If you like ranged attacks, hitting your enemies at instant speed before they can touch you and your creatures, commanding an army of the best archers among all races and turning them into deadly snipers, then archer tribal is the right deck for you. Let’s see how our arrows will hit the spot.
I love tribal decks because they combine synergy, 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.
Archers are not very strong as individuals as they have unimpressive stats and on top of that, the support of the tribe is minimal, so they were a somewhat underpowered tribe. That was before the arrival of their natural leader, Ohabi Caleria. Ohabi although might not seem an overpowered commander, is in my opinion a well designed archer tribal commander, being made to take advantage of a common ability many archers have, the ability to tap for direct damage.
Most of the archers deal an insignificant amount of damage so they are more pingers (creatures that do 1 direct damage to a target) than actually cards that can be considered as target removal options. Ohabi can make her army of archers to fire rapidly (each turn), can become a draw machine by drawing cards with each hit and on top of that, if we provide her with a way to make those arrows deadly, the tribe goes from rapid pingers to rapid snipers that are one-shooting everything.
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 archers. There are many archers in magic’s history but the ones that we want to include in this version of archer tribal are the ones who have the ability to ping (or tap for more direct damage). Of course some archers that support the tribe are an auto-include. Ohabi Caleria will make the archers untap on each player’s turn so the archers will be able to tap for direct damage and trigger Ohabi’s draw. But that’s not enough to make the deck shine. In order to make the most out of Ohabi’s abilities, we need to:
- Add deathtouch to our archers so that the ping will be converted into destroy target
- Add some ways to add ping to some archers that have not, so that they can synergize better both with Ohabi and with the cards that give deathtouch (archers that already have deathtouch are a must have)
- Add other useful abilities that trigger “whenever this creature deals damage” on our archers so that we can take advantage of the ping damage
- Add more untap enablers so that our archers can ping even more times and the deck will be less dependent on Ohabi and more consistent overall
For the sake of flavor some of the choices are not optimal, but are (usually budget friendly) alternatives that fit greatly the Archer Tribal theme.
The deck:
Archer Tribal
Comparative Analysis
Let’s see how the deck compares to the general ratios of my deckbuilding guide.
34 Lands
10 Ramp: Rampant Growth, Arcane Signet, Sol Ring, Cultivate, Patchwork Banner, Talisman of Unity, Silhana Starfletcher, Elvish Guidance, Arbor Elf, Freestrider Lookout
16 Target Removal: Kabira Takedown, Khalni Ambush, Masked Vandal, Kill shot, Coordinated Barrage, Arbalest Elite, Elite Archers, Sawblade Slinger, Webstrike Elite, Gift of the Viper , Stalking Leonin, Scrapshooter, Legolas’s Quick Reflexes, Bridgeworks Battle // Tanglespan Bridgeworks, Vivien Reid, Bow of Nylea
3 Board Wipes: Harsh Mercy, Hail of Arrows (mini), Dusk // Dawn
2 Graveyard Recursion: Dusk // Dawn, Bow of Nylea (to library)
1 Graveyard Hate: Scavenger Grounds
1 Tutors: Vivien Reid
5 Protection: D’Avenant Healer (mini), Saryth, the Viper’s Fang, Swiftfoot Boots, Legolas’s Quick Reflexes, Tadeas, Juniper Ascendant (self-protection)
10,5 Card Draw: Botanical Plaza (1/2), Ohabi Caleria, Folk Hero, Harmonize, To Arms! (1/2), Camaraderie, Lifecrafter’s Bestiary, Beast Whisperer, Legolas Greenleaf, Well Rested, Webstrike Elite (1/2), Tadeas, Juniper Ascendant
3 Finishers/ Surprise /Alternate win conditions: Great Oak Guardian, Quietus Spike (kinda), Mirror Entity
As we see form the comparative analysis, the rates per category are very good. There is no score below the optimal low average, while we see 4 categories that are above the optimal max average. Of course our build offers exceptional target removal that is not shown in numbers. It is made to work even without the commander, but its power multiplies by far when Ohabi Caleria leads the tribe.
Deck Highlights, synergy and flavor options:
Ramp
While Silhana Starfletcher is nothing impressive on his own, with Ohabi, Silhana Starfletcher can provide free mana on each turn.
Ohabi is an Elf, so we have a very strong possibility of having at least 1 Elf on the battlefield. With one more it is like an Overgrowth (that is a staple). Some of the best archers are elves so Elvish Guidance can get much better. It also combos with Arbor Elf which can benefit further from untap synergy.
Freestrider Lookout has great synegy with our Archer Tribal build. Because of our pingers build, one of the easiest things to do is commit crimes by ping damage. Even the limitation of triggering only once each turn, considering the fact that our commander Ohabi Caleria untaps our archers during each other player’s untap step, it means that we may easily commit a crime on each player’s turn and that can give us amazing ramp. It’s a pity that is isn’t an archer itself, but at least it looks like an archer and fits the flavor of our deck.
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 Archer Tribal!
Target Removal
Coordinated Barrage is a perfect example of synergetic and flavorful budget removal. It is great in any tribal deck as for 1 white mana it can be a good instant removal, a nice alternative to Path to Exile for less than 10% of its cost. The flavor here is another fact to make you consider using Coordinated Barrage, it feels the right deck to do so.
Kill shot is not the best removal since it is situational, but at least it is an instant, not overcosted, it fits the playstyle of the deck and is an amazing flavor option.
Arbalest Elite and Elite Archers combo with Ohabi to constantly deal 3 damage to target attacking or blocking creature on each player’s turn.
Sawblade Slinger is artifact removal on a 4/3 creature for 4 mana. It fits the tribal theme and can be the target of either grave recursion or Vivien’s Arkbow.
Stalking Leonin is a nice removal option, fits the tribal theme and can be a great target for grave recursion.
Scrapshooter is a great addition to our Archer Tribal as it acts as an Artifact/Enchantment removal on ETB as long as we gift a card to an opponent. With great stats for its mana cost and Reach it is also a powerful creature for early game. The card we gift can also bring a politics flavor to our game which is always interesting in commander.
Bridgeworks Battle // Tanglespan Bridgeworks and Khalni Ambush // Khalni Territory take the place of Lands and have synergy with our deathtouch strategy.
Webstrike Elite is a great addition to our Archer Tribal as it acts as an Artifact/Enchantment removal at instant speed if we pay the Cycling cost. With great stats for its mana cost and Reach it is also a powerful creature for early game.
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.
Hail of Arrows is a flexible instant that can work either as single or as multiple target removal. Great flavor too. Although it is not very effective as a board wipe and it is too situational and can only wipe small creatures, it complement the deck well, as our death pingers can easily take care of the bigger threats.
Archers have low power so Dusk//Dawn is often a one-sided board wipe and can be an excellent mass graveyard recursion spell as well.
Graveyard Hate
Scavenger Grounds is a staple for graveyard hate.
Tutors
Vivien Reid is a Planeswalker that greatly fits Archer Tribal. She is flexible, as she can be used as a creature/land tutor at +1, as a target removal at -3 and she has a very strong Ultimate ability, buffing our creatures with +2/+2, Vigilance, Trample and Indestructible. Even the fact that she will eventually lure players to attack (her) may prove very useful in our build as we use many abilities that may trigger on attacking or blocking.
Protection
D’Avenant Healer is providing 1 damage prevention on any target on tap. While it is not the greatest protection, if you consider that it is also a pinger, it becomes a must-have tool in our archer tribal as he serves both in offense and defence.
Saryth, the Viper’s Fang is one of the best picks for Archer Tribal due to synergy with tap/untap strategy and works both as a mass deathtouch enabler and a board protector depending on tap/untap. Moreover, it can untap a creature that works wonders with our deadly direct damage dealers.
Legolas’s Quick Reflexes is a great protection spell for nearly every green deck. It’s cheap and the combination of Hexproof and Split Second makes it perfect for protecting a target creature. Moreover, it offers untapping and “Whenever this creature becomes tapped, it deals damage equal to its power to up to one target creature.” which makes it ideal for Archer Tribal since it becomes a tool for removal too with our deathtouch givers. Of course it greatly fits the flavor of our deck too!
Card Draw
Ohabi Caleria is our commander and (among other things) a great card draw engine in a deck that is full of archers that are able to consistently deal damage to enemy creatures.
Legolas Greenleaf has build-in evasion from creatures with power 2 or less and whenever he deals combat damage to a player we draw a card. Those two combined with our death pinger strategy that can remove big threats, may prove useful to let us sneak through the enemy defences and draw some cards. In addition on legendary EtB under our control, he gets a +1/+1 counter which is a nice bonus. He can also trigger Ohabi Caleria and he is an elf so we have extra synergy with Elvish Guidance.
Folk Hero is great in tribal decks since they run many creatures and it becomes a draw engine. Works better with low mana cost commanders because it needs them on the battlefield to trigger.
Lifecrafter’s Bestiary is a great source of card draw for creature-heavy decks and its scry 1 is very important too.
Beast Whisperer offers great card draw on tribal creature decks since most of them are creature-heavy decks. It’s also an elf so we have extra synergy with Elvish Guidance.
Well Rested has amazing synegy with our Archer Tribal build. Because Ohabi Caleria untaps our archers during each other player’s untap step, it means that even with the limitation of triggering only once each turn, it can net us a free card draw on each player’s turn which is huge. It also worth to mention that even the life gain is considerable and the +1/+1 counters it provides can quickly grow any archer into a huge threat. A great pick for our build!
Tadeas, Juniper Ascendant is ideal for Archer Tribal as many archers have Reach. In addition it offers untap synergy paired with evasion and on top of that it converts combat damage to a player from our creatures to card draw. He even has self-protection (Hexproof) unless he is attacking. A top utility card for our build.
Finishers/ Surprise /Alternate win conditions
Great Oak Guardian can be a very flexible card in this deck, surprising our opponents by both buffing our army of archers and untapping them at instant speed which can be great either for offence or for defense. Combined with our deathtouch pingers strategy he can be devastating.
Among the deathtouch enablers Quietus Spike is special as it has another ability -“Whenever equipped creature deals combat damage to a player, that player loses half their life, rounded up.” That can be deadly combined with our direct damage dealers and our untap strategy.
Mirror Entity is a great finisher for most Tribal decks.
Other synergy pieces
Pingers (and damage dealers on tap) : 10 cards
Catti-brie of Mithral Hall is a great archer as she has great synergy with our deathtouch-giving equipment. She can be an attacking deathtouch first striker and even ping for lethal damage at the same time.
Matsu-Tribe Sniper is a great pinger as he has the ability to tap the flying creature he dealt damage to, and locking it tapped for its controller next untap step
Deathtouch enablers : 9 cards
Instant damage on tap enablers : 4 cards
Although Hankyu seems too slow at first, it has great synergy with Ohabi Caleria and it can become a consistent way to deal ping damage to target creature or even store multiple aim counters to deal a respectable amount of damage to player.
Untap enablers : 10 cards
Creatures with Reach : 12 cards
Great Archers
Greatbow Doyen is one of the best archer tribal pieces ever printed. Our deck is made to consistently deal direct damage to creatures each turn and now it can make consistently that much player damage on each turn too! Buffs the archers, synergize with pingers, with Quietus Spike and all that multiply by our untap synergy.
Brigid, Hero of Kinsbaile and Scattershot Archer can take care of the small threats by themselves (but Scattershot Archer shoots only creatures with flying), and synergize well with our deathtouch enablers as they turn into repeatable one-sided board wipes on each turn.
Arcus Acolyte can put a +1/+1 counter on our creatures for a green or white mana and combos with Catti-brie of Mithral Hall for multiple ping damage if you can afford the cost.
Legolas, Master Archer is a great addition to our deck. His last ability has great synergy with target removal spells, as whenever we cast a spell that targets an enemy creature, he deals damage equal to his power to up to one target creature (works great with our deathtouch strategy as he is a potential hidden pinger). His other ability gives him a +1/+1 counter whenever we cast a spell that targets him. Fight variants can trigger both abilities at once and we can gain maximum value.
Dragon Sniper has Vigilance, Reach and Deathtouch so the only thing needed is an instant damage on tap enabler. Equip it with a proper bow and we’re ready. A great addition for Archer Tribal.
Other
Brave the sands boost both offence and defence as vigilance and the ability to block more creatures synergize great with our deathtouch instant damage dealers.
Odric, Lunarch Marshal can be great as a keyword multiplier as we can expect to have at least a deathtouch archer available and any more keywords can only make it better.
Creosote Heath has synergy with Freestrider Lookout as it helps us commit a crime out of nowhere and it a mana fixer.
Veteran Beastrider is ideal for Archer Tribal as it is a great mass untap enabler. At the beginning of our end step, we untap each creature we control. In addition by paying 
at instant speed, creatures we control get +1/+1 until end of turn. Although his last ability is too expensive, it is a good mana dump that may prove helpful in a deck where we have not many finishers. A great utility card four 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
We see that the mana curve differentiates from average, there are quite more 1-3 mana drops than usual, with a spike at 3 drops, and an absence of 7-8 drops which is normal since the deck rely on pingers and cheap equipment rather than big threats.
Card Type Distribution
The Archer Tribal Card Type Distribution shows the tribal creature-heavy theme with 31 creatures, with artifacts to follow with 13 due to utility support, while the other categories are balanced with instants at 8, Enchantments at 9, Sorceries at 7, while there is only 1 Planeswalker. No battles are present at 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, the removal potential is much greater than the measured one, as every instant damage dealer archer can be equipped with a deathtouch enabler and works as a repeatable removal tool combined with Ohabi (mostly target, but few mass removal as well).
Update v1 (The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth)
Update v2 (The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth Holiday Release)
Update v3 (The Lost Caverns of Ixalan)
Update v4 (Outlaws of Thunder Junction)
Update v5 (Bloomburrow)
Update v6 (Aetherdrift)
Update v7 (Tarkir: Dragonstorm)
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.
Thanks for finally talking about Archer Tribal
You’re welcome, I’m glad you enjoy my Archer Tribal build!
It is always great to come across a page where the admin take an actual effort to generate a really good article.