In this experiment, we look at the more shadowy side of the Abzan family kin-tree.

Dragons of Tarkir previews are going on now, and new cards always mean new combos to be found. The first one I want to cover is what appears to be simply an efficient 2-drop. It has an ability that slightly pumps creatures as you play them. Bolster isn’t a super-splashy keyword, and bolster 1 certainly doesn’t represent the peak power level for the mechanic, but Anafenza, Kin-Tree Spirit’s ability can be more than just a weird, triggered Glorious Anthem that synergizes nicely with the likes of Ranger of Eos.

You see, +1/+1 counters undo -1/-1 counters, and there just so happens to be a keyword from Shadowmoor that uses -1/-1 counters as markers—reminders that a creature has already persisted its one and only time. Of course, if we remove that reminder, the game may very well forget.

Commander Preface

Now, this incarnation of Anafenza (not to be confused with the Khans of Tarkir’s outdated-timeline edition of Anafenza, the Foremost) is mono-white, so our list of persist options is greatly limited, especially since Shadowmoor and Eventide also had the hybrid theme, meaning many of the cards that may have otherwise been available to a mono-white deck are instead multicolored, such as Safehold Elite and Cauldron Haze.

But there are still combos to be had, even in a mono-white deck, and a card like Enlightened Tutor can find for us an Antler Skulkin, Cauldron of Souls, or Altar we need. We’ll need some source of persistence, such as the Skulkin, the Cauldron, Kithkin Spellduster, or Twilight Shepherd. We’ll also need a way to repeatedly sacrifice a permanent, such as Altar of Dementia, Ashnod's Altar, or Phyrexian Altar.

With Cauldron of Souls, we’ll also need a creature that untaps an artifact when it enters or leaves the battlefield, but the Kithkin or Angel can go solo. (Though the Angel’s high toughness will make it tough to work with Anafenza and bolster.) Antler Skulkin requires repeated mana investment and a white friend, but Ashnod's Altar can pay for that cost, and depending on what we’re recurring, it should be worth it.

For an example, I’ll use Phyrexian Altar, Kithkin Spellduster, and Anafenza, Kin-Tree Spirit. With all three in play, we sacrifice the Kithkin to the Altar for . Its persist will return it as a 1/2, and Anafenza’s ability will bolster it (as long as we don’t have any 1-toughness creatures!). The +1/+1 counter and -1/-1 counter remove each other, so we’re left with what we started with, but up . Depending on the creature and sacrifice outlet we use, we can have all kinds of varying results.

With Ashnod's Altar, Antler Skulkin, Anafenza, Kin-Tree Spirit, Solemn Simulacrum, and Celestial Dawn (since the Skulkin’s target has to be white), we could recur the Simulacrum to put a ton of Plains into play and draw just as many (or more) cards.

Plus Golgari

Adding black and green, we leave Commander but gain a whole lot more options.

Kin-Tree Persistence ? Casual | Andrew Wilson

• Creatures (22)
• 2 Puppeteer Clique
• 4 Kitchen Finks
• 4 Murderous Redcap
• 4 Safehold Elite
• 4 Viscera Seer
• 4 Anafenza, Kin-Tree Spirit

• Planeswalkers (1)
• 1 Ajani Goldmane

• Spells (13)
• 3 Eladamri's Call
• 4 Lingering Souls
• 2 Abzan Ascendancy
• 4 Altar of Dementia

• Lands (24)
• 4 Plains
• 4 Swamp
• 4 Godless Shrine
• 4 Isolated Chapel
• 4 Overgrown Tomb
• 4 Temple Garden

Buy This Deck

We’ve already gone over how the combo works, but here, we add some consistency.

Abzan Ascendancy and Ajani Goldmane — These two aren’t necessarily part of the combo, but they can certainly add some midrange to what is otherwise a combo deck. The adding of +1/+1 counters can undo some used-up persistence of many of the creatures, which is certainly nice. In addition, the Ascendancy gives us a Spirit token whenever one of our creatures dies, so if we can loop without otherwise gaining much of anything, all those infinite Spirits should be enough for the one. (Curse you again, Urza's Armor!)

Viscera Seer — As an alternative to an Altar, we have the Seer. This 1-drop should be perfect for finding the pieces we need, especially if we already have Anafenza and a persist creature. The Seer stands in for an Altar and, in fact, is able to find us one.

Safehold Elite, Kitchen Finks, and Murderous Redcap — Here are most of our persist creatures. Safehold Elite is totally generic, but it can make Spirits with Abzan Ascendancy, and it works with Viscera Seer when we just need to find what we need. Kitchen Finks can gain us infinite life, and if we happen to be able to make an infinite/infinite Avatar token with Ajani’s ultimate, all the better. Murderous Redcap can just win us the game if we’re able to loop it, so there’s that.

Altar of Dementia and Puppeteer Clique — The primary sacrifice outlet I chose was Altar of Dementia. We can just mill out our opponents if we happen to have just it, Anafenza, and Safehold Elite, so it seems that most of our three-piece sets of combo components should include two win conditions. However, what I think would be the most fun is using the Altar with Puppeteer Clique. In fact, I started this deck out by trying to streamline a list that would solely focus on milling out our opponents while putting all of their creatures onto the battlefield with haste. It’s hard to come up with an excuse to attack someone with all of his or her own creatures after we’ve already milled that person out (or after having demonstrated that we’re able to), but we can just hope each of our opponents has an Eldrazi like Emrakul, the Aeons Torn in his or her library so that milling doesn’t remain an option.

If you miss persist, if you appreciate the luster of bolster, or if you just like three-piece combos that serve as doubled up win cons, give this deck a try.

Andrew Wilson

@Silent7Seven

fissionessence at hotmail dot com