So I plan on making a full an in-depth primer on this deck after more extensive testing and tweaking, but if you're looking for something hella fun to play for Eternal Weekend and are feeling kinda "meh" about your current deck choice anddddd wanna audible into something super spicy and actually quite powerful. . . HERE. . . IS. . . THE. . . DECK. . . FOR. . . YOU!
I give you:
5-Color Human Stompy
Lands (20):
4 Cavern of Souls
3 Mana Confluence
4 Windswept Heath
1 Verdant Catacombs
2 Savannah
1 Bayou
1 Scrubland
1 Forest
1 Plains
1 Strip Mine
1 Wasteland
Artifacts (7):
1 Black Lotus
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Mox Ruby
1 Chalice of the Void
Enchantments (2):
2 Stony Silence
Creatures (26):
4 Noble Hierarch
1 Deathrite Shaman
2 Dark Confidant
4 Kitesail Freebooter
4 Mayor of Avabruck
4 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
2 Kambal, Consul of Allocation
3 Mantis Rider
2 Palace Jailer
Instants (5):
3 Path to Exile
2 Abrupt Decay
Sideboard
4 Containment Priest
2 Grafdigger’s Cage
1 Kambal, Consul of Allocation
1 Kataki, War’s Wage
2 Knight of the Reliquary
1 Ramunap Excavator
1 Path to Exile
2 Wasteland
1 Abrupt Decay
Ok, basics to know about this deck:
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The manabase looks like hot garbage but it works when you realize that the only spell that requires R or U is Mantis Rider. The rest of the deck is Abzan colors.
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Mantis Rider is worth it. Without Mantis Rider a purely Abzan Approach tends to lack the velocity to finish the job. Think of Mantis Rider as this deck's Reality Smasher or Walking Ballista. It is often the way you deal those final points of damage in critical moments. The impact on the manabase is often negligible and you can have it stuck in hand early as most of your initial plays will be lock pieces or disruption.
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Kitesail Freebooter is an effective card vs. most all blue but gets sided out vs. shops. This card has a very important role to play vs. combo as it can swipe most everything you care about. It also gives the deck a critical extra turn 1 play off a mox.
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Kambal is a house vs. anything that isn't shops.
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The deck has a bit of a transformational board into a mini-Knight of the Reliquary engine for Shops + Ramunap + Kataki. I think, that the way shops is currently configured you need to, if you are a fair creatures deck:
a. Have an answer to turn 1 Inspector (Path in our case)
b. Have a way to mess with the engine (2 Stony in our case)
c. Have some basic lands/fetchlands to protect YOUR early mana cause they could give two shits about wasting a land drop on a waste effect.
d. Have some cards that outclass what they are doing (Mayor in our case primarily but also Mantis to a lesser extent cause of evasion).
e. Attack their life total to make their tombs a problem for them.
f. Attempt to Waste their Shops/Academy to tactically slow them down a bit.
I think this deck employs the right "stew" of all these things and thus I think it has a fairly decent shop matchup.
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This is an aggro deck with tempo elements. Don't be afraid to be aggressive but also know when you need to sit back and play control (ie going for the hatebear instead of the Mantis even if the Mantis gives you more damage faster).
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Hands with many lands are pretty decent in some matchups.
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The deck is a work in progress and is always able to be tweaked but UNDERSTAND WHY YOU ARE TWEAKING IT. I think my list here is a good template for what to do and I'm open to suggestions (ie I've considered cutting the jailers and going up on bobs, or I've considered some mental missteps in the sb), but please keep the discourse civl.
all right, I'm open to feedback and would love to see someone take a deck like this to champs and do well with it as I won't be able to make it this year. If you have any questions feel free to post them here or PM me for a deeper discussion.
Thanks for reading!
-Storm