Hello, Nation! I've been enjoying the Top Ten articles more and more, so I thought I would hit up another. Today, the concept is simple. In casual Magic, any creature type can and likely will get played as a Tribal deck at some point in time. I've built Crocodile decks, Guardian decks (no longer valid), Griffins, and more. People love building tribal decks. A theme deck based on a creature type goes hand in hand with Magic, and it's rare that a Magic night goes by without seeing a few in my multiplayer games. What tribes have the best tools for casual and/or multiplayer Magic? What are the best choices?

It's an interesting question, because there are not obvious answers. When I asked what the Top Ten Equipment of all time was, people had biases. They had played Umezawa's Jitte or Skullclamp or Cranial Plating or Sword of Fire and Ice and loved them a ton. They had experiences from the tournament world, which often biased them. The same with the 1-drop conversation. How many have thought about this, though?

To my mind, there are two major ways a tribe can chart on today's list. One is the quality and usefulness of the creatures in question. How do the creatures from the tribe translate into power at the multiplayer table? If one tribe has a powerful set of multiplayer creatures, it's getting some serious consideration for this list.

The other way is what tribal cards are on-theme, and support the tribe, taking it to the next level. Goblins are not very good in the first category—their creatures are typically weak, small, cheap, and worthless (exceptions exist in all cases). However, they have the ability to get stronger with a ton of Lords and removal like Goblin Grenade and Fodder Launch.

For the purpose of today's conversation, cards with the name of the tribe in theme—but that are not mechanically tied to the tribe—will not count. Goblin War Drums may be a good card, and it may have "Goblin" in its name, but it is not mechanically a Goblin card, and will not count for my consideration of the Goblins. That doesn't mean there isn't a use for them in Goblin decks, but let's be honest—do you really want Spirit Shield to help for Spirit decks? Giant Spider for Giant decks? Exactly.

Before we begin, I am making an executive decision: Humans don't count. They don't have any tribal flavor, they are just people, and there's way too many not to make first place without question. I want to talk about real tribes, not just one that simply has so many entries by default that it wins without thinking. (Special note: Changelings and Mistform Ultimus only count the type line.)

All right, let's start counting down the Top Ten Tribes of all time with an honorable mention . . . or four.

In order to create this list, I looked at a list of all of the creature types in the game, and then selected any I thought would have a chance, even if I was skeptical. After searching for that creature type, I began to whittle a list of twenty-three down. Some were cut because they didn't have enough power (Treefolk). Others were cut because they didn't have enough members (Eldrazi). Some had some great, powerful creatures, but not enough of a diverse creature base (Wurm).

This next tribe just kept holding on; while others came and went that I had some expectation for, it just looked better and better. It just misses out on the Top Ten, but it's worth mentioning.

Honorable Mention #1: Shapeshifters – No, they don't have too much in the way of tribal cards (they do have Crib Swap and Nameless Inversion, though ). However, their usefulness and power is significant. They are flexible, powerful, and interesting, and can easily dominate a game. Take a look at some of the stronger members—Chameleon Colossus, Taurean Mauler, Mirror Entity, Vesuvan Doppelganger, Duplicant, and, of course, Morphling. When your tribe has arguably one of the best creatures of all time, you've got an argument there. (Plus, remember that Thornling and Torchling are Shapeshifters in the vein of Morphling—plus, don't forget the power of Greater Morphling if you play Un- cards). One of the more interesting cards from New Phyrexia is a Shapeshifter—Phyrexian Metamorph. It has some cards that are great for casual or multiplayer—Shape Stealer is nice. Quicksilver Gargantuan is huge and useful, too. This is a very powerful tribe, packed with cards of severe power.

Honorable Mention #2: Birds – Until you look at these guys, you may not realize how powerful they are. Their side cards include both a massive card-drawing spell (Airborne Aid) and a minor one (Seaside Haven). They also include Soulcatchers' Aerie, and more. They have creatures of various sizes, they are all over the color wheel, and more. Want removal? You have a thousand ways to take out enchantments and some creature removal (Dive Bomber, for example). You have a ton of useful abilities, such as protection from virtually every color, Deathtouch, Lifelink, First Strike—and, of course, most of them fly. They even have Plainswalk! (Zodiac Rooster.) There are a lot of great small Birds and great large ones. They also include a lot of miscellaneous abilities, such as Aven Mindcensor, Major Teroh, Glarecaster, Keeper of the Nine Gales, Birds of Paradise, and more. They have some of the best multiplayer cards, in my mind, with Commander Eesha and Lieutenant Kirtar. Want to draw cards? Look at Raven Familiar or cards like Carrier Pigeons, Thieving Magpie, or Augury Owl. Don't forget Squadron Hawks, either. This is a tribe that just kept showing its resolve, and it has been rewarded by being in the conversation. It makes it over other tribes that just missed out, and made it in the Honorable Mentions over a popular tournament tribe that just didn't have enough gas in the tank (Faeries).

Honorable Mention #3: Clerics – So, I looked at every one of the few hundred Clerics out there. Want to know something interesting? Boring! I mean, sure—you get the occasional Cleric that's awesome, but as a general rule, they are small, they prevent damage of some sort or another, and they are boring. They do destroy enchantments a lot and the occasional artifact (Kor Sanctifiers, for example), but they also really like enchantments too (especially Academy Rector, Nomad Mythmaker, Monk Idealist), they gain you a ton of life, and they rarely have any useful combat abilities beyond vigilance and protection. The Black Clerics from Onslaught block are cool—Vile Deacon, Rotlung Reanimator, Doomed Necromancer, Cabal Archon, and Cabal Executioner. The White ones that protect stuff are quite good—Devoted Caretaker, Glarecaster, Mother of Runes, and such. You've got the Soul Warden creatures as well. False Prophet, Weathered Wayfarer, and Transcendent Master are cool. They do have some shadow creatures. However, they just don't have enough creatures of size or diversity to make higher than Honorable Mention.

Honorable Mention #4: Vampires – They barely missed the chart, and are only in the conversation because of the injection of awesome they've gotten in the last couple of years. Those recent tribal cards have gotten them this far as a result. Vampires are actually the tribe with the fewest number of cards in any of these categories, even Shapeshifters or later entries. They have a lot of power in these categories, especially for multiplayer. Because of their concentration in Black, they rock a lot of Black-centric abilities, and in particular, they kill stuff. They love to kill creatures—Anowon, the Ruin Sage, Gatekeeper of Malakir, Ascendant Evincar, Butcher of Malakir, Vein Drinker, Vampiric Dragon, Drana, Kalastria Bloodchief, Guul Draz Assassin, Repentant Vampire, and Kalitas, Bloodchief of Ghet. That's in addition to the spells Urge to Feed and Feast of Blood. If you want to kill stuff, this is your tribe. You can also steal creatures (Captivating Vampire), drain life with a ton of creatures (and Blood Tribute), Lifelink all day long, and more. You've got strong entries like Bloodghast, Mirri the Cursed, Skeletal Vampire, Nirkana Revenant, Sangromancer, Vampire Hexmage, Vampire Nighthawk, and Vampire Lacerator. The tribe has a very strong aggro element, and it's one of the few tribes to chart anywhere today that can actually build a good aggro deck. It also has very strong heavy hitters for multiplayer and casual.

10. Dragons – This is the first of two tribes that charts more for the sheer power of its creatures than it does for its tribal elements. Are there tribal elements to Dragons? Absolutely! Dragonstorm, Bladewing's Thrall, Dragonspeaker Shaman, Zirilan of the Claw, Sarkhan the Mad, and especially Crucible of Fire all count. That's not why you play Dragons. You play Dragons because they go rawr with a great deal of strength. They lack any sense of diversity of casting cost and ability at all. Barring a few babies and children and whelps, they fly, they are big, they have a higher price tag, and they win you a ton of games. From Elder Dragons to Shivan Dragon, they have a lot of abilities that are similar. They tend to have Firebreathing, they often shoot down creatures by dealing damage to them directly, and have other game-changing effects. They have Haste, Flying, Trample, and more—but rarely other things. You don't usually see Vigilance or First Strike or Deathtouch or Lifelink on a Dragon. Legendary Dragons have a rotisserie of abilities, and can do anything from discard and token-making to reanimation and board-sweeping to creature-stealing and draining everyone for 5 life each. You can get land with Eternal Dragon (and also have self-recursion with it as well), more discard with Ebon Dragon, tutor for things with Hoarding Dragon or Imperial Hellkite, sweeping with Steel Hellkite or Thunder Dragon or Scourge of Kher Ridges, take extra combat steps with Hellkite Charger, destroy artifacts with Hoard-Smelter Dragon, draw cards with Knollspine Dragon or Niv-Mizzet, lock creatures down with Rimescale Dragon, or combo out with Worldgorger Dragon. That's a lot of stuff for a tribe of heavies. It's not as much as the next tribe, but it's still a ton of stuff.

9. Angels – And this is the second of those two tribes. Like Dragons, there have been a ton of Angels to see print. While they lack some diversity as well, their sheer number and the more varied abilities they have compared to Dragons merit inclusion on this list just above our (generally) Red friends. There are also a lot more Angels out there than Dragons. The only good non-Angel they have is Decree of Justice, which is more often used to play Soldiers than Angels. As for Angels, they are almost exclusive flyers of size. They have a ton of Vigilance, and then some Lifelink, First Strike, Trample, and a ton of protection from every color in the game, and protection from all colors, and protection from creatures, artifacts, etc. They can also destroy any permanent (Angel of Despair), gain you life (Angel of Mercy, Lightkeeper of Emeria), destroy many creatures (Sunblast Angel), save creatures (Adarkar Valkyrie, Twilight Shepherd), reanimate (Reya Dawnbringer, Karmic Guide), keep alive indefinitely (Platinum Angel), shut down abilities (Linvala, Keeper of Silence), destroy all lands (Desolation Angel), give your creatures Indestructibility (Deathless Angel), and proactively prevent all combat damage (Blinding Angel). Consider their most powerful entries—Akroma the First, Akroma the Second, Baneslayer Angel, Exalted Angel, Pristine Angel, Razia, Boros Archangel, Iona, Shield of Emeria, Iridescent Angel, Jenara, Asura of War, and Empyrial Archangel. This is a very powerful list of Angels, and it doesn't even include great ones for your decks like Serra Avenger, Silver Seraph, Crypt Angel, Lightning Angel, Stoic Angel, or Radiant, Archangel. Probably more than any other tribe under discussion, Angels are wedded to just one color: White. Dragons are typically Red, but there are tons of Legendary Dragons in Blue, White, Green, and Black, and then add in cards like Catacomb Dragon, Ebon Dragon, Exalted Dragon, etc. It's easy to see Dragons bleed across other colors, but Angels hardly do. When they do, they almost always have White in their colors, just to make sure.

8. Elementals – Due to the sheer diversity of this tribe, it charts. Hundreds of creatures are Elementals, and you have everything from severe beaters to small utility creatures. Lorwyn block gave this tribe a severe shot of amazing to the arm with cards from Mulldrifter to all of the Flamekin cards, including some useful tribal cards. The tribe's massive diversity does a ton, from destroying a variety of things (Wispmare, Deepfire Elemental, Fulminator Mage, Ingot Chewer, Hateflayer, Tornado Elemental, Cinder Elemental, and don't forget Shriekmaw) to having severely powerful beaters (Verdant Force, Multani, Maro-Sorcerer, Silvos, Rogue Elemental, Liege of the Tangle, Lord of Extinction, Avenger of Zendikar, Thornling, and Root Elemental) to some of the best utility creatures you can imagine (Reveillark, Brine Elemental, Vengevine, Fertilid, Smokebraider, Forgotten Ancient, Stigma Lasher, and Briarhorn) and finally to great control creatures (Dread, Windreaver, Dawn Elemental, Air Servant, Ashen Firebeast, Roil Elemental, and Time Elemental). That's a lot of quality in this tribe. Then add a few good cards as well in the Worldwake man lands and Primal Beyond, plus Hoofprints of the Stag is also pretty good. The result is a very attractive tribe for casual needs.

There is no question that we have a serious upgrade in tribe quality for the final seven tribes. Each of these has hundreds and hundreds of entries, and it took a while to sort through them all. These are the heavy hitters of Magic, and all of them have extensive tribal cards to support them. But in what order do they fall?

7. Goblins – The good thing about Goblins is that, at first glance, they clearly have the most support cards out there for their tribe. (In fact, they are #2 at noncreature cards in their tribe). Fodder Launch, Tarfire, Warren Weirding, Goblin Grenade, Goblin Shrine and Goblin Caves, Mogg Infestation, Brightstone Ritual, Goblin Warrens, Goblin Burrows, Goblin Trenches, Goblin War Strike, Moggcatcher, and more. Goblins are almost exclusively wedded to Red outside of Lorwyn/Shadowmoor, in which you get the occasional Green or Black entry. They typically represent the bumbling side of Red, and as such, no tribe likely has a larger number of creatures with disadvantages like these guys. They can't block, they need sacrifices, they need other people to attack with, they are afraid of larger creatures—etc. However, their sheer numbers with massively awesome tribal Lords from Goblin Matron to Goblin Lackey enable you to build a very potent deck with powerful entries, despite a tendency toward being small and quite smashable. As the iconic Red creatures of smallness, they have Red abilities in droves—First Strike, Mountainwalk (plus at least one Goblin each that has Forestwalk, Swampwalk, Plainswalk, and Islandwalk), a cornucopia of Haste, and more. They also have a legion of ways to deal damage directly to things. They can tap, sacrifice, enter the battlefield with it, leave the battlefield with it, etc. They can also keep back important blockers in order to get the tribe through the gauntlet. You might even find the occasional Goblin that can destroy one or more lands if you look closely. You can also find Goblins to destroy artifacts. Because of Red's super-crazy theme where they often get very random abilities, Goblins often get them, as the crazy Red tribe. Examples include Tuktuk the Explorer, Nosy Goblin, Bazaar Trader, Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker, and Goatnapper. The Lorwyn Goblins add abilities from other colors like recursion (Warren Pilferers), Fear (Spiderwig Boggart), exiling cards from a library (Earwig Squad), Regeneration (Mad Auntie), and others. The handful of big Goblins almost always have a disadvantage of one sort or another (Goblin Mutant, Goblin Goon, etc.). In a color that's great at aggro, and as the aggro tribe, Goblins are arguably the best tribe in today's list at building an aggro deck. When Red gets an ability it's not supposed to usually have, it usually goes to a Goblin (protection from White? Blue? Plainswalk?—you get the idea). There are some great multiplayer Goblins, like Mogg Maniac and Squee, Goblin Nabob. Ultimately, what keeps Goblins down is the lack of diversity in size, power, and abilities. As a result, you have a very, very large tribe with some power, but also a glass jaw.

6. Elves – All of the tribes in today's list have an affinity to one or two colors (except for the top two). Shapeshifters tend to be Blue. Angels tend to be White. Dragons and Goblins, Red. Elementals, Red and Blue more than any other. Clerics, White. Vampires, Black. All of the other tribes that had a tendency toward Green were knocked out—Beasts, Shaman, Treefolk—but one remained. The Big Daddy. The most classic humanoid race in all of Fantasydom. They are more iconic than dwarfs or orcs or hobbits . . . er, I mean, halflings. You can't have a fantasy-themed set without an elf-like race of some sort. They have cards like Nissa Revane, Wirewood Lodge, Eyeblight's Ending, and Mercy Killing to look forward to. Like Goblins, this is a race of hundreds and hundreds of creature, and like Goblins, they tend toward the smaller in size, plus they have a ton of abilities in their color. Elves make mana. They make lots of it. Their strong affinity for the land also pushes to fetch land, put land into play, untap lands, destroy enchant-land auras, and more. They also have Reach, First Strike, Trample, and other Green abilities. They share Green's hatred of artifacts and enchantments and flyers, while also sometimes working with enchantments. They pump creatures a lot as well, a common theme of Green. You can find Elves that prevent damage or gain life. Because mana is the lifeblood of any Magic deck, Elves have a power that no other tribe has. They are one of the few tribes, ever, that has a number of cards to solidify your mana base. You also get a lot of token-making, since it's a common theme of Green. Like Goblins, Elves have a lot of Lords that help the tribe in many ways, from Wellwisher to Elvish Archdruid/Priest of Titania to Timberwatch Elf to Eladamri, Lord of Leaves. Typically, the only evasion you'll have is the inability to be blocked save by flyers and the occasional landwalk. You have Elves with uncommon Green abilities, like creatures that draw cards (Elvish Visionary, Multani's Acolyte), Regeneration (Ezuri, Renegade Leader), Lure (Elvish Bard), restock your library (Elvish Soultiller), creature search (Fierce Empath), and such. You have some iconic Elves with Elvish Piper, Fauna Shaman, Imperious Perfect, Oracle of Mul Daya, Quirion Ranger, Tolsimir Wolfblood, and Rofellos, Llanowar Emissary. When they are in other colors, they gain a few abilities from them, such as recursion and hopping counters. While you do have good aggro creatures, like Twinblade Slasher, the Elves can't match the speed and early quality of the Goblins, or of the Vampires, or of another tribe we'll talk about below. What they can do is drop some creatures to make mana and get lands, then explode into a flurry of large creatures very early. This is a good, deep tribe, but again, its severe dedication to just one color reduces the abilities it has.

5. Zombies – There are more Elves and Goblins than Zombies, and yet, with hundreds of Zombies, this tribe charts higher. Despite its slavery to one color as well as the above two, it seems to have a bit more diversity in size of its creatures and abilities. Take a look at just the first page (of eighteen) of Zombies. Look at these goods—Ashen Ghoul, Bladewing the Risen, Balthor the Defiled, Anathemancer, and Apprentice Necromancer. That's a good suite of creatures for your decks. Zombies have what is arguably the best tribal card (which is not a creature) in Call to the Grave (it's actually the second-best, behind another one we will see soon). There are plenty of Zombie tribal cards and Lords to help out your team, from Clutch of Undeath to Cruel Revival to Death Baron to Deadapult to Strength of Night. No other tribe can say they have an Overrun-type spell in their tribe (Ezuri can do it for Elves once in play—a plan that is both very obvious, and easy to shut down). Zombies have good support. Is that enough? As a virtually exclusive tribe to Black, you can get all sorts of things Black does—reanimation, creature removal, and discard are at the top of the list. Your creatures regularly have Swampwalk, Deathtouch, Fear, First Strike, and even the occasional Flying. You've also got Regeneration (Boneknitter), graveyard love (Corpse Connoisseur), graveyard hate (Crypt Creeper), life loss (Organ Grinder), tutoring (Corpse Harvester), edicts (Fleshbag Marauder), Necropotence variants (Graveborn Muse), and can even destroy the occasional enchantment (Quagmire Druid). Great Zombies include Coffin Queen, Vulturous Zombie, Helldozer, Skinrender, Western Paladin, Eastern Paladin, Phyrexian Crusader, Pyre Zombie, Nefashu, Thraximundar, Phage the Untouchable, Dralnu, Lich Lord, and Geth, Lord of the Vault. Zombies are better at being aggro than many other colors, led by Carnophage and Sarcomancy. Zombies have a lot of use, and a lot of cards to choose from. Still, despite their size, I feel a bit underwhelmed—many are just janky creatures with the same old abilities over and over again. This is the highest-charting tribe that is virtually or exclusively one color. The last four have two with some affiliation, but are very spread out, and two that are in all of the colors.

4. Wizards – Wizards are cool. Gandalf and Elminster and Raistlin—all cool. We love Wizards. Magic does, too, and they are one of the strongest tribes for casual play. First of all, remember that countermagic is not as good in multiplayer, because it's card disadvantage—bad for the Wizards. However, some Wizard countermagic is not the loss of a card—good for the Wizards. Cards like Patron Wizard and Voidmage Apprentice and Ertai, Wizard Adept are not a loss of a card, and therefore are even stronger than normal counters—which is great. There are a ton of very powerful Wizards—Arcanis the Omnipotent, Memnarch, Ambassador Laquatus, Trinket Mage, Niv-Mizzet, the Firemind, Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir, Venser, Shaper Savant, and more. There are hundreds and hundreds of Wizards. That's a very powerful base of creatures from which to draw some serious power. Since Wizards are strongest in Blue, you have tons of Wizards that do Blue things—bounce, mill decks, redirect things, draw cards, sift cards, and counter spells. Want to return stuff to your hand from your graveyard? Anarchist, Izzet Chronarch, Scrivener, and more. Outside of Blue, there are Wizards that kill (Aphetto Exterminator), discard (Vodalian Hypnotist), destroy enchantments (Thunderscape Battlemage), destroy artifacts (Thornscape Battlemage), deal damage (Thornscape Master, Prodigal Sorcerer), and pump creatures (Tribal Forcemage, Thunderscape Master). You have sneaky creatures that are unblockable, have shadow, and fly. You've got the Guildmages, the Apprentices, the Maguses, the Battlemages, and more. The sheer power and versatility is amazing. What you tend to lack, however, are game-enders. Your creatures are smaller, sneakier, and not ready to stand up in a knock-down brawl like tribes of Dragons, Angels, Beasts, Wurms, and more. You lack beef. You are the cleverest tribe out there, but you are still a tribe of wizards, not warriors. However, if you emphasize the handful of creatures you have of size, such as Oona and Meloku and such, you can probably get away with it.

3. Soldiers – Like Wizards, Soldiers represent a tribe of hundreds and hundreds of creatures. This is a game about Magic conflict, so you have mages and warriors in roughly equal amounts. Makes sense. With such a large creature base, and with such a strong tribal presence, Soldiers have a ton of power. You have Soldiers from 1 to 8 mana, and loaded with combat abilities. If there is a combat ability, Soldiers have it. They have First Strike and protection, Reach and Vigilance, Firebreathing and Flying, Horsemanship and exiling, Banding and Flanking, Double Strike and Shadow, Provoke and landwalking, Trample and Haste, Unblockability and Regeneration, even Lifelink. There are also a lot of them with very useful abilities beyond the combat zone—such as Auriok Salvagers or Captain Sisay. Want to destroy enchantments (Aven Cloudchaser), draw cards (Benalish Heralds), exile creatures (Catapult Master), prevent damage (Combat Medic), gain life (Conclave Phalanx), prevent all combat damage (Dream Fighter, Frontline Strategist), deal damage (Goblin Legionnaire, Rockcaster Platoon), bounce a creature (Sun Ce, Young Conqueror), or destroy a land (Keldon Arsonist)? You also have a lot of equipment-lovin'. You have power cards such as Lieutenant Kirtar and Commander Eesha as well as Ranger of Eos, Dong Zhou, the Tyrant, Sun Quan, Lord of Wu, you get the idea. You can tap a ton of creatures, pump, and "rangestrike"—a term MaRo uses to refer to dealing damage to creatures involved in combat. You have a lot of different sizes of Soldiers, and the many level-up creatures give you a nice late game. With all of your Daru Warchiefs and Enlistment Officers, you have bunches of Lords to make your creatures better. You also have the support of cards like Mobilization, Decree of Justice, Daru Encampment, Kjeldoran Outpost, an actual counterspell with Repel Intruders, Unified Strike, and the single best tribal card in today's countdown with an actual Wrath effect in Martial Coup. This is a mega-powerful tribe.

2. Spirits – Spirits have several advantages over other tribes. Because there was a whole block dedicated to them, they have a ton of great cards for their tribe, particularly Long-Forgotten Gohei. In addition to Spirit enablers, you also have a whole form of magic dedicated to them—Arcane spells. I needed to make a judgment call. For the purposes of today's discussion, do all of the Arcane spells count as part of the Spirit tribe? It's easy to look at Tarfire and say it's a Goblin tribe card, but what about Rend Flesh? What really pushes me here is the ability that many Spirits have, that whenever you play a Spirit or an Arcane card, triggers happen. That sounds like, mechanically, they are just as linked as they are thematically. Therefore, I am giving Spirits Arcane spells. Even if I didn't, they'd still be a top-five tribe, but with them, they shoot way up. Look at all of the synergy in the tribe. Spiritcraft is a great mechanic for your decks, since it works well together. It is great glue for any Spirit deck. Spirit decks can really run up the tricks, such as the combination of Hana Kami, Thief of Hope, a few Spiritcraft creatures, and a great Arcane spell or two. You can really do a lot of life loss and casting of critical spells with those creatures—all of which work very well together.

Let's look at the all of the great Spirits that are not even in Kamigawa block. Look at how diverse and powerful this tribe is. Balefire Liege, Blinking Spirit, Tradewind Rider, Spirit of the Night, Spirit of the Hearth, Azorius Herald, Bloodghast, Nether Shadow, Nether Spirit, Nether Traitor, Krovikan Horror, Celestial Crusader, all of the Spirit avatars like Demigod of Revenge, Primordial Sage, Dimir Infiltrator, the muse cycle like Windborn Muse and Seedborn Muse, Eternal Dragon, Ghost Council of Orzhova, Guardian of the Guildpact, Swans of Bryn Argoll, Wall of Reverence, Karmic Guide, Midnight Banshee, the Phantom creatures like Phantom Centaur and Phantom Nishoba, the Rusalkas, the Eidolons, both Spirit Guides, Sovereigns of Lost Alara, Spectral Lynx, and, of course, Will-o'-the-Wisp. Without K block, that is still a very strong block of creatures with great offensive and defensive abilities. Some are among the best at what they do (Graveborn Muse at Necropotence variants, Tradewind Rider at bounce, Bloodghast et al. at self-recursion, etc.).

Now, let's look at the powerful set of creatures we get in Kamigawa block. Don't forget the very nasty Dragons from Champions. Those alone add significant electricity to your Spirit deck. You have Spirits that do a lot of things. Want to sweep the sky? Arashi, the Sky Asunder. Want to sweep the ground instead? Jiwari, the Earth Aflame. You have the Patrons, the Baku, the Zuberas, the Kodamas, the Inames, the Kirin, and the Deceivers. You have powerful legendary Spirits and mundane Spirits—all of which can do a lot for your decks. You have a lot of Spirits with that Spirit trigger that works on Arcane spells and Spirits. Each of these adds a strong element of synergy to your deck. When you play Kodama's Reach, you can also trigger drawing a card, tapping something, pumping your creatures, making tokens, even triggering Tallowisp. This tribe works the best together of any that is not #1. Look at Rend Flesh, Harbinger of Spring, the self-bouncing Onnas, the channel creatures that can come back with Spiritcraft, and more. They all work together to trigger each other's abilities, get cards for each other, and more. Consider the way Iname, Death Aspect stocks your graveyard with Spirits to recur, to give you fuel for the Spiritcraft fire, while Iname, Life Aspect Regrowths them all to your hand, with its ueber-Spiritcraft ability. Then add the Kami that sacrifice to destroy things—Kami of Ancient Law, Pain Kami, or Hearth Kami, so that you can recur them repeatedly. The sacrifice of Lifespinner to go and get The Unspeakable or Spirit of the Night can be modified by simply recurring them all back with something like Forked-Branch Garami. When you add the sheer diversity of support cards with all of the Arcane spells, and the Spirits that came before and after Kamigawa block, you get the second-best tribe of all time, period.

1. Slivers – If you thought another tribe should be here (other than humans), you are seriously deluding yourself. In fact, this tribe is so obvious that I thought about banning it as well. The very concept of the tribe means that every Sliver is a Lord (except for a tiny few exceptions). With that concept, there is no question that this tribe is #1 in power at the casual table. Play Tsabo's Decree just for this. (I run Plague Sliver in my non-Sliver decks as a beater, for this reason). In fact, this tribe is so obviously deserving of this spot, and their creatures so similar, that there is no need for me to list the good ones to sell you on it. They are all good.

The tribe that just missed out was Beasts (were just a bit too much like Wurms—despite strong entries in Protean Hulk and Trygon Predator—it was mostly strong beaters with little in the way of support, removal, and variety of size and casting cost). Shamans, Giants, Knights, Treefolk, etc.—all out. Another big one that missed out was Merfolk, which I honestly thought would have the gas to make the cut—but it not being made for years really hurt the number of cards out there, which reduced the overall number of quality cards. A lot of the Merfolk in Lorwyn block were great to see, but they had weird abilities that didn't have too much use in regular decks. Of course, there were major Merfolk cards in that block as well, but just not enough to push them out.

On a Faeries note, their most powerful cards in duels often tended to lose points in multiplayer—Bitterblossom, Faerie Trickery, Sower of Temptation—these are not exactly as strong against many foes. Sower is weak to removal and other things, counters are card disadvantage, and Bitterblossom doesn't mean as much, but the life loss does.

This project as intended as a fun little thing, but took on a life of its own. It took roughly eight hours to write, when a normal article takes three-ish. That's a massive amount of work. I hope you enjoyed it! Next week, we will have that New Phyrexia review for the casual crowd, and then the following week, decks with the new cards.

See you next week,

Abe Sargent