Category Archives: Abzan

Pulse of Murasa is Still Misunderstood

Pulse of Murasa
Pulse of Murasa is a card with a bright future. It is not yet fully understood, or widely enough played.

Patrick and Michael start in a strange place… A Grixis deck that won a recent PPTQ in the hands of Zak Elisk:

Zak Elisk Grixis

2 Duress
3 Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet
3 Murderous Cut
3 Painful Truths
2 Rakshasa’s Secret
2 Ruinous Path
1 Tasigur, the Golden Fang

1 Dig Through Time
4 Jace, Vryn’s Prodigy

2 Kolaghan’s Command

1 Pulse of Murasa

2 Chandra, Flamecaller
4 Fiery Impulse
2 Goblin Murk Dwellers
2 Roast

4 Bloodstained Mire
1 Cinder Glade
1 Island
2 Mountain
4 Polluted Delta
2 Smoldering Marsh
2 Sunken Hollow
2 Swamp
4 Wandering Fumarole
4 Wooded Foothills

sideboard:
2 Rakshasa’s Secret
1 Transgress the Mind
3 Disdainful Stroke
2 Dispel
1 Exert Influence
2 Pulse of Murasa
2 Kozilek’s Return
1 Roast
1 Sarkhan the Dragonspeaker

It turns out this is a Gerry Thompson deck from a recent article! (which is probably part of the reason Mike likes it so much to begin with)

… But they end up in an unanticipated place.

Pulse of Murasa is sweet, right?

Pulse of Murasa v. Renewed Faith

Renewed Faith
Renewed Faith

Renewed Faith was, once upon a time, a tournament Staple. It was awesome and flexible. It could cycle you into a land, or get your six life. It did everything a control deck might want…

Pulse of Murasa is kind of like both halves of Renewed Faith. For one more mana than a cycled Renewed Faith, Pulse of Murasa is both halves. You get six life, and keep the land!

One of Mike’s ideas is to run Pulse of Murasa in a conjectural sixty-four card deck. Keying in on the Ben Rubin strategy of playing a bigger deck in order to accommodate more fetch lands as tutors, Mike posits hybridizing with a further [real] tutor engine of Bring to Light. An additional tutor theme will further pay off a larger deck size.

Patrick responds with an interesting question:

Why not sixty-eight cards?

If you’re going to play Five-color Bring to Light anyway… What about 20 + 5 + 5?

Patrick points out that by playing even more cards than BR did you can play all five colors but have better mana than a sixty card deck with twenty-seven lands!

Patrick presents a hypothetical mana base of:
4 Bloodstained Mire
4 Flooded Strand
4 Polluted Delta
4 Windswept Heath
4 Wooded Foothills
1 Forest
1 Island
1 Mountain
1 Plains
1 Swamp
1 Canopy Vista
1 Cinder Glade
1 Prairie Stream
1 Smoldering Marsh
1 Sunken Hollow

… THIRTY lands [in a sixty-six card deck]

Each of the fetch lands is effectively a “quad land”. You will draw a lower percentage of battle lands and a lower percentage of basics; and a greater percentage of the fetch lands that can each get four of the five colors!

This is a mana base that maximizes the ability to hit more, different, colors and a huge percentage of your lands will enter the battlefield untapped!

Bloodstained Mire

  • Cannot get white
  • Can get black via any Swamp
  • Can get blue via Sunken Hollow
  • Can get red via any Mountain
  • Can get green via Cinder Glade

Flooded Strand

  • Can get white via any Plains
  • Can get black via Sunken Hollow
  • Can get blue via any Island
  • Cannot get red
  • Can get green via Canopy Vista

Polluted Delta

  • Can get white via Prairie Stream
  • Can get black via any Swamp
  • Can get blue via any Island
  • Can get red via Smoldering Marsh
  • Cannot get green

Windswept Heath

  • Can get white via any Plains
  • Cannot get black
  • Can get blue via Prairie Stream
  • Can get red via Cinder Glade
  • Can get green via any Forest

Wooded Foothills

  • Can get white via Canopy Vista
  • Can get black via Smoldering Marsh
  • Cannot get blue
  • Can get red via any Mountain
  • Can get green via any Forest

What follows is a truly Innovative discussion of a new approach to deck design, plus a rundown of all the current top Standard archetypes.

You simply can’t miss “Pulse of Murasa is Still Misunderstood”

Direct Download

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Is Remorseless Punishment the Next Cruel Ultimatum… And is 64 the New 60?

This week Top Level Podcast run through Remorseless Punishment and a handful other quick hits from Oath of the Gatewatch, and meditate on both Ben Rubin’s highly successful sixty-four card Abzan deck and other “heavy” decks from tournament Magic history.

Remorseless Punishment
Remorseless Punishment

Remorseless Punishment is both a Browbeat and a Cruel Ultimatum… The question is, is it more Browbeat — a card with two different very good sides that failed to add up to a single Tier One sorcery — or more Cruel Ultimatum (the textbook Standard “greater power”)?

“They’re just gong to choose the Hangarback Walker.”
-Patrick Chapin

Linvala, the Preserver
Linvala, the Preserver

Mike was originally lukewarm on Linvala, the Preserver; but came around on her (at least a little) after reading Patrick’s article on Star City Games!

Neither podcaster considers Linvala veritable “great white hope” against beatdown, however.

Unnatural Endurance
Unnatural Endurance

“This card is going to revolutionize… Things.”
-Patrick Chapin

Unnatural Endurance is highly reminiscent of [playable] Theros Block combat instant Boon of Erebos… But without a certain drawback.

Patrick predicts that Unnatural Endurance will be a game-changing addition for beatdown decks, as there is a bigger gap between Unnatural Endurance and Boon of Erebos than Vapor Snag (cross-format Staple) and Unsummon (fringe playable spell).

Mike calls this one “a black Counterspell”


Reality Smasher
Reality Smasher

“It’s like a Stormbreath Dragon… but bigger.”
-Patrick

One of Mike’s favorite cards from Oath of the Gatewatch… and it’s easy to see why. Patrick thinks Reality Smasher will indeed be smashing a reality near you, and soon. It is “more Baneslayer Angel than Gaea’s Revenge” and already better in his mind than that playable blue-hating big boy.

Much of this podcast is spent discussing Ben Rubin’s sixty-four card Abzan deck. For anyone who hasn’t seen it, Ben finished second at Grand Prix Oakland (to the amazing Reid Duke) with this innovative deck:

2 Hangarback Walker

1 Duress
2 Murderous Cut
3 Tasigur, the Golden Fang
3 Ultimate Price

4 Stubborn Denial

4 Anafenza, the Foremost
2 Dromoka’s Command
4 Siege Rhino

3 Den Protector
4 Warden of the First Tree

3 Gideon, Ally of Zendikar

1 Canopy Vista
4 Flooded Strand
2 Forest
1 Llanowar Wastes
1 Plains
4 Polluted Delta
2 Prairie Stream
2 Shambling Vent
1 Smoldering Marsh
2 Sunken Hollow
1 Swamp
4 Windswept Heath
4 Wooded Foothills

sb:
2 Painful Truths
2 Rising Miasma
2 Self-Inflicted Wound
2 Disdainful Stroke
2 Exert Influence
2 Jace, Vryn’s Prodigy
1 Dragonlord Silumgar
2 Ojutai’s Command

The lazy analysis is that Ben added four Stubborn Denials to an otherwise black-green-white deck, taking the mode count of sixty up to sixty-four. That would be inaccurate, at best, of course; why then would he have twenty-nine lands?

The real reason behind Rubin’s decision surprises Mike… and will probably surprise you.

But Patrick would play this Abzan, for sure.

Find out all the secrets in “Is Remorseless Punishment the Next Cruel Ultimatum… And is 64 the New 60?”

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Heir of the Wilds and Snapping Gnarlid at the Two

Heir of the Wilds
Heir of the Wild returns as a two drop that can hit hard, and punch above weight.

Now might be a great time to be Abzan splashing red!

Red gives Abzan some amazing tools, like Crackling Doom (arguably the strongest card in Mardu colors), Kolaghan’s Command, or Radiant Flames out of the sideboard. Matt Carlson won the most recent Star City Games Standard Open with an Abzan deck touching for many strategic red cards.

Abzan Red by Matt Carlson

1 Murderous Cut

3 Abzan Charm
4 Anafenza, the Foremost
2 Crackling Doom
2 Dromoka’s Command
1 Kolaghan, the Storm’s Fury
1 Kolaghan’s Command
4 Siege Rhino
1 Sorin, Solemn Visitor

2 Den Protector
4 Heir of the Wilds
4 Warden of the First Tree

3 Gideon, Ally of Zendikar
1 Secure the Wastes
2 Wingmate Roc

2 Bloodstained Mire
2 Canopy Vista
1 Cinder Glade
3 Flooded Strand
2 Forest
1 Plains
2 Shambling Vent
1 Smoldering Marsh
1 Sunken Hollow
2 Swamp
4 Windswept Heath
4 Wooded Foothills

Sideboard
1 Duress
2 Infinite Obliteration
1 Virulent Plague
1 Dromoka’s Command
2 Den Protector
2 Dragonmaster Outcast
2 Radiant Flames
2 Hallowed Moonlight
2 Silkwrap

Matt won with four copies of Heir of the Wilds… and only two copies of Den Protector (main).

The format has gotten to a point where Heir of the Wilds is a more appropriate two drop than, say, Hangarback Walker. Hangarback Walker is a great card — don’t get us wrong — but the current demands of the format can ask to hit harder than a 1/1 card advantage engine for two mana… And Heir of the Wilds is great in particular because it can trade off so effectively against opposing people’s Siege Rhinos (or other key monsters) in combat.

Another two drop that deserves consideration in green aggressive decks is Snapping Gnarlid:

snapping-gnarlid

We spoiled Snapping Gnarlid prior to Battle for Zendikar, and generally liked it. However most of our discussion has been about Snapping Gnarlid in landfall linear aggro decks. In his “Temur Black” deck, Josh McClain chose Snapping Gnarlid as his two drop, taking advantage of some thirteen fetchlands.

Temur Black by Josh McClain

3 Murderous Cut
2 Tasigur, the Golden Fang

3 Stubborn Denial

4 Savage Knuckleblade

4 Rattleclaw Mystic
4 Snapping Gnarlid
4 Woodland Wanderer

2 Crater’s Claws
3 Draconic Roar
1 Fiery Impulse
2 Sarkhan, the Dragonspeaker
2 Thunderbreak Regent

4 Bloodstained Mire
1 Forest
1 Island
1 Mountain
4 Polluted Delta
1 Shivan Reef
1 Swamp
1 Sunken Hollow
1 Cinder Glade
2 Frontier Bivouac
2 Lumbering Falls
1 Smoldering Marsh
1 Windswept Heath
4 Wooded Foothills
1 Yavimaya Coast

Sideboard
2 Duress
1 Self-Inflicted Wound
1 Virulent Plague
2 Disdainful Stroke
1 Dispel
1 Exert Influence
1 Stubborn Denial
2 Fiery Impulse
2 Radiant Flames
2 Roast

It is a little ironic, we think, that the actual Temur Ferocious deck goes with Snapping Gnarlid as the Abzan deck adpots Heir of the Wilds.

In addition to Standard chats about green two drops, Patrick and Michael peruse the recent Modern results and talk a little about the math and matchups of that format.

Listen to “Heir of the Wilds and Snapping Gnarlid at the Two” now:

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Ob Nixilis Reignited in Abzan

Ob Nixilis Reignited
Ob Nixilis Reignited might seem slow, but think about it like this:
Either they have a creature (and you kill it) or they don’t… And you draw an extra card.
And you keep drawing an extra card for the rest of the game.

“Ob Nixilis Reignited in Abzan” starts at a familiar place for Top Level Podcast… One of our hosts expressing his admiration for Siege Rhino!

(for once, it’s Mike)

So this episode of Top Level Podcast is dedicated to building Abzan decks with new tools from Battle for Zendikar.

Drana, Liberator of Malakir
Drana, Liberator of Malakir

Drana, Liberator of Malakir is a standout three drop… That Mike somehow didn’t have in his starting Abzan Aggro deck. There are lots of good three drop creatures, but Drana is the rare card on the order of Anafenza, the Foremost or Brimaz, King of Oreskos at that point on the mana curve.

Some Drana, Liberator of Malakir highlights:

  • Drana is great against removal! Drana is too big on the backside for Wild Slash; generally too small for Abzan Charm or Valorous Stance; and benefits from the absence of Bile Blight and Lightning Strike (plus the general lack of popularity of Ultimate Price).
  • Drana is a super deadly attacker! Because Drana has first strike, damage potential for all your attackers who don’t have first strike will go through the roof on every successful attack.
  • Drana works with both sides of Hangarback Walker! Drana gives Hangarback Walker itself a +1/+1 counter, but can be even better with several small creatures at your beck and call.

Woodland Wanderer
Woodland Wanderer

Patrick convinces Mike to try Woodland Wanderer; previously Mike considered it just some guy.

“The difference between Butcher of the Horde and Woodland Wanderer is like the difference between Prognostic Sphinx and Baneslayer Angel.”
-Patrick Chapin

… Sometimes Prognostic Sphinx is “right” but Baneslayer Angel gives them the business. Woodland Wanderer just gives them the business.

We conclude the episode with Patrick putting together an Abzan Control deck on the fly!

Abzan Midrange by Patrick Chapin

4 Hangarback Walker

2 Languish
2 Ob-Nixilis, Reignited
2 Transgress the Mind
1 Reave Soul
3 Ruinous Path
1 Ultimate Price

4 Abzan Charm
4 Siege Rhino

3 Den Protector
2 Greenwarden of Murasa
3 Nissa, Vastwood Seer

2 Gideon, Ally of Zendikar

2 Caves of Koilos
1 Canopy Vista
3 Forest
4 Llanowar Wastes
3 Mortuary Mire
2 Plains
4 Sandsteppe Citadel
4 Shambling Vent
4 Windswept Heath

Sideboard
1 Duress
1 Ob-Nixilis, Reignited
2 Painful Truths
1 Self-Inflicted Wound
1 Transgress the Mind
1 Dromoka’s Command
3 Arashin Cleric
1 Planar Outburst
1 Righteous Surge
1 Tragic Arrogance
1 Gaea’s Revenge
1 Infinite Obliteration

Give “Ob Nixilis in Abzan” a listen now:

Direct Download

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Hangarback Walker in Abzan Aggro

Hangarback Walker

“How good can a deck be when the most popular deck is your worst matchup?”
-Patrick Chapin

Hangarback Walker has been a key contributor to many decks since the release of Magic Origins in Standard…

  1. First it showed up in a U/W Control deck (enabling cards like Thopter Spy Network)
  2. At the Pro Tour it hooked up with Ensoul Artifact and Hardened Scales
  3. But today: Hangarback Walker is transforming Abzan Aggro!

Hangarback Walker showed up in multiple builds of Abzan Aggro in the Top 8 of Grand Prix London 2015, including the decks played by winner Fabrizio Anteri and finalist Matteo Moure

Hangarback Abzan by Fabrizio Anteri

4 Hangarback Walker

1 Hero’s Downfall
2 Ultimate Price

4 Abzan Charm
1 Ajani, Mentor of Heroes
4 Anafenza, the Foremost
4 Dromoka’s Command
4 Fleecemane Lion
4 Siege Rhino
1 Sorin, Solemn Visitor

4 Den Protector
1 Warden of the First Tree

3 Caves of Koilos
3 Forest
3 Llanowar Wastes
1 Mana Confluence
2 Plains
4 Sandsteppe Citadel
4 Temple of Malady
1 Temple of Silence
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
4 Windswept Heath

sideboard:
2 Self-Inflicted Wound
1 Tasigur, the Golden Fang
4 Thoughtseize
1 Ultimate Price
1 Arashin Cleric
2 Elspeth, Sun’s Champion
1 Glare of Heresy
1 Surge of Righteousness
2 Tragic Arrogance

Hangarback Abzan by Matteo Moure

4 Hangarback Walker

2 Hero’s Downfall
3 Ultimate Price

2 Sorin, Solemn Visitor

2 Abzan Charm
4 Anafenza, the Foremost
3 Dromoka’s Command
4 Fleecemane Lion
4 Siege Rhino

2 Den Protector
2 Warden of the First Tree

2 Wingmate Roc

3 Caves of Koilos
2 Forest
3 Llanowar Wastes
1 Mana Confluence
2 Plains
4 Sandsteppe Citadel
3 Temple of Malady
3 Temple of Silence
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
4 Windswept Heath

sideboard:
3 Herald of Torment
4 Thoughtseize
1 Ultimate Price
1 Dromoka’s Command
1 Unravel the Aether
2 Elspeth, Sun’s Champion
3 Tragic Arrogance

The defining component of the new breed of Abzan Aggro decks isn’t just the inclusion of Hangarback Walker… But also playing twenty-six lands (or as Patrick says, the number they were supposed to be playing all along).

“Hangarback Walker is TWO TIERS better than Rakshasha Deathdealer”
-Chapin

Everyone knows Hangarback Walker is a powerful card. But what makes Hangarback Walker so good in Abzan Aggro specifically?

  • It has a super good rate… Abzan Aggro is all about cards with great rates
  • Hangarback Walker lets Abzan Aggro afford to play a bigger game – like when Faeries draws Bitterblossom
  • Dromoka’s Command allows Abzan Aggro to escape Abzan Charm (so that you can still get the 1/1 Thopter tokens)
  • Tons of +1/+1 counter redundancy – Abzan Charm; Dromoka’s Command; Ajani, Mentor of Heroes, etc.

Michael and Patrick also discuss G/R Dragons, the concept of not playing new cards versus curating old cards, Bant Heroic and what might be great next week.

Check it out in “Hangarback Walker in Abzan Aggro”:

Direct Download

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Eidolon of the Great Revel is Surprisingly Good in the Mirror

Eidolon of the Great Revel
Eleven members of Team Ultra PRO played a red deck highlighted by Eidolon of the Great Revel

Team Ultra PRO had an outstanding Pro Tour Magic Origins!

Two members of Team Ultra PRO made Top 8 of Pro Tour Magic Origins — Pat Cox with Mono-Red and Matt Sperling with Abzan Control — with Rich Hoaen in ninth place on tiebreakers.

Find out how Michael, Patrick, and their Team Ultra PRO partners put together their multiple awesome decks, and better finishes!

Mono-Red by Pat Cox

4 Abbot of Keral Keep
4 Eidolon of the Great Revel
4 Exquisite Firecraft
1 Goblin Glory Chaser
1 Goblin Heelcutter
2 Lightning Berserker
4 Lightning Strike
4 Monastery Swiftspear
4 Searing Blood
4 Stoke the Flames
1 Titan’s Strength
4 Wild Slash
3 Zurgo Bellstriker

20 Mountain

sideboard:
1 Chandra, Pyromaster
2 Goblin Heelcutter
2 Magma Spray
2 Outpost Siege
4 Roast
2 Scab-Clan Berserker
2 Scouring Sands

Highlights:

  • How many Lightning Berserkers is the right number? Top Level Podcast is a house divided here. Patrick thinks the PT-winning build (with four Lightning Berserkers) is a home run.
  • (like we said above) Eidolon of the Great Revel is surprisingly good in the mirror… also a great source of free wins
  • Abbot of Keral Keep has elevated red to high Tier One status. It is a great way to try to hit your third land drop, and a Scry 1 even when you miss.
  • “Stoke the Flames is a really powerful Magic card”
  • Searing Blood is good against most decks main deck, due to the addition of the new Planeswalkers in Magic Origins

Abzan Control by Matt Sperling

1 Ugin, the Spirit Dragon

3 Hero’s Downfall
2 Languish
1 Tasigur, the Golden Fang
4 Thoughtseize
2 Ultimate Price

4 Abzan Charm
4 Siege Rhino

4 Courser of Kruphix
3 Den Protector
3 Nissa, Vastwood Seer

3 Elspeth, Sun’s Champion

2 Caves of Koilos
4 Forest
2 Llanowar Wastes
1 Plains
4 Sandsteppe Citadel
4 Temple of Malady
4 Temple of Silence
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
4 Windswept Heath

sideboard:
2 Drown in Sorrow
1 Duress
1 Pharika’s Cure
2 Read the Bones
1 Tasigur, the Golden Fang
1 Ultimate Price
2 Dromoka’s Command
3 Fleecemane Lion
1 Utter End
1 End Hostilities

What an unusual collection of two-ofs, three-ofs, and unique card choices! How do Platinum level pros like Patrick Chapin and Matt Sperling get to three Den Protectors, or playing them on turn two against aggro decks?

How do you end up with a deck like this, that ends up being so successful?

“Eidolon of the Great Revel is Surprisingly Good in the Mirror” will tell you!

To wit:

Three reasons Ultimate Price got better in Abzan Control:

  1. Abzan Aggro and Esper Dragons (both decks with powerful multicolor cards) got worse due to Languish being printed.
  2. The default Red Deck became more about Abbot of Keral Keep and no longer “go wide” with Hordeling Outburst
  3. Nissa, Vastwood Seer encourages Abzan players to run basic Forest… Which can cast Ultimate Price but not Bile Blight.

Remember:
“As long as you don’t have the wrong answers, you can’t beat Abzan’s card quality.”

Give “Eidolon of the Great Revel is Surprisingly Good in the Mirror” a listen now:

Direct Download

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Dromoka’s Command, Meet Wingmate Roc

Before we get to the main topics, Mike got his physical copy of Next Level Deckbuilding in the mail!

Mike already loved Next Level Deckbuilding (having had the digital version for a year or so) but has lots of nice things to say about the physical release.

If you want to check out Patrick’s new release, Next Level Deckbuilding is available in paperback at Star City Games:

NextLevelDeckbuilding

Next Level Deckbuilding

Gerry Thompson, a friend to the ‘cast, won the MOCS this past weekend with a “retro” Abzan Aggro!

“Gerry Thompson netdecked my grandfather.”
-Patrick

… And it really looks like he did!

If you look at Gerry’s deck, it really looks like a Khans of Tarkir-era deck, rather than one informed by Fate Reforged, let alone Dragons of Tarkir.

Abzan Aggro, by Gerry Thompson

2 Hero’s Downfall
4 Thoughtseize

4 Abzan Charm
4 Anafenza, the Foremost
3 Dromoka’s Command
4 Fleecemane Lion
4 Rakshasha Deathdealer
4 Siege Rhino
1 Sorin, Solemn Visitor

2 Warden of the First Tree

2 Wingmate Roc

2 Caves of Koilos
2 Forest
3 Llanowar Wastes
1 Mana Confluence
2 Plains
4 Sandsteppe Citadel
4 Temple of Malady
3 Temple of Silence
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
4 Windswept Heath

sideboard:
2 Drown in Sorrow
2 Duress
3 Self-Inflicted Wound
1 Dromoka’s Command
1 Sorin, Solemn Visitor
2 Mistcutter Hydra
1 Elspeth, Sun’s Champion
2 Glare of Heresy
1 Wingmate Roc


Dromoka's Command
By making room for Dromoka’s Command in place of Bile Blight, Gerry reduced his deck’s reliance on black mana, in particular BB on turn two.

Wingmate Roc
Welcome back, Wingmate Roc! This is a threat that lets him get in under Elspeth Sun’s Champion, both on mana and on power.

Mana Confluence
Mana Confluence as a twenty-sixth land does multiple things for the usually-twenty-five-land Abzan Aggro archetype. Among other things, you can side out the Mana Confluence against Red Aggro on the draw!

Self-Inflicted Wound
Self-Inflicted Wound hits a shocking number of decks. Patrick spitballs about playing it main deck, not even just sideboard.

Mistcutter Hydra
Mistcutter Hydra, a rediscovered piece of technology, can run right by Dragonlord Ojutai!

Michael — and especially Patrick — come to the conclusion that Elspeth, Sun’s Champion might be where you want to go in Standard… But have a hard time landing on where to play their Elspeth, Sun’s Champions.

What do you think?

Give us a listen, and then comment below.

Direct Download

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Abzan Aggro and Warden of the First Tree

“Abzan Aggro and Warden of the First Tree” discusses…

Identifying good cards… and playing them!

How and when to “kill your darlings” in deck building. When do you, say, cut a Sakura-Tribe Elder, Goblin Piledriver… Or Courser of Kruphix? <-- This is a key deck building superpower!

The secrets of the Abzan Aggro deck that Patrick and other top Pro players ran at Grand Prix Denver (including a second-place “steak knives” finish by friend, friend, and friend of the ‘cast Matt Sperling).

Matt Sperling’s Abzan Aggro (care of Paul Rietzl)

2 Bile Blight
1 Herald of Torment
2 Hero’s Downfall
4 Thoughtseize

4 Abzan Charm
3 Anafenza, the Foremost
4 Fleecemane Lion
3 Rakshasa Deathdealer
4 Siege Rhino
2 Sorin, Solemn Visitor

4 Heir of the Wilds

2 Wingmate Roc

3 Caves of Koilos
2 Forest
2 Llanowar Wastes
2 Plains
4 Temple of Malady
2 Temple of Silence
4 Sandsteppe Citadel
2 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
4 Windswept Heath

sideboard:
2 Bile Blight
1 Dark Betrayal
2 Drown in Sorrow
1 Murderous Cut
3 Back to Nature
2 Hunt the Hunter
3 Glare of Heresy
1 Wingmate Roc

Contextualizing Abzan Aggro for a post-Fate Reforged world… Where Patrick and Michael talk about newcomer Warden of the First Tree!

Warden of the First Tree
Warden of the First Tree

Many Warden of the First Tree ideas, and in-depth analysis of the card!

What are you waiting for? Listen to this great new episode!

Direct Download

Want to hear more from Patrick and Michael? Check out their Magic: The Gathering books:

Patrick’s Magic: The Gathering Books

Michael’s Magic: The Gathering Books

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