Hello kitchen table and Commander fans and happiest of days to you and yours! Let's turn today to another Commander from Tarkir: Dragonstorm Commander. This is the Abzan defender lover called Felothar the Steadfast who is great for it. Five Color players and multiplayer stuff from long ago loved cheap Walls and high-toughness stuff since you could drop Steel Wall for example on the 1st turn, and then folks wouldn't attack you they'd head elsewhere.

This four-cost, 0/5 body lets your dorks deal toughness in combat, your defenders can attack and then tap with three colorless mana to sac a dork and then draw equal to its toughness and then discard it's power. Nasty stuff and synergy there! We'll build around toughness and defenders here.

Mana, Ramp, Rocks, Land

I toss in every Green defender dork that taps for mana like Wall of Roots. The non-defender one above for four can add with a tap for any color of mana and then for your biggest toughness, but not his. Love that much! The two-drop 0/4 defender taps for Green equal to your defender count, and then the three-drop -0/3 defender one will do it for any color instead.

The one-drop 0/3 reach one will ETB and then drop any land for free tapped! Then the four-cost one has an ETB and swing trigger too to make a 1/3 White defender Wall that also turns the death of defenders into free ramp! Then the 2-cost artifact will ETB and grab the basics in our land count and then can be sacrificed for four at sorcery speed to make a win-con X/X Spirit equal to our biggest toughness. Ouch!

Vault of the Archangel taps for colorless and then taps with four Orzhov mana to give your team lifelink and deathtouch nasty here. The legendary land Miren, the Moaning Well ETBs untapped, taps for colorless and then with three to sac your dork and gain life equal to its toughness -great here! Then the three-cost 1/3 Green common Avenging Druid will turn combat damage to foe into revealing your library until you reveal a land, it's ramped, untapped too, and then the rest are in your graveyard. It's got a big toughness, and I wish I had tossed it in last week's brew too since it was about filling and bringing stuff out of our graveyard for Teval.

Fun Toughness and Defender Matters Stuff

Now let's turn to fun toughness and defender matters stuff! The uncommon enchantment above gives your higher toughness thangs +2/+2 and then vigilance too for five mana, to swing and then keep them back for blocking. Then the White uncommon enchantment dork 0/5 has the ability to gain a life in your upkeep and then the one-cost 0 power defender and reacher has toughness equal to our Forest count and then I tossed in Yavimaya here too to make them all Forests.

The one-drop 0/4 defending Perimeter Captain will have each of your defenders gain you a pair of life when they block, brilliant for holding off hordes since you might gain more life than you'd lose. Then the three-cost splashable Selesnya planeswalker Huatli, the Sun's Heart will give your stuff the same ability to have your dorks deal damage with their toughness like Felothar and then you can -3 her to gain life equal to your biggest toughness dork.

The enchantment Angelic Chorus costs five for having a dork enter giving you it's toughness in life. Then the four-cost 1/3 defender Shield-Wall Sentinel will ETB and then tutor for one to your hand - brilliant here!

Synergies and Win-Cons

Now let's turn to synergies and win-cons, beginning with this duo. The enchantment costs six, and then in your EOT you can sac a dork to make X 2/2 Wolf tokens equal to its toughness. Then the White sorcery will exile a creature from your graveyard to make 1/1 flyer Birds equal to its toughness too. Great going wide-duo!

The three-cost old-school classic artifact will exile the bigger toughness stuff of yours that dies and then the end of any turn you can sac this and then bring them all back if you have enough! Then the 0/6 dork in Green on your turn gives your dorks hexproof to save them and then is a backup Commander since your dork with toughness is how they deal that damage. Then the backup Commander two-drop enchantment does the same and you can send defenders to swing for a mana and then pump your team with three mana as a combat trick or mana-sink too.

Now let's turn to non-red zone win cons. The Black enchantment Jaws of Defeat costs four, and then when your dorks arrive, they'll shoot one foe for damage equal to the difference in its size. For example, your leader with an 0/5 size would shoot for 5 but just once foe.

The legendary creature Betor, Kin to All has three triggers in our EOT. With 10 toughness you draw, with 20 you'll untap your dorks and then with 40 you can all foes lose half their life - a fast win con on that five-drop! And the two-drop 3/3 Black defender Blight Pile will tap with three to shoot all foes equal to defender count.

Now for a trio of support cards. The seven-drop on-curve 7/7 with flying and ward 2 on a Dragon body has in your upkeep a trigger to grow dorks with +1/+1 counters equal to their toughness - a fast win-con in a few turns. Then the six-drop Giant in Green ETBs with a size equal to your total toughness of our dorks and then you can sac a dork with defender to give your team trample for a turn for a fast win-con. Then the sorcery will bring back a total power of 10 from your graveyard to the battlefield, great for things with zero or few power!

Now let's turn to a pair of Golgari legendary dorks with a toughness-matters theme. The six-cost Colfenor, the Last Yew, which adds in White rocks vigilance and then reach to block and then a good 3/7 body and then then it or another dork we control dies? Return up to one smaller toughness dork to our hand from our graveyard. Next is the one cheaper and a smaller bodied 2/5 with the amazing indestructible, Sapling of Colfenor! Then when it swings you reveal your top card. Was it a dork? Lose life equal to its power and gain its toughness and then draw it too!

The walker of the planes Teyo, Geometric Tactician costs three, has that loyalty too, arrives with a 0/3 flying Wall with defender and then you can +1 him to draw and then a foe does too. Then you can -2 him to force everyone to only attack either left or right, so you'll won't be easily killed. I tossed in Kor Haven and Maze of Ith to keep the few that get past not taken care of.

The legendary artifact Rammas Echor, Ancient Shield will turn your second cast on any turn into a free 0/3 Wall with defender, and then at the beginning of your combat you can give your defenders exalted for a faster win-con with your Commander or another Voltron swing and then keep them untapped. Then the amazing just printed 0/4 defender artifact dork Crystal Barricade prevents non-combat damage to your stuff. Love that loads. We used to run many of these to shut down opposing targets to send spells elsewhere in a multiplayer set up like Spirit of the Hearth.

Answers

Now let's turn to answers. I tossed in Heroic Intervention to save our stuff with hexproof and indestructible and the above one with just base hexproof and then indestructible if you gift away a card. Then the 5/7 Green dork will turn the casting of all dorks into a Naturalize, gaining 4 life or digging 5 and then dropping a land tapped. Note cast, not ETB! I also tossed in Generous Gift and Beast Within.

Silklash Spider can sweep the sky for damage to all flyers equal to the X you spend and then you can help to keep our bigger toughness stuff alive. Then the reaching 3/5 Cat Warrior Qasali Slingers is next and then ETBs to Naturalize something. This replaces the 4/4 ones for that mana like Indrik Stomphowler heavily played since it'll swing as a 5/5 and adds reach.

Every deck needs mass-removal, ideally one that helps keep your stuff alive! The Black sorcery costs just three and then you sac a dork and then give the world -X/-X equal to its toughness! Great for killing things with indestructible but not exile them. Then the first five-cost White one will choose a number and then destroy all dorks with a greater power - likely to keep your stuff alive! Then the splashable five-cost one will have each dork everyone controls shoot its itself equal to its power - most of our stuff should live that! Just cast this trio and then swing into an empty board.

Card Draw

Now let's finish with that sexy card draw! Last March of the Ents cannot be countered and then draws equal to your biggest toughness dork! Then you can drop them to the battlefield a sort of win-con card draw combo. The seven-mana sorcery Nissa's Revelation will scry 5 and then reveal the top card and then draw it's power and then gain life to its toughness.

The 2/1 three-cost uncommon will draw in your upkeep if you control at least the biggest toughness thang, the 2/3 dork will draw when you cast them. Then the five-drop 4/6 reach will give your team a +2/+2 size with ten lands, and then when it or another dork you control arrives with a bigger toughness than power either ramp the top card tapped if a land or draw it.

I tossed in all Cantrip Walls that arrived and drew in my colors like Wall of Omens or the above one. Then the 1/3 Ohran was added with combat damage to draw, and then the 2/6 one here that gives your attackers deathtouch and then turns all combat into card draw! I also tossed in Toski. Then the five-mana 4/5 Cat will turn all non-Human damage into card draw, but just once. Pretty likely here, right?

There we are! Let's turn to my decklist!

Abzan Toughness & Defenders with Felothar | Commander | Abe Sargent

• Commander (1)
• 1 Felothar the Steadfast

• Creatures (37)
• 1 Abzan Beastmaster
• 1 Angel of Despair
• 1 Arbor Adherent
• 1 Arboreal Grazer
• 1 Avenging Druid
• 1 Axebane Guardian
• 1 Bedrock Tortoise
• 1 Betor, Kin to All
• 1 Blight Pile
• 1 Canopy Garguantaun
• 1 Carven Caryatid
• 1 Colfenor, the Last Yew
• 1 Crystal Barricade
• 1 Fecund Greenshell
• 1 Indomitable Ancients
• 1 Keeper of Fables
• 1 Nyx-Fleece Ram
• 1 Ohran Frostfang
• 1 Ohran Viper
• 1 Overgrown Battlement
• 1 Perimeter Captain
• 1 Qasali Slingers
• 1 Rampart Architect
• 1 Sapling of Colfenor
• 1 Shield-Wall Sentinel
• 1 Silklash Spider
• 1 Silverback Elder
• 1 Steel Wall
• 1 Sylvan Caryatid
• 1 Toski, Bearer of Secrets
• 1 Towering Titan
• 1 Traproot Kami
• 1 Vine Trellis
• 1 Wall of Blossoms
• 1 Wall of Omens
• 1 Wall of Roots
• 1 Wall of Tanglecord

• Planeswalkers (2)
• 1 Huatli, the Sun's Heart
• 1 Teyo, Geometric Tactician

• Enchantments (6)
• 1 Angelic Chorus
• 1 Assault Formation
• 1 Feed the Pack
• 1 Jaws of Defeat
• 1 Sight of the Scalelords
• 1 Stoneskin

• Spells (14)
• 1 Beast Within
• 1 Dawn's Truce
• 1 Expel the Interlopers
• 1 Generous Gift
• 1 Heroic Intervention
• 1 Farseek
• 1 Last March of the Ents
• 1 Nature's Lore
• 1 Nissa's Revelation
• 1 Reunion of the House
• 1 Scour the Desert
• 1 Three Visits
• 1 Tip the Scales
• 1 Wave of Reckoning

• Artifacts (4)
• 1 Abzan Monument
• 1 Colfenor's Urn
• 1 Rammas Echor, Ancient Shield
• 1 Sol Ring

• Lands (36)
• 7 Forest
• 7 Plains
• 5 Swamp
• 1 Access Tunnel
• 1 Bojuka Bog
• 1 Command Tower
• 1 Godless Shrine
• 1 Indatha Triome
• 1 Lush Portico
• 1 Kor Haven
• 1 Maze of Ith
• 1 Miren, the Moaning Well
• 1 Overgrown Tomb
• 1 Rogue's Passage
• 1 Sandsteppe Citadel
• 1 Shadowy Backstreet
• 1 Temple Garden
• 1 Underground Mortuary
• 1 Vault of the Archangel
• 1 Yavimaya, Cradle of Growth

Buy This Deck Export text

I tossed in the three two-mana rampers to get any dual, and then great lands from Access Tunnel to others. I did toss in classics Indomitable Ancients and Steel Wall. This is a deep dive and you could toss in Daxos, or Wall of Ice, what did I miss and what would you add?

Have an amazingly awesome day, and week! See you on Friday!