Dear Azami: A Tribe Called Counters

What makes a tribe a tribe? Traditionally, it refers to a card’s subtype, but over the years the definitions have stretched. Kaalia of the Vast helped tie together multiple tribes into one aerial assault, tribal fliers has several different enablers, and arguably a bunch of the “artifacts matter” cards have a tribal feel to them as well. At this point, it’s more about access to enablers (i.e. lords), and by that logic, Khans of Tarkir has firmly established +1/+1 counters as a tribal strategy. Your cards might not share the same subtype, but they’ll still get boosts and abilities all the same.

So, without further ado, let’s read this week’s letter!

Thanks for the submission, Alex! This week I’m going to pump up your deck with some new additions from Fate Reforged. While this set no longer supports the outlast mechanic, there are still a couple of lords joining the party, and bolster seems like a solid replacement.

After all, bolster doesn’t leave your shields down, which can be a major problem with outlast in Commander games!

Terra Firma

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Originally, I was holding this back for the financial section at the end of my article, but that seems unnecessarily coy. The truth of the matter is that I
went through and made the changes to your deck to lean into the counter theme, and when I was done I had only spent $72 of your $200 budget. These
additions included the two common cycles of Ravnica lands, but didn’t include the shocks, fetches, or M10 duals. Then I priced out these pricier lands, and
realized that they brought the total up to around $192, which was a lot closer to your ideal budget.

So I threw in a bunch of pricey lands to finish out your deck. Feel free to disregard me on this front-not everyone loves playing with an expensive
manabase-but your land situation seemed so basic that I felt compelled to act. At the very least, if not the fetches and the shocklands, consider adding in
the common and uncommon lands. They’re cheap, and you don’t need to be running 30 basics unless you have a lot of ramp spells. You didn’t have a bunch of
those before I took a swing at the deck, and you have even fewer of those now.

And when you have a general like Anafenza, you want access to all three colors fairly early in the game. This manabase should make it a lot easier for you
to get your cards onto the battlefield. Plus, in bumping your land count up to 38 from 35, you should be drawing land more reliably, further minimizing the
danger of color screw.

Ramping Up

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While I am not strictly opposed to mana dorks in Commander, I do tend to look askance at them outside of synergy decks. If this were a tribal elf deck, I
could perhaps see including Elvish Mystic and friends, but they have no direct interaction with counters. Since the mono-green ones don’t actually help you
get a turn 2 Anafenza, the Foremost, and the Birds and the Avacyn’s Pilgrim have no relvant synergies on their own, I made the cuts.

In their place, I put in Gyre Sage and Viridian Joiner. Both of them are a little less powerful, since that extra mana really counts for something, but
they scale with your counter theme. Since they both convert counters into mana, they offer you a way to get ahead enough to be worth exposing yourself to
the vulnerability inherent in creature-based ramp.

Darksteel Ingot is just somewhat weak these days; it’s never been easier to have your artifacts exiled, and I’d rather you have the land in its place.
Sakura-Tribe Elder is solid ramp, but it has no synergies with counter strategies (who want bodies to stay on the field after they’ve ramped) or with
Birthing Pod, so it seemed like an acceptable cut. Not every deck is a Sakura-Tribe Elder deck. Sword of Feast and Famine doesn’t have particularly
relevant abilities, and people tend to hate staring down the discard sword. If you want to run a sword, Sword of Fire and Ice or Sword of Light and Shadow
would be my choices, as they both provide card advantage… but in general, I just tend to advise skipping on the “known equipment powerhouse” cards.

They’re rarely worth the aggro.

And that’s why I cut Weathered Wayfarer as well. While it perhaps does a passable imitation of Land Tax in a 35-land deck, increasing your land count does
make this card a little less reliable. It’s a powerful card, given its ability to tutor up non-basic lands, but you really only have one of those worth
tutoring. Better to draw Gavony Township on its own time, and supplement with one or two other cards that offer similar effects for less.

Getting Advice

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Normally I’d wait to discuss tutors, but I want to discuss Birthing Pod and now’s as good a time as any. Observant readers will see that I’ve actually left
you with a Birthing Pod, since you accidentally included two in your submitted list. That’s cool though! I figure if you wanted to keep Birthing Pod in
your deck so badly that you’d list it twice, then I should pay attention and keep your deck Pod-able.

Now, it’s more of a value Pod than a combo Pod; I didn’t add in any of the Melira Pod pieces despite the counter manipulation element inherent to the
combo. And Mikeaus, the Unhallowed is out too, since he’s a nonbo with all your +1/+1 counters. But! I did include some cards that work well with Birthing
Pod, even if you no longer have one-drops to start the chain.

Green Sun’s Zenith is out because you weren’t really looking base green. Chord of Calling is usually a better card, especially with the ability to tutor up
a lord at instant speed after blockers have been declared. Worldly Tutor is out because it’s card disadvantage, and it seems like you need as little of
that as possible if you want to get ahead with a deck like this.

Killing It

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It’s very easy to confuse your role in Commander. My rule of thumb is that I’m rarely the control player. Control is grindy and involves putting up
defensive barriers and controlling the flow of the game with high-quality removal. Generally, it likes to use Wrath of God effects to get card advantage,
but the goal is to always have a reaction to someone else’s plays.

But tribal strategies afford a player the opportunity to abandon such things. You don’t have to worry about that other player’s strategies because you’re
going to be turning your creatures sideways. You’re not a straight-up aggro deck, but you have combat inevitability. Make some solid table alliances, and
you should be able to keep combo on the defensive without having to hold back mana and resources that could be better spent committing to the board.

Make them have the answers. So long as you hold back some gas instead of some one-for-one removal spells, you should be able to recover from all but the
worst setbacks.

Anyway, that’s why I took out all your one-for-one removal. In general, a deck like this doesn’t want to be sitting back on spells. What it wants is
effects tied to bodies. By adding in Angel of Despair and Ashen Rider you still have outs to problem permanents, but these are answers you can tutor up
with Birthing Pod or Chord of Calling. And if they die, you have Unburial Rites, Obzedat’s Aid, and Reanimate to buy them back again.

Finally, there’s Contagion Engine. If you’re playing with counters, you should have at least one proliferate engine, and Contagion Engine ties a double
proliferate ability to a one-sided wrath. Don’t forget that you can proliferate politically; if one of your allies needs a boost, don’t be afraid to add
their permanents to the list.

Miscellaneous Meddlings

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I’m not entirely sure why you included Hushwing Gryff. The deck isn’t really a hate bears deck, and some of your better creatures have come-into-play
abilities. Perhaps there is a reason specific to your local meta, but in the meantime, it’s worth cutting in favor of bringing in some more draw. Same goes
for Seedborn Muse, which is going to draw a ton of aggro because that card is degenerate, and Spear of Heliod, which is hampered by being a non-counter
anthem.

The good thing about draw right now is that the multitude of options means that you can find a draw card that manipulates counters: Ajani, Mentor of
Heroes. Sure, he can’t do both on the same turn, but his ultimate is powerful without being super threatening. Gaining 100 life in Commander is powerful,
but it’s not game-ending. That’s just the type of card someone might be inclined to leave on the battlefield for far longer than they should.

Shamanic Revelation is similarly interesting. On the one hand, it rewards you for having committed to the field, which is good given the faux-tribal nature
of the deck. On the other hand, in the lategame it also offers the potential to gain you a tremendous amount of life. It’s not unreasonable, given the
counter manipulation theme, to spring this card on a board where literally every creature you have triggers ferocious. That seems like a Fate Reforged card
worth trying out to me (and, in fact, is one of the few cards I bothered to preorder, more to get my playset out of the way then out of any fear of future
scarcity).

Counters Matter

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This is why I’ve been cutting more than I’ve been adding; if you’re going to commit to the tribal theme, let’s commit! The cards I took out were primarily
because I find them to be weak in Commander; the cards I added in are either counter lords from past sets or new cards from Fate Reforged. Let’s see where
different cards fall, shall we?

Armament Corps is too weak for Commander. I mean, that’s just my opinion, and I run some pretty janky cards in my decks, but compare it to Cathars’
Crusade. They’re both five-mana cards that put counters on things, but the body boost on Armament Corps doesn’t make up for the nigh-infinite counters you
can get off the crusade. Herald of Anafenza might be worthwhile if it spawned tokens whenever it got counters, but it has an expensive outlast ability, and
the payoff is relatively slim.

My problem with Jugan, the Rising Star is that it is particularly susceptible to Wrath of God. Unlike its two Orzhov brethren, if Jugan gets caught in a
wrath effect, the dies trigger, which is the primary reason to run this card, goes off without effect. A 5/5 dragon for six doesn’t really seem worth that
risk.

Skullbriar, the Walking Grave is out because you’re the wrong type of Anafenza deck to take advantage of its ability to retain counters. Anafenza, the
Foremost is a great commander for Living Death strategies as well, since her hoser ability tends to minimize the symmetry of the effect. In those decks,
Skullbriar, the Walking Grave is a great roleplayer, since it can attack immediately, and it’ll come back with its counters after every mass-resurrection
wave. But you have three cards that reanimate creatures, and each of them can target a single thing. Skullbriar is never going to be the best target in
your graveyard. As such, it’s not worth the slot.

Your two hydras, Protean Hydra and Primordial Hydra, were both cut for the same basic reason: hydras have to have a lot of upside to be worth playing in
Commander. This is especially in a deck that wants to have some Birthing Pod synergies! The upside of these two hydras is that they get big. Well, if you
want big, Realm Seekers and Custodi Soulbinders are more cost-effective ways to get counters onto the battlefield, and both of those cards let you spend
those counters for card advantage. The two hydras I cut can’t compete with that. Lifeblood Hydra, on the other hand, will eventually replace itself and
gain you a ton of life, so long as it’s not exiled. That seems worth the nonbo with Birthing Pod.

Finally, Spike Weaver didn’t seem like the best Spike to include. I’m not a huge Spike fan, but if I were, I think I’d want to run Archangel of Thune and
Spike Feeder. But that’s a bit too spikey for your average Commander deck, so let’s move on.

Ajani Goldmane and Ajani Steadfast both have an ability that puts +1/+1 counters on your whole team. While you’ll never be able to take advantage of Ajani
Steadfast’s loyalty counter pump ability, as all the planeswalkers in your deck are now Ajanis, these cards both offer lord-like effects tied down to a way
to gain you life. Ajani, Caller of the Pride offers some minor counter synergy, but it seems like a card better suited for the 60-card formats.

Battlefront Krushok and Elite Scaleguard are the two counter lords from Fate Reforged. Since the Prerelease only just happened this past weekend, you might
be unfamiliar with their abilities: Battlefront Krushok gives evasion, while Elite Scaleguard turns things into tappers. Speaking of counters and tappers,
Citadel Siege is another Fate Reforged card that works on a similar axis; either you use it offensively and get two counters on a creature during each of
your upkeeps, or you can set it up to tap down your opponents’ stuff during their combat phase. Either way, this new rare offers a strong synergy with the
rest of your deck.

And that’s before we even get to bolster, the heir to the outlast throne. Bolster is an ability that offers you cheap counters with the minor restriction
that they go to your weakest creatures. Since you want those creatures to get huge anyway, this is a minor drawback that represents some major cost
savings. Take Dragonscale General, for example. You swing in with all your toughest dudes, and then she pumps one of the creatures you held back! You’ve
attacked, but you didn’t risk all that much to do so, and it left you with stronger shields against most non-swarm strategies.

Map the Wastes adds bolster to a fairly standard ramp spell; compare it to Darksteel Ingot, which lets you use the mana a turn earlier, but doesn’t develop
your board and can be removed. Sandsteppe Mastodon is big, and he makes your weakest creature big too. And if you happen to be well-developed by that
point, or have no other creatures on the battlefield, he comes down as a 10/10 to cause some serious panic. Add in reach, giving you another way to hold
off the aerial assault, and you’ve got a card worth considering! But Sandsteppe Mastodon is nothing compared to Dromoka the Eternal. Even with no other
dragons, Dromoka represents a recurring stream of counters stapled to a relatively cheap dragon. There are a lot of ways to get that lady out on turn 4,
even with all the cuts to your mana dorks.

Corpsejack Menace is a more powerful version of Hardened Scales, with the potential downside of being attached to a creature. Both of those cards work well
with Daghatar the Adamant, who can make combat somewhat nightmarish even when he’s not taking one counter off an opposing creature to put two on one of
yours. Forgotten Ancient acquires counters like they’re carbon dioxide and can make sure your whole team is powered up during your upkeep. Renegade Krasis
is a counter lord, albeit a weaker one, since its ability is tied to evolution… but if it’s giving you problems, just move the counters off it with
Daghatar until it starts evolving again.

Juniper Order Ranger ensures your team stays constantly on Team Counter, while growing to be quite the titan itself. This is an interesting contrast from
most lords, who tend to remain somewhat unassuming and combat adverse on their own. And Necropolis Regent offers a universal boost that’s flavorful as
well; anyone who manages to feast on one of your planeswalker opponents gets that much more powerful. It’s probably something in the blood.

Finally, we have Ghave, Guru of Spores. Given the aggro he tends to inspire, I get not wanting to turn him into your commander, but he’s still a strong
enough card to make the 99. He can turn counters into creatures, which is useful, and he can turn creatures into counters, which nullifies a lot of the
spot removal. Admittedly, the first spot spell is probably going to be aimed at him, but here’s hoping they’ve got a Terror or a Doom Blade! Because those
are not going to be sufficient answers for him.

The List!

Anafenza, the Foremost

Jess Stirba

Test deck on 01-20-2015

Commander

Creatures (41)

• 1 Triskelion
• 1 Forgotten Ancient
• 1 Eternal Witness
• 1 Viridian Joiner
• 1 Pentavus
• 1 Angel of Despair
• 1 Cytoplast Root-Kin
• 1 Simic Basilisk
• 1 Sporeback Troll
• 1 Juniper Order Ranger
• 1 Harmonic Sliver
• 1 Vigor
• 1 Bramblewood Paragon
• 1 Fertilid
• 1 Mycoloth
• 1 Ghave, Guru of Spores
• 1 Scavenging Ooze
• 1 Corpsejack Menace
• 1 Necropolis Regent
• 1 Gyre Sage
• 1 Renegade Krasis
• 1 Kalonian Hydra
• 1 Ashen Rider
• 1 Realm Seekers
• 1 Custodi Soulbinders
• 1 Reclamation Sage
• 1 Ainok Bond-Kin
• 1 Ivorytusk Fortress
• 1 Abzan Battle Priest
• 1 High Sentinels of Arashin
• 1 Mer-Ek Nightblade
• 1 Abzan Falconer
• 1 Tuskguard Captain
• 1 Longshot Squad
• 1 Lifeblood Hydra
• 1 Dragonscale General
• 1 Daghatar the Adamant
• 1 Dromoka, the Eternal
• 1 Sandsteppe Mastodon
• 1 Battlefront Krushok
• 1 Elite Scaleguard

Planeswalkers (3)

• 1 Ajani Goldmane
• 1 Ajani, Mentor of Heroes
• 1 Ajani Steadfast

Lands (38)

• 4 Forest
• 4 Plains
• 1 Reflecting Pool
• 4 Swamp
• 1 Windswept Heath
• 1 Golgari Rot Farm
• 1 Overgrown Tomb
• 1 Selesnya Sanctuary
• 1 Temple Garden
• 1 Godless Shrine
• 1 Orzhov Basilica
• 1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
• 1 Vivid Grove
• 1 Vivid Marsh
• 1 Vivid Meadow
• 1 Sunpetal Grove
• 1 Marsh Flats
• 1 Verdant Catacombs
• 1 Command Tower
• 1 Isolated Chapel
• 1 Woodland Cemetery
• 1 Gavony Township
• 1 Golgari Guildgate
• 1 Selesnya Guildgate
• 1 Orzhov Guildgate
• 1 Opal Palace
• 1 Scoured Barrens
• 1 Jungle Hollow
• 1 Blossoming Sands

Spells (17)

• 1 Reanimate
• 1 Sol Ring
• 1 Chord of Calling
• 1 Coalition Relic
• 1 Contagion Engine
• 1 Darksteel Plate
• 1 Birthing Pod
• 1 Unburial Rites
• 1 Cathars' Crusade
• 1 Obzedat's Aid
• 1 Bow of Nylea
• 1 Abzan Ascendancy
• 1 Hardened Scales
• 1 Retribution of the Ancients
• 1 Shamanic Revelation
• 1 Citadel Siege
• 1 Map the Wastes

Here we have the reconciled list. If you want to see something nice, take a look at this curve:

It’s pretty solid for a Birthing Pod deck, and you’ve got lords at practically every point in there. You’re not going to be able to Pod your way through
every game, but when it does come online, it should be solid and powerful.

What does this all cost, one might ask? Well, I’ll remind everyone that my budget this time was $200, and I spent most of that on six lands, so while this
price tag may be a lot for me personally, it’s requested!

Hopefully, this is somewhat in line with what you were aiming for. I’ll admit, I’m a sucker for Abzan, and Fate Reforged seems to be bringing some powerful
tools to the party. While I still hope that the powerful hybrid cards in this set get the Commander gods to reconsider the rules on color identity, in the
meantime there’s plenty of room for wedge decks to flourish.

That’s it for this week’s Dear Azami! Keep those submissions coming! We’re particularly looking for Fate Reforged tie-ins for the next couple of weeks, so
if you’ve been playing around with a Scion of the Ur-Dragon deck or some thieving Temur build, this would be the time to send us an email!

Email us a deck submission using this link here!

Want to submit a deck for consideration to Dear Azami? We’re always accepting deck submissions to consider for use in a future article. Only one deck
submission will be chosen per article, but being selected for the next edition of Dear Azami includes not just deck advice but also a $20 coupon to
StarCityGames.com!

Email us a deck submission using this link here!

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And feel free to check Jess’s own Command of Etiquette
column on Hipsters of the Coast, for more Commander and casual content.