Earlier in the week I posted a look at the week 1 metagame from the SCG Open, which was won by Atarka Red in the hands of Brian Demars, and highlighted some of the big meta shareholders in the form of Abzan aggro, Jeskai and Esper Dragons.

Now, like me, you may be travelling to a local PPTQ and need a deck to play (and win with), but unlike me, you may be a undecided. So let’s look at what I’ll be sleeving up this weekend:

Abzan Control – Mathew Tonkin

Creatures:                                                                                                           Lands:

4 x Den Protector                                                                                                 4 x Sandsteppe Citadel

3 x Nissa, Vastwood Seer // Nissa, Sage Animist                                              4 x Shambling Vent

4 x Siege Rhino                                                                                                     2 x Blighted Fen

1 x Greenwarden of Murasa                                                                               1 x Caves of Koilos

1 x Tasigur, the Golden Fang                                                                              1 x Llanowar Wastes

2 x Dragonlord Dromoka                                                                                    3 x Windswept Heath

Spells:                                                                                                                    2 x Canopy Vista

3 x Despise                                                                                                            3 x Swamp

3 x Ruinous Path                                                                                                  3 x Forest

1 x Utter End                                                                                                        1 x Plains

1 x Murderous Cut                                                                                             Sideboard:

4 x Abzan Charm                                                                                                 2 x Wingmate Roc

2 x Languish                                                                                                         2 x Self-Inflicted Wound

2 x Crux of Fate                                                                                                   1 x Tragic Arrogance

2 x Ob Nixilis Reignited                                                                                      3 x Arashin Cleric

3 x Gideon, Ally of Zendikar                                                                               2 x Dromoka’s Command

 .                                                                                                                            1 x Murderous Cut

 .                                                                                                                           1 x Duress

.                                                                                                                            2 x Transgress the Mind

 .                                                                                                                           1 x Utter End

With Battle for Zendikar’s release there are certainly a lot of exciting options to be playing, so why settle on ‘boring’ Abzan? Well the reason’s are three-fold…

Let’s look at these cards and why they are the reasons you should be playing Abzan.

With the first half of the Battle Land cycle, allied coloured decks got a shot in the arm for their mana bases, this allowed players to play ‘off’ colour fetchlands to maximise the choice of mana they could fetch for on any particular turn. However, as players found out last weekend, sequencing these lands can be difficult and do not always allow you to cast multiple gold spells in a single turn. The answer?

Sandsteppe Citadel! This is a land that has been the linchpin of standard Abzan decks since it was first printed in Khans of Tarkir and I see no reason for that to change. I foresee that 4 Sandsteppe Citadel and 4 Shambling Vent will be the first 8 lands in any Abzan mana base. A land that can tap for all 3 of your colours and another that can tap for 2 of those and become a relevant creature? Sign me up!

Next up is Gideon, Ally of Zendikar.

Now, Abzan mages everywhere shed a silent tear when Elspeth passed from standard to be confined to the wonderland of EDH decks. We did get a good replacement in Gideon, Ally of Zendikar. While Gideon doesn’t come down and clear the board like Elspeth in the wild days of Theros standard what Gideon does do is a remarkable impression of making an army of tokens in a few short turns. Gideon can also land on the battlefield and sacrifice himself for the good of the team by buffing them all with +1/+1, which can be a mirror-breaker! Suddenly your Siege Rhino’s and Tasigur are 5/6’s and can jump right on in to the opposing line of creatures. Gideon himself also feels frisky every now and then and with his +1 ability there’s not an Eldrazi big enough to stop him charging in to battle.

And last, but not least, is Siege Rhino.

Now a lot has been written about Seige Rhino, and more can be written until the Crash of them inevitably come home from the top of the deck where they’ve all been hanging out together, and there’s nothing new to add. Siege Rhino is quite simply one of the best creatures in standard. Just think about it, it’s a 4/5, with trample, with an inbuilt Lightning Helix!

We may find that at the Pro Tour that 4 or even 5 colour decks are where the destination of standard lies, however I want to win now! I don’t want to be trying to figure out the complexities of multiple-coloured manabases. I’ll be sticking with my old pal Siege Rhinoceros and some new friends and allowing them to carry me to the win this weekend.

As always, I’d love to hear your thoughts and opinions on standard. Share your decks and if you’re heading to a tournament this weekend, keep it simple and cast Siege Rhino!