Last weekend, I had the chance to play in two tournaments as warmups for the upcoming Grand Prix in Indianapolis and Pittsburgh: a small Standard tournament (TCGplayer States in Rockville, Maryland with seventeen people) and a large Modern tournament (StarCityGames Modern States in Lutherville–Timonium, Maryland with one hundred eleven people).

In the Standard tournament, I chose to play Abzan to a first-place finish (splashing blue and red in the sideboard):

Abzan ? Battle for Zendikar Standard | Jarvis Yu

• Creatures (22)
• 2 Wingmate Roc
• 4 Den Protector
• 4 Siege Rhino
• 4 Warden of the First Tree
• 4 Hangarback Walker
• 4 Anafenza, the Foremost

• Planeswalkers (2)
• 2 Gideon, Ally of Zendikar

• Spells (10)
• 2 Dromoka's Command
• 3 Murderous Cut
• 4 Abzan Charm
• 1 Silkwrap

• Lands (26)
• 2 Plains
• 3 Forest
• 1 Cinder Glade
• 1 Llanowar Wastes
• 1 Prairie Stream
• 1 Smoldering Marsh
• 1 Sunken Hollow
• 2 Canopy Vista
• 2 Polluted Delta
• 4 Flooded Strand
• 4 Windswept Heath
• 4 Wooded Foothills

• Sideboard (15)
• 2 Dispel
• 2 Disdainful Stroke
• 2 Duress
• 2 Exert Influence
• 3 Radiant Flames
• 3 Surge of Righteousness
• 1 Silkwrap

Buy This Deck

This is heavily based on the “old” Steve Rubin/Tom Ross/BBD Abzan “Aggro” list from a previous Open. However, they limited themselves to splashing blue, and I couldn’t really figure out why given the fact that I think Radiant Flames is currently the best anti-beatdown card. Arashin Cleric has a lot of problems, including the fact that it doesn’t really stop the combo of Temur Battle Rage and Become Immense that most of the beatdown decks seemed to be sporting. In addition, if you play against a deck like Christian Calcano’s (U/B Nantuko Husk), Radiant Flames alongside Anafenza, the Foremost is an unbelievable beating for the opponent to overcome. Of note against the Husk decks, you rarely have to Radiant Flames for 3 (unless Liliana, Heretical Healer is on board), so you can do it for 2 and keep your 3/3 Warden of the First Trees around.

The blue cards are excellent. Dispel is the best reactive card in Standard since it always trades up in mana efficiency. Disdainful Stroke is a nice catchall, especially against opposing control decks, where they are forced out tap out for expensive haymakers. Exert Influence is the best Mind Control variant we’ve seen in a while since it doesn’t expose itself to Dromoka's Command the way traditional Control Magic effects have.

Surge of Righteousness is the best card against the Brian Demars version of Atarka Red because that list has zero green creatures to put pump spells on, so Surge is an unbelievable blowout against such decks. It’s far less good against the straight R/G version that Team Formerly (Ari Lax, Steve Rubin, et. al.) ended up playing.

Some version of this deck is likely to remain good after the Pro Tour, specifically because it has access to all of the colors, and the core Abzan shell of Abzan Charm, Siege Rhino, and Anafenza, the Foremost is still incredibly potent.

Common Matchups

Against Dark Jeskai, you’re an underdog in Game 1, but Exert Influence, Dispel, and Duress are excellent in this matchup. Dromoka's Command lines up pretty poorly against Crackling Doom, and Gideon, Ally of Zendikar is extremely vulnerable to Mantis Rider. You’re looking to get ahead on board, and try to establish a big enough Hangarback Walker to protect your other creatures from Crackling Doom. Wingmate Roc is also excellent in this matchup if you are able to use the raid trigger.

Atarka Red matchups and R/G Landfall matchups play out very similarly since both of them sport the combo kill of Temur Battle Rage and Become Immense. In both cases, Dispel, Surge of Righteousness, and Radiant Flames are all excellent here. You’re looking to keep the opponent’s board clear basically at all costs. Trade aggressively if you can, and don’t be afraid to run out a turn-two Den Protector as a quick blocker.

Against Esper Control, you’re an underdog in Game 1 due to how many dead cards you have. Your best hope is to not play around any sweepers and just try to make the opponent dead as quickly as possible. The blue cards Dispel and Disdainful Stroke are excellent here, alongside Duress.

In Abzan mirrors, things play out strangely because the answer to the question, “Who’s the beatdown?” can switch very quickly. In any case, the best cards are Disdainful Stroke and Exert Influence as well as the additional Silkwrap for Hangarback Walker.

I also had a brief chance to give the R/G Landfall deck a try that my former teammates chose to play at this Pro Tour.

R/G Landfall ? Battle for Zendikar Standard | Ari Lax

• Creatures (20)
• 3 Snapping Gnarlid
• 4 Abbot of Keral Keep
• 4 Den Protector
• 4 Monastery Swiftspear
• 4 Scythe Leopard
• 1 Zurgo Bellstriker

• Spells (16)
• 4 Atarka's Command
• 4 Become Immense
• 4 Temur Battle Rage
• 4 Titan's Strength

• Lands (24)
• 4 Forest
• 5 Mountain
• 1 Evolving Wilds
• 2 Cinder Glade
• 4 Bloodstained Mire
• 4 Windswept Heath
• 4 Wooded Foothills

• Sideboard (15)
• 3 Outpost Siege
• 2 Rending Volley
• 2 Wild Slash
• 2 Yasova Dragonclaw
• 2 Sarkhan, the Dragonspeaker
• 4 Arc Lightning

Buy This Deck

This deck is very good and extremely punishing. A single misstep against this deck will lead to you dying to Become Immense with Temur Battle Rage. There’re many other combinations of cards that lead to a dead opponent. In the first match I played against Abzan, I played a turn-two Den Protector and cast Become Immense on it on turns three and five for lethal damage, through a Siege Rhino. Become Immense essentially reads, “: +6/+6, instant,” making it an extremely broken card . . . (as similarly noted for Dig Through Time and Treasure Cruise).

In the Modern tournament, I chose to play Amulet Bloom, also to a first-place finish:

Amulet Bloom ? Modern | Jarvis Yu

• Creatures (6)
• 4 Primeval Titan
• 2 Azusa, Lost but Seeking

• Spells (26)
• 1 Slaughter Pact
• 2 Pact of Negation
• 4 Summoner's Pact
• 1 Ancient Stirrings
• 4 Serum Visions
• 4 Sleight of Hand
• 4 Summer Bloom
• 2 Hive Mind
• 4 Amulet of Vigor

• Lands (28)
• 1 Forest
• 1 Boros Garrison
• 1 Cavern of Souls
• 1 Ghost Quarter
• 1 Golgari Rot Farm
• 1 Khalni Garden
• 1 Radiant Fountain
• 1 Selesnya Sanctuary
• 1 Slayers' Stronghold
• 1 Sunhome, Fortress of the Legion
• 1 Tendo Ice Bridge
• 1 Vesuva
• 2 Temple of Mystery
• 3 Gruul Turf
• 3 Tolaria West
• 4 Gemstone Mine
• 4 Simic Growth Chamber

• Sideboard (15)
• 1 Engineered Explosives
• 1 Hornet Queen
• 2 Thragtusk
• 3 Leyline of Sanctity
• 4 Seal of Primordium
• 1 Swan Song
• 2 Pyroclasm
• 1 Forest

Buy This Deck

There’s one significant difference between this list and the “stock” list. I switched the numbers on Ancient Stirrings and Sleight of Hand to have the maximum number of copies of Sleight of Hand instead of Ancient Stirrings because I view Amulet of Vigor as a luxury—it’s not necessary to win most of your games, whereas it is necessary to find Summer Bloom or Azusa, Lost but Seeking every game to ensure a timely enough Primeval Titan or Hive Mind.

I don’t believe it is wrong either way to switch around or fiddle with those numbers; it’s just a matter of personal preference here.

• Round 1: 2–0 Win vs. Grixis Twin
• Round 2: 2–1 Win vs. Lantern Control
• Round 3: 2–0 Win vs. Abzan Company splashing Knight of the Reliquary and Retreat to Coralhelm
• Round 4: 2–1 Win vs. Naya Burn
• Round 5: 2–0 Win vs. Jund
• Round 6: 2–0 Win vs. Abzan Company splashing Knight of the Reliquary and Retreat to Coralhelm
• Round 7: Intentional draw
• Semifinals: 2–0 Win vs. Mardu land destruction with Smallpox
• Quarterfinals: 2–1 vs. Rematch with second pilot with Abzan Company splashing Knight and Retreat
• Finals: 2–0 vs. Amulet Bloom Mirror

Some Interesting Points from the Rounds

In Round 1, my opponent conceded the game after showing me Watery Grave, Steam Vents, and Terminate. I decided to bring in two Seal of Primordium blind on the off chance he was Grixis Twin, and it’s not necessarily dead against most Grixis variants (they sometimes have Spellskite and Blood Moon in addition).

In Round 5 against Jund, I held an Amulet of Vigor in my hand (versus untapped lands representing Abrupt Decay) until he tapped out so I could play it and Summer Bloom in the same turn to do degenerate things.

I was a bit worried about my semifinals matchup, but then, after having watched a bunch of his matches, I realized he didn’t have a lot (if any) of hand disruption in the main. Therefore, I came up with the following plan of deploying Amulet of Vigor and waiting on Summer Bloom with a green bounce land (four Simic Growth Chamber, three Gruul Turf, and one Selesnya Sanctuary) and Primeval Titan in hand against his heavy land-destruction deck that contained Fulminator Mage, Smallpox, Boom // Bust, and Flagstones of Trokair.

Some Questions People Have Asked Me about the Deck

How do you win the mirror?

Mulligan aggressively into a hand that has an accelerant and hope to draw the rest of what you need. Slow hands are completely unacceptable.

Is there a matchup that you feel is very poor, or do you think you have a fighting chance against the field?

Infect and decks with Blood Moon are really tough matchups. In addition, Griselbrand Shoal is almost unwinnable as well.

What are lines of play that are unintuitive but important to know?

There’re a lot of these, but most of them are cleared up if you remember the following rules of thumb: “Amulet of Vigor + bounce land = 2 mana.” Therefore, Summer Bloom with Amulet of Vigor nets you 4 mana, with each addition Amulet stacking an additional 6 mana. Azusa, Lost but Seeking grants you two extra land drops, but only if it’s alive. So it’s imperative you play your lands that do not have triggered abilities first (Tolaria West, Gemstone Mine, Forest, etc.) so your opponent does not gain priority to kill your guy with a trigger on the stack.

What do you do versus Lantern Control?

It’s definitely a bad matchup, but there is a plan post-’board. You plan to Tolaria West for Engineered Explosives after having Vesuva’ed the opponent’s Academy Ruins, and you use Explosives to clear away all of his or her milling cards (Ghoulcaller's Bell and the like). Then, on your upkeep, you use Academy Ruins to redraw the Engineered Explosives for the turn. In addition, Leyline of Sanctity buys a bunch of time against discard and Codex Shredder.

I really enjoy playing this deck since it’s usually a glorified puzzle to figure out how to win, and it has the ability to nut-draw its opponents, so there’s a floor to how bad any matchup can be.

If people have any other questions about Amulet Bloom or the upcoming weeks of Standard, I’d be happy to address the questions here or on Twitter @jkyu06.

Thanks for reading,

Jarvis