It seems solid blocker against aggro, provides pressure and disruption in one package. Take the card they were gonna play next turn and have perfect information for the next couple turns. I think he's really underrated.
Pierakor, I am surprised you prefer Noxious Revival over Buried Ruin - I only have experience with the latter, but I feel like not wasting a spell slot, and keeping card parity is preferable. Could I have your analysis?
Myth Realized can be a bit of a mana choke, and YP/MM are pretty good at closing out games, so I've put it in the side for control matchups.
I would like to try to find room to fit Gurmag Angler back in- that guy was a beast, but right now the deck is doing pretty well as is.
Note: For those running Young Pyromancer, I think Kolaghan's Command is a must. The ability to recur him is essential, since as others have pointed out, if you are waiting to jam him or holding back your disruption, it hurts your gameplan.
P.S. I don't know why people want Thoughtseize over Inquisition of Kozilek? You want to take their cheap cards and leave stuff stranded in their hand with the mana denial... The life loss can be relevant too, especially in matchups like burn.
I am surprised to see so few people running Devoted Druid. I have found her to be bonkers-power-level in this deck, and she enables Gilt-Leaf Archdruid as well. If you haven't tried her, I suggest testing 4 and see how you feel.
I hate to tell you, but if you think tapping Devoted twice for Gilt-Leaf will work, you are wrong. I had an embarrassing judge call on that months ago. Gilt-Leaf's ability requires you to tap 7 druids at once, not one at a time like you can with lands.
It looks like we are all converging on a consistent deck. I have ended up dropping Summoner's Pact for Collected Company - it is relevant at more points in the game, and makes Chord of Calling stronger.
I am surprised to see so few people running Devoted Druid. I have found her to be bonkers-power-level in this deck, and she enables Gilt-Leaf Archdruid as well. If you haven't tried her, I suggest testing 4 and see how you feel.
Ok please explain about chord as I can only see it being usefull in later turns and to spend 3 plus x mana to instantly summon something that is 1, 2, or 3 mana seems a bit under whelming. If we had some bombs with a decent enter the field effect, I could maybe understand it but personally I think summoners pact much better suited to us.
As to burn, it's an absolute nightmare of a matchup before SB and only mildly horrific post SB.
Any deck that runs a main board card that basically means that 80% of our spells shock us is horrendous, also it's worse now as many burn decks are back running lavamancer, so they just turn all their burn on our creatures and ping of old Grimmy, without anyway to interact with him its usually curtains.
I agree the burn matchup is horrendous - however, Chord helps it in many ways. For starters, Chord dodges Eidolon and kills it with Rec Sage- also, it fetches Spellskite at instant speed (which I will have to start testing soon). I don't think it's Chord vs. Pact- in fact, I run 4 of each. The density of tutors makes for an ultra consistent deck, and raises the value of all your silver bullets.
Really shocked to not see more Delve cards mentioned, as it seems to be pretty much designed to go hand in hand with these. High CMC + capable of being cast early + actually playable? Too bad we lost Cruise already, but Dig Through Time could work.
What i experienced alot of times is the following:
I'm sitting here with 2 - 3 Lands in Hand and miss the next Landdrop, while holding Thirst for Knowledge in Hand.
When i tap out on his End-of-Turn he plays Pestermite, Vendilion Clique or sth. like that.
Now i got the problem to get rid of the Dude. Repealin' those Dudes is never fine.
Same situation when i do have a Expedition Map onboard and need to crack it for a Land.
At this point there's a Clock on-board we couldn't deal with very well.
So what's the Plan from here on?
Daily Digest: Making Abzan Fun Again
2 Marsh Flats
1 Arid Mesa
3 Blood Crypt
3 Godless Shrine
2 Sacred Foundry
2 Swamp
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
4 Flagstones of Trokair
4 Young Pyromancer
3 Monastery Mentor
4 Inquisition of Kozilek
3 Faithless Looting
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Crack the Earth
4 Smallpox
4 Lingering Souls
3 Kolaghan's Command
3 Liliana of the Veil
1 Murderous Cut
2 Rending Volley
2 Myth Realized
2 Pyroclasm
2 Stony Silence
3 Fulminator Mage
1 Kolaghan's Command
1 Liliana of the Veil
1 Sorin, Solemn Visitor
1 Ajani Vengeant
First of all, Young Pyromancer is insane in this deck - he turns Crack the Earth into a broken card, and protects itself from Smallpox. Monastery Mentor is obviously a super-powered version that serves nicely as copies 5-7. Raven's Crime is a nice engine with these.
Faithless Looting does a good job of keeping this deck consistent and is a nice pitch to Smallpox or Liliana of the Veil. It really helps you hit the right combination of cards, and keeps parity by pitching other copies of itself, Lingering Souls, or Raven's Crime.
Crack the Earth and Smallpox do a decent enough job of keeping the opponent off their mana in most matchups, so I've relegated Fulminator Mage to the sideboard for more land-relevant matchups. The maindeck is now more focused on hand lockout with Raven's Crime, Liliana of the Veil, and Kolaghan's Command.
Myth Realized can be a bit of a mana choke, and YP/MM are pretty good at closing out games, so I've put it in the side for control matchups.
I would like to try to find room to fit Gurmag Angler back in- that guy was a beast, but right now the deck is doing pretty well as is.
Note: For those running Young Pyromancer, I think Kolaghan's Command is a must. The ability to recur him is essential, since as others have pointed out, if you are waiting to jam him or holding back your disruption, it hurts your gameplan.
3 Marsh Flats
3 Godless Shrine
3 Sacred Foundry
2 Blood Crypt
2 Swamp
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
4 Flagstones of Trokair
22 land
1 Tymaret, the Murder King
2 Fulminator Mage
3 Gurmag Angler
10 creature
1 Raven's Crime
4 Inquisition of Kozilek
4 Crack the Earth
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Smallpox
4 Lingering Souls
3 Liliana of the Veil
2 Kolaghan’s Command
1 Sorin, Solemn Visitor
1 Ajani Vengeant
29 spell
It leans heavily on the nasty trio of Bloodghast, Lingering Souls, and Tymaret, the Murder King to close out the game- their inevitability is for real and they do a great job of pressuring PWs. Fulminator Mage is the best targeted LD out there, especially alongside Kolaghan's Command. Gurmag Angler is just good beefcake beater. Thank Wizards this is a common. I can't help but feel it wants some Cabal Therapy though :/
P.S. I don't know why people want Thoughtseize over Inquisition of Kozilek? You want to take their cheap cards and leave stuff stranded in their hand with the mana denial... The life loss can be relevant too, especially in matchups like burn.
I am aware of that, but it's good to point out. I meant enabling Gilt-Leaf Archdruid through the Glimpse of Nature effect. Her untapping ability is useful for a variety of other purposes (Heritage Druid, Chord of Calling) while functioning as a kill combo. (2x Devoted Druid + Ezuri, Renegade Leader)
Edit: You will note, that my above decklist is 1/3 Druids with 4 of each:
Not counting the Gilt-Leaf Archdruid himself. I think this is the minimum number needed to enable him effectively.
2 Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
2 Pendelhaven
4 Llanowar Elves
4 Elvish Mystic
4 Heritage Druid
4 Nettle Sentinel
4 Devoted Druid
4 Elvish Visionary
4 Elvish Archdruid
1 Ezuri, Renegade Leader
1 Eternal Witness
1 Wren's Run Packmaster
1 Temur Sabertooth
1 Gilt-Leaf Archdruid
1 Regal Force
1 Craterhoof Behemoth
4 Chord of Calling
1 Essence Warden
4 Joraga Warcaller
1 Scavenging Ooze
1 Reclamation Sage
4 Leyline of Vitality
I am surprised to see so few people running Devoted Druid. I have found her to be bonkers-power-level in this deck, and she enables Gilt-Leaf Archdruid as well. If you haven't tried her, I suggest testing 4 and see how you feel.
Total 4 Mana / Creatures: Other half of your Nettle Sentinel / Heritage Druid engine, or perhaps an Essence Warden
Total 5 Mana / Creatures: Scavenging Ooze, Devoted Druid, or even Elvish Visionary to amass resources
Total 6 Mana / Creatures: Elvish Archdruid, Ezuri, Renegade Leader, or Reclamation Sage are nice flash targets. Also Eternal Witness to help Chord again or get something juicy from the grave.
Total 7 Mana / Creatures: Temur Sabertooth & Wren's Run Packmaster are board dominating options.
Total 8 Mana / Creatures: I have found Gilt-Leaf Archdruid to be a nice end of turn target, either to start going off with the Glimpse effect, or steal lands on a stalled board.
Total 10 Mana / Creatures: Regal Force into your next Chord?
Total 11 Mana / Creatures: Craterhoof Behemoth = GG
The only creatures I've not Chorded for are Elvish Mystic and Llanowar Elves.
edit:
I agree the burn matchup is horrendous - however, Chord helps it in many ways. For starters, Chord dodges Eidolon and kills it with Rec Sage- also, it fetches Spellskite at instant speed (which I will have to start testing soon). I don't think it's Chord vs. Pact- in fact, I run 4 of each. The density of tutors makes for an ultra consistent deck, and raises the value of all your silver bullets.
Whoa, when did this happen? I must re-check the banlist... I thought only Treasure Cruise got banned. My bad.
Really shocked to not see more Delve cards mentioned, as it seems to be pretty much designed to go hand in hand with these. High CMC + capable of being cast early + actually playable? Too bad we lost Cruise already, but Dig Through Time could work.