After some early success, the hype train on Renegade Rallier in Modern has derailed and the card has faded into obscurity. Its most natural home in Collected Company decks has been taken over by Devoted Druid, leaving the revolt creature out in the cold.
But for me, Counters Company is unappealing because its backup plan, going aggro for some mediocre beats with even more mediocre creatures, isn’t well-served by an 0/2 and a 2/1 with no individually relevant abilities.
Renegade Rallier, on the other hand, is actively good for such a plan and facilitates a combo of its own with Saffi Eriksdotter and any sacrifice outlet. You start by sacrificing Saffi to its own ability targeting the Rallier. Then sacrifice the Rallier to your Viscera Seer or Cartel Aristocrat, at which point it returns to the battlefield and revolt lets you recur the Saffi as well.
Unfortunately, that loop doesn’t generate any resource by itself, so you need another piece to act as a finisher. Zulaport Cutthroat and Blood Artist serve that role well, as the life drain effect is relevant outside the combo and both bodies can be recurred with Renegade Rallier.
The more convoluted combo means the list devotes a lot of space to various redundant pieces, but Rallier does a lot to hold everything together and ensure you can develop a formidable battlefield. Along with Kitchen Finks and Voice of Resurgence, the deck has plenty of two-bodies-in-one creatures that help you persevere through disruption and set up Fireball-style finishes with your life drain creatures and a sacrifice outlet.
Unlike Counters Company, which is heavily reliant on its combo, this variant of Abzan Company can win in a variety of ways, which is very helpful in the vast wilderness that is Modern. Additionally, that versatility gives you more options in deckbuilding and sideboarding, as no card is absolutely essential, although you’ll rarely want to cut all your cards of a single effect.
Few people like winning with seemingly underpowered but tricky creatures as much as I do, but to achieve that goal, those creatures need to be versatile. Renegade Rallier is as versatile as they come and is too good to be riding the bench. Let it play, coach!
Creatures (32)
- 2 Birds of Paradise
- 1 Spike Feeder
- 2 Eternal Witness
- 3 Saffi Eriksdotter
- 2 Kitchen Finks
- 4 Noble Hierarch
- 1 Qasali Pridemage
- 3 Viscera Seer
- 1 Fiend Hunter
- 2 Blood Artist
- 2 Cartel Aristocrat
- 2 Voice of Resurgence
- 1 Archangel of Thune
- 3 Zulaport Cutthroat
- 3 Renegade Rallier
Lands (20)
Spells (8)
