For years, the Abzan color combination has been well-known in competitive Magic as the one that provided answers to everything. The basis for this reputation comes from the old Extended format, where white offered Swords to Plowshares and Disenchant, black guaranteed discard spells like Duress, and green provided the creatures to close out the game with Ravenous Baloth and Spiritmonger.
Over time, the flexibility of the color pie and design shifts have made this statement less true, but no less powerful: Abzan Midrange has been showing up in Pioneer Challenges over the last few weeks with a list that leverages Yorion, Sky Nomad's companion restriction to pack answers for every matchup in the current Metagame directly into the maindeck.
The Decklist
Maindeck
All the threats we run can take over a game on their own.
Sheoldred, the Apocalypse is the only creature I question whether we truly need four copies of, but since we have few extra draw sources in an 80-card deck, it feels like the minimum needed to see at least one copy each game.
Beza, the Bounding Spring might also raise questions because it's legendary, but we intend to play multiple copies throughout the game to stabilize against Aggro or generate value in Midrange mirrors.
Elder Gargaroth has seen very little play in Pioneer and mostly fell out of favor when Mono Green Devotion declined. Now, we run it to generate value in any matchup: it puts more pressure on the board, provides card advantage, or ensures extra life each combat, all in a hard-to-kill body.
Even in 80-card lists, Thoughtseize is mandatory for disruption against non-Aggro decks. In this list, it isn't an automatic side-out against red decks, as we have better options to remove and few cards to bring in.
Go Blank works better in Midrange, Combo, and Control matchups, but its inclusion in the maindeck is also a necessity to answer Greasefang, Okiba Boss and Arclight Phoenix without using cards that are too narrow for other games.
Cling to Dust complements the graveyard hate while also turning into a cantrip or providing extra life.
The spot removal is straightforward, with four copies each.
Fatal Push is the best early-game removal. We don't have many ways to trigger Revolt, but it gets the job done against smaller threats. For the mid-game, Go for the Throat deals with higher-mana-value creatures.
Abrupt Decay answers Cori-Steel Cutter, Stormchaser's Talent, Monument to Endurance, and other cheap permanents in the format while also hitting Greasefang, Okiba Boss. Vanishing Verse has a broader scope and deals with any monocolored permanent.
One issue I've found with this removal package is how unable we are to deal with Teferi, Hero of Dominaria. We could consider Get Lost instead of Go for the Throat, but the primary base of this deck is black, and a white removal spell might cause a lack of colored mana for other spells in the early to mid-game.
Pest Control and Culling Ritual serve as cheap sweepers against Prowess decks. The extra mana from the Ritual is suboptimal in this list for more proactive plays, but if used in the late game, we can leverage it to cast a Sheoldred.
Castle Locthwain is the main source of card advantage, though it comes with the cost of being a mana sink. Since this deck is geared toward the late game, we have no problem extending it to the point where we can activate it every turn.
Restless Cottage offsets life loss while also complementing the graveyard hate, plus it's a 4/4 attacking each turn.
Indatha Triome provides consistency to the conditional lands we have and turns into extra draws in the late game.
The mana base mixes lands with basic land types alongside Sunpetal Grove and Bleachbone Verge to enter untapped or generate two mana consistently. The numbers can be adjusted based on the deck's needs with updates, but we should avoid Fast Lands or other conditional tapped lands.
Sideboard
Yorion, Sky Nomad serves more as an inevitable threat and a reward for increasing the number of answers in the deck rather than a card advantage tool in this list. Having a 4/5 with Flying available at any moment makes a difference in grindier games.
Leyline of the Void complements the graveyard hate and comes down as early as before the first turn. We could consider Rest in Peace in this slot, but dodging Abrupt Decay has advantages in the current Metagame.
Tear Asunder deals with artifacts and enchantments while also turning into unconditional removal in the late game.
Languish complements the sweepers and works perfectly in Midrange mirrors, since all our creatures have five or more toughness. It's also essential against Selesnya Company.
Duress adds to the disruption in Control and Combo matchups. We can also bring it in against Prowess.
Invoke Despair comes in for various matchups. Sometimes it's because we need to take out more maindeck cards and don't have much else to bring in. Other times, because resolving it can generate a lot of value by removing multiple permanents from the board with a single card.
Sideboard Guide
Mono Red Aggro
IN
OUT
Izzet Prowess
IN
OUT
Abzan Greasefang
IN
OUT
Azorius Control
IN
OUT
Izzet Phoenix
IN
OUT
Golgari Midrange
IN
OUT
Orzhov Midrange
IN
OUT
Selesnya Company
IN
OUT
Wrapping Up
That's all for today!
If you have any questions, feel free to leave a comment!
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