Abbot of Keral Keep was a card that was pretty hyped when it first came as a few midrangy decks tried to make it work. Unfortunatly we all quickly found out that this card often costs more than 2 mana. However in the new Suicide bloo lists with Thing in the ice and Manamorphose or in Death's shadow lists, they play cards that costs 2 or less most of the time. Can he fit into those decks?
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On mtgsalvation people don't want to discuss ideas, so I give people something else to discuss: my controversial opinions.
Abbot of Keral Keep was a card that was pretty hyped when it first came as a few midrangy decks tried to make it work. Unfortunatly we all quickly found out that this card often costs more than 2 mana. However in the new Suicide bloo lists with Thing in the ice and Manamorphose or in Death's shadow lists, they play cards that costs 2 or less most of the time. Can he fit into those decks?
I think it needs some library manipulation to set it up. I've tried to build with it a few times in order to have some red card advantage, and every time I play it I find it too inconsistent. It's basically strictly worse than both Jace and Tiago, though it can still probably work in Grixis eventually.
It's just a really awkward card to actually play with. Either you contort your deck to be full of 1 mana cards that you can always hit and then be disappointed by the Abbot's bleh stats, or you use it as a weird value beater that sometimes replaces itself. Definitely a strong effect and alright body but I haven't figured out where it fits in best yet.
the most successful deck I have ever played him in was a homebrew RW Humans aggro deck, which sported copious amounts of one drops such as Champion of the Parish, Monastery Swiftspear, Kytheon, That 1 drop white guy that investigates, Bolt, Path. And then my curve tops out at 2, with boros charm, helix, thalia's lieutenant, abbot.
In such a build he was almost always a cantrip, and most of my spells are unconditional and cheap, meaning i can use most of the spells i flip with him. He is certainly not a turn 2 play, and always turn 3 or later. He technically is the highest CMC in the deck despite being 2 on paper, with a real CMC of 3-4 depending on what he flips up. being a conditional play meant he wasn't a playset. I never really decided if he was a 2 of 3 of.
With regards to Kiln Thing which I also play, he definitely does not fit. He doesn't play well with Reveler, which is definitely going to be dropped for him, and the deck doesn't often exceed 3 lands in play, meaning you will often exile one of your 2 cmc threats or even reveler, which is a bummer.
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BGW Elves BGW|BW Tokens BW|WBR Sword&ShieldWBR|BUG DelverBUG|UWR Kiki UWR | UR Storm UR
My rule of thumb is that Abbot really costs X+2, where X is the highest-cost card in my deck. If a deck can't support a X+2-drop, I don't consider Abbot.
Thus, I don't think Abbot fits in the low-curved Suicide Zoo or those UR Aggro builds (I instinctively call that deck something more like Kiln Thing to reflect its contents, but I see the name "Suicide Bloo" often enough).
I've had the most success with Abbot in Jund, where I even tend to gamble with him as a 4-drop despite there being 3-cmc cards in that deck. Sadly, he only feels just as powerful as all the other cool toys I've tried in Jund (and I've tried a lot of toys with success--the newest such toy is Gonti, Lord of Luxury).
Abbot wants you to run a high number of 1 CMC spells so that you can cast him T3 and play what you flip. However, decks with a lot of 1 CMC spells want neither a grindy(ish) 3 drop with no guaranteed immediate impact, nor do such decks want more lands, which is a ~40% likelyhood with Abbot. As such, I`ve come to the conclusion that Abbot simply speaking has bad synergy with himself. I tried to make him work so badly, but all he gave me was frustration.
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When I hit my 3000 post mark, I'm gone for good.
Stay reasonable, be mindful of your expectations and don't feed the trolls.
Doomsdayin'
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Decks I'm playing in Modern right now:
URB Grixis Reveler (http://www.mtgvault.com/supast4r7/decks/modern-grixis-reveler/)
UB Faeries (http://www.mtgvault.com/supast4r7/decks/ub-fae-2/)
UW Azorious Control (http://www.mtgvault.com/supast4r7/decks/modern-ojutai-control-2/)
I think it needs some library manipulation to set it up. I've tried to build with it a few times in order to have some red card advantage, and every time I play it I find it too inconsistent. It's basically strictly worse than both Jace and Tiago, though it can still probably work in Grixis eventually.
In such a build he was almost always a cantrip, and most of my spells are unconditional and cheap, meaning i can use most of the spells i flip with him. He is certainly not a turn 2 play, and always turn 3 or later. He technically is the highest CMC in the deck despite being 2 on paper, with a real CMC of 3-4 depending on what he flips up. being a conditional play meant he wasn't a playset. I never really decided if he was a 2 of 3 of.
With regards to Kiln Thing which I also play, he definitely does not fit. He doesn't play well with Reveler, which is definitely going to be dropped for him, and the deck doesn't often exceed 3 lands in play, meaning you will often exile one of your 2 cmc threats or even reveler, which is a bummer.
BGW Elves BGW|BW Tokens BW|WBR Sword&ShieldWBR|BUG DelverBUG|UWR Kiki UWR | UR Storm UR
Thus, I don't think Abbot fits in the low-curved Suicide Zoo or those UR Aggro builds (I instinctively call that deck something more like Kiln Thing to reflect its contents, but I see the name "Suicide Bloo" often enough).
I've had the most success with Abbot in Jund, where I even tend to gamble with him as a 4-drop despite there being 3-cmc cards in that deck. Sadly, he only feels just as powerful as all the other cool toys I've tried in Jund (and I've tried a lot of toys with success--the newest such toy is Gonti, Lord of Luxury).
Stay reasonable, be mindful of your expectations and don't feed the trolls.
Doomsdayin'