MTGGoldfish is supported by its audience. When you buy through links on our site, we may earn a commission.
Browse > Home / Strategy / Articles / Fish Five-0: Abzan Wolves (Standard, Magic Arena)

Fish Five-0: Abzan Wolves (Standard, Magic Arena)


If you couldn't figure it out, this week we're playing Abzan Wolves. This deck was popular at the beginning of the format but with the new bannings, Eldraine Standard 3.0 is here!..

Loading Indicator

Gameplan

The deck plays as a midrange tribal deck.  The deck uses strong food synergies as Gilded Goose and Savvy Hunter are good ways of generating numerous forms of removal through Wicked Wolf while also being able to draw cards.

$ 0.00 $ 0.00 $ 0.00 $ 0.00

Since wolves are a bit pricier when it comes to other tribes, the deck doesn't really go online until four mana.

 

$ 0.00 $ 0.00 $ 0.00 $ 0.00 $ 0.00 $ 0.00

Nightpack Ambusher allows us to play on our opponent's turn and then can take over the game by itself. This means we don't need to commit a ton of cards to the board if we're worried about board wipes. It's also nice that Nightpack Ambusher is our anthem effect for wolves. This makes it so that Wicked Wolf and our Voja token from Tolsimir can fight a decent amount of threats in the format without having to use any of our other resources to keep them alive. Speaking of the other wolves, Wicked Wolf is almost unbeatable once we're loaded to the brim with food as it can block forever and survive a ton of board sweepers. Wicked Wolf was a card that a lot of people missed early on as it just felt like it was only poised to be a limited all-star but as we've seen from the last few months of standard, that is far from true. Tolsimir, Friend to Wolves however, has not seen a ton of play outside of a few decks like 5C Niv Mizzet and well, wolves. I'm not entirely sure how good the card is because in today's format, creating 6 power just isn't that powerful, but with the help of Nightpack Ambusher, our Voja can be a 4/4 and the life gain doesn't hurt.

$ 0.00 $ 0.00

I know this is just being cute but its also flavorful! Arlinn, Voice of the Pack's passive makes all of our wolves that much stronger and she herself can make three wolves if uncontested. Is this card the truth? Definitely not. Is it sweet? Sure is!

Matchups

Looking at the tier decks that are around right now, I think our deck's worst matchup will be some kind of Fires of Invention deck as I don't feel like we can match the raw power of all the cavaliers and Kenrith. On top of that, Teferi, Time Raveler can bounce all of our threats to buy them time. I do feel like we have a few answers for fires as Mortify feels like its good again in this format.  We even board in a few more spells like Return to Nature to really keep them off their Fires of Invention.

$ 0.00 $ 0.00

Up next for standard is the Cauldron Familiar and Witch's Oven deck. This deck feels unbeatable when it gets the value engine going and none of our creatures trample so we can get blocked forever so our key cards will be Mortify, Vraska, Golgari Queen, and Assassin's Trophy for game one. Witch's Oven is their biggest enabler and then second would be their Trail of Crumbs so as long as we can fight those two cards, we should be fine as they're mostly just a bunch of 1/1 cats. If you see the Jund variant then keep in mind Mayhem Devil and God-Eternal, Bontu as a way to close out the game out of nowhere.

$ 0.00 $ 0.00

Conclusion

The deck ended at 3-2 and honestly, it just felt way too fair. I don't think the deck is bad or anything. It's definitely fun if you're looking for a wolf tribal deck but if you're looking to make a deep run for an event, I'd recommend something else as there are a few sweet decks you can grind with. Unfortunately, wolves just doesn't have enough support yet, Maybe this changes when we get more cards added to the card pool come January! If you're looking for a cool wolves list, this one is fine. It might need a few tweaks. Otherwise, I recommend trying something like a Jund Food deck! I mean, Korvold, Fae-Cursed King is such a sweet card!

Loading Indicator

If you ever have a deck you want to be made into a video feel free to leave a like, comment, Email, and subscribe to the MTGGoldfish Youtube Channel 

-Your Friendly Neighborhood AsianAvenger

Twitter: @TheAsianAvenger || Twitch: twitch.tv/TheAsianAvenger || Email: theasianavenger@mtggoldfish.com



More in this Series

Show more ...


More on MTGGoldfish ...

Image for Fish Five-0: Hydras! (Standard, Magic Arena) fish five-o
Fish Five-0: Hydras! (Standard, Magic Arena)

New standard? Sounds like a perfect time for Hydras everywhere!!

Nov 22 | by TheAsianAvenger
Image for Podcast 476: Are These MTG Arena Conspiracy Theories Real? podcast
Podcast 476: Are These MTG Arena Conspiracy Theories Real?

Seth and Crim discuss post-ban Modern, Crim's recent Standard tournament and whether or not a massive list of MTG Arena conspiracy theori...

Mar 18 | by mtggoldfish
Image for Every You "Lose the Game" Card Ranked from Easiest to Hardest video
Every You "Lose the Game" Card Ranked from Easiest to Hardest

Magic has 18 cards that can make the opponent lose the game directly, and today, we're going to rank them all from hardest to easiest!

Mar 18 | by SaffronOlive
Image for Weekly Update (Mar 17): Violent Outburst Banned in Modern weekly update
Weekly Update (Mar 17): Violent Outburst Banned in Modern

This week in MTG news: Violent Outburst Banned in Modern.

Mar 18 | by mtggoldfish

Layout Footer

Never miss important MTG news again!

All emails include an unsubscribe link. You may opt-out at any time. See our privacy policy.

Follow Us

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Twitch
  • Instagram
  • Tumblr
  • RSS
  • Email
  • Discord
  • YouTube

Price Preference

Default Price Switcher