Midrange Management

Do you play for a big game or a small one?

*Wilt-Leaf Liege* (left) illustrated by Jason Chan; *Armageddon* (right) illustrated by Rob Alexander

Congratulations to Walcutt and Zonks22 for going 3-0 in matches this past week. While their respective decks of Selesnya Stompy and Abzan Armageddon are both midrange archetypes, their strategies are nearly antithetical. The former looks to flood the board with progressively more powerful creatures that synergize with each other, while the latter looks to get themselves ahead by just a little bit before freezing the game and stranding resources.

First, we’ll see how Selesnya Stompy goes over the top of its opponents. Then, we’ll take a close look at the refinements made to Abzan Armageddon that stay true to its focus on a smaller game.

walcutt’s List

zonks22's List

Selesnya Stompy - walcutt

*Wilt-Leaf Liege* illustrated by Jason Chan

Turn 1 Ramp

Redundant ramp keeps the deck consistent while still having some value in the mid-to-late game.

Selesnya Stompy’s creatures are mana-intense, essentially skipping two-drops altogether. To support this high curve and get to it as soon as possible, the deck runs ten instances of turn-one ramp in the form of Birds of Paradise, Llanowar Elves, and Wild Growth. The sheer quantity of early ramp enables Selesnya Stompy to consistently get its threats out ahead of schedule, even when the opponent “bolts the bird.”

The creature ramp serves another purpose later in the game. Birds of Paradise specifically has shown that it can buy just the time it needs with a block on a Desecration Demon or Oona, Queen of the Fae to win the game. Offensively, buffs from Selesnya Charm, Oversoul of Dusk, and Rishkar, Peema Renegade have had the mana-dorks deal the final points of damage.

Stompy Multicolor Creatures

Early beaters quickly trample the competition.

Wilt-Leaf Liege commands the 16 multicolored creatures in Selesnya Stompy, turning the early amassed stats into a barreling snowball of power and toughness. It makes Loxodon Smiter potentially hit for 6 damage on turn two, both sides of Kitchen Finks a nightmare, and things only get wilder in multiples. But even at just a +1/+1 bonus, Wilt-Leaf Liege lets Angel of Serenity now attack through or block a Desecration Demon, and juiced-up mana-dorks can start clocking an opponent.

Oversoul of Dusk puts on a threatening clock right from the start. Its protection ability makes it nearly impossible to remove, except by Selesnya Charm or Reprisal. It is also hard to block for most decks, but even those that can don’t usually have a creature large enough for it to be favorable. Those that can’t interact with Wilt-Leaf Liege usually need to win before it comes down, as out-racing an unblockable 5/5 is hard to do.

Beyond the deck, the anti-discard abilities of both Wilt-Leaf Liege and Loxodon Smiter exert a lot of pressure on the format to avoid discard spells that let the opponent choose what they discard and ones that discard at random. Also, Loxodon Smiter’s high toughness on a threatening 3-drop makes being able to deal four damage an important breakpoint for a card’s theoretical viability.

Going Over the Top

Diverse engines generate long-term advantage in a way that is difficult to exploit.

Ramp decks often generate copious mana and run out of cards to spend it on, but Walcutt has multiple avenues of card advantage that let it continue to tap out each turn. These engines are not only diverse in card type, making them resilient to removal, but they are flexible enough to also create a threateningly lethal board.

Lifecrafter’s Bestiary alleviates the problem of drawing lands and ramp in the mid-to-late game, when that mana is less impactful. Lands can be scried away and mana dorks cantrip, potentially having creatures chained into each other. Eventually the chain of spells will break because Selesnya Stompy either ran out of mana or hit a land, but they can go again next turn with the creature or set up for larger chains next turn with the extra mana from the land.

Ajani Unyielding keeps relevant cards flowing. Drawing one to two extra spells a turn synergizes well with Lifecrafter’s Bestiary—in the 27 creature deck, most of the spells will be a creature that now draws an extra card. With a high loyalty after the first uptick and a board that’s sure to have some large creatures, it’s easy to keep Ajani Unyielding around for a while. Especially with their -2 serving as self-protection, it isn’t difficult to get Ajani Unyielding to his ultimate ability, turning modest Birds of Paradise into death from above and Oversoul of Dusk into an assassin against the right deck.

Angel of Serenity’s versatility makes it very powerful, warranting its high mana cost. When behind, Angel of Serenity clears much of the opponent’s board and leaves a great blocker. This is especially important when the deck has very little interaction for opposing flying creatures. While the exiled creatures will eventually return to the opponent, Stompy Selesnya has bought itself a lot of tempo. When ahead, casting Angel of Serenity can win the game on the spot by removing the opponent’s blockers for an alpha strike. If playing for a longer game, Angel of Serenity can exile creature cards in Selesnya Stompy’s graveyard to eventually replay its best creatures. When one of those creatures is the second copy of Angel of Serenity, you’ve got an engine that’ll never run out of gas.

Abzan Armageddon - zonks22

*Armageddon* illustrated by Rob Alexander

Since their victory a month prior, Zonks22 has made some refinements to their Abzan Armageddon revolving around their titular card. The focus of these changes seems to be on more reliably establishing a dominant board presence in preparation for an Armageddon and having cards that are better in a post-Armageddon world.

First off, we have 2 Llanowar Elves coming in over 2 Deathrite Shaman that have been pushed to the sideboard. The former are able to accelerate Abzan into a commanding lead early, while the latter look to take advantage of board stalls. Abzan wants to get ahead early and stay ahead—the extra mana with Llanowar Elves does a better job at breaking a stall when combined with Lifecrafter’s Bestiary than Deathrite Shaman. Even though Deathrite Shaman can tap for mana post-Armageddon, it will eventually run out of lands to exile, making Llanowar Elves a more reliable mana source.

Full Cuts

These were in conflict with the main Armageddon plan, and have been cut.

Pack Rat has been cut, likely due to its resource intensity not meshing well with its Armageddon plan. If you want to make many Pack Rats, then you need mana and cards. Armageddon resets your mana, and you need to spend at least three cards just hitting land drops before you can activate Pack Rat’s ability at all. Removing rats has made room to finish the playset of Kitchen Finks in the mainboard. Having a creature that can trade and leave a body is great for breaking parity, which synergizes more with Armageddon.

Armageddon has been cut to 3 copies, possibly because it is much worse when behind. It has made room for an extra Lifecrafter’s Bestiary, which still takes time and resources to set up, but can help you come back from behind after chaining a few creatures together. Additionally, Coldsteel Heart has been cut in favor of the third Selesnya Charm, helping ensure Abzan Armageddon is ahead on board rather than falling behind as it sets up.

Finally the manabase, where Wooded Bastion and Tomb of Urami have been cut in favor of Brushland and Swamp. Both of the former lands feel much worse post-Armageddon, being unable to tap for colored mana on its own or causing a lot of unnecessary self-damage for too little return, respectively.

Big vs Small

*Mana Reflection* illustrated by Terese Nielsen & Ron Spencer

These two midrange decks play to different goals. Selesnya Stompy looks to amass as many resources as possible and overwhelm its opponent. Meanwhile, Abzan Armageddon tries to trade off resources until only a few powerful creatures on its side close out the game. They both amass card advantage, one by playing everything to the board and utilizing repeatable engines for a bigger game, and the other by leaving the opponent with irrelevant pieces and uncastable spells for a smaller game (SCG). In both instances, these midrange decks grind every last drop of value out of everything to a tournament-winning degree.