When I think about the Abzan Houses of Tarkir, resilience and survival always come to mind. These Siege Rhino riders were a people who thrived by enduring the hardships of time, standing firm, and growing stronger with each passing moment. So, when Outlast, a mechanic introduced in Khans of Tarkir, was designed as the clan's unique mechanic, it really felt like a perfect fit.

Outlast allowed the Abzan to grow stronger over time, gaining +1/+1 counters as a testament to their endurance and determination. But despite its fitting flavor, Outlast turned out to be&thinsp... well, a bit of a mixed bag. So, today, in yet another Mechanics Overview segment, walk with me alongside our desert warriors as we talk about what this mechanic is all about and why, for some players, it was a bit of a letdown.

What is Outlast?

The Outlast mechanic is pretty simple: it's a keyword activated ability that lets a creature gain a +1/+1 counter when we pay its cost. This cost usually involves a small amount of mana and tapping the creature. But if I had to point out one big limitation of the mechanic, it's that we can only activate Outlast at ''sorcery speed.'' (Meaning that a player can only use it on their own turn, during their main phase, with nothing else on the stack.)

Deck-Building With Outlast

Outlast is often the most effective when used in conjunction with other mechanics that reward placing and distributing +1/+1 counters. In other words, Outlast is at its best when we're not trying to force it as the star of the deck but rather allowing it to take on a more supportive role that amplifies the effectiveness of other strategies. Here are just a few of my favorite ways to integrate Outlast into a broader game plan:

Proliferate

One of the most effective ways to enhance Outlast creatures is by using the Proliferate mechanic, which allows us to add an extra +1/+1 counter to any creature that already has one. Cards like Evolution Sage or Bloated Contaminator (an especially excellent choice given that the Toxic mechanic is also often intertwined with +1/+1 strategies) can take our Outlast counters and multiply them across our board, turning our modestly growing creatures into more effective threats.

Leveraging Counter Lords

Another streamlined means of playing with Outlast creatures, and coincidentally the way Magic: The Gathering designers actually intended for us to play, is by combining them with the 6 ''Counter Lords'' that grant additional abilities to our creatures with +1/+1 counters:

• First Strike with Ainok Bond-Kin: So our creatures get big with +1/+1 counters, right? Well, what if our opponent happens to be playing their favorite Deathtouch-tribal deck? Let's show them that we don't tolerate that kind of cowardice by granting our whole board First Strike.
• Deathtouch with Mer-Elk Nightblade: So, you know that whole spiel I just said about Deathtouch? Well... it's okay when we have to work for it a bit.
• Flying with Abzan Falconer: Unsurprisingly, once our creatures have a few counters mucking about, suddenly giving our whole board Flying can often end games on the spot.
• Lifelink with Abzan Battle Priest: In matchups where we're racing, giving our whole board Lifelink can often be more than enough to help us come out ahead.
• Reach with Longshot Squad: While Reach is often a defensive mechanic, you won't ever find me complaining about having it when facing off against a flock of the best creatures in the game, Storm Crow.
• Trample with Tuskguard Captain: And needless to say, if we need to force damage through an army of Squirrel tokens, granting Trample to our whole board should, more times than not, get the job done.

Counters Toolbox

This involves building a deck with a variety of ways to generate, manipulate, and benefit from +1/+1 counters. So, if the card text says +1/+1 counter on it, we're more than happy to take a look at it for this strategy. Here are just some of my more notable ones:

• Luminarch Aspirant: A reliable source of +1/+1 counters that steadily grows one of our creatures every turn.
• Renata, Called to the Hunt: Makes it so every creature we cast enters the battlefield with an additional +1/+1 counter.
• The Ozolith: If any of our Outlast creatures dies, we can store all those counters on The Ozolith and transfer them to another creature at the start of the next turn.
• Venerated Loxodon: Allows us to tap our Outlast creatures to put counters on them and our other creatures, turning summoning sickness into a potential advantage.
• Hardened Scales/Winding Constrictor/Conclave Mentor/Ozolith, The Shattered Spire/ etc.: These cards really need no introduction as they simply double the amount of +1/+1 counters we get on our creatures. If you're looking to maximize the amount of cards that have this type of effect, the specific line of text we're looking for is: "If one or more +1/+1 counters would be put on a creature you control..." From this point on, go nuts.

Why Outlast Simply Wasn't For Everyone

Now, Outlast didn't appeal to everyone. And I get it; it's certainly not for every player or every deck. For starters, Outlast often felt too slow with its sorcery-speed restriction alongside its need to tap the creature itself.

And then, there was the vulnerability aspect. Since Outlast creatures often started with lower stat lines, they could often be removed easily before a player even had the chance to build them up. Or worse yet, imagine losing our Abzan Falconer after spending turns growing it with Outlast, only for it to get Murderous Cut-ed for 1-mana.

For these reasons and more, Outlast scored high, a 7, on the Storm Scale - a measure of how likely a mechanic is to return in future sets. A high rating, in this instance, meant that Outlast's slow pacing and limited appeal made it rather unlikely to see a major comeback in future Magic: The Gathering sets. However, it is worth noting that it has shown up as seldom one-offs in supplemental sets like Modern Horizons, Modern Horizons 2, and Modern Horizons 3, where its potential can be further explored in smaller doses.

Cards with Outlast

Regardless of all the haters out there, if you're looking to explore the full potential of Outlast yourself in your next Counters-Matter deck, here's a complete list of all the Outlast cards available today:

• Abzan Battle Priest
• Abzan Falconer
• Ainok Bond-Kin
• Arcus Acolyte
• Demonic Tourist Laser
• Disowned Ancestor
• Enduring Sliver
• Envoy of the Ancestors
• Herald of Anafenza
• Longshot Squad
• Mer-Ek Nightblade
• Salt Road Patrol
• Tuskguard Captain

The Future of Outlast

At the end of the day, I feel that Outlast was a very creative attempt byMagic: The Gathering designers to capture the Abzan clan's endurance-focused theme while offering a new, unique way for creatures to grow stronger over time. And while the mechanic had some sense of strategic advantages, such as providing a late-game mana sink and self-enabling synergy with +1/+1 counters, it simply faced too many challenges in terms of pacing, flexibility, and board presence that limited its appeal to more competitive players.

Like Mark Rosewater, I don't expect Outlast to make a large-scale return in any future set any time soon, either. Still, I do feel that the spirit of Outlast will continue to live on in the creatures and abilities that reward us for investing in the long game. After all, in metas that are often filled to the brim with fast combo-orientated strategies and instant-speed shenanigans, Outlast, somewhat surprisingly, stands as a gentle reminder of the fun that can come from building something up slowly and holding on for dear life when someone may or may not have a removal spell to ruin your investment.