If you like to to summon a flock of birds and fly on the wings of destiny, then Bird Tribal is the right deck for you.Let’s see how we can become a master aviator and turn our Birds into a terrifying air strike force.
I love tribal decks because they combine synergy and flavor and of course power. On top of that you can find many unique cards that support a tribe and can be great budget options as those cards work only on a specific tribal deck and are bad to unplayable to any other deck. That’s why I will try building and presenting a series of decks for all those who share the love for tribal decks.
Bird is a catch-all creature type for animals characterized by having feathers, hollow bones, and wings. They are usually capable of flight. Lately, blue has also become primary. Birds in the Magic universe can be of tremendous size and quite intelligent, while some are even anthropomorphic. Natural birds are usually blue or white balanced creatures with Flying (MTG Wiki). For our build, the leader to unite all the Birds is Choco, Seeker of Paradise, a Legendary Bird that has a Bant color identity (
), cares about Birds attacking and has great Landfall synergy.
Choco, Seeker of Paradise cares about Birds attacking and the value we get multiplies the more Birds attack, as we look at that many cards from the top of our library and we may put one of them into our hand. In addition, we put any number of land cards from among them onto the battlefield tapped and the rest into our graveyard, working both as ramp and tutor. On top of that it has Landfall-“Whenever a land you control enters, Choco gets +1/+0 until end of turn” so it can buff itself to do considerable commander damage if we manage to give it evasion. A remarkable commander that does a lot and greatly supports Bird Tribal.
Synergy Diagram
I always like to make a simple synergy diagram in order to deeply comprehend the potential and the strategy areas that are supported by the commander when I choose top-down building.
Let’s analyze the main goals of the deck:
- Add the best Birds. Our priority is to add the ones with Landfall abilities and Bird Tribal and Flying synergy.
- Add Flying support. Most of Birds have Flying so Flying support works great with our build.
- Add cards that synergize with Landfall. With Choco, Seeker of Paradise and the help of our Birds, we can have multiple Lands enter each turn, so cards that synergize with Landfall can be a great choice for our build.
- Add cards that synergize with many of our strategies. To make the best out of our strategies, we can further amplify them by adding cards that work with most of them.
For the sake of flavor some of the choices are not optimal, but are (usually budget friendly) alternatives that fit greatly the Bird Tribal theme.
The deck:
Bird Tribal
Comparative Analysis
Let’s see how the deck compares to the general ratios of my deckbuilding guide.
35 Lands
10 Ramp: Choco, Seeker of Paradise , Sidequest: Raise a Chocobo, Arcane Signet , Kastral, the Windcrested, Watcher of the Spheres, Birds of Paradise, Sol Ring, Gilded Goose, Patchwork Banner, Herald’s Horn
8 Target Removal: Bartz and Boko, Dazzling Denial, Aven Interrupter, Aerial Extortionist, Keeper of the Nine Gales, Lofty Denial, Mist Raven, Cloudchaser Kestrel
2 Board Wipes:Harsh Mercy, Descend upon the Sinful
3 Graveyard Recursion: Kastral, the Windcrested, Jackdaw Savior, Celestial Gatekeeper
2 Graveyard Hate: Scavenger Grounds, Aven Interrupter
3 Tutors: Choco, Seeker of Paradise, Sazh Katzroy, Lupinflower Village
13 Protection: Ambrosia Whiteheart, Dazzling Denial, Esior, Wardwing Familiar, Jubilant Skybonder, Aven Interrupter, Salvation Swan, Perch Protection, Lofty Denial, Dovescape, Sephara, Sky’s Blade, Eagle of Deliverance, Magus of the Moat, Dovescape
12,5 Card Draw: Traveling Chocobo (card advantage), Kastral, the Windcrested, Irrigated Farmland (1/2), Seaside Haven, Curiosity Crafter, Aerial Extortionist, Airborne Aid, Beck // Call, Herald’s Horn, Reconnaissance Mission, Kindred Discovery, Winged Portent, Tatyova, Benthic Druid
6 Finishers/ Surprise /Alternate win conditions: Steel-Plume Marshal, Alrund’s Epiphany, Preposterous Proportions, Banner of Kinship, Kangee, Sky Warden, Kangee, Aerie Keeper
As we see form the comparative analysis, the rates per category are good. We see 5 categories that are above the optimal max average. We see a great spike in Protection category at 13 and that is important because we rely heavily on our commander and our board so we need to be able to protect them.
Deck Highlights, synergy and flavor options:
Ramp
Choco, Seeker of Paradise is our commander and our main source of Ramp. In our Bird Tribal we expect to attack with many Birds to get the most value out of it.
Sidequest: Raise a Chocobo needs some setup but can give us amazing value. On ETB it we create a 2/2 green Bird creature token with “Whenever a land you control enters, this token gets +1/+0 until end of turn” which is not terrible on its own, but the real value comes if we control four or more Birds where it transforms into Black Chocobo. Black Chocobo on ETB let us search our library for a Land card and put it onto the battlefield tapped. Moreover, it acts as a Bird pseudo-Lord, as it has “Landfall — Whenever a land you control enters, Birds you control get +1/+0 until end of turn”. A great card for our Bird Tribal.
Kastral, the Windcrested is one of the best Birds ever printed. In fact it competes with Choco, Seeker of Paradise for being the best Bird Tribal commander. Both are top options but need a slightly different build. The best thing about Choco, is that it can include green cards and Kastral due to its color identity. Kastral is a multi-purpose card that trigger its abilities whenever one or more Birds we control deal combat damage to a player. We can choose among putting a Bird creature card from our hand or graveyard onto the battlefield with a finality counter on it (ramp), putting a +1/+1 counter on each Bird we control and drawing a card. A must-have card for Bird Tribal.
Watcher of the Spheres is a mana cost reducer (by 
) for flying creatures so it greatly fits in Bird Tribal where most of our creatures have Flying. In addition, whenever another creature with flying enters the battlefield under our control, Watcher of the Spheres gets +1/+1 until end of turn, so it has great synergy with our Bird Token generation.
Birds of Paradise is an iconic mana dork and one of the most famous cards in Magic, as it greatly fits in multicolored decks and it feels optimal in our Bird Tribal as it even has Tribal synergy. No much words needed, just a top pick for our build.
Gilded Goose is another great ramp source for our Bird Tribal. It can help us summon our commander early, which is crucial to our build.
Patchwork Banner is one of the best cards for Tribal builds as it combines ramp and tribal support. Being both a mana rock and a Tribal Anthem gives us amazing value for its mana cost. Of course it is a top pick for our Bird Tribal.
Herald’s Horn is great for every creature Tribal deck. It works both as ramp and a kind of card draw, so it is very valuable for our Bird Tribal.
Target Removal
Bartz and Boko is a top tier pick for Bird Tribal. It has Affinity for Birds, so it can easily being cast for far less than its CMC, while on ETB each other Bird we control deals damage equal to its power to target creature an opponent controls, making it a great target creature removal option for our Bird Tribal.
Dazzling Denial and Lofty Denial are our counterspells that have great synergy with our Bird Tribal. Cheap and effective, a perfect example of budget options that greatly fit the flavor of our build too.
Aven Interrupter is an amazing utility card that can exile target spell at instant speed (is has Flash) on ETB and that spells becomes plotted (Its owner may cast it as a sorcery on a later turn without paying its mana cost). It offers amazing protection delaying spells to a future turn, while at the same time, it has “Spells your opponents cast from graveyards or from exile cost 
more to cast, making it a nightmare for decks that cast spells from graveyard and exile. It’s worthy to note that its ability can exile spells that can’t be countered and permantly disables the utility of a counterspell, as the exiled card can only being cast at sorcery speed making it useless. An amazing card for our build.
Aerial Extortionist on ETB and on dealing combat damage to a player, let us exile up to one target nonland permanent. For as long as that card remains exiled, its owner may cast it. In addition, whenever another player casts a spell from anywhere other than their hand, we draw a card. Although its removal is not permanent, it can be repeatable and cause a major tempo loss for our opponents, while letting us draw cards and gain profit from the permanents being recast. A great pick for our Bird Tribal.
Keeper of the Nine Gales is another repeatable removal: By 
and and tapping two untapped Birds we control, we return target permanent to its owner’s hand. It works wonders in Bird Tribal as it can return every permanent (including Lands!) and can be a real nightmare for our opponents if we have a way to untap our creatures (like Derevi, Empyrial Tactician). A must-have for our Bird Tribal.
Mist Raven on ETB let us return target creature to its owner’s hand. Cloudchaser Kestrel on ETB let us destroy target Enchantment. They work great with ETB trigger duplicators, Blinkers and creature duplicators as we get double the effect in all cases. Nice additions to our Bird Tribal.
Board Wipes
Harsh Mercy works greatly against non-Tribal decks as it almost becomes a one-sided board wipe, while it has almost no effect against creature Tribal decks.
Descend upon the Sinful is a board wipe with Graveyard synergy, as it has a Delirium ability that can be easily activated in our Bird Tribal and we can create a 4/4 white Angel with flying as a nice extra.
Graveyard Recursion
Kastral, the Windcrested can return a Bird creature card from our graveyard onto the battlefield with a finality counter on it whenever one or more Birds we control deal combat damage to a player. A great graveyard recursion engine for our Bird Tribal.
Jackdaw Savior whenever it or another creature we control with flying dies, let us return another target creature card with lesser mana value from our graveyard to the battlefield. Another amazing graveyard recursion engine for our Bird Tribal.
Celestial Gatekeeper seems weak for its CMC, but comes with a powerful death trigger that enables us to return up to two target Bird and/or Cleric permanent cards from our graveyard to the battlefield. A great addition to our Bird Tribal.
Graveyard Hate
Scavenger Grounds is a staple for graveyard hate.
Tutors
Choco, Seeker of Paradise as we have already analized, is a great repeatable tutor for Bird Tribal.
Sazh Katzroy is a Bird tutor on ETB so he greatly fits our Bird Tribal. He can tutor a basic Land instead if needed, which is never a bad option. Moreover, he has another powerful ability on attack trigger, letting us put a +1/+1 counter on target creature, then doubling the number of +1/+1 counters on that creature. A top card for our build.
Lupinflower Village is a Land that by paying , and sacrificing it, let us look at the top six cards of our library and reveal a Bat, Bird, Mouse, or Rabbit card from among them and put it into our hand. A cool limited tutor effect for our Bird Tribal.
Protection
Dovescape is a very unique Enchantment as it is an insane noncreature spell hate card, countering any player’s noncreature spell and compensating that player by creating X 1/1 white and blue Bird creature tokens with flying, where X is the spell’s mana value. Normally it sounds too chaotic, but in our Bird Tribal, we benefit the most from Bird tokens, while we run a big number of creatures and a low number of noncreature spells so it can turn the scales to our favor. A top pick for our build.
Ambrosia Whiteheart has Flash and on ETB let us return another target permanent we control to its owner’s hand. Can be used to protect a crucial card to our strategy like our commander, or return other Birds with powerful ETB abilities. In addition, it comes with “Landfall — Whenever a land you control enters, Ambrosia Whiteheart gets +1/+0 until end of turn” which synergizes well with our Landfall strategy.
All our counterspells are also protection spells so Dazzling Denial and Lofty Denial can be very useful to protect our board.
Esior, Wardwing Familiar offers protection to our commander by making spells our opponents cast that target our commander, cost 
more to cast. A nice addition to our Bird Tribal.
Jubilant Skybonder offers a protection to our flyers by granting them the ability “Spells your opponents cast that target this creature cost more to cast.” A nice addition to our Bird Tribal.
Salvation Swan is a great inclusion for our Bird Tribal as it is a quite flexible card. It has Flash so it can be cast at instant speed and on ETB (or on any ETB of a Bird we control) it let us exile up to one target creature we control without flying and return it to the battlefield with a flying counter on it at the beginning of the next end step. It works wonders with our commander and our Chocobo (that have not Flying), both protecting them and giving them Flying. A great utility card for our build!
Perch Protection is a great inclusion for our Bird Tribal as it is both a Bird token creator and a total protection for us and all permanents you control until our next turn. The protection part comes with a high price, as we need to gift an extra turn to an opponent, but we could play politics to gain extra benefit.
Sephara, Sky’s Blade is an absolutely amazing choice for Bird Tribal. She can be cast just for if we tap four untapped creatures we control with flying and she is a 7/7 Angel with flying and lifelink! In addition, she makes other creatures we control with flying indestructible. Crazy value and power in our build!
Eagle of Deliverance on ETB let us put an indestructible counter on another target creature we control and we draw a card if that creature’s power is 2 or less. A powerful protection ETB effect, while at the same time we get a 5/5 flyer which is very respectable. A great card for our Bird Tribal.
Magus of the Moat locks down non-flying creatures preventing them from attacking. Amazing value in Bird Tribal since the majority of our Birds have flying and if you consider that most non-flying creatures can’t block flying creatures, our Birds are free to deliver devastating attacks without holding back! One of the best picks for Bird Tribal!
Card Draw
Traveling Chocobo is one of the best Birds ever printed with great Bird Tribal support. Although it doesn’t offer direct draw, it gives us amazing card advantage by letting us look at the top card of our library any time and play lands and cast Bird spells from it. Moreover, if a land or Bird we control entering the battlefield causes a triggered ability of a permanent we control to trigger, that ability triggers an additional time, which works wonders with our commander and our Bird Tribal build. A must-have card for our build.
Seaside Haven is a great utility Land, as by paying , and sacrificing a Bird at instant speed, it let us draw a card. It greatly fits our Bird Tribal.
Curiosity Crafter is a draw engine for creature token decks so it greatly fits our Bird Tribal. Whenever a creature token we control deals combat damage to a player, we draw a card. Simple and efficient with Bird Tribal synergy, a great inclusion to our build.
Airborne Aid is a great card draw spell for Bird Tribal, as we draw a card for each Bird on the battlefield.
Beck // Call is a flexible sorcery with Bird Tribal synergy. Beck is cheap and let us draw a card whenever a creature enters this turn, while Call is more mana greedy and let us summon four 1/1 white Bird creature tokens with flying. We may cast one or both halves and get the most value out of it.
Kindred Discovery is great in creature tribal decks and works greatly with EtB multipliers too. It also provides card draw on attacking, so it promotes aggro and can give us amazing value.
Reconnaissance Mission is an enchantment that greatly help us with card draw since we can expect to attack with many Birds and deal many times damage to a player and thus draw many cards from it.
Winged Portent is an instant that let us draw a card for each creature with flying we control, while we would rarely need to pay its Cleave cost, as most of our Bird are flyers. A great pick for our Bird Tribal.
Tatyova, Benthic Druid is an draw machine for Landfall decks, so it can really shine in our Bird Tribal.
Finishers/ Surprise /Alternate win conditions
Steel-Plume Marshal and Kangee, Sky Warden when they attack buff our attacking flyers and along with the evasion that flyers have, it can result in a finishing move. Kangee, Sky Warden also buffs our blocking flyers when it blocks so it can be used as a defensive tool too (since it has Vigilance). They are slow but they can get the job done.
Kangee, Aerie Keeper is a potentially powerful Bird Lord but it is quite mana greedy, as in order to buff our Birds it needs to be kicked and it has Kicker
. If we have enough mana to dump, it can become a great finisher. A must-have card for our Bird Tribal.
Alrund’s Epiphany is a Bird token creator and also let us take an extra turn which is always a powerful move. It can also be cast with Foretell which makes it uncounterable. A great inclusion for our Bird Tribal.
Preposterous Proportions has high CMC, but combined with Flying (evasion) that most of our Birds have, can be a reliable finisher, as it buffs our creatures with +10/+10 and Vigilance until end of turn. It can turn every small Bird into a a terrifying air strike force. A great finisher for our Bird Tribal.
Banner of Kinship is a great finisher for every creature tribal deck as on ETB it greatly empowers a choosen creature type. It enters with a fellowship counter on it for each creature we control of the chosen type and creatures we control of the chosen type get +1/+1 for each fellowship counter on this artifact. Fits great in going wide strategy of our Bird Tribal.
Other synergy pieces
Great Birds
Mockingbird is a Bird that enters as a copy of any creature on the battlefield with mana value less than or equal to the amount of mana spent to cast this creature, except it’s a Bird in addition to its other types and it has Flying. The latter makes it optimal for Bird Tribal, as we can copy the best creatures on the battlefield without loosing Bird Tribal synergy. A top tier card for our build.
Derevi, Empyrial Tactician has great synergy with combat damage to a player and can be a game changer to our Bird Tribal as it may tap or untap target permanent and that may be useful in many ways either offensive or defensive. Another top tier card for our Bird Tribal.
Empyrean Eagle acts as a Lord for flying creatures so it greatly fits our Bird Tribal.
Kangee’s Lieutenant on attack trigger, buffs attacking creatures with flying with +1/+1 until end of turn. Although that ability seems average, if we cast it for its Encore cost on a 4-player table, we get 3 times the buff, so it may act as a secret finisher for our Bird Tribal.
Sazh’s Chocobo is a one mana drop that can grow quickly with our Landfall strategy into a considerable threat. A nice inclusion to our Bird Tribal.
Ishai, Ojutai Dragonspeaker is another card that can quickly grow into a considerable threat and although it has higher CMC, it can escalate into a threat much more quickly as it gets buffed with a +1/+1 counter whenever an opponent casts a spell. A great pick for our Bird Tribal.
Wingmate Roc has Raid -When Wingmate Roc enters the battlefield, if you attacked this turn, create a 3/4 white Bird creature token with flying. In addition whenever it attacks, we gain 1 life for each attacking creature. Nothing gamebreaking, but still a nice addition to our Bird Tribal.
Gwaihir the Windlord is a Bird Lord, giving our Birds Vigilance. In addition, we may cast it for less if we draw two or more cards this turn. A great addition to our Bird Tribal.
Windbrisk Raptor is a 5/7 flying Bird that provides attacking creatures we control with Lifelink. Combined with Flying, Lifelink can be extra useful to our Bird Tribal.
Bird Token creators : 15 cards
Kangee’s Lieutenant (with Encore), Donal, Herald of Wings, Emeria Angel, Hermes, Overseer of Elpis, Gwaihir, Greatest of the Eagles, Tawnos, the Toymaker, Wingmate Roc, Flurry of Wings, Perch Protection, Alrund’s Epiphany, Beck // Call, Chocobo Racetrack, Sidequest: Raise a Chocobo, Murmuration, Dovescape
Landfall synergy : 6 cards
Other
Donal, Herald of Wings may copy nonlegendary creatures spell with flying except the copy is a 1/1 Spirit in addition to its other types. Although its ability triggers only once each turn, it is still a powerful one in our Bird Tribal.
Emeria Angel has great synergy with our Bird Tribal as she synergizes both with our Landfall strategy and with our Bird Tribal synergy (Whenever a land we control enters, we may create a 1/1 white Bird creature token with flying). A great pick for our build.
Hermes, Overseer of Elpis is a nice Bird token creator (on casting a noncreature spell), but also help us with topdeck manipulation as whenever we attack with one or more Birds, we scry 2. A nice inclusion to our Bird Tribal.
Magus of the Moat prevents creatures without flying to attack, which works wonders in our Bird Tribal since most of our Birds are flyers. A top utility card that offers us great protection.
Tawnos, the Toymaker may copy Birds we cast, except the copies are artifacts in addition to their other types. A great card for our Bird Tribal.
Flurry of Wings may once create a Bird Army. One of the best Bird token creation cards for our Bird Tribal.
Chocobo Racetrack costs a lot but have Landfall synergy and may become an excellent Bird token creator with the help of Choco, Seeker of Paradise. A great card for our Bird Tribal.
Soulcatchers’ Aerie is one of the top cards for Bird Tribal. Whenever a Bird is put into our graveyard from the battlefield, we put a feather counter on it and our Birds get +1/+1 for each feather counter. In a Bird Tribal build it can easily get out of hand and buff our Birds to the point where each and every one is a big threat.
Felidar Retreat has great synergy with our Landfall strategy as it can be triggered multiple times per turn and the value we can get is amazing. Although the 2/2 Cat Beast tokens are not optimal for our deck, free creatures are always welcome, while the second option that buffs our creatures with a +1/+1 counter and Vigilance until end of turn, can even be a secret finisher if we drop >=2 Lands. A great card for our Bird Tribal.
Murmuration works both as a Bird Tribal anthem, granting our Birds +1/+1 and Vigilance, and as a Bird token generator, letting us create at the beginning of our end step, a 1/2 blue Bird creature token with flying named Storm Crow for each spell we’ve cast this turn. Sounds like a flavor mix of Storm keyword and Storm Crow. It greatly fits our build.
Let’s see some more statistics about our deck. Some important info to care about is the mana curve and the card type distribution, as it can help us understand better our deck and may indicate where there is space for improving it.
Mana Curve
The mana curve shows a heavy midrange curve with many drops at 3-5 drop positions while there are less 1-2 drops than average. That reflects the fact that we expect to accelerate on mana with the help of Choco, Seeker of Paradise, so we will be able to play more high drops than usual.
Card Type Distribution
The Bird Tribal Card Type Distribution shows the dominant Tribal creature-heavy theme with 41 creatures. Other categories have lesser presence with Enchantments at 7, Sorceries at 6, Artifacts at 6 and Instants at 5. No Planeswalkers or Battles are present for the time.
Of course statistics and comparative analysis are great tools but they don’t always tell the whole truth, since many factors like synergy and combo pieces are hard to be measured numerically. For example in this deck, with all the deck build around Choco, Seeker of Paradise that supports both Bird Tribal and Landfall strategy , the true power of the deck lies in synergy and that is not reflected in statistics.
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If you liked the deck, don’t forget to revisit the article after every major new release as I will try to keep my decks updated and examine any potential upgrades. If you want to keep being updated, you can follow mtgbudgetcommander.com on social media (facebook, twitter, instagram, pinterest, linkedin, reddit, tumblr, medium).
If you like my tribal series, you can check my other tribal decks.
