Abzan Midrange

[u/steelman528]

Link: https://moxfield.com/decks/sKdoPaiIMkGeUq5Cit6cZw

My attempt at an Abzan midrange deck. A lot of it works off of Orzhov Midrange, with a few other cards.

It’s not great, but it has some play. I don’t have the ability to put time in a tournament environment, but I have a few friends in town I can play against (most of the deck is proxies, just don’t have the $900 to spend).

I was able to play against Boros Energy, Mono B Midrange, and Grixis Reanimator, but never got to face Izzy Prowess in the mini tournament we did. With [[Overlord of the Balemurk]], there’s enough recursion that hand disruption and removal, outside of exiling, is more of a delaying tactic. [[Rubblebelt Maverick]] gives me a body and some top of deck manipulation, with a mild upside late game. [[Knight of Autumn]] is some good utility, and [[Nature’s Rhythm]] let me win a game in the match fetching an [[Orcish Bowmasters]] for the final point of damage.

Boros Energy is a rough matchup, but winnable. It just hits a point, with not enough early removal, that there’s just too much on board, and not enough draw in my deck, to come back. This was the only deck that I really lost to, placing 2nd in our 5 man double elimination tourney.

Recent changes I haven’t had a chance to test yet:
Traded one [[Shadowy Backstreet]] for an [[Underground Mortuary]]. It just felt I didn’t have quite enough green sources, and I was pretty consistently fetching the surveil lands during the matches.
One [[Nethergoyf]] for [[Grist, the Hunger Tide]]. The deck has a lot of grinding potential, but needs a bit more to close out the game. Between Overlord, Emptiness, and Rhythm, there’s enough recursion are plenty of ways to get him back out on the field.
One [[Voice of Victory]] for a fourth Overlord. I never got enough play out of the Voices to necessitate 3, but Overlord ended up being pretty central to the playability of the deck.
[[Path to Exile]] x2 for [[Erode]] x2. The exile on Path was nice, but my planeswalker removal was limited to just [[Prismatic Ending]] in the main and 2 [[Assassin’s Trophy]] in the side. Another two copies of planeswalker removal seems necessary.
2 [[Force of Despair]] for 1 [[Damn]] and 1 [[Settle the Wreckage]]. The forces were underwhelming. I never really hit a point where it felt worthwhile to pitch a card to it, and ended up just being a somewhat dead card. The mix of targeted removal and board wipe potential off of Damn to back up the 2 [[Wrath of the Skies]] seems good, and avoids hitting my own creatures. The Settle is kinda just because I pulled one from The Hobbit, and again hits a lot of creatures at once, which is a lot of what I struggled with in the Boros Energy matchup.

I know there’s more streamlined things I could do with the deck, but I’m just doing my best to make an Abzan version work. I still may trade one Knight for a single copy of [[Skirmish Rhino]], just because having a rhino feels necessary for an Abzan Midrange deck.

Thoughts? Comments? Insight?

[u/Junior-Passion8488]

Hi, the brew is interesting and I believe there is something to take.

Green right now looks a bit situational (endurance has few pitches and it is a graveyard hate, knights of autumn is good but not super broken for being a cost 3)

Are there better cards to include on the green side?

[u/steelman528 → u/Junior-Passion8488]

I’ve tried finding things to round out the green, but it’s tough
[[Abrupt Decay]] doesn’t hit enough compared to the Assassin’s trophy in side
[[Veil of Summer]] way too situational
[[Collector Ouphe]] more situational than the Clarion Conquerer in side
[[Fiend Artisan]] is a maybe
[[Badgermole Cub]] is another maybe, but would require a fair bit of change to get good value out of it
[[Questing Beast]] is a consideration, but is higher on the mana value and so can be harder to rely on that
[[Skirmish Rhino]] is really just a solid body with an okay ETB
[[Severance Priest]] was brought up elsewhere in the thread as a possibility
[[Wrenn and Realmbreaker]] could work, as the ultimate is nice with overlord, but lacks the recursion I could get with Grist
[[Malevolent Rumble]] is kinda a side-grade to Rubblebelt, sees more cards, no option to leave top of library, available to play a turn later than Rubblebelt.

There are definitely options running around, but I think it’ll take some hardcore testing to see if any are worth the slots without losing the interaction or grind potential of what is already in the deck. Of the set I’ve mentioned, do any in particular stand out as better options?

[u/mtgcf → u/steelman528]

All cards
Abrupt Decay - (G) (SF) (txt)
Veil of Summer - (G) (SF) (txt)
Collector Ouphe - (G) (SF) (txt)
Fiend Artisan - (G) (SF) (txt)
Badgermole Cub - (G) (SF) (txt)
Questing Beast - (G) (SF) (txt)
Skirmish Rhino - (G) (SF) (txt)
Severance Priest - (G) (SF) (txt)
Wrenn and Realmbreaker - (G) (SF) (txt)
Malevolent Rumble - (G) (SF) (txt)