So the cavaliers are a cycle? I like the way they present value @ 5cmc.
I really like the red one, this one is pretty good removal on a decent body, with added benefit of getting back a card when it dies.
It has been a long time since I have posted an update to the deck. Some of that is due to life being way too crazy and some is the normal ebb and flow of interest in the hobby. Repository is a card I love for Atraxa but I think is better suited to the creatures/counters build. Ewit is great but I think perhaps the new Tamiyo is better for the superfriends deck. That is another card I was considering and will perhaps test. Nissa I liked as an early play but I think Narset and or Ashiok add more angles to the deck. Restricting the graveyard and extra card draw is nice and lets us have more control over games.
Great to see some activity here, albeit minor. I too have been busy with a lot and that has me distracted from being active online mostly. Though since we (our playgroup) has discovered EDH, this have got a little out of control to the point where i really don't play anything else apart from the occasional draft or prerelease event.
Atraxa has been with me from day one though and the deck has evolved a lot. Mainly because i try to construct my decks in such a way that there is hardly any overlap in cards. This is difficult in the brewing stage, so at the moment, some staple cards are also used in Reyhan/Silas artifacts.
With recent sets the deck has got some nice tools, but one thing this deck can suffer from is the lack of on-theme, resilient repetitive card draw. If it runs out of gas, it's pretty hard to get back. Also i would like some more manasinks for those turns where i don't want to or need to commit to the board more.
The curve is lower, power is up and it still gets hated on as soon as i get my deckbox out Because of this, this deck has the lowest win% of all my decks within the same playgroup. Which is very unfortunate, because it is so much fun to play.
It has been quiet in the midrange sections of the forums lately. Knightfall does get some attention, but i feel Abzan is in a great position to grind out even the fastest graveyard decks. We can load up on-strat gave hate and have more in the sideboard. We have access to maindeck Scavenging Ooze, Kaya's Guile and even Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet. That's more that any other deck in the format if i'm not mistaken. We can only add to that from the side.
I also think that with the fast aggro currently dominating and able to operrate on a very slim manabase, the disadvantages of Path and Trophy ar neglible. Of this, i'm not quite sure. But it has happened to me before that i flood with zoo style decks with nothing else to do.
With this i must admit, modern has lost some interest since we (our playgroup) went allin on EDH and i havn't been to FNM voor over 8 months. Though if i would take my beloved Abzan deck to one now, i'd be trying to tune my traverse list to a more oldskool midrangey approach with added card draw to go trough our deck a little better.
This card needed to cost 3 mana. If it had, it would have been a staple in multiple formats, and still not broken. WOTC really boned up making atarka's and dromoka's command cost 2 and KC cost 3, and this and silumgar's overpriced. I don't even remember the other one. Silumgar's woulda been rock solid at 4 too, at least in standard.
Alternatively, if the CMC was up to 3 and it was permanents, it would be quite good, or even if the counter clause was just counter target spell.
I'll never understand who decides what cards to push, but this card was a flop.
At its cost I just can't justify playing it over so many other options. Despite how much I love the promo art, and will probably never get rid of them.
In the card's defense, Counter Trarget (creature)spell + draw a card at 3cmc would be broken as hell.
Just picture Cryptic Command in modern UW- and Jeskai control being 3cmc!
There’s a new Jeskai Humans deck that is posting good scores on MTGO.
Frankly, I don’t like the manabase, but the deck has main deck Lightning Bolt for some reach and interaction. What do you guys think?
I don't think this is the way to go. Lightning bolt does provide reach, but you could very well be playing Zoo by that time.
Also like said before. The disruptive cards that are added to the human tribe have been very very good and made humans what it is today.
I guess we have to accept that with the rise of the Human archetype in the last few years we got a little less support. But we can certainly tune to the current meta and we absolutely should include some form of strong grave hate to take care of Phoenix and carious dredge decks.
Apart from that, Unsettled Mariner is the very best card to support our strategy from recent printings.
I agree with everything said above. Cards enter my brain and brews at an absurd pace and it feels forced this way. Horizons isn't even in my hands yet and the next cards are allready being spoiled. War of the Spark prerelease feels like yesterday.
Good to see some minor activity in this topic. Like NimBalor has said, my list differs some in that it sacrifices the Blink package for a combo backup. This goes well with the tutor package allready in the deck. Though to be fair, i've never won a match using them. The matches i won with the deck were due to outvaluing and controling my opponents and the board with many wolves.
Since i figured out the deck's capabilities i did some changes to support this strategy but didn't play the deck since then. There is a good chance this weekend it comes out again.
Unsettled Mariner also taxes spells that targets you. So, in Storm that means Gifts costing 1 more to play, Grapeshot needing 1 mana for each copy, discard spells from random decks costing 1 more, Liiana's -2 costing 1 mana to use, Grim Lavamancer activations, Settle the Wreckage and Cryptic to tap the team, Valakut triggers from Scapeshift, Tron can't land a T3 Karn to take out a creature nor a card from our hand with this on the table...
The fact that it taxes spells and abilities targeted on our creatures AND on ourselves is what makes it good. I think we can go down to 3 Thalias and use the 2 flex slots to have at least 3 copies of it in the main. Maybe go down 1 Phantasmal Image to have the 4th one?
That's along the lines i was thinking. Great summary.
The only major removalspell that's not affected is Abrupt Decay, true. As an Abzan player (too) i can say that most copies have been replaced with Assassin's Trophy. So chances you'll face those a lot are slim.
Funny topic! Is anyone else feeling slightly stupid for trying to pronounce each other's written words with different sylables out loud?
It's pretty hard to make a topic or comment on pronunciation on a message board isn't it, especially if English isn't your native language
The various -potences named earlier get me the most.
I pronounce them all the same like Om-nipotence, Nec-ropotence. To me that just flows better.
Wat does everybody think of Unsettled Mariner as another Thalia. This looks like it's a sweet addition for a similar effect and could maybe let us trim the Legendary Human, which is awkward in multiples, whereas this one is great in multiples.
Copying this with Phantasmal Image is also sweet vs removal heavy decks. It's a shame the copy can't protect itself.
I really like the red one, this one is pretty good removal on a decent body, with added benefit of getting back a card when it dies.
Curious te see the other 3.
1 Tolsimir, Friend to Wolves
Land
14 Snow-Covered Forest
5 Snow-Covered Plains
1 Command Tower
1 Windswept Heath
1 Krosan Verge
1 Temple Garden
1 Canopy Vista
1 Scattered Groves
1 Brushland
1 Sunpetal Grove
1 Horizon Canopy
1 Wooded Bastion
1 Bountiful promenade
1 Fortified Village
1 Arctic Flats
1 Eiganjo Castle
1 Oran-Rief, the Vastwood
1 Dryad Arbor
1 Gavony Township
Cratures
1 Elvish Mystic
1 Llanowar Elves
1 Young Wolf
1 Nightshade Peddler
1 Devoted Druid
1 Walking Ballista
1 Duskwatch Recruiter
1 Vizier of Remedies
1 Elvish Visionary
1 Wood Elves
1 Farhaven Elf
1 Rot Wolf
1 Elvish Harbinger
1 Silverfur Partisan
1 Spirit of the Hunt
1 Primal Forcemage
1 Selvala, Explorer Returned
1 Wolfbriar Elemental
1 Wren's Run Packmaster
1 Angel of Jubilation
1 Shalai, Voice of Plenty
1 Wilt-Leaf Liege
1 Master of the Wild Hunt
1 Beast Whisperer
1 Kessig Cagebreakers
1 Trostani Discordant
1 Wolfir Silverheart
1 Skalla Wolf
1 Turntimber Ranger
1 Archangel of Thune
1 Vigor
1 Kamahl, Fist of Krosa
1 Tolsimir Wolfblood
1 Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite
1 Foe-Razer Regent
1 Craterhoof Behemoth
1 Green Sun's Zenith
1 Into the North
1 Nature's Lore
1 Rampant Growth
1 Finale of Devastation
1 Cultivate
1 Kodama's Reach
1 Primal Command
Intants
1 Eladamri's Call
1 Sundering Growth
1 Heroic Intervention
1 Rootborn Defenses
1 Beast Within
1 Predator's Howl
1 Chord of Calling
Artifacts
1 Sword of Body and Mind
Enchantments
1 Beastmaster Ascension
1 Elemental Bond
1 Aura Shards
1 Anointed Procession
1 Parallel Lives
1 Wolfcaller's Howl
1 Glare of Subdual
1 Cathars' Crusade
1 Mirari's Wake
Planeswalkers
1 Vivien Reid
1 Arlinn, Voice of the Pack
Great to see some activity here, albeit minor. I too have been busy with a lot and that has me distracted from being active online mostly. Though since we (our playgroup) has discovered EDH, this have got a little out of control to the point where i really don't play anything else apart from the occasional draft or prerelease event.
Atraxa has been with me from day one though and the deck has evolved a lot. Mainly because i try to construct my decks in such a way that there is hardly any overlap in cards. This is difficult in the brewing stage, so at the moment, some staple cards are also used in Reyhan/Silas artifacts.
Currently the deck is constructed like this:
1 Atraxa, Praetors' Voice
Lands
2 Forest
2 Island
2 Swamp
1 Plains
1 Command Tower
1 City of Brass
1 Mana Confluence
1 Exotic Orchard
1 Gemstone Mine
1 Marsh Flats
1 Verdant Catacombs
1 Misty Rainforest
1 Scalding Tarn
1 Flooded Strand
1 Polluted Delta
1 Wooded Foothills
1 Windswept Heath
1 Godless Shrine
1 Overgrown Tomb
1 Breeding Pool
1 Hallowed Fountain
1 Watery Grave
1 Temple Garden
1 Sunken Hollow
1 Canopy Vista
1 Murmuring Bosk
1 Flooded Grove
1 Waterlogged Grove
1 Dryad Arbor
1 Llanowar Reborn
1 Bojuka Bog
1 Gavony Township
1 Karn's Bastion
1 Homeward Path
1 Birds of Paradise
1 Walking Ballista
1 Mikaeus, the Lunarch
1 Sakura-Tribe Elder
1 Incubation Druid
1 Winding Constrictor
1 Scavenging Ooze
1 Sage of Hours
1 Plaxcaster Frogling
1 Managorger Hydra
1 Primordial Hydra
1 Fertilid
1 Evolution Sage
1 Pir, Imaginative Rascal
1 Tireless Tracker
1 Crystalline Crawler
1 Herald of Secret Streams
1 Forgotten Ancient
1 Glen Elendra Archmage
1 Spike Weaver
1 Odric, Lunarch Marshal
1 Shalai, Voice of Plenty
1 Fathom Mage
1 Master Biomancer
1 Hydroid Krasis
1 Deepglow Skate
1 Verdurous Gearhulk
1 Kalonian Hydra
1 Roalesk, Apex Hybrid
1 Prime Speaker Zegana
1 Realm Seekers
1 Avenger of Zendikar
1 Green Sun's Zenith
1 Nature's Lore
1 Farseek
1 Merciless Eviction
Instants
1 Pact of Negation
1 Swan Song
1 Stubborn Denial
1 Crop Rotation
1 Berserk
1 Dromoka's Command
1 Arcane Denial
1 Assassin's Trophy
1 Beast Within
1 Abzan Charm
1 Cyclonic Rift
Artifacts
1 Fellwar Stone
1 Coalition Relic
1 Sword of Truth and Justice
1 Astral Cornucopia
Enchantments
1 Hardened Scales
1 Simic Ascendancy
1 Sylvan Library
1 Song of the Dryads
1 Hadana's Climb
1 Rhystic Study
1 Doubling Season
Planeswalkers
1 Nissa, Voice of Zendikar
1 Tamiyo, Field Researcher
1 Jace, Unraveler of Secrets
1 Ajani, Mentor of Heroes
With recent sets the deck has got some nice tools, but one thing this deck can suffer from is the lack of on-theme, resilient repetitive card draw. If it runs out of gas, it's pretty hard to get back. Also i would like some more manasinks for those turns where i don't want to or need to commit to the board more.
The curve is lower, power is up and it still gets hated on as soon as i get my deckbox out Because of this, this deck has the lowest win% of all my decks within the same playgroup. Which is very unfortunate, because it is so much fun to play.
Love the tech too.
I also think that with the fast aggro currently dominating and able to operrate on a very slim manabase, the disadvantages of Path and Trophy ar neglible. Of this, i'm not quite sure. But it has happened to me before that i flood with zoo style decks with nothing else to do.
With this i must admit, modern has lost some interest since we (our playgroup) went allin on EDH and i havn't been to FNM voor over 8 months. Though if i would take my beloved Abzan deck to one now, i'd be trying to tune my traverse list to a more oldskool midrangey approach with added card draw to go trough our deck a little better.
2 Forest
2 Swamp
1 Plains
3 Nurturing Peatland
2 Overgrown Tomb
1 Godless Shrine
1 Temple Garden
4 Verdant Catacombs
4 Marsh Flats
1 Prismatic Vista
1 Hissing Quagmire
2 Treetop Village
Planeswalkers
3 Liliana of the Veil
1 Liliana, The Last Hope
4 Tarmogoyf
3 Dark Confidant
3 Scavenging Ooze
1 Yawgmoth, Thran Physician
1 Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet
Spells
3 Fatal Push
2 Path to Exile
3 Inquisition of Kozilek
3 Thoughtseize
3 Assassin's Trophy
3 Kaya's Guile
3 Lingering Souls
2 Nihil Spellbomb
2 Surgical Extraction
2 Stony Silence
2 Gaddock Teeg
2 Knight of Autumn
3 Fulminator Mage
1 Maelstrom Pulse
1 Damnation
What would everybody else be doing with the deck now that the new set is out?
In the card's defense, Counter Trarget (creature)spell + draw a card at 3cmc would be broken as hell.
Just picture Cryptic Command in modern UW- and Jeskai control being 3cmc!
I don't think this is the way to go. Lightning bolt does provide reach, but you could very well be playing Zoo by that time.
Also like said before. The disruptive cards that are added to the human tribe have been very very good and made humans what it is today.
I guess we have to accept that with the rise of the Human archetype in the last few years we got a little less support. But we can certainly tune to the current meta and we absolutely should include some form of strong grave hate to take care of Phoenix and carious dredge decks.
Apart from that, Unsettled Mariner is the very best card to support our strategy from recent printings.
I absolutely love this card, it's been in my binder for ages andnhave never found a deck (any format for that matter) to fit it in.
Yesss… Tolsimir would love that
Since i figured out the deck's capabilities i did some changes to support this strategy but didn't play the deck since then. There is a good chance this weekend it comes out again.
I'll post an updated list when i have the chance.
Same in what we consider to be focussed a.k.a. 75% level.
The rule is fine and no one uses it to dig for specific combo pieces.
It's fine.
That's along the lines i was thinking. Great summary.
The only major removalspell that's not affected is Abrupt Decay, true. As an Abzan player (too) i can say that most copies have been replaced with Assassin's Trophy. So chances you'll face those a lot are slim.
It's pretty hard to make a topic or comment on pronunciation on a message board isn't it, especially if English isn't your native language
The various -potences named earlier get me the most.
I pronounce them all the same like Om-nipotence, Nec-ropotence. To me that just flows better.
Cool card.
Copying this with Phantasmal Image is also sweet vs removal heavy decks. It's a shame the copy can't protect itself.