Channel Reid - Modern Abzan (Deck Tech & Matches)

As part of his guide to all things G/B Midrange, Reid demonstrates Abzan, the variant with the most firepower against other fair decks thanks to Lingering Souls.
Deck list and article: www.channelfireball.com/artic...

[@SamA-wg5cb]

Those Treetop Villages were invaluable in many games. I never realized how powerful they were in Modern until here.

[@intuit13]

it's probably one of the top 20 unsung heroes of the format. SO many games won strictly because of that little mono-colored manland. I just REALLY wish other colors like black had an equally-good manland. I would kill for one in my modern Waste Not deck! lol. No more Mutavault/Urborg......

[@steelrcurtn95]

There is nothing I enjoy more than rock gameplay by Reid Duke. The decision tree explanations are excellent. Makes me wanna take the plunge and buy the deck.

[@NVRealDeal]

It's a shame that it's the most expensive core of cards in Modern.

[@feliperodrigues5437]

RIP reprints.

[@OldSchoolGM94]

Noah GW Value Town may be worse with Azusa, Horizon Canopy, Collected Company, and Noble Hierarch.

[@intuit13]

yes! i LOVE modern, and I am the type of player who NEEDS to play everything. I go nuts wanting to try every new deck I find out about. That said, there are tons of linear strategy decks that look SO appealing at first (and ARE fun to play at first), but quickly get dull, even if I'm winning a lot. I find I get, by far, the most satisfaction from playing the pure midrange, fair, decks like Jund or Abzan (mainly Jund, though). Wins feel well-deserved and usually take so much more thought and skill to pilot. Even many losses are great experiences, as the deck is very resilient with a good SB and can put up a good fight vs most. Unfortunately, these decks are also by far the most expensive. :( I think playing these decks (again, esp Jund) is by far the best way to learn the modern meta and quickly improve your game on all levels.

[@intuit13]

and I actually do learn a LOT from watching Reid play Jund. Very often I end up facepalming while watching him play because I was kinda calling out plays I would do and I ended up missing something that, in the end, seemed so obvious to Reid.

[@iStarlyTV]

Reid and LSV are the two best CFB content creators, no contest. Whenever I see a constructed video from one of them, I auto-click no matter what deck they're playing. Keep up the excellent commentary!

[@johnshea2679]

iStarlyTV what about menguchi

[@iStarlyTV]

I love him too! How could I forget his Legacy Veedeeos?!

[@feliperodrigues5437]

I added Corey to my short list as well.

[@wakawaka2by43]

But Mengucci is the creator of our Legacy Veedeos.

[@gammie6062]

LSV doesn’t care anymore.

[@MTGUnpacked]

Appreciate the discussion of your decision-making process. Modern games can often be tough to follow for me given the huge card pool.

[@JonDavidOrr]

This was awesome. It felt as if I were getting a one on one lesson on Abzan from Reid. I also like that you guys worked in a CFB advert inbetween games. It was just the right amount of advertising where the viewer feels that it is relevant to them and that it supports you. A win-win for everyone involved. Keep up the awesome content. :)

[@matthewwiebe4988]

Reid, fantastic job on this video series, I really enjoyed it. Listening to your reasoning behind certain sequencing with grindy decks has made me much better with them. Thanks.

[@nathanpotratz5432]

I am an MTG player with a Golgari soul, and I love that about you too Reid. Thank you for the excellent content (I think I've watched every video you've put out in the last year lol). The MTG community is lucky to have you. :-)

[@timtiesflies]

Reid you are the best!. happy holidays. please revisit elves in modern soon.

[@SuperOverLord]

Notivated. Feelsgoodman

[@kingbone2814]

Great videos as always Some unique choices in here for abzan I like that you are pushing the deck in a different branch :D

[@t.e.3535]

I swear, I thought I heard you spit into a steel spittoon at 1:41:09 I think I'm losing my mind 😂

[@Trivedi_Tuesdays]

I see a Reid video, I instant click.

[@Dementia55372]

With Modern trending more toward linear aggro decks and uninteractive combo piles it was nice to be able to see a great player play a real deck even if it's not particularly favored in the current meta.

[@feliperodrigues5437]

Rooting for the Storm ban to restore balance to the Force.

[@feliperodrigues5437]

I want them to ban Past in Flames so the deck will remain dead for the rest of eternity.

[@feliperodrigues5437]

Gifts probably. I'd rather they kill the deck completely though, Storm has already been hit by 9 different bans and it always comes back, now it's the best deck in the format AGAIN, just kill it already.

[@feliperodrigues5437]

I don't doubt people would find a way to make the deck overpowered anyway, honestly they could ban Grapeshot, Warrens and Past in Flames all in a row, just to make sure lol.

[@jeffreypenkoff6178]

Morphose is probably reasonable, but that might just straight kill the deck. Morphose generating blue is often how you are able to go off. Honestly just reprint actual Counterspell. Good permission might be a viable way to repress storm.

[@marcusTeak]

Games start at 2:00

[@martinryan6373]

Round 1 game 2, any consideration to casting goyf t2 bc you would still be able to cast bob post blood moon?

[@gesedvgswgsdrg]

Reid obviously go for the salesmen of the mouth award.

[@tysonkrehnke2835]

Ah this is my kind of deck. Junk Mid range... I cast thought seize and goyf.

[@jeffreypenkoff6178]

Two questions on the Jeskai match. 1. No consideration for Cage postboard to deal with Snapcaster shenanigans? 2. On the turn where you played Grim Flayer and Souls to play through a Cryptic, does it matter whether you force through Souls or Flayer? Souls loses to Electrolyze, but Flayer loses to Path. It turned out that your opp had the Electrolyze, but if I remember correctly, there were likely more paths in the deck. Is that a consideration?

[@GeekCornerNL]

Is this the first midrange deck youre diving into with your article series or did I miss a couple?

[@nicolasrivera5111]

I will never not watch a Reid Duke video

[@TheChiefKipSavage]

Hey Reid love your content and listening to you're reasoning. I play abzan almost exclusively so I especially enjoyed this one. Right now my list is very strong against almost the entire field however I have a miserable matchup against Tron and Valakut decks. Those are two of the most popular decks in the format. Based on your experience do you think I should warp my decklist to have a better matchup against those of is it better to keep my decklist that is favorable against virtually everything else and just ignore those two matchups?

[@CBlastoise]

Alex Grant im not Reid. But thoughtseize/more of all kinds of hand disruption help in both matchups. Fullminator mage can also give tron a hard time.

[@graelstream2353]

Hoping to see Reid go back to jund tho 😊

[@williamoscar1234]

Been playing abzan in modern at my local store for about a month now where we get up 25-30 for modern on fnm. We have a pretty good meta, the deck feels great. Reid is right liliana pulls alot of weight, you lose to alot of top decks more so then your opponent out playing you or the deck.

[@chriswilkins3254]

Match 3, Game 2. Can that opponent get any more nut draws? Every turn was a haymaker top deck.

[@haganbrown9414]

Why is there no path to exile in the abzan deck Reid?

[@dragondadgaming3787]

Because the core of the deck is all about denying your opponent the resources it needs to win, and path gives them the extra acceleration they need to play more spells.

[@orienlouttit6160]

I wish digital lilliana wasn't the same price as paper lilli

[@AndrewHunter]

At 1:48:50 - no consideration to Inquisiton + Flayer? Lili is nice, yeah, but that puts pressure on and gives you information on their hand.

[@feliperodrigues5437]

You can do the same play next turn, and playing Lili first takes away one extra card from the opponent's hand and brings her closer to ultimate.

[@clozeone]

Reid and LSV make me want to spend money on MTG. ChannelFireball made a good decision when they hired them.

[@legochickenguy4938]

Liliana the Deck

[@jeff30458]

What happened to Siege Rhino?

[@DiviTon]

Round 3 as soon as you played the 2nd blooming marsh I thought "That might be the wrong land..." and then Reid said the same thing. Blood Moon is so lame.

[@franzose1112]

i want to talk about the BGx. i don't think that bloodbraid elf in jund is enough powerful to compare the strategy of lingering souls in abzan. Of course, elf is an unbelievable card advantage strategy but imho souls represents a more solid strategy, chump-flying blocker and a formidable attacker. Elf without the old banned jund cards (shaman, puunishing fire) is not enough. I loved jund. But for now Abzan is still greater.

[@FlackooPretty]

If I wanted to spend some money to get into modern again. Should I rather buy Abzan or 5C Humans? I really enjoy both decks but I'm not really familiar with the meta and which one will stay more relevant.

[@nvs3221]

Its really going to depend on your lgs meta. Abzan is very expensive, but i feel as if it will always have a place in the meta. I think you should proxy it out to playtest it and see if it fits your playstyle before buying it.

[@a.j.paradis8199]

FlackooPretty it looks like both will 'stay relevant' Abzan(and straight bg and jund) are hard to hate out. BG is probably going to be able to be tuned to the/your meta and pick up new cards as time goes on. Humans more or less only gets humans. I like Jund right now with Kolaghan's Command, Hazoret, Ancient Grudge and Raging Ravine more than I like Lingering Souls, Stony Silence, Path, Gideon, Sorin, Rhino, Voice, etc. Jund also has access to Bolt, which kills people. If the choice is Abzan or Humans, I'd say Abzan. But I've always been Jund guy. Playing Jund over Abzan weakens the mana but gives you Terminate over Path, the downside is 2 mana, not ramping your opponent. There's still bolt and push for dorks, shadows and everything between. Red also gives you K-command and ancient grudge, which also help beat up on artifacts. K-Command is better against Affinity, Silence is better against stuff like Tron or Lantern. You get to play up to four Terminate and get to play with zero Path while still having up to 8 one mana removal spells. Jund also gives you Raging Ravine. Yes, more expensive then Treetop and doesn't gain life like Vent but Ravine is how Jund has been good for so long. There's a reason it costs 5 mana to attack where Treetop costs 3 and Vent 4.

[@krejman]

IMHO 5c humans are better and will be more relevant, as BGx midrange decks aren't tier 1 decks anymore

[@zyaffee]

FlackooPretty Humans is the better deck in this meta, but as others have said Abzan is more likely to stay tournament viable in the long long term (hence the premium for buying in). I'd build humans though, its good hands can be busted regardless of what you face.

[@Hero-er9oj]

FlackooPretty to add to what everyone else has said, humans get added in almost every set and the mana is so consistent you can swap humans in and out to suit your meta.

[@EvonyBasics]

OK, so each player can cast exactly one spell per turn... and we'll be all good

[@cloudscraper]

against James Gates: Why did you play blooming marsh instead of verdant catacombs as third land when you know your opponent has blood moon in their deck, you do not need your 4th land drop for anything, and you are planning to play Liliana that you can use to discard that bad Blooming Marsh? It seems a very huge mistake that a player of your experience is not supposed to make, unfortunately. Great content nonetheless, love your videos and articles Reid! :)

[@PoodlestarGenerica]

Clearly the wrong decision, but he did say he played the wrong land.

[@kingregal5449]

CFB can you please buy your content creators better mics? Sincerely, Everyone

[@ozfan6]

I love Reid, he's one of the best, but I just don't see the point of splashing white if you don't play any paths or rhinos. Especially path is the best removal spell in modern bar none.

[@guidom3419]

Murderous cut over Pte? Seriously?

[@leesalt]

Guido M More and more players are coming to the conclusion that it's not a good idea to mana ramp your opponent.

[@zyaffee]

Guido M My understanding is that Abzan is a really grindy deck that wants to get an advantage with one for one trades alongside cheap, game centralizing threats like Lili, Souls, or Goyf. Path putting the opponent up a basic land hurts Abzan a lot more than other decks because it isn't closing the game any time soon, so the extra mana accumulates value over several turns.

[@MountieBeaver42]

In his article on channel fireball, Reid mentions that he wanted souls to be the only card requiring white mana in the main deck in order to have less strain on the mana base (it's also what lets him run so many treetops).

[@guidom3419]

But Pte is the best removal in this meta

[@zyaffee]

Guido M Fatal Push

[@KrimzonTheRed]

Protect the children who play MTG and unban Jeremy because we live in a FREE society where free speech is our constitutional right! Fight against these evil people who do not care about protecting their players and only chime in when something goes against their obvious extreme left wing liberal bias. If you have a complaint about the game then file a complaint- wizards.custhelp.com/

[@HeadShotKilla10]

blood moon should just be banned, its such a gay card for people to play and i would love all the noobs tears if it did get banned

[@photohound4793]

dude, fix your freaking audio

[@billyboy7596]

Reid Duke could be talking with a god damn voice box ala Kane 1998 and i'd still listen