Well, another Magic expansion will soon be upon us! We don't have much hard info on the set or the block, so we're here to talk about what might happen. We know one thing for sure: Tarkir is a world dominated by five Clans. In this series, we will give our thoughts on each one.
Ash: Well, first up is the white/black/green Clan, known as the Abzan Houses. They are a rugged band of survivors from the harsh desert. What are some of your initial thoughts on these guys? Personally, I think they will be akin to the Order from the Odyssey block: good guys on the surface, but willing to do whatever it takes to survive and further their ideals.
Chris: Historically this color combination has had a very strong graveyard theme. If you look to the motivations of the colors in the clan; white is motivated to do what is best for the group, black is motivated for themselves and green is motivated by heritage. This would lead you to believe that the khan of this clan will likely do what she thinks is best for her clan, without the say of her people and feeling like it is her birthright to do so. Think Emperor Palpatine,
Hmmm keyword? They are said to scavenge dragon scales and wear them as armor, I believe this will lead to a strong +1/+1 counter theme. Dragon scales are known to be very hard to penetrate so I believe we could see a subtheme of permanents gaining indestructible. My gut feeling says their keyword will be an activated ability, but I would not be surprised at all if it did something like...
Let's take a look at some art, shall we?
First up, the clan's promo art. Very much points towards the Clan's roots in the color white, with a strong sense of unity. We also see a lot of that dragon-scale armor your were talking about.
If you notice in this art their are humans, aven, orcs and einoch which is a race of dog people.
Here we have a closer look at the weapons and armor. Could this be a buff spell? Or maybe a card that makes three tokens? Is this Timely Reinforcements?!
It is so hard for me to grasp the green and black influence at all. To me this is reminiscent of Boros or Akros.
Anafenza, the Khan of Abzan. She is said to be a strong leader, who can always be seen at the front lines in her chariot. But what does that mean in game terms? Building off of what Chris said earlier, maybe she is good at handing out +1/+1 counters to your other creatures?
My guess she will have something similar to an Odric or Tajic ability and/or a Crusader of Odric ability.
And finally, a piece of art that was just revealed at the German convention Gamescom. This will be the cover rare for one of the Khans of Tarkir intro packs. This thing looks like it might play well with other creatures. Possibly getting a power/toughness boost based on the number of creatures you control?
No clue. At first I thought the elephant had a howdah, but it appears to be pulling some kind of fortress. This does not really feel like a creature card to me.
Okay, time for final thoughts. The Abzan are slow and controlling, working to survive the early game so that they can dominate the late game. This could potentially be terrible to play against, depending on just how grindy the cards turn out to be. But it should be (sadistic) fun for whatever sort of twisted monster enjoys that playstyle...
This is my clan, I love what these colors do and how they are described to play! However I feel a very large disconnect with how they are described mechanically and how they appear flavorfully. Especially if the rumors are true that they will lose a color in the second set and will lose another color in the third set. I probably will not be an Abzan fan when they are white only. From the Melvin perspective, I am just sick enough to grind people out with this clan.
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