Last week, we were discussing the power of spreading a mana base to accommodate a higher overall power level in your card options. After an unsuccessful week dealing with the inevitable pitfall of a greedy mana base, I decided that perhaps I should just stop looking for the cutest things to do in the format, and simply focus on the best things to be doing. As far as I could tell, the most powerful cards in the format basically all were present in the Abzan Midrange deck, with [card]Jeskai Ascendancy[/card] and [card]Whip of Erebos[/card] being the only exceptions. The hits are all there; [card]Thoughtseize[/card], [card]Elspeth, Sun’s Champion[/card], [card]Hero’s Downfall[/card], [card]Courser of Kruphix[/card], [card]Sylvan Caryatid[/card], and of course, [card]Siege Rhino[/card]. After playing with Rhino in earnest in the 4 Color Midrange list, I have finally come around; [card]Siege Rhino[/card] is the real deal. Having cast my fair share of [card]Lightning Helix[/card] in my day, Why wouldn’t I want one with a ⅘ trampler attached? I first decided to try out the Abzan Aggro deck played to a 9th and 10th finish in the first two day SCG Standard event by Andrew Tenjum and Thea Steele. It came up in a Daily Deck Digest from Gerry Thompson, and he had nothing but great things to say about it. I played this deck right after the Pro Tour with Mike Sigrist himself, and although we did ok in that daily, even Mike stated that the deck was not optimally built. Most specifically, he felt that the mana base was atrocious given the requirements for the cards to be played on curve. Having played the deck myself, I can completely agree with that. Although Brian Braun-Duin chose the deck for the standard portion of the SCG Player’s Championship, he also made mention of the terrible mana base during his deck tech. For reference:

[deck title=Abzan Aggro – Brian Braun-Duin]
[Lands]
3 Caves of Koilos
1 Forest
3 Llanowar Wastes
2 Plains
4 Sandsteppe Citadel
3 Temple of Malady
3 Temple of Silence
2 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
4 Windswept Heath
[/Lands]
[Spells]
3 Abzan Charm
4 Bile Blight
3 Hero’s Downfall
1 Murderous Cut
4 Thoughtseize
[/Spells]
[Creatures]
4 Anafenza, the Foremost
4 Fleecemane Lion
4 Rakshasa Deathdealer
4 Siege Rhino
4 Wingmate Roc
[/Creatures]
[Sideboard]
1 Murderous Cut
2 Sorin, Solemn Visitor
2 Nissa, Worldwaker
4 Drown in Sorrow
3 Glare of Heresy
3 Back to Nature
[/Sideboard]
[/deck]

Another thing that made me crazy about playing this list, is that I really felt like I was missing ways to control my draws. One of the major draws to the midrange version of the deck is that by comparison, the mana is excellent. This is easily attributed to the presence of both [card]Sylvan Caryatid[/card] and [card]Courser of Kruphix[/card]. Caryatid not only helps to fix the mana, but the acceleration actually helps to let you play your threats on curve, and still control your draws with Temples, or to offset the tempo loss from other lands that may enter the battlefield tapped. Courser serving as a roadblock which can also help gain life is great, but the ability to clear lands from the top of your deck should not be understated. Granted, these cards end up slowing down your deck significantly when compared to the Aggro version, but maybe that is just fine, especially if you simply embrace the more controlling side of the deck’s potential. Just ask Shawn McLaren what he thinks:

[deck title=Abzan “Midrange” by Shawn McLaren]
[Lands]
1 Caves of Koilos
3 Forest
3 Llanowar Wastes
2 Plains
3 Sandsteppe Citadel
4 Temple of Malady
4 Temple of Silence
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
4 Windswept Heath
[/Lands]
[Spells]
4 Abzan Charm
1 Drown in Sorrow
1 Duneblast
3 Elspeth, Sun’s Champion
4 Hero’s Downfall
2 Nissa, Worldwaker
2 Read the Bones
4 Thoughtseize
2 Utter End
[/Spells]
[Creatures]
4 Courser of Kruphix
4 Siege Rhino
4 Sylvan Caryatid
[/Creatures]
[Sideboard]
2 End Hostilities
1 Utter End
1 Murderous Cut
1 Duneblast
2 Nissa, Worldwaker
3 Drown in Sorrow
2 Bile Blight
2 Read the Bones
1 Unravel the Æther
[/Sideboard]
[/deck]

Now THIS is what I’m talking about.

I’ve always been less than impressed with [card]Sorin, Solemn Visitor[/card] in the Abzan decks, as making a token for 4 mana is very inefficient, and too often the power pump and lifelink is simply useless given the potential for a variety of board states. There is no arguing the power of the ultimate that Sorin has, but it actually fires off so infrequently that it’s almost a non issue. Shawn has chosen to drop him completely, and openly embrace his control player roots. The Midrange nomenclature of this list is misleading. Make no mistake, this is a control deck, and should be played as such. The removal is so robust, and can be used to effectively control the board through one for one exchanges, while your card advantage engines of [card]Courser of Kruphix[/card] combined with [card]Read the Bones[/card] and [card]Abzan Charm[/card] can easily guide you to your game winning threats like [card]Elspeth, Sun’s Champion[/card] or [card]Nissa, Worldwaker[/card], ready to deploy once you have used your removal and [card]Thoughtseize[/card] to clear a path to victory. It is also entirely possible that you just draw Rhinos in bunches, and close the game in short order. Post board, you really get to embrace the control aspect of the deck, and tune your answers to handle your opponent’s deck precisely. I have had a lot of success with this deck lately, and will continue to play with it during my stream this week.

There is one last flavor of Abzan which is quite popular, and it is widely regarded as the most powerful version of all; Abzan Whip. Notable pros Gerry Thompson and AJ Sacher have recently picked up the deck as their weapon of choice, and they have not been happier. The deck first debuted during the GP in Santiago, when it took down the field there in November. Gerry and Glenn Jones have really made it a tight weapon, looking to leverage the power of the [card]Whip of Erebos[/card] strategies, with the traditional back up plan of [card]Siege Rhino[/card]. Here is Gerry’s most recent list:

[deck title=Abzan Reanimator – Gerry Thompson]
[Lands]
1 Caves of Koilos
4 Forest
4 Llanowar Wastes
1 Plains
4 Sandsteppe Citadel
3 Temple of Malady
1 Temple of Silence
2 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
4 Windswept Heath
[/Lands]
[Spells]
3 Hero’s Downfall
2 Murderous Cut
2 Thoughtseize
1 Utter End
3 Whip of Erebos
[/Spells]
[Creatures]
4 Courser of Kruphix
3 Doomwake Giant
2 Eidolon of Blossoms
2 Hornet Queen
2 Reclamation Sage
4 Satyr Wayfinder
4 Siege Rhino
4 Sylvan Caryatid
[/Creatures]
[Sideboard]
2 Ajani, Mentor of Heroes
1 Pharika, God of Affliction
2 Eidolon of Blossoms
3 Drown in Sorrow
2 Bile Blight
1 Temple of Silence
2 Glare of Heresy
1 Thoughtseize
1 Reclamation Sage
[/Sideboard]
[/deck]

Here you have the perfect blend of the GB Constellation deck and the Abzan Midrange deck. [card]Doomwake Giant[/card] does a great job of handling the Jeskai Tokens deck, which has skyrocketed in popularity, and [card]Eidolon of Blossoms[/card] can really help to drive the card advantage forward. I’m sure that Pharika is the new best card in a strategy like this, and I’m shocked at the lack of a main deck [card]Soul of Innistrad[/card]. Aside from that, I fail to see a single thing out of place here. If this is more your speed, then you could do much worse than sleeving up a 75 that Gerry himself played at a 10k tournament. This is the next deck on my radar for playtesting for sure, and if my playtest partners are to be believed, I should stop wasting time on anything else; high praise indeed.

I think that the format basically starts with some flavor of Abzan. The deck has a number of different versions, all of which have a very high level of average card power, and all of them ubiquitously share playsets of the eternally powerful [card]Siege Rhino[/card]. How will the format end for you? Well, I guess that’s up to you.