If you like to create a massive army of flyers and dominate the skies and beyond, then Flying Tribal is the right deck for you. Lets see how we can pilot our flyers and strike our opponents from above!
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.
Flying is an evergreen evasion ability that makes creatures without flying unable to block creatures with flying. It has been in Magic since the original Alpha set. It was the first mechanic that Richard Garfield designed for the game. (source: MtG Wiki)
Flying Tribal is a deck build around creatures with Flying. Even if the theme sounds too generic, there are enough Flying support cards and numerous great flyers in the history in Magic, that we can build a consistent and meaningful deck. There are many choices for a Flying Tribal commander but for our build I’ve choosen Alela, Artful Provocateur, a Legendary Faerie Warlock that has Flying, Deathtouch and Lifelink, gives other creatues with flying +1/+0 and has “Whenever you cast an artifact or enchantment spell, create a 1/1 blue Faerie creature token with flying”
Alela, Artful Provocateur is a great choice because she supports Esper () colors which are the dominant colors for flying creatures, she directly supports flyers with a +1/+0 buff and she can create an army of flying Faerie tokens at the same time. She provides synergy with artifacts and enchantments so our build gets more depth and power.
Synergy Diagram
Let’s analyze the main goals of the deck:
- Add the best creatures with Flying. Our priority is to add the ones that have synergy with flying, that are artifact or enchantment creatures themselves or have synergy with tokens.
- Add Flying Tribal support. Cards that support Flying tribal seem a great choice for our build. If those are Artifacts or Enchantments, we get extra synergy with Alela, Artful Provocateur.
- Add Faerie Tribal cards that care about Faerie tokens. All Faeries have flying, so that cards directly support Flying tribal. Faeries are a subtheme to our build since both our commander and the flying tokens it produces are Faeries.
- Add token support/synergy. Since our build is meant to provide us with many Faerie tokens, some token synergy cards provide us with great value.
- Add Artifacts and Enchantments that support/produce/synergize with flyers and/or tokens.
- Add cards that synergize with our strategies. To make the best out of our strategies, we can further amplify them by adding cards that support many of our strategies (and that is made much easier with the help of our commander).
For the sake of flavor some of the choices are not optimal, but are (usually budget friendly) alternatives that fit greatly the Flying tribal theme.
The deck:
Flying Tribal
Comparative Analysis
Let’s see how the deck compares to the general ratios of my deckbuilding guide.
35 Lands
11 Ramp: Sol Ring , Arcane Signet , Azorius Signet , Dimir Signet , Orzhov Signet , Ornithopter of Paradise, Patchwork Banner, Stormscape Familiar , Watcher of the Spheres , Warden of Evos Isle, Yennett, Cryptic Sovereign
10 Target Removal: Spell Stutter , Utter End , Mortify , Hypnotic Sprite , Esper Charm , Lofty Denial , Stolen by the Fae , Access Denied , Spear of Heliod, Inniaz, the Gale Force (kinda)
3 Board Wipes: Faerie Slumber Party , Tegwyll’s Scouring , Kirtar’s Wrath
3 Graveyard Recursion: Halo Forager , Moira and Teshar , Invasion of Tolvada
2 Graveyard Hate: Puppeteer Clique, Bojuka Bog
1 Tutors: Arcanist’s Owl (mini)
11 Protection: Scion of Oona , Glen Elendra Archmage , Spell Stutter , Etchings of the Chosen , Hypnotic Sprite , Sephara, Sky’s Blade , Jubilant Skybonder , Gold-Forged Thopteryx , Access Denied, Magus of the Moat, Lofty Denial
12,5 Card Draw: Tegwyll, Duke of Splendor , Winged Words , Reconnaissance Mission , Faerie Formation , Windreader Sphinx , Military Intelligence , Errant and Giada (kinda), Robe of the Archmagi , Tide Skimmer , Esper Charm , Yennett, Cryptic Sovereign , Caretaker’s Talent, Baleful Strix (1/2)
5 Finishers/ Surprise /Alternate win conditions: Magister Sphinx , Kangee, Sky Warden , Gravitational Shift, Shadow Puppeteers, Inniaz, the Gale Force
As we see form the comparative analysis, the rates per category are very good. There is no score below the optimal low average and we see 4 categories that are above the optimal max average. Protection at 11 and Finishers/ Surprise /Alternate win conditions at 5 are the highlights of our deck.
Deck Highlights, synergy and flavor options:
Ramp
Ornithopter of Paradise is an artifact creature with flying so with EtB it triggers the token creation of Alela, Artful Provocateur while it also gets the +1/+0 buff. In addition, it works as a mana dork and helps a lot with both ramp and mana fixing. A great inclusion in our Flying Tribal.
Stormscape Familiar reduces the cost of white and black spells by while at the same time it is a flying creature and has synergy with our flying strategy. A nice inclusion for Esper decks.
Watcher of the Spheres and Warden of Evos Isle reduce the cost of flying creatures by . Watcher of the Spheres at the same time gets a temporary buff (+1/+1 until end of turn) on flying creature EtB. Two ramp cards build for Flying Tribal.
Yennett, Cryptic Sovereign is a Legendary Sphinx with Flying, Vigilance and Menace and has “Whenever Yennett, Cryptic Sovereign attacks, reveal the top card of your library. You may cast it without paying its mana cost if its mana value is odd. If you don’t cast it, draw a card”. It can help both with ramp and card draw.
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 Flying Tribal!
Target Removal
Spell Stutter is a counterspell with Faerie synergy. It counters target spell unless its controller pays plus an additional for each Faerie we control. In our Flying Tribal build our commander produces plenty of Faeries so it becomes almost a Counterspell with less color intensity. Lofty Denial has direct Flying Tribal synergy as it counters target spell unless its controller pays , but if we control a creature with flying (almost certain in Flying Tribal) its controler has to pay instead.
Hypnotic Sprite is a Faerie that has an Instant-Adventure counterspell. It can be used for removal and later as another flyer for our army.
Esper Charm is a great intant spell as its power lies in its flexibility. It can be used as a target enchantment removal, as a card draw spell or even for forcing target player to discard two cards.
Stolen by the Fae is great for Flying Tribal since it combines target removal and flying tokens creation. We can also bounce our own creatures if needed, in case we want to cast them again for extra value (like powerful EtB effects).
Access Denied is also great for Flying Tribal since it combines target removal and flying tokens creation.
Spear of Heliod has high synergy with our deck since at the same time it triggers the token creation of Alela, Artful Provocateur, it buffs our creatures with +1/+1 and by paying , it destroys target creature that dealt damage to us this turn.
Inniaz, the Gale Force is a Legendary Djinn that does its own magic to the game. Its last ability reads: “Whenever three or more creatures you control with flying attack, each player gains control of a nonland permanent of your choice controlled by the player to their right.” Although it is not literal target removal, giving us the ability to exchange a 1/1 token for the best creature of our opponent could be considered a kind of removal if not cheating. Moreover, by paying it buffs attacking creatures with flying by +1/+1 until end of turn. If we have enough mana, it can even become a finisher. Great utility card!
Board Wipes
Faerie Slumber Party is a a great board wipe for Flying Tribal since it has synergy with both flying tokens and Faeries. It returns all creatures to their owners’ hands and for each opponent who controlled a creature returned this way we create two 1/1 blue Faerie creature tokens with flying and “This creature can block only creatures with flying”. We can create an army of Faeries in a 4 player commander game and Alela, Artful Provocateur alone can make them a forbidable force.
Tegwyll’s Scouring is also a great board wipe for Flying Tribal since it has synergy with both flying tokens and Faeries. In our Flying Tribal we can easily cast it at instant speed that is huge for a board wipe. Moreover, it creates three 1/1 black Faerie tokens with flying which leave us with a nice advantage.
Kirtar’s Wrath is the third board wipe that has synergy with flying tokens. It has “Threshold — If seven or more cards are in your graveyard, instead destroy all creatures, then create two 1/1 white Spirit creature tokens with flying. Creatures destroyed this way can’t be regenerated.” It’s not as powerful as the others since it is more occasional, yet it can be a nice inclusion in Flying Tribal.
Graveyard Recursion
Halo Forager is a Faerie Rogue that on EtB trigger let us pay to cast target instant or sorcery with mana value X from a graveyard without paying its mana cost. It is a great tool for bringing back our best instants or sorceries.Because it can return even a card from our opponent’s graveyard, it can even be played as a graveyard hate card.
Moira and Teshar is a great repeatitive graveyard recursion tool as our Flying Tribal has synergy with Artifacts and runs many great Legendary creatures. It has amazing synergy with Encroaching Mycosynth as with both on board, all nonland permanents become historic spells providing us with extreme graveyard recursion.
Invasion of Tolvada // The Broken Sky has great synergy with our deck. On the one hand Invasion of Tolvada offers grave recursion, while on the other hand The Broken Sky buffs our token with +1/+0 and lifelink and on top of that at the beginning of our end step, we create a 1/1 white and black Spirit creature token with flying.
Graveyard Hate
Puppeteer Clique has Flying Tribal synergy since it is a Faerie and it is a great tool for removing on EtB the best creatures of our opponent graveyards and putting them on the battlefield under our control with haste until end of turn.
Tutors
Arcanist’s Owl on EtB let us search at the top four our library and reveal an artifact or enchantent card from among them and put it into our hand. It works well in our deck as we have a good amount of both card types. Arcanist’s Owl is itself a flyer and an artifact so on EtB, it even triggers the token creation of Alela, Artful Provocateur.
Protection
Scion of Oona is a great Faerie Tribal lord that buffs our other Faeries with +1/+1 and provides them with shroud. Flash is very important as against target removal, it acts like a counterspell. Although Faeries are a subtheme in our build, Alela, Artful Provocateur provide us with numerous Faerie tokens and is a Faerie herself, so we should always have a good use for Faerie protection.
Glen Elendra Archmage let us pay and sacrifice it to counter target noncreature spell. Having persist means we can use it twice. It is a great grave recursion target.
All our counterspells also act as protection spells too if needed and that is very important since with our build focusing on both tokens and flying creatures we should have a strong board presence.
Etchings of the Chosen takes advantage of the fact that the tokens created by Alela, Artful Provocateur are Faeries and we also have a Faerie Subtheme in our Flying tribal, so that we can expect to have numerous Faerie tokens. It buffs our Faeries and let us pay and sacrifice a Faerie to make an other creature we control indestructible until end of turn. On EtB, it even triggers itself the token creation of Alela, Artful Provocateur because it is an enchantment. Great value!
Sephara, Sky’s Blade is an absolutely amazing choice for Flying 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!
Jubilant Skybonder gives all our flyers protection (itself included) with “Spells your opponents cast that target this creature cost more to cast.” Gold-Forged Thopteryx provides a similar protection effect effect (ward ) but only for legendary permanents. In our build we have enough artifacts to get enough value, and Gold-Forged Thopteryx is an artifact itself, so on EtB, it even triggers the token creation of Alela, Artful Provocateur. With both on the field, our legendary flyers get amazing protection from target removal!
Magus of the Moat locks down non-flying creatures preventing them from attacking. Amazing value in Flying Tribal since nearly all of our creatures have flying and if you consider that most non-flying creatures can’t block flying creatures, our flyers are free to deliver devastating attacks without holding back! One of the best picks for Flying Tribal!
Card Draw
Tegwyll, Duke of Splendor can be a card draw engine since our Flying Tribal build creates many Faerie tokens and we can either use them for board domination, or throw them on enemy attackers to get a ton of card draw. A win-win scenario!
Faerie Formation is a great inclusion for our Flying Tribal since at instant speed, it let us pay to create a 1/1 blue Faerie creature token with flying and draw a card. It also comes with a respectable body, as a 5/4 flyer for is not terrible on its own.
Winged Words will almost always cost in our Flying Tribal build which makes it a quite good card draw option. It greatly fits the flavor of the deck too.
Reconnaissance Mission is an enchantment that greatly help us with card draw since we can expect to attack with many creatures and deal many times damage to a player and thus draw many cards from it. It even triggers the token creation of Alela, Artful Provocateur on EtB.
Windreader Sphinx and Tide Skimmer are great card draw engines for Flying Tribal. Windreader Sphinx costs a lot more, but can repeatedly provide us with huge amounts of card draw with our build.
Military Intelligence can be a card draw engine since with our build we are expected to attack with many creatures constantly. Being an enchantment means it also triggers the token creation of Alela, Artful Provocateur on EtB. Great value!
Errant and Giada let us look and cast cards with flying from the top of our library, which is not card draw, but it is an other way to get great card advantage. A powerful tool for Flying Tribal!
Robe of the Archmagi is a powerful DnD caster equipment. With Commander Legends: Battle for Baldur’s Gate, a DnD crossover set, it found its way into MtG. Alela, Artful Provocateur is a Warlock so she can equip it just for and become a card draw engine. Our deck has some flying Wizards too, so we have more creatures that can use the robe for the cheaper cost. Being an artifact means it also triggers the token creation of Alela, Artful Provocateur on EtB.
Caretaker’s Talent is an amazing inclusion for our Flying Tribal deck as it has high synergy with our commander and our flying tokens strategy. even at Level 1 it is good enough, as it becomes a card draw engine. At level 2 it copies a token while at level 3 it becomes a strong token anthem buffing our tokens by +2/+2. A multipurpose card and a top pick for our build!
Baleful Strix is a top pick for our Flying Tribal build as it is an artifact, a flyer and it has deathouch and card draw on ETB.
Finishers/ Surprise /Alternate win conditions
Shadow Puppeteers is an amazing card for Flying Tribal since it creates two 1/1 black Faerie Rogue tokens with flying on EtB and it has “Whenever a creature you control with flying attacks, you may have it become a red Dragon with base power and toughness 4/4 in addition to its other colors and types until end of turn”. Ward gives it self-protection wich is a nice bonus. Turning our small flyers into 4/4 Dragons can be a finisher move. With Alela, Artful Provocateur they become at least 5/4!
Magister Sphinx has a powerful EtB: Target player’s life total becomes 10. Being an artifact means it also triggers the token creation of Alela, Artful Provocateur on EtB. With a deck full of flyers, we should be able to follow up with a finisher move. It is a strong card as we can win out of nowhere.
Kangee, Sky Warden is a Bird Wizard that greatly help our fliers on board domination. Whenever he attacks, attacking flyers get +2/+0 until end of turn and whenever he blocks, blocking flyers get +0/+2 until end of turn. Having vigilance makes he is able to attack and block every turn if needed. Great utility card for Flying Tribal.
Gravitational Shift is an enchantment that works wonders in Flying tribal as it buffs creatures with flying by +2/+0 and at the same time if debuffs creatures without flying with -2/-0. It can make a huge difference on the battlefield and can act as a finisher if we have enough flyers. It even triggers the token creation of Alela, Artful Provocateur on EtB. Great utility card!
Other synergy pieces
Great Flyers
Skycat Sovereign can quickly grow into a big threat along with our flying army as it gets +1/+1 for each other flyer and at the same time it can be a token creator: by paying it creates a 1/1 white Cat Bird creature token with flying. Fits greatly in our Flying Tribal.
Empyrean Eagle and Thunderclap Wyvern have a Flying Lord effect, buffing our other flyers with +1/+1, while Glen Elendra Liege buffs our other blue creatures with +1/+1 and our other black creatures with +1/+1. All greatly fit our Flying Tribal build.
Mirkwood Bats is a great card for draining our opponents since it triggers both on creation and sacrifice of tokens and make them loose 1 life. In our Flying Tribal build we have a dominant token strategy so it can become a valuable tool.
Oona, Queen of the Fae is an amazing repeatable Flying token creator. By paying at instant speed, we choose a color and target opponent exiles the top X cards of his/her library and for each card of the choosen color we create that many 1/1 blue and black Faerie Rogue tokens.
Obyra, Dreaming Duelist is a nice utility card as it can drain our opponents as long as we trigger the Faerie token creation of Alela, Artful Provocateur which is quite easy with our Flying Tribal build.
Other
Donal, Herald of Wings let us copy any nonlegendary flyer we cast except the copy is a 1/1 Spirit in addition to its other types. Even if this effect is limited to once per turn, Donal is still powerful in our Flying Tribal deck.
Encroaching Mycosynth is one of the best cards for our Flying Tribal. It turns all nonland permanents we own into artifacts and that makes them token creators on EtB with Alela, Artful Provocateur on the battlefield. Amazing utility for our build!
Favorable Winds, Intangible Virtue and Inspiring Leader are all cards that buff our flying tokens. Favorable Winds also buffs all our flyers. These can greatly help our army grow and they are cheap enchantments that trigger on EtB the token creation of Alela, Artful Provocateur.
Feywild Visitor can help us grow fast a vast army of flyers. It even triggers on EtB the token creation of Alela, Artful Provocateur. It greatly fits the flavor of the deck.
Token Creators : 13 cards
It is worthy to be mentioned, that every artifact and enchantement in our deck becomes a token creator too on EtB with Alela, Artful Provocateur on the battlefield and that includes artifact/enchantment creatures and even artifact lands. So our rest (potential) token creators are:
Artifacts and Enchantments : 26 cards
Gold-Forged Thopteryx, Ornithopter of Paradise, Arcanist’s Owl, Magister Sphinx, Sol Ring, Arcane Signet, Azorius Signet, Dimir Signet, Orzhov Signet, Robe of the Archmagi, Encroaching Mycosynth, Favorable Winds, Intangible Virtue, Military Intelligence, Etchings of the Chosen, Feywild Visitor, Spear of Heliod, Reconnaissance Mission, Gravitational Shift, Goldmire Bridge, Mistvault Bridge, Razortide Bridge, Caretaker’s Talent, Patchwork Banner, Baleful Strix, Inspiring Leader
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 is not too far from average with the exception of 1 mana drops where we see a very low number. Moreover, we notice an absence of very high mana drops ( positions 8+) but we have enough 7 mana drops that are considered high mana drops anyway.
Card Type Distribution
The Flying Tribal Card Type Distribution shows the dominant tribal creature-heavy theme with 35 creatures. All other categories have a smaller presence with Enchantments at 10, Artifacts at 8, Instants at 6, Sorceries at 5 and Battles at 1. No Planeswalkers 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 Alela, Artful Provocateur, all artifacts and enchantments trigger the token creation of Alela on EtB and the real number of artifacts and enchantments is bigger than the statistics number shown, since some cards have more than one card type. (For example an artifact creature is both an artifact and a creature, but in statistics it counts as a creature). With many flying tokens and many flying creatures, the deck can really conquer the skies and beyond.
Update v1 (Bloomburrow)
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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.