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Reyhan, Last of the Abzan

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Reyhan, Last of the Abzan

At a glance

  • Commander: Reyhan, Last of the Abzan
  • Colors: Golgari
  • Archetype: Golgari +1/+1 counter graveyard midrange
  • Power tier: mid

Cards

Commander (real printed text)

Reyhan, Last of the Abzan — Legendary Creature — Human Warrior (3/2) Reyhan enters with three +1/+1 counters on it. Whenever a creature you control dies or is put into the command zone, if it had one or more +1/+1 counters on it, you may put that many +1/+1 counters on target creature. Partner.

The scout’s paraphrase was accurate: Reyhan moves the counters from any dying counter-creature onto another creature you control. Counters are never lost to removal or combat — they relocate. Reyhan herself enters with three counters, so even she carries value into the next body when she dies/returns to the command zone. (Partner is irrelevant here — single-commander build.)

commander_oracle_ok = true

Gameplan

This is a resilient value midrange deck, not a glass cannon. Three steps:

  1. Stack counters cheaply — ETB-counter creatures (Servant of the Scale, Iron Apprentice, Arcbound Worker, Basking Broodscale), graft creatures (Simic Initiate, Aquastrand Spider), and proliferate (Courage in Crisis, Smell Fear, Pollenbright Druid, Blightbelly Rat, Copper Longlegs, Bloom Hulk, Gulping Scraptrap).
  2. Trade or sacrifice counter-laden bodies. Reyhan catches the counters and dumps them onto a single creature. Free/cheap sac outlets (Carrion Feeder, Viscera Seer, Bloodthrone Vampire, Bloodflow Connoisseur) plus sac-fueled removal/draw (Bone Splinters, Bone Shards, Village Rites, Costly Plunder, Deadly Dispute) mean every chump-block, board wipe, or removal spell aimed at us just feeds the snowball.
  3. Close with an oversized threat wearing evasion. Bushmaster gives deathtouch to every other counter-creature; Duskshell Crawler and Tuskguard Captain give trample to every counter-creature. A 12/12 trampling deathtoucher gets through any board.

Key synergy lines

  • Reyhan + any sac outlet + a counter creature = a counter-relocation engine. Sac Servant of the Scale (which also dumps its own counters on death) into Carrion Feeder; Reyhan moves the counters, Servant’s own trigger doubles up, Mortician Beetle grows. One sac, three counters land somewhere useful.
  • Iron Apprentice / Arcbound Worker (modular) + Reyhan = double counter-relocation: both the modular/Apprentice trigger AND Reyhan trigger fire, but you point all the counters at the same evasive threat.
  • Crypt Rats / Festercreep as pseudo-wraths — black’s sweeper slot. Crypt Rats (: X damage to everything) is a repeatable board reset you can grow huge with relocated counters, surviving its own sweep. Festercreep sacs a counter to give all OTHER creatures -1/-1 (asymmetric), and proliferate/Reyhan refuel its counter to fire again.
  • Bushmaster turns the whole board into removal — every counter creature has deathtouch, so attacking or blocking trades up and Crypt Rats/-1/-1 effects mop the rest.

Role breakdown (with counts)

  • Lands — 36: 16 Forest, 14 Swamp, 6 BG duals (Golgari Rot Farm, Jungle Hollow, Foul Orchard, Golgari Guildgate, Woodland Chasm, Darkmoss Bridge).
  • Ramp — 10: Llanowar Elves, Elvish Mystic, Fyndhorn Elves, Elves of Deep Shadow, Sakura-Tribe Elder, Diligent Farmhand, Dawntreader Elk, Farhaven Elf, Wild Wanderer, Cultivate. (Sac-ramp dorks double as Reyhan/death fodder.)
  • Card advantage — 10: Llanowar Visionary, Yavimaya Elder, Village Rites, Costly Plunder, Deadly Dispute, Sign in Blood, Night’s Whisper, Read the Bones, Grapple with the Past, Roots of Wisdom.
  • Spot removal / interaction — 11: Grim Affliction, Whisper of the Dross, Disfigure, Death Wind, Bone Splinters, Bone Shards, Cruel Edict, Devour Flesh, Eaten Alive, Spark Harvest, Bake into a Pie.
  • Mass / pseudo-wipe — 2: Crypt Rats, Festercreep.
  • Counter payoffs / enablers / sac outlets / recursion — 30: Servant of the Scale, Iron Apprentice, Simic Initiate, Aquastrand Spider, Basking Broodscale, Arcbound Worker, Young Wolf, Butcher Ghoul, Pollenbright Druid, Duskshell Crawler, Tuskguard Captain, Bushmaster Coiled Henchman, Carrion Feeder, Bloodthrone Vampire, Bloodflow Connoisseur, Mortician Beetle, Viscera Seer, Courage in Crisis, Smell Fear, Bloom Hulk, Gulping Scraptrap, Blightbelly Rat, Copper Longlegs, Thirsting Roots, Ankle Biter, Hired Poisoner, Sedge Scorpion, Moss Viper, Ruthless Ripper, Unearth.

Win condition

Stack counters onto one creature, hand it deathtouch (Bushmaster) and trample (Duskshell Crawler / Tuskguard Captain), and swing for lethal — counters relocate through removal so the threat is hard to permanently answer. Crypt Rats provides a backup mill-free inevitability/reset if the board clogs.

Pilot notes

  • Don’t overcommit into open mana — Reyhan rewards patience because removal aimed at your counter-creatures just relocates the counters when you sac in response.
  • Hold a sac outlet up when a wipe is likely; sac your fattest counter-creature in response so Reyhan banks the counters onto a survivor (or onto Reyhan-in-command-zone math doesn’t apply, but a hexproof-less survivor works).
  • Deathtouch + trample means even a 4/4 finisher is hard to block profitably; you rarely need a 15/15.
  • Sequence proliferate AFTER counters are placed, and ideally with two counter-types out (a Treasure/charge counter, poison from Blightbelly) for extra value.

Weaknesses

  • Graveyard/exile hate dampens the recursion subtheme (Unearth, Yavimaya Elder, sac-value loops), though the core counter plan runs off the battlefield.
  • Enchantment-based removal / exile (no -1/-1 to relocate from) cleanly answers the finisher; we lean on Cruel Edict / Devour Flesh as redundancy but those are opponent’s-choice.
  • Go-wide aggro can race the slower setup turns — Crypt Rats and Festercreep are the answer, but both want mana/counters online first.
  • Only 2 true sweepers; against heavy token decks you’re relying on Crypt Rats hitting critical mass.

Decklist

⬇ Download as .txt — paste into Moxfield, Archidekt, or MTG Arena.

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