Dream Tribal Commanders
Commander (EDH) forum
Posted on June 11, 2021, 1:29 p.m. by Guerric
So, question of the day. If you could pick one tribe to get a great new commander for, what would it be and why?
For me, the answer is easy: Angels, preferably in five colors so we can get play any one we want, and most definitely in green so that we can ramp properly and draw cards. This commander would need to be a legendary angel, and either cheat angels into play (like a legendary version of Maelstrom Archangel ), or discount the cost of our angels (like the eminence ability for The Ur-Dragon .
What tribe would you pick, and what would you envision the commander doing?
Omniscience_is_life says... #3
A mono-blue Illusion tribal commander, that gives your Illusions hexproof!
June 11, 2021 2:55 p.m.
Omniscience_is_life I like that! Mono-blue could use something flavorful but still good. Too many mono-blue decks are just about Isochron Scepter -ing yourself to victory. Plus you could play Omniscience !
June 11, 2021 3:18 p.m.
Abzan elf that cares about elves would be awesome! I envision a cross between [Rhys the Redeemed] and [Jarad Golgari Lich Lord] sac a nontoken creature, deal damage to a target equal to its power, if an elf was sacred in this way make a token copy of it
June 11, 2021 3:21 p.m.
Omniscience_is_life says... #6
Guerric any deck with Omniscience is a good one!
June 11, 2021 3:37 p.m.
Hardhitta7 says... #7
I want a r/w Samurai legend for my Samurai deck. It doesn’t even have to be that good! Right now the commander is Akiri, Fearless Voyager , which is fine I guess, but not a Samurai.
June 11, 2021 4:34 p.m.
Hardhitta7 That's a great point. Samurai are definitely an under-supported tribe! And since unlike with mono-white wizards has committed to supporting boros lately, why not give it a good tribal deck! I'm all in!
June 11, 2021 4:57 p.m.
PapLaRiviere says... #10
I use to enjoy playing Rebels and Mercenaries; neither of which has received any meaningful support from WoC over the past 15 years or so. Perhaps a W/G Rebel with Commander worthy abilities.
Best Regards
June 11, 2021 5:22 p.m.
Skeletons. Preferably or , but I would be happy with , , , or a four-color set with .
Why? Because Zombies always get all the cool toys for hordes of dead things, and I want to run Skeletons a lot more than Zombies.
June 11, 2021 5:29 p.m.
I left off part of my answer.
What do I imagine Skelly the Big doing? Let's start with free deathtouch, so we don't have to rely on Death Baron . Add some anti-grave-hate tech, something like ": Return target Skeleton creature card from exile to the battlefield/your hand." Finish it up with whatever passes for regenerate these days (for , at most), throw on some cost appropriate stats, and you got a card.
June 11, 2021 5:45 p.m.
Gravebeast of Gul-Orda
Legendary Creature - Skeleton
Creatures you control have deathtouch and ": Tap this creature. It gains indestructible until end of turn."
: Put target Skeleton creature from exile onto the battlefield tapped.
3/3
June 11, 2021 5:59 p.m.
Maybe an Esper Merfolk legend for all the White and Black merfolk from Lorwyn. I currently use Zur to search out Arcane Denial and tribal support enchantments, like Merrow Commerce and Etchings of the Chosen .
June 11, 2021 6:56 p.m.
legendofaThat's brilliant, skeletons are indeed the victims of discrimination! I think the flavor of the commander should be inspired by the movie "Army of Darkness" and Reassembling Skeleton . I like returning skellies from the graveyard like our classic reassemblers, so I definitely agree with the activated ability to return skellies from the graveyard and with the black regeneration ability. We need a real Necronomicon though and not just Grimoire of the Dead .
PapLaRiviere It's true that rebels never really get much support. Maybe that's by definition, but today's rebels are tomorrow's founding fathers after all! And more Boros tribes are great.
DaWubberI know that the professor would agree that merfolk need something that will give them access to white, although I expect you would want to include the many awesome green merfolk, so maybe Bant is the way to go? We don't really need Etchings of the Chosen as we've got tons of tribal anthems in green and white.
June 11, 2021 7:28 p.m.
Pikobyte hes a stax/aristocrat commander and not goblin tribal
June 11, 2021 7:58 p.m.
True but „some type of jund goblin“ wasn’t really specific @shadow63
June 11, 2021 8:09 p.m. Edited.
Where talking about dream tribal commanders so itd obviously would need to do something for the tribe
June 11, 2021 8:14 p.m.
FormOverFunction says... #21
I’d love an old-school Sarpadian thrull wizard. Endrik is cool, and there were technically thrulls in Ravnica, but (if I remember right) one of the thrull wizards that was made to help with rituals and whatnot led the thrull revolt. A black thrull wizard commander could be cool.
June 11, 2021 9:50 p.m.
FormOverFunction That sounds great to me! It's also be nice to connect with the lore and maybe get a good mono-black tribe.
June 11, 2021 10:15 p.m.
seshiro_of_the_orochi says... #23
Legendary tribal Turtle (Simic or Sultai, But Strike, Unblovlability, Forced Combat)
Legendary Tribal Crocodile (GBX, caring about -1/-1 counters)
Legendary Tribal Bat (Orzhov. Anything else doesn't matter, as the commander could basically give the direction to a loosely connected tribe).
Any of these would be awesome.
June 12, 2021 4:33 a.m.
seshiro_of_the_orochi says... #24
Regarding the turtle: "Butt Strike, Unblockability"
My fingers obviously are too fat for my mobile-keyboard -.-
June 12, 2021 4:54 a.m.
plakjekaas says... #25
A Phoenix please. We've gotten to the critical mass of playable Phoenices that all we need is a commander to tie it all together. Some legendary red firebird that cares about cards leaving your graveyard, all we need to build an Order of the Phoenix.
June 12, 2021 4:55 a.m.
plakjekaas That's true! They have made a lot of phoenixes recently. It'd also give mono-red a good tribe with graveyard synergies. Plus it would allow me to play Rekindling Phoenix again, which was so much fun in standard a few years back when it was good.
June 12, 2021 6:52 a.m.
FormOverFunction says... #27
I’d also love to see a legendary fish for my Briny Deep deck. The ocean, as a uniform entity, is such a powerful thing I’d like it to get a representation that isn’t a kraken. It would also be enjoyable to have one of the ocean-themed spells not be limited to kraken/serpents... the humble denizens of the sea need love too ;p
June 12, 2021 12:56 p.m.
Hardhitta7 says... #28
I agree a Phoenix commander would be dope. When I first started I had a Chandra's Phoenix casual deck. And of course I love Arclight Phoenix .
June 12, 2021 12:58 p.m.
FormOverFunction It is true that sea creatures always seem to come up short. The Peer Through Time precon featuring Teferi, Temporal Archmage ironically was filled with sea creatures (people joked it was a green deck painted blue), but Teferi was hardly an inspiring commander for that deck and much more suited to being degenerate elsewhere. Then we got a sea-loving planeswalker in Kiora, but she wasn't ever going to serve as a commander for obvious reasons and catered towards big creatures. While Mulldrifter isn't technically a fish, maybe they could make a commander inspired by him, and reprint Mystic Remora in the precon while they're at it!
June 12, 2021 1:19 p.m.
My other dream commander is for Plant tribal. Since I got into botany, I've been noticing more and more how many games are made by animals. "No duh," I hear you thinking, "plants can't use computers." Well, there's more biological difference between Vinelasher Kudzu , Wall of Pine Needles , and Grappling Sundew than there is between Joven's Ferrets , Rysorian Badger , and Thieving Otter . Guess which group has unique creature types? And then you get into whatever Greater Mossdog and Bayou Groff are supposed to be, and the complete wrongness of Wall of Kelp . So at least give Plants something to unify as, instead of making Legendary Elf #56.
A Plant commander would probably have to ramp in some way. Saproling tokens might get involved as well. The best colors would probably be .
June 12, 2021 1:50 p.m.
FormOverFunction says... #31
legendofa I have a STACK of plant cards set aside waiting for this very commander and I can’t believe I forgot plants in this. Thank you!! (Side note: I love wall of kelp and I’m never taking it out of The Briny Deep)
June 12, 2021 4:32 p.m.
FormOverFunction For Wall of Kelp , I meant the wrongness of calling it a Plant. The card itself is very solid (I think. I've never used it...)
June 12, 2021 6:05 p.m.
Bant/sultai or just 5c merfolk. Thrasios + x works but really feels more goodstuff commanders rather than a legitimate merfolk leaders.
June 12, 2021 10:34 p.m.
goodair I can see four-color, but what's red in Merfolk?
June 12, 2021 11:47 p.m.
legendofa Not really anything noteworthy, just easier from a design standpoint like they do with the other mono colored legends with 5c abilities.
June 13, 2021 12:14 a.m.
seshiro_of_the_orochi says... #36
I noticed I forgot some:
Legendary Esper or "un-green" gargoyle: Defender matters, maybe a mill strategy to represent their rough and grindy "skin"?
An actual orc tribal commander in mardu colours would be soo incredible. It's so weird there is non. Maybe we'll get on in forgotten realms?
A samurai commander as mentioned above would be awesome indeed.
June 13, 2021 2:15 a.m.
seshiro_of_the_orochi I remember one of the original defender turns attacker cards, Wakestone Gargoyle from the Dissension block. There was a great theme deck built around it that was one of my favorites. I've always wanted to return to the theme, but I have a bant deck so I've never built Arcades, the Strategist A gargoyle decl with that theme would be good for nostalgia!
goodair Probably for merfolk tribal today we'd go for Kumena, Tyrant of Orazca , but we are missing the white merfolk from the tribe. And you're right, we certainly don't need Thrasios for that. He isn't a good representative!
June 13, 2021 7:31 p.m.
Another vote for a legendary phoenix. I'm running Torbran, Thane of Red Fell for my phoenix tribal deck but I'd love a more thematic commander.
Along the line's of "never going to happen", I'd be interested in a RBGW legendary ooze.
June 13, 2021 8:45 p.m.
I would love to see an Orzhov commander for bat tribal. Only 22 bat creatures have ever been printed, plus two other creatures that generate bat tokens, and then one artifact that does as well. I really don't know exciting this would be for other players, but for me it would definitely be a dream come true commander for me.
Crossing my fingers like mad for something good from the Innistrad sets later this year. I do have a bat EDH deck, but would like the commander to be an actual bat.
Something that flips, like Screeching Bat Flip that's a bat on one side and a Vampire on the other, but Legendary of course would be cool, but I'd be happy with any Orzhov bat commander. The two non-bat creatures that create bat tokens have white in their identity (a few bats do as well) so WB would definitely be necessary. I feel like Mardu is crossing too much into Vampire territory, and while they have their obvious associations in game, Bats have exclusively been BW so far and I'd like them to keep their identity that way.
As for what this commander would do, anything along the lines of generating a swarm of small fliers, anthem effect for bats, or something with an Exquisite Blood type of effect for bats when they damage a creature, planeswalker, or player, I would be beyond overjoyed. Something really kickass for a super niche tribe.
June 14, 2021 7:17 p.m.
Vallaris I think that's awesome that you have a bat tribal deck!
June 14, 2021 7:24 p.m.
Pikobyte Thing is.... just being a legendary creature of the right type doesn't actually mean it's good for the tribe. Shattergang Brothers doesn't really help goblins or benefit you for playing them as you can really only use its black activated ability to gain any benefit. Korvold or Prossh argibly does as much for jund goblins than they do, if not more. I'd say even Yurlock or Thantis is better than them.
As for my own takes, two tribes. Kithin. Not because they're anything special, just want a Bant colored kithkin support legend.
And another support vote for phoenixes. Though the issue there is that phoenixes don't really work with each other as a tribe. They all seem to be based around a set specific mechanic meaning you can't really build around them all in a deck. I was tinkering with a custom legend, and you'd need something that includes "you may cast phoenix cards from your graveyard" as part of the text of any legend that is meant to support the tribe. I'd also recommend some payoff for non-creature cards leaving the graveyard too if Wizards were to make one.
June 15, 2021 5:20 p.m.
libraryjoy says... #42
I'd love classes commanders, especially Archers. Greatbow Doyen has a perfect ability - but it's not legendary and only allows green. Hallar, the Firefletcher gets you 2 colors, but cares about kicked spells and not at all about archers. I'd love to see something on flavor.
As mentioned earlier, a Phoenix commander would be fantastic. I've also really wanted to do Archon Tribal. I'd also love to see some commander support for energy counters (not a tribe, but kinda?).
June 15, 2021 6:05 p.m.
libraryjoy Running a class tribal deck is an awesome idea! I have thought of doing soldiers before, and people do Rogues and Ninjas, but too often we just think about race. And Archers sound fun!
Also, wereotter, another vote for Kithkin! They're basically the hobbits of Lorwyn, and who doesn't love that?
June 16, 2021 8:10 p.m.
GrimlockVIII says... #44
Im down for a proper Skeleton commander that actually does something for the tribe other than simply exist as a skeleton (Im lookin at you Skithiryx, the Blight Dragon , you pompous asshole).
Id preferably want a Golgari Skeleton commander to take advantage of the recent Skeletal Swarming that came out in the Forgotten Realms set.
August 4, 2021 2:52 a.m.
GrimlockVIII says... #45
Oh wait shit legendofa already beat me to the punch.
@seshiro_of_orochi I was actually trying to cobble together an Orc tribal deck a few weeks ago, but it mainly consisted of me just shoving all the good orcs and some ogres together into Dune colors cuz I really wanted to use Orcish Lumberjack and Ruric Thar, the Unbowed . Ended up giving up halfway through because I legit had no idea what I was doing and I felt like I was going nowhere with it.
But, like, if there was going to be an Orc Commander, I was thinking Wizards could maybe base him around equipment or vehicles, but more specifically making explicitly shitty equipment and vehicles a million times better, but only when orcs are wielding them. Like, vehicles and equipment could get extra key words and abilities depending on what kind of orc is piloting said vehicle while the hypothetical orc commander is in play.
I based this idea on how orks from the Warhammer 40k universe make their vehicles and weapons work through sheer psychic willpower alone. I just find the concept of painting a tank red to make it go faster pretty funny, and I think translating that into a commander mechanic would give the orc tribe something unique and flavorful.
shadow63 says... #2
Some type of jund goblin.
June 11, 2021 2:40 p.m.