Tribal decks are some of the most popular to build within 's Commander format. Flavorful and synergistic, tribal decks provide an overall theme to a given strategy. Every tribe comes along with its own strengths, weaknesses, and identity that one can expect to see when playing against a deck of a given tribe.
There are plenty of factors that go into what makes something powerful in Commander, so today we're going to delve into the strongest tribes the Commander format has to offer!
Updated on January 29, 2022 by Paul DiSalvo: With the release of nearly every set, the various tribes of Magic are given additional tools to utilize in the Commander format. While well-established tribes such as Elves and Goblins are often given additional card options, in recent years, previously less established tribes such as rogues and clerics have been provided with excellent new tribal supports that have allowed them to become quite well established within the commander format. With the incredible new tribal support that has helped previously weaker tribes proser, we're going to evaluate additional greats tribal options that are viable within the Commander format.
19 Dinosaurs
Dinosaurs are a relatively new tribe in the grand scheme of Magic. They were officially made a creature type with the release of the Ixalan set, and a few older creatures, such as Regal Behemoth, were errata'd to become dinosaurs with this release. The small creature pool did give dinosaurs some trouble getting traction, but Ixalan, Rivals of Ixalan, and Ikoria: Lair of Behemoths, 🌸combined do provide a solid spread of dinos to choose from.
Red, Green, and White, aka Naya, remains the ideal choice for a dino tribal deck, with either Zacama, the Primal Calamity, or Gishath, Sun's Avatar, being the best legendary dinosaur for the job. Zacama is just an all-around nasty creature, but Gishath lets you dig through the top few cards of your deck to free-play some dinosaur reinforcements, so the choice is yours, planeswalker. Whichever you opt for, it's worth mentioning that many dinosaurs have Enrage as an ability, so they actually want to take some damage regularly. Marauding Raptor, Forerunner of the Empire, and some low-damage Red board wipes are ideal to trigger Enrage.
18 🐻🐠 Elementals
Elementals have always had a strong footing in Commander, but they've been even more on the rise since Core Set: 2020 and received a big boost from the recent release of Commander Legends. Elementals benefit from a lot of ramp, with many having Landfall triggered abilities. Elemental tribal players are spoiled for choice when it comes to t🧸heir Commander, with Horde of Notions, Maelstrom Wanderer, Animar, Soul of Elements, Omnath, Locus of the Roil, and Omnath, Locus of Creation all being strong and viable choices for their Commander. That said, Horde of Notions (f🔯ive-color) and Omnath, Locus of the Roil (Temur) have the most synergy with an Elemental tribal deck out of that selection. So, make your choice, pack your deck with Elementals and ramp spells, and dominate.
17 Eldrazi
The apocalyptic threat known as the Eldrazi has made an impact in both the game and lore of Magic: The Gathering. The Eldrazi are otherworldly beings of great hunger and power that all-but annihilated the planes of Zendikar and Innistrad, and that power can be yours (in Commander)! The Eldrazi titans Ulamog, Kozilek, and Emrakul each provide great choices to head up your Eldrazi deck (though Emrakul, Aeons Torn is banned). There's not really a wrong choice here, but Kozilek, the Great Distortion is the most popular selection by a mile. Your deck is most likely going to be colorless, but that's far from a hindrance. Great colorless cards are in abundance, and your Eldrazi will more than make up for it with their Annihilator ability. Stack up your pile of Eldrazi, your mana-producing artifacts, and your All is Dust so you can wipe everything but your creatures and decimate your opponents (or at least their dreams of victory).
16 Angels
Angels have a long and storied history in Magic, with Serra Angel often considered one of the game's first great creatures (though it pales in comparison to the creatures of today). Angels provide flying and are often equipped with lifelink, vigilance, or even first strike. Most angels are white creatures, but there is a handful that reaches out across the color pie. Lyra Dawnbringer is a great choice for Commander and has synergy with angels. Sephara, Sky Blade does as well with flying creatures writ large, but Avacyn, Angel of Hope gives all of your permanents indestructible, and that's hard to argue against. If you want to dip into the red, Aurelia, the Warleader and Gisela, Blade of Goldnight bring some downright gnarly and aggressive abilities to the table as well.
15 Rats
Rats are a highly underrated mono-black tribe that has access to an impressive commander in the fo༺rm of Marrow-Gnawer. Rat decks have access to several potent tribal cards that can quickly help generate sizable swarms of rats such as Ogre Slumlord, Piper of the Swarm, and Packrat.
Additionally, the tribe uniquely has access to not one, but two cards that allow a player to break the singleton rule of commander, as a deck can contain any number of copies of Rat Colony and Relentless Rats respectively, allowing for very consi▨stent builds.
14 Spirits
Though spirits are a creature type that can be found within each color of mana, Spirit-Tribal synergies are most often found within Azorius. Receiving most of its tribal support within sets that take place on the Plane of Innistrad, Spirits tend to be quite evasive, often having access to flying, and they often pair well with control-based effects. While the tribe has received many potent spirits over the years that offer synergistic effects, it long lacked a proper tribal commander. Luckily, with the recent printing of Millicent, Restless Revenant, it's looking like Azorius Spirit-Tribal decks are finally going to be able to come into their own.
13 🌊 Werewolves 🌠
Werewolves are a traditionally Gruul creature type that's characterized by a double-sized nature. They most often enter the battlefield as a somewhat weak human, but later transform into a potent and undercosted werewolf once a condition has been met.
Despite their popularity, the tribe lacked a proper unifying commander for roughly a decade. Luckily, with the release of the commander Tovolar, Dire Overlord in Innistraဣd: Midnight Hunt, werewolves now have a commander that can allow them to reliably transform, making werewolves one of the definitive tribes of the Gruul color identity.
12 Cats
Most often appearing within the Selesnya color identity, cats are a surprisingly synergistic and potent creature type. Often exemplifying traits of the Selesnya color identity, cats can serve as solid offensive threats in co🥂mbat whilst also having access to token-based strategies as well as life-gaining effects. The tribe has access to several solid commander options such as Rin and Seri, Inseparable and Arahbo, Roar of the World that can provide solid value whilst also having access to powerful lords such as Regal Caracal, Feline Sovereign, and Kingꦫ of the Pride.
11 Rogues
Within the span of a mere few years, Rogues have gone from one of the most obscure tribes in Magic to one of the most popular tribes within the Dimir color identity. Rogues are characterized by their evasive and hard-to-block nature as well as their synergies with mill-based effects, often able to steal cards from an opponent's graveyard.
Thanks to the printing of the premier Rogue-Triba𒐪l commander, Anowon, the Ruin Thief, Rogues now have access to a commander that not only increases their power but directly converts it iꦯnto mill.
10 Humans
One of the strengths of humans as a tribe comes in their sheer versatility. Over the course of Magic's history, there have been over two-thousand humans printed. While there is a multitude of strong cards that synergize with humans such as "Sigarda, Heron's Grace" (which provides all humans with hexproof), there are countless powerful humans that can provide utility for nearly any scenario. This allows cards that do possess tribal s⛎ynergies to make already-strong human cards even more p✱owerful.