Abzan Hat Trick
A dominant strategy has emerged.
Deathrite Shaman by Steve Argyle
Murkyaztec has earned first place with their unchanging Abzan Midrange deck for three weeks now. They have clearly established Abzan Midrange as the deck to beat, so what questions is it asking and how has the meta shifted around this?
I’ll dive into what cards each major archetype finds most important in the matchup based on what impedes their objectives. Then I’ll wrap up with how decks are adapting to midrange strategies.
Aggro
Rakdos Cackler illustrated by Ryan Barger
Aggressive decks don’t typically worry about the amount of cards in their opponent’s hand, as they try to end the game before those cards matter. This makes Lifecrafter’s Bestiary, Glint-Sleeve Siphoner, and Ohran Viper much less of a worry for these decks, especially when Abzan Midrange needs to attack with their creatures to get their full value. Volrath’s Stronghold takes too much time to set up, especially if the goal is to clog the board with blockers in the stage of the game aggro is looking to finish with burn. Even Desecration Demon isn’t a worry for aggro if they can keep the tempo.
In the matchup, Abzan Midrange is looking to go 1 for 1 with most of its cards, trading its smaller creatures and removal spells for time. It then seeks to stabilize with Loxodon Smiter as a high-toughness blocker and/or Kitchen Finks as a two-for-one that offers life-gain along the way. Eventually, it can turn the corner and overwhelm the aggro deck with creatures of higher quality.
Aggro decks often lose steam after midrange finds some trades. Keeping on the pressure looks like making creatures large enough to force chump blocks or using evasion to ignore blockers. Then, they might use direct damage to close out the game.
When paired against Abzan Midrange, aggro should keep the high toughness of Loxodon Smiter and the recursion of Kitchen Finks in mind. They will want either more direct damage to ignore these cards or clean 1-for-1 removal against them to maintain momentum.
Combo
Metallic Mimic illustrated by Zack Stella
Combo decks only care about doing their thing, and that extends to others trying to stop them from doing that thing. Dusk Urchins, Ohran Viper, and Lifecrafter’s Bestiary are irrelevant yet again as having extra cards doesn’t matter, only the right ones. Even Kitchen Finks, Glint-Sleeve Siphoner, and Selesnya Charm are only okay at applying pressure with their vanilla stats.
Abzan Midrange foils the plans of combo in two separate ways: 1) it disrupts with Abrupt Decay and Deathrite Shaman; and 2) it pressures the combo deck quickly to kill them before they combo off. Lines with Birds of Paradise into Loxodon Smiter and Desecration Demon are especially brutal towards combo strategies that require time to set up.
Combos can either lean into speed or into protection and redundancy. A quick combo requires Abzan Midrange to have one of its few disruptive elements within the first couple of turns. Even if they do, Abzan isn’t as lightning quick at killing as Red Deck Wins. In fact, the combo deck might want to wait until it has the proper protections in place to win through interaction, or dedicate extra slots to its combo to try again. However, these redundancies do come at the cost of speed, and Abzan Midrange still has a fierce beatdown plan.
Combo may want a plan against the best curve-outs from Abzan, either by winning quicker or slowing the midrange strategy by enough. Protection and redundancy lessens the impact of Abrupt Decay from fracturing their combo and Deathrite Shaman from sniping key cards from the graveyard.
Control
Disallow illustrated by Min Yum
Inverse of Combo, Control only cares about impeding their opponent as winning the game becomes the secondary objective. Many times, Control runs few to zero cards that can be hit with Abrupt Decay and Fatal Push. Cards like Loxodon Smiter and Desecration Demon also don’t mean much to control, as these cards do nothing when they enter or leave or stay on the battlefield, meaning that the control deck can afford to take a few hits. Eventually, the Control deck will overpower midrange with sheer card advantage and impact.
Abzan Midrange is constructed to overcome answers as Glint-Sleeve Siphoner, Ohran Viper, and Dusk Urchins all attack and draw cards. Lifecrafter’s Bestiary replaces each creature cast, meaning that 1-for-1 removal dries up, while mass removal is counteracted with Volrath’s Stronghold keeping every draw step live. With all the threat replacement occuring, including Kitchen Finks’ persist ability, it is tough for Control to answer everything.
Control wants to have very efficient answers to multiple of Abzan’s threats. Mass removal is a great start, but the midrange deck might have already recouped their cost with the creatures’ draw abilities while getting in some chip damage. The endgame for Control decks might look either like an effective lock or a tempo-oriented style.
Lifecrafter’s Bestiary is one of Abzan Midrange’s strongest tools against control, as it can run them out of answers. While it is slower and isn’t technically card advantage, Volrath’s Stronghold poses a similar threat. Having a way to manipulate the top card of Abzan’s library, or destroying their land, will minimize the impact of the powerful land.
Midrange
Kitchen Finks illustrated by Kev Walker
Midrange mirrors typically arrive at a board stall scenario, so having a way to break parity is imperative to winning the match. Lifecrafter’s Bestiary provides an engine to overwhelm the opponent while Desecration Demon and Deathrite Shaman provide some evasive damage. Removal can also deal with a key blocker that would otherwise ward off large attacks.
Maintaining the tempo advantage is important, as pressure can force other midrange decks to lose potential value. For example, if two players each have a Glint-Sleeve Siphoner and they trade off, the one who was able to swing in with it will have the energy advantage and will be more likely to draw extra cards with later copies of the card. At the same time, if you have an advantage engine online while your opponent doesn’t, you may want to abuse it for as long as you can to ensure your victory.
Adapting
Previously untouched cards are finding homes as the meta changes.
The meta has been changing to adapt to midrange strategies. Aggro decks are playing more evasive threats, like Desecration Demon, and direct burn, like Rakdos Charm, to close games from clogged boardstates. Combo decks are running persist blockers to buy time from beaters and Heroic Intervention to protect its win-cons from Abrupt Decay. We’ve seen Oona, Queen of the Fae slot in control to close the game sooner. We even have midrange strategies that play Armageddon with mana-dorks to strand cards in their opponent’s hand, and another deck that goes over the top with Dramatic Entrance.
Organic flux within a format is exciting. Not only are existing lists evolving and refining in response to the field at large, but new decks develop as cards are reviewed through a different lens. What struggled in the first few weeks may be the perfect meta call down the line as players shift strategies. Even within the recontextualization of Magic: The Gathering, card perception is changing, but I think that may deserve its own piece at a later time. For now, we congratulate Murkyaztec’s 3-peat performance. Can they make it four, or will a new player find the spotlight next?
