Answering Abzan in Standard
Standard forum
Posted on April 3, 2015, 3:21 a.m. by Celestrael
So I'm taking the plunge tonight and going to compete in standard at a local FNM. I'm debuting a deck I've been crafting for several weeks and I'm pretty excited about it.
From the people I spoke with running draft, Abzan is the most run deck in the local meta so I want to make sure I'm well equipped to answer whatever Abzan throws at me.
Since we can't post decklists, I'll just say I'm running a midrange Temur deck, which is posted on here (hint hint).
So my question is, how do you go about answering Abzan's threats from a Temur perspective?
Siege Rhino is going to be your big threat in all 3 formats of abzan. It has access to Hero's Downfall and Banishing Light in the same deck. That's hard to handle there. I used to run temur and my sb had 3 Disdainful Stroke, 3 Negate and 2 Dissolve all of which came in game 2 against abzan. There are 2 people that run it in my meta. One is agro one is control. I do t know if you already run them side, but it's a good start.
April 3, 2015 4:09 a.m.
Playing Temur my friend has a deck using the following creatures:
Frost Walker
Goblin Rabblemaster
Savage Knuckleblade
Heir of the Wilds
Temur Ascendancy
Elvish Mystic
And a few other creatures. Against the version that has Fleecemane Lion and Siege Rhino main he just crushes them before they can really get anything into place. He also crushes any non red control. Unfortunately because a lot of his creatures have low toughness red really burns him. haha?
I suggest you play cheaper more aggro oriented creatures against Abzan and game two remove cards that require other cards to function and just throw in more creatures that cost 4 or less. Infact against Abzan the only big creature you might run is Stormbreath Dragon.
Thunderbreak Regent is probably better unless you have enough ramp to hit Stormbreath T3 and enough Stormbreath to hit it T3 fairly often. The reasoning behind this sideboarding is Abzan can go from 20-26 creatures & 16-8 spells to something like 10-16 creatures and 26-20 spells (most of which are kill spells or discard) very easily.
Depending on your deck composition it may be safer to add in more midrange style counters like dillin91 says. I mean if you're using Sylvan Caryatid you're already putting yourself at a big disadvantage vs Abzan because it's hard to out-aggro siege rhinos life gain so you'll have to be in it for the long haul.
One thing to consider is Abzan now plays Ultimate Price in the main or sideboard, meaning Savage Knuckleblade just got way better. If you're not already make sure you have some of those. They're big, can pump to kill Rhinos, can hit fast & if you have to you can always return them to hand to save them from a Hero's Downfall.
April 3, 2015 5:33 a.m.
JohnnyBaggins says... #5
I always ran Stubborn Denial Mainboard to counter removal and Thoughseize and Disdainful Strokes in the Board for Rhinos and Wipes like End Hostilities or Duneblast. Craters Claws for removal and the newly added Roast are always good choices. If you're Temur that runs Thunderbreak Regent, Stormbreath Dragon and one or another Atarka, Draconic Roar is nice, too. I also ran Burn Away for Abzan/Sultan Whip on the board.
April 3, 2015 5:36 a.m.
Celestrael says... #6
I know it's a no no but here's what I'm going to run tonight: Midrange Temurian Atarka.
From the advice I'm getting it looks like I've mostly included the answers available to me in Temur. I haven't actually played it, but I'm pretty good at deck crafting on TappedOut using hypotheticals in my head. Lol
April 3, 2015 6:02 a.m.
Celestrael says... #7
How are Sylvan Caryatids an automatic disadvantage? They are an essential part of my ramp. I use them to get Dragonlord Atarka out turn 4 (ideally).
April 3, 2015 6:05 a.m.
JohnnyBaggins says... #8
Looks rock solid to me. Against Abzan, Caryatid isn't the greatest because it can't rwally block Fleecemane, Anafenza, Rhino or Wingate Roc. It's still a great card.
April 3, 2015 7:38 a.m.
all the Disdainful Strokes and you win in my opinion negate will also help you deal with their kill spells is what i usually choose to do
Boza says... #2
You have to go bigger or restrict them in some way. Going bigger is really well done with atarka.
The main issue is that there are three different abzan deck - midrange, aggro and control and they take different tools to fight. Make sure you have some tools in the SB for each of those in the SB when you know what you are playing against.
Having 4 Roast in the 75 is a good place to start.
April 3, 2015 3:31 a.m.