Abzan Greasefang Deck Guide
DarthJacen breaks down two versions of Abzan Greasefang, which has somewhat recently overtaken all other variants of the archetype to represent the strongest home for Parhelion II in Pioneer.
The Rat Pack
Since the debut of Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty, we have seen several decks elevated thanks to powerful cards in that set. From Rakdos Midrange getting Fable of the Mirror-Breaker, Azorius Control getting The Wandering Emperor and March of Otherworldly Light, and Greasefang, Okiba Boss birthing a new archetype in Pioneer. This rat pilot somehow managed to make an eight-mana vehicle playable – and even incredibly powerful. Well, most eight drops are powerful when they come in on turn three.
Abzan Greasefang is just one of the most powerful raw decks in Pioneer and can beat any deck on a good day
How can a deck in Pioneer get 13 power worth of flying attacking in on turn three? And more importantly, how can other decks even try to stop it? Well, let’s look at Pioneer’s two-card combo deck that dominates the early game and leverages the power of Thoughtseize to force through game-ending combo turns.
Let’s break down Abzan Greasefang and see just what this rat can do!
Deck List
Abzan Greasefang
2 mythic
45 rare
0 uncommon
13 common
0
1
2
3
4
5
6+
Planeswalkers (2)
Instants (4)
Lands (22)
60 Cards
$408.64
Sideboard
15 Cards
$21.73
Deck Breakdown
Creatures
There’s no where to start but looking at the rat pilot and namesake of the deck, Greasefang, Okiba Boss. Since its printing in Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty, Greasefang has been paired with various vehicles to create early combo-esque turns. With some builds able to get a Parhelion II into play on turn two, Greasefang has become a consistent threat that can race most decks, even bad matchups, with the right set ups. Even when you don’t have access to your payoffs, Greasefang can still do a good job attacking opponents and Planeswalkers as a 4/3, giving you a reasonable backup plan.
While every Greasefang deck starts with four Okiba Boss, the supporting creatures are somewhat more in flux currently. With eight agreed-upon enablers and four optional cards that disappeared from the second place MTGO Challenge list from August 21st. We’ll look at all these enablers and how they give you your best chance to kill early and often.
When you get one of your payoffs stuck in your hand, it can make your deck look much worse. Raffine's Informant leverages the connive mechanic to loot towards your payoffs and whenever you discard a non-land, such as one of your payoffs, you even get a 3/2 for two mana. While this card helps to unlock your early combo draws, it can help you find your key cards in the mid game or pressure opposing Planeswalkers, like Karn, the Great Creator, thanks to its three power.
Next up is the Mulch on a stick in Satyr Wayfinder. This card is a classic of any self-mill strategy and allows you to cheat a little on what kind of hands you keep as looking at four cards puts you in a good position to find a third land for Greasefang, flip over a payoff vehicle, or find your third color of mana. Without Wayfinder, it would be tough to make this mana-base function as consistently as it does right now. While the big play for this deck involves Greasefang on turn three, the setups often involve Wayfinder or Informant to help smooth the process and give you more opportunities to find your key cards.
While Wayfinder and Informant are agreed upon four-of creatures in most builds, the last creature that sees consistent play is Stitcher’s Supplier. While this card is also a staple of self-mill decks, the 2nd place challenge list gave up those four slots for various non-creature flex slots. While the 3rd place list is on the more common four Suppliers. Supplier gives you a turn-one play to help set up your best draws, can chump block or trade against aggressive decks, and gives you a reasonable target to Witherbloom Command if you need to see more cards. While most of the builds I’ve enjoyed run the four Supplier, I am open to the idea of instead diversifying your other spells and being a little less all-in on turn three Parhelion II and more all-in on disruption prior to playing Greasefang.
Vehicles
These are your payoffs for playing a Greasefang deck and if they weren’t oppressively good, the deck wouldn’t have much of a reason to exist, let alone sit near the top of the metagame. Almost all lists run at least eight vehicles to hit off various enablers and recur with Greasefang, but some builds have started running a ninth vehicle main or have it in the sideboard.
We’ll start with the best threat and the card that leads to turn three concessions and many rage quits in both Explorer and Pioneer in Parhelion II. This monstrous threat costs eight mana and has a high crew cost of four, but if you get to attack with it, you get two 4/4 flying vigilant angels to go along with your 5/5 flying first-strike vehicle. This pairs perfectly with Greasefang as you can recur and crew this massive threat and get in for a solid 13 damage on turn three with eight power of flying creatures left over to cross the finish line on turn four.
While several decks can kill on turn four in Pioneer, Greasefang puts every deck on high alert starting with turn two and thanks to Parhelion II and its ability to put you instantly behind or dead on board, it leads to this deck feeling like Pioneer’s Splinter Twin.
Next up, we have the backup threat of the deck and if you have played Standard, Explorer, or Pioneer since Kaldheim, you know about Esika's Chariot. This cat car creates immediate pressure and can single-handedly beat up more controlling decks that want to trade one-for-one. If you recur Chariot with Greasefang, you can get three cats – two from entering the battlefield, one from attacking, and then you can get two more when you recast it from hand. Chariot won’t close the game as quickly as Parhelion II, but in the midgame, it is a great backup plan to ensure you can fight through removal-heavy decks that can stop your main gameplan.
The final vehicle that has started seeing some play as a flex slot is Skysovereign, Consul Flagship. This is a good value threat that can deal 3 damage to any creature or Planeswalker and double shoot if you recur this with Greasefang. Dealing up to 12 damage to creatures or Planeswalkers in one turn is a big value play. But the main reason for this card seeing play is that it can instantly kill Karn, the Great Creator out of Mono Green, which is one of the best answers to your deck. If you can kill Karn, you are able to crew your vehicles and your gameplan comes back online.
Disruption
The primary tool for Abzan Greasefang to answer problematic permanents or removal for your Greasefang, Okiba Boss is the same tool that has been helping black-based combo decks win for years in Thoughtseize . This pillar of Pioneer works to help ensure you can force through your best cards, eliminate the opponent’s answers, and ensure that you have a chance to beat even the best hate cards. There are few decks in Pioneer that punish decks as hard through Thoughtseize as Abzan Greasefang. If you only have one answer in hand or your graveyard interaction doesn’t come down on turn zero or one, Thoughtseize can clear the path and leave even your best hands weak to a turn three Greasefang.
Usually, you will want to leverage Thoughtseize on turn one or turn four. On turn one you want to clear the path before playing a turn two enabler and a turn three Greasefang. On turn four, you want to have the whole combo ready to go and Thoughtseize can take a counterspell, a piece of removal, or any interactive card that could disrupt you. If you draw a Thoughtseize in the midgame, try to hold it until you are set to combo. Leading with Thoughtseize can easily win games that the opponent had locked up otherwise and it will be your primary tool to ensure your rat survives contact with the enemy.
Enablers
While we have already talked about the creature enablers, now we have the non-creature enablers that also help you mill over your key vehicles, find Greasefang, or reanimate your threats to win through removal. Grisly Salvage has been a great self-mill card for years and allows you to find your key threats, mill over your vehicles, and potentially fix your mana situation. It is one of the best enablers in the deck, especially since you can cast it on end step and your opponent won’t know if they can cast their two-drop or if they need to hold up removal for a potential turn three Greasefang.
Witherbloom Command is a flexible card that can also enable your graveyard thanks to the mill mode and the -3/-1 mode when used in conjunction with Stitcher's Supplier. While it isn’t primarily an enabler, the card’s flexibility while still enabling your graveyard gives it a lot of flex value in the deck.
Liliana of the Veil is the latest addition to the deck, giving you a means to attack decks that want to sit around and hold up removal while also giving you a means to slow down opponents and discard your vehicles for free. While Liliana hasn’t been as impactful to Greasefang as it was to Rakdos Midrange, it still unlocked a new power level for the deck and the early results showed that Liliana gives the deck new ways to attack potentially tougher matchups.
Finally, we have Can't Stay Away. This card helps you to recover through removal or when you mill over a Greasefang. Often, you can have a Can't Stay Away in hand and it will allow you to aggressively mill cards into your graveyard without concern for if you hit a Greasefang. Leveraging the fact that all your creatures have a mana value of three or less, so you can use Can't Stay Away to mill more cards, loot away Vehicles, or combo out opponents that removed your previous Greasefang.
Sideboard Guide
Rakdos Midrange
| In | Out |
| +3 Duress | -2 Liliana of the Veil |
| +2 Abrupt Decay | -4 Witherbloom Command |
| +1 Assassin's Trophy | -1 Satyr Wayfinder |
| +1 Knight of Autumn |
Matchup Feel: Close, but slightly favorable. Be wary of Leyline of the Void.
Matchup Approach: You are the combo deck here. You aren’t going to be able to grind through Rakdos with your fairer plan – though looping Chariots can get there. Especially against a deck with so much removal, try to line up your Greasefang turns where you can lead on a discard spell or rebuy Greasefang with Can't Stay Away. Graveyard Trespasser can be an issue in this matchup, so consider when to discard Parhelion II if you have a Raffine's Informant in hand, as you don’t want to allow them to eat your payoff card at inconvenient times.
Some of the current versions of Rakdos are playing four Leyline of the Void. You need the Knight of Autumn and Trophy as a hedge against that start on turn 0. Otherwise, your other means of dealing with anti-graveyard cards like Hearse are all fine.
Heroic
| In | Out |
| +3 Fatal Push | -2 Witherbloom Command |
| +2 Abrupt Decay | -4 Thoughtseize |
| +1 Assassin's Trophy |
Matchup Feel: A race where you need to dodge Reckless Rage and other sideboard removal.
Matchup Approach: Game one, Heroic has one removal spell that can stop you from getting out your Parhelion II, but post-board they will have other removal like Rending Volley, so you need to pick your spots more cautiously. Apply pressure to their hand through removal and leverage your creatures like Stitcher’s Supplier to mitigate damage, while furthering your gameplan. Witherbloom Command is unlikely to kill any creature, it can snag a turn two Illuminator Virtuoso along with Rest in Peace, but Abrupt Decay can do that as well without potentially being outsized by the growing Heroic creatures.
Liliana does add an extra layer of protection in this matchup and can help you deal with creatures even through protection spells. Leverage this new card to help you win the fair games or stall until you can combo.
Azorius Control
| In | Out |
| +3 Duress | -4 Witherbloom Command |
| +2 Abrupt Decay | -2 Satyr Wayfinder |
| +1 Go Blank |
Matchup Feel: Favorable
Matchup Approach: Adding in an extra threat in Liliana of the Veil that can pressure even through graveyard hate pressures control on a secondary axis. Overall, you can play early creatures, apply enough pressure to set up turns where you can use discard to eat a counterspell or removal spell and then land Greasefang to end the game. This is a matchup where they can’t close the game out quickly enough to lock you out of potentially stealing the game with a late game Thoughtseize or Duress into Greasefang. Hold your discard until you need to clear a path for your threats and leverage their key turns – like turn four when they want to play Memory Deluge, to pick fights.
Leverage Liliana to turn the game into a low resource game and keep them light on interaction. This is a matchup where the addition of Liliana gives the deck much better game even without the combo early.
Mirror
| In | Out |
| +2 Unlicensed Hearse | -4 Thoughtseize |
| +2 Abrupt Decay | -2 Liliana of the Veil |
| +1 Assassin's Trophy | |
| +1 Go Blank |
Matchup Feel: A race to fill up your graveyard and bring back Parhelion II first.
Matchup Approach: Neither player is likely to have an overabundance of ways to interact. You can keep in discard to try and protect your Greasefang, but in the mirror, I have found that it is more important to try to rapidly fill your graveyard and potentially leverage a key piece of interaction or Unlicensed Hearse to slow down your opponent.
This is a matchup where you don’t want Liliana as you can accidentally help them get their vehicles into the graveyard. Instead, add in a few more pieces of interaction to keep the opponent from achieving their goals before you have a means to stop them or combo yourself.
Izzet Phoenix
| In | Out |
| +3 Duress | -4 Witherbloom Command |
| +2 Unlicensed Hearse | -2 Satyr Wayfinder |
| +1 Go Blank |
Matchup Feel: Close. If they can enable their Fiery Impulses, it can be very difficult to win with Greasefang.
Matchup Approach: You want to leverage your discard to protect Greasefang more so than stopping their card drawing. This matchup tends to go a bit late, so having Hearse to contain their graveyard can help you build up enough resources to find a discard spell or Can't Stay Away to protect your main threat. With the addition of Liliana of the Veil, you have an additional axis to attack this matchup and keep their two-drops in check.
If the game goes too long, they will be able to refill their hand with Treasure Cruise and find multiple answers to Greasefang, so you do need to close the game out early, but you have the tools to at least scrap a little into the mid game post-board.
Mono Red
| In | Out |
| +3 Fatal Push | -4 Thoughtseize |
| +2 Abrupt Decay | -2 Witherbloom Command |
| +1 Knight of Autumn |
Matchup Feel: Favorable through a more mid-range pivot.
Matchup Approach: It is tough to get your Greasefang to live through various red removal in this matchup, so you want to pivot into a more midrange deck that kills key threats. You should leverage Liliana and your other creatures to stretch their removal thin and then win eventually through repeated Greasefang attempts or Esika’s Chariot to take over the midgame. Red doesn’t have much to stop you from using your graveyard, so if they ever tap out, you can apply immediate pressure.
Mono Green Devotion
| In | Out |
| +3 Duress | -4 Witherbloom Command |
| +1 Assassin's Trophy | -2 Liliana of the Veil |
| +2 Skysovereign, Consul Flagship |
Matchup Feel: A race. Turn three Greasefang can win, otherwise the threat of turn three Karn nearly single-handedly beats you.
Matchup Approach: Your goal is turn three Parhelion II. If you can’t make that happen, you need to leverage discard to try and catch any early Karn, the Great Creator before they hit the table. This matchup is very difficult to win if they find an early Karn. Especially since they can put Tormod’s Crypt into play to lock you out. Skysovereign is here to help kill a Karn that immediately minuses for an artifact so you can crew your vehicles. Especially if they are relying on Karn to prevent you from crewing, Skysovereign can clear Karn over multiple turns even without being able to attack.
You can’t get through their creatures on the ground, so if you hit the midgame, green is heavily favored. Try to leverage either a turn three combo or leverage your discard to win before they can assemble Cavalier of Thornes to help lock out your offense.
Mono White Humans
| In | Out |
| +3 Fatal Push | -4 Thoughtseize |
| +2 Abrupt Decay | -2 Liliana of the Veil |
| +1 Assassin's Trophy | -2 Witherbloom Command |
| +2 Skysovereign, Consul Flagship |
Matchup Feel: Favorable
Matchup Approach: Leverage your ability to block threats early to fill your graveyard and kill their key creatures like Hopeful Initiate to protect your vehicles. If you can get a Chariot, Skysovereign, or Parhelion II down, it becomes very tough for Mono White to win. Leverage your Fatal Pushes when you can to protect against Rest in Peace with Abrupt Decay when possible. Remember to leave a variety of creatures back to stop Brave the Elements from killing you. This is especially important on turns where you have your two white angels from Parhelion II as your blockers.
You are favored to win this matchup the longer the game goes as they don’t have many ways to interact at instant speed with your Greasefang, so if you can keep graveyard hate off the board, you should win through removal and eventually the recursive threats from your graveyard.
Mono Blue Spirits
| In | Out |
| +3 Fatal Push | -4 Thoughtseize |
| +2 Abrupt Decay | -2 Liliana of the Veil |
| +1 Assassin's Trophy | -2 Witherbloom Command |
| +2 Skysovereign, Consul Flagship |
Matchup Feel: Close, it’s very tough if they get ahead on board.
Matchup Approach: You are trying to contain their early starts while leveraging cards like Can't Stay Away to force them to have multiple counterspells for every Greasefang. If you get a single Parhelion II attack or find your Skysovereign, you are in great shape, but getting to that point in the game without being too far behind on board can be tricky since your blockers are ineffective here. Leverage your glut of removal post-board to slow the game down and buy enough time to find effective windows to resolve your Greasefang.
Tips and Tricks
· In the Stitcher’s Supplier builds, you can turn-two Parhelion II if you mill over a Greasefang and a Parhelion II turn one with Supplier into a turn-two Can't Stay Away.
· You don’t care about many cards, especially game one. Save your Thoughtseize to protect your Greasefang or take opposing Karn, the Great Creators.
· Thanks to Witherbloom Command’s ordering, you can’t mill three and destroy a Rest in Peace and have those cards end up in the graveyard. You resolve the chosen options in the order they are written on the card from top to bottom.
· You can choose not to take any cards from Grisly Salvage and Satyr Wayfinder. This is helpful if you play any delve options or if you want to leave a creature in the yard to Can't Stay Away the same turn you mill, but don’t have enough mana to cast it.
· You can legend rule your Chariots to generate more cats if you have a Greasefang out. Having one in play and one in the Graveyard keeps a steady stream of cats coming to grind out your opponent.
· Players can kill your Greasefang with the trigger on the stack if you don’t have enough power to crew your Parhelion II to re-strand it back in your hand. Try to either protect Greasefang with a Thoughtseize or leverage the times where you have enough power to crew even without Greasefang.
· Against Graveyard Trespasser decks, try to hold up Takenuma, Abandoned Mire to protect from getting your key creatures exiled. Plus, it can help you enable finding vehicles.
· You want to apply pressure to force opponents to answer your board before you drop a Parhelion II. If you can chip damage the opponent down to 13, you can kill them whenever they tap out with a Greasefang.
· With five mana, you can cast Greasefang, and most opponents will answer it in Main Phase to avoid bringing back your vehicle, then you can Can't Stay Away it back to require they have two pieces of interaction right then or they will be in trouble.
·
Wrapping Up
There you have it, a look at Pioneer’s premier two-card graveyard-based combo deck. That sounds like quite a few qualifiers, but Abzan Greasefang is just one of the most powerful raw decks in Pioneer and can beat any deck on a good day. While it plays with a reasonably high level of variance compared to some other decks, you can mitigate a lot of that variance through disciplined mulligans and repeatedly leveraging your enablers.
Liliana of the Veil adds plenty of dimensionality to the ways you can attack the format and is a great pickup for the deck, even if it isn’t the premier Liliana deck in the format. Still, it’s a great addition and if you leverage the power of this Planeswalker, it will overall improve your ability to hang with various other top decks.
Now that you’ve read this guide, be sure to take your favorite vehicle out for a spin in Okiba and if you’re lucky, maybe you can hop into a giant Angel carrier on turn three and leave your opponents in the dust.
Thanks for reading and be sure to stay safe out there!
