commander · Arahbo, Roar of the World
Feline Ferocity (C17).
A Selesnya cat tribal deck from Commander 2017, led by Arahbo, Roar of the World — pump individual cats with massive power boosts from the command zone, then layer equipment for a fast voltron kill or wide cat army.
The Commander
Feline Ferocity is the cat tribal deck from Commander 2017, and it plays faster than it looks. Arahbo has eminence — at the beginning of combat on your turn, he gives a cat you control +3/+3 until end of turn, from the command zone. You never need to cast Arahbo to get that bonus. Every turn, one of your cats hits like a truck. When you do cast him, his second ability lets you pay two mana to give a cat double strike and trample for the turn.
Arahbo, Roar of the World is both a passive buff engine and a closing finisher. Stack his eminence bonus with equipment and a cat that was 2/2 becomes a 7/7 double striker. The deck can kill a single opponent from full life in one hit with the right setup.
Key Cards
Nazahn, Revered Bladesmith
Nazahn enters and tutors the Hammer of Nazahn directly onto the battlefield. That alone is worth the card slot. As a bonus, whenever an equipped creature you control attacks, Nazahn taps any target. Tap down blockers, tap a key utility creature, or tap a planeswalker. With Hammer of Nazahn indestructible-ing your best equipment, Nazahn turns the deck's equipment subtheme into a robust control element.
Hammer of Nazahn
When Hammer of Nazahn enters the battlefield, it attaches to a creature you control for free. That creature gets +2/+0 and indestructible. Every subsequent equipment that enters the battlefield also auto-attaches for free. The indestructible grant protects your voltron threat from wraths, and the auto-equip ability removes the equip cost tax entirely. Hammer of Nazahn turns the deck's equipment package from slow into instant-speed pressure.
Mirri, Weatherlight Duelist
Mirri is the deck's best defensive threat. When she attacks, she locks opponents to at most one blocker against your other attackers. When she's tapped, opponents can only attack you with one creature at a time. Put both abilities together and you have an attacker that enables free damage every swing while simultaneously shutting down combat against you. Mirri forces opponents to deal with her before taking any meaningful aggressive action.
Balan, Wandering Knight
Balan pays two mana to attach all equipment you control to himself. In a deck running five or six equipment pieces, one activation turns him into a completely absurd threat — first strike, every power bonus, every protection effect, stacked into one creature. Combined with Arahbo's +3/+3 eminence bonus and double strike activation, Balan can swing for 25+ damage in a single combat and kill a player from full life.
Bloodforged Battle-Axe
A self-replicating equipment. Whenever equipped creature deals combat damage to a player, you create a token copy of Bloodforged Battle-Axe. Each copy creates another copy on the next hit. By turn six you can have four or five copies in play, each adding +1/+0. Equip them all to one cat with Balan and the damage output becomes absurd. This card alone makes the equipment subtheme snowball faster than opponents can answer it.
How to Play
Play cats early, use Arahbo's free +3/+3 to make the first threat dangerous, and deploy equipment to compound the damage. The deck has two reliable win conditions: go tall with Balan or a single equipped cat stacked with Arahbo's double strike activation, or go wide with multiple cats taking advantage of Mirri's combat lock. Nazahn tutoring Hammer of Nazahn on entry is your most important mid-game play — get it early, protect your equipment investment, and start attacking every turn with indestructible threats. The deck closes fastest when you can drop Balan with three equipment already in play and swing for game.