity to run an answer card that can just flat out win games without even turning sideways.

Hello again ChiefBell! I really dig what youre trying out with the newer cards. Painful Truths in particular looks to have some potential, this archetype could use a cheap draw spell. I understand that the 3 drop slot in your build is pretty heavy on key beaters already, but what about Knight of the Reliquary? Im sure youve used it for a while in this build, but why is it left behind now? You're of course using fetches, as well as manlands and Gavony Township to tutor for, KotR seems like an allstar! So do you think its better to use metagame opposers such as Kitchen Finks and Anafenza, the Foremost instead of KotR? I know your list shifts around a lot and is kind of poineering tappedout's Junk game, so let me know what your opinion is!

please see paragraphs 2 and 3 of comment 4

This is the version of the deck that I've had most fun with and the one that I'll be grinding opens and grand prixs with.

The Loxodon Smiter and Garruk are interesting. In a meta this fast, I'm not sure if they pull their weight as much as 2 mainbord Kitchen Finks or more removal would. You once wrote that in Junk, the creatures need to be capable of dismantling the opponent's deck whilst simultaneously pulling you ahead on board, and in this meta I'm not sure those cards do it as much. Although I am curious to hear your reasoning on it.

Otherwise, brutally good as usual :)

Anafenza is obviously there to irritate dredge yes. Though she is also a really welcome beater and works nicely with Lingering Souls tokens through her buff.

Garruk is easy to slam and then +1 for goyf or something if you want to be aggressive or to hold removal up if you need to be defensive. He's a good card to play around with because theres usually a window at which you can drop him without disrupting your plan too much. From there you can ramp or make beasts as needed.

Loxodon smiter is an answer to decks that use bolt as removal such as Jund, Mardu, and Grixis midrange or control lists. He's very good against blue heavy lists such as Jeskai and Esper given that he cannot be countered. Finally he also counters lili in the mirror. Hes also a 4/4 for 3 which is important because at the end of the day the best way to counter your opponent is to kill them.

He doesn't auto win against any one deck like Anafenza does against dredge but he still has worthwhile utility that can turn games around. More than 10% of the meta is Jund and Nahiri decks. Both of which have trouble answering him with bolt or lili. Sure he can be terminated but if it puts the opponent on the back foot that's all i need really.

Kitchen Finks is a really good standard choice but is quite defensive. The lower power and toughness are a big deal because it just makes finks not that frightening when its swinging at you. Sure i could wall up and play finks and other things defensively but frankly abzan just cant right now because its outmatched ny almost every other deck out there.

For example:

Jund plays kalitas and removal in the late game to drown you in tokens. I cant compete.

Affinity equips a cranial plating to an inkmoth nexus. I cant compete.

Ad naus just kills you through combo.

Bant coco plays reality smasher which i cant compete with.

Tron plays karn which exiles finks or just ignores them. i cant compete again.

Almost every deck in the meta has a much more explosive late game plan than abzan which can lead you into trouble if you play passively. its a very bad time to play slow decks without doing something "unfair". This is why i opt for anafenza and loxodon smiter. the aim of the game in this meta is to have the opponent dead as soon as possible because most of them are doing degenerate stuff i cant compete with.

jund matchup is very favoured. can be bad if they get a very good hand of liliana and kalitas but it really has to all come together for them to win whereas for me i only need to produce 2 creatures with a power of 4 and im waaaay ahead. they play a lot of removal and bob is obviously a problem but note hat im on 7 discard spells here and still have 7 removal spells at instant speed too.

The game is t1 removal, t2 threat, t3 removal and threat, t4 removal and threat etc.

actually playing very similarly to a delver deck. youre setting up the aggro t2 and t3 and using all the other turns just to make sure your aggro can hit them.

the difference is delver plays out aggro t1 and t2 whereas we play out discard t1 and then our creatures come down a turn or two later.

but the threat + disruption style is echoed here. this isnt a control deck and its quite poor in the very late game because abrupt decay does fall off and path is great but its not cryptic command.

-1 Twilight Mire, +1 BG fastland.

I'm now playing this really generic version for an upcoming open.

+1!!! Blossoming Defence!?! Dismember!?!

How does this deck seem to be doing against the current modern meta?