{"ops":[{"insert":"Move over, "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Doran, the Siege Tower"}},{"insert":", there's a new toughness matters Abzan commander in town. "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Felothar the Steadfast"}},{"insert":" cares about cheap, high toughness, low-power creatures that she can sacrifice to her activated ability to draw a ridiculous amount of cards. She can create incredible card advantage and a terrifying board very quickly, meaning you can close games out quickly and efficiently at many tables. (Made in collaboration with Edensair)\n\nPros:"},{"attributes":{"header":2},"insert":"\n"},{"insert":"Everything in your deck is extremely easy to cast, with several cards like "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Shield Sphere"}},{"insert":" giving you 6 toughness, effectively 6 power, and the opportunity to draw 6 cards at instant speed for zero mana. You can regularly assemble a lethal board presence in 6 turns."},{"attributes":{"list":"ordered"},"insert":"\n"},{"insert":"Abzan might have the best removal of any wedge: "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Assassin's Trophy"}},{"insert":", "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Collective Resistance"}},{"insert":", "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Swords to Plowshares"}},{"insert":", and "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Anguished Unmaking"}},{"insert":" are all instant speed removal that are either cheap, wide, or hit multiple targets."},{"attributes":{"list":"ordered"},"insert":"\n"},{"insert":"Felothar's ability is instant speed, so you can sacrifice creatures when they block or when if they're targeted by an opponent's removal."},{"attributes":{"list":"ordered"},"insert":"\n"},{"insert":"Most of the cards in this deck are very inexpensive to buy because they're absolute stinkers in basically every other deck. A budget Felothar deck can be extremely effective."},{"attributes":{"list":"ordered"},"insert":"\n"},{"insert":"Something like "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Bloodletter of Aclazotz"}},{"insert":" makes your creatures hit like absolute trucks, and most of these effects (like "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Unnatural Growth"}},{"insert":" or "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Doran, Besieged by Time"}},{"insert":") also make Felothar's sacrifices give twice as many cards. All of these effects are multiplicative, so having all three gives you an 8x damage boost."},{"attributes":{"list":"ordered"},"insert":"\n"},{"insert":"You can get a lot of free cards when you mutate "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Nethroi, Apex of Death"}},{"insert":"because many of them have zero power."},{"attributes":{"list":"ordered"},"insert":"\n"},{"insert":{"card-link":"Marvin, Murderous Mimic"}},{"insert":" can copy Felothar's ability so you can use it twice in one turn."},{"attributes":{"list":"ordered"},"insert":"\n"},{"insert":"If you want to fill your graveyard, you can build Felothar completely different to how I do here and have creatures with balanced power and toughness, together with cards like "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Bone Miser"}},{"insert":"."},{"attributes":{"list":"ordered"},"insert":"\n"},{"insert":"If you've been cracking packs for a decent amount of time, more likely than not you have at least a couple cards you can dump into Felothar that will actually work pretty well."},{"attributes":{"list":"ordered"},"insert":"\n"},{"insert":"\nCons:"},{"attributes":{"header":2},"insert":"\n"},{"insert":"Your deck immediately bricks if Felothar dies and you don't have "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Assault Formation"}},{"insert":" or "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Walking Bulwark"}},{"insert":". Casting Felothar and keeping her alive must be a core part of your gameplan."},{"attributes":{"list":"ordered"},"insert":"\n"},{"insert":"Cards that set power and toughness to specific values like "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Kudo, King Among Bears"}},{"insert":" or "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Sudden Spoiling"}},{"insert":" can also shut your deck off."},{"attributes":{"list":"ordered"},"insert":"\n"},{"insert":"There are plenty of walls that have a great power to toughness ratio at a low mana value, but their abilities are kinda... durdle-y. "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Wall of Omens"}},{"insert":" and others draw you a card, "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Portcullis Vine"}},{"insert":" is Felothar at home, and "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Barrier of Bones"}},{"insert":" gives you some card selection. "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Wall of Glare"}},{"insert":" and plenty of other cards in here are better than vanilla creatures, but that's not exactly saying much; most games they basically doesn't do anything except beat your opponents and die to draw you cards. Wizards of the Coast loves printing walls pretty frequently, but they're basically draft chaff by design. Felothar goes a long way to fix that, but these cards are fundamentally uninspiring."},{"attributes":{"list":"ordered"},"insert":"\n"},{"insert":"Conversely, there are a lot of creatures that "},{"attributes":{"italic":true},"insert":"would"},{"insert":" be great in this deck if they had more toughness and less power. "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Azusa, Lost but Seeking"}},{"insert":" for example is alright in this deck, but she has very little direct synergy with Felothar making her feel a little awkward."},{"attributes":{"list":"ordered"},"insert":"\n"},{"insert":"Felothar's activated ability costing 3 mana and being a constant drain on your board makes it kinda hard to include the higher mana value creatures (with abilities that actually do things) for a couple reasons. First, because you want to activate Felothar's ability once per turn cycle, you want to keep 3 mana up basically at all times. Second, it's a constant drain on your board presence, so you need to be able to play at least one creature a turn just to break even, or two if you're copying it with "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Marvin, Murderous Mimic"}},{"insert":". Third and finally, most high mana value creatures have a pretty bad power to toughness ratio for what this deck wants to do."},{"attributes":{"list":"ordered"},"insert":"\n"},{"insert":"\nAdvice"},{"attributes":{"header":2},"insert":"\n"},{"insert":"I want to stress again that this deck functions best when you have a lot of cheap creatures; if you just care about activating Felothar's ability (you "},{"attributes":{"italic":true},"insert":"always"},{"insert":" care about activating Felothar's ability) a creature that costs 3 mana and is a 0/6 is effectively 6 mana to draw 6 cards. Not bad, but I'd much rather pay five mana to sac a "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Wall of Shards"}},{"insert":" to draw 8 cards and pitch 1. I think a major reason that the Abzan Armor precon felt underwhelming is that it had a really high end curve when Felothar wants a very low curve."},{"attributes":{"list":"ordered"},"insert":"\n"},{"insert":"Don't be afraid to include some creatures that have high power or low toughness. Once again, "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Azusa, Lost but Seeking"}},{"insert":" is gonna help you dump all those lands you're drawing onto the battlefield. "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Craterhoof Behemoth"}},{"insert":" is giving all your massive walls trample is probably going to close out a lot of games. "},{"insert":{"card-link":"Betor, Kin to All"}},{"insert":" will start murdering your opponents' life totals very quickly when you get him out."},{"attributes":{"list":"ordered"},"insert":"\n"}]}