Ranking The Tribes of Commander, Part 2 | EDH Tier List

We're ranking the remaining tribes in commander, by popular demand! Part 2 is here!
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Welcome to a Nitpicking Nerds Tier List, this time we are taking the lest popular tribes in commander and ranking them all on a tier list. These might not be the best tribes in edh, but they are some of the most loved ones!

[@nooneknows3520]

I don't care if they don't have one unifying type, Sea Monsters are still a tribe to me.

[@NitpickingNerds]

We put them on the list!

[@SpiceWeazel]

I just built an Arixmethes sea monsters deck and it really claps cheeks

[@clintbeastwood7974]

Yeah that one hurt 😂

[@Jonnyguitar1877]

@@SpiceWeazel Mine too! Love my sea monsters!

[@dougfriend8669]

@@SpiceWeazel I just picked up an Arixmethes deck, lookin forward to trying it out

[@agustinprosello4687]

Got three more great clearly S tier tribes: -Wurms -Crabs -and most importantly Sables

[@NitpickingNerds]

Okay part three is probably not coming, so use your imagination!

[@mr.mammuthusafricanavus8299]

Don't forget the Aurochs:P

[@howaboutnow1895]

@@mr.mammuthusafricanavus8299 I like spellshapers my self

[@Nolsie]

Demons being one of the few tribes with both a card on the ban list and an awesome alternate win condition with Liliana's contract being in D is a travesty

[@whaddajoke8294]

I have 5 color Warriors tribal with Najeela as commander. Really feels like at least C tier, their is surprisingly a good amount of support.

[@NitpickingNerds]

Najeela is really strong by herself

[@revelmonger]

There extremely strong. I play cEDH Tazri beacon of Unity and the warriors are some of the best cards in the deck. Oakhame adversary Mindblade render Just to name 2

[@ExKiwi-yw8er]

I agree, warriors are MUCH better and more fun than knights and soldiers.

[@commandermop9436]

yeah i have a 5 color najeela deck and its super strong. warriors is definitely up there

[@g33kaholic24]

@@NitpickingNerds yeah, I would much more likely put Warriors near A tier. They have a lot of synergy together thanks to battlebond, and they're always coming out with new ones with powerful mechanics.

[@xaxscratchxax926]

You guys need to do an updated tier list for this a year or 1.5 years later. Some of these have gotten better and some worse....if thats even possible for some.

[@omgoblins]

You guys are crazy for putting Warriors in D. It's definitely better supported than Knights and Soldiers. I guess you guys forgot about Najeela, Tarkir/Amonkhet/Zendikar Rising. When Warriors show up they tend to be a supported tribe in that set so there's a lot more inter-synergy than soldiers and knights have gotten in modern magic.

[@eyescrossedFTW]

They've obviously never actually played against a Warrior tribal deck or they'd never have put them so low

[@dahoodlum1253]

Najeela is oppressive just playing shxtty cheap warriors

[@RobMedellin]

Thinking about unsuscribing for not knowing the power of the warrior deck.

[@dahoodlum1253]

@@RobMedellin already ahead of you

[@BaneAlleyMagic]

I think you are wrong about Minotaurs, I would put them in the B tier above clerics. They have way more support than everything below Eldrazi, and they are much more playable. Sethron is amazing! Not only does he make minotaur tokens but he gives all of your minotaurs menace.

[@MatthewCJoy]

But minotaurs are almost exclusively bad cards though

[@bladeheins5991]

@@MatthewCJoy beg to differ while not a fast deck it easyly gets out of hand while their not crazy strong their abilitys are useable

[@Jonnyguitar1877]

Dude in my playgroup is building a Minotaur tribal. I will let you guys know if it’s sucks. Lol

[@ballisticman3111]

Griselbrand and Doom Whisperer wants a word with you! The demons are black mana they have access to not only support but the best tutors in magic as well and dark ritual

[@HarlieJest]

thanks for adding Sphinx, I knew they would be low on the tier list being big fat fliers like Angels and Demons but it's tribal I play the most with Unesh as my commander. Also the scariest art work I've seen from magic is Pulling Teeth from Morningtide, because it makes me think about those pamphlets from the dentist about poor oral hygiene.

[@NitpickingNerds]

I will agree with you pulling teeth is really gross artwork

[@ryanrichter1010]

Minotaurs should at least be B tier, Mogus is displeased.

[@MatthewCJoy]

They suck tho

[@wardious2562]

Coming back now that we’re getting a bunch of really good giant support in Kaldheim.

[@josvaniwaarden718]

This makes my weekend even better !!

[@NitpickingNerds]

That’s our only goal!

[@UnusualShrimp]

I just recently built an ooze tribal with mimeoplasm and it is insanely fun, what are your thoughts on ooze tribal?

[@Leftists_are_Losers]

Fish deck? Commander Island Fish Jasconius ? Trolls ! Trolls ! Mostly green/ red. Nearly all regenerate. Decent beat sticks. Get three on the table and just keep hitting your opponent. Unicorn deck. Commander Lathiel, the Bounteous Dawn ! Almost 30 different unicorns … all are white or green. And Lathiel can give you both colors !

[@Emeraldtail75]

In 2020 i've built and played mono blue "under the sea" sea monster tribal, werewolf tribal, snakes tribal. They were a blast but i've broken them all down as i usually keep about 4-6 edh decks built at any time. Currently i'm playing The Ur Dragon, Thrasios/Tymna, Kathril, & Lord Windgrace.

[@entothechesnautknight1762]

I really am loving all the pirates that have been printed lately, since I think Wizards and Pirates are the perfect two tribes for the two sides of Izzet; -Wizards for the spell-singer side that wants to cast a lot of instants and sorceries, and makes it easier to cast insane big spells (Since both Red and blue get the crazy 8+ cmc instants and sorceries) or Make your smaller cards better. -Pirates for the aggressive combat side that casts cheap draw/burn spells and combat tricks, and interacts with the artificer and theft side of both colors agressively by stealing artifacts, cheating on equipment, and using treasures to cast big red dragons or huge blue leviathans to end the game (Since both red and blue get giant evasive creatures and powerful static effects at 7+ mana). Pirates kinda suck right now, but the current support they're getting seems to be going that direction and I'm excited. Also more monkey goblins.

[@Clock83131]

I just want to mention for Sphines that Sharuum the Edgemon can be built as a Sphinx commander as many Sphinxes are also artifacts, and you suddenly have a lot of opened possibilities being in Esper. I did build it back in the day and I always had a lot of fun with it, a lot more than Angels and Demons. They just are more fun, do more fun things and have a lot of potential.

[@BozzLightyr]

I can't believe I was in a one on one voice chat with Joe Cherries. I was so star struck

[@NightOfCrystals]

Oooh!! I think you underrate ninjas, pirates, and fungus/saprolings.

[@surplusvalue5497]

Jumping of the shark does have a negative connotation. Love the videos, keep it up

[@diegomeringer3953]

FUNGUS FUNGUS FUNGUS!

[@NitpickingNerds]

WE GAVE YOU YOUR FUNGUS

[@diegomeringer3953]

@@NitpickingNerds Slimefoot was pleased

[@natenicholberg7328]

:O asked for it and you gave it to us! What a channel

[@NitpickingNerds]

I know, crazy right?

[@Redragonclaws]

Was surprised at the lack of oozes and golems. Yes I am basically just commenting to boost you guys cause you are awesome

[@NitpickingNerds]

Aw, thanks! We are commenting back because you are also awesome

[@rodasxp97]

Would like to se a update on some of the tribes after keldheim, there was some cool suport on Legends for tribal, and keldheim Will be a game changer for gods

[@bernardinojavierpanosgil7609]

Nice list! (I hoped to see shamans but it's okay)

[@Forzza92]

When i quit playing commander like 2 months befor covid i only keept one deck of my 6 edh decks.... elephant tribal! Might not have the support but still a super fun deck to play :p

[@secondslash587]

With Kaldheim’s release, Gods have finally received one good support card: The World Tree, which, though not nearly enough to make the deck competitive, is an absolutely hilarious win condition for a commander deck. Insects and a lot of similar “pest” creature types also got a legitimate tribal commander in Blex, Vexing Pest. It’s still hard to figure out what that deck would actually be trying to do though.

[@kristennorth3268]

The Eldrich Moon double faced cards are all horrifying.

[@dahuntre]

In 2020, WE are the pirates who don’t do anything, we just stay at home and lie around

[@NitpickingNerds]

We are busy 24/7 running a KZbin channel 😂

[@BatCaveOz]

Now I know why my Wombat themed deck wasn't very successful.

[@Redragonclaws]

I’m so glad you guys liked treefolk!

[@breakingnews33]

WOOO TIER LISTS!!!!

[@nikolamatasin3877]

Placing Allies on D when they're one of the rare tribals which actually synergieses with themselves is travesty, and while they're like Slivers, they also work different, since majority of them are ETB triggers, with exceptions like Sea Gate Loremaster. And while most of them won't make you that excited, neither will Slivers (other than cooler art I guess), there's about 95 of Allies to pick from, they have Ally specific support too, March from the Tomb, Captain's Claws, Retreat to Emeria, Join the Ranks, Gideon Ally of Zendikar, ZNR Tazri, Ally Encampment, not to mention since it's 5 colors, you can run any general tribal support ever (as well as any general support/staple ever)..., there's also a few Infinite Combo potentials, and you can take deck into different direction too, tokens going wide, equipment, doubling ETB payoffs, Graveyard Recurssion (Massive Graveyard Recursion for win with things like Haunted Voyage/Pyrrhic Revival/Patriarch's Bidding), Blink, Flicker... only real issue they have is that some cards are too expensive CMC wise, considering almost all of them come from two Zendikar blocks (other than two which came in Commander Precons), which were quite weak.

[@kennethdixoniii4113]

Notably missing from this video?? That sweet merch. Come on guys, you got to sport the brand!! Speaking of which, the weather is getting cold and I could use a new hoodie... 🤔

[@NitpickingNerds]

I know just the place you can find one!

[@alexmendoza9645]

Demons are amazing. Four demons can control an entire battlefield. I think they're great finishers as well

[@NitpickingNerds]

They are great finishers but there aren't any good early demons :(

[@alexmendoza9645]

@@NitpickingNerds that's fair and they don't have a lord. Maybe one that gave them Life Link to offset most demons downsides would be perfect, or one that acted like blood speaker

[@OUSTET]

Nitpicking Nerds that’s why they made kaalia 😎

[@NitpickingNerds]

There just not anything that cares about how many demons you control, except like Liliana’s Contract

[@haroldfuqua4045]

Recently I discovered Dungeon Shade. That card art is absolutely frightening

[@maxwellnichols3873]

Canis Domesticus and Canis Lupus. Dog and wolf are different species. Actually, debate is ongoing whether the domestic cat is its own species, Felis Domesticus, or a subspecies of the European wildcat, Felis Sylvestris Domesticus

[@GabetheFrog_]

Where is frogs? No but seriously great video guys. Have a great day and stay safe.

[@NitpickingNerds]

Appreciate it, stay safe as well!

[@kingoceanblu4445]

Orah, Cleric Commander with alot of cards that punish others for attacking you and makes them sacrifice their creatures when yours dies like Dictate of Erabos. Love my Cleric Deck!!

[@jameskelly2559]

I tend to consider humans in different tribal sects too...Barbarians, Rogues, Assassins lots of them.

[@MTHW4390]

Need to revisit this, also, chatterfang wants to know WHERE ARE THE SQUIRRELS (I know this was before mh2)

[@zxsage1]

Itss fun how some of these got support after this video was made

[@Redragonclaws]

“Scarecrows make a mockery of the natural order! Dead ones make fine hats.” - Wickerbough Elder declaring scarecrows Poop Tier

[@ExKiwi-yw8er]

you gotta admit that scarecrows have some of the coolest art in magic though.

[@Mr.Slaught4r]

I wish they gave gorgons the ability to tap other creatures when summoned ( turning creatures to stone ) that would give them something fun and something to throw text on more that 19 cards

[@autoenthused]

Pics of important cards would be nice

[@jasonbarry3301]

Allies and Avatars is my favorite D20 tabletop RPG

[@throstlewanion]

That sea monsters grade made me realize this was made before Runo was printed. I think now sea monsters could easily go into C+ or B- territory

[@finnsclarinet]

Snakes, insects and pests: the two eras: pre-blex, and post-blex

[@joshcotter6079]

I think for terrifying art, either Sensory deprivation or Peer into the Abyss

[@tylerw3341]

Evil Eye of Urborg is my pick for scariest art, it looks and feels so realistic

[@PawzBrownMTG]

This was great and I agreed to all the moves. Stay Pawzitive and Safe

[@jacktupp4358]

Good Warrior, Good Soldier, and Goodnight

[@jadewheatley2559]

My solution for werewolves being bad in EDH was to make an Arlinn Oathbreaker. Works really well and it's very fun!

[@tedhand6237]

Huge fan of Megatog, which is super fun in my Jhoira deck, although I can't disagree that the tribe is under supported. Maybe Brothers War will address it.

[@TheHollowBoy]

C-Tier for fungus I would say is fair. Fungus have some fairly good cards like mycaloth, psychotrope thallid, utopia thallid and vitaspore thallid. Are really good cards and are very fun to play in a slimefoot commander deck. Thought sadly a lot of fungus cards aren’t that great.

[@Atanar89]

Warrior is a lot stronger than soldiers. Take a look at the Soldier Tribal and Warrior Tribal page on EDHREC, the difference is very noticeable. And Warriors got Najeela which is actually good.

[@timgil7830]

I would love to see you just take this template and reshuffle one year later. So many tribes have changed so much and I know your opinions have

[@Xonides]

I guarantee that my Brain Cow (Sphinx) tribal deck will make you reconsider and move them to low D tier. It’s still pretty janky, but man is it consistent.

[@Dylfunkle]

I'm looking forward to rat and demon support in the coming sets.

[@weirdproq]

I see in Commander Legends we're getting more Pirate support. I'm excited.

[@stevenkuykendall8673]

Is the only reason that Eldrazi don't suffer from the "Angel / Demon" problem that they're colorless? They have a pretty limited card pool, and they rarely synergize with each other. But like Angels and Demons once you have the resources to start casting the fatties they start winning. Colorless Eldrazi EDH decks don't seem great outside of always having access to a really strong commander once you have the mana.

[@NitpickingNerds]

There are also a bunch of colored eldrazi ranging in cmc, so you have things to do early and there are a couple payoffs for being in the tribe

[@patrickgrant910]

My sphinx deck was one of the best decks out of the 20 or so i've made. Unesh goes off

[@bradwinward1237]

I cant believe you D tiered my giants D': Ya done me dirty

[@henrythomasrutland6093]

Shinxes are quite good mogasi of the ageless an extra turn every time. At lease as much support as birds

[@jameskelly2559]

The World Tree has really improved Gods

[@Revival_JamZ]

Where are elders, no tribe support but the members of the tribe are so powerful that can take games by their own, show respect for the old ones :). Also missing druids, there are a ton of them.

[@OukerTeams]

Where is my zubera tribal love? Playing mine as a mass reanimate combo deck with changelings to fill it out.

[@dac314]

On behalf of Myrs AND Minotaurs, they should both be better supported, but are honest C-tier Tribes. Easily 1/3rd of each tier should be bumped up a tier or half a tier.

[@batmanwins5701]

I think you have rated warriors criminally low. As a catchall tribe that is strongly represented in 4 of the five colours and still has a presence in the other colour(blue), with an awesome top tier commander like najeela, a strong second commander in alesha and lots of tribal support, they should at least be in "A". They have even been a ranking deck in standard at least once over the years. They play multiple archetypes as well (aggro, counters, tokens, extra combat steps, equipment, elves, minotaur, goblins and humans). They stand apart more so than soldiers(tokens, birds, humans) and knights(equipment, humans, vampires)in my opinion. Look at the sheer number of them! I love my tuned yuriko deck(I would love to compare it with Joe's list) but it struggles to ever be as powerful as alesha or najeela as far as combat combo decks go.

[@batmanwins5701]

@SteterFan zurgo and the new akiri are both good as warrior equip decks. The latter of the two strongly encourages warriors and equipment the former benefits from.tribal synergies. Alesha, who smiles at death - also smiles at warriors. The are also part of the party mechanic and can be linked to both elf and human tribal for bonus synergy.

[@batmanwins5701]

Najeela is in no way the only warrior commander. Just the only one that is obvious. Clearly you have not done your homework before making this comment. They are one of the biggest tribes in magic and can be built in many different ways. Maybe not as flashy or defined as elves or goblins but a bit more diverse and widely dispersed throughout 4 of the. 5 colours (blue has a few but not many that are worth playing).

[@batmanwins5701]

@SteterFan 1. i didnt say alesha was optimal as a warrior deck only that it was viable. 2. None of the commanders i suggested are mono red- you must be thinking of stupid zurgo from dragons of tarkir. Im talking about mardu zurgo for khans of tarkir and alesha is mardu as well. Both versions of akiri work with equipment and are both boros. 3 new akiri does not specify warriors in her text but she is a warrior and there are many warriors that have equipment synergy in her colours. You sound like you dont look at commanders and see the variety of ways to play them. Like if it it doesnt tell to play warriors then it must not work as a warrior build. I think you should sit down with a commander you dont know about and then without net decking it, try to come up with 3 or 4 different ways you could build it. Just as an exercise in expanding your creative thinking and maybe your general knowledge of the massive card pool in our format. Not suggesting that you are not creative or knowledgeable but it might be an interesting experiment for you. I have at least a few decks that are not built in a way that the commander is usually built. This can make for some spicy brews and lots of fun at the table.

[@batmanwins5701]

@SteterFan you are correct i was making guesses about you as a deck builder which may or may not be accurate. No offence was intended by my remarks. Ultimately it all boils down to opinion. Joes, beezys, your opinion. All opinions. Except my opinion, it is the one sacred truth in this world.😏

[@rthayes00]

Have you thought about a "Which precons are the best video?"

[@victorgromadin973]

Where would you rank golems/constructs?

[@Lidsterzachary]

allure of the unknown is definitely the scariest art in my opinion

[@Digihubtcg]

what about wurms??? my wurm tribal deck is my best edh deck and with a big win rate

[@ellatgrasso2096]

you guys didnt talk about my two favorite tribes, Cephalids and Satyrs lol

[@kingginger3335]

Also, my buddy has a cEDH Sphinx deck that is extremely fast and powerful

[@alfredorivera5764]

Sea Monster should become a mechanic like Party, just instead of caring about rogues, clerics, warriors and wizards it should care about Krakens, Octopuses, Leviathans and Serpents(is that even a type?)

[@sebbysmith]

I cant find sea monsters on card companion. Im new to the game and want a pirate and sea monster deck. A captain jack sparrow deck if you will.

[@Redragonclaws]

Sea monsters get around the demon/angel problem by having super-ramp with Arixmethes as a commander

[@mrpopsful]

I would move Sphinxs, allies, knights and possibly faeries up 1 tier. I must have missed a memo on werewolves

[@moreparmesan5261]

There goes Beezy. Looking like he needs to poop again. Great job, guys

[@NitpickingNerds]

One of these days, one of these days...

[@Qualcuno111]

Unesh sphinx tribal is actually a good pseudo-high tide deck. You play a lot of 2 mana 4/4s, you draw almost you entire deck and you kill al the board in a couple of extra turns. In my experience they are at least better than cats. Also, how elves are not SSSS tier?

[@jonathanpeterson1]

Samurai. It’s my favorite, even if it lacks serious support.

[@voxkine9385]

I’d say gods should be low B/high C. They don’t have a ton of synergy or anything, but they are generally just good in general and hard to get rid of. All of them having some form of indestructible just boosts them up so much imo.

[@NitpickingNerds]

All the gods want you to build around them though, and you don't have the deck space to build around any of them 😂

[@fuzzyhughes3622]

That's why I built sisay legendary gods and Dragons (and one angel + morophon) All theros gods and God eternal rhonas (that etb on a tutor to field effect combined with Gisella is usually a win) and I plan to add 2 from kaldheim, then all 5 color dragons + tricolor pay 3 effects and lathliss. Deck yanks wins just cause you camt keep anything gone and board wipes cease to function. Also phenax + heroes podium hits like a truck. It's my favorite tribal deck cause it's legendaries only and 2 of my fav tribes

[@colinh5299]

Idk guys, my Gargos deck romps pretty hard...Is this just a general consensus of the tribes?

[@calebghormley2322]

Dogs are domesticated wolves but they're considered different species. This is representative of a grey area in taxonomy. New species are a product of isolation plus time, because all organisms are slowly evolving and if two populations aren't interbreeding, they eventually diverge into separate species. Deciding the exact point at which they become separate species is the grey area. Mostly because evolution is a continuum, so drawing a hard line is somewhat arbitrary. Domesticated cats came from Felis Silvestris Lybica, which still exists today in North Africa. Domesticated cats continued to interbreed with this wildcat species for a very long time, so there has been less divergence. Though they are still considered a separate species (Felis Catus). Lions are a somewhat distant relative to the domesticated cat. So yes, if Lions are cats, then wolves should absolutely be dogs. Or alternatively, dogs should be wolves. I think WotC made their creature type decisions based on language not science. We still call big cats like lions and tigers, cats, but we don't call wolves, dogs, or vice versa. Honestly, we should be calling big cats and domesticated cats, felines, and wolves and dogs should be called canines. Though making erratas on that many printed carts is a pain, and adding binomial nomenclature taxonomy to a card game might be excessive.

[@serra3143]

Allies aren’t too much like slivers I truly believe that

[@djdude309]

now that kaldheim came out i wonder what giants get ranked as?

[@djbisson9819]

Oh man why you do this to me guys it’s gonna be a long week waiting for this best card from each set vid.

[@NitpickingNerds]

It’s probably our coolest video yet, if that helps 😂

[@djbisson9819]

@@NitpickingNerds come on. Hahaha

[@jamesday123456]

Oh my god no OOZES!! Come on ooze tribal

[@HighlanderHipster]

Hushbringer is scariest art. Just 👄👄👄👄

[@NitpickingNerds]

I never thought of that one as scary before, interesting

[@filthymtgcasuals]

I don’t agree that snakes are poop. Snakes can be powerful and you can have them in quantity.

[@thepaperknight5908]

I suppose Advisor would be better than Rat I guess. Since they're basically the same now with Petitioners, but actually HAVE a commander in the form of Bruvac

[@ingolf82]

The Locust God makes insects by the way :)

[@alpha_egg2328]

where would you put dwarfs?

[@Luxalpa]

Missing Phoenixes and Griffin's in this list!

[@crovax1375]

I was certain that I asked for thrull tribal... But the spookiest art has got to be Peer into the Abyss

[@NitpickingNerds]

It's an infinite regress of spook

[@crovax1375]

@@NitpickingNerds regress?

[@vitogordin5067]

Does counterspells tribal counts as a tribe?

[@NitpickingNerds]

vito gordin no!

[@weirdproq]

I honestly think the art on Marjhan or Leviathan is pretty scary.

[@AnthemNotBanal]

I've played Rats since 2005 and have loved them since that time. They're at least B Tier for me

[@a7XBigEA7x]

I don't care how high their mana value is, angels & demons are better than D tier. They challenge you to build better decks. The only thing they lack is the same support that dragons have. So they would be C or B tier. Because even with the lack of support, they're one of the most powerful midrange & late game threats you can play along with having some of the most iconic cards in all of magic.

[@ballisticman3111]

I totally agree angels have serra angel and demons have griselbrand that card was banned in commander for being so powerful also black has vampiric tutor or demonic tutor insane tutors