The Horde smiles at death - Competitive (budget)

Standard* phDaemon

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2-2 FNM (Tweaking, but the DL seems stable now) —June 27, 2015

Ok, so this week reinforced something I already had a feeling about. The only two decks I was skeptical of going against are Abzan X (Aggro/Control) and G/R devotion.

I had beaten abzan before with some key cards, so I'm bringing those in for those kinds of match-ups (especially with a free origins pre-release on the line). I'm hoping the threats we play early on are enough to take theirs, but Courser of Kruphix is pretty hard but by turn 3 or 4 a response that can take him should already be resolved. Anyways, let's move on to the games and changes:

Break-down

Round 2: U/B Control

• Game 1: Went relatively fast, dropped too many threats and when he tapped out for a draw spell I waited until he filled his hand to play secure the wastes for 3 with a Chief of the Edge resolved and drew into Arashin Foremost. I had already done some early damage so it was gg.
• Game 2: He was mana short. I mean really mana short (he had only 2 lands for the first like 5 turns of the game). I thought seized and he revealed one of the worst hands I could possibly matched up against (2x Drown in Sorrow, 2x Dig Through Time, 1x Dissolve, 1x Dragonlord's Prerogative, 1x Hero's Downfall. If he had 3 lands it would have been an extremely hard match-up. I did tons of early damage, and forced him to play Drown in Sorrow by the time he had the lands. Played a few more threats and then forced him to tap out on his turn to counter my Secure the Wastes (I had Zurgo Helmsmasher in my hand). GG. Knew exactly how to play it thanks to Thoughtseize...this deck was really missing that.

Round 3: Abzan Aggro

• Game 1: Took it down very fast. Essentially nut hand, finishing turn 4-5 with arashing foremost.
• Game 2: He sideboarded in massive removal. I tried to sideboard appropriately but apparently failed at it. Two Courser of Kruphix an anafaenza the foremost and a Siege Rhino took it down. I took him down to about 10 life before he came back up to 18. Game 3: I did not get to keep a single creature, and once again courser really stopped me. Siege Rhino won again. Had sizeboarded in End Hostilities but kept drawing lands. Took him down to about 12 life.

Round 4: Aban Control

• Game 1: No board state against more Courser of Kruphix and Siege Rhino. Not enough removal.
• Game 2: Elseph did massive generation, then gave them all flying and +2/+2.

Lesson's Learned

Scry lands would really help with those mana-clumps. The tri-lands really help with the mana issues...
The deck needs more removal to compete with some more intense / bigger creatures that get in the way.
We should punish decks that remove our board state. The only time I beat abzan was when I resolved an athreos early on.
Obelisk of Urd is a very nice card, but the game shouldn't last that long, and normally wont. Even if it does, it's generally a bad thing and it means that we don't have board-state, so it won't help.

Mainboard

Removed:

• 1x Nomad Outpost
• 1x Obelisk of Urd

Added:

• 1x Temple of Silence
• 1x Athreos, God of Passage

Sideboard

Removed:

• 1x End Hostilities
• 2x Valorous Stance
• 1x Chief of the Scale

Added:

• 1x Athreos, God of Passage
• 2x Hero's Downfall
• 1x Crackling Doom

So, will test this DL in untap.in and see how it performs. Will post back with updates, but right now I am making it my mission to defeat abzan consistently with this deck.