MTG Salvation

No you are right I left out 4 lands.

UWR is not the easiest matchup, but it is better for us than it is for most creature decks for reasons explained by ashley25746.

I bring in Torpor Orb against them. Losing Finks and Rhino triggers is a bummer, but it is better than getting wrecked by Snapcaster, Resto, and Thundermaw.
I bring in every planeswalker I have against UWR. It is currently only 2, but it may go up. I have a flex slot that may be Thrun (specifically for this matchup) or a control-killing planeswalker. And I bring in the last Finks from the SB, just because it reduces the value of their non-Path removal.

With my list, I have noticed control is a bye. I literally just disrupt the hand a bunch land a smile, then play nothing else unless I must. Plus, voice is insane and the whole deck is threats that much answer. Post board I have Thrun, lingering souls, scooze, and more sin collectors. I have yet to lose the matchup and I play against it frequently. TRON is only matchup that I have a bad matchup against, but even after 10 matches against it, I have yet to lose a game as it's all about what you thought seize and rid of (I know I played TRON for a while)

Wilted Liege with 14th and 16th at the Baltimore SCG open.

http://sales.starcitygames.com//deckdatabase/deckshow.php?&t[C1]=28&start_date=02/28/2015&end_date=03/01/2015&start=1&finish=32&city=Baltimore&state=MD

I haven't played America control, but I have played against Esper. I feel favored in the match-up main board. Could be because I play manlands or something, but in general I feel favored there.

Sideboard I bring in Thragtusk + Resto (2 of each) and Thrun (1 now, working on fitting a second in). Out comes my 2 Qasali (not many targets) and my 3 Thoughtseize. Some people would say to keep the discard in and I respect that, but the mana base doesn't always support turn 1 discard, and I don't feel like going 1 for 1 against control is that good of a plan anyway (rather than just trying to win by turn 5 or 6 or so).

How many manlands do you think the deck can run without slowing it down too much? I think one Stirring Wildwood is definitely good, but past that I don't know. More manlands will definitely help the control and maybe give another edge in the Abzan matchups.

Is anyone playing Timely Reinfocements in the sideboard? I want to get more SB cards against Burn and it's between that and Kor Firewalker for now. But I don't really know if Timely works as well in this deck. Timely is more flexible and might also get some work done against Affinity and Tokens. Firewalker seems more effective but more narrow.

I play 2 Wildwoods in the deck right now. I'd like to add 1 more Wildwood or Treetop to the deck and play 3 total. Wildwood adds major reach to the deck (5/6 with Liege helps end games so fast), but I admit 3 tap lands can be rough.

As for life gain, if you're not on my different plan (Resto + Thrag from the side) I'd go with Feed the Clan over Timely. I feel like you want to create enough board presence early that it's unlikely to get the bodies. As for Kor Firewalker, I think it's an option as well.

I'm working on getting Leylines but in the meantime I want something to fill the gap. I haven't done a whole lot of playing but I lose to burn every week. Seems weird but maybe I'm just unlucky; like 75% of the time they have the Skullcrack for my Finks (3 currently) or Rhino. My only issue with Feed the Clan is that I only have Smiter and Rhino to trigger Ferocious and I don't know if 5 life for 2 mana is worth it (I side out WLL for Burn since it just comes down too late. Thragtusk also seems a bit slow). I think there's an Abzan player at my shop playing Heroes' Reunion over it. I dunno. I'll give it a shot. SoWaP also seems great so I'll consider that as well. Thanks for the suggestions.

So a card I've been likely lately, that I was a fine of when I played Junk Midrange is Night of Souls' Betrayal. It's good against Twin, Affinity, Infect and other lingering souls decks. The problem is it slaughters our dorks and souls unless we have Liege out. But I'm just curious what you guys think about it; is it a versatile enough houser to consider?

Also, 3 Liege or 4?

Oh right, I forgot about Zealous Persecution. I'll see about slotting a few in if I think I need the effect.

Yeah, I prefer 3 Liege 4 Rhino as my finishers. I feel like 8 4 drops would just be too awkward in the main deck. I mean, drawing a second Liege is great mid-game, but starting with even 1 Liege and 1 Rhino can make some hands tough to keep.

I'm considering testing 4 Liege and 3 Rhino, but I feel like the life gain Rhino gives is really important.

Went 3-0 On an 8-man just a while ago.
1st Round: U/W White Winnie Aggro with Vial (GoST, Thalia, and Hero of Bladehold)
My creatures outclassed his and I had more removal. Went 2-0
In: 2 Zealous Persecution and 1 Abrupt Decay
Out: 1 Qasali Pridemage and 2 Voice of Resurgence

1-0



2nd Round: U/R Delver with MB Blood Moon
Voice of Resurgence really shines in this matchup. Went 2-1
Lost 1 game due to him using 2 Sower of Temptation on my Smiters and Threads of Disloyalty on my Qasali Pridemage. Didn't draw enough removals.
In: 2 Zealous Persecution and 1 Abrupt Decay
Out: 2 Wilt-leaf Liege and 1 Qasali Pridemage

2-0

3rd Round: Affinity
Got the first game because I stabilized with Rhino and Finks and was able to remove the platings and steel overseers. Went 2-0
In: 2 Zealous Persecution, 1 Abrupt Decay, 1 Linvala, Keeper of Silence, 2 Stony Silence, and 1 Kataki, War's Wage
Out: 2 Wilt-leaf Liege, 4 Voice of Resurgence, and 1 Loxodon Smiter

3-0

2 Arbor Elf and 1 Thoughtseize were supposed to be 3 Avacyn's Pilgrim but I really wanted to play since it was around 6 months ago when I last played--which also explains the messed up sideboard. The local meta was really competetive from when I was playing half a month ago (couple of BG/x, Twins, and Trons mostly) and there were usually about 15-19 players before every modern tuesdays. Also planning on obtaining the last Wilt-Leaf Liege I need, though I won't be buying really expensive mana dorks ATM (Noble Hierarch. I boarded out the Wilt-Leaf Liege versus decks that barely run creatures because it would be overkill, is that right?

Also, I think we have a very bad match-up with tron. What sideboard cards would be good vs it? I was thinking just Aven Mindcensor to hinder searches and Burrenton Forge-Tender for anti-pyroclasm.

Stony Silence hits Gx Tron pretty hard. Aven Mindcensor is always good. Oblivion Ring hits all the things that they ramp into. And you should obviously bring in all your discard, since they are, effectively, a combo deck.

I agree that against Tron Stony Silence and Aven Mindcensor are solid choices. I don't know that our mana base can support Ghost Quarter, which does hurt the match up. Now that said, you can put them a very fast clock. Our dudes are resistant to their Pyroclasm and Firespout, either by being too big or leaving a body behind. I think being really aggressive in this match is probably our best plan for victory, as fighting through Karn and Ugin seems like a losing proposition.

Alright everyone, I did some testing of the deck. Today I played 20 games against 8Rack using my list. I hope to do more testing with Little Kid against other decks (either UR Storm or Gr Tron is next on my list, I think).

First off, here's my personal Little Kid list (tunned to my local meta) I'll note I'm not running Gavony or Nobles for 2 reasons: 1) Don't own Nobles and 2) I prefer having manlands and color consistency to Gavony.


This is the list I tested against, from the 8Rack Primer. I had no role in the creation of the list and thank the creators for making/posting it so I could try it.


I played 20 games, 10 with each deck on the play, 10 with each on the draw. I didn't do any sideboard games, but I could if someone was interested (and wanted to tell me how the 8Rack deck should sideboard).

Here are my stats:

STATS

Overall Little Kid Win Rate: 75% (15/5)
-On the Play: 80% (8/2)
-On the Draw: 70% (7/3)
Little Kid win turn: 8.2
8Rack win turn: 10.4
8Rack turns: 8, 7, 23, 7, 7
Little Kid turns: 7, 15, 6, 8, 5, 6, 5, 5, 15, 8, 6, 15, 6, 7

Reason for Little Kid Wins:
Blitz: 5
Destroy Bridge(s), swing for game that turn: 3
Threats beyond possible answers: 6
Mana Screw: 1

Reason for 8Rack Wins:
Bridge lockdown: 1
Turbo Racks: 3
Mana Screw: 1

Average LK life at win: ~10 (sig. variance)
Average 8R life at win: ~5 (outlire of 15)

DISCUSSION

It played out just how it looked like it would in theory. Little Kid is just too fast with resilient creatures. 8Rack would have to keep many hands that couldn't do much without the opponent getting free creatures when it couldn't answer them (games lost to this are indicated under "blitz" in the data above). Even when 8Rack drew strong hands and was able to quickly discard key threats (Rhino, Decay, and Qasali) then deploy Lili and/or the Bridge for defense, it just wasn't enough. Little Kid was able to top deck one of it's 6 mainboard outs to the Bridge and crash over for a win that turn.

The way 8 rack won was fast, disruptive hands that dropped 3 racks against a near hellbent opponent by turn 3-4. Lili was super important in the match up, despite her causing Elephants and Elf Knights to come onto the field. In the game won by a bridge lock down and several of the close loses, Lili's ultimate was very useful at buying time against the opposing army.

Best cards in this match-up were easily Decay and Qasali. The ability to remove either a painful rack, Lili, or a bridge saving them from lethal was awesome. Smiter, Liege, and Souls were also just amazing, as should be obvious. Souls in particular was great because it avoided all their troops and could sometimes swing under bridge. Finks was also surprisingly good; the life gain really did matter and it can be a quick clock in and of itself sometimes.

In terms of the match-up from our perspective, not much needs to be changed. This is very favorable. Make sure to be smart with Discard, Decay, and Qasali. Being aggressive helps here. Sandbag EVERYTHING you don't need; Lands, Dorks, and often times anything that gets value from being discarded. Dropping your hand for a rush when you have no outs to Ensnaring Bridge and then getting destroyed by 3 racks because you can't draw an out is brutal. Also watch their graveyard for Raven's Crime, make sure to keep that in mind when counting your life and how much the Racks hurt.

I can only speculate on sideboarding since I didn't play games with it. I'd probably do this:
*-4 Voice of Resurgence
*-1 Path
*+2 Fracturing Gust
*+1 Nature's Claim
*+2 Resto

The artifact/enchantment hate is obvious. Resto because it can fly over Pack Rat tokens, and more importantly bounce Rhino to do lethal once they've "stabilized" behind a bridge.

Another video about the deck: http://www.channelfireball.com/videos/channel-pardee-time-modern-gw-aggro/

I did some testing against RUG Delver today for fun, and it was really favorable for us. Every card in our deck except Qasali and Thoughtseize are useful here. We come out of the gate just as fast and have a real value advantage. And against a deck like this, life gain is important so our ability to gain like crazy really does help.

And I honestly prefer the deck without the Gavony Township's. I know I'm in the minority, but I prefer having manlands and being resistant to Blood Moon. It also helps allow more keepable hands and a less painful mana base in general. If I had Nobles I'd probably play them instead of Birds, but I think 4 Mana Dorks is enough in my playtesting so far.

Those were separate points about Blood Moon and Mandlands. If I wanted to play both Manlands and Townships, I'd need to play less basics. That wouldn't be good in the face of Blood Moon, where as is I can play Manlands and a reasonable amount of basics.

What I mean with Gavony and keepable hands is that if you get a hand with 2 lands, 1 of which is a basic and 1 of which is a gavony, that can be a rough keep. Especially against decks with Bolt. But if it was 1 basic and 1 Wildwoods, then you've got at least 2 colors for sure.

I'm also totally unsure which version of the deck is the best: 6 - 8 dorks or 4 or less. I see advantages both ways. Like you mentioned, top decks being better without, but your more explosive with them. I'll have to try and make time to test the deck both ways and see if I can find something out.

I'm just getting back into modern and this is the list I'm actually starting to work on. I didn't realize there was a thread for it here in Tier 2 so I posted a deck list elsewhere with the list I'm working on...



http://www.mtgsalvation.com/forums/the-game/modern/deck-creation-modern/598389-abzanimals-aggro-needs-deck-help

Quote from Dragonwaterr »

I'm just getting back into modern and this is the list I'm actually starting to work on. I didn't realize there was a thread for it here in Tier 2 so I posted a deck list elsewhere with the list I'm working on...

danilompaula's DeckMagic OnlineOCTGN2ApprenticeBuy These Cards
4 Birds of Paradise 4 Noble Hierarch 4 Voice of Resurgence 4 Siege Rhino 3 Kitchen Finks 3 Loxodon Smiter 3 Wilt-Leaf Liege 2 Qasali Pridemage	23 Lands 1 Ajani, Mentor of Heroes 3 Lingering Souls 3 Thoughtseize 3 Path to Exile

http://www.mtgsalvation.com/forums/the-game/modern/deck-creation-modern/598389-abzanimals-aggro-needs-deck-help

If you wanna use PWs main deck I think sorin, solemn visitor is better: provide tokens, buff all creatures, give life and his ultimate isn't so hard and gives a huge advantage

Quote from Dragonwaterr »

I'm just getting back into modern and this is the list I'm actually starting to work on. I didn't realize there was a thread for it here in Tier 2 so I posted a deck list elsewhere with the list I'm working on...

SSJRanulf's DeckMagic OnlineOCTGN2ApprenticeBuy These Cards
4 Birds of Paradise 4 Noble Hierarch 4 Voice of Resurgence 4 Siege Rhino 3 Kitchen Finks 3 Loxodon Smiter 3 Wilt-Leaf Liege 2 Qasali Pridemage	23 Lands 1 Ajani, Mentor of Heroes 3 Lingering Souls 3 Thoughtseize 3 Path to Exile

http://www.mtgsalvation.com/forums/the-game/modern/deck-creation-modern/598389-abzanimals-aggro-needs-deck-help

Shaaaaaare sideboard :3

Looks like a solid list. I prefer to play Abrupt Decay myself, but some don't and that's reasonable.

As for walkers, I like Ajani over Sorin, Solemn Visitor like your list is right now, but again both are solid. Ajani is a grindy card that produces advantage and makes any card threatening, while Sorin just threatens to end the game shortly after he's played and lets you make very reckless attacks without worrying about your life total. He also adds flying threats, which may be relevant in some matches.