The Abzan thrive on the desert plains of Tarkir. The clay of their society is sculpted by faith and hardened by the brutal heat of their environment. As the metal of the Abzan is tested, their beliefs are fortified along with their bodies. Each house of Abzan revolves around a Kin-Tree, the spiritual center of their group. The tree allows them to commune with fallen allies, friends and family members. A Kin-Tree Warden is tasked with protecting the tree at all costs. An endeavor held to such a high regard that only the greatest of the Abzan warriors are given the opportunity to serve.

There are a slew of new mechanics releasing with Tarkir: Dragonstorm. The Abzan's clan specific mechanic is called Endure. Endure is a relatively simple mechanic that's exclusive to White, Black and Green creatures. Endure is often accompanied by a number and a choice. When the endure ability triggers, the controller of it gets to either create a */* spirit creature token or put +1/+1 counters on their creature equal to the assigned endure value. Endure lets us go wide or tall with our creature strategy, but it also represents the core values of the Abzan.

As of the writing of this article there are only 10 creatures with the keyword endure. A handful of these creatures are relatively similar, so we'll only evaluate a few of them.

Descendant of Storms

Descendant of the Storms is a Savannah Lions with upside. When it attacks we have the option to pay two to endure 1. If our opponent is playing control, it may be in our best interest to create the token so we can have multiple sources of damage. If our opponent is playing aggressively, we can grow our creature to eventually trade up or soak tiny attackers.

Sinkhole Surveyor

Sinkhole Surveyor is basically a clone of the most powerful MTG card ever printed, Storm Crow. Unfortunately, the Surveyor will be competing for the skies of Tarkir with monstrous dragons. Where this little bird edges out the competition is that it comes down early. Its relatively high toughness coupled with its ability to endure lets us outgrow the sky lizards for aerial dominance.

Krumar Initiate

Krumar Initiate gives control decks a unique path to victory. The 2/2 body can come down early to clog the board and its activated ability can either grow the Initiate or give us additional blockers. If we've managed to maintain a large life total by the end of the game, we can put our opponent on a clock with a massive token or initiate.

Anafenza, Unyielding Lineage

Anafenza, Unyielding Lineage gives us the opportunity to endure every time a nontoken creature we control dies. We effectively add 2 power onto the board for every one of our creatures that passes on. If we need one large blocker or attacker, we can keep placing counters on Anafenza, but if we need to go wide to soak up damage or get an alpha strike, we can create tokens. Anafenza makes our creatures better incrementally by adding additional value to our board.

Warden of the Grove

Just like Anafenza, Warden of the Grove grows our board with every creature we cast. The difference between the two is that the Warden grows each individual creature instead of just itself. As the hydra acquires +1/+1 counters, our creatures will endure with higher and higher values. Throw this in any low to the ground creature deck to go super wide or create some monstrous beaters! This card will shine in counter strategies growing our board exponentially.

The Abzan have a long lineage of spirituality and fortitude. The endure mechanic represents their faith by creating spirits and resoluteness by adding counters to our creatures. As the Houses of Abzan are buffeted by the harsh winds of their desert home, they stand tall, proud and emboldened by their community.