Armament Corps: Standard Abzan Felothar

Note: This article was translated from Chinese by AI and may contain errors. Read the original Chinese version.

Before We Start

The Tarkir clan article series has finally reached the last clan, Abzan. The original timeline’s Abzan khan Anafenza, Unyielding Lineage is thoroughly dead (although we can still faintly see her shadow), so the khan’s seat in this set is held by the new kid Felothar, Dawn of the Abzan. How can this new khan perform in Standard?

Card Analysis

Felothar, Dawn of the Abzan
Legendary Creature | Human Warrior
Trample
Whenever Felothar enters or attacks, you may sacrifice a nonland permanent. When you do, put a +1/+1 counter on each creature you control.

Felothar’s ability sacrifices board resources to grow the whole team. The best way to pair it is of course with creatures that make all kinds of tokens: Clue, Food, Map, Treasure… there is basically no shortage of fodder. But if you take Felothar out, can these creatures still come together? The decklist is as follows:

Decklist

The key to linking these creatures together is Ixalan’s Kellan, Daring Traveler // Journey On. Kellan can not only Adventure to make a Map, but when attacking can also take a creature card with mana value three or less from the top of your library straight into your hand. Felothar interacts well with his ability, so I built around Kellan. The Map package also has the backbone attacker Sentinel of the Nameless City, which reliably makes Maps. It is a 3/4 vigilance that makes a Map on entering and attacking, helping you hit land drops while continuously growing.

There are many choices for the Food package. I use Vinereap Mentor, which makes Food on entering and dying, and Gumdrop Poisoner // Tempt with Treats, which can make Food for one mana at instant speed. Vinereap Mentor is a two-mana curve filler creature, built on the premise of being removed or traded, and its 3 power hurts to be hit by, giving it a better chance to trade off an opposing creature. Gumdrop Poisoner is the life-total puller, and once the land is down it has a chance to act as removal. Since I wanted more one-mana token-making on the curve, I also brought in the Clue package’s Novice Inspector.

Next are the two free three-drop slots. This curve does not lack quality creatures: Preacher of the Schism, Unstoppable Slasher, Braids, Arisen Nightmare, and so on are all top choices of the moment, so decide by your own preference. I chose the versatile, powerful solo fighter Glissa Sunslayer.

With such a traditional midrange creature base, is it competitive enough in today’s Standard, with demons dancing everywhere? The removal choices are the key. Given that artifacts and enchantments are currently extremely rampant in Standard, I main-deck four Troublemaker Ouphe to handle them. Anyway, kicker costs basically nothing in this deck, and it is both a walking two-mana exile answer and something Kellan can pull up, so it should perform well.

For instant and sorcery removal, I set up a middle-of-the-road mix of Duress, Get Lost, and Go for the Throat.

Gameplay Demo

The games in the test video… in a nutshell, it is all about the unrivaled Troublemaker Ouphe. First the Ouphe tears apart the opponent’s artifacts and enchantments to disrupt them, then Felothar forcefully holds the line and beats the opponent down (in the last two games, the opponent surrendered after just seeing Felothar on top of the library). In the third game the opponent was clearly rattled after their Cutter got torn apart on time, and burned a Monstrous Rage at a strange moment, throwing away a chance to turn the game around for nothing.

Conclusion

Although at first glance it looks like a hodgepodge midrange pile, it actually performs surprisingly well. The reason may be Troublemaker Ouphe, but Felothar’s team-wide growth is the key to kicking the opponent down. The unfortunate part is that the test video did not capture Felothar’s performance in a long game, so here I use a screenshot from when I cleared the quest with the old version against mono-white lifegain to illustrate (it differs from the new version only by Honest Rutstein). In that game, early on Troublemaker Ouphe tore apart the opponent’s Authority of the Consuls, Kellan kept refilling creatures to hold off the opponent’s Ajani’s Pridemate, and Glissa’s first strike plus counter removal created a tactical advantage. The result was Felothar fattening up the whole row of creatures and in turn suppressing the opponent, draining their 50-plus life points dry to win.