Tweety Bird of Alcatraz
Modern
SCORE: 18 | 41 COMMENTS | 5389 VIEWS | IN 6 FOLDERS
Modern FNM!!! 3-1, Top 4!!! —March 18, 2017
I had a blast playing this deck tonight! Let's get into details, shall we?
Match 1- Abzan Tokens (IKR?!?!) 0-2
So I thought this was the mirror at first and got excited, but then the dude started vomiting out tokens with Intangible Virtue on the board. I stalled the best I could, but my 1-1 removal was practically useless when he kept going Lingering Souls, flashback, Sram's Expertise. Discard worked decently and bought me some time...
Game two I sided in Lost Legacy and named Lingering Souls. That felt fantastic! I kept him at bay for a bit, landed a Siege Rhino, but it wasn't enough with Sram's Expertise top-decked into Intagibke Virtue. I didn't see a SINGLE board wipe or Maelstrom Pulse that match, which was sad. I also couldn't find or obtain some MUCH needed sideboard cards and had to make do. EE would've helped immensely in that match! So... 0-1
Match 2- Esper Mill 2-0
Game one he handed me my ass fairly decently and was able to get off double Archive Trap, cast Visions from Beyond via Snappy, and come back from my discard. I beat his face a bit with some critters first...
Game two he went to 5 and kept a double Archive Trap, Ghost Quarter plus a PtE, and something else. I ate a removal spell, he dropped GQ, and got me for 26. He didn't draw another land and I stomped him a bit.
Game three he conceded after mulling to 4 and couldn't get a decent enough hand that I would tear apart with my discard.
That was ok, but I hate seeing a guy loose to his own deck. He ran 26 lands but still got the Mana Screw! Now I'm 1-1.
Match 3- Affinity. Yay (not!). 2-1
I hate playing against Affinity regardless of what deck I'm piloting. I played a friend who carpooled to Elkhart with us who is a decent pilot. He def made some play errors which helped me win the match.
Game one I was able to pick off his critters, take out his card draw and removal, then blow up his last artifact to get rid of his only land, Glimmervoid. Sick move, but it won me that game! He couldn't come back from that and lost to beatings from Spirits, Goyf, and Bob.
Game two I wasn't so fortunate... I didn't see ANY of my SB hate and went to six, keeping a mediocre hand. I should've saved a Fatal Push and used it too early on a Signal Pest. I didn't draw another and lost to an Inmoth Nexus with Cranial Plating.
Game three was nuts. I kept a hand w/o a source that had some removal, beaters, and Stony Silence. I topdecked a Plains turn 2 and dropped it, which slowed him down immensely! I later topdecked Creeping Corrosion and proceeded to hand him his ass.
That went better than expected! 2-1
Match 4- Mono Kuldotha Aggro 2-0
This was a weird one! Dude had Mox Opal, Simian Spirit Guide, Memnite, and Goblin Whackers. He gave me a run for my money and had me at 6 life game one! I was able to stabilize the board state, sac my Bob to LoTV, and stomp him w Siege Rhino and Spirit tokens.
Game two was nuts! I kept a hand of: Kitchen Finks, Kalitas, Trator of Ghet, Siege Rhino, and four lands that I could cast everything with. I took some damage, down to 10 or so, then came back on curve! I dropped Thalia, Heretic Cathar the turn after Rhino and won shortly thereafter.
Not a bad event; I went 3-1 for my first time taking this to any sort of tourney! I'll definitely be tweaking this a bit, but will leave it as is for a short while, until this update is irrelevant. Oh, crappie thing is I didn't get anything for coming in fourth, as only top three out of eleven players got packs/store credit. But hey, I had fun and that's what this game is all about!
aeonstoremyliver says... #2
Good point about Urborg. I like it because it helps me get 
for Lili, but Twilight Mire is an adequate substitute.
Why don't you like Dryad Arbor, Scouty? Being able to fetch it in a pinch for the mirror or what have you is nice. Would you suggest Treetop Village in Arbor's place?
February 27, 2016 2:28 p.m.
aeonstoremyliver says... #3
Where to put one Kalitas main and one in the side? I think they'd be fantastic vs Aggro after Eldrazi gets neutered...
March 23, 2016 10:43 p.m.
MTGNuclear says... #4
No love for shambling vents? Either than that, the list looks great!
May 14, 2016 12:50 p.m.
aeonstoremyliver says... #5
I thought about Shambling Vent and it may make it in... What to adjust for it, though? I dig Stirring Wildwood as it's out of bolt range and can block fliers.
And thanks, btw!
May 14, 2016 2:19 p.m.
MTGNuclear says... #6
I personally dislike Vault of the Archangel, but it depends on you. The filter land could be the cut maybe
May 14, 2016 2:23 p.m.
Test Oath of Nissa in place of Anguished Unmaking and a discard spell. I love the card because it gives you somethign proactive to do on turn 1, instead of something defensive. I've found it can really help to find that T2 threat you might want to pull ahead.
Also Painful Truths might be good.
I really dislike Dark Confidant builds of abzan to be honest. Dark confidant is a control card that wants you to draw lots of cheap spells - and that isn't what this deck is about. You want to be hitting hard consistently from early in the game. Abzan is a deck about strong creatures, not about winning through card advantage like Jund, in my opinion. The slot is better used on some kind of flexible beater, rather than on a card that lets you play like a control deck. I mean, it's just my opinion, but I think playing Abzan as if it's Jund is a mistake.
Also I'm not sure why you'd play Knight of the Reliquary over something like Anafenza, the Foremost that solves matchups like Living End or Podless Pod or something like Brimaz, King of Oreskos that's stellar due to vigilance. Anafenza is amazing with Lingering Souls and stuff too.
May 14, 2016 4:25 p.m.
aeonstoremyliver says... #8
@MTGNuclear I may have to try that!
@ChiefBell All very excellent points, and coming from a seasoned Abzan player, those I'll take into account.
I find your use of Oath of Nissa interesting and may incorporate it. I'm testing Anguished Unmaking ATM to see how it fares, especially against Tron.
If I took out Bob, then Painful Truths would be an auto-include. I really, really like how Bob has worked for me in testing thus far. I'm a sucker for CA and he's one on a stick. If I find through further grinding he doesn't work, he'll be replaced.
I like KoTR for Tron to dig for Ghost Quarter, but I've been thinking about Anafenza (on maybe board), and I believe that you've convinced me. Brimaz looks to be interesting as well. That being said, do you think I should take out KoTR for a Brimax and Anafenza?
Also, how does my mana base and sideboard look?
May 14, 2016 5:01 p.m.
Well give it a test and see what happens. Running 1 to 2 3-mana creatures is a good idea but it's up to you which exactly.
I don't see much in your sideboard for burn but that's a relatively small part of the meta. Though Kalitas and Baloth are both great they're also 4 drops. I prefer to go for stuff that's a bit cheaper cmc wise. Something like Timely Reinforcements or Kitchen Finks. I like the fact that both give you lots of blocking opportunities and life for a lower cost than 4 mana. I'd play kitchen finks against a lot of decks actually.
May 14, 2016 5:24 p.m.
NerdPounder says... #10
I think you may be too likely to take a ton of damage from Bob considering how many 4 drops and 3 drops you have. I would probably either lower the curve or lower the amount of Bobs you have so you don't just kill yourself all the time. But hey I haven't playtested it that's just my impression, maybe you gain enough life from Seige Rhino, Scooze and Kalitas that it doesn't bother you. How has having both Ghost Quarter and Gavony Township worked out in a three color deck so far?
August 18, 2016 4:49 p.m.
aeonstoremyliver says... #11
@corythackston Jund will often run a similar curve with Bob. Although this isn't Jund, the CA that Bob offers is SUPER nice, and the life loss is often negated by S'Cooze, Kalitas, and Rhino. Just don't play Bob with 6 or less life...ha! Most Abzan lists don't run Bob, but I really like the CA.
I usually run no more than four colorless utility lands in a Tri-color deck. Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth works wonders and I run plenty of fetches and shocks to where, usually, I'm mana fixed.
August 19, 2016 11:12 a.m.
I would say replace either a rhino or a confidant or just a confidants with anafenza the foremost. As for the rest of the maybeboard, the only other thing I can see actually being playable is anguished unmaking.
January 30, 2017 4:41 p.m.
APPLE01DOJ says... #14
I'd drop an IoK for Fatal Push #4. Otherwise looks good.
March 16, 2017 7:53 p.m.
APPLE01DOJ says... #15
1x Back to Nature and 2x Creeping Corrosion for the SB.
March 16, 2017 7:54 p.m.
TheDuggernaught says... #16
Flaying Tendrils over Drown in Sorrow in the side? Obviously still does exile Prized Amalgam, but it can exile Gravecrawler and Bloodghast.
March 16, 2017 8:34 p.m.
aeonstoremyliver says... #17
I was going back and forth about Creeping Corrosion... it definitely blows out Affinity, Lantern, and Tezzerator. Back to Nature is something I totally forgot about, thanks!
I really dig Flaying Tendrils, and again, forgot it existed lol. Thanks gents!
Scouty says... #1
You don't want Dryad Arbor. It just doesn't do anything for this deck.
I'd also remove Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth, because it enables the Eldrazi decks roaming around.
February 27, 2016 2:21 p.m.