I started playing competitive Modern less than one year ago and Abzan Company has always been my deck of choice. After a few months and a few middling results, I began to wonder if I should make major changes to the deck, or switch decks altogether. I decided to stick with it, put in as much practice as I could, and start giving it the respect it deserves. Luckily last weekend respect was paid back to me in spades.

Before the FaceToFaceGames.com Calgary Open, writer and Abzan Company expert Brian DeMars posted a great article regarding Modern in which he included an updated Abzan Company list. The updated deck list had some major changes and came as a bit of a surprise to me. I was lucky enough to speak briefly with DeMars before the tournament, and after hearing his reasoning for the changes, settled on this:

Abzan Company – Branden Nadeau

[deck]
[Lands]
2 Forest
2 Gavony Township
1 Godless Shrine
2 Marsh Flats
2 Overgrown Tomb
1 Plains
2 Razorverge Thicket
1 Swamp
2 Temple Garden
4 Verdant Catacombs
4 Windswept Heath
[/Lands]
[Spells]
4 Chord of Calling
4 Collected Company
2 Path to Exile
[/Spells]
[Creatures]
2 Anafenza, Kin-Tree Spirit
4 Birds of Paradise
1 Courser of Kruphix
2 Eternal Witness
1 Fiend Hunter
4 Kitchen Finks
2 Melira, Sylvok Outcast
1 Murderous Redcap
3 Noble Hierarch
1 Scavenging Ooze
2 Tireless Tracker
2 Viscera Seer
2 Wall of Roots
[/Creatures]
[Sideboard]
1 Aven Mindcensor
1 Kataki, War’s Wage
1 Tireless Tracker
1 Courser of Kruphix
4 Fulminator Mage
2 Qasali Pridemage
2 Voice of Resurgence
1 Maelstrom Pulse
1 Abrupt Decay
1 Anafenza, the Foremost
[/Sideboard]
[/deck]

DeMars’ list had cut [card]Murderous Redcap[/card], had 3 [card]Wall of Roots[/card] in the main deck, and had an additional [card]Tireless Tracker[/card] in the sideboard opposed to [card]Aven Mindcensor[/card]. Other than that our lists were identical.

Speaking with DeMars and tweaking the deck was the catalyst of the shift in how I approached playing the deck. For a long time, I thought of Abzan Company as a combo deck. You play your combo pieces and cards to help find your combo pieces, then you gain infinite life and/or do infinite damage to people for the win. Playing the deck this way does it a disservice. The truth is, Abzan Company is powerful and flexible deck with multiples lines of attack. Don’t get me wrong – if the coast is clear and you can assemble the combo – go ahead, but the Plan A of this deck is actually not to combo people out. Of course there are some decks that just can’t beat infinite life, so play and sideboard accordingly, but generally speaking plan A is to grind value and card advantage while beating your opponent down.

One of the major changes DeMars made to his main deck was the inclusion of [card]Tireless Tracker[/card]. Initially I was skeptical thinking of the card as a powerful Standard-only staple but was willing to give it a try, hopeful it had earned its Modern stripes. It did not disappoint. Throughout the tournament, [card]Tireless Tracker[/card] was by far the MVP of the deck. [card]Tireless Tracker[/card] is a card advantage engine and represents a big threat on its own. It escapes Lightning Bolt/Anger of the Gods range quickly, which is a big deal against red decks. Combine Tracker with another main deck newcomer [card]Courser of Kruphix[/card], and you have quite the value engine assembled. Over the course of the tournament I had the Tracker+Courser duo on the battlefield with a fetchland on top of my library many times and it felt awesome every time.

One nice aspect about altering my Plan A approach to the deck for this tournament was forcing my opponents to deal with and play around multiple different things. For example, multiple opponents of mine sideboarded in cards like [card]Rest in Peace[/card] and [card]Grafdigger’s Cage[/card] to attack the combo aspect of the deck, and those same opponents died to a large [card]Tireless Tracker[/card] or an army of creatures + [card]Gavony Township[/card]. When opponents perceive your deck to be a one-trick pony, you can punish them with the power and versatility of the deck by winning via different avenues than the one that they’re attacking.

In the first five swiss rounds, I tackled Eldrazi & Taxes, Bant Eldrazi, Burn, Red/White Prison and Five-Color Tribal Zoo and came out 5-0. When the pairings went up for round 6, I saw who my opponent was and immediately groaned, for I knew this match was going to be very difficult. I was matched up against Chantelle Campbell, playing Red/Green Titanshift. Chantelle is a skilled planeswalker who is very proficient at Modern, and even boasts a recent World Magic Cup Qualifier top 4 finish.

I was handily crushed in Game 1, but perhaps the most important play of the Swiss rounds for me came in the last turn of Game 2. I had attacked Chantelle’s mana base in the early turns with multiple [card]Fulminator Mage[/card]s, taking out two [card]Stomping Ground[/card]s and leaving her with a basic [card]Forest[/card] as her only green source. This turned out to be very crucial.

In the deciding turn, the relevant part of the board state was this: Chantelle has five life. I have [card]Viscera Seer[/card] and Kitchen Finks in play, with [card]Noble Hierarch[/card] and [card]Anafenza, Kin-Tree Spirit[/card] in my hand. Awesome, the combo is ready to go! Alas, it’s not that easy. On her side of the board, I was facing down [card]Sakura-Tribe Elder[/card], a [card]Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle[/card] and five other Mountains. Herein lies the dilemma. If I just go for the infinite life combo, Chantelle can fetch a Mountain with [card]Sakura-Tribe Elder[/card] and kill one of my combo pieces by triggering Valakut, so I can’t just go for it. Instead, I play [card]Noble Hierarch[/card] and attack with [card]Kitchen Finks[/card]. If Chantelle doesn’t block, she runs the risk of dying to a [card]Murderous Redcap[/card] trigger after taking four damage from [card]Kitchen Finks[/card] attacking. I’m not sure if she had guessed this or not, but I had sideboarded Redcap out anyways. Regardless, it’s something my opponent has to think about and play around. Chantelle decides to block with Sakura Tribe-Elder and then fetch a basic land – a forest! She was planning on untapping, playing [card]Primeval Titan[/card], decimating my board and basically winning the game that turn.

Instead, I was able to play [card]Anafenza, Kin-Tree Spirit[/card] after combat, shoot up to about three million life, scry through my deck, and from there the Red/Green TitanShift deck just can’t win. It was an incredibly tense play that earned me a shot at game 3 in the match and a 6-0 start to the tournament. Game 3 saw me mulligan to six, but my six card hand was absurd. In my hand were three lands and all three combo pieces for infinite life. I was lucky enough to dodge removal for the first three turns and was able to combo for the win. After two intentional draws, it was time for the Top 8.

In the quarterfinals it was time to face off against Jacob Hanley, piloting [card]Living End[/card]. Luckily [card]Viscera Seer[/card] and [card]Fulminator Mage[/card] out of the sideboard are naturally great against [card]Living End[/card] and I was able to squeak out a tough match against an opponent who clearly knew his deck inside and out. In the semifinals, many lessons were learned. I played against the legendary Brian Su (BoSu), playing Bant Eldrazi. In Game 1, I was able to take advantage of Brian’s mulligan to 5 and pressure him with an early [card]Kitchen Finks[/card] followed by a [card]Collected Company[/card] and a slew of other creatures. Game 2 was a lesson in skill and experience. Looking back, Brian was able to bait me into multiple different plays and his experience shone through in a big way. On a crucial turn, using Drowner of Hope’s ability, Brian tapped my [card]Birds of Paradise[/card] during my upkeep. He definitely wanted me to tap for mana in response and crack a Clue token I had on the battlefield. His wish was granted, as I couldn’t resist the allure of getting the most of my mana. It ended up costing me greatly, as I didn’t have enough mana to play everything I wanted on that turn and it turned the tide of the game greatly. I got outplayed and outclassed in game 2. Game 3 was over before it started, as I hastily kept a bad hand and was punished for it. BoSu quickly took advantage and crushed me handily to take the win.

Congratulations to Brian Su for winning the entire tournament. Going forward I may still be too afraid to cut [card]Murderous Redcap[/card] from the deck completely. That could very well be a mistake, but time will tell. I just have a hard time resisting the allure of a potential instant kill. While often times the creature beatdown plan may be enough, there are corner-case matchups where actually doing enough combat damage before the round is up will be challenging. DeMars was definitely right about having 4 [card]Tireless Tracker[/card]s in the 75 and I will be looking to find a spot for the 4th copy in my sideboard. Overall I loved the changes and I really liked how the deck performed. I definitely did not play perfectly but I will learn from my mistakes and improve for the next tournament.

I am excited to continue championing Abzan Company for future Modern tournaments. If you’ve ever considered picking up Abzan Company for a Modern tournament, I highly recommend it. It’s a powerful, versatile deck with multiple ways to win. Due to a fresh take on the deck and a competent sideboard plan it doesn’t feel like a stretch to say any matchup is winnable. I hope to see you at the next F2F Open! I’ll definitely be playing Abzan Company. Come prepared! Thanks for reading.