If you like lurking in the shadows, waiting for the right moment to go for the throat of your enemy, then Assassin tribal is the right deck for you. Let’s see how we can steal victory with a master kill.
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.
Assassins exist throughout the history of magic, but they are lone wolves unless they belong to a guild. Their have no great stats but their strength lies in powerful target removal abilities, they are heralds of death. Despite their shared abilities, they lack synergy among their tribe and a leader to help them construct a meaningful tribal commander deck. All that changed with the coming of Ramses, Assassin Lord , an assassin lord that supports assassins by buffing them and giving the tribe a special alternate win condition, the ability to win the game if an assassin attacked a player the turn that player is knocked off.
That alternate win condition practically means that we can knockout one player to eliminate all others. But there is more to it. We don’t have to knockout a player with combat damage, but just to attack that player with an assassin the same turn that player is knocked out. The obvious choice is to focus on assassin tribal and the alternate win condition will be relatively easy. But the assassins, even with the buff of Ramses are weak on direct combat. We need evasion to easily bypass enemy defenses.
Although assassins are weak on direct combat, they are masters in single target removal. Many of them have abilities that are activated by tapping and destroy target creature. Instead of going an aggressive route, we can follow a true assassin strategy. Wait patiently for the right moment to strike and eliminate our targets.
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 Assassins. Our top priority is to add the assassins with the best target removal abilities and assassins with a form of evasion. We can steal victory by manipulating combat with our target removal assassins and when the moment is right to steal a player kill and win with a direct hit from our unblockable assassins.
- Add cards that give our creatures evasion. Unblockable is the best form of evasion and our top priority.
- Add cards that synergize with our strategies. To make the best out of our strategies, we can further amplify them by adding cards that synergize with target removal and evasion.
For the sake of flavor some of the choices are not optimal, but are (usually budget friendly) alternatives that fit greatly the Assassin tribal theme.
The deck:
Assassin Tribal
Comparative Analysis
Let’s see how the deck compares to the general ratios of my deckbuilding guide.
34 Lands
10 Ramp: Dimir Signet , Arcane Signet , Sol Ring , Commander’s Sphere , Mari, the Killing Quill , Explorer’s Scope , Talisman of Dominance , Patchwork Banner, Bounty Board, Wayfarer’s Bauble
15 Target Removal: Scarblade Elite , Negate , Dark Impostor , Nekrataal , Silumgar Assassin , King’s Assassin , Royal Assassin , Spell Pierce , Big Game Hunter , Kiku, Night’s Flower , Chain Assassination, Etrata, the Silencer , Feed the Swarm , Ravenform , Guul Draz Assassin
2 Board Wipes: Crippling Fear , Massacre Girl
4 Graveyard Recursion: Restart Sequence, Patriarch’s Bidding , Jacob Frye (kinda), Adéwalé, Breaker of Chains (self-recursion)
3 Graveyard Hate: Bojuka Bog , Mari, the Killing Quill , Ravenloft Adventurer
2 Tutors: Ringsight , Adéwalé, Breaker of Chains
5 Protection: Swiftfoot Boots , Whispersilk Cloak , Negate , Spell Pierce , Brotherhood Regalia
13 Card Draw: Morbid Opportunist , Eagle Vision, Mari, the Killing Quill , Open into Wonder , Ezio, Blade of Vengeance , Aven Heartstabber (1/2), Bident of Thassa , Evie Frye, Bounty Board, Etrata, Deadly Fugitive (card advantage), Basim Ibn Ishaq , Assassin Gauntlet, Adrestia, Chain Assassination (1/2)
6 Finishers/ Surprise /Alternate win conditions: Ramses, Assassin Lord , Vorpal Sword , Etrata, the Silencer , Quietus Spike , Virtus the Veiled , Unstoppable Slasher
As we see form the comparative analysis, the rates per category are good except in target removal category where we see an extreme peak with 15 cards. That extreme peak is the result of having many assassins in our deck as they are masters in target removal. There is no score below the optimal low average. Protection category is at 5 and that is because our strategy needs our commander to be able to finish games quickly but also we need to protect our attackers and let them move in the shadows. Finishers/ Surprise /Alternate win conditions are at 6 which is very good, but what matters the most is that the choices here are extraordinary.
Deck Highlights, synergy and flavor options:
Ramp
Mari, the Killing Quill is an all star of the deck. She gives all our assassins deathtouch, she exiles opponent creatures when they die with a hit counter on them, she gives us the option to remove that hit counter whenever our assassins deal combat damage to a player to draw a card and create two treasure tokens. Assassin tribal synergy, ramp, draw, graveyard hate, potential creature removal and synergizes greatly with our target removal and evasion strategies. Easily one of the best picks for the 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 Assassin Tribal!
Target Removal
Scarblade Elite is one of the few cards in our deck that have Assassin Tribal synergy. With tap and removing an assassin card from our graveyard we can destroy target creature. It is one of the best target removal options in a deck full of removals and that speaks for itself.
Dark Impostor has a high mana removal option, but sometimes it is worth it, as it can steal the activated abilities of the creatures that are removed.
Nekrataal and Big Game Hunter have creature removal on ETB (Entering the Battlefield): Nekrataal destroys target nonartifact, nonblack creature and that creature can’t be regenerated. Big Game Hunter destroys target creature with power 4 or greater and that creature can’t be regenerated. As the name implies, it goes for a big target. Cool flavor. Nekrataal has first strike which is nice and can be great when combined with deathtouch. Great removal options for our Assassin Tribal.
Silumgar Assassin is a flexible assassin that can be used either as an expensive removal (paying its Megamorph cost) for destroying target creature with power 3 or less, or as a cheap creature with a build-in evasion. All options synergize with our Assassin Tribal strategies.
Royal Assassin and King’s Assassin are among the best assassins of our Assassin Tribal build. They both need a creature to be tapped to destroy it by tapping them. Simple and efficient creature removal.
Kiku, Night’s Flower has a different way to destroy enemy creatures, by paying 
and tapping her, she forces target creature to deal damage to itself equal to its power. Love the flavor on this one.
Guul Draz Assassin is a one mana drop leveler assassin that can grow fast and become really menacing as a cheap removal. For just and tap on levels 2-3 target creature gets -2/-2 and on levels 4+ target creature gets -4/-4. It levels up for 
and becomes a 2/2 on levels 2-3 and a 4/4 on levels 4+.
Vein Ripper feels like a Blood Artist on steroids and is an excellent death trigger payoff for our Assassin Tribal. It can drain our opponents and has great synergy with our target removal strategy. It is a 6/5 flying Vampire Assassin with build-in protection (Ward-Sacrifice a creature). Our deck was missing a big threat and it can fill that role too without sacrificing tribal synergy.
Chain Assassination can easily be cast for its Freerunning cost and for that cost it is a very efficient removal with card draw as a bonus! Great pick for Assassin Tribal!
Board Wipes
Crippling Fear is a great budget mass removal for tribal decks as it can clear the board of our opponents while leaving ours intact.
Massacre Girl may need some setup and right timing but she do from small board wipes to full board clears. She really lives up to her name. Amazing flavor and play style option for our Assassin Tribal.
Graveyard Recursion
Restart Sequence can easily be cast for its Freerunning cost in Assassin Tribal and for that cost it is a great and very cheap recursion spell.
Patriarch’s Bidding is one of the best graveyard recursion spells for tribal decks.
Jacob Frye has also great synergy with Assassin Tribal as whenever an Assassin deals combat damage to a player it can recur (in the form of a copy) any Assassin or card with Freerunning from our graveyard as long as we have mana to cast it. In addition, it has Partner with Evie Frye which adds even more synergy.
Graveyard Hate
Ravenloft Adventurer gives us the initiative and is another card that places hit counters and exile enemy creatures when they die. It can work as a grave hate card but also a combo piece with Etrata, the Silencer and Mari, the Killing Quill. If we manage to finish the undercity dungeon it can even drain our enemy by doing 1 damage for each card they own in exile with a hit counter on it. Mari, the Killing Quill also exiles enemy creatures as they die. Both work great in our Assassin Tribal build.
Tutors
Ringsight is a great budget tutor for Dimir commander decks. In our Assassin Tribal build it has nice synergy with our evasion strategy since the Ringbearer is given evasion by the Ring.
Adéwalé, Breaker of Chains has a mini tutor effect on ETB and can tutor our Assassins or even our only one Vehicle Adrestia.
Protection
Brotherhood Regalia grants Ward and unblockable so it greatly fits our evasion strategy while at the same time protects our Assassins. A flavorful pick too!
Card Draw
Eagle Vision can easily be cast for its Freerunning cost in Assassin Tribal and for that cost it is just amazing.
Morbid Opportunist is one of the few creatures in our Assassin Tribal deck that are not assassins. Its place is well earned though. In a deck full of target removal, the card draw on death trigger seems easy as a pie. The limit once each turn does not makes us worry as we can destroy creatures with our assassins even on the turn of our enemies. Being a rogue even gives us synergy with Mari, the Killing Quill. Great value card in our deck.
Open into Wonder has great synergy with our Assassin Tribal deck strategy since we can expect to draw many cards and on top of that, it can work as a finisher with Ramses, Assassin Lord.
Ezio, Blade of Vengeance is a great card draw engine in our Assassin Tribal and synergizes with our evasion strategy, while it has a respectable body and Deathtouch.
Aven Heartstabber can help us a little with card draw but the fact that it is an assassin makes it a great inclusion in Assassin Tribal. It has Flying (which is useful for evasion) and potential deathouch and +2/+2 buff if there are at least five different mana values among cards in our graveyard.
Etrata, Deadly Fugitive is an amazing addition to our Assassin Tribal deck since she gives our Assassins the ability to cloak the top card of opponent’s library, on dealing combat damage to player trigger, creating for us huge potential card advantage. By paying 
we can turn a cloacked card face-up and if we can’t (if it is an instant, sorcery, etc.) we exile it and we may cast it without paying its mana cost. Great utility card with great tribal support!
Bident of Thassa works greatly in creature-heavy decks and even better in our Assassin Tribal build since it synergizes with our evasion strategy and its ability to force the creatures of our opponents to attack, works wonders with our Assassins that can destroy tapped creatures.
Basim Ibn Ishaq is a great inclusion for our Assassin Tribal build, as it synergizes with our evasion strategy while at the same time it can become a draw engine by casting historic spells (even with the limitation of triggering once each turn). Moreover he can slowly grow into a threat by doing combat damage to a player, which is easy once he becomes unblockable.
Evie Frye by paying let us draw a card and discard a card and by discarding a creature card this way it makes target creature we control unblockable. That makes her great both for card draw and as an evasion giver. In addition, it has Partner with Jacob Frye which adds even more synergy. A top pick for our Assassin Tribal build!
Assassin Gauntlet is great tool for our evasion strategy or even a finishing blow. Moreover, it can help with card draw. Great synergy with our Assassin Tribal build!
Adrestia is our Assassin ship! With Islandwalk, it can become a nightmare for blue decks. In addition, it helps with card draw and lastly it can help us recur Adéwalé, Breaker of Chains. Cool synergy with our Assassin Tribal!
Bounty Board is a flavorful pick for our Assassin Tribal and can help with card draw too. It has synergy with Termination Facilitator as both put bounty conuters and we can get easy profit!
Finishers/ Surprise /Alternate win conditions
Ramses, Assassin Lord is our commander and we have already built our Assassin Tribal deck to take advantage of his alternate win condition. The deck depends much on him, but not entirely on him, as we have other ways to win too. His somewhat low mana cost and the high protection we run in our deck, give us high hope that he will be around to guide our assassins from the shadows, and give our deck the consistency needed.
Etrata, the Silencer is an unblockable assassin which alone synergizes greatly with our strategies but she can do much more. Whenever Etrata deals combat damage to a player, she exiles target creature that player controls and put a hit counter on that card. That player loses the game if they own three or more exiled cards with hit counters on them. She offers an alternate win condition which would be hard to activate because Etrata’s owner shuffles her into their library after each hit. BUT there is a sweet combo in our Assassin Tribal with Mari, the Killing Quill and Ravenloft Adventurer that both can easily place the same kind of counters on exiled cards before the hit (we can place the counters even many turns before) and with just one hit we can instantly have that player loose the game.
Vorpal Sword gives our assassins another way to finish an opponent. It gives +2 power and deathtouch by equipping it with which is already on theme, but its real power lies in its activated ability. By paying 
at instant speed, it gains until end of turn: “Whenever equipped creature deals combat damage to a player, that player loses the game.” In our Assassin Tribal deck with many unblockable/evasive assassins it becomes an instrument of death.
Unstoppable Slasher along with Virtus the Veiled and Quietus Spike give us another way to finish our opponents as they share a similar ability: Whenever (either equipped creature or one of Virtus the Veiled/Unstoppable Slasher) deal combat damage to a player, that player loses half their life, rounded up. Moreover, Unstoppable Slasher is… unstoppable. It keeps coming back if it dies with no counters on it. It returns tapped with two stun counters on it, so it is slow but still very persistent. Combined with our evasive strategy we can make the most out of that ability.
Other synergy pieces
Great Assassins
Achilles Davenport can easily be cast for its Freerunning cost, it has Menace and is an Assassin Lord giving our Assassins +1/+1. A top pick for our Assassin Tribal!
Termination Facilitator is a great card that can tap on sorcery speed to put a bounty counter on target creature or planeswalker and has the ability: “Whenever a creature or planeswalker an opponent controls with a bounty counter on it is dealt damage, destroy it.” In a way it makes them vulnerable to damage and that means any amount of damage and by anyone. I think it’s a hidden gem for Assassin Tribal along with top flavor text. Bounty Board also puts bounty counters so it has great synergy and even greater potential!
Changeling Outcast is an assassin among its other types and a great one, since its unblockable ability makes it perfect for our deck since it greatly synergizes with our evasion strategy. Midnight Assassin has flying and deathtouch so it also has synergy with our evasive strategy. Suq’Ata Assassin has Fear (can’t be blocked except by artifact creatures and/or black creatures) which is a nice evasion ability and on top of that, if it isn’t blocked, defending player gets a poison counter. All are valuable for our Assassin Tribal build.
Desmond Miles has Menace and has great Assassin Tribal synergy as it gets +X/+0 for each other Assassin we control and each Assassin card in our graveyard. That can be a huge boost even in midgame. In addition, it let us Surveil X where X is the damage it dealt to a player which can offer us a nice card filtering.
Lydia Frye has build-in evasion (can’t be blocked by creatures with power 3 or greater) and has great synergy in our Assassin Tribal as at the beginning of our end step it let us Surveil X where X is the number of the tapped Assassins we control. Card filtering is always very useful.
Assassin Initiate is a flexible one mana drop and that flexibility is its power. We can choose among build-in evasion (Flying), Deathtouch for removing big threats or even Lifelink for some extra life. Hookblade Veteran is also a one mana drop with build-in evasion (has Flying on our turn), while Brotherhood Spy is another cheap drop with build-in evasion (but only if we control a Legendary Assassin, something that is not rare in our latest version of our build). Great synergy with our Assassin Tribal build!
Other
Sleep is a card that synergizes with our evasion strategy and works wonders with our Assassin Tribal that runs many Assassins that can destroy tapped creatures. Keeping all enemy creatures tapped make it possible for our Assassing to pass through combat damage to a player or eliminate any threats. We can caught them on sleep!
Cover of Darkness can give our Assassins mass fear. Perfect flavor and top synergy for our Assassin Tribal build!
Rooftop Bypass has great synergy with our evasion strategy and we can quickly create an army of Assassins with Menace. A great inclusion in our Assassin Tribal!
Brotherhood Headquarters is a Land with Assassin Tribal synergy and help us in color fixing.
Evasion Givers : 12 cards
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 there are plenty 1-4 drops with a spike at 3 drops. There are a few 5-6 drops and an absence of high mana drops (7+). In general, the mana curve is higher than average on the low mana drops and that is the result of the many low mana costed Assassins. Our deck strategy is unique as it does not depend on high mana drops to finish the game but on an alternate win condition that needs stealth and precise striking to achieve a quick victory.
Card Type Distribution
The Assassin Tribal Card Type Distribution shows the dominant tribal creature-heavy theme with 34 creatures, with artifacts category to follow with 16 cards, while sorceries and enchantments are less frequent at 9 and 4. We count only 3 instants but that is the result of relying for our target removal on assassins rather than instant spells so we must not worry too much, even if the number seems alarming.
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 Ramses, Assassin Lord , that particular alternate win condition is much more consistent that the numbers shown.
Update v1 (Murders at Karlov Manor)
Update v2 (Outlaws of Thunder Junction)
Update v3 (Assassin’s Creed)
Update v4 (Bloomburrow)
Update v5 (Duskmourn)
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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.
