Baru, Wurmspeaker

Wurm Tribal: How to achieve victory with massive force

If you like giant reptile creatures that trample upon the enemy forces and devour everything with their endless hunger, then Wurm tribal is the right deck for you. Let’s see how we can achieve victory with a massive force.

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.

Wurms are an old tribe in magic, but they are not the type of creatures that will work as a pack or support each other. Although they are powerful individuals, they had no synergy among their tribe and they lacked a leader to actually help them construct a meaningful tribal commander deck. All that changed with the coming of Baru, Wurmspeaker, a druid that speaks to the Wurms, supports them, summons Wurm tokens and leads the tribe to its true destiny: smash the enemy forces to pieces with gigantic green monsters.

Baru, Wurmspeaker

Wurms are big creatures with great stats and high mana cost. The obvious choice is to focus on ramp so that we can play our Wurms earlier. Green is the best color for ramp anyways. The problem with Wurms and other big creatures is that they need a way to actually deal damage to player because if they are blocked by a small creature (like a 1/1 token) then our whole hit hard strategy goes to waste. We need either a form of evasion or another way to bypass enemy defenses.

Baru, Wurmspeaker offers to Wurms exactly what they needed, a way to be an almost unstoppable force: trample. Combined with an important +2/+2 buff that is making them even bigger, now our Wurms cannot be stopped by small creatures, but trample upon enemy armies and clear the way to victory. Moreover, Baru, Wurmspeaker has the ability to pay and tap to create a 4/4 green Wurm creature token. This ability costs less to activate, where X is the greatest power among Wurms you control. The ability at first glance seems expensive, but with an average wurm and the buff of Baru, Wurmspeaker, most of the times the cost will be for a 6/6 green Wurm token with trample. Sounds extraordinary!

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.

Wurm Tribal Synergy Diagram

Let’s analyze the main goals of the deck.

  1. Add the best Wurms. Our main strategy is to summon the most powerful Wurms and with the help of our commander Baru, Wurmspeaker they will just trample upon the enemies and lead us to victory. A simple yet effective strategy.
  2. Add Wurm Tribal support. Although there are few spells that support the tribe, we can also include here support for big creatures as it is an alternative way of Wurm support since the majority of Wurms belong to that category.
  3. Add extra ramp. Ramp is always important in any deck, but in our case where our deck is expected to be full with high mana cost heavy-hitters, there is need for extra ramp spells so that we will be able to play our wurms.
  4. Add some untap support. Untap can help Baru create more 6/6 Wurm Tokens with trample and can also be used to further amplify ramp.
  5. 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 Wurm tribal theme.

The deck:

Wurm Tribal

Commander (1)
Baru, Wurmspeaker

Creatures (34)
Teething Wurmlet
Crashing Drawbridge
Fanatic of Rhonas
Masked Vandal
Abzan Beastmaster
Gilanra, Caller of Wirewood
Colossal Rattlewurm
Elvish Piper
Goreclaw, Terror of Qal Sisma
Karametra's Acolyte
Balustrade Wurm
Beanstalk Wurm
Bellowing Tanglewurm
Defiler of Vigor
Dirtcowl Wurm
Grothama, All-Devouring
Disciple of Freyalise // Garden of Freyalise
Quilled Greatwurm
Wurmcoil Engine
Bramble Wurm
Elderscale Wurm
Emergent Woodwurm
Engulfing Slagwurm
Greater Sandwurm
Zopandrel, Hunger Dominus
Iron-Craw Crusher
Pelakka Wurm
Penumbra Wurm
Plated Slagwurm
Sifter Wurm
Bookwurm
Deathcoil Wurm
Impervious Greatwurm
Worldspine Wurm

Planeswalkers (1)
Garruk, Primal Hunter

Spells (22)
Hurricane
Tail Swipe
Wurmcalling
Broken Bond
Life's Legacy
Ram Through
Rampant Growth
Return to Nature
Wrap in Vigor
Beast Within
Bridgeworks Battle // Tanglespan Bridgeworks
Cultivate
Khalni Ambush // Khalni Territory
Harmonize
Lure of Prey
Dramatic Entrance
Shamanic Revelation
Traverse the Outlands
Rishkar's Expertise
See the Unwritten
Ezuri's Predation
Crush of Wurms

Artifacts (4)
Sol Ring
Swiftfoot Boots
Patriar's Seal
Rhonas's Monument

Enchantments (7)
Instill Energy
Colossal Majesty
Garruk's Uprising
Gravity Well
Life Finds a Way
Unnatural Growth
Sandwurm Convergence
Lands +3MDFCs (31)
Blighted Woodland
24 Forest
Jungle Basin
Mosswort Bridge
Myriad Landscape
Rogue's Passage
Scavenger Grounds
Terrain Generator

Comparative Analysis

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

34 Lands

22 Ramp: Terrain Generator , Blighted Woodland , Sol Ring , Myriad Landscape , See the Unwritten , Lure of Prey , Dramatic Entrance , Beanstalk Wurm , Karametra’s Acolyte, Rampant Growth , Fanatic of Rhonas, Cultivate , Rishkar’s Expertise , Defiler of Vigor , Patriar’s Seal , Elvish Piper, Rhonas’s Monument , Gilanra, Caller of Wirewood , Traverse the Outlands , Broken Bond , Emergent Woodwurm, Goreclaw, Terror of Qal Sisma

9 Target Removal: Khalni Ambush , Masked Vandal , Return to Nature , Ram Through , Beast Within , Engulfing Slagwurm , Tail Swipe , Broken Bond , Bridgeworks Battle // Tanglespan Bridgeworks

2 Board Wipes: Hurricane , Ezuri’s Predation

4 Graveyard Recursion: Bookwurm (self recursion), Worldspine Wurm (self recursion), Fanatic of Rhonas(self recursion), Balustrade Wurm(self recursion)

2 Graveyard Hate: Return to Nature , Scavenger Grounds

3 Tutors: See the Unwritten , Emergent Woodwurm, Colossal Rattlewurm (Desert tutor)

3 Protection: Swiftfoot Boots , Wrap in Vigor , Sandwurm Convergence

11,5 Card Draw: Bookwurm (1/2), Garruk, Primal Hunter , Abzan Beastmaster , Colossal Majesty , Rishkar’s Expertise , Shamanic Revelation , Life’s Legacy , Harmonize , Garruk’s Uprising , Greater Sandwurm (1/2), Gilanra, Caller of Wirewood , Pelakka Wurm (1/2), Disciple of Freyalise // Garden of Freyalise

10 Finishers/ Surprise /Alternate win conditions: Hurricane , Bellowing Tanglewurm (kinda), Unnatural Growth , Sandwurm Convergence (slow), Zopandrel, Hunger Dominus, Grothama, All-Devouring, Quilled Greatwurm, Plated Slagwurm, Impervious Greatwurm, Worldspine Wurm

Wurm Tribal Comparative Analysis by category

As we see form the comparative analysis, the rates per category are good except in ramp category where we see an extreme peak with 22 cards. There is no score below the optimal low average. In addition we see another spike on finishers at 10 and that is because our heavy-hitters strategy. The extreme peak at ramp category is intended, as ramp is our main support strategy in order to be able to cast our gigantic Wurms that mess up our mana curve to abnormal high values on 6+ converted mana cost spells.

Deck Highlights, synergy and flavor options:

Ramp

Fanatic of Rhonas and Karametra’s Acolyte work wonders in our Wurm Tribal build, providing a ton of mana. Fanatic of Rhonas will easily produce , while Karametra’s Acolyte starts with minimum ,  but in most cases will produce an astonishing amount of green mana, since with our Wurms have very high devotion to green. Moreover, Fanatic of Rhonas can recur itself from the graveyard and return as a 4/4 black Zombie Snake Druid token.

Beanstalk Wurm // Plant Beans is a great flexible card since it has an Explore-like adventure with that is very useful for ramp, while later it can be cast for its normal casting cost as a 5/4 Plant Wurm creature with Reach. Its power lies in the flexibility and it is a great inclusion in Wurm Tribal since with our commander Baru, Wurmspeaker, it becomes 7/6 with Trample and Reach and counts as a formidable threat.

As mentioned above, our Wurms have very high devotion to green so Defilier of Vigor that reduces the we pay by paying 2 life for each, can be an excellent source of mana cost reduction. Being a Wurm itself makes it a must-have in our Wurm tribal. Add to that the great stats for its mana cost, trample and the ability to put a +1/+1 counter on each creature you control whenever you cast a green permanent spell, and we have one of the best cards in the deck.

Lure of Prey and Dramatic Entrance are excellent ways to cheat our big Wurms directly into play. They are instants so we can even get additional value with proper timing. Even one heavy-hitter Wurm early, can make a difference, since with Baru, Wurmspeaker in play we will be able to create the 6/6 Wurm token with trample for just one and make a huge step towards board dominance.

Patriar’s Seal is like an average mana rock but its second ability works greatly with our commander as with and tapping it, we untap Baru, Wurmspeaker to create double the 6/6 trample Wurm tokens each turn if we have enough mana (but with one big Wurm that would cost only for each).

Elvish Piper is a staple in green decks for cheating big creatures onto the battlefield, so it naturally fits with our Wurm Tribal, since most of our Wurms have a very high mana cost.

Rhonas’s Monument is amazing in Wurm Tribal as we desperately need the mana cost reduction and the +2/+2 buff and trample until end of turn resemble our commander abilities so it can help our deck working even in his absence.

Traverse the Outlands is a staple but I refer to it here because in our Wurm Tribal it can be extremely good. With the very high stats of our Wurms, it can alone take us from middle-game to end-game mana production and enable us to cast early even our biggest threats.

Goreclaw, Terror of Qal Sisma naturally fits our Wurm Tribal, since most of our Wurms have both a very high mana cost and 4+ power. On attack trigger, it gives our creatures +1/+1 and Trample until end of turn and that give our deck more consistency.

Target Removal

Ram Through has extra synergy with our Wurm Tribal deck as we can easily have trample on our Wurms with Baru, Wurmspeaker. Moreover, our Wurms have great stats so we can have a great removal but also a kind of hidden finisher as we can choose a small creature to do massive excess damage to player combined to normal combat damage. Two extreme examples are Impervious Greatwurm and Worldspine Wurm (which doesn’t even need Baru) where we can choose a 1/1 token to do 14-17 excess damage and then also attack with trample for another critical hit!

Engulfing Slagwurm is a great Wurm that helps both offence and defence. It is not wise to let it unblockable but will destroy any blockers that dare to block its way. With Baru, Wurmspeaker, giving it +2/+2 and trample will make it a true nightmare for enemies.

Board Wipes

Hurricane is a good board clear for flying creatures since our Wurm Tribal deck has little means to deal with them and has no flying creatures at all. It can act as a finisher too if we have enough mana to dump (which is possible enough with all the ramp of our deck).

Graveyard Recursion

Scavenger Grounds is a staple for graveyad hate and it has extra synergy with our Wurm Tribal since it can be fetched by Colossal Rattlewurm or it can give it Flash if it is already on the battlefield.

Tutors

See the Unwritten acts like a mini tutor and ramp together. In our Wurm Tribal deck which is full of big creatures with high power it is very possible to activate the Ferocious ability and get the max value out of it, making it a great inclusion.

Emergent Woodwurm is a great addition to our deck since it greatly supports our ramp and Wurm Tribal strategies. It acts both as tutor and ramp whenever it attacks and we can use its Backup ability on another creature to clone that ability until end of turn and get instant results. Of course, it is a Wurm itself, so with our commander Baru, Wurmspeaker it will be min a 6/6 Trample or a 9/9 Trample (if it use Backup on itself) which alone is not bad at all for using its ability.

Colossal Rattlewurm is a great inclusion for our Wurm Tribal. Great stats for its mana cost, Trample and Flash as long as we control a Desert. Moreover, if we exile it from our graveyard and pay it can become a Desert tutor, something that can be very useful since we can tutor Scavenger Grounds for some extra graveyard hate.

Protection

Sandwurm Convergence is a great enchantment as it protects us and our planeswalkers from flying (which is the weak point of our defences) and on top of that at the beginning of our end step, it creates a 5/5 green Wurm creature token. If opponents don’t deal with it, it creates so much advantage over time that can slowly act as a finisher.

Card Draw

Garruk, Primal Hunter is our only planeswalker but fits the Wurm Tribal theme and can be flexible. The main reason we use him is the card draw which can net us many cards, but even the other abilities are not bad with the ultimate to be another hidden finisher as with Baru, Wurmspeaker the Wurms will be 8/8 with trample and there would be at least 5 of them.

Abzan Beastmaster is great in any deck with giant creatures. Our great Wurms are among the creatures with the greatest toughness in MtG so it has high synergy.

Rishkar’s Expertise has great synergy with our Wurm Tribal deck since we can expect to draw many cards and cast a spell with mana cost 5 or less from our hand for free.

Colossal Majesty and Garruk’s Uprising are great in any deck with many high mana cost creatures as we can expect to draw many cards from them. Garruk’s Uprising gives our Wurms trample so it is extra valuable as it provides our Wurm Tribal another evasion path if our commander is absent.

Gilanra, Caller of Wirewood is both a mana producer creature but can also act as a great card draw source as in our Wurm Tribal deck we can expect to cast many spells with mana cost 6 or greater.

Bookwurm , Pelakka Wurm and Greater Sandwurm can help us a little with card draw but the fact that they are Wurms makes them great inclusions for our Wurm Tribal. When Bookwurm enters the battlefield (EtB), we gain 3 life and draw a card and has trample and a self-recursion ability, with :Put Bookwurm from your graveyard into your library third from the top. Pelakka Wurm has also gain 7 life on EtB but the card draw is on death trigger. Greater Sandwurm can’t be blocked by creatures with power 2 or less, an evasion which is a nice bonus and can be discarded for to draw a card.

Disciple of Freyalise // Garden of Freyalise adds to our arsenal another card draw spell (one with great synergy with our Wurm Tribal build since our Wurms have very high power so we can expect to draw many cards) while it can be played as a land so it’s nearly a strict upgrade from a Forest.

Finishers/ Surprise /Alternate win conditions

Unnatural Growth is a great card on monogreen creature decks, but synergy with our Wurm Tribal deck makes it a powerhouse. Our Wurms are big threats on their own, with Baru, Wurmspeaker they are buffed further and they are given trample. If you double their power and toughness, the results will be devastating for your opponents. The average Wurm will be 16/16 trample and the bigger ones can reach 36/36 trample! Can wipe out everything with a single attack.

Bellowing Tanglewurm gives our Wurms intimidate which is a kind of evasion and evasion in a deck full of heavy-hitters can be a kind of finisher. It is also a Wurm itself so it is one of the best picks for Wurm Tribal.

Zopandrel, Hunger Dominus is a great addition to our Wurm Tribal deck since it greatly supports our raw power strategy. It acts as a second Unnatural Growth giving our deck more consistency and another finisher. Having both in field could result in some hilarious stats like 32/32 for the average wurm and 72/72 for the biggest ones.

Other synergy pieces

Great Wurms

Dirtcowl Wurm can also quickly grow into a big threat as we can expect our opponents to play many lands and the more they play, the bigger our Wurm will be. A nice pick for our Wurm Tribal.

Grothama, All-Devouring is a weird one. Can be used for massive card draw on desperate times, by fighting it with our own Wurms. Opponent creatures are less likely to want to fight it since it can kill even big threats but they can also benefit from the card draw. With Baru, Wurmspeaker it can be 12/10 with Trample and that alone makes it a good choice for Wurm Tribal considering its mana cost.

Wurmcoil Engine is an excellent card on its own, it is a Wurm and giving it +2/+2 and Trample makes it even better. The tokens that are created when it dies are also Wurms and get the buff and Trample too, so it has amazing synergy with our Wurm Tribal deck.

Bramble Wurm has trample and reach and is one of the few Wurms that can block flyers. When it enters the battlefield we gain 5 life and with and exiling it from the graveyard we gain 5 more life. Another good heavy-hitter for our Wurm Tribal with a defensive utility.

Speaking of defensive utility, Elderscale Wurm has a great one, protecting our life total from OTK (one turn kill) combos and reducing the life to 7 can be a lifesaver sometimes. Having to deal with an 7/7 (or 9/9 with Baru, Wurmspeaker) creature first can add an additional layer of security. Trample and its other ability to raise your life total to 7 on EtB (entering the battlefield) if it is lower than 7, is a nice bonus.

Iron-Craw Crusher is great for its flexibility: can be cast for its Prototype cost as a 2/5 or for its normal casting cost as a 4/6. Moreover, whenever it attacks, target attacking creature gets +X/+0 until end of turn, where X is its power. With Baru’s buff, it can give a huge power buff (even in itself) and with Baru’s Trample that power is not wasted. Cool synergy.

Penumbra Wurm is just powerful for our Wurm Tribal build. For a 6/6 Wurm with Trample would be fine but when it dies you get another one. Amazing value for our mana and with Baru, Wurmspeaker in play it only gets better as they are 8/8 tramplers now.

Plated Slagwurm has great self-protection as it can’t be the target of spells or abilities your opponents control. With Baru, Wurmspeaker, it is a 10/10 with Trample and self protection which can be a nightmare for your opponents. A great pick for our Wurm Tribal.

Sifter Wurm has Trample and offers us scry 3 on EtB which is a rare ability for the tribe. Card filtering is always good and we also gain life equal to the mana cost of the card we put on top of our library.

Deathcoil Wurm is kinda unblockable on will (kinda, because it takes damage from blockers) which is very important as we can do significant damage with it as a finishing blow since we have multiple ways to further buff its power in our Wurm Tribal build.

Impervious Greatwurm has convoke and indestructible and  is a massive 16/16 Wurm that when it is given trample (Baru, Wurmspeaker smiles) can end games very quickly. Its mana cost is too high at but we can hope to be able to cast because of our focused ramp strategy (that also include cheating creatures into the battlefield). A great pick for Wurm Tribal.

Worldspine Wurm is our other massive Wurm that already has Trample and is 15/15, when it dies we create three 5/5 green Wurm creature tokens with trample and when it is put into a graveyard from anywhere, we shuffle it into our library. Extreme mana cost at but extreme power too. If we are able to cast it, the world will tremble. A must-have for Wurm Tribal.

Teething Wurmlet is the only 1-drop Wurm at green color so that alone makes it an auto include in Wurm Tribal. Its deathtouch ability is hard to be activated in our deck since we have few artifacts, but with 7 artifacts overall, its second ability won’t be so rarely activated, so we can expect it to give us 1 life and get a +1/+1 counter on artifact EtB trigger.

Balustrade Wurm is a great addition to our Wurm Tribal build. Haste and Trample is a powerful combination for our build and a 5/5 body for 5 mana is fair. By combining it with our power doublers, it can be a potential finisher out of nowhere and one that can’t be countered. Moreover, with its Delirium ability, by paying we can recur it with a finality counter, so it can be a true pain to deal with.

Quilled Greatwurm is a must-have addition to our Wurm Tribal. It’s ability to add +1/+1 counters to our creatures on combat damage trigger, equal to the damage they deal, works wonders with the huge stats of our Wurms and can be devastating combined with Trample and the buff provided by our commander Baru, Wurmspeaker. Needless to say that combined with Zopandrel, Hunger Dominus and/or Unnatural Growth, the power of our Wurms will be hilarious and will be multiplied each turn to a point that they will be a massive force that can destroy everything in their way. As if that weren’t enough, it can be cast from our Graveyard by removing six counters from among creatures we control (in addition to its other costs) so it is extra durable. One of the best Wurms ever printed with high synergy with our build.

Other

 Crashing Drawbridge is a cheap but supreme haste enabler that can easily give haste to all of our creatures. Giving haste in a mono green deck with huge threats is no joke.

Instill Energy is great for untapping our commander and getting another Wurm each turn but can also be used to give haste to one of our Wurms for just , combining utility and flexibility.

Wurmcalling is a great choice for Wurm Tribal because of its flexibility as you can cast it with the desired mana cost to be on curve. It also has Buyback so if you have enough mana, you can cast it over and over. The Wurms will answer the call!

Crush of Wurms has high mana cost but gives us great value by summoning 3 6/6 green Wurm tokens. Combine them with Baru, Wurmspeaker for 3 8/8 tramplers and we’re ready to Crush our opponents. The flashback cost gives us a second round. That is if our opponents survive the first one. A must-have for Wurm Tribal.

Our Wurms can’t fly but what if they don’t need to? Gravity Well can work for us and let the enemy fliers at our mercy.

Life Finds a Way works wonders in our Wurm Tribal as most of the Wurms have 4 or more power and our commander Baru, Wurmspeaker provides Wurm tokens so we can easily Populate. We can get amazing value with high consistency. Life Wurms found a way.

Mosswort Bridge can work wonders in our Wurm Tribal deck since we have so many high mana cost creatures and so many creatures with high power that we can easily activate its ability and get something huge in return.

Rogue’s Passage gives unblockable to one of our creatures for . With one of our big hitters a direct hit may prove fatal.

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

Wurm Tribal Mana Curve

The mana curve is abnormal, there are high spikes at 5 and 7 mana drops but also a high number of 8 and 10+ drops. Moreover, the mana curve is lower than average on the low mana drops. In general it seems unbalanced and that is the result of extreme high mana costed Wurms. On 4-drops position, there is one hidden extra 4-drop: Iron-Craw Crusher and our commander so it’s not that bad. Moreover, Beanstalk Wurm is in fact both a 2 and a 5 drop while in statistics it counts as a 5 drop.

In the future we should monitor the new sets for any good low mana Wurms as we could make our deck more balanced by dropping some 7 mana Wurms to add some on the 1-4 drop positions. The extreme ramp provided by our deck can somewhat help us bridge the gaps of the curve and push us further in the high mana parts of the curve.

Card Type Distribution

Wurm Tribal Card Type Distribution

The Wurm Tribal Card Type Distribution shows the dominant tribal creature-heavy theme, with all other categories to be somewhat balanced. Garruk, Primal Hunter is the only planeswalker and he supports our theme with card draw and its ultimate ability.

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, all the big Wurms, when they are buffed and given trample by our commander, they can act as finishers.

Update v1 (Phyrexia: All Will Be One)

Update v2 (March of the Machine)

Update v3 (Wilds of Eldraine)

Update v4 (Jurassic World Collection Cards)

Update v5 (Outlaws of Thunder Junction)

Update v6 (Modern Horizons 3)

Update v7 (Duskmourn)

Update v8 (Foundations)

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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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