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Felothar, Dawn of the Abzan

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Felothar, Dawn of the Abzan

At a glance

  • Commander: Felothar, Dawn of the Abzan
  • Colors: Abzan
  • Archetype: Abzan sacrifice midrange go-wide
  • Power tier: mid-high

Cards

Commander

Felothar, Dawn of the Abzan — , Legendary Creature — Human Warrior (3/3-ish body).

Real printed oracle text:

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.

The scout’s paraphrase was accurate — this is exactly an anthem-on-a-stick that converts spent permanents into a permanent, team-wide pump every time Felothar enters or attacks. commander_oracle_ok = true.

Gameplan

Flood the board with cheap creatures and tokens, then attack with Felothar. Each attack lets me sac one spent piece (a token, a used edict body, a Treasure/Food, a depleted aristocrat) to grow my entire team by +1/+1. Because the counters are permanent, every combat ratchets the board higher until a trample-backed alpha strike ends the game. The aristocrat shell (death-drain + sac-draw) means the sacrifices aren’t free value for the opponent — they bleed life and refill my hand along the way.

Key synergy lines

  • Felothar attack + token = free anthem. Sac a 1/1 token or an Eldrazi Scion to Felothar’s attack trigger; the whole team gets +1/+1 and I lose nothing relevant. Token makers (Eyeless Watcher, Kozilek’s Predator, Head of the Homestead, Drey Keeper, Elderleaf Mentor, Gallant-tier bodies) are the fuel.
  • Edict bodies double as removal AND sac fodder. Fleshbag Marauder / Abyssal Gatekeeper / Demon’s Disciple / Slum Reaper strip an opponent creature on ETB, then get fed to a sac outlet or Felothar for a counter — every body does two jobs.
  • Aristocrat drain loop. Cauldron Familiar + any Food (Bake into a Pie, Sami’s Curiosity Food, etc.) recurs the cat for repeatable 1-drain; Falkenrath Noble turns every death (mine or theirs) into drain-and-gain; Lampad of Death’s Vigil / Death Cultist / Gnawing-tier outlets convert fodder into life swings. Voracious Vermin and Mortician Beetle grow off the sacrifices.
  • Sac-draw refuels. Village Rites / Costly Plunder / Deadly Dispute / Night’s Whisper keep the hand full so the board never runs dry; Phyrexian Vivisector + Soulreaper of Mogis scry/draw off the deaths.
  • Recursion grind. Gravedigger / Cadaver Imp / Raise-tier effects buy back the best edict bodies and aristocrats for repeated value.

Role breakdown (counts reflect the actual list)

  • Lands: 37 — 21 nonbasic fixers + 16 basics (5 Forest / 6 Swamp / 5 Plains).
  • Ramp / fixing rocks & spells: 10 — Arcane Signet, Commander’s Sphere, Manalith, Prophetic Prism, Springleaf Drum, Rampant Growth, Cultivate, Kodama’s Reach, Lay of the Land, Sami’s Curiosity. Every one of these also fixes color.
  • Card advantage: 9 — Cache Grab, Village Rites, Costly Plunder, Deadly Dispute, Night’s Whisper, Phyrexian Vivisector, Soulreaper of Mogis, Gravedigger, Cadaver Imp.
  • Spot removal / interaction (incl. edict bodies): 14 — Fleshbag Marauder, Abyssal Gatekeeper, Demon’s Disciple, Slum Reaper, Skeleton Archer, Murder, Last Gasp, Disfigure, Tragic Slip, Moment of Craving, Bake into a Pie, Final Payment, Unmake, Crib Swap.
  • Mass / pseudo-wipe: 3 — Drown in Sorrow, Mephitic Vapors, Festergloom (asymmetric: after a Felothar pump my team survives the -1/-1 while opposing go-wide boards evaporate; Festergloom spares my black creatures entirely).
  • Sac outlets: 6 — Viscera Seer, Carrion Feeder, Nantuko Husk, Bloodthrone Vampire, Ashnod’s Altar, Death Cultist (plus Felothar himself, Lampad, and the kicker/cost outlets).
  • Payoffs / token & body engine: rest — token makers, aristocrat drain (Falkenrath Noble, Cauldron Familiar, Tattered Mummy, Blistergrub, Spirit of Malevolence), counter-grower bodies, and go-wide creatures Felothar pumps.

Manabase / fixing note

37 lands + 10 fixing rocks/ramp = ~17 dedicated fixing sources on top of basics. Tri-color access comes from Command Tower, Path of Ancestry, Cryptic Spires, Deceptive Landscape (tri-fetch), all three guildgates, and the lifegain GW/BW/BG taplands; rocks (Signet, Sphere, Manalith, Prism) and green fetch (Rampant Growth, Cultivate, Kodama’s Reach, Lay of the Land) close any color gaps. Black is the heaviest pip color, hence 6 Swamp.

Pilot notes

  • Lead on ramp/fixing and cheap fodder; don’t jam Felothar into open removal with no board — he wants a wide team already down so the first attack trigger is a real anthem.
  • Hold an edict body for value: ETB removal then sac it to Felothar’s attack for a counter.
  • The -X/-X wipes are yours to break symmetry — pump with Felothar first, then Drown in Sorrow clears their board while yours lives.
  • Don’t over-sacrifice. One nonland permanent per Felothar trigger is enough; keep fodder in reserve so every future attack also pumps.
  • Cauldron Familiar + a Food source is your slow inevitability drain in grindy games.

Weaknesses

  • Felothar-dependent for the anthem. Without him the deck is a fair-ish aristocrats board; repeated commander removal slows the snowball (mitigated by going wide and by recursion value that wins on its own).
  • No true board wipe — only -X/-X pseudo-wipes, so a single huge indestructible/large-toughness threat can sit above them. Lean on edicts and exile removal (Unmake, Crib Swap) for those.
  • Flying / evasion defense is thin beyond a few reach bodies; race with the wider board and drain.

Decklist

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

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