#mtg dwarves

Has anyone else noticed this happening a lot lately since Magic Origins? Let’s take a look at some examples... 

Green/Black Elves (Magic Origins) 

(thank you Lorwyn) 

White/Red Dwarves (Kaladesh) 

Blue/Green Merfolk (Ixalan) 

Black/White Zombies (Amonkhet) 

Which leaves us with the obvious question... 

Red/Blue Goblins WHEN?!* 

This year’s Commander product is going to offer four new decks based on “some of Magic's most popular, and interesting, tribes!” 

As I’ve been thinking of which creature types they might be offering decks for, I’ve come to the undeniable conclusion... that I haven’t the foggiest idea which tribes they’ll go with. 

BUT!! Thinking about it has also gotten me thinking about which Commanders I think have the best design to build tribal decks around, and since Commander 2017 will be giving us four new decks, I thought I would list my four personal favorites... 

#4 Depala, Pilot Exemplar 

Depala does a lot of good things for Dwarves and Vehicles. For one thing, she’s a lord for both (she’s actually the only lord on this list.) Her ability triggers when she taps, which works well with the Crew mechanic. And she enables you to speed up finding more Dwarves and Vehicles in your deck. Perhaps best of all, her colors are red and white, allowing Commander players to build a deck that uses both the red Dwarves of Magic past and the white Dwarves of Magic present. (Honestly, if there were just more Dwarves available, Depala probably would have moved up to #3 or maybe even #2 in this list.) 

#3 Gisa and Geralf 

Admittedly, I am not a huge fan of playing Zombie tribal in Commander, but I still appreciate the clean design and direction of Gisa and Geralf. The card plays right into the strategy that a blue/black Zombie deck naturally leans to. Namely, getting Zombies into your graveyard, and then playing Zombies from your graveyard. Plus, they let you play with all the great blue and black Zombies that Innistrad has to offer! 

#2 Kaalia of the Vast 

It took a while for Hydras and Sphinxes to settle in as the iconic creature types for green and blue, but Angels, Demons, and Dragons have all been iconic pretty much since the beginning of Magic. And Kaalia brings them all together! Serving three masters could pull focus if not done right, but with Kaalia the message is clear: “Go big and swing for the fences!!” Because her ability is so extreme, it really offers the incentive necessary for players to stuff their decks with almost exclusively high-cost, high-power Angels, Demons, and Dragons. Not only is this exciting to watch, but it also leads to decks with VERY strange deckfellows. It’s not every day you the the angelic, demonic, and draconic icons of Magic together on the same side of the battlefield! 

#1 Doran, the Siege Tower 

Look, I’m going to be honest with you. This entire post began as a love letter to Doran. I just decided to include the three Commanders above to even things out and expand it a bit. But in my mind, Doran is THE best designed tribal Commander that Magic has ever made. For starters, he was printed in Lorwyn, which is the best and heaviest tribal block in Magic history, and it added a lot of great new Treefolk. Secondly, Doran’s colors allow players to add almost ANY Treefolk ever printed in a deck that has Doran for a Commander. Finally (and perhaps most impressively) he has a unique and potent ability that provides a very clear direction and incentive for playing lots of other Treefolk, without ever having to actually reference the Treefolk creature type on the card!! 

So there you have it, my top four favorite tribal Commanders! If the Magic Design Team can create anything in Commander 2017 that captures my excitement like the legendary creatures above, I will be one happy nerd indeed!