Assassin Tribal Update: Murders at Karlov Manor

Update (Murders at Karlov Manor) :

With the release of Murders at Karlov Manor, Assassin Tribal is getting some great upgrades!

Moreover, with the latest releases, some cards have dropped in price, so we’re doing some bonus budget uprgades too!

In: Etrata, Deadly Fugitive , Out: Tsabo’s Assassin

In: Vein Ripper , Out: Callidus Assassin

In: Talisman of Dominance , Out: Dimir Keyrune

In: Ringsight , Out: Diabolic Tutor

In: Bident of Thassa , Out: Underworld Connections

In: Sleep , Out: Security Bypass

In: Escape Tunnel , Out: Island

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!

Tsabo’s Assassin gets cut because we have too many target removal options and it is less reliable than others since it needs a specific situation to work.

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.

Callidus Assassin is a powerful target removal card but gets cut because it will lose its assassin type if it copies a non-assassin creature so it does not work with Ramses, Assassin Lord and our Assissin tribal support.

Talisman of Dominance is simply better than Dimir Keyrune and at the time of writing this article is finally a super budget option too.

Ringsight most times is strictly better than Diabolic Tutor in Dimir commander decks and is a budget option too. In our Assassin Tribal build it has nice synergy with our evasion strategy since the Ringbearer is given evasion by the Ring.

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. Underworld Connections although flavorful, is more slow and has no other synergy with our build.

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! Security Bypass gets cut because it gives evasion only when a creature is attacking alone and our build is creature-heavy.

Escape Tunnel is a strictly better Terramorphic Expanse/Evolving Wilds which are commander staples. In addition to their utility, it has ,Sacrifice Escape Tunnel: Target creature with power 2 or less can’t be blocked this turn. That synergizes well with our evasion strategy.