"Anafenza , The Foremost:Keeping the Abzan Strong"

"Anafenza , The Foremost:Keeping the Abzan Strong"

by:

Virgilio F. De leon Jr.

The Abzan are a tough bunch and the get tougher every time you ignore them on the battlefield. Their Khan Anafenza makes them even more tougher and stronger. 

At 3 mana of the Abzan color wedge she is by far the easier Khan to cast. Being a 4/4 creature she is a formidable presence on the battlefield. She is more balanced than Zurgo that maximizes power but less powerful than Surrak Dragonclaw who remains to be the toughest of all the Khans.

I was wondering why Anafenza only makes one tapped creature get a +1/+1 counter every time she attacks instead of giving each one of them . Then I realized that with the outlast mechanic things could get out of hand pretty quickly and with each succeeding attack it would not be much of a contest since the Abzan won't only be tough but powerful as well. Still I wish Anafenza was a Fangren Firstborn.

Now that I got that out of my system. Anafenza still adds a lot of value to the creatures she attacks with since the Abzan share abilities among creatures that have +1/+1 counters on them. So for example you have an Ainok-Bond kin and Mer-Ek Nightblade attacking with Anafenza. You could give a counter to anyone of them and make them a First Strike , Death Touch creature. A perfect Glissa The Traitor impersonation that could kill even the biggest creatures(assuming they don't have first strike too).

Another aspect I would like to focus on is that Anafenza could put a +1/+1 counter on any tapped creature. It need not be attacking with her. It could simply be tapped because you have activated its outlast mechanic. So again it would be very problematic if Anafaneza gave every creature a +1/+1 every time she attacks. I understand but it doesn't mean that I wish she could do it.

Anafenza also gives another global effect , she is a walking version of Leyline of the void. A little graveyard Hate once again hinting that there might be some reanimation shenanigans in the coming sets. So if a creature would be put in an opponents graveyard it is instead exiled. The most affected clan would be the Sultai that rely heavily on the graveyard for their Delve costs. There are no easy to cast Reanimation spells in Standard so far but there could be in the succeeding sets(keeping my fingers crossed) otherwise this graveyard hate will all be wasted. 

All in all Anafenza is a great offensive creature , easy to cast and supports the mechanics of the Abzan keeping them all interconnected.