Times are tough. We could all use some community to fall back on.

And when said family are Abzan, said reinforcements come with scales.

Eerie Ultimatum by Dominik Mayer

The Abzan take the concept of "family is forever" very literally, with ancestral echoes lending aid to living kin on a regular basis. For the Abzan, necromancy revolves around calling forth spirits loved ones (Anafenza, Unyielding Lineage) rather than the more corporeal zombies of the Sultai. These ghosts dwell within deeply sacred kin-trees (Kin-Tree Invocation). Most are benevolent, though souls of those exiled from the Abzan, and thus cut off from all kin, can manifest as vengeful specters. Family comes above all else, and no greater punishment exists than being cast out of the community.

They're also hearty bunch, living in harsh desert conditions. Biting sandstorms and fluctuating temperatures are a common challenge. Taking after the stockier builds of their corresponding dragons (Ex. Armament Dragon), Abzan armor and architecture relies on bulky plating for maximum protection (Abzan Falconer). Paradoxically, while the Abzan have established cities, they're also partially nomadic. Massive beasts like Ivorytusk Behemoth carry entire municipalities all over the desert.

So, what do you get when you combine a ghostly reverence and rugged exterior?

Betor contains the scorned spirits Dragonlord Dromoka's brood was quick to dismiss. As such, Betor is a single entity comprised of many souls. Remember Ermac from Mortal Kombat? Kinda like that, only slightly less murderous. And much like the red ninja, Betor refers to themselves as 'they', their consciousness composed of multiple spirits sharing one body. You're never lonely when there's a thousand voices inside your scaly head.

Within the lore, a new age dawns for the nations of Tarkir. Up to the events of March of the Machine, the five dragonlords still held dominance over the land, as evident by Zurog and Ojutai. Sometime after the Phyrexian invasion, Narset discovered records of the ancient war between dragons and the peoples of Tarkir over control of the plane, as recounted in the events of Fate Reforged. Realizing their heritages had been erased by literal draconian rule, rebellion erupted. The peoples of Tarkir summoned their own spirit dragons (Betor, Kin to All, Neriv, Heart of the Storm, etc.) to fight back. They were ultimately successful in ousting the Dragonlords and reestablished their ancient clans (Abzan, Sultai, Mardu, Termur, & Jeskai). Unfortunately, summoning forth the spirit dragons also supercharged the dragon-birthing storms scattered across the plane, causing the scaly behemoths to start spawning at an alarming rate.

In the current multiverse, the presence of omenpaths means these new dragons can now burst into other realms, sometimes in their normal form (Terror of the Peaks from Thunder Junction), sometimes going through changes to reflect a new plane (Dragonhawk, Fate's Tempest from Bloomburrow).

Ugin's not available to help, as he's still stuck playing babysitter to an underpowered Nicol Bolas... right?

I'll avoid spoilers for those who wish to read the tales, themselves.

As a commander, Betor, Kin to All is very straightforward. They simply ask you to amass as much raw toughness as possible. The greater the armor your army wears, the more you general will reward you. Level 1 grants card advantage, always a welcome when stapled directly onto a Commander, and only asks that you muster up another 3 toughness to get there, as Betor will account for a hefty 7 of it. Keep the toughness-train rolling to 20, and suddenly you get to untap the team each turn, opening up multiple activations of Hermit Druid and Skull Prophet.

All very nice bonuses, but the real payoff comes at Level 3.

Once you deploy 40 toughness, Betor, Kin to All starts taking massive chunks out of opposing life totals. It's this here where our deck's primary won condition comes into play. While halving life totals is undeniably powerful, the effect alone will never outright eliminate an opponent. Rounding up ensures that foes at one life are spared. However, pair this life loss with doubling-effects (Bloodletter of Aclazotz, Archfiend of Despair), and opponents immediately crumble.

The challenge is threefold: First, we must protect our Commander so they can draw us more resources and ultimately trigger the win condition. Secondly, we must build a tough-enough army to ensure Betor's trigger conditions are met. Finally, we'll need a life-loss doubler so the loss of half-life becomes the loss of whole-life, sweeping the table in one move.

So how do we best ensure Betor, Kin to All can consistently meet these conditions? Let's dive into our deck and find out!

Betor, Kin to All | Commander| Matthew Lotti

• Commander (1)
• 1 Betor, Kin to All

• Creatures (27)
• 1 Aftermath Analyst
• 1 Archfiend of Despair
• 1 Baldin, Century Herdmaster
• 1 Bedrock Tortoise
• 1 Bloodletter of Aclazotz
• 1 Colfenor, the Last Yew
• 1 Fecund Greenshell
• 1 Ghalta, Stampede Tyrant
• 1 Guardian of Faith
• 1 Hermit Druid
• 1 Indomitable Ancients
• 1 Nethroi, Apex of Death
• 1 Priest of Fell Rites
• 1 Roaming Throne
• 1 Satyr Wayfinder
• 1 Six
• 1 Skull Prophet
• 1 The Necrobloom
• 1 Towering Titan
• 1 Tree of Perdition
• 1 Tree of Redemption
• 1 Underrealm Lich
• 1 Wall of Blossoms
• 1 Wall of Junk
• 1 Wall of Omens
• 1 Wall of Shards
• 1 Zopandrel, Hunger Dominus

• Instants (7)
• 1 Deathsprout
• 1 Entomb
• 1 Grisly Salvage
• 1 Revitalizing Repast
• 1 Sejiri Shelter // Sejiri Glacier
• 1 Teferi's Protection
• 1 Tower Defense

• Sorceries (22)
• 1 Agadeem's Awakening // Agadeem, the Undercrypt
• 1 Animate Dead
• 1 Buried Alive
• 1 Culling Ritual
• 1 Cultivate
• 1 Damn
• 1 Eerie Ultimatum
• 1 Far Wanderings
• 1 Farseek
• 1 Kodama's Reach
• 1 Life from the Loam
• 1 Living Death
• 1 Nature's Lore
• 1 Rampant Growth
• 1 Reanimate
• 1 Reunion of the House
• 1 Rise of the Dark Realms
• 1 Three Visits
• 1 Tip the Scales
• 1 Toxic Deluge
• 1 Unmarked Grave
• 1 Victimize

• Enchantments (4)
• 1 Defense of the Heart
• 1 Mirari's Wake
• 1 Stoneskin
• 1 Wound Reflection

• Artifacts (3)
• 1 Hedge Shredder
• 1 Mesmeric Orb
• 1 Palantir of Orthanc

• Lands (36)
• 6 Forest
• 2 Plains
• 6 Swamp
• 1 Boseiju, Who Endures
• 1 Bountiful Promenade
• 1 Dakmor Salvage
• 1 Deathcap Glade
• 1 Fetid Heath
• 1 Godless Shrine
• 1 Indatha Triome
• 1 Lush Portico
• 1 Marsh Flats
• 1 Overgrown Farmland
• 1 Overgrown Tomb
• 1 Shadowy Backstreet
• 1 Shattered Sanctum
• 1 Shifting Woodland
• 1 Spymaster's Vault
• 1 Temple Garden
• 1 Underground Mortuary
• 1 Undergrowth Stadium
• 1 Vault of Champions
• 1 Verdant Catacombs
• 1 Windswept Heath
• 1 Wooded Bastion

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1. Let's start with the obvious: Toughness Matters! We want our creatures to have the biggest posteriors possible to ensure not only our survival, but to synergize with our commander. Some sources of toughness come with bonus card advantage (Wall of Blossoms), defense (Bedrock Tortoise, life alteration (Tree of Redemption), or even potential combat-based win conditions in their own right (Zopandrel, Hunger Dominus, Baldin, Century Herdmaster, Ghalta, Stampede Tyrant). Other cards like Indominable Ancients, Wall of Junk, and Wall of Shards only offer stats, but they're some of the highest toughness you can find for the mana costs. Besides, what do you care if Wall of Shards gains an opponent a bit of life when you plan to drain it all away, anyhow?

Apart from our creatures, themselves, we also supply a few tools to ensure their backsides grow sufficiently hearty. Stoneskin flies in at Instant speed to not only make a blocker far more sturdy, but also get us 25% of the way to Betor's Level 3 ability all on its own. Tower Defense only lasts a single turn, but it'll catapult us towards the coveted 40-toughness even with only a few creatures in play.

2. Call forth thy minions from the grave! Though our deck does feature many cards with Defender, the build is more interested in raw toughness than synergies with the ability. Instead, we lean into an avenue Abzan excels at, which also thematically fits our Commander: Mass Reanimation. Shout-out to Julian Sison's article on Tarkir's most-fun commanders for this idea.

Rather than slowly summoning creature after creature for our toughness count, why not resurrect a ton of them via one big cemetery-explosion? Eerie Ultimatum, Nethroi, Apex of Death, Agadeem's Awakening // Agadeem, the Undercrypt, and Reunion of the House pull back most, if not all, creatures from our graveyard and plunk them directly into play for Betor to synergize with. Rise of the Dark Realms even adds fallen enemy toughness to our total count. Commander classic Living Death goes one step further by offering us a 'wrath effect prior to reanimation. Aside from toughness, bringing back a key Archfiend of Despair or other life-loss doubler amidst a sea of high-toughness creatures might just win you the game on the spot. We include a few one-shot reanimation spells like Animate Dead, Reanimate, Victimize and Priest of Fell Rites to ensure those key game-winning creatures are ready to jump from tomb-to-table when you're ready to go for the win.

3. Fire up the ole' Mill. With the graveyard as a key resource, self-mill effects become akin to card advantage. We hope at stock up our 'yard with as much toughness as possible so mass-reanimation immediately enables Betor to drain opposing life. Even better, these mill effects often comes with bonuses like ramp (Hedge Shredder, Hermit Druid, Aftermath Analyst, Skull Prophet), card selection Underrealm Lich, Satyr Wayfinder), and even card advantage (Six, Palantir of Orthanc). Even our lands get in on the action, with Dakmor Salvage and Spymaster's Vault filling the graveyard, then Shifting Woodland impersonating a threat (or demonic win condition) once we've achieved Delirium.

Another way to ensure a fully stocked graveyard is via tutors. Black offers a multitudes that dump cards straight into the crypt (Buried Alive, Entomb, Unmarked Grave). These are helpful to not only find high-toughness creatures, but once the game goes late, our arsenal of win conditions.

Speaking of which...

4. Winning the Game. While cards like Bedrock Tortoise, coupled with a formidable army (walls-notwithstanding), can win a game via combat, our primary game-ender comes from decidedly darker sources. Once we reach 40 toughness, Betor, Kin to All's triggered ability one-shots all opponents when paired with a life-loss doubler. Once the dragon drains half of everyone's life, the subsequent the life-loss doubler devours the rest. This nasty effect primarily comes from Bloodletter of Aclazotz and Archfiend of Despair), both of whom are perfect to revive from the grave alongside a bunch of high-toughness buddies via mass-reanimation.

Roaming Throne naming Dragon has a similar effect with Betor, but will only eliminate 75% of everyone's life total. Not exactly lethal, but seeing as you already have an army of 40-toughness creatures, it shouldn't take more than one or two combats to mop up what's left. Especially considering the likes of Tree of Perdition with its life-swapping shenanigans. I considered including Final Punishment, but alas the effect only hits a single player. No worries, for Wound Reflection is on hand to spread the love to all opponents.

Baldin, Century Herdmaster by Zoltan Boros

"Why's the Capcom theme always stuck in my head?"

Though normally friendly, get on their bad side, and the Abzan will ensure your mortal spirit meets the wrath of theirs. Betor, Kin to All's stats are enough to take sizable chunks out of enemy life totals all on their own, to say nothing of durable armies or a life-sapping finisher effect. Be your victory won by towering legion or vengeful collective of Abzan afterlife, it's sure to be a display of titanic toughness.

Thanks for reading, and may the best defense be your best offense

- Matt-

@Intrepid_Tautog