Overview:

This Abzan (W/B/G) deck revolves around high-toughness creatures with defender, leveraging Felothar the Steadfast to transform them into offensive threats that deal damage via toughness. The strategy combines defensive board control with incremental life-gain synergies and combat-based wins enabled by toughness-to-damage conversion. Felothar serves as the linchpin, enabling defender aggression and providing a sacrifice-based draw engine. The deck includes backup redundancy with Assault Formation and Walking Bulwark, while supporting themes like life-gain payoffs (Wall of Limbs, Jaws of Defeat) and mass creature control (Slaughter the Strong).

Primer:

Core Strategy Execution:

1. Early Setup (Turns 1-4): Deploy defenders like Wall of Omens, Sylvan Caryatid, and Overgrown Battlement to build board presence and ramp. Use Arboreal Grazer and signets to fix mana.
2. Commander Enablement (Turns 4-5): Cast Felothar to unlock defender attacks. Prioritize protecting him with Swiftfoot Boots or Shalai, Voice of Plenty.
3. Value Generation (Mid-Game): Activate Felothar’s sacrifice ability with expendable defenders (e.g., Hornet Nest tokens) for card advantage. Use Seedborn Muse to untap mana-generating defenders like Axebane Guardian and Arbor Adherent.
4. Win Conditions (Turns 6-8+):
   • Combat Overload: Swing with massive-toughness creatures like Towering Titan (scaling with total toughness) or Indomitable Ancients, amplified by Canopy Gargantuan’s +1/+1 counters.
   • Life Drain: Activate Wall of Limbs’s sacrifice ability or trigger Blight Pile with defender density.
   • Token Swarm: Generate flying tokens via Wingmantle Chaplain and Arasta of the Endless Web, evading ground blockers with Behind the Scenes’ skulk.

Mulligan Priorities:

• Keep hands with 2-3 lands (including color-fixing), 1-2 early defenders (e.g., Wall of Roots, Jaddi Offshoot), and at least one ramp piece or Felothar-enabler (e.g., Assault Formation).
• Prioritize hands with protection (Swiftfoot Boots, Shalai) against removal-heavy metas.

Key Tips:

• Use Slaughter the Strong and Expel the Interlopers asymmetrically to clear opponents’ boards while preserving your high-toughness creatures.
• Walking Bulwark provides haste and damage conversion for surprise lethal swings.
• Reunion of the House can recover multiple defenders post-wipe.

Weaknesses:

Critical

• Commander Dependency: Felothar’s removal cripples the deck’s offensive capabilities, and limited protection (only 2 hexproof sources) exacerbates this.
• Slow Clock: Wins via combat require multiple turns to assemble lethal, giving opponents time to stabilize or combo off.

Moderate

• Artifact/Enchantment Reliance: Key pieces like Assault Formation and Staff of Compleation are vulnerable to common removal.
• Graveyard Vulnerability: Recursion tools (Will of the Abzan, Reunion of the House) are easily disrupted by graveyard hate.

Minor

• Limited Evasion: Despite Behind the Scenes, flying/reach-heavy decks can block token swarms.
• Mana Inefficiency: High-CMC finishers (e.g., Zetalpa, Primal Dawn, Canopy Gargantuan) strain the deck’s ramp.

Most Important Cards:

• Assault Formation (Backup damage conversion)
• Seedborn Muse (Untap defenders for mana/combat)
• Axebane Guardian (Mana scaling with defender count)
• Wingmantle Chaplain (Token generation engine)
• Slaughter the Strong (Asymmetric board control)
• Walking Bulwark (Haste enabler)
• Canopy Gargantuan (Toughness-based scaling)
• Felothar the Steadfast (Core enabler)
• Shalai, Voice of Plenty (Protection and buff)
• Wall of Limbs (Life-drain wincon)

Attribute Ratings:

Speed: 4/10

• Wins typically materialize around T7-9 through incremental combat pressure or delayed combos like Wall of Limbs sacrifice.

Resilience: 5/10

• Moderate recursion (Reunion of the House, Will of the Abzan) and protection for Felothar, but folds to repeated removal or early stax.

Consistency: 6/10

• High defender density ensures baseline functionality, but tutors are sparse, relying on draw engines like Felothar’s sacrifice ability.

Interaction: 5/10

• Targeted removal (Swords to Plowshares, Anguished Unmaking) and asymmetric wipes are present but lack stack interaction.

Rating Justification:

This deck operates as a mid-power casual build with structured synergies but lacks the speed and redundancy for higher tiers. Its T7-9 win potential and reliance on commander-centric combat align it with the "Casual/Precon" to "Focused Casual" range, adjusted downward due to fragility.

Power level: 4.0 - 4.5