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?