Najeela, the Blade-Blossom

Warrior Tribal: How to Fight Your Way to the Top

If you like to fight your way to the top and overwhelm your opponents in combat, then Warrior Tribal is the right deck for you. Let’s see how we can fight like a master warrior.

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.

Warriors are combatants who fight alone or in loose hordes. Unlike Soldiers, whose strength is in their numbers, a single warrior is often content to take on the world all by themselves. Warriors favor brute strength over cunning and sheer will over tactics. Many warriors have Trample. The first card to feature the type was Cat Warriors from Legends. Retroactively, many cards like Dwarven Warriors, Goblin Balloon Brigade and Orcish Artillery from Alpha gained the type, as well. Most warriors are black, red, or green. However, some worlds have White warriors, such as Amonkhet, Tarkir, Kaldheim and Zendikar specifically in Zendikar Rising. (MTG Wiki)

Najeela, the Blade-Blossom

Najeela, the Blade-Blossom is the leader of our Warrior Tribal. She is a Legendary Human Warrior that is red, but has 5-color commander identity, so she supports all Warriors. She is a great Warrior Token support card, as she converts all our Warriors into Warrior Token creators as long as they’re attacking. In addition by paying at instant speed, we untap all attacking creatures. They gain Trample, Lifelink, and Haste until end of turn. After this phase, there is an additional combat phase. We can activate this ability only during combat. This is a powerful ability for a combat oriented deck like our Warrior Tribal so Najeela is an amazing commander that can help us overwhelm our opponents through combat.

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.

Warrior Tribal Synergy Diagram

Let’s analyze the main goals of the deck:

  1. Add the best Warriors. Our priority is to add the ones with powerful attack/combat damage triggers or the ones that summon Warrior Tokens or support other Warriors.
  2. Add Warrior Tribal support. Cards that support Warriors greatly fit our build.
  3. Add Extra combat strategy cards,  and cards that multiply attack triggers.
  4. Add cards that support Warriors.
  5. Add cards that create Warrior Tokens and cards that support Tokens.
  6. 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.

For the sake of flavor some of the choices are not optimal, but are (usually budget friendly) alternatives that fit greatly the Warrior Tribal theme.

The deck:

Warrior Tribal

Commander (1)
Najeela, the Blade-Blossom

Creatures (36)
Mardu Woe-Reaper
Blood-Chin Rager
Bramblewood Paragon
Brighthearth Banneret
Chief of the Edge
Herald of Dromoka
Mindblade Render
Rushblade Commander
Alesha, Who Laughs at Fate
Alesha, Who Smiles at Death
Avenger of the Fallen
Baylen, the Haymaker
Champion of Lambholt
Chatterfang, Squirrel General
Combat Celebrant
Derevi, Empyrial Tactician
Gornog, the Red Reaper
Hardened Tactician
Kargan Warleader
Kutzil, Malamet Exemplar
Mirri, Weatherlight Duelist
Samut, Vizier of Naktamun
Zurgo Stormrender
Zurgo, Thunder's Decree
Aven Wind Guide
Brutal Hordechief
Grand Warlord Radha
Mardu Siegebreaker
Ogre Battledriver
Species Specialist
Garna, the Bloodflame
Lovisa Coldeyes
Primaris Eliminator
Samut, Voice of Dissent
Moraug, Fury of Akoum
Butcher of Malakir

Battles (1)
Invasion of New Capenna

Spells (11)
Secure the Wastes
Jwari Disruption
Kabira Takedown
Rampant Growth
Anguished Unmaking
Harvest Season
Unbreakable Formation
Will of the Mardu
Distant Melody
Cleansing Nova
Dusk // Dawn

Artifacts (4)
Sol Ring
Arcane Signet
Patchwork Banner
Eldrazi Monument

Enchantments (11)
Aggravated Assault
Beastmaster Ascension
Druids' Repository
Inspiring Leader
Shared Animosity
Annie Joins Up
Bear Umbra
Breath of Fury
Nature's Will
Raiders' Spoils
Reconnaissance Mission
Lands +2 MDFCs (36)
Arcane Sanctum
Base Camp
Bojuka Bog
Canopy Vista
Command Tower
Crumbling Necropolis
Evolving Wilds
Exotic Orchard
Forest
Frontier Bivouac
Ghitu Encampment
Island
Jungle Shrine
Mountain
Mystic Monastery
Nomad Outpost
Opulent Palace
Path of Ancestry
Plains
Sandsteppe Citadel
Savage Lands
Seaside Citadel
Secluded Courtyard
Skemfar Elderhall
Swamp
Terramorphic Expanse
Unclaimed Territory
Vivid Crag
Vivid Creek
Vivid Grove
Vivid Marsh
Vivid Meadow

Comparative Analysis

Let’s see how the deck compares to the general ratios of my deckbuilding guide.

Warrior Tribal Comparative Analysis by category

As we see form the comparative analysis, the rates per category are very good. The only score below the optimal low average is Tutors at 0 and we see 3 categories that are above the optimal max average. We notice an extreme spike at Finishers/ Surprise /Alternate win conditions at 15, which is merely a result of the many combos that are build around our commander Najeela, the Blade-Blossom combined with our aggressive/attacking strategy. Finishers are very important in a combat oriented build like our Warrior Tribal.

Deck Highlights, synergy and flavor options:

Ramp

Brighthearth Banneret is a Warrior and Elemental cost reducer by , so it naturally fits our Warrior Tribal.

Druids’ Repository works wonders in our Warrior Tribal, as it makes attacking creatures store charge counters on it, while we can remove those charge counters at instant speed to add that many mana of any color. Our deck is creature-heavy and combat oriented, so we can get amazing value out of it. Moreover, it is a combo material, so it is a must-have card for our build.

Grand Warlord Radha is another card that makes our attackers produce mana, as whenever one or more creatures we control attack, we add that much mana in any combination of and/or . A great card for our Warrior Tribal.

Harvest Season has great synergy with our Warrior Tribal, as our Warriors will be attacking all the time, so having many tapped creatures will make Harvest Season a powerful ramp spell.

Bear Umbra is an Aura that gives enchanted creature +2/+2, Totem armor and “Whenever this creature attacks, untap all lands you control.” It is a great combo material too, so it is a must-have card for our Warrior Tribal.

Nature’s Will triggers whenever one or more creatures we control deal combat damage to a player. We tap all lands that player controls and untap all lands we control. It can be explosive with extra combat phases and it is a combo material. A must-have card for our Warrior Tribal.

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 Warrior Tribal!

Baylen, the Haymaker is a great multi-purpose card, that works wonders in token builds and can be used for ramp, card draw and even to buff itself. All that by tapping untapped tokens we control. A great tool for our Warrior Tribal.

Target Removal

Chatterfang, Squirrel General is a Warrior too and reward us with extra Squirrel Tokens every time we create Warrior Tokens. We can easily flood with tokens and overwhelm our opponents. In addition, by paying and sacrificing X Squirrels at instant speed, target creature gets +X/-X until end of turn, which can be used to either buff our creatures or remove opponent creatures. A great pick for our Warrior Tribal.

Annie Joins Up is a great card for our build since apart from being a target removal on ETB, its true power lies in being a legendary ability trigger doubler. Doubling the triggers of Najeela, the Blade-Blossom is alone enough to make it a great inclusion to our Warrior Tribal build, but counting the number of other legendaries, we can see why it becomes a top pick.

Will of the Mardu is exceptional in our Warrior Tribal, as if we control our commander, we can choose both its modes and create both an army of 1/1 red Warriors and remove target creature dealing damage equal to the number of creatures we control. A great pick for our Warrior Tribal.

Invasion of New Capenna // Holy Frazzle-Cannon is a nice flexible removal and has the potential to become a great tribal support card as the Holy Frazzle-Cannon has “Whenever equipped creature attacks, put a +1/+1 counter on that creature and each other creature you control that shares a creature type with it.”

Primaris Eliminator is a flexible Warrior as when it enters, it can be used either as a target removal, or as a board wipe for small creatures of target opponent (they get -2/-2 until end of turn). A great pick for our Warrior Tribal.

Butcher of Malakir costs a lot but can have a heavy impact and become a great removal engine in our Warrior Tribal because of the numerous 1/1 Warrior Tokens we create. Whenever Butcher of Malakir or another creature we control die, each opponent sacrifices a creature. A great utility card.

Skemfar Elderhall is not optimal as removal, as the cost (, and sacrificing it) feels too high, but the fact that it is a Land that can remove a small creature and at the same time creates two 1/1 green Elf Warrior creature tokens, is not half bad for our Warrior Tribal build.

Board Wipes

Dusk // Dawn focuses on clearing the big threats since it destroys all creatures with power 3 or greater, leaving our 1/1 Warrior Tokens intact. At the same time it can return some of our Warriors from our graveyard to our hand since many of them have power 2 or less. Nice Warrior Tribal synergy!

Graveyard Recursion

Alesha, Who Smiles at Death and Alesha, Who Laughs at Fate are amazing graveyard recursion engines and have great synergy with our Warrior Tribal as they are Warriors and care about attacking. Top cards for our build.

Garna, the Bloodflame is a great answer to a board wipe, as it has Flash and on ETB returns to our hand all creature cards in our graveyard that were put there from anywhere the same turn. In addition it is a Haste enabler which is very important for our Warrior Tribal.

Graveyard Hate

Bojuka Bog is a staple for graveyard hate.

Mardu Woe-Reaper works wonders in Warrior Tribal as whenever it or another Warrior enters the battlefield under our control, we may exile target creature card from a graveyard and gain 1 life. Amazing against graveyard decks.

Protection

Eldrazi Monument is a great Artifact that greatly fits our Warrior Tribal deck, as it protects our creatures, gives them evasion and buffs them at the same time. It has great synergy with going wide strategy decks, so it naturally fits our Warrior Tribal.

Unbreakable Formation gives creatures we control indestructible until end of turn while if we cast it during our main phase, we put a +1/+1 counter on each of those creatures and they gain Vigilance until end of turn. A very welcome protection that encourages us being aggressive.

Kutzil, Malamet Exemplar makes our opponents unable to cast spells during our turn, which is a great protection from instants. Great for our aggressive plans!

Card Draw

Mindblade Render is a card draw engine for Warrior Tribal, as it triggers whenever our opponents are dealt combat damage by a Warrior and we draw a card and lose 1 life. A card made for Warrior Tribal.

Distant Melody is great in any creature tribal deck with blue color as all of them run a good number of creatures, thus providing us a good number of card draw.

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.

Samut, Vizier of Naktamun is a Human Warrior Cleric with First strike, Vigilance and Haste. It has an ability “Whenever a creature you control deals combat damage to a player, if that creature entered the battlefield this turn, draw a card.” which fits perfectly our Warrior Tribal as the Warrior Tokens Najeela, the Blade-Blossom creates enter tapped and attacking. A top card for our build.

Raiders’ Spoils is an Enchantment with great Warrior Tribal synergy , as whenever a Warrior we control deals combat damage to a player, we may pay 1 life to draw a card. Moreover, it works as an Anthem, buffing our creatures with +1/+0. A must-have card for our build.

Zurgo Stormrender is a Legendary Orc Warrior that works wonders with our build, as it has Mobilize 1 (Whenever this creature attacks, create a tapped and attacking 1/1 red Warrior creature token. Sacrifice it at the beginning of the next end step.) and “Whenever a creature token you control leaves the battlefield, draw a card if it was attacking. Otherwise, each opponent loses 1 life.” Great synergy with our aggresive strategy and combined with our Warrior Token creation, can be a draw engine. A top card for our build.

Hardened Tactician is an aristocrats piece that although it seems not optimal for our build, it can still draw us many cards, as by paying and sacrificing a token at instant speed, we draw a card.

Kutzil, Malamet Exemplar can also be a draw engine, as it has an ability “Whenever one or more creatures you control each with power greater than its base power deals combat damage to a player, draw a card.” and we have numerous ways to buff our Warriors, thus to repeatedly draw many cards. A top card for our Warrior Tribal.

Species Specialist works wonders in any black creature Tribal deck as on death trigger of a choosen creature type, we draw a card. It has extra synergy with our Warrior Tribal as it is a Warrior and our build is aggressive and creature-heavy.

Finishers/ Surprise /Alternate win conditions

Najeela, the Blade-Blossom is our commander and our main finisher as her second ability is powerful and also a great combo material, so we can expect her to consistently lead us to victory through battle.

Champion of Lambholt can easily become huge and make our creatures unblockable so it is a great finisher for our Warrior Tribal.

Brutal Hordechief can drain our opponents and let us gain life, but its second ability is the most powerful, as by paying we make creatures our opponents control block this turn if able, and we choose how those creatures block, which can be devastating for our opponents in many ways. A top pick for our Warrior Tribal.

Mirri, Weatherlight Duelist is a top utility card for Warrior Tribal as it supports both going wide and going tall strategies. It supports our going wide strategy whenever it attacks by making each opponent can’t block with more than one creature (making our Warriors evade enemy creatures, setting up a potential finisher move) and at the same time it supports our going tall strategy by letting no more than one creature attack us each combat (which is great for protection).

Lovisa Coldeyes is a great Barbarian, Warrior and Berserker Lord, buffing those tribes with +2/+2 and Haste, something that is very powerful in our Warrior Tribal.

Nature’s Will is part of an infinite combo with Najeela, the Blade-Blossom, but also synergizes greatly with extra combat phases and can be a finisher on its own. A must-have card for our Warrior Tribal.

Shared Animosity is a staple for Tribal decks since most of them run many creatures (of the same type) and go wide so they get a huge power buff. It can be a finisher in our aggressive Warrior Tribal build.

Beastmaster Ascension is a card that cares about attacking and our Warrior Tribal can easily create an army and gain 7 quest counters quickly. Then our creatures get +5/+5 and we can easily finish the game with our next attack(s).

Aggravated Assault and Breath of Fury, are cards that provide us with extra combat phases, which is powerful in a combat oriented deck such as our Warrior Tribal. Moreover, they are combo materials, so they are must-have cards for our build.

Combat Celebrant and Moraug, Fury of Akoum, are Warriors that provide us with extra combat phases, which is powerful in a combat oriented deck such as our Warrior Tribal. Although they are not so easily breakable (to go infinite), even some extra combats can prove devastating for our opponents. Great cards for our build.

Derevi, Empyrial Tactician has great synergy with combat damage to a player and can be a game changer to our Warrior Tribal and even a part of infinite combo.

Gornog, the Red Reaper has amazing synergy with our Warrior Tribal as by attacking an opponent with Warriors, it makes target creature that player controls becomes a Coward. His ability “Cowards can’t block Warriors.” give us amazing evasion and that cobined with its other ability “Attacking Warriors you control get +X/+0, where X is the number of Cowards your opponents control” give us a great Tribal buff that greatly fits our aggressive strategy. A top card for our build.

Devilish Valet has great synergy with our Warrior Token creation, as it can become an amazing finisher out of nowhere. A great pick for our Warrior Tribal.

Other synergy pieces

Great Warriors

Blood-Chin Rager has great Warrior Tribal synergy as whenever it attacks, Warrior creatures we control gain Menace until end of turn.

Bramblewood Paragon is another Warrior with great Warrior Tribal synergy as each other Warrior creature we control enters with an additional +1/+1 counter on it and each creature we control with a +1/+1 counter on it has Trample.

Chief of the Edge acts as a Warrior Tribal Lord buffing Warriors we control with +1/+0.

Herald of Dromoka gives our Warriors Vigilance which is great for our attacking strategy.

Rushblade Commander gives our Warriors Haste which is also great for our attacking strategy.

Kargan Warleader is a Warrior Tribal Lord buffing Warriors we control with +1/+1.

Zurgo, Thunder’s Decree has Mobilize 2, which help us in creating more Warriors, while its second ability prevent us from sacrificing Warrior Tokens, which works wonders in our Warrior Tribal. A top card for our build.

Aven Wind Guide gives our Warrior Tokens Flying and Vigilance which is also great for our attacking strategy.

Mardu Siegebreaker is an amazing card that has Deathtouch and Haste and on ETB it exiles up to one other target creature we control until it leaves the battlefield. Whenever it attacks, for each opponent, we create a tapped token that’s a copy of the exiled card attacking that opponent. At the beginning of your next end step, we sacrifice those tokens. Copying our best Warriors and multiplying our attack triggers, can lead to some explosive plays. A great card for our Warrior Tribal.

Ogre Battledriver on another creature we control ETB, gives that creature gets +2/+0 and Haste until end of turn. Great for our attacking strategy.

Samut, Voice of Dissent has Flash, Double strike, Vigilance and Haste, while it provides other creatures we control with Haste. In addition, by paying , we untap another target creature. A great card for our Warrior Tribal.

Other

Inspiring Leader is a great card for Token builds that are going wide as it gives our commander “Creature tokens you control get +2/+2”, so it greatly fits our Warrior Tribal.

Ghitu Encampment is a Land that by paying becomes a 2/1 red Warrior creature with First strike until end of turn. A nice inclusion to our Warrior Tribal.

Warrior Token Producers : 7 cards

Warrior token producers provide us with more Warriors which means more attack and combat damage triggers and we can get amazing value from them. Najeela, the Blade-Blossom turns all our Warriors into Warrior Token producers so she has a high gravity to our build.

Infinite Combo

Najeela, the Blade-Blossom and Druids’ Repository are part of an infinite combo that results in infinite combat phases, infinite creature tokens, infinite ETB, infinite lifegain and infinite lifegain triggers. The combo can be explained here (EDHREC).

Najeela, the Blade-Blossom and Bear Umbra are part of an infinite combo that results in infinite combat phases, infinite creature tokens, infinite ETB, infinite lifegain and infinite lifegain triggers. The combo can be explained here (EDHREC).

Najeela, the Blade-Blossom and Nature’s Will are part of an infinite combo that results in infinite combat phases and infinite creature tokens. The combo can be explained here (EDHREC).

Najeela, the Blade-Blossom and Derevi, Empyrial Tactician are part of an infinite combo that results in infinite colored mana, infinite combat phases, infinite creature tokens, Infinite ETB, infinite mana permanents we control can produce and infinite untap of permanents. The combo can be explained here (EDHREC).

Druids’ Repository and Aggravated Assault are part of an infinite combo that results in infinite combat phases, infinite mana creatures we control can produce and infinite untap of creatures we control. The combo can be explained here (EDHREC).

Nature’s Will and Aggravated Assault are part of an infinite combo that results in infinite combat damage, infinite combat phases, infinite mana creatures we control can produce, infinite untap of creatures we control, infinite untap of lands we control and infinite mana lands we control can produce. The combo can be explained here (EDHREC).

Grand Warlord Radha and Aggravated Assault are part of an infinite combo that results in infinite combat phases, infinite green mana and infinite red mana. The combo can be explained here (EDHREC).

Bear Umbra and Aggravated Assault are part of an infinite combo that results in infinite combat phases. The combo can be explained here (EDHREC).

Baylen, the Haymaker and Aggravated Assault are part of an infinite combo that results in infinite colored mana, infinite combat phases, infinite card draw, infinite untap of creatures you control, infinite draw triggers, infinite mana creatures you control can produce and infinite +1/+1 counters on a creature. The combo can be explained here (EDHREC).

Breath of Fury and Garna, the Bloodflame are part of an infinite combo that results in infinite LTB, infinite ETB, infinite sacrifice triggers, infinite death triggers, infinite combat phases, infinite creature tokens with haste, infinite untap of creatures we control, infinite mana creatures we control can produce and infinite combat damage. The combo can be explained here (EDHREC).

Breath of Fury and Samut, Voice of Dissent are part of an infinite combo that results in infinite LTB, infinite ETB, infinite sacrifice triggers, infinite death triggers, infinite combat phases, infinite creature tokens with haste, infinite untap of creatures we control, infinite mana creatures we control can produce and infinite combat damage. The combo can be explained here (EDHREC).

Land Color Fixers

Unclaimed Territory, Secluded Courtyard, Path of Ancestry and Base Camp are important color fixers for our 5-color identity.

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

Warrior Tribal Mana Curve

The mana curve seems more middle-range centered that usual, with many drops on 3-4 drop positions, a spike at 3 drops and few 1 and 6+ drops. That reflects the fact that many of our Warriors exist in that range.

Card Type Distribution

Warrior Tribal Card Type Distribution

The Warrior Tribal Card Type Distribution shows the dominant Tribal creature-heavy theme with 38 creatures. Other categories have lesser presence with Sorceries at 5, Artifact at 4, Enchantment at 11, Instants at 6, 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 all the deck build around Najeela, the Blade-Blossom that turn our Warriors into Warrior Token creators, combined with the ability for extra combat phases, the true power of the deck lies in synergy and powerful combo 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 (facebooktwitter, instagram, pinterest, linkedin, reddit, tumblr, medium).

If you like my tribal series, you can check my other tribal decks.

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