Anti-Abzan sideboard (modern)
Deck Help forum
Posted on May 24, 2015, 3:51 p.m. by ToolmasterOfBrainerd
I am struggling to beat abzan. A lot. My list is The New Delver and it's a delver list that hopefully can beat burn and abzan, but the abzan half is proving difficult.
Are there any good sideboarding strategies / card synergies that can shut down abzan easily? I'm willing to give a lot of sideboard spots (10+) to beat abzan if it's even possible.
Thanks!
ToolmasterOfBrainerd says... #3
I've been having some pretty good luck with 2 Leyline of the Void, 2 Blood Moon, 2 Jace, Architect of Thought, 1 Batterskull, and 1 Keranos, God of Storms in the sideboard and siding them all in for games 2 and 3, but Maelstrom Pulse is still very painful.
I might try 1-2 Slaughter Games and see if that works to remove Maelstrom Pulse or Abrupt Decay. Anyone have thoughts on running Slaughter Games?
Land destruction would be really effective and I'm guessing Fulminator Mage is the card of choice, but it's just so expensive. I'm going to use Rain of Tears instead because it's just as easy to cast and I don't really care about the 2/2 body. I guess I'll try it because getting rid of Gavony Township of their only source of black would be like playing another Blood Moon but only on their side of the field. Thanks for the advice! Rain of Tears is also great against other tri-color decks as well, so it's a great sideboard option.
May 24, 2015 6:36 p.m.
GlistenerAgent says... #4
They play one Pulse. Don't Slaughter Games it.
Your deck is built improperly IMO. Too many bad counterspells, too little card diversity, too clunky. Check out mtggoldfish Grixis Delver lists to see some potential choices that could improve your matchup. Right now everything is too slow and fails to seize tempo, and boarding in fives doesn't help you.
May 24, 2015 11:01 p.m.
ToolmasterOfBrainerd says... #6
Yeah, I'm hopelessly convinced. I've seen the good delver decks and they have their problems. They're too imbalanced. They have great twin and affinity matchups, but awful abzan and burn matchups, which does not make for a great deck.
I also think the new delver decks are too reminiscent of the old UR delver. They don't try anything that hasn't been done, so here's my attempt.
Like, I said, I'm hopelessly convinced that this could work. It probably won't, but I don't want to give up on it until even I agree that it's bad.
May 25, 2015 9:24 a.m.
GlistenerAgent says... #7
Nighthawk is very slow. If you want to beat Burn, Pyromancer into discard and removal is a lot better. Against Abzan, attacking with a team of 1/1s into their 1-2 blockers is better than a creature that leaves nothing behind when it gets killed.
The_Raven says... #2
It's really hard to sideboard against Abzan. I think your best bet is to SB some land destruction.
May 24, 2015 6:05 p.m.