Overview:

This Abzan (W/B/G) deck revolves around high-toughness creatures and defenders, leveraging Felothar the Steadfast to enable aggressive combat by having creatures assign damage based on toughness and bypassing defender restrictions. The primary win conditions involve overwhelming combat with massive toughness values, life-total manipulation via Tree of Perdition/Tree of Redemption, and incremental drain effects like Blight Pile or Jaws of Defeat. Felothar acts as the essential enabler, providing redundancy for the toughness-damage effect and offering card draw through its sacrifice ability. The deck relies heavily on synergistic permanents, making it vulnerable to disruption targeting its commander or key pieces.

Primer:

Core Strategy Execution:

1. Early Setup (Turns 1-4): Deploy mana-fixing lands (Command Tower, Sandsteppe Citadel) and ramp (Sol Ring, Arcane Signet, Arboreal Grazer, Nature's Lore). Prioritize low-CMC defenders with utility like Wall of Omens, Sylvan Caryatid, or Overgrown Battlement for early card draw/ramp.
2. Establish Synergy (Turns 3-6): Cast Felothar or redundancy pieces like Assault Formation/Bedrock Tortoise. Deploy critical high-toughness creatures (Tree of Perdition, Indomitable Ancients) and mana amplifiers (Axebane Guardian, Faeburrow Elder). Use Crashing Drawbridge or Walking Bulwark to grant haste.
3. Generate Value (Turns 5+): Activate Felothar's draw ability (sacrificing high-toughness creatures) or deploy engines like Guardian Project, Lifecrafter's Bestiary, or Welcoming Vampire for sustained card advantage. Utilize Seedborn Muse for explosive untap synergy.
4. Win Condition Execution:
   • Combat: Swing with high-toughness creatures (e.g., 13-toughness Trees, Towering Titan). Use evasion enablers like Behind the Scenes (skulk) or Sidar Kondo of Jamuraa to ensure damage connects. Amplify with Canopy Gargantuan or Tower Defense.
   • Life Swap: Activate Tree of Perdition or Tree of Redemption to set an opponent to 13 life or swap your life total for a lethal alpha strike.
   • Drain: Leverage Blight Pile or Jaws of Defeat for incremental life loss based on defender count/toughness disparities.

Mulligan Priorities:

• Keep hands with 2-3 lands (including color-fixing) and at least 1-2 early plays (ramp, low-CMC defender, or card draw).
• Prioritize hands containing Felothar, Assault Formation, or Bedrock Tortoise to enable the core strategy.
• Include at least one piece of interaction (e.g., Swords to Plowshares, Feed the Swarm) if possible.
• Avoid hands lacking early defenders or synergy enablers.

Key Tips:

• Protect Felothar: Use Swiftfoot Boots, Crystal Barricade, or Dawn's Truce to shield Felothar from removal. His effect is critical for enabling attacks.
• Maximize Mana: Untap defenders like Axebane Guardian or Overgrown Battlement with Seedborn Muse for massive mana generation. Arbor Adherent scales with your highest toughness.
• Recursion is Key: Leverage Reunion of the House, Will of the Abzan, or Memorial to Folly to recover key creatures after board wipes.
• Timing Matters: Activate life-swap effects (Trees) when opponents are vulnerable. Use Tip the Scales as a surprise board wipe by sacrificing a high-toughness creature.

Weaknesses:

Critical

• Commander Dependence: Removing Felothar repeatedly cripples the deck's ability to attack or draw cards, as redundancy (Assault Formation/Bedrock Tortoise) is limited.
• Board Wipes: Mass removal (e.g., Wrath of God) devastates the board state due to slow recovery and reliance on creature-based synergy.
• Anti-Synergy Stax: Cursed Totem/Linvala, Keeper of Silence shut down mana dorks, Axebane Guardian, and Felothar's draw ability. Torpor Orb nullifies ETB draw from Walls.

Moderate

• Artifact/Enchantment Hate: Targeted removal for key pieces like Assault Formation, Behind the Scenes, or Seedborn Muse disrupts the game plan.
• Flying Threats: The deck has limited reach/flying blockers, making it vulnerable to evasive armies.
• Graveyard Hate: Exiling recursion targets (e.g., Reunion of the House/Will of the Abzan fodder) hinders recovery.

Minor

• Combo Decks: Lacks instant-speed interaction for fast non-combat wins.
• Mana Base Fragility: Enters-tapped lands and color requirements can slow early development.

Most Important Cards:

• Seedborn Muse (Untaps defenders for mana/draw, enables explosive turns)
• Assault Formation (Redundancy for Felothar's toughness-damage and attack enabler)
• Axebane Guardian (Primary mana generator scaling with defender count)
• Tree of Perdition (Game-ending life-total swap)
• Crashing Drawbridge (Grants haste to enable immediate attacks)
• Overgrown Battlement (Early ramp, scales with defenders)
• Guardian Project (Card draw engine for creature-heavy deck)
• Reunion of the House (Mass reanimation for recovery/win pushes)
• Canopy Gargantuan (Scales board-wide toughness into +1/+1 counters)
• Blight Pile (Scalable life drain based on defenders)

Attribute Ratings:

Speed: 5/10

• Can establish a threatening board by T5-6 but typically wins via combat/drain around T9-11. Life-swap effects offer faster potential but require setup.

Resilience: 4/10

• Limited protection for Felothar/key pieces. Recursion exists but is slow; board wipes are devastating. Relies on drawing into recovery.

Consistency: 6/10

• Strong card draw (Guardian Project, Welcoming Vampire, Walls) finds pieces, but lacks tutors for specific win conditions. Redundancy exists for enabling attacks.

Interaction: 5/10

• Efficient targeted removal (Swords to Plowshares, Infernal Grasp, Anguished Unmaking) and board wipes (Slaughter the Strong, Expel the Interlopers), but lacks counterspells and struggles against non-creature permanents.

Rating Justification:

The deck executes a focused combat-based plan with high synergy and solid card draw, enabling consistent T9-11 wins through toughness-based damage or life manipulation. However, its heavy reliance on Felothar, vulnerability to board wipes, and lack of fast combos or robust protection cap its power below optimized tiers.

Power level: 4.0 - 4.5