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Modern Abzan; A Modern Article by Manny Meraz

Aside

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     This is my take on Abzan Control in Modern (It’s more midrangey but I want to call name it control because it has sweepers and that fires up all the feel goods) It’s pretty similar to builds of Abzan that currently exist in Modern but with a little more emphasis on the late game with Painful Truths, Tasigur and Abzan charm trying to draw me more cards.

     It’s done fairly well in my one morning of testing unless you play it against Geist. I know what you’re thinking “Manny you dumb dumb just make your opponent sac it with Liliana” but usually they have many more counterspells than I have resolved Lilianas. The Damnations are invaluable against aggro and the fact that it is main decked has very few people playing around it on game one. Lingering Souls as anybody knows who has played with or against the card is very powerful and can be utilized in many different ways, I think it should be included in almost any deck playing black and white. The amount of removal I chose for this deck initially seemed to me to be very light but ended up feeling to be the correct amount as long as I chose to use it when something was synergizing a little too well or was larger than the average 4/5 body I had on the ground.

     I chose to include a one of Abzan Charm which is most likely incorrect but the spot I had it fill was that of my third Painful Truths. The charm felt like a happy medium for me as I had already committed to playing a three mana draw spell in that slot so with that in mind drawing one less card and losing one less life with the possibility to be a removal spell made me comfortable with it in the end and the fact that the mana spent to cast Painful Truths is the same, if you think you’re not casting it for three you may be a mad man.

    I didn’t want to be too greedy with my land destruction (Ghost Quarter and Tectonic Edge) due to the fact that this is a very color intensive deck but with the speculation of Tron becoming a powerhouse in the format I felt two and two was a good split and wouldn’t hurt my mana too badly which thankfully it has not. I definitely believe with Splinter Twin gone that it is going to open up the format to some more midrange and control decks, the catch is these larger decks are going to have to pay respect to Tron with a chunk of their sideboard or already have a good main deck game against it. I don’t feel this particular build is very good against Tron but I believe the three Thoughtseize and the previously discussed land destruction in the main will help with Fulminator Mage, Duress, and possibly Stony Silence in the sideboard to lend a hand. Having said that the sideboard is very raw and definitely needs to be developed more before this build should see play.

     Well that’s my very first piece of MTG writing. Thanks you guys in advance for the support.

-Manny

Sorcery 14
2 Damnation
4 Inquisition of Kozilek
3 Lingering Souls
2 Painful Truths
3 Thoughtseize

Instant 7
3 Abrupt Decy
1 Abzan Charm
1 Murderous Cut
2 Path to Exile

Creature 10
4 Siege Rhino
4 Tarmogoyf
2 Tasigur, the Golden Fang

Plainswalkers 4
4 Liliana of the Veil

Lands 25
1 Forest
2 Ghost Quarter
2 Godless Shrine
4 Marsh Flats
3 Overgrown Tomb
1 Plains
2 Shambling Vent
3 Swamp
2 Tectonic Edge
1 Temple Garden
4 Verdant Catacombs

SB: 1 Creeping Corrosion
SB: 2 Feed the Clan
SB: 2 Fulminator Mage
SB: 2 Surgical Extraction
SB: 2 Engineered Explosives
SB: 2 Duress
SB: 2 Stony Silence
SB: 2 Seal of Primordium

Wizards’ New Proxy Policy

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In case you haven’t heard, Wizards of the Coast has recently changed (or has gotten uppity) about their Policy regarding local shops running Unsanctioned Tournaments allowing Proxies as seen here http://imgur.com/PRTcbPg  when this became known to the general player community Wizards Community Manager Trick Jarret posted this https://www.reddit.com/r/magicTCG/comments/40kdsz/wizards_may_be_cracking_down_on_unsanctioned/cyvzi9d comment on Reddit


While I understand Wizards’ policy on not allowing proxy/counterfeit cards in sanctioned tournaments, threatening the WPN status of stores who allow them in unsanctioned tournaments is against their best interests.


Through listening to numerous podcasts, reading various articles and keeping abreast of Twitter, I’ve heard of many shops that happen to host unsanctioned legacy or vintage tournaments where they allow players to use up to between 6-12 proxy cards in their deck, this is between 10 to 20 percent of the main deck. The reasons these shops allow the proxy cards is several.  Firstly these stores would not have enough players to fire an event without allowing proxy cards.  Secondly as these decks are very expensive, it allows those players who are acquiring their deck one card at a time to play with them when they are almost complete and often they leave the most expensive cards till last which take them the longest to afford.  Thirdly it allows players to alter their decks and test changes without having to make a large (and sometimes unfruitful) purchase first.  Lastly these tournaments are a great way to get players to invest in these expensive singles that local shops make profits off of buying and selling.

Now one might argue that this is unfair to those who have spent the money to buy their entire decks, and that is true, but what is more unfair is to spend $2000 or more on a Legacy deck ten times that for a Vintage deck and have no one to play against. Eternal format players will almost universally chose to playing against someone using a few proxies if it means they get to play the game they love if the other options is the deck sits collecting dust. 


Now I’m close friends with a couple of shop owners and have heard interviews of several others, and one common thing is that they don’t just go running tournaments (of any game system) just because.  They only begin to run them when players suggest to them to do so. Game stores are nothing if not supply to meet a demand and what Wizards is doing is trying to command stores not to meet that demand. If the store felt it could get more people by just hosting another Standard/Modern/Limited tournament, I’m sure they would just do that instead.


What I don’t understand is why Wizards doesn’t seem to see why these tournaments are good for them.  When stores run tournaments they almost always collect some sort of entry fee and give out some sort of prize. That prize is either going to come in the form of New Magic product or sometimes store credit, but usually Wizards is profiting from this and the local store is always profiting from this.  When game stores that sell Magic product stay open it is good for Magic.  When people come in to the store and see other people playing magic (even more so in a tournament setting) it is an opportunity for them to learn more about the game and a chance for the players or store owner to get a new player playing the game. Game research has shown that the best way to get people to play is to sit them down and teach them to play.  You could hand them free product and it will sit unopened in their closet if they aren’t taught to play.  Magic is sold in big box retailers like Target and Walmart but they product doesn’t move nearly the way it does at local game stores. This is because game stores offer discounts on product (even if it is only covering the tax) and provide players with a place to play and meet up.  So Wizards needs to be supportive of things that actively profit game stores.

Now we need to be careful here.  If stores are too lax with proxy policy then people won’t be buying Magic product, but this shouldn’t be a problem, here’s why.  First, the stores themselves still need to make a profit, if the stores aren’t selling cards they aren’t going to profit and therefore stay open.  Secondly players want promos that FNMs and Prereleases offer and that can only come from sanctioned tournaments.

Speaking of sanctioned tournaments Helene Bergeot tweeted today they they are looking a ways to support all formats, the problem with this is that Wizards support is just a few Legacy GPs a year and Eternal Weekend.  Allowing stores to run unsanctioned tourneys with a few proxy cards and say only having them be cards on the reserve list would go a long way to support the formats.  When people have 80-90% of a deck and a big tournament like a GP or SCG classic the players are going to be much more likely to finish their deck so that they can go play in the big tournament that they have been able to practice for.  Wizards says they are supporting these eternal formats, but if they follow through with this then when someone decides to cash out of Legacy/Vintage they will be less people waiting to buy those cards off of them.

-Matt

Note from Constructed Criticism: While we may not agree with all things said by Matt we always want to be available for members of the Constructed Criticism community to voice their opinions. Thanks for reading!

The Subtleties of Green (Raptor Decks)

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Last year in magic their was a deck called GR Dragons that took a few events by storm. The deck was a Green Red aggressive deck that looked something like this.

Creatures (30)
4 Elvish Mystic
4 Goblin Rabblemaster
3 Heir of the Wilds
4 Rattleclaw Mystic
4 Stormbreath Dragon
4 Thunderbreak Regent
4 Boon Satyr
3 Surrak, the Hunt Caller

Lands (23)
6 Forest
6 Mountain
2 Mana Confluence
1 Rugged Highlands
4 Temple of Abandon
4 Wooded Foothills

Spells (7)
2 Draconic Roar
4 Crater’s Claws
1 Roast

Sideboard
3 Hornet Nest
3 Destructive Revelry
3 Wild Slash
1 Nissa, Worldwaker
3 Xenagos, the Reveler
1 Roast

Immediately I was surrounded by people asking me what I thought of the deck and very shortly after that they were asking why I wasn’t playing the deck. Calling this a “Spencer Deck”

The answer to these questions are quite simple. I don’t like this style of deck. Lets take a look at decks that I personally have advocated and had success with and see the subtle differences in my style of green decks.

Lets start with one of my favorites. This is a deck from RTR standard that made me a little bit of money on the SCG and Utah Open circuits, and the deck that I top 4’d the first RPTQ with.

Gruuls Gone Wild by Spencer Howland

Creatures 27
4 Elvish Mystic
4 Burning-Tree Emissary
4 Sylvan Caryatid
2 Voyaging Satyr
4 Stormbreath Dragon
4 Polukranos, the World Eater
3 Courser of Kruphix
2 Xenagos, God of Revels

Spells 2
2 Clan Defiance

Planeswalkers 8
3 Domri Rade
3 Garruk, Caller of Beasts
2 Xenagos, the Reveler

Lands 23
4 Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
4 Stomping Grounds
4 Temple of Abandon
3 Mountain
8 Forest

Sideboard
3 Nylea’s Disciple
3 Mizzium Mortars
2 Gruul Charm
2 Xenagos, the Reveler
3 Mistcutter Hydra
1 Sylvan Primordial
1 Destructive Revelry

RUG Midrange by Spencer Howland

Creatures 17
2 Ashcloud Phoenix
1 Icefall Regent
4 Rattleclaw Mystic
4 Savage Knuckleblade
2 Stormbreath Dragon
4 Sylvan Caryatid

Planeswalkers 5
3 Sarkhan Unbroken
2 Xenagos, the Reveler

Spells 14
2 Anticipate
3 Crater’s Claws
2 Dig Through Time
2 Lightning Strike
2 Roast
2 Stubborn Denial
1 Twin Bolt

Lands 24
3 Temple of Abandon
2 Forest
4 Frontier Bivouac
1 Island
2 Mountain
3 Shivan Reef
1 Temple of Epiphany
2 Temple of Mystery
4 Wooded Foothills
2 Yavimaya Coast

1 Destructive Revelry
2 Disdainful Stroke
3 Magma Spray
2 Negate
1 Outpost Siege
3 Seismic Rupture
2 Stormbreath Dragon
1 Xenagos, the Reveler

Looking at these decks you might be thinking how similar they look to the GR Dragons deck. You play some mana guys to ramp into big guys and win. But that isn’t really the identity of these decks. The GR Dragons deck will win only by ramping into a threat and having their guys be a little bigger. This is only part of the reason I like these other decks but it is missing the key piece.

Card advantage is one of my favorite things in magic. And why wouldn’t it be I like to win and you can win a lot of games if you have more cards than your opponents. The problem is in Green you don’t always get the most awesome card draw. You often have to create your card advantage without those draw spells. Cards like Vengvine and Bloodbraid Elf do this in very powerful ways.

In this standard we have seen Deathmist Raptor and Den Protector join forces from week one to create that card advantage you so desperately need from your green decks.

With that being said. GW Megamorph is boring. You need sweet decks to keep you going in this standard format so I have brewed and tested a few decks to see how they play out and I found some decks that I think you could have fun with at your FNM PPTQ level and even some that I think are actually good enough to win your next RPTQ.

Lets start with an old favorite that I played a few matches with and have really enjoyed in my time.

Jund Raptor

4 Deathmist Raptor
3 Den Protector
4 Rattleclaw Mystic
2 Kolaghan’s Command
3 Crater’s Claws
1 Ultimate Price
1 Ob Nixilis Reignited
1 Murderous Cut
2 Tasigur, the Golden Fang
2 Ashcloud Phoenix
1 Sarkhan, the Dragonspeaker
2 Roast
2 Catacomb Sifter
2 Despise
4 Wooded Foothills
4 Bloodstained Mire
2 Cinder Glade
2 Smoldering Marsh
1 Swamp
3 Forest
2 Nissa, Vastwood Seer
2 Mountain
2 Blighted Fen
2 Llanowar Wastes
2 Jungle Hollow
1 Evolving Wilds
3 Woodland Wanderer
SB: 2 Outpost Siege
SB: 2 Whisperwood Elemental
SB: 2 Duress
SB: 4 Radiant Flames
SB: 2 Read the Bones
SB: 1 Plummet
SB: 2 Fiery Impulse

I really enjoyed what I saw from this deck. It played out just like you want an aggressive mindrange deck to play out. It can easily pivot between control and aggro depending on what you are facing and just like the GW Megamorph deck can really grind out the control decks. Except I think that the shell of Morphs in this deck is actually better in the metagame than the typical Den Protector/Raptor/1 of Slayer that we see form so many GW decks.

BUG Raptor

4 Sultai Charm
4 Deathmist Raptor
2 Tasigur, the Golden Fang
1 Ultimate Price
3 Den Protector
4 Jace, Vryn’s Prodigy
1 Murderous Cut
3 Reave Soul
2 Ruinous Path
2 Treasure Cruise
1 Nissa, Vastwood Seer
1 Ob Nixilis Reignited
4 Rattleclaw Mystic
4 Sidisi, Brood Tyrant
4 Opulent Palace
4 Polluted Delta
3 Lumbering Falls
2 Forest
2 Swamp
1 Island
2 Sunken Hollow
1 Canopy Vista
2 Flooded Strand
2 Llanowar Wastes
1 Yavimaya Coast
SB: 1 Dragonlord Silumgar
SB: 1 Silumgar, the Drifting Death
SB: 3 Duress
SB: 2 Read the Bones
SB: 4 Jaddi Offshoot
SB: 2 Negate
SB: 2 Disdainful Stroke

If there is any one thing all magic players as a whole like, it is when our decks have a lot of natural synergies. This deck probably has the most of any deck I am going to be posting. It feels like every card in this deck has a synergy with another in the deck. It feels great when those synergies come together for a thing of beauty.

Some would even say a deck like this is all I want int the world. This deck is card advantage central with a bit of blue to make it even sweeter.

Sultai Charm goes with Tasigur, Raptor, Den Protector and Jace. Jace does the same for the others. Ratttleclaw gets you to your Sidisi early or is a late game morph to get your r|Raptors back. Sidsi puts Raptors and spells into your yard for your Tasigurs and Den Protectors. It is really a thing of beauty when you look at it.

Abzan Raptor

2 Gideon, Ally of Zendikar
1 Sorin, Solemn Visitor
4 Deathmist Raptor
3 Den Protector
4 Abzan Charm
3 Languish
1 Ultimate Price
2 Dromoka’s Command
3 Hangarback Walker
4 Siege Rhino
2 Nissa, Vastwood Seer
1 Tasigur, the Golden Fang
1 Dragonlord Dromoka
2 Ruinous Path
4 Sandsteppe Citadel
4 Windswept Heath
3 Forest
2 Plains
1 Swamp
3 Shambling Vent
2 Canopy Vista
2 Llanowar Wastes
2 Caves of Koilos
1 Blighted Fen
1 Jungle Hollow
1 Anafenza, the Foremost
1 Murderous Cut
SB: 2 Valorous Stance
SB: 2 Duress
SB: 4 Arashin Cleric
SB: 3 Surge of Righteousness
SB: 2 Self-Inflicted Wound
SB: 1 Mastery of the Unseen
SB: 1 Read the Bones

All of these other GW decks playing Raptor are just really missing out not playing Abzan Charm and Siege Rhino. You are favored against other Megamorph decks with this as well as just probably being the most robust Abzan deck against those.

I really don’t know the reason to play the other versions of Abzan over this. Raptor gives you an advantage that Anafenza just doesn’t give you. The list is much more controlling than typical Abzan deck we are seeing now that is very reminiscent of the Alara Jund decks (very aggressive for midrange creating card advantage in interesting ways.) This deck is on my short list for decks I would consider playing at my next Comp REL event.

RUG Raptors

4 Savage Knuckleblade
4 Rattleclaw Mystic
3 Den Protector
2 Sarkhan Unbroken
4 Ashcloud Phoenix
3 Crater’s Claws
3 Wild Slash
2 Roast
3 Stubborn Denial
4 Deathmist Raptor
2 Mountain
4 Frontier Bivouac
2 Lumbering Falls
4 Wooded Foothills
2 Cinder Glade
2 Yavimaya Coast
2 Shivan Reef
1 Prairie Stream
2 Windswept Heath
3 Forest
2 Nissa, Vastwood Seer
2 Hangarback Walker
SB: 2 Disdainful Stroke
SB: 2 Whisperwood Elemental
SB: 2 Negate
SB: 2 Outpost Siege
SB: 3 Radiant Flames
SB: 2 Fiery Impulse
SB: 2 Encase in Ice

With current record of 26-1-3 with this deck I am absolutely in love with the deck. I don’t know if this deck just fits my play style or if it actually great. The card advantage you get from Ashcloud Phoenix plus Raptor is too much for Abzan to overcome.

Ashcloud might actually just be the key card in the deck. It has been great in every matchup. It is your best blocker against aggro and it flying helps it against both Abzan and Jeskai. Obviously this deck is a nightmare on paper for control decks and that doesn’t really change once you get to the actual game play.

Many games end out of nowhere for your opponent. They will be at a very high life total and you will make attacks and they won’t see the Crater’s Claws coming that will be their downfall. It is hard for them to play around the card because this deck controls the board so well with flying, deathtouch, and just overall large guys.

Another to note with this deck is most of the changes have happened to help you in game one of the aggro matchups. It is very easy for them to get under you if you don’t draw a Phoenix or a Savage Knucklebalde. You need both Nissa and Hangerback to act as fodder for your life total to stay high while you draw into your big guys.

This is the deck I am most likely to play at my next event given my time playing the deck. However I do believe that each of these decks are sweet and if you have the means I recommend trying out the greatness you can get from green decks that you can really only appreciate by playing them.

Creating your own card advantage can give you a feeling of success in itself. Making you feel like you have solved a puzzle to get up that card and grinding that advantage out and watching as your opponent slowly falls behind as you pull ahead from your own discussion making and deck building.

That is all I have for this week. Hope you guys enjoy the decks. Make the green choice everyone. It is good for the enviroment.

Spencer Howland
Owner of and Producer of Constructed Criticism and Limited Time Only
Twitter: @spencer13h
Facebook: Spencer Stephen Howland

 

To Break It? or Not To Break It?

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Going into Pro Tour BFZ there are quite a few really cool interesting cards in standard and a lot of ways you can build your decks. It makes you wonder what the super teams might be able to come up with in what appears to be a diverse format.

Today I am going to present a list of possibilities of things that we could but won’t necessarily see at the Pro Tour. We are going to do this bye looking at cards with high potential to being broken by some of the best minds in the game.

Mentor

Monastery Mentor is a card that that has a ton of upside. It makes tokens that you might pay 1 mana for to actually play in some decks and it does it at the cost of just casting a spell. One of the reasons I think this card is “Breakable” is that it fits with other breakable cards like Jeskai Ascendancy.

Ascendancy

Playing these cards together feels so natural. Like a good old peanut butter and marshmallow sandwich. The cards are so great together and you get to play them in conjunction with another breakable card in Treasure Cruise that it is hard not to think someone could break this deck open.

Ascendancy also has synergies with Hangerback Walker and Jace. What more could you want? 

Cruise

Fun fact for the day. One blue to draw 3 cards is just a busted card. Last year we saw mostly Dig Through Time see play as the go to draw spell due to the fact that it was an instant and picking two of your top seven was usually better than three random cards. The difference this standard I think is the number of fetch lands we are playing. This does two things for Cruise. It feeds the graveyard quickly to get you to one mana as well as just thinning the deck of lands making drawing three cards even better. I wonder if the Bring to light deck being a tap out deck makes this card a more viable option for control decks of the format to draw cards.

Bring to Light

You might be thinking that this card has already been broken and to that I think we are wrong. I think that we have only seen a glimpse of how could Bring to Light can be and I would not be surprised in the least to see sweet Bring to Light tech coming out of the PT.

Lili

This is a card that I am still surprised hasn’t had its potential unlocked yet. The card is quite good as far as what you get for just three mana. I believe the planeswaker side of this card is extremely good and am very interested to see someone bust this thing wide open. I would never be the one who could made a great Liliana deck but I don’t really envision a world were someone could not build a deck that stars this card.

Mystic

You might be asking yourself how a mana dork is breakable. I think the fact that this is the only reasonable creature ramp that is available is a pretty bid deal. It also ramps you into a huge threat very quickly as well as having synergy with Deathmist Raptor

Kuckleblade

You might be thinking to yourself that this one is a biased opinion but it was actually someone else who pointed out to me how good Knucklebade seems right now. People are playing a lot of sorcery speed removal and a lot of removal that actually just doesn’t kill this guy. Things like Reave Soul, Silkwrap, and Fiery Impulse aren’t gonna cut it when you are being attacked by a hasted Savage Knuckleblade. He also attacks through a Siege Rhino which is a huge deal.

I think it is prime time to see some of this guy even if it is just a splash is something like a Jeskai deck. The time has come for this guy.

Oblvion Sower

This is a card that I don’t know about. I have been impressed with it from what I have seen but it is possible that you just aren’t getting enough. That being said if the Metagame is right and the deck is built correctly we could see this and other big spells in a powerful ramp strategy and I definitely think this card could be a center piece to that.

These cards are all things I could see shaping the Metagame in a new way that we have not seen yet. I am excited to see what the players at the Pro Tour bring to the table and hopefully our boy Quentinn is playing on Sunday showing us all what’s up. Maybe even with some cards from this post.

Spencer Howland
@Spencer13H
Spencer and Cosmo