What are these little boys doing here?
Modern forum
Posted on April 1, 2018, 10:42 p.m. by legendofa
What are these Little Boy decks I've been seeing, and how did they get called that?
Okay, Little Kid makes sense. A couple of the people I asked weren't sure what I was talking about, so I guess I misremembered the name. And that's as good an explanation as any. Thanks clayperce!
April 2, 2018 11:57 a.m.
ToolmasterOfBrainerd says... #5
It's called little kid abzan because when the deck appeared, there was already another version of abzan (little kid abzan was actually brewed in reaction to big abzan). The little kid decks were smaller on the curve and more proactive with wilt-leaf liege and friends, while big abzan was a true midrange deck with Shrinos and Lili.
April 2, 2018 1:40 p.m.
They're called Little Kid decks because the gameplan is super streamlined. You slam spells on curve all game, and that's pretty much all the deck does. It's like if you had designed the deck so that a little kid could play it.
April 2, 2018 4:01 p.m.
ToolmasterOfBrainerd Yeah, I knew about the midrange-style Abzan decks. And it makes sense that the "younger sibling" is Little Kid. I didn't know about it being developed in response to Big Abzan, though.
April 2, 2018 4:20 p.m.
Yeah, the big draw to the Little Kid deck is that it matches up pretty well against grindy midrange. Pretty soft to combo, but midrange is a good time.
clayperce says... #3
legendofa,
Do you have any examples? I've actually never heard of a "Little Boy" deck ...
Do you mean "Little Kid" decks, maybe? Like Little Kid Abzan or Little Kid GW?
If so, those are basically decks designed around playing the most powerful Creatures possible, on curve. I'm not sure why they're called "Little Kid" though. Maybe because the playstyle (turning huge Creatures sideways) is appealing to even little kids who play magic? Maybe because the Creature-heavy decks are generally less expensive than decks in the same colors with more interaction and Planeswalkers (e.g., compare Little Kid Abzan with Abzan)?
April 2, 2018 11:05 a.m. Edited.