What has 2 thumbs and needs your help?
Standard Deck Help forum
Posted on Oct. 14, 2015, 7:08 p.m. by Doom_of_Valyria
THIS GUY!!
So this is my take on an Abzan ago deck. I looked at a couple builds on mtggoldfish, and thought there were some other things from BFZ that could work. For instance, I really like the Woodland Wanderer could potentially be a 6/6 for me if I've got Cinder Glade available. Also, I really like Drana's Emissary and how it, coupled with Siege Rhino can do some life drain/gain... not to mention if my opponent is using Pain lands.
Speaking of lands, I'm curious as to if I should cut the Gain lands in favor of the corresponding Pain lands? They are faster, and in mtg speed kills, but it can be a killer to ping yourself for 1-2 every turn. I try to look at it as, "Would you rather have 1 more life, or 1 more turn?" but the life loss can still be a factor throughout.
My other question is: what about my creature menagerie? Before rotation I ran a lot of playsets of my creatures for consistency, but as I said, there's things I really like about BFZ. In addition to Drana's Emissary and Woodland Wanderer I threw in Undergrowth Champion because I like the fact he can stick around for awhile. I debated Drana, Liberator of Malakir, but ultimately chose Undergrowth Champion, another decision I'm still toying with.
So any and all feedback on this deck is welcome. I appreciate any feedback, and thank you for taking the time to help a fellow mtg player!
Also, for some reason, I'm just averse to running Hangarback Walker... dunno why, I see it's a staple in Abzan Aggro, but I just don't really like the card, and can't see what it does for me.
Doom_of_Valyria says... #3
Hey there, UpperDeckerTaco thanks for the suggestions! I put those pain lands back in because you're right, one more turn is more precious than one more life. Also, I'll leave Drana out for now since 
is the least represented color. Still think I'm gonna give Undergrowth a whirl, since I have lots of access to 
. I'll think some more about adding more red spells, but for the time being I'll leave it as it. Although Radiant Flames could be magical with Siege Rhino, Woodland Wanderer, and Undergrowth Champion on the field...
UpperDeckerTaco says... #2
Here's a suggestion or two or three:
A) aggro decks don't mind the pain lands because you're trying to get them dead, and dead fast. The old Abzan aggro decks rarely used tap lands and would have avoided them all together if they could. Ask any prior abzan aggro player, who cares if you ping yourself for 10 in 5 turns, as long as they're dead in 5 turns.
B) I wouldn't reccomend Drana if you're going 4 color, because the BB casting cost may be a little difficult to hit on curve as well as continue casting spells on curve. If it was a midrange strategy, I'd say it's ok, but even then, Drana is an aggro card. If you stuck to 3 color, I can see it working better.
C) There are plenty of Abzan Red decks running around, splashing red for Crackling Doom and Radiant Flames and Kolaghan, the Storm's Fury,which seems like a cool and fun deck as well as a brutal beating since those cards are very good and Abzan already had good cards to choose from, so for my opinion, it makes the deck much stronger.
October 15, 2015 3:19 a.m.