Fruit, in all its various forms, is a common gift during the holiday season. Fruit baskets, the orange left on top of a stocking, fruitcake, an apple for a teacher. So, imagine my delight when I realized we could give away fruit to our friends!

We get a three-mana, easy-to-cast 2/2 with three different abilities. First, we can tap him to give everyone a Banana! Bananas are like Treasures, but they only make two colors of mana and they grant life when they do. Whenever an opponent puts an Artifact in their 'yard, we get to permanently pump all our Apes and Monkeys. And, whenever our boy attacks, the defending player has to sacrifice an Artifact.

We're going to make an Ape/Monkey Kindred deck which forces people to sacrifice their Artifacts, and we're going to hide behind the fact we're giving away free Bananas!

Kibo, Uktabi Prince | Commander | Mark Wischkaemper

• Commander (1)
• 1 Kibo, Uktabi Prince

• Creatures (29)
• 1 Ancient Silverback
• 1 Elephant-Mandrill
• 1 Fangren Marauder
• 1 Ferocious Tigorilla
• 1 Flopsie, Bumi's Buddy
• 1 Gearbane Orangutan
• 1 Gorilla Shaman
• 1 Grunn, the Lonely King
• 1 Hooting Mandrills
• 1 Kird Ape
• 1 Kird Chieftain
• 1 Kodama of the West Tree
• 1 Kogla and Yidaro
• 1 Kogla, the Titan Ape
• 1 Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer
• 1 Realmwalker
• 1 Scrounging Bandar
• 1 Silverback Elder
• 1 Silverback Shaman
• 1 Simian Simulacrum
• 1 Simian Spirit Guide
• 1 Summit Apes
• 1 Taurean Mauler
• 1 Towering Gibbon
• 1 Tree Monkey
• 1 Uktabi Orangutan
• 1 Wily Bandar
• 1 Yavimaya Steelcrusher
• 1 Zodiac Monkey

• Instants (8)
• 1 Ancient Grudge
• 1 Beast Within
• 1 Chaos Warp
• 1 Heroic Intervention
• 1 Inspiring Call
• 1 Return of the Wildspeaker
• 1 Signature Slam
• 1 Strength of Will

• Sorceries (10)
• 1 Blasphemous Act
• 1 Cultivate
• 1 Decimate
• 1 Farseek
• 1 Nature's Lore
• 1 Peregrination
• 1 Rampant Growth
• 1 Rhino's Rampage
• 1 Stump Stomp
• 1 Vandalblast

• Enchantments (4)
• 1 Hardened Scales
• 1 Invigorating Hot Spring
• 1 Rhythm of the Wild
• 1 Viridian Revel

• Artifacts (8)
• 1 Arcane Signet
• 1 Commander's Sphere
• 1 Gruul Signet
• 1 Herd Heirloom
• 1 Liquimetal Coating
• 1 Liquimetal Torque
• 1 Patchwork Banner
• 1 Patriar's Seal

• Lands (40)
• 9 Forest
• 6 Mountain
• 1 Cinder Glade
• 1 Command Tower
• 1 Cragcrown Pathway // Timbercrown Pathway
• 1 Evolving Wilds
• 1 Exotic Orchard
• 1 Fire-Lit Thicket
• 1 Game Trail
• 1 Karn's Bastion
• 1 Kessig Wolf Run
• 1 Mossfire Valley
• 1 Path of Ancestry
• 1 Reliquary Tower
• 1 Rockfall Vale
• 1 Rogue's Passage
• 1 Rootbound Crag
• 1 Rugged Highlands
• 1 Secret Tunnel
• 1 Sheltered Thicket
• 1 Skarrg, the Rage Pits
• 1 Temple of Abandon
• 1 Terramorphic Expanse
• 1 Treetop Village
• 1 Unclaimed Territory
• 1 War Room
• 1 Wooded Ridgeline

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Our Lands are mostly for our colors, but we do have some fun utility ones. Kessig Wolf Run, Rogue's Passage, and Secret Tunnel help make it so Kibo can attack when we want. Karn's Bastion gives us something to do with extra mana; we'll almost always have +1/+1 counters kicking around. Treetop Village becomes an Ape Creature!

Because Kibo costs three, I avoided many of my normal ramp choices in favor of two-mana spells so we can cast Kibo on time. Farseek, Nature's Lore, and Rampant Growth work well with Arcane Signet and Gruul Signet. Herd Heirloom isn't perfect but works well enough, and Liquimetal Torque can give someone something to sacrifice - just think, if someone has no Artifacts, you can turn their best Creature into one and then force them to sac it! Commander's Sphere, Patriar's Seal, and Patchwork Banner join Cultivate at the three-mana slot, and Peregrination is at four but solid.

Apes aren't great at drawing cards, but we have a few ways. Realmwalker gives us some access to the top of our Library, and Viridian Revel should draw us several cards if we get it out. Inspiring Call should probably be saved for a clutch moment but will likely draw us several, and Return of the Wildspeaker will normally draw us a good amount as well. War Room is painful but worth it when we have the mana kicking around.

We do have a whole bunch of nifty Apes and Monkeys which will get a lot bigger with Kibo around. Something like Grunn, the Lonely King can be quite the powerhouse when attacking, and coupled with Rogue's Passage you'll defeat people pretty quickly. Flopsie, Bumi's Buddy does a good job of getting our guys through, and makes Summit Apes unblockable. With enough +1/+1 counters, Silverback Shaman can kill people.

Something like Signature Slam is great here - we'll be able to kill something really, really dead - and we have several Creatures with Enters abilities that help us out. Kogla in most of his forms does good work. I also love Strength of Will in this deck. Ancient Grudge, Chaos Warp, and Beast Within all serve as good solutions to problems. Vandalblast Overloaded should make for a decent attack for us!

Kird Chieftain is from a cycle of Kindred helpers in Magic 2015, and is particularly cool here. These were made for Limited, so the ability is pricey, but it's fun and gives us a little boost. Patchwork Banner probably wants to select "Ape" - we do have a few Monkeys, but more Apes by a good bit. We have a few ways to buff up our guys or make them more threatening, like Hardened Scales, Invigorating Hot Spring, and Rhythm of the Wild. And Liquimetal Coating is like Liquimetal Torque without the mana - use it to make something an Artifact and force the sacrifice or destroy it for profit. Just make sure to give away a lot of Bananas!

This deck is a solid Bracket 2 deck; it's not so locked into the theme to be Bracket 1, but it wants some room to breathe before it can really start doing its thing. People might argue when you're blowing up their best stuff, but just because something interacts doesn't mean it's not Bracket 2.

Thanks for reading.