Type: Deck Idea
Format (legal 👍) modModern
Approx. Value:
$90.59
Buy

0 Likes 9 Comments
Avg. CMC 3.73
Card Color Breakdown
Card Type Breakdown

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Main Deck - 60 cards, 20 distinct
Columns
Name  Edition $ Type Cost
Rarity Color
Creature (16)
4 Courser of Kruphix
$1.07 Enchantment Creature - Centaur
4 Nyx-Fleece Ram
$0.25 Enchantment Creature - Sheep
4 Siege Rhino
$0.16 Creature - Rhino
4 Sylvan Caryatid
$3.73 Creature - Plant
Instant (4)
4 Abzan Charm
$0.22 Instant
Artifact (1)
1 Bow of Nylea
$2.51 Legendary Enchantment Artifact
Enchantment (8)
4 Lightform
$0.09 Enchantment
4 Stab Wound
N/A Enchantment - Aura
Planeswalker (5)
1 Ajani, Mentor of Heroes
$4.47 Legendary Planeswalker - Ajani
2 Elspeth, Sun's Champion
$1.66 Legendary Planeswalker - Elspeth
2 Garruk, Apex Predator
$1.75 Legendary Planeswalker - Garruk
Land (26)
4 Blossoming Sands
$0.08 Land
1 Caves of Koilos
$1.03 Land
2 Evolving Wilds
$0.07 Land
4 Forest
$0.08 Basic Land - Forest
2 Plains
$0.06 Basic Land - Plains
4 Radiant Fountain
$0.16 Land
4 Sandsteppe Citadel
$1.16 Land
2 Swamp
$1.96 Basic Land - Swamp
3 Windswept Heath
$7.15 Land
Sideboard - 15 cards, 7 distinct
Name  Edition $ Type Cost
Rarity Color
Creature (3)
1 Anafenza, the Foremost
$0.41 Legendary Creature - Human Soldier
1 Erebos, God of the Dead
$17.11 Legendary Enchantment Creature - God
1 Fleecemane Lion
$0.32 Creature - Cat
Instant (4)
4 Valorous Stance
$0.06 Instant
Sorcery (5)
3 Dawn to Dusk
$0.11 Sorcery
2 Drown in Sorrow
$0.21 Sorcery
Enchantment (3)
3 Palace Siege
$1.10 Enchantment

Comments
  • Quincy Norton | 17-Feb-2015 00:55
    IMHO, this looks rather weak. Excluding walkers, you only have 4 Siege Rhinos as your reliable offenseive threats. Also, both of your removal options are situational. Lightform's a super sweet card, but we dont have a reliable way of rigging it to hit something other than land, which is also likely to happen, as this deck runs 26. I just see the deck being easily overrun. Maybe I'm missing something.
    • Pierce | Edited 17-Feb-2015 17:50
      The Siege Rhinos are only meant to be offensive if the board is clear enough, which I don't expect. The idea is that I gain enough life to slowly grind them to death with Stab Wound and/or Lightform. A 2/2 flying lifelink will still be good enough, and it's what I expect it to be most of the time, but I have 4 Abzan Charms, 1 Bow, and 1 Ajani to buff it up along the way if needed.
      The deck ideally runs with a Courser of Kruphix. He's the real star of the deck. I'll gain 1, 2, or 3 life for every land (15, 7, and 4 respectively) per Courser, and I'd be able to see what I cast as my Manifest.
      Stab Wound turns an opponent's Siege Rhino into a weenie that even Caryatid can block. Nyx-Fleece Ram and Courser can block almost anything not flying anyway. For the cards that would be problems, I have 8-11 removal spells for them, while I'm hopefully steadily gaining life (or losing it slowly enough) along the way.
      That's how I envision it, at least. I know this deck would stop Blood with a mix of Fire that I just won with.
      Weaknesses I see would be opponents' Whip, as they might gain life too fast for me to keep them down, and Abzan-keep-multiplying-counters. I could say unblockable too, but I haven't seen that. I don't see Stormbreath as a major problem.


      Overall, I'm just hoping the deck grinds my life total up, as 46/60 cards can potentially provide life.
      What do you think about the planeswalkers? I could put in a 3rd Elspeth. Should I also put in a 2nd Garruk? What would I take out? I'm rather fond of all the other cards!!
      Wingmate Roc maybe? If so: 3rd Elspeth or 2nd Garruk?
      • Quincy Norton | Edited 18-Feb-2015 01:48
        You should absolutely add another Elspeth before adding in another Garruk. I was thinking this deck could use a Wrath effect, but Elspeth seems to do the job quite nicely. People quite often forget her -3, its a little sad. The only creature of yours it kills is seige rhino, but you can hide Siege Rhinos with Lightform, and flip them after activating the ability. All-in-all, this looks like a competent Abzan control deck.
        • Quincy Norton | 18-Feb-2015 01:48
          The thing that will absolutely make or break this deck will be the sideboard. Drown in Sorrow is a great hedge against most things that will give this deck difficulty;I'd reccomend 4. Valorous Stance actually doesn't look that great. Elspeth will sweep almost everything that this card will only hit on spot removal, making its most useful mode going to be the Indestructible option, which is, (Most of the time) only going to stop a Crux of Fate. If this is truly the case, I'd advocate adding in more copies of Erebos and Palace Siege, as they do a great job of pressuring UB control decks with mininal resource investment. Erebos actually denies resources that control decks commonly run. The most popular build of UB control features Silumgar as the premier creature finisher (fun fact: Merciless Executioner is the only card that can kill him without taking the rest of the board with it.)  
          • Pierce | 18-Feb-2015 05:24
            Hm. In my experience Elspeth is first a foremost a semi-boardwipe that also requires an answer or it wins the game with tokens.
            Anyway, Drown in Sorrow is awesome, although the double black is pushing a little on my present mana base. I still feel I'm fairly well positioned mainboard against those aggro decks, though. Maybe I'm not, only by playing will find out for sure!
            Valorous Stance is an easy 1-for-1 sub with Stab Wound vs control matchups (for indestructibility) and vs the Abzan-get-big-counters deck as another removal spell that I mentioned.
            Question: You said "Erebos denies resources that control decks commonly run."
            .....life?
            Did you mean Anafenza?
            I aggree Palace Siege is a perfect card vs control, with either of its options being a possible game winner.


            One way I've thought about taking this is using Dawnbringer Charioteers instead of Lightform.
            Pros of Dawnbringer Charioteers:
            - 4 toughness puts it out of range of most burn spells and Drown In Sorrow and Bile Blight. In addition to not dying in combat with several other creatures, such as Wingmate Roc.

            - Heroic trigger. Turns him into a fatty with abzan charm. Also contributes to my consideration of running Valorous Stance in mainboard.
            But that first Pro is really a big one.


            Pros to Lightform
            - Obviously: 3 mana, not 4. This is a less important factor than your typical 3 vs 4 CMC matchup, since it's a double white casting cost and the playstyle of the deck doesn't prioritize casting this creature on tempo, and it doesn't need/use the ramp. Nonetheless, 3 mana is still less than 4, and in several sample hands it made a difference.
            - It can potentially be flipped to a cool creature. Although I don't feel I should count on it turning into another creature, the possibility is there.


            To complicate this even more and humor the idea of ignoring my wallet's opinion: maybe they should be Wingmate Rocs?
            They still gain life, but better yet it gives two whole flying creatures for one card, which is very useful in any matchup.
            • Quincy Norton | 18-Feb-2015 06:46
              Control decks like Radiant fountains, Jorabi Murk Lurkers, Etc. Erebos says: "No."
            • Quincy Norton | 18-Feb-2015 06:48
              I actually like the inclusion of the Charioteers. It goes the direction the deck wants, and also works well with Valorous Stance. You can even trigger heroic with Stab Wound!!!!!!!! (pls dont do it.) Ive often thought Charioteers was slightly undercosted anyway. 
          • Pierce | 18-Feb-2015 06:39
            I just realized Death Frenzy is a surprisingly playable sideboard card for this deck, instead of Drown in Sorrow. The delayed use should net me plenty of card advantage, and I shouldn't have to worry about getting double black.
            • Quincy Norton | 18-Feb-2015 06:45
              I actually used Death Frenzy in my Sultai Deck. I only used the deck twice, but vs every Mono red opponent, 2 copies came in. Usually killed everything, and gave me unpleasant amounts of life. Your call on wheter its in or not. 
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