[Standard] Abzan Midrange Standard before PT in the making

[VayChow]

Abzan Midrange Standard before PT in the making

Why Abzan?
- Average Early game , Strong Mid Game, Super Absurb Late Game
- 3 Gods (normally the win con) can be on the battlefield available : 1 White God, 2 Green God, 1 Black God
- Strong Mini Boss for early game : 3 Heart of Kiran
- Dusk // Dawn combo with Grim Flayers, Sylvan Advocate, Walking Balista (anything that is small in graveyard but big in battlefied). Easily come back against early removal pieces like shock, fatal push, unlicensed, etc.
- Prepare // Fight - synergy with delirium, lifelink option opened.
- Fumigate (Standard's Damnation) available on the Sideboard. Clears almost everything in standards now, Black Green Constrictor, White Red Exert, Zombies, Torrential Gearhulk, Black Green Delirium, etc.

[VayChow]

Revision 2

Added/removed cards:
-1 Battle at the Bridge
-1 Lupine Prototype
+1 Nissa, Voice of Zendikar

Changed amounts:
+1 Concealed Courtyard
-2 Dread Wanderer
+1 Evolving Wilds
+1 Scrapheap Scrounger

Updated 08.05.2017:
- Added in extra 2 lands
Pros: 85% to hit 3 lands drop on 3th turn consistently. Mana Sink outlet : 2 walking ballista, 4 scrapheap, 2 dread wanderer, 2 rhonas, 1 bontu, 1 oketra.
Cons: Increases the odds to mana flood but make up good with all these mana sinks available.

[G. Moto]

  Are you absolutely sure that you want to play Abzan on your path to the Pro Tour?

[VayChow]

Love to take this shot at PT if given an oppurtunity

[G. Moto]

 Ok then I would be glad to assist you in this endeavor. When deck building I always try to give the same advice:  Creature, Spell, then lands. You've already got the deck build so now is the refining process.

Creatures: The thing you need to focus on with your creatures is that they need to have synergy with each other. No matter how strong the individual creatures are their abilities won't matter too much if they limit each other's play abilities.

1 Bontu the Glorified -
2 Dread Wanderer -
3 Grim Flayer -
4 Oketra the True -
5 Rhonas the Indomitable -
6 Scrapheap Scrounger
7 Sylvan Advocate
8 Walking Ballista


Spells: The spells can surely help to push the deck across the finish line but you need to remember not to become too spell reliant in an abzan deck. The creatures teally should be the core focus of the deck unless you have a special engine you want to run in this deck. That's why the spells should HELP rather than CARRY the deck.

1 Aethersphere Harvester
2 Anguished Unmaking
3 Dusk // Dawn
4 Fatal Push
5 Heart of Kiran
6 Liliana, the Last Hope
7 Nissa, Voice of Zendikar
8 Prepare // Fight
9 To the Slaughter
10 Traverse the Ulvenwald

   When you get a moment I'm going to ask for your reasoning for each spell and creature in this deck. The reason why I'm doing this is because if I can see your reasoning behind your card choices then I can help give more constructive feedback on the deck. Deck building is my thing but I don't want to strip away the deck's identity or your creativity. Just trying to be fair in the matter. I'll be present when you are ready.

[VayChow]

Revision 3

Added/removed cards:
-1 Aethersphere Harvester
+1 Cultivator's Caravan
+1 (Main) +1 (SB) Gideon's Intervention
+2 Grasp of Darkness
+1 Skysovereign, Consul Flagship
-2 (SB) Dispossess
-3 (SB) Fumigate
-2 (SB) Natural State
-1 (SB) Sorin, Grim Nemesis
+1 (SB) Ob Nixilis Reignited

Changed amounts:
-1 (Main) +1 (SB) Anguished Unmaking
-1 Concealed Courtyard
-1 (Main) +3 (SB) Dusk // Dawn
+1 Fatal Push
-1 (Main) +1 (SB) Nissa, Voice of Zendikar
-1 Sylvan Advocate
-1 (Main) +1 (SB) To the Slaughter
+1 Traverse the Ulvenwald

[VayChow]

Thank you so much for your support G.Moto , definitely need a pointer here and there. Below are the reasonings behind certain selection.

I was updating the deck list when I saw your reply. Has already changed some of the things after some thinking.

1 Bontu the Glorified - Activates Green God, good with walking balista, good with dread wanderer, able to crew all vehicles, revolt trigger for fatal push. Early game combo with Rhonas, Late game combo with Oketra.

2 Dread Wanderer - Couldn't find any good 1 drop for this spot. Sacrifice outlet for Bontu. Provide the 5th & 6th spot to return itself to battlefield for Oketra and Bontu. Been thinking vessel of nascency here but it seems very slow. Without vessel, delirium still can online most of the time at 4th  - 5th turn.

3 Grim Flayer - The core creatures. Gets the deck moving with its pseudo Scry 3. When delirium online, activates rhonas. Always get removed early game but with Dawn, this cards just get better.

4 Oketra the True - Easily activated with scrapheap scrounger, Dread Wanderer, and Vehicles.  4 mana to create a soldier to chunk block Gideon! Early game can only crew Cultivators Caravan and Skyship.

5 Rhonas the Indomitable - Gives Trample when board is stall. Trampling Oketra is devastating.

6 Scrapheap Scrounger - Can return itself to the battlefield, sacrifice fooder for bontu, the 1st - 4th option to return itself to battlefield for oketra, crew every vehicles in the deck.

7 Sylvan Advocate - Just 1 copy for late game since running 3 creatures-lands. Also, can be brought back by Dawn.

8 Walking Ballista - Mana Sink, Synergy with bontu, revolt trigger for fatal push, good for delirium too.

Spells should HELP rather than CARRY the deck (Thumbs up, very good point here).  I suppose abzan is weak against flyer and Gideon, so most of the removal piece is to handle flyers like heart of kiran, bone picker, Avacyn, Glorybringer, Angel of Sanctions, mindwrack demon, etc.

1 Aethersphere Harvester - Dropped . Replaced with Cultivator's Caravan - Activates Green God! Provide Mana Fix for plains. Sometimes, getting the 2nd plains on time can proved to be difficult.

2 Anguished Unmaking - Drop to Side Board. Replaced with Grasp of Darkness, 5-6th removal.

3 Dusk // Dawn - 1 copy. Resets the board when things get out of control, e.g. up against B/G Constrictor. Reset's the game. Dawn brings back Grim Flayers, Sylvan Advocate, Walking Ballista for another round of punching. 3 copy on the side board for sweepers against deck like Glorybringer, Verdurous Gearhulk, etc.

4 Fatal Push - Against Flyer! All 4 copies. Revolt Trigger: Evolving wilds x2, Walking Ballista x 2, Bontu x 1, (still lacking in the trigger revolt department).

5 Heart of Kiran - The power play, Kiran into God / into Lili. Putting the pressure early. Keep planeswalker at bay. Activates Spire of Industry

6 Liliana, the Last Hope - Just 2 copies. Dont want to see it all the time. For delirium. 1 thoughness removal. Just in case God's get killed which happens sometimes.

7 Nissa, Voice of Zendikar - Drop down to Sideboard. Replace with Sky Ship Sovereign. More firepower. Suprisingly Skyship synergies well with other vehicles and God. e.g. Return scrapheap into battlefield, crew kiran, crew skyship/caravan (either way crew 2 vehicles with 1 scrapheap), immediately activates rhonas, oketra.

8 Prepare // Fight - Premium combat trick. Especially good when use on grim flayers early to punch thru blockers, suprise +4/+4 (with lifelink and trample) instead of +2/+2. Also, late game with oketra is huge lifelink. Fight is good with rhonas death touch. Provide 2 cards type for delirium.

9 To the Slaughter - down to sideboard. Not a very good removal piece in early game.

10 Traverse the Ulvenwald - Increase to 3. Land fix early game, late game to search God out. Rhonas + Bontu + Oketra end game.

11 Gideon's Intervention - This card is nuts. Just 1 copy in Mainboard and 1 copy in Sideboard. Remove almost anything 4 CMC and above that Abzan couldn't handle well. Gideon, Glory Bringer, Verdurous Gearhulk, Torrential Gearhulk, Avacyn, Ulamorg, Atherworks Marvel etc.

12 Skysovereign, Consul Flag Ship - Another win con. Can be crew by God.

I guess I've written all the reason of selection behind all these cards. Haven't got the time to test this out against the big decks like Mardu Vehicle, B/G-Constrictor/Delirium, Control Decks, yet.

Hopefully can get some input before testing out with my friends . Thank you in advance.






 

[G. Moto]

  For the creatures these are my recommendations for removal (and then I'll add what would be good to include in the deck):

Removal- scrapheap scrounger, sylvan advocate and walking ballista.

Scrapheap scrounger requires that you remove creatures from your graveyard. In this deck I see that as a minus to you because the creatures in this deck need to remain in the game as integral parts of the overall deck strategy. If you're removing all of your copies of dread wanderer or grim flayer then you've lost a good majority of the deck and that's one less defensive blocker that you have on the field.

Sylvan advocate does not contribute to the deck, it only takes up space and though it's ability is good there are better choices.

Lastly the Walking ballista is indeed a mana sink. In this deck you do not want sinks, you want mana circulation. You want to be able to share the mana and the strength amongst your creatures so that they stand firm and that they stand tall together. If you're paying SIX mana just to drop a 3/3 (who you have to pay 4 more mana just to make it a 4/4) then that creature indeed does not need to be in this deck. It' an easy target and you'll feel depressed when it is dispatched easily with the opponent's removal.

As for recommendations for this deck these are the following that would improve on the overall play of the deck while still fitting in the core strategy:
Doomed Dissenter - It's a 2 drop that works with your Dawn// Dusk and when it dies (Say if you sacrifice it to Bontu the glorified) then it'll come back as a 2/2 which will in essence replace itself.

Gravedigger - is a creature that when it enters the field it will grab you whatever creature that you need. This can be crucial because when you are setting off delirium triggers and you put one too many copies of Oketra in the grave, this neat little zombie will fetch her right back for you.

devoted crop-mate - Exert may not be a core strategy across the deck, but it will bring back a creature from your graveyard that is 2 mana cost or less. That means doomed dissenter, grim flayer, dread wanderer (without the mana activation), and the other 2 drops I mentioned are all targets.

fan bearer - You may be looking down on this guy, but if you combo it with djeru's resolve you can pay 4 mana and tap down 2 of your opponent's creatures. That's the equivalent of decision paralysis but in WHITE. Best part is that you can use this spell on any creature and it UNTAPS.

trueheart duelist - It's a 2 drop white creature that can block 2 creatures a turn. As long as you keep it strong, keep the toughness from hitting zero and maybe even give it some combat tricks it'll put in the work for you. Best part is that it also has embalm. This means that during your opponent's combat phase you can block two of their creatures, sac it using Bontu the Glorified, and then on your turn embalm and get it right back. Crazy good stuff when you have creatures that won't stay dead.

  These were my creature recommendations. I'll respond with the spell recommendations in a moment...

[G. Moto]

  Now it's time for the spell critique:

    Cultivator's Caravan - It's great for mana fixing and if you have some spare tokens then it's worth sending into combat. As long as you can keep it steady until you get all the land types you need you're solid.

    Dusk // Dawn - You need to have more copies of this card in your deck. It's TOO valuable just to have one copy of it.

    Fatal Push - If you can get a death every turn you try to play this card then keep it, it's worth it.

    Gideon's Intervention - This card should be side boarded and never main decked unless you are certain you know what your opponent is about to play or if you're trying to neutralize a threat. I'd recommend replacing it with Liliana's influence because it will drop weights on all your opponent's creatures AND it'll add Liliana straight to your hand if she's in your deck OR grave (which is highly possible if you milled her due to delirium).

    Grasp of Darkness - It's a solid card and I'd recommend keeping it. Even with indestructible creatures, if their toughness drops to zero due to negative values it still kills the target. Something worth holding on to.

  Heart of Kiran - This is a small creature with big stats. But the thing about it is that if you don't have a planeswalker on the field then you have to pay the crew cost anyway. So why not remove this artifact creature in favor of something different? Maybe having primal druid as sac fodder to get  land (for delirium) would be a better alternative because it has a decent body and it even gives you something when it dies. Also wildfield scarecrow gives you TWO lands into your hand so for a Tri-color deck this can be key to getting your deck online faster. Also its an ARTIFACT and a CREATURE so delirium is already half way triggered.

 Liliana, the Last Hope - Honestly I'd recommend Liliana death wielder because she can inhibit opponent's creatures, she can out right destroy ANYTHING with a -1/-1 counter on it, and she can bring back ALL of your creatures from grave so that's a plus. Now if you want Liliana, the last hope because of the token production then that's a solid strategy as well, just make sure that you can protect her long enough and are able to produce enough zombies so that the token multiplication can truly take effect.

 Prepare // Fight - This i recommend getting more copies of. The fight mechanic would be so devastating in this deck if you add more of these and the cartouche of strength because making Rhonas the Indomitable fight other creatures is basically a kill spell in of itself. It's death touch and indestructible so why not?

 Skysovereign, Consul Flagship - This card can be pivotal based off of how many creature tokens you can make and how strong you can get them. Really all you need is at least one token that's a 3/3 and it's taken care of. It doesn't have haste like Glorybringer but it doesn't have to exert to use its ability to deal damage. It's really border line and can be a big target if not protected.

 Traverse the Ulvenwald - It's a low cost spell that nets you a land or creature straight to your hand. It's basically a diabolic tutor only in green. This is something worth having.

Also some other recommendations for this deck: Tattered mummy would be an excellent 2 drop to add to this deck. It fits all the requirements for the other spells in this deck, It's easy to play, it can be brought back with devoted crop-mate and Dusk // Dawn, and it will deal two damage as soon as it dies. THAT is VALUE. Also wander in death, supernatural stamina, stir the sands (since you like mana sinks) can produce the 3 creatures you need for Oketra and serve as sac fodder for Bontu. Cartouche of Strength because making big creatures fight is fantastic and Hapatra's mark will be great because the next best thing to INDESTRUCTIBLE is HEXPROOF. So with all of these recommendations what are your thoughts on the deck now?

[VayChow]

Really appreciate your time to write out all these stuff. You have left me pondered for sometime and new angle to this deck.

Will definitly try a more synergistic approach as what you have recomended especially with the removal of Kiran, Sylvan Advocate, cutting down on Scrapheap, and walking ballista, replacing it with more synergistic piece to make the whole deck ticks in the right direction.

However, will try to avoid 1-2 white drop as it will clash very often with Black-Green drops. This deck is built with progression from early Green-Black into later White.

Kind of really like Dusk // Dawn too and feels it really worth at least 2 pieces in the main deck. Definitely will try running it 3 pieces.

What about this card Start // Finish in this deck? I am thinking of 4 copies of this as it is good with almost everything in this deck. Good piece for delirium and also can crew Aetherspehere Harvester. Provide another sac outlet. Trigger revolt. Late removal.

[G. Moto]

 Keep in mind with Start // Finish, if you make those tokens then they need to be put to good use. For example, you could have the creature sacrificed be tattered mummy, destroy target creature your opponent controls, then use your devoted crop-mate to bring it back from the grave. That or simply play Supernatural stamina on it before it dies and get a double trigger on killing it twice once you have Bontu the glorified on the field. Can you say double the pain for a single creature? But as strong as this card may be, all good things in moderation my friend, if you're going to have a versatile spell, you need it to be flexible enough so that it doesn't slow down the deck. Snakes are not feared because they STOMP through the jungle, they are feared because they slither unseen, unnoticed and unaware before they strike. Which reminds me......Hapatra, vizier of poisons. What do you think of her?

[VayChow]

Hepatra is a great piece on its own and in the correct deck can be stupidly awesome. Maybe in a Jund deck, like having a solid 1-drop Soul Scar Mage, Backup with Burn Removal like shock, harness lightning, Blazing volley, Radiant Flame / Sweltering Suns (Works real well as it only places counter on enemy line and not your own, Grim Flayer 4/4 can survive without getting hit by the-1/-1 counter from Soul Scar Mage). Creating snake for each burn . at the same time creating token sac outlet for bontu?! Walking Balista + Soul Scar + Hepatra too? Abit too good to be true.

But maybe just not good enough for abzan to squeeze all out of it.

[VayChow]

Revision 4

Added/removed cards:
-2 Dread Wanderer
-1 Skysovereign, Consul Flagship
-1 Sylvan Advocate
+1 Angel of Invention
+3 Catacomb Sifter
+1 Gonti, Lord of Luxury
+3 Servant of the Conduit
-1 (SB) Nissa, Voice of Zendikar
-1 (SB) Ob Nixilis Reignited
+1 (SB) Ajani Unyielding
+1 (SB) Fumigate

Changed amounts:
+1 Aether Hub
+1 (Main) -1 (SB) Dusk // Dawn
-1 Fatal Push
-1 (Main) +1 (SB) Gideon's Intervention
-1 Heart of Kiran
-2 Scrapheap Scrounger
-1 Spire of Industry

[G. Moto]

ok so what are your thoughts on this deck now?

[VayChow]

Revision 5

Added/removed cards:
-2 Grasp of Darkness
-2 Heart of Kiran
+1 Hazoret the Fervent
+1 Ishkanah, Grafwidow
+2 Verdurous Gearhulk

Changed amounts:
-1 Aether Hub
-1 (Main) +1 (SB) Angel of Invention
+1 Fatal Push
-1 (Main) +1 (SB) Gonti, Lord of Luxury
+1 (Main) -1 (SB) Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet
-1 Liliana, the Last Hope
+1 Prepare // Fight
-1 Rhonas the Indomitable
+1 Scrapheap Scrounger
+1 Servant of the Conduit
+1 Spire of Industry
-1 Traverse the Ulvenwald
-2 (SB) Dusk // Dawn
+2 (SB) Fumigate
-1 (SB) To the Slaughter

Added in 8 Ramp cards : 3 Catacomb Sifter, 1 caravan, 4 servant of conduit.
Early to ramp out any of Mini Boss and Boss : 1 Rhonas, 1 Bontu, 1 Kalitas, 1 Oketra, 1 Hazoret, 2 Verdurous Gearhulk.

Catacomb Sifter: Provide synergy for Oketra and Bontu, Scrying option.
Remove Grasp of Darkness: Replaced with more Prepare // Fight.
Added in Kalitas : Although it get killed by Dusk, but will still leave behind whole bunch of zombies which is actually sweet. Considering also the exile effect that will take care of creatures such as scrapheap, prized amalgam, and embalm creatures.
Added in Ishkanah : Just late game blockers and mana sink and provide synergy for Oketra and Bontu.
Added in Verdurous Gearhulk : Early Bomb, by putting counters creatures early to Activate Rhonas, putting counter on Hazoret will push it out of Grasp of Darkness range, but a bit of out synergy as it doesn't help bontu in any way.
Removed Heart of Kiran totally: Not very good in a ramp deck, need a 1 drop that can crew it to properyly squeeze all the value.
Scrapheap Scrounger: Remains at 3 pieces, to get spire industry online, provide crew for Caravan.
Servant of Conduit : Been thinking about Channeller Inniatiate, but still choose ouver Servant of Conduit, the energy is important to re charge aether hub, out of dusk range // can be brought back by Dawn, can be exiled by scrapheap late game as servant is kind of useless once all the mana land is available.

Why only 4 pieces removal instead of conventional 7 pieces removal? Because in this deck, we will be the one in the driver seat. We dictates the game flow and bring the game to the oppenent. They are the one going to play accordingly to what we play. Also, Prepare // Fight is like a late removal so this deck is kind of still running on 7 pieces removal on late game.