Explorer: Abzan Greasefang Deck Tech (Best of One)

The curious case of feeling that a month without writing is an absurd amount of time due to the endless news that occurred in that period, including the release of Phyrexia: All Will Be One.

However, during my absence for the last 30 days, my contact with Magic basically boiled down to the Magic Arena, where I continue to venture into Explorer, and take advantage of my favorite archetype of the current Metagame - Abzan Greasefang.

Loved and hated by many, Greasefang decks are one of the most solid options on Explorer today, as they feature a concise game plan and are nimble enough to guarantee a sudden victory in unfavorable times. They exist in variants such as Mardu, Esper, Abzan and even in two colors with Orzhov, or four colors.

Regardless of the version, its main objective is to use Greasefang, Okiba Boss to return Parhelion II from the graveyard to the battlefield, crew it and attack for a total of 13 damage while leaving two 4/4 Angels that will attack next turn for a total of 21 damage - enough to win the game on most occasions.

Since each version is built varies greatly, Mardu decks tend to focus on a Midrange theme with Kroxa, Titan of Death's Hunger and other quality creatures that interact with our gameplan, such as Bloodtithe Harvester. The Esper versions (which I christen Obscura for its focus on Connive) bet on a beatdown plan with low-cost creatures like Ledger Shredder and Raffine, Scheming Seer, allowing you to play whatever fair play while threatening the combo every turn.

Finally, the version we'll cover today is Abzan, whose game plan is entirely focused on the combo and that makes it faster and more consistent than the other variants. However, other vehicles such as Esika's Chariot and Skysovereign, Consul Flagship allow the deck to have an efficient fallback plan should you get bogged down with graveyard hates, making it one of the most solid options at Explorer today, especially in Best of One.

My list is basically what you'd expect from the archetype, with maybe some modifications to some numbers. Our game plan boils down to casting creatures and spells that help us mill our deck to put vehicles in the graveyard while we seek Greasefang, Okiba Boss or Can't Stay Away to reanimate him alongside one of our vehicles.

The ideal is always to bring Parhelion II with Greasefang, but there are times when Skysovereign or Esika's Chariot are better options.

Our gameplan starts as early as turn one with Stitcher's Supplier, and with a lot of luck, we can mill Greasefang and Parhelion II and reanimate them with Can't Stay Away the next turn. However, on most occasions, Supplier will serve as a chump block against Aggro in the early turns to accelerate your game plan.

Satyr Wayfinder was a recent addition to Magic Arena and becomes one of the most important creatures on the list for milling four cards, in addition to guaranteeing our next turn land drop, essential for casting Greasefang on the third turn or guaranteeing enough mana to play Esika's Chariot and/or flashback Can't Stay Away.

Raffine's Informant is the only creature with Connive on our list, and its effect should always be aimed at removing Parhelion II from your hand and/or other vehicle that generates value when reanimated the next turn. If none of these are available, your best option is to discard Can't Stay Away or a land.

Grisly Salvage is the best mill card on the list: in addition to removing five cards from the top, it is the only one among these effects that allows you to find Greasefang and put it in your hand, making it essential to increase consistency.

Greasefang and Parhelion II are obvious options for this archetype's strategy and there's not much to explain about them, so we'll focus on the other vehicles in our list.

Esika's Chariot is the other main reason to play green. Upon entering the board, the vehicle already guarantees four power, and still manages to generate a gigantic snowball if not answered properly. Added to the potential to bring it back with Greasefang, create three tokens, return it to your hand, and create two more the next turn when you cast it again.

Skysovereign, Consul Flagship as a 2-of is a particular touch aimed at two purposes: the first is that interaction on this list is sparse and having a recurring removal on a vehicle that can still attack for six with evasion is a respectable amount of value on a single card. The second is that there were numerous occasions where I had a Greasefang in hand or an Can't Stay Away to reanimate him and no vehicle to bring back, so I increased the number of vehicles to ten to increase the chances of having legal targets for our centerpiece.

Speaking of interaction, Thoughtseize is our main means of dealing with problematic spells. Our general focus with it is to make sure the path is clear to close the combo and/or remove the piece that will be a bigger problem in the long run: we can play around an Abrade, but we don't have the same success in dealing with a Graveyard Trespasser for too long.

Witherbloom Command is our swiss army knife and helps in many situations: like Satyr Wayfinder, it mills cards and guarantees our land drop, while also lowering the opponent's clock and removing troublesome sideboard permanents that opponents run on the maindeck in Best of One, such as Rest in Peace and Unlicensed Hearse. We can consider it as part of the flexible slots, but few cards will be as good as it in terms of flexibility.

Can't Stay Away works as extra copies of Greasefang, Okiba Boss. Its presence on the list allows us to execute the combo from the graveyard for five mana. We only run three copies since it doesn't do anything on its own.

I think my manabase is self-explanatory, but there are a few pieces worth mentioning: Boseiju, Who Endures is another answer to some problematic hate pieces, such as Rest in Peace, and Takenuma, Abandoned Mire can bring Greasefang back to your hand while adding more cards to your graveyard.

Finally, as we have a three-color deck with a fast strategy, two copies of Mana Confluence serve to add a bit more consistency to our color diversity.

We still don't have Eldritch Evolution in Explorer to search for Greasefang, Okiba Boss by sacrificing any creature. Therefore, some players choose to include Diabolic Intent in these slots to get our namesake card.

However, the cost of casting Diabolic Intent and Greasefang are five mana, far above what Eldritch Evolution requires. Also, Greeasefang will have to be played from your hand, making room for them to deal with it through counterspells or discards.

Tear Asunder is an efficient maindeck option if you face a lot of hate and/or the mirror match becomes frequent. It doesn't do much in many matchups for just two mana, but it could fit the list in the two to four flex slots we have.

My list focuses entirely on executing the combo in the least number of turns. However, if you prefer more interaction, my choice would be Assassin's Trophy for dealing with basically anything we need to take off the battlefield for cheap. Other options include Vanishing Verse or Go for the Throat.

There are players who resort to two copies of Liliana of the Veil as she serves as a removal and interacts with the list's game plan, as you can discard Parhelion II and other vehicles with it. However, I find her too slow for Explorer's nature these days, and we're not disruptive enough to take full advantage of Planeswalkers in attrition games.

A copy or two of Unlicensed Hearse could be useful in case the mirror match becomes recurring, or if, in the future, we have Treasure Cruise in the Explorer, which would boost Izzet Phoenix's popularity.

- Playing Thoughtseize in the first turn on the play is not a good idea. It can save you from the opponent's Thoughtseize, but the best option is to understand what you're playing against before using the discard, as its timing is crucial to understand when you should attempt the combo

- If you have to choose between Grisly Salvage or Satyr Wayfinder on the second turn, consider whether you have a land drop for the third turn and/or whether Parhelion II is already in your graveyard. If you have the vehicle in the graveyard, Grisly Salvage is preferred for finding Greasefang. If you lack lands or your game plan is geared towards casting Esika's Chariot, prioritize Satyr Wayfinder.

- Parhelion II is not always the best choice to bring back with Greasefang, as there are numerous opportunities where the opponent can wait for you to choose the vehicle as a target and then kill the rat. Skysovereign and Esika's Chariot are better options when there's a threat of the opponent killing Greasefang in return, so focus on them if you suspect there is a removal on their hand.

- If you have both Skysovereign, Consul Flagship and Esika's Chariot in your graveyard, the choice of which one to reanimate depends on the game and your board position: Skysovereign works best when you need to slow down your opponent and/or remove Planeswalkers because although Esika's Chariot's tokens are good blockers, it is likely that your opponent can play over them.

Esika's Chariot works best when you need to improve your position and apply pressure, especially against Control decks or Midranges, which have trouble dealing with so many tokens at once.

- Like most Strixhaven commands, Witherbloom Command is a sorcery. Unfortunately, it's easy to forget about this and attempt to cast it on your opponent's turn.

- There are times when maintaining your board is more important than chump blocks: if Greasefang dies, a relevant number of creatures is enough to cre Parhelion II or Skysovereign, ensuring you can still extract value from the combo in case your opponent misses the timing at killing the centerpiece.

Rakdos Midrange

In Best of One, it's common for Rakdos Midrange to adopt some number of Abrade to complement Graveyard Trespasser as an efficient hate against Greasefang, plus Amonkhet's spell is also a useful answer against Karn, the Great Creator and its toolbox on Mono Green Devotion.

Rakdos players focus too much on preventing us from closing the combo because they play better if we go for attrition. However, unless they fit Graveyard Trespasser too early, we can play around the removals and look to extract value with Esika's Chariot and Skysovereign while there are no Planeswalkers or a transformed Fable of the Mirror-Breaker on the board

Thoughtseize on the first or second turn is a valid option to prevent Graveyard Trespasser coming into play too soon, but later copies should be preserved in case we find the opportunity to close the combo.

Mono Green Devotion

Karn, The Great Creator is our greatest enemy here. Luckily, our opponent isn't very interactive, so we have time to execute the combo. If your opponent starts the game with Forest and Mana Dork, it's preferable to play Thoughtseize immediately to prevent Karn from coming into play.

This game is race-oriented, so focus on closing the game with Parhelion II. Skysovereign is also essential in this matchup to destroy Planeswalkers or remove Cavalier of Thorns from the battlefield.

Mono Red Aggro

Mono Red has become more popular in Best of One since Monastery Swiftspear came out in The Brothers' War, and makes good results for punishing players who make bad keep decisions, which occasionally happens with Abzan Greasefang since we rely on what our spells put in the graveyard to execute our game plan.

As our opponent intends to win the race, don't spare chump blocks with your creatures in the first turns and try to guarantee the combo as soon as possible to turn the game around. Fetching Esika's Chariot with Greasefang is another useful option as it greatly amplifies our board, and most of their creatures trade on par with the tokens.

Witherbloom Command is relatively important in this matchup, as it grants you some extra life while also removing cards like Kumano Faces Kakkazan before it becomes another creature.

Gruul Midrange

Gruul Midrange, or Gruul Vehicles, is much more efficient in Best of Three, but some players venture with it in Best of One with some additions to the Metagame, like Abrade instead of Obliterating Bolt and more copies of Scavenging Ooze.

By proposing fair aggressive play, Gruul Midrange cannot easily keep up with Abzan Greasefang's speed, and it is common for our deck to play around them, while we gather the pieces to close the combo. However, we cannot afford to prolong the game too much, as their clock grows exponentially from the fourth turn onwards.

Abzan Greasefang

It's obvious, but Mirror Match is defined by who manages to close the combo first, and there's not much secret regarding how to behave in this game in Best of One, since both lists are geared towards bringing Parhelion II to the battlefield as soon as possible.

Remember that, like you, your opponent is likely to have little or no board interaction. Therefore, casting Greasefang early and even bringing Esika's Chariot into the game from the graveyard is already a big step forward if they don't come back bringing Parhelion II to the battlefield.

Preserve your Thoughtseize for the second turn, or the third if they reveal a vehicle with either self-mill or Raffine's Informant, your main target should be Greasefang and Can't Stay Away, as this match will hardly last until the fifth round, but you can also remove an enabler if there aren't better options.

Abzan Greasefang is one of the most solid and consistent Best of One strategies in Explorer today. Like other combo archetypes that manage to hold their own in fair play, it forces opponents to make tough decisions or take the risks of losing the next turn by not respecting the combo.

Thanks for reading!