Mutually Assured Destruction
Symmetrical doesn’t mean equal.
Armageddon illustrated by Rob Alexander (left); Grave Pact illustrated by Scott Kirschner (right)
For the first time in the season, we have joint winners! Zonks22 went 3-0 with a twist on the defined Abzan Midrange build and Denvernius achieved their 3-0 with a Mardu Revolt list. I’ll shed light on the unique innovation of zonks22’s build before breaking down Denvernius’s list.
Abzan Armageddon - zonks22
Losing a few lands is a small price to pay to close a winning game.
What makes zonks22’s version of Abzan Midrange unique is its inclusion of Armageddon, and its balance of spells is tailored to this change. To understand the tweaking of numbers in the deck, we first need to understand what happens when Armageddon resolves. Destroying all lands effectively keeps the board-state suspended for a couple of turns. Neither player can do much to alter the momentum of the game since they can’t cast spells without the resources to do so. Therefore whoever is ahead on board before Armageddon, stays ahead.
Of course, the deck has a plan for a post-Armageddon board. The typical creature suite accrues value on its own, as Glint-Sleeve Siphoner and Ohran Viper don’t need mana to draw cards. Lifecrafter’s Bestiary’s role switches from a value machine to a land-finder with each scry meaning a lot more when both players are top-decking.
What differs from the previous list, to take full advantage of Armageddon, is the inclusion of more cheap interaction and more mana dorks. When lands are destroyed, Llanowar Elves and Coldsteel Heart stick around to allow Abzan to continue to affect the board much sooner and more potently than its opponent. Even Vraska the Unseen joins up to safely ultimate while the opponent attempts to recover.
Mardu Revolt - Denvernius
Sacrificing a few lackeys is a small price to pay for a clear board.
Denvernius took home a reroll ticket this week with Mardu Revolt. The deck centers around Grave Pact and Hidden Stockpile, which each reward you for having creatures leave the battlefield. Together they create a value engine— Hidden Stockpile sacrifices a creature for scry value and triggering Grave Pact to force the opponent to sacrifice a creature, and then Hidden Stockpile makes a replacement creature to recreate the loop next turn. Notably, creature removal is much worse against this style of deck especially when the creatures are individually underwhelming.
Revolt Enablers
These lackeys provide a little bit extra on their way out.
Though their stats may make Fatal Push feel like a poor card choice, Mardu Revolt’s creatures excel in this kind of shell. Most of the creatures have a way to enable revolt on their own while gaining some other sort of advantage. Blood Pet ramps out the major threats in Gravepact and Herald of Anguish. Hope of Ghirapur can protect Mardu Revolt’s key pieces from counter-magic, delay opponent’s removal until its own turn to have the opponent trigger revolt for them, or simply gain a large tempo advantage by throwing the opponent’s plan off by a turn. Walking Ballista is a scaling threat that adds reach and targeted removal to the deck. The ability to sacrifice these creatures at will makes the edict ability from Grave Pact much more effective and ensures that Hidden Stockpile triggers every turn.
Herald of Anguish
This demon is the perfect finisher for “The Purple Crayon of Anguish”
While Mardu Revolt can whittle away its opponent slowly, Herald of Anguish put the game away swiftly. Improvise lets the deck’s small artifacts put in extra work, ramping out Herald of Anguish by turn four or five. As the demon attacks in the air, it drains the opponents of resources on three fronts. Firstly, they must discard a card each turn, forcing the opponent to ditch their own threats as they keep answers for the demon. Secondly, the Herald of Anguish converts irrelevant artifacts into revolt triggers and removal for the opponent’s field of smaller creatures, allowing Grave Pact to hit more important creatures. Lastly, and critically, the opponent is taking massive hits to their life total and will surely lose if they can’t find an answer. Herald of Anguish is not only a good card on its own, but a great payoff for playing many small artifacts and a great enabler for the main revolt theme.
Conclusion
Wound Reflection by Terese Nielsen & Ron Spencer
Both lists highlight the concept that “symmetrical doesn’t mean equal”. Because they each built their decks around playing the game essentially by a different set of rules, destroying all lands uniquely benefits Abzan Armageddon and both players losing creatures uniquely benefits Mardu Revolt.
I have noticed that decks that redefine the way the game plays tend to play favorably. The goal is to balance a deck in a way that lets it abuse its “unique rules” without having too many cards that are useless without them. Present a powerful interaction to your opponent and see if they can answer it.
