Tournament Report: 1st Place Grand Prix Trial with Abzan Company

I won a Grand Prix Trial for GP Detroit this weekend so I figured I’d write up a tournament report. There were multiple PPTQs in town the same day so the tournament ended up being very small with only 10 players. The field was comprised of one Abzan Company deck (which I played), one GR Tron, one Ad Nauseam, one affinity, one Mardu midrange, one colorless Eldrazi, one Jeskai control, one Jeskai midrange, and two burn.

 

The list I played can be found here: http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/grand-prix-trial-winning-abzan-company-list/

 

To start out, I figured I would go over some of the deck building choices I had made. I was playing one Archangel of Thune and one Spike Feeder in the main in previous builds but I found them very unimpressive. Spike Feeder by itself is a mediocre hit off of Company and Archangel was just clogging up my hand too often so I decided to cut them for a main deck Qasali Pridemage and a main deck Scavenging Ooze. The Scavenging Ooze specifically is such a house in grindy matchups as well as providing some main deck graveyard hate that it earned the slot in the main. Pridemage was a concession to random hate cards that have been popping up recently (Blood Moons, Worships, and Ensnaring Bridges that people are playing to try to fight Eldrazi for instance), as well as providing an efficient beater. I’m also not playing most of the other midrange cards or “silver bullet” style creatures because I think they’re just too clunky in so many matchups. Cards like Orzhov Pontiff and Voice of Resurgence were relegated to the sideboard and never came in, for instance, because most of my matchups involved racing to the combo.

 

With that out of the way, here is a matchup breakdown of what I played each round. I’m going to try to give as much detail as possible but I didn’t really take any notes so my memory is a little fuzzy on some of the later rounds.

 

Round 1: 2-1 against RG Tron

 

When I saw the round one pairing I wasn’t feeling too confident given that Tron is easily Company’s worst matchup. I won the die roll (which was absolutely massive) and spilled my hand on the first few turns of the game trying to race my opponent assembling Tron. I got a Spellskite down to stop my opponent’s Karn from eating a combo piece, gained infinite life and scryed until I hit a Chord, and then passed the turn and prayed he couldn’t find an Ugin, Oblivion Stone, or Pyroclasm. He was not able to and I Chorded for Redcap to finish the game off.

 

Stealing game one is obviously massive given how bad the matchup is so I’m feeling a little better that I only need to win one of the next two games. I bring in Paths to stop Wurmcoil and Ulamog, Fulminator Mage, Pridemage to blow up Oblivion Stone and the Pithing Needles he ended up siding in, Burrenton Forge-Tender to protect against Pyroclasm, and Revoker to turn off Karn, Ugin, and Oblivion Stone. I can’t assemble the combo in game two and my opponent Ulamog’s away my lands. I can’t find Path so I die. On to game three.

 

In game three my opponent finds three Tron lands, they just happen to all be the same one. Chaining Company into Witness allows me to put enough bodies in play to finish the game with exact damage.

 

Round 2: 2-1 against Burn

 

Round 2 I’m paired against the best player in the room (Pro Tour competitor, Grand Prix top 8, etc.) but I have a favorable matchup. I’m on the play and on his turn three he taps out for Atarka’s Command to deal some extra damage with an unblocked Goblin Guide. I untap and Company into the rest of the combo to gain infinite life.

 

I sideboard in Burrenton Forge-Tender and two Sin Collectors. He mulligans to five but manages to cast a turn one Swiftspear into two more Swiftspears on turn 2 and overwhelm my slow hand. I got a little greedy in this game as well when I activated Gavony Township to force through some more damage which taps me too low to activate Scavenging Ooze more than once. On his turn he goes for an Atarka’s Command with me at six life, I try to gain a life in response and he has the second Command to prevent the life gain and kill me.

 

Game three is relatively straightforward, I company my way into a combo win with a Spellskite for protection when he taps low. Nothing much more to say here.

 

Round 3: 2-1 against Colorless Eldrazi

 

Alright, here we go. This is the matchup we’ve all been waiting for, can Abzan Company take down the Eldrazi menace? Well, as it turns out they can’t quite beat infinite life, nor do they really have enough interaction to break up the combo effectively. My opponent mulliganed a few times (as the Eldrazi deck frequently does) and stumbled enough for me to take game one.

 

I sideboard in three Path to Exile and the Fulminator Mage and we shuffle up for game two. My opponent curves a turn one 2/2 Endless Once into a turn two Thought-Knot Seer, turn three Reality Smasher, turn four Reality Smasher and I get obliterated. Yup, this deck isn’t fair.

 

Game three we both mulligan a lot, he goes to four and I go to five. My opening hand is three lands, Wall of Roots, Kitchen Finks and I scry a Viscera Seer to the top of my deck. I open on a land and pass, as does my opponent. I draw the Seer, drop a Wall and pass it back. He misses his land and can only pass the turn. I draw Chord of Calling, play Kitchen Finks and Viscera Seer and pass the turn again. He misses his land drop again and I get to untap and Chord for Anafenza to finish him off. The casual turn four combo on a mulligan to five, easy right?

 

Round 4: Intentional draw into top 8

 

At this point we all know who is making top 8 and who isn’t so we all draw so we can get the real party started. I’m the one seed so I get to be on the play throughout the top 8.

 

Top 8 Quarterfinals: 2-1 against Affinity

 

Game one I get a Viscera Seer and an Anafenza down but can’t find a Chord, Company, or Finks to get any more action going. He finds a Cranial Plating and I die in a few swings.

 

I sideboard in Kataki, two Abrupt Decays, Qasali Pridemage, Phyrexian Revoker, Burrenton-Forge Tender, and two Path to Exiles. In game two he lands a turn one Grafdigger’s Cage which I’m forced to Abrupt Decay with two Collected Companies in hand. With that off the board I’m free to resolve my Companies and combo off.

 

Game three is just an outright race, I get taken from 18 to 2 in one swing by an Etched Champion with two Cranial Platings on it before untapping and comboing off.

 

Top 8 Semifinals: 2-1 against RG Tron

 

Ah, the joys of a 10 man tournament cutting to a top 8. I figured I was dead before the match even started, I got lucky against Tron once but it certainly wasn’t going to happen again. I actually don’t remember much about this match because it was super long and grindy so the details here will be a little more sketchy. I believe game one was won by me with some mediocre creature beats courtesy of chaining Collected Companies via Eternal Witness.

 

I sideboarded the same way I did all the way back in round one and proceeded to die to an Ulamog yet again in game two. I had a chance to win this one but the attack trigger from Ulamog unfortunately exiled my last Viscera Seer and my Murderous Redcap.

 

Game three was fairly crazy. Collected Company put in major work yet again and I was able to win at the last possible moment. I had a Finks with a -1/-1 counter on it and an Anafenza in play when my opponent cast an Ulamog and attempted to exile them both. I cast Company in response to the trigger and hit Viscera Seer and Spellskite. The bolster triggers from Anafenza removed the counter on Finks and the Spellskite ate the Ulamog trigger that was targeting Anafenza. Before I let the trigger resolve I was able to scry through my deck to find Chord, then untap and Chord for Redcap and get the win.

 

Edit: I was thinking about this match and I'm pretty sure I have games one and three mixed up.

 

Top 8 Finals: 2-0 against Colorless Eldrazi

 

Yet another rematch from the swiss, by this point I’m starting to get a little worn down as every match has gone to three games by this point. Game one I assemble a pretty overwhelming boardstate of creatures against a slow hand and grind my opponent out with Gavony Township.

 

I sideboard the same way I did in round 3. This is another game where I’m forced to grind out my opponent thanks to a Pithing Needle on Viscera Seer. I cast two Collected Companies, one of which hits an Eternal Witness to buy back a Company which in turn hits two Eternal Witnesses to buy back the two Companies in my yard and by this point my opponent has seen enough and scoops.

 

Overall, I think the deck is pretty well positioned. Most decks can’t beat infinite life and the ones that can have to slog through a lot to do it (my Affinity opponent, for instance, would have had to find an Inkmoth Nexus, kill two Spellskites, and then kill Melira with me able to set the top card of my library every turn). The infinite life combo also sets up infinite damage for the next turn via Redcap if that isn’t enough. Eldrazi specifically lacks great interaction which gives you a decent chance of comboing off and winning the game.

 

I’m not sure what changes I would make to the list right now to be honest, I’ve been doing very well with this specific 75. The only card I never sided in was Voice of Resurgence, but had I played against either of the Jeskai decks or the Mardu deck I would have brought them in. I believe Ari Lax said he felt the deck was at its best when cutting all the midrange stuff from the main deck and playing towards the combo in game one and I completely agree. If you enjoy a combo deck that can grind out midrange matchups with the best of them then Abzan Company might be the deck for you. If you have any other questions about the matches or my deck choices feel free to leave a comment. Thanks for reading!