Let’s start at the end for a change, shall we?

$240.30. That’s what my changes are going to cost you, Chad. Thanks for showing up. Don’t forget to tip your waitress.

…

Now, for those of you that didn’t just scroll straight to the end to try to understand why an Allies tribal Commander deck is going to cost that much, let’s get to work and earn that paycheck.

Once You Go Tribal…

For some reason, I’ve been in several conversations about tribal decks lately. It’s a topic that we recently explored over at GeneralDamageControl.com, and I’ve found myself debating what tribes are under and overrepresented and why you shouldn’t necessarily slot every Shapeshifter printed on principle more than I have the important things, like why Staff of Domination and Metalworker need to come off of the Commander banned list or my theory on why the Gatecrash Primordial cycle are actually bad Commander cards. (Poking the bear for fun and profit!)

All kidding aside, people seem interested in tribal decks more and more lately, and it’s a good thing to see. I really feel that players connect with tribal decks more than they do with standard builds; you’re more likely to see a smile on the face of the person piloting an all-Elementals or mono-Merfolk deck at any given point in a game (win or lose) than you are a player playing something a little more pedestrian in strategy.

I think this is an extension of what draws people into Commander to begin with. The main design constraint of a Commander deck is that it must have a legendary creature at the helm to represent it and dictate color choices, and players will naturally invest emotional energy into that selection. The average Commander deck is an extension of the player who built it, and the commander at the helm is pretty near a personal avatar.

A quick show of hands—how many players refer to their decks with names other than the name of the commander for the deck?

Commander players take pride in theme more than players in other formats tend to because theme is the primary driving characteristic. Taking it a step further, it stands to reason that if one card gives a player identity and makes him or her proud to shuffle up, then 100 cards should be downright earth shaking.

Simply put, the more you enjoy your deck, the happier you will be playing it no matter what happens.

This week, I dug into the Dear Azamimailbag, intent on trying to find a list that would really encapsulate what tribal is all about while also offering some solid room for improvement and space to explore some design constraints and themes.

Fortunately, the stars aligned. Chad had submitted this deck a while back, and my co-writer Sean had even spoken to him about it a bit. When I saw an email in the inbox with multiple replies, I decided to see what was up and found the perfect tribal list to fit the angles I wanted to discuss.

The Agony And…Well, Just Agony

I don’t want to go so far as to say that Allies are…er…not so good, so I will echo what I said above—they’re very underrepresented.

It took the Commander community all of ten seconds of looking at the official Zendikar spoiler to come to the conclusion that Worldwake was going to contain a legendary Ally lord. A new tribe spread across five colors (six if you count artifacts for Stonework Puma, which we aren’t) and a mechanic that seemed to be more in line with casual Magic; this should be a no-brainer. It might even be a five-color offering! 

This is the greatest design angle ever!

Instead, Worldwake came and went, and we got 29 decent-to-okay Ally cards (30 if you count Stonework Puma, which we aren’t) and nothing to back them up. The caliber of the cards themselves aren’t particularly groundbreaking, with some being better than others and some being more along the lines of draft filler. There isn’t much of a unifying theme between them, and being spread out over five colors suddenly becomes a liability. The choice of Karona, False God as a puppet commander is also as valid as any other five-color choice as a result, which is a missed opportunity in my opinion.

(Thanks a lot, Worldwake. If you can’t give us good Allies, what good are you?)

To put this in perspective, Slivers are hanging out with their multiple commander options and decent and plentiful creature selections and laughing at what seems to be a failed attempt to “fix” them. How demoralizing.

But this is Commander. There’s a way to work any angle out there, and I’m always a fan of taking the road less traveled in this format. Let’s see what we can do.

Dodging the Potholes

Chad, I agree that this deck needs some updating. You pointed out yourself that it hasn’t really been touched since Zendikar block, and there are some inclusions that just seem dated by Commander standards. I also don’t necessarily want to run out a tribal checklist and start tossing in the usual suspects, but I do think you could do more than you have so far to stay on theme and still have a decent build.

For those of you tuning in for the Commander master class of the week, this list is going to allow me to discuss two different topics:

– Committing to a theme

– Five-color mana base development

The good news is that the foundation is in place already. I’m going to tweak this to be a little less “good stuff-y,” a little more tribal, and best of all (for me), due to the astronomical value of your current land selection, I’m going to be able to spend a good chunk of your money for you.

Er…sorry. The spellcheck overcorrected that last line. It should read, “I’m going to be able to help you make this the best deck I can without being hampered by perceived card value at any point in the process.”

Yeah…that’s it.

About That Mana Base…

There’s nothing I would enjoy more than cutting roughly a grand in land drops out of this deck, but there are two good reasons why I won’t. The first is that I think you’ve got something that works, and you’ve got the right mix of mana accelerants and fixers in place to augment a good land count (thirty-eight is right where you want to be.)

The second reason is that I recognize that people like to do things different ways, and if I were to overhaul what you have in place, it would be an extensive change, which would be pointless ultimately due to the reasons I stated above.

To that end, I want to cater to my obsessive-compulsive nature and balance out your selections with full cycles instead. Later on, however, I’ll tell you how I build five-color mana bases differently and how it can be beneficial to the bottom line while still being completely effective.

OUT: Jungle Shrine, Seaside Citadel, Arcane Sanctum

Plain and simple—I don’t like the inclusion of three lands that enter the battlefield tapped and don’t fix all five colors of mana.

ALSO OUT: Strip Mine, Krosan Verge

If we’re being honest, the number one reason to run Strip Mine in an aggressive red zone deck is to handle Maze of Ith / Mystifying Maze and Kor Haven. The beauty of this deck is that it gets stronger in numbers, so losing one attacker isn’t going to be a backbreaker.

Verge is on the way out for a better option. End of story.

ALSO ALSO OUT: 1 Plains, 1 Mountain

Also plain and simple. To round out the shocklands, I need a bit of extra space, and cutting from basics to do so will add flexibility.

IN: Tundra

The big-dollar addition. If you’re running the other nine Revised dual lands, there’s really no reason not to run this one as well.

ALSO IN: Reflecting Pool, Command Tower

It’s fun that Reflecting Pool and Exotic Orchard are possibly the best lands in this deck given the right cross-section of opponents and your own mana fixing. Suck it, Underground Sea!

Okay…second and third best lands. Command Tower reigns supreme.

ALSO ALSO IN: Stomping Ground, Steam Vents, Sacred Foundry, Breeding Pool

With the addition of the shocklands you were missing, you now run the full suite. This is good, as you’re somewhat lacking in the fetchland department (which is somewhat troubling, but more on that later).

With that, you’re in good shape with your mana production. Let’s get to the meat of the tribal structure.

There’s No “I” in “Ally”

I’m an extremist when it comes to creatures in tribal builds. To me, it’s a black-and-white issue; a creature either is or isn’t tribal, and a deck follows suit. If I decide to go ahead with the Minotaur tribal list I keep threatening to make, it ceases to be tribal the minute that I decide that it really could use an Eternal Witness for some added utility. Once you break that seal, it’s pretty easy to justify adding anything you want; before I know it, I’m justifying pulling out Karplusan Minotaur for Kokusho, the Evening Star simply because the deck needs a good finisher and I hate coin-flip cards.

That line of logic won’t work with me. If the point is to build to a theme, you need to accept that the deck may not be as powerful as it could otherwise be and go for it all the way. Otherwise, you’ll likely just end up with good stuff masquerading as something else, which doesn’t hit the mark in either area.

OUT: Anger

While I agree that this deck wants haste like you read about, Anger isn’t the way to get there. There aren’t enough sacrifice effects to ensure you’re going to be able to get it into the yard when you need it there, and because of the mana base, you also may not have the Mountain in play when you need it either.

IN: Fervor

The replacement is likely quicker, easier to play, and far easier to protect; most graveyard hate is a mass effect, making you susceptible to splash damage. Fervor isn’t usually going to be the scariest permanent on the battlefield either, and enchantments are typically among the hardest types of cards to get rid of.

OUT: Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker

Functionally, KJ isn’t a bad option. I am looking at the triple-red casting cost with some trepidation, however.

Plus, not an Ally! 

IN: Mimic Vat

This is a bit “good stuff-y,” but so is the card it replaces. In this case, the ability to tie in some amount of graveyard hate (it does exile the card it imprints, after all) with the same ability Kiki-Jiki provides is a solid upgrade—even more so when taking into account the cheaper colorless casting cost.

OUT: Genesis

This is the old-school gold standard of recursion. The problem? You’re recurring Allies one at a time after jumping through hoops to get going. (See Anger above.)

IN: Oversold Cemetery

The other problem is that we’re talking about Allies here. (Okay, that’s the same problem. This is going to be a recurring theme, folks.) You’ll be living and dying by board wipes most of the time; Oversold Cemetery is going to offer nearly the same utility as Genesis with the added benefit of being cheaper to cast, free to use, and not susceptible to graveyard hate. (Er…see Anger above.)

OUT: Clone

I’ve said it many times before—I’m a huge believer in Clone effects when talking about Commander. That said, theme is theme.

IN: Minion Reflector

With Reflector, you’ll sacrifice the ability to copy the creatures your opponents play in favor of a repeatable effect. Let’s face it—most Allies are not very scary alone. When you double up each one as it enters the battlefield, things start to get interesting. As I said earlier, Allies need all the help they can get to overcome the design shortcoming of the tribe, so I’ll take quantity over quality in this case.

OUT: Eternal Witness

I guess I kind of set this one up before. This is the least-comfortable swap for me; I love me some recursion, and Eternal Witness is one of my go-to crutches. That said, in sticking to theme, I needed to cut Witness and to add a few extra Allies in the process that were not on the original guest list.

(I blame Wizards of the Coast. You printed the Reanimate Ally with Agadeem Occultist; would it have killed you to print the Regrowth ally with the same “casting cost equal to the number of allies you control” templating? Come on!)

IN: Harabaz Druid

It’s on-theme, fixes mana, and provides acceleration. This is a no-brainer for me.

A Good-Stuff Pit Stop…

There’s really only one cut in the enchantment category.

OUT: Abundance

This seems like it’s on the list only due to the interaction with Sylvan Library. Otherwise, you’re in five colors, so there are far better ways to fix your draws.

IN: Bala Ged Thief

This is potentially the most interesting addition to the deck in my opinion. Now, I understand that people have mixed feelings in regard to discard. I personally don’t enjoy it all that much, and I rarely play it outside of Syphon Mind.

That said, this deck will always struggle with stronger decks, and as a creature-based aggro build that needs numbers to really do any damage, it will need to have answers to board wipes to stay in the game. Bala Ged Thief provides the ability to cherry pick any single card from the hand of an opponent, giving you a flexible answer to stronger threats and the mass sweepers that are the hallmark of this format. The limitation on card numbers should serve to keep it in check a bit as well.

That said, this does have the capability to get out of hand, and I would keep a close eye on it for that reason. There’s a large difference between “hand control” and “turbo-mill,” and your metagame might not be crazy about the latter.

Just The (Arti)Facts

There’s some solid opportunity to upgrade your team in this area, and there’s another pesky non-Ally to dispatch as well.

OUT: Behemoth Sledge

I get Sword of Light and Shadow. I’m not sure what a little bit of extra power and toughness, lifelink, and trample will do to really help you when it winds up strapped to a single little guy. (Or gal.)

IN: Cathars’ Crusade

I probably don’t need to explain how nuts this card can be. Your allies need a kick in the pants to really be able to stand up and present themselves as threats, and with the number of creatures you’ll have coming and going, Cathars’ Crusade will improve the entire team in a hurry.

OUT: Duplicant

Okay…this one hurts nearly as bad as Eternal Witness did. Still, rules are rules…

IN: Contagion Engine

I decided to slot a dual role-player in this slot. It won’t hurt to have some extra removal on hand that can dodge some standard Commander protection (such as indestructibility), and it goes without saying that Contagion Engine is a fantastic answer to token strategies. Furthermore, you’re running the full suite of allies that get or give +1/+1 counters, so this should go hand in hand with Cathars’ Crusade to make some giants in no time at all.

OUT: Coat of Arms

While this is usually a great include in a tribal deck, I’m pulling it for two reasons. First, you really need ways to make your guys more resilient, and second, your opponents likely play Avenger of Zendikar. You don’t need to be helping them to take you out, and their tokens will grow bigger and faster than your Allies will.

IN: Eldrazi Monument

This is more like it. We do away with the symmetrical effect and add in a bit of a size buff, some evasion, and, most importantly, indestructibility. (Again, it goes without saying that it’s much better if you can find your Mimic Vat as well.)

The Rest of the Story

We’re down to the assorted spells. There’s not a ton left to do, but there are some strategic pick-ups and upgrades to be realized in this last section.

OUT: Deep Analysis

Not a big fan. There’s better bang for the buck in the draw department, and nothing sucks worse than playing the flashback cost on this card only to have an opponent bust out Wild Ricochet in response.

IN: Skullclamp

This should do a better job of drawing you cards. No one is redirecting the effect, it’s cheap, and you have several cards that can recur creatures to make this the true draw engine everyone knows it is.

OUT: Tribal Unity

I know, I know. We’re talking about tribal decks, and I just cut the only card in the list with the word “tribal” printed on it. In this case, I’m breaking my own rule to add another Ally that can simply do a better job here. Give a guy some slack.

IN: Mirror Entity

Well, it’s kind of an Ally, right? 

I typically don’t like to automatically include Changelings in tribal decks because it’s severely low-hanging fruit. Also, some of them are just bad. (Hello, Changeling Sentinel!)

In this case, though, Mirror Entity not only helps by triggering Allies, but it also provides another finishing option that can make your Allies into potential game-ending threats and can repeat the effect every turn. This is a welcome addition to kick the power level of this deck up a notch or two.

OUT: Beseech the Queen

Every deck needs a good Tutor effect. (Okay…most decks need a good Tutor effect.) Since you’ve got Demonic Tutor in the list and since this is a five-color list that won’t hit multiple black mana sources easily and early, this gets cut to make room for more token creators to enable some of the things we’ve already added to make this deck stronger.

IN: Riptide Replicator

Trigger your Allies all day long whenever you want. Make an army. Get your Skullclamp draw engine online. Replicator is a solid thematic addition to the deck that will provide a great boost in power. (Tons of fun with the Contagion Engine I added earlier!)

OUT: Ancestral Vision

I’m just not sold on this card. We all used to run it back in the day, but I’m just not crazy about it anymore. It is decent if you suspend it on the first turn, and it falls off dramatically from there (without any means to play it without paying its mana cost). Also, it’s an incredibly frustrating late-game topdeck. I’d rather just play something like Ancient Craving that will just let me draw my cards immediately.

IN: Coastal Piracy

Or better yet, something that helps improve my entire team. This is just adding free synergy to a deck that wants to swing with lots of individual creatures, and making each Ally you play into a base Shadowmage Infiltrator is a big improvement in that camp.

OUT: Concentrate

Not terrible, but if my card draw isn’t at instant speed, I want a little something extra for my troubles.

IN: Urban Evolution

Urban Evolution is a space saver. A two-for-one package. You get the same draw that you would from Concentrate with the added bonus of some potential acceleration. While there are options that provide both functions better, it’s hard to find one that can give you a decent taste of both. If you haven’t tried it out yet, I recommend it.

OUT: Harsh Mercy

Yay…it’s like Wrath of God except it saves your team.

And your opponent’s team as well. Plague Wind this is not.

IN: Aura Shards

You want to be the aggressor with this deck. If you can get any of your creature improvements online and get a few Allies into play, you won’t need an answer card like Harsh Mercy because you’ll be the question instead.

On the other hand, you likely will want to have more ways to deal with artifacts and enchantments. (Actually, in looking at your list, it’d be good to include any way to deal with enchantments.) This is another way to make your Allies more valuable as a team. In a creature-heavy deck, it doesn’t really get better than Aura Shards.

The Final List

Here’s where we end up:

Like I said at the beginning, the changes don’t come cheap. However, I have a feeling that the changes to the mana base are probably already sitting largely in your trade binders somewhere, judging again by the sheer number of Revised dual lands and other old-school goodies in this list already.

On that note, the land upgrades alone are responsible for over $200 of the final price tag on the changes. For taking part in Dear Azamitoday, we’ll be giving you a $20 store credit to StarCityGames.com as well, so that will nearly bridge the rest of the gap anyway.

Here’s a look at the individual card prices:

For those of you wondering, the way I do my typical five-color mana base is as follows.

I start with:

– Bayou, Taiga, Tropical Island, Savannah

– Stomping Ground, Overgrown Tomb, Breeding Pool, Temple Garden

– Wooded Foothills, Windswept Heath, Verdant Catacombs, Misty Rainforest

– Reflecting Pool, Command Tower

Using these fourteen lands as a basis for the deck will allow me to mix in some amount of basic lands with Terramorphic Expanse and Evolving Wilds and still have plenty of room to add in some colorless utility lands such as High Market, Strip Mine, or Alchemist’s Refuge.

From there, I always add Skyshroud Claim and Hunting Wilds (which both let me find any of my eight dual lands and thus any color of mana I need) as well as Kodama’s Reach and Cultivate.

A few five-color fixers in the maindeck (such as Darksteel Ingot or Prismatic Omen) will likely ensure that I can hit the correct colors of mana faster than a deck that does the ten duals/ten shocks/ten fetches split while still retaining space for utility.

If you’re in green, there’s simply no reason in my mind not to leverage the superior mana fixing the color naturally provides. Dropping an extra grand on duals and fetches is stylish, but it won’t necessarily get you there any faster.

Thanks again, everyone. See you all in two.

-Cass

Want to submit a deck for consideration to Dear Azami? We’re always accepting deck submissions to consider for use in a future article, like Joel’s Sisters of Stone Death deck or Erik’s Riku of Two Reflections deck. Only one deck submission will be chosen per article, but being selected for the next edition of Dear Azami includes not just deck advice but also a $20 coupon to the StarCityGames.com!

Email us a deck submission using this link here!

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