How do you utilize The Abyss to it's fullest potential?

[3drinks]

I know, I know, #firstworldproblems right?

So I'm playing this in Alesha, Who Smiles at Death|tsr right? And Alesha plays a natural stax deck which you'd thus feel The Abyss is a natural fit for, right? But...either it feels kinda off, or I'm not playing it effectively enough. Plus there's always that backdoor where it can sawft lock me out of Alesha occasionally. Currently it's best with echo creatures (ghitu slinger|usg) since you can stack the triggers, and disposable bodies (thraben inspector|tsr), and since it is a targeted effect I can still sac the creature for value in response to it's trigger, such as feeding it to phyrexian tower|usg.

So does it not actually belong in this deck, or how can I better utilize it in this deck?

The Abyss Boardstate

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[DirkGently]

I used to play it in Zurgo Helmsmasher. It's pretty sweet with indestructibles in general, but Zurgo in particular since you're not overpaying for indestructibility on other peoples' turns, lol. It's also obviously quite strong in any creatureless deck, especially superfriends.

Within Alesha it does seem a bit tricky. One board wipe and it might be more hindrance than help. Though I do understand the desire to play one's sweet cards.

[Mookie]

For reference, the oracle text: "At the beginning of each player's upkeep, destroy target nonartifact creature that player controls of their choice. It can't be regenerated."

There are a few ways you can make this ability asymmetric. One way is to have plenty of expendable creatures, whether they be tokens or otherwise. However, if you ever run out of creatures to kill, it can make it awkward to continue feeding. That said, black does have self-recurring creatures like Reassembling Skeleton to provide fodder.

The other option I'll throw out is to just not run any creatures that die to it - creatures with shroud, indestructible, or protection can ignore it, as can artifact creatures. I could definitely see an Erebos, God of the Dead creatureless control shell, or an artifact creature beatdown deck with Armix, Filigree Thrasher. You could also include 'only conditionally a creature' tech like Guardian Idol.

In the context of Alesha, Who Smiles at Death.... it's a bit difficult to say what is the best way to make The Abyss good with Alesha. I guess one option is to have plenty of haste enablers like Anger and Lightning Greaves - if you can give Alesha haste, she can reanimate something to sacrifice to The Abyss. Lightning Greaves also pulls double duty here, by protecting a creature from The Abyss. Cards like Legion's Landing // Adanto, the First Fort, Bitterblossom, and Kher Keep can also provide sac fodder if you want to lean into Smokestack effects.

[Ruiner]

It is hard to say for certain without a deck list but I'd probably be a little worried about being locked out after a board wipe with an Alesha deck unless you can reliably get haste or shroud effects. Maybe you are running token generation effects though to lessen this risk though.

I'll echo the previous sentiment that in my experience it is pretty great for a Zurgo deck where you have natural indestructible elements. I've also seen it used in a Meren of Clan Nel Toth deck where the reanimator angle keeps it online and low risk unless your graveyard is nuked.

[Outcryqq]

I have a buddy that runs The Abyss in his Karador, Ghost Chieftain deck, and it's pretty mean. Similar to your issue with a post-Abyss board wipe, that can sometimes be a problem, but he generally has no problem playing at least 2 creatures in a turn, so it definitely hurts us more than him.

[3drinks]

This is all confirming my theories that it's not quite the optimal deck for it, and it's a bit of a square peg in a round hole. Capable of doing work because it's extremely powerful, but not completely the proper tool to get the job done.

Although Magus of the Abyss subsequently carries zero risk..... (aside from not being Aleshable at all).

[Sinis]

To make it really shine, it has to be asymmetric. Having an indestructible creature, only creatures with shroud (or a creature that can get shroud at instant speed - like Morphling), or no creatures are all viable paths.

Second, I think you need to make it worse for your opponents. Night of Souls' Betrayal or Virulent Plague kinds of things. Nothing is worse than tabling The Abyss and your opponent having 10 saprolings to make it not matter.

[pokken]

The Abyss is kinda dumb, basically like a crappy Smokestack in a lot of ways. I honestly don't think it's ever all that good since you're really way better off looking for Dictate of Erebos effects if you want creature stax.

It is nice in that it hits other people first, so you could probably play a deck with it that:
1) doesn't play creatures
2) plays all artifact creatures
3) plays lots of recurring creatures/tokens
4) plays all hexproof adjacent creatures I guess

Mostly I don't think you are going to ever have a great experience with this card--just go ahead and play a bomb finisher in your colors and you probably have a better experience most games.

[JWK]

It's good in my Nath stax deck, where I can easily create and sac fairly irrelevant token creatures and where it helps keep opponents from keeping creatures in play. It's definitely a build-around, but it can be great in some decks.

[Sinis]

2) plays all artifact creatures

This deck was fun, though...

[3drinks]

The shops or creatureless decks would be way better.

[Outcryqq]

2) plays all artifact creatures

This deck was fun, though...

Add Phyrexian Scriptures and you've got a decent start to a removal suite for this deck!

[Legend]

The real question is: Are those real Betas in the photo?

[Sinis]

2) plays all artifact creatures

This deck was fun, though...

Add Phyrexian Scriptures and you've got a decent start to a removal suite for this deck!

Definitely. Maybe this is the start for an Ich-Tekik, Salvage Splicer/Silas Renn, Seeker Adept deck.

[3drinks]

The real question is: Are those real Betas in the photo?

"That's my secret, I'll never tell."

~GG

[TheGildedGoose]

I know a certain mono-black control deck that would appreciate it.

[PrimevalCommander]

I had an italian one for some time. Only tabled it a few times and it never felt worth the price tag. Sold it for a nice profit once they started climbing and, while I'd still like to have it, it would probably still be in the binder or played in Yawgmoth just for the bling. Overall it is not as powerful as it really looks on paper. The removal is slow to function, gives your opponents a choice of their least useful creature, and affects you as well.

Karador may be a good fit. Don't know why I never tried it in mine. Maybe a bit of regret creeping in that I don't still have it to test. Though generally I'd run Grave Pact before it and likely feel much more impactful.

[hyalopterouslemur]

A few ways:

Play only artifact creatures.
Play creatures Alesha can exploit with entry/death triggers, sac them as a cost.
Use indestructible to your advantage.
Use shroud/pro-black to your advantage.
Use tokens.

Indestructible is probably best, on something like Bontu the Glorified If you use tokens, there are a ton of other cool things you can do, though. Like "I destroy my goblin and you get hit with Dictate of Erebos, Zulaport Cutthroat askdjaflalks"