Tribes and Lords

Tribes and their lords have always been a fun and popular part of the core set. Alpha gave us Goblin King, Elvish Champion, Lord of Atlantis, and Zombie Master. More recently, M10 and M11 have had splashier lords for less-supported tribes, like Vampire Nocturnus and Knight Exemplar. So what tribes will M99 support?

The five most traditional tribes for each color are Soldiers, Merfolk, Zombies, Goblins, and Elves. More recently, we've seen Vampires start to replace Zombie's as black's primary race. Despite my love of obscure tribes, I've decided to stick with the primary five for a cycle of core set rares. I'm going to try to squeeze in a more unusual lord or two at other rarities, though.

Lords boost your army, and as such are important enough that you often don't want them to attack. One of the clever solutions to give them some added value is to give them tap abilities that let them contribute even when they can't attack. I'm a big fan of tight cycles, so I'm going to be sticking with lords that are 2/2s for 1CC, grant +1/+1 but no keyword abilities, and have a tap ability related to their tribe. Here are the three reprints I'll be using:

Merfolk Sovereign - 1UU

Creature - Merfolk (R)

Other Merfolk creatures you control get +1/+1.

T: Target Merfolk creature is unblockable this turn.

2/2

Cemetary Reaper - 1BB

Creature - Zombie (R)

Other Zombie creatures you control get +1/+1.

2B, T: Exile target creature card from a graveyard. Put a 2/2 black Zombie creature token onto the battlefield.

2/2

Elvish Archdruid - 1GG

Creature - Elf Druid (R)

Other Elf creatures you control get +1/+1.

T: Add G to your mana pool for each Elf you control.

2/2

I chose zombies over vampires because vampires deserve epic, flavorful lords like Nocturnus rather than simple cycled lords. That leaves white (soldiers) and red (goblins). So what can fill out the cycle?

Frontline Recruiter - 1WW

Creature - Human Soldier (R)

Other Soldier creatures you control get +1/+1.

T: Put a 1/1 white Soldier token onto the battlefield.

2/2

Goblin Tactician - 1RR

Creature - Goblin Shaman (R)

Other Goblin creatures you control get +1/+1.

T, Sacrifice a Goblin: ~ deals 2 damage to target player.

2/2

Both quite simple, but they fit their respective tribes. One last design before I sign off for the night:

Knight Marshall - WW

Creature - Human Knight (U)

First strike

Soldier creatures you control have first strike.

2/2

DISCLAIMER: The fan-designed cards here are NOT produced or endorsed by Wizards of the Coast, Inc. Wizards of the Coast® and Magic: The Gathering® are registered trademarks of Wizards of the Coast, Inc.