like Pe7er89 I participated in the MKM Series Event with roughly 620+ players. As my deck for the event I chose a more or less stock Abzan deck list with PtE, Souls, Flayer as well as Bobs. I will provide the exact 75 in the end of this tournament report. Please note that I did not make any sofisticated notes during the event so the remarks are sloely based on my memories and might be prone to some gaps.
<snip>
Hope you enjoy this small report and insights
Congrats on the good finish. I've been lurking at the Jund and Abzan threads for a few weeks now.. since I'm building a bgx deck. Particularly looking at the number of lands and how many manlands each build uses. Seeing how your deck performed is helpful to me.. since I also prefer the 23 land build. Thanks for sharing your experience.
Delver I really like your list, I'm going to sleeve it up and try to make it to FNM in time so I can actually get some reps in paper.
I feel like Path is a necessary evil. It's not something we want to lean on, but it's something we should have access to in some capacity for fatties and the like.
Been jamming games with and without paths. Based on a few leagues i can definitely say i prefer having them. I also dont mind the ramp in combination with land destruction as it can assist with them getting to 4 lands so you can blow one up. I wanted to put this list forward by Butakov who is a well known MTGO grinder and great player. He has essentially ran the same 75 twice at high level MTGO events (MOCS).
My thoughts are that Siege rhinos should be kalitas but both depend on the meta. I also prefer 4 LOTV main. I like the other lili in the side instead of gideon. Getting WW is not so easy! I am not sure about stirring wildwood. I have been running tec edge in this spot and it gives so much more. Having too many tap lands is rough. From running lists minus paths and using dismembers the life loss does add up and it puts you in tough spots against aggro.
My personal reason for trying lists minus paths is for the team modern later on this year. For that event I have been trying the list below without bobs. I will try with bobs as well.
I will try your list on my next FNM FlyingDelver. I think i will just replace 1 nihil spellbomb with a 3rd flayer or ooze mainboard.
Also what, do you think is the position of Finks mainboard right now in Confidant decks? My meta seems to be infested with UWR control lately and i've been thinking about squeezing 2 finks mainboard. Is that even a good idea?
Yeah feel free to, I will also play this list today.
I think Finks are not necessary to have against Control Decks. They are decent, but they can also just be pathed here. I prefer relying on Fulminator, CB, Souls and Liliana. Usually we have a good matchup against Control due to Souls. The meta where I would jam Finks maindeck would have to be heavily Burn infested, or be heavy midrangy, where sticky threats like this are good to manage the board better.
Delver I really like your list, I'm going to sleeve it up and try to make it to FNM in time so I can actually get some reps in paper.
I feel like Path is a necessary evil. It's not something we want to lean on, but it's something we should have access to in some capacity for fatties and the like.
Yeah, I feel so too. We kinda want path and kinda don't want it. Therefore I will try the list with only 1 Path in it and see if I really loose games because of it or if I need more.
Yeah, but I guess cutting 2 is too much. I think cutting one is fine though. We still want to be able to Push a Death Shadow.
I actually still not that sure how to sideboard in that matchup. For me it is clear to cut some or all IOK, but I am not sure what to do with the thoughtseizes. I could cut all of them, or leave them in and cut 1 Push and the Decays instead. Not sure which one is the best. I kinda am leaning towards leaving TS in.
I tried running a BG Rock list with splash for Souls, its kinda hard to fulfill all requirements. Like in your list you definitely are too light on white. You only got 10 white sources. But you need 13 white sources to consistantly cast Souls on 3. For Stony Silence on 2, you would need 14 sources. I would at least play 1-2 white sources more. I personally would run Liliana, the Last Hope main. Also, due to the diversity of the format, I think 2 Kalitas is too much.
Your manabase is easier to run than mine, since I tried to play Field of Ruin instead of Tectonic Edge. I think with the absence of Path, Ruins is definitely better, as it interacts earlier and you don't loose a land when you activate it. I think that Go for the Throat should absolutely be a Murderous Cut, since you don't run Bobs anyway.
I think -3 IOK is fine. The Facebook community on Abzan also agreed on -3 IOK being taken out. They were against push being cut, especially Patrick Tilsen (if you guys remember him from getting 2nd at an Open last year).
I haven't been crazy about Reid's list---it feels like a worse jund, guys. 3x Lingering souls doesn't all of a sudden make it better than Jund.
I think Butakov is on a closer track to a right list than Reids. I don't like ramping people up, but it's necessary. Did you guys see Reid's new Traverse video? He was playing an Abzan player on his build, and Bob revealed Murderous Cut. I'm not sure his opponent would have lost otherwise.
I think -3 IOK is fine. The Facebook community on Abzan also agreed on -3 IOK being taken out. They were against push being cut, especially Patrick Tilsen (if you guys remember him from getting 2nd at an Open last year).
I haven't been crazy about Reid's list---it feels like a worse jund, guys. 3x Lingering souls doesn't all of a sudden make it better than Jund.
I think Butakov is on a closer track to a right list than Reids. I don't like ramping people up, but it's necessary. Did you guys see Reid's new Traverse video? He was playing an Abzan player on his build, and Bob revealed Murderous Cut. I'm not sure his opponent would have lost otherwise.
I think Reids approach is better personally. However, things like Murderous Cut is not what I would run. I would make the changes I made with my deck.
I think that Rhino is wrong to have right now. Thats what I don't like about Butakov's list. I also think 3 Path is too much. And I think 4 LoTV is my preferred number.
Treetop Village is a huge argument for Reids approach in my opinion. That and the fact that the manabase is less painful.
I've been liking my 22 land gavony approach so far. It feels like jund but without the clunkiness of older junk builds.
I forgot butakovs list had 3 lotv, which can't be right. Lotv is so good. I've even started to keep her in more on the play against creature heavy decks. I'll play with Reid's list more
I played 2 games with Reid's list yesterday; I played a mirror match and got completely outdrawn. My opponent kept seeing lotv and I didn't see 1x lingering souls.
My next opponent was an idiot e tron player who won off the back of his deck. When I saw him discarding a gut shot and playing chalice for 1 against me in game 3 i knew my loss was going to be from the deck itself
I thought it was hilarious when Reid's opponent revealed that Murderous Cut. It was cool to see two of his lists square off against each other though, and in general I was really impressed with how well he did with Traverse Shadow without Stubborn Denials. I think he made one misplay that cost him a match and would have otherwise gone 5-0, and in general he seemed much more confident with TDS than GDS. It's a good argument for not needing to go all the way to 5 colors.
I think Reid's list gives up points in the mirror to be better against the field, so I'm not surprised that you were just getting outdrawn Spsiegel. Maybe there's room for the 4th Lingering Souls of Reid's list somewhere in the 75?
I don't write much in the forums but I peruse quite regularly. Saw the Rock deck from MKM last weekend (http://mtgtop8.com/event?e=18087&f=MO) and wanted to try it out as I've always been a huge Jund fanboy. Went 5-1 (6-0) at my local Wednesday win-a-box. Deck felt great and would definitely run it back again.
rd1 - eldrazi tron (L) -- guy scooped to me even though he beat me because he could only stay 2 rounds // game1, on a mull to 5 he had turn 2 thought knot and turn 3 smasher; game2, I kept a 2-lander with bob and drew no lands and only 3 drops the rest of the game
rd2 - UW control (W) - decay is good against d.sphere when it's not as good against most jeskai; also, -1/-1 effects are good since he tries to win with secure the wastes
rd3 - jeskai (W)
rd4 - infect (W)
rd5 - jeskai (W) -- we have to play even though I'm 4-0 because of some awkward unintentional draws in earlier rounds
---
top4 - jeskai (W)
top2 - infect -- same guy as earlier; he scoops to me since he knows I'm favored, but I agree to split prizes with him as it's super late
A few thoughts on this version:
a. Jund was always 45/55 vs jeskai in my mind but I went 4-0 against it tonight, so I feel this version is stronger in that matchup. I had 8 main deck discard (almost always had one turn 1), 5 Liliana (4/1), and 4 maindeck LD to slow down their manlands. I was testing both GQ and Field as a 2/2 split and I drew both quite often. I ended up liking Field a lot more and will probably play 4 Field moving forward.
b. I changed a few cards from the MKM list to my liking:
main: -1 Scooze, +1 Eternal Witness; -1 Blooming Marsh, +1 Twilight Mire
side: -1 Nihil, +1 Grafdigger's; -1 Fulminator, +1 Phyrexian Arena (it's always been a pet card of mine); -1 Liliana, tLH, +1 Golgari Charm (tokens, blood moon, white leyline, etc)
Why? I think BG Rock has a better Burn matchup than Abzan or Jund, because it takes less dmg from its manabase. And the best cards against burn (CB, Finks, IOK) can be run here.
I did quite poorly with my Abzan list today, only went 2-2-1 which basically should have been a 4-1. Didnt feel that great today, I think I wasnt in the best shape.
However, I liked the list generally. I like Reids approach and I like the full comittment to 4 Souls main, which really help vs. Control and Midrange decks. Unfortunately there was way too much tron at my LGS today, I got paired against 2 U Tron decks Round 1 and 2. I won the first match 2-0 though, which is nice, since my opponent just played absolutely badly.
I will give the Rock list also a try, I think I havent tested it enough right now.
@Spsiegel Its just 2 TS more than in the current best Abzan and Jund builds....
Clunky? You got 12 CMC 1 spells to cast on turn 1 (Abzan has about 11-12) you got your 14 CMC 2 drops (Abzan has also about 13-14) and you got your 9 CMC 3 drops (Abzan has 9-11). Concerning Spells, its defintiely not more clunky than regular Abzan.
The manabase is the one thing I agree with you. Its not the best, but I think it can be made work. Even with Treetop Villages in it.
Due to the Field of Ruins, I think you need to play the deck more different than regular versions of GBx. You want to interact asap with the opponent, and you got every axis possible here (Hand, permanents, lands as well as life total). If you get to balance those well, you can disrupt the opponent quite heavily which allows your Treetops and Goyfs to ride to victory.
And you have enough enables for Push, you forgot Field of Ruin. You should give it a couple of tries before rating it that bad, I think its better than Jund for sure.
It won a MKM series tournament, its definitely not a Tier 3 deck.
If you doing well with the deck and still arent happy with it I am not sure what to tell you. Sry but then its on you, but not on the deck. Maybe its just not your playstyle then.
Now, my personal concerns with the deck is the control Matchup and the grindy matchups. I am not sure how it performs here. But I think it has potential to try it out.
Ok. Skred won a GP last year, is that not tier 3? Come on, man.
And when I said clunky, I didn't mean it's cmc cost cards, I meant that you'll have so many awkward opens where you have to decide
1.) Do I discard turn 1 and play this tapped land and do nothing next turn
2.) Do I do nothing turn 1 and do something turn 2?
3.) Oh, I have this great hand with a bunch of colorless land
It is clunky, man, and it's mana base reminded me of Eldrazi and Taxes.
Field of ruin can enable push, but that also means something I don't cast something I want or need because now I need to activate this push and color fix
It sounds absurd to say, "it won a MKM, it can't be tier 3". Rock has very skinny results in all of moderns history. The only consistent player is Sol Malka, who champions the deck.
Point 1 and 2 are things which also occur in Abzan builds. The only thing which I agree on is the colourless lands, but I really think you are overexaggarating the other aspects. You should look at Abzan as well, the things aren't that different actually.
Like lets look at point 1: Do you discard or play the tapped land. Well this Rock list runs 4 manlands, wheras Abzan build run about 3-4 (reid dukes approach runs 4). So the max difference is 1 tapped land more on turn 1. If you wish, you could just run 3 manlands in Rock lists. That really doesn't seem like a problem which only Rock has to deal with. Its in straight Abzan as well.
Point 2: That basically has to do with the same problem mentioned in Point 1. Its due to the tapped lands on turn 1. Same issue, both Abzan an Rock have the same problem here, its not that Rock has a bigger problem with it. And we should know, from playing Jund for example, that turn 1 discard is most of the time the right move, even if we only have a tapped land on turn 2. I think Rock can even better function with this problem, since it runs 8 discard. You can turn 1 discard into turn 2 discard again and play the tapped land. And besides this, both decks can turn 1 discard into turn 2 push and tapped land.
On point 3: this is the only thing which is a real disadvantage Rock has imho (concerning the manabase). I don't know how big of a problem this is. And thats why I am curious to try the list and test it.
All in all I still think its not clunky, but if you feel that way, its ok.
I think you can't compare this deck to Skred. Rock has marginal results historically seen, that is true. However, in the last few tournaments Field of Ruin was everywhere. Just look ath GP Santa Clara for example. It gives me a good reason to try the card in a GBx shell. Also, Rock is decently represented in the online metagame right now, according to Goldfish, it right now 2,26 % vs. Abzan which only has 2,09%. I don't know if Skred was comparably present when it won a GP, but its after all a single version deck. I am arguing in a "Abzan vs. Rock" manner here. And there has to be a reason Rock is doing as good as Abzan. And that reason seems to be Field of Ruin to me.
Congrats on the good finish. I've been lurking at the Jund and Abzan threads for a few weeks now.. since I'm building a bgx deck. Particularly looking at the number of lands and how many manlands each build uses. Seeing how your deck performed is helpful to me.. since I also prefer the 23 land build. Thanks for sharing your experience.
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I feel like Path is a necessary evil. It's not something we want to lean on, but it's something we should have access to in some capacity for fatties and the like.
BG/x BG
Been jamming games with and without paths. Based on a few leagues i can definitely say i prefer having them. I also dont mind the ramp in combination with land destruction as it can assist with them getting to 4 lands so you can blow one up. I wanted to put this list forward by Butakov who is a well known MTGO grinder and great player. He has essentially ran the same 75 twice at high level MTGO events (MOCS).
3 Blooming Marsh
1 Collective Brutality
3 Fatal Push
1 Forest
1 Godless Shrine
3 Grim Flayer
3 Inquisition of Kozilek
3 Liliana of the Veil
1 Liliana, the Last Hope
4 Lingering Souls
1 Maelstrom Pulse
3 Marsh Flats
2 Overgrown Tomb
3 Path to Exile
1 Plains
2 Scavenging Ooze
2 Shambling Vent
2 Siege Rhino
1 Stirring Wildwood
2 Swamp
4 Tarmogoyf
1 Temple Garden
3 Thoughtseize
2 Tireless Tracker
4 Verdant Catacombs
2 Windswept Heath
1 Damnation
1 Flaying Tendrils
3 Fulminator Mage
2 Gideon, Ally of Zendikar
2 Nihil Spellbomb
3 Stony Silence
2 Surgical Extraction
My thoughts are that Siege rhinos should be kalitas but both depend on the meta. I also prefer 4 LOTV main. I like the other lili in the side instead of gideon. Getting WW is not so easy! I am not sure about stirring wildwood. I have been running tec edge in this spot and it gives so much more. Having too many tap lands is rough. From running lists minus paths and using dismembers the life loss does add up and it puts you in tough spots against aggro.
My personal reason for trying lists minus paths is for the team modern later on this year. For that event I have been trying the list below without bobs. I will try with bobs as well.
3 Blooming Marsh
2 Dismember
3 Fatal Push
1 Forest
1 Go for the Throat
1 Godless Shrine
3 Grim Flayer
2 Hissing Quagmire
3 Inquisition of Kozilek
2 Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet
4 Liliana of the Veil
4 Lingering Souls
2 Maelstrom Pulse
3 Marsh Flats
2 Overgrown Tomb
3 Scavenging Ooze
2 Swamp
4 Tarmogoyf
4 Tectonic Edge
1 Temple Garden
3 Thoughtseize
4 Verdant Catacombs
1 Windswept Heath
2 Damnation
1 Flaying Tendrils
3 Fulminator Mage
1 Liliana, the Last Hope
2 Nihil Spellbomb
2 Stony Silence
2 Surgical Extraction
Yeah feel free to, I will also play this list today.
I think Finks are not necessary to have against Control Decks. They are decent, but they can also just be pathed here. I prefer relying on Fulminator, CB, Souls and Liliana. Usually we have a good matchup against Control due to Souls. The meta where I would jam Finks maindeck would have to be heavily Burn infested, or be heavy midrangy, where sticky threats like this are good to manage the board better.
Yeah, I feel so too. We kinda want path and kinda don't want it. Therefore I will try the list with only 1 Path in it and see if I really loose games because of it or if I need more.
You are right, 2 Pushes should not be cut, messed up there. Fixed it now.
I actually still not that sure how to sideboard in that matchup. For me it is clear to cut some or all IOK, but I am not sure what to do with the thoughtseizes. I could cut all of them, or leave them in and cut 1 Push and the Decays instead. Not sure which one is the best. I kinda am leaning towards leaving TS in.
I tried running a BG Rock list with splash for Souls, its kinda hard to fulfill all requirements. Like in your list you definitely are too light on white. You only got 10 white sources. But you need 13 white sources to consistantly cast Souls on 3. For Stony Silence on 2, you would need 14 sources. I would at least play 1-2 white sources more. I personally would run Liliana, the Last Hope main. Also, due to the diversity of the format, I think 2 Kalitas is too much.
Your manabase is easier to run than mine, since I tried to play Field of Ruin instead of Tectonic Edge. I think with the absence of Path, Ruins is definitely better, as it interacts earlier and you don't loose a land when you activate it. I think that Go for the Throat should absolutely be a Murderous Cut, since you don't run Bobs anyway.
I haven't been crazy about Reid's list---it feels like a worse jund, guys. 3x Lingering souls doesn't all of a sudden make it better than Jund.
I think Butakov is on a closer track to a right list than Reids. I don't like ramping people up, but it's necessary. Did you guys see Reid's new Traverse video? He was playing an Abzan player on his build, and Bob revealed Murderous Cut. I'm not sure his opponent would have lost otherwise.
I think Reids approach is better personally. However, things like Murderous Cut is not what I would run. I would make the changes I made with my deck.
I think that Rhino is wrong to have right now. Thats what I don't like about Butakov's list. I also think 3 Path is too much. And I think 4 LoTV is my preferred number.
Treetop Village is a huge argument for Reids approach in my opinion. That and the fact that the manabase is less painful.
You can also run 4 Souls with Reid's approach.
I forgot butakovs list had 3 lotv, which can't be right. Lotv is so good. I've even started to keep her in more on the play against creature heavy decks. I'll play with Reid's list more
I played 2 games with Reid's list yesterday; I played a mirror match and got completely outdrawn. My opponent kept seeing lotv and I didn't see 1x lingering souls.
My next opponent was an idiot e tron player who won off the back of his deck. When I saw him discarding a gut shot and playing chalice for 1 against me in game 3 i knew my loss was going to be from the deck itself
I think Reid's list gives up points in the mirror to be better against the field, so I'm not surprised that you were just getting outdrawn Spsiegel. Maybe there's room for the 4th Lingering Souls of Reid's list somewhere in the 75?
I'm very curious to see if he plays that deck in the future.
3 Scavenging Ooze
4 Tarmogoyf
4 Dark Confidant
1 Eternal Witness
2 Tireless Tracker
// 7 Instant
2 Abrupt Decay
4 Fatal Push
1 Dismember
// 10 Sorcery
4 Inquisition of Kozilek
2 Maelstrom Pulse
4 Thoughtseize
4 Liliana of the Veil
1 Liliana, the Last Hope
// 24 Land
2 Forest
4 Swamp
2 Overgrown Tomb
4 Verdant Catacombs
3 Blooming Marsh
1 Twilight Mire
4 Hissing Quagmire
2 Field of Ruin
2 Ghost Quarter
1 Grafdigger's Cage
1 Nihil Spellbomb
3 Fulminator Mage
1 Phyrexian Arena
1 Night of Souls' Betrayal
1 Golgari Charm
2 Surgical Extraction
1 Damnation
1 Flaying Tendrils
2 Collective Brutality
1 Creeping Corrosion
I don't write much in the forums but I peruse quite regularly. Saw the Rock deck from MKM last weekend (http://mtgtop8.com/event?e=18087&f=MO) and wanted to try it out as I've always been a huge Jund fanboy. Went 5-1 (6-0) at my local Wednesday win-a-box. Deck felt great and would definitely run it back again.
rd1 - eldrazi tron (L) -- guy scooped to me even though he beat me because he could only stay 2 rounds // game1, on a mull to 5 he had turn 2 thought knot and turn 3 smasher; game2, I kept a 2-lander with bob and drew no lands and only 3 drops the rest of the game
rd2 - UW control (W) - decay is good against d.sphere when it's not as good against most jeskai; also, -1/-1 effects are good since he tries to win with secure the wastes
rd3 - jeskai (W)
rd4 - infect (W)
rd5 - jeskai (W) -- we have to play even though I'm 4-0 because of some awkward unintentional draws in earlier rounds
---
top4 - jeskai (W)
top2 - infect -- same guy as earlier; he scoops to me since he knows I'm favored, but I agree to split prizes with him as it's super late
A few thoughts on this version:
a. Jund was always 45/55 vs jeskai in my mind but I went 4-0 against it tonight, so I feel this version is stronger in that matchup. I had 8 main deck discard (almost always had one turn 1), 5 Liliana (4/1), and 4 maindeck LD to slow down their manlands. I was testing both GQ and Field as a 2/2 split and I drew both quite often. I ended up liking Field a lot more and will probably play 4 Field moving forward.
b. I changed a few cards from the MKM list to my liking:
main: -1 Scooze, +1 Eternal Witness; -1 Blooming Marsh, +1 Twilight Mire
side: -1 Nihil, +1 Grafdigger's; -1 Fulminator, +1 Phyrexian Arena (it's always been a pet card of mine); -1 Liliana, tLH, +1 Golgari Charm (tokens, blood moon, white leyline, etc)
And such a bad mana base
Maybe I'll give the deck one more go around, but it just seems worse than all the stock Abzan lists out there.
Why? I think BG Rock has a better Burn matchup than Abzan or Jund, because it takes less dmg from its manabase. And the best cards against burn (CB, Finks, IOK) can be run here.
I did quite poorly with my Abzan list today, only went 2-2-1 which basically should have been a 4-1. Didnt feel that great today, I think I wasnt in the best shape.
However, I liked the list generally. I like Reids approach and I like the full comittment to 4 Souls main, which really help vs. Control and Midrange decks. Unfortunately there was way too much tron at my LGS today, I got paired against 2 U Tron decks Round 1 and 2. I won the first match 2-0 though, which is nice, since my opponent just played absolutely badly.
I will give the Rock list also a try, I think I havent tested it enough right now.
The deck mana base needs a fix
The deck also utilizes fatal push HORRIBLY. You have 4x fetchlands for it.
This is not a real deck in my eyes. It's a tier 3 deck, without a doubt.
4x Thoughtseize
4x Bobs
And possible awkward hands where you may have Goblin guide hit you multiple times due to manlands and colorless sources
I was very unhappy with the deck, even though I was doing decent with it.
Game 1 I lost badly to an elves player, and game 2 and 3 I dismantled the holy hell out of him and still wasn't happy with the deck
Clunky? You got 12 CMC 1 spells to cast on turn 1 (Abzan has about 11-12) you got your 14 CMC 2 drops (Abzan has also about 13-14) and you got your 9 CMC 3 drops (Abzan has 9-11). Concerning Spells, its defintiely not more clunky than regular Abzan.
The manabase is the one thing I agree with you. Its not the best, but I think it can be made work. Even with Treetop Villages in it.
Due to the Field of Ruins, I think you need to play the deck more different than regular versions of GBx. You want to interact asap with the opponent, and you got every axis possible here (Hand, permanents, lands as well as life total). If you get to balance those well, you can disrupt the opponent quite heavily which allows your Treetops and Goyfs to ride to victory.
And you have enough enables for Push, you forgot Field of Ruin. You should give it a couple of tries before rating it that bad, I think its better than Jund for sure.
It won a MKM series tournament, its definitely not a Tier 3 deck.
If you doing well with the deck and still arent happy with it I am not sure what to tell you. Sry but then its on you, but not on the deck. Maybe its just not your playstyle then.
Now, my personal concerns with the deck is the control Matchup and the grindy matchups. I am not sure how it performs here. But I think it has potential to try it out.
And when I said clunky, I didn't mean it's cmc cost cards, I meant that you'll have so many awkward opens where you have to decide
1.) Do I discard turn 1 and play this tapped land and do nothing next turn
2.) Do I do nothing turn 1 and do something turn 2?
3.) Oh, I have this great hand with a bunch of colorless land
It is clunky, man, and it's mana base reminded me of Eldrazi and Taxes.
Field of ruin can enable push, but that also means something I don't cast something I want or need because now I need to activate this push and color fix
It sounds absurd to say, "it won a MKM, it can't be tier 3". Rock has very skinny results in all of moderns history. The only consistent player is Sol Malka, who champions the deck.
Like lets look at point 1: Do you discard or play the tapped land. Well this Rock list runs 4 manlands, wheras Abzan build run about 3-4 (reid dukes approach runs 4). So the max difference is 1 tapped land more on turn 1. If you wish, you could just run 3 manlands in Rock lists. That really doesn't seem like a problem which only Rock has to deal with. Its in straight Abzan as well.
Point 2: That basically has to do with the same problem mentioned in Point 1. Its due to the tapped lands on turn 1. Same issue, both Abzan an Rock have the same problem here, its not that Rock has a bigger problem with it. And we should know, from playing Jund for example, that turn 1 discard is most of the time the right move, even if we only have a tapped land on turn 2. I think Rock can even better function with this problem, since it runs 8 discard. You can turn 1 discard into turn 2 discard again and play the tapped land. And besides this, both decks can turn 1 discard into turn 2 push and tapped land.
On point 3: this is the only thing which is a real disadvantage Rock has imho (concerning the manabase). I don't know how big of a problem this is. And thats why I am curious to try the list and test it.
All in all I still think its not clunky, but if you feel that way, its ok.
I think you can't compare this deck to Skred. Rock has marginal results historically seen, that is true. However, in the last few tournaments Field of Ruin was everywhere. Just look ath GP Santa Clara for example. It gives me a good reason to try the card in a GBx shell. Also, Rock is decently represented in the online metagame right now, according to Goldfish, it right now 2,26 % vs. Abzan which only has 2,09%. I don't know if Skred was comparably present when it won a GP, but its after all a single version deck. I am arguing in a "Abzan vs. Rock" manner here. And there has to be a reason Rock is doing as good as Abzan. And that reason seems to be Field of Ruin to me.