Showdown #28: Rebirth

Showdown

Spootyone

5 November 2014

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Hello all and welcome again to Showdown, where I pit my current standard deck against those submitted to me by you, the members of TappedOut. Last time we were together I tested my control build against Tonberry333s Jeskai deck. It's been a while since then and I've been playing a lot at my LGS. The last straw came this past weekend when I did poorly yet again at FNM. The details can be found on my deck under the updates, but long story short I am not playing control anymore for right now. I have switched the build over to Temur aggro for the time being and it's so much better that I'm not sure why I stopped heading this direction in the first place, frankly.

As promised, this week I will be facing off against another of the pillars of the format. I present to you all sewellius and his Abzan Midrange deck:

Unity of the Abzan

Standard sewellius

SCORE: 2 | 2 COMMENTS | 630 VIEWS | IN 3 FOLDERS

What am I afraid of with this deck? Well...it's Abzan, for starters. Abzan has access to some of the single most powerful spells in the entire standard format and has been wrecking things since it won the Pro Tour. It also was the reason I stopped playing my control deck -- I couldn't beat it. I have yet to test my aggro deck against Abzan, so anything goes. I'm hoping that it's not too bad, even if I lose. Let's check it out.

Spooty wins the flip and is on the play. I mulligan a one-land hand. My kept hand contains Frontier Bivouac, Yavimaya Coast, Lightning Strike, 2x Savage Knuckleblade and Polis Crusher. Gonna need that third land sooner than later but otherwise this is pretty good.

Sewellius keeps an opening hand of Sandsteppe Citadel, plains, Sylvan Caryatid, Courser of Kruphix, Anafenza, the Foremost, Utter End and Ajani Steadfast. This hand looks crazy good.

S1: I play the bivouac tapped and pass.

O1: Draws Sandsteppe Citadel. He plays it and passes.

S2: Draws Heir of the Wilds. Hey that's great here. I play the Yavimaya Coast and then the heir before passing.

O2: Draws plains. He plays the plains and the Caryatid. Pass.

S3: Draws Crater's Claws. Damn. Didn't get there...That really hurts. I attack with the heir for two with no blocks and pass the turn. (s 20/18 o)

O3: Draws Bow of Nylea. He casts Courser of Kruphix and reveals Temple of Silence from the top. He plays that, gains a life and reveals a Siege Rhino, which he obviously keeps on top. He passes the turn, and I strike him in the dome for three. (s 20/16 o)

S4: Draws Temple of Mystery. Tapped lands coming to bite me in the ass already, eh? I attack for 2 with no blocks and then play the land, scrying and keeping a Shivan Reef on top. It's a shame that wasn't there for this turn. Pass. (s 20/14 o)

O4: Draws Siege Rhino and reveals Bow of Nylea from the top. He plays the second citadel tapped and gains a life, and then plays the rhino, draining me for three. He attacks for 2 with the courser and passes the turn. (s 15/18 o)

S5: Draws Shivan Reef. I play my Polis Crusher and pass the turn.

O5: Draws Bow of Nylea and reveals a forest. He plays the forest and gains a life, revealing a plains from the top. He plays Ajani Steadfast, Plusses him to give the Rhino +1, first strike, vigilance, and lifelink, and then swings with him. I can't afford to block the rhino in this condition, so I take 5 and he gains five. He passes the turn. (s 10/24 o)

S6: Draws Frontier Bivouac. I play it tapped. I then play Crater's Claws for x=3, triggering ferocious and dealing 5 to the Rhino, killing it. I attack with both my crusher and my heir, making him a 3/3 (both at Ajani). Ajani is the best thing for my opponent right now, so protecting him is absolutely mandatory. Because of this, I have him block the crusher with the Caryatid. Ajani goes to 1 loyalty and I pass the turn.

O6: Draws a plains and reveals a Fleecemane Lion from the top. Not bad, though the situation present isn't great now. He plusses the Ajani on his courser and attacks for 3 with it (gaining 3). It would seem as though there isn't a great way to keep the Ajani alive even with the current boardstate. He could kill one of my creatures and block with the courser (killing it) and hope I don't have anything with haste, or he could consider the Ajani dead and focus, instead, on killing me. I think the latter is more smart here. Because of this, I have him play a plains, gain a life, and then play both Anafenza and a Bow of Nylea before passing. (s 7/28 o)

S7: Draws Stubborn Denial. Now there's a card I want to keep up mana for right now. Alright...things look fairly bleak honestly. I can attack with both my guys and kill the Ajani or essentially clear the board, but I can only assume he'll just let it die and then I'm very at risk of a horrible swing back. However, I'm not winning this game if the Ajani lives. Gonna have to do it, I guess. I attack with both my creatures at Ajani, and he lets them through. I play a Savage Knuckleblade on the defense and pass the turn.

O7: Draws Fleecemane Lion and reveals Anafenza from the top. He plays a plains and gains a life. He then attempts to utter end my knuckleblade, but I take 1 from my land to counter it with Stubborn Denial. He attack with both of his creatures, placing a counter on the courser with Anafenza. I have to block here or I'm just dead. I block the Anafenza with my knuckleblade, and before damage he places a counter on it with the bow. He passes the turn. (s 3/29 o)

S8: Draws Wooded Foothills. Yuck. Well, I can't attack -- that's for sure. I play the other knuckleblade, play my land and pass the turn.

O8: Draws Anafenza, the Foremost and reveals Windswept Heath from the top. He plays the fetchland and gains a life. This reveals a Sylvan Caryatid. He attacks with both creatures, placing a counter on the courser. I have my heir block the courser and the other two double-block the Anafenza. This results in all of the creatures dying. He then plays a Fleecemane Lion and an Anafenza, the Foremost on his second main phase. Pass. (s 3/30 o)

S9: Draws Savage Knuckleblade. As much as I love top-decking that card, it doesn't keep me alive here. I concede.

Sideboard tech with Spooty:

Man, missing that land drop on curve really screwed my game plan up. It would seem going to even a lesser number of tapped lands could be needed, but I will say that this doesn't happen super often currently. Time will tell. Lightning Strike is my worse card in this matchup by far, so I'm taking the playset out. In their wake I will be bringing in 2x Harness by Force for taking creatures, getting through damage, and even for some Sorin shenanigans. I will also be bringing in a third Crater's Claws and a second Temur Ascendancy. The former is simply to be used as a kill spell and the latter is useful when things become very attrition-based as they can in these matchups. Let's try again.

Sideboard tech with Tonberry333:

Good curve is good. Good cards are good. Good abilities are good. Good deck is good. Can't complain too much about how the Abzan deck runs and this certainly isn't my first time playing with one. I do think that bringing in the 3x Hero's Downfall is good here, along with the could Elspeth since she can act as a stabilization agent. Fleecemane Lion isn't nearly as good on the draw so I take out 3 of those and 2 of the bows since they aren't super needed here. Can he make it a 2 and 0? Let's find out.

I am forced to mulligan a 2-land hand with 2 rabbles and no red mana. I keep a hand of mountain, Yavimaya Coast, Wooded Foothills, Stubborn Denial, Boon Satyr, and Surrak Dragonclaw. This hand isn't very good to be honest, but I refuse to go to five.

Sewellius keeps an opening hand of Temple of Malady, Sandsteppe Citadel, Temple of Plenty, forest Hero's Downfall, Utter End, and Elspeth, Sun's Champion. No creatures, but a decent amount of control and the lands needed for it. I think this is an okay hand.

S1: Yavimaya Coast. Pass.

O1: Draws Sylvan Caryatid. He plays a citadel and passes the turn.

S2: Draws Crater's Claws. I play a mountain and pass the turn.

O2: Draws Hero's Downfall. He plays a forest and the Sylvan Caryatid and passes.

S3: Draws Goblin Rabblemaster. I crack a Wooded Foothills to grab a forest. I play my Goblin Rabblemaster and attack with the token it makes. It is blocked by the Caryatid and I pass the turn (s 19/20 o)

O3: Draws Utter End. Jeeezz....He taps out for the downfall on my rabblemaster and then plays a Temple of Malady, scrying an Ainok Bond-Kin to the bottom. I just don't think it's impactful right now. Pass.

S4: Draws Stubborn Denial. I attack for 1 with the token and pass the turn. (s 19/19 o)

O4: Draws Windswept Heath. He plays the temple of plenty and scrys a forest to the bottom and passes the turn. EoT I flash in my Boon Satyr, and when he gets priority he kills it with Hero's Downfall.

S5: Draws Harness by Force. These are some trashy draws to say the least. I attack with my goblin, it is blocked, and I pass the turn.

O5: Draws Courser of Kruphix. He could play Elspeth here but since a good mtg player plays around counters, he won't. Instead, he plays the courser and reveals Ajani Steadfast from the top. He plays the fetchland, gains a life, and passes the turn. (s 18/20 o)

S6: Draws Frontier Bivouac. I play the bivouac and pass the turn.

O6: Draws Ajani Steadfast and reveals a Bow of Nylea from the top. He plays Ajani and Plusses him on the courser. The courser attacks and there is a 6-point life swing. He passes. (s 15/23 o)

S7: Draws Frontier Bivouac. I play the land and attack with my goblin to the Ajani. He blocks with the Caryatid to avoid shenanigans. I pass.

O7: Draws a bow and reveals a bow. He cracks his fetch for a plains and after shuffling reveals a Sorin, Solemn Visitor from the top. He plusses the Ajani and attacks with the courser for another 6 pt life swing. He passes the turn. (s 12/26 o)

S8: Draws Stubborn Denial. (sigh...) I pass the turn.

O8: Draws Sorin and reveals Hero's Downfall. I concede. There's no way to win this one - period.

So, I must've forgotten how horrid Surrak is in this matchup and that Negate is good here. That's alright lol.

Overall, I think it's safe to say that the Abzan builds are all very, very good right now. The thing about Abzan is that they play all of the best cards. Want kill spells? Hero's Downfall. Want planeswalkers? Elspeth, Sun's Champion. Creatures? Siege Rhino. Oh, smaller creatures? How about Fleecemane Lion or Rakshasa Deathdealer or Herald of Torment? Need card advantage? Courser of Kruphix, Abzan Charm, Read the Bones, Sign in Blood. I'm sure that by now this is old news that Abzan is a good deck, but I want to make it clear that it's not a joke -- Abzan is good.

I don't feel like this was an accurate representation of my deck. I also feel like I've been saying that a lot lately, but I digress. I'll admit, I'm a little frustrated with how things went in this matchup and with how things have been going with my deck for a while now. I think there's a bit of irony in the fact that for all of last standard I forced midrange in a field where midrange was hard to do, and now that midrange is amazing I chose to go control...and then aggro. Am I just crazy? I really don't know. Maybe there's something in my subconscious that is causing me to make these decisions to play decks and colors and styles that I know deep inside are going to be very, very difficult to make work in the metagame. I just don't know.

Let's talk about my deck.

I have had a lot of discussion on the deck as I have it right now and there are strong opinions on all sides. That's good. Having a community like the one here will really make you think about the decisions you make in your deckbuilding process and force you into a position where you really have to work hard to justify the choices you make, for better or for worse. Because this is my main way of talking with you all, I will choose to do so now.

So let's talk about my curve, eh? Look at that crazy piece of artwork. 22 3-drops. It's MADNESS. I'm not being sarcastic (well...maybe a little). It's really quite insane. And as such, many people have been eager to suggest Elvish Mystic. It seems like a sure thing to fit him in here, I agree. However, I have yet to be convinced ON THE FIELD that I should be running him. I have heard the arguments for him on paper and for the curve, etc., but I have also been playtesting with this deck a lot. The times that I lose games are not times where an Elvish Mystic would've saved me. Sure, I get mana screwed sometimes, but I also get flooded. And there are also times that I am in desperate need of top-decking threat after threat and do so to claim a victory, where drawing an Elvish Mystic would simply be devastating. I am not currently losing games because I couldn't get my Savage Knuckleblade out on T2. I lose games because my opponent has enough answers for my threats. Removing those threats to play the ones leftover slightly earlier helps for about a turn or two until I run out of cards. I'm not an aggressive enough of a deck to where I can come back from my opponent removing all my available creatures, and I need a steady stream of them to push through. This is why I run 23 lands and this is also why I am currently avoiding mana dorks. I hope you can understand or at least agree to disagree. There may come a time where I change my mind, but I think that isn't going to be in the near future.

Let's talk about the slots devoted to Polis Crusher and Surrak Dragonclaw. I'll admit it: they aren't the best cards out there and certainly not the best ones in the deck. I originally chose the crusher over Polukranos simply because I own this deck IRL and had them (and didn't have Poluk). I have come up with some decent reasons to run Polis crusher over the hydra. For example, he didges Banishing Light and Suspension Field. Or how about the fact that he can attack through a Courser of Kruphix or a Nyx-Fleece Ram? What about his mana? RG is easier to cast than GG in my deck. He has trample -- that's huge. He has a monstrous ability that can make him a 7/7. That even bigger than Poluk!

I'm wrong.

Polukranos is better in my deck than Polis crusher. I'm not afraid or too big to admit when I'm wrong and this is one of those times. The truth is that protection from enchantments is not incredibly relevant in the metagame right now. He still dies to Hero's Downfall, he still costs four mana. Polukranos is just going to kill a courser or ram if they block, anyway. He also has a monstrous ability. Hell, GG mustn't be too hard to hit if I'm already running Boon Satyr. What's more is he is a 5/5 and not a 4/4. Ever heard of Siege Rhino? Yeah, going into battle with him is a lot better when you're a 5/5 and not a 4/4. Enough said.

Surrak, on the other hand, I do really like. I could see maybe splitting him 1/1 between the main and side board, but I'll have to mess around with it. He's only really bad against aggro, and I feel like I have a decent game against them anyway. He allows for some great plays and really boosts the power of my other creatures once he's on the field. And if I choose Polukranos, well he even gives him trample.

My mana base is still a little screwy, I think. There are still times where I have a tapped land where I need an untapped one and it causes me to lose a match. Mana Confluence is something that I've been avoiding at all costs, but I think the deck may need a couple copies. I'm going to continue working on the mana base to make things work.

In testing, I have been having a lot of success with this deck, and I truly feel like it almost there but just needs a bit more work before it'll be amazing. I hope you all are ready to stay on that ride with me. I want to thank sewellius for his great submission. You're deck is a good one and I really like Ainok Bond-Kin in it even if others say it's silly. He's great with Ajani, Mentor of Heroes if you ever feel a desire to go that direction...hint-hint

Feeling generous? Wanna help out? It's easy! Donating even a small amount really helps make these happen, and I will always be overly appreciative of it.

Keep up with all the showdown action and more!

Email: [email protected]

Twitter: @Spootyone

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This article is a follow-up to Showdown #27: Scorch on the Rocks The next article in this series is Showdown #29: Myr Match