Well, I haven’t seen this before. We’ve seen some Jund and Sultai version of Delve-based aggro decks, but Abzan? Why didn’t we think of this sooner?
Nine Delve fatties highlight this absurd base of threats, many of which conveniently have five toughness. I’m surprised to see this Siege Rhino / Gurmag Angler deck with zero Languishes maindeck, but Fleecemane Lion and Hooting Mandrills don’t work well with it. There are some Languishes in the sideboard, but we could certainly build around that card if we wanted to.
The rest of the deck is normal Abzan Aggro fare. Dromoka’s Command gets even better the bigger your creatures are, and this deck has plenty of fat. Abzan Charm and Hero’s Downfall round out the removal suite. Gather the Pack is particularly good here, since each of the creatures (minus Satyr Wayfinder) is a massive threat.
This deck could likely be improved upon. Is Rakshasa Deathdealer ever better than Fleecemane Lion, especially with only 22 lands? Perhaps a fourth Lion would be a better fit, but I’m sure there are times when you won’t have white mana on turn two.
Hero’s Downfall has been falling out of favor recently, as there aren’t many planeswalkers worth killing. Elspeth, Sun’s Champion is the big one, but I think I’d rather have something like Herald of Torment to fight it. That might be a nice card to have in this deck since it can give your big creatures evasion. Maybe a miser’s Mogis’s Marauders would be worth it also.
This deck has a ton of potential options.
Creatures (22)
- 3 Fleecemane Lion
- 4 Satyr Wayfinder
- 2 Rakshasa Deathdealer
- 4 Siege Rhino
- 4 Hooting Mandrills
- 3 Gurmag Angler
- 2 Tasigur, the Golden Fang
Lands (18)
Spells (20)
