Derevi's Feathered Friends

Commander / EDH Aggro Casual GWU (Bant) Multiplayer

Atavistic

Creature (29)

• 1x Aerie Mystics
• 1x Augury Owl
• 1x Aven Brigadier
• 1x Aven Mimeomancer
• 1x Aven Mindcensor
• 1x Birds of Paradise
• 1x Celestial Gatekeeper
• 1x Chameleon Colossus
• 1x Cloudfin Raptor
• 1x Commander Eesha
• 1x Crookclaw Elder
• 1x Edric, Spymaster of Trest
• 1x Emeria Angel
• 1x Empyrean Eagle
• 1x Gilded Goose
• 1x Healer's Hawk
• 1x Ishai, Ojutai Dragonspeaker
• 1x Judge's Familiar
• 1x Kangee, Aerie Keeper
• 1x Keeper of the Nine Gales
• 1x Lieutenant Kirtar
• 1x Mindshrieker
• 1x Mirror Entity
• 1x Sephara, Sky's Blade
• 1x Soraya the Falconer
• 1x Teshar, Ancestor's Apostle
• 1x Unsettled Mariner
• 1x Warden of Evos Isle
• 1x Wingmate Roc

Artifact (6)

• 1x Arcane Signet
• 1x Bident of Thassa
• 1x Elixir of Immortality
• 1x Sol Ring
• 1x Soul-Guide Lantern
• 1x Vanquisher's Banner

Land (35)

• 1x Alchemist's Refuge
• 1x Bant Panorama
• 1x Blossoming Sands
• 1x Breeding Pool
• 1x Command Tower
• 1x Evolving Wilds
• 1x Exotic Orchard
• 2x Forest
• 1x Glacial Fortress
• 1x High Market
• 1x Hinterland Harbor
• 4x Island
• 6x Plains
• 1x Prairie Stream
• 1x Reliquary Tower
• 1x Scattered Groves
• 1x Seaside Citadel
• 1x Seaside Haven
• 1x Sunpetal Grove
• 1x Temple of Enlightenment
• 1x Temple of Mystery
• 1x Temple of Plenty
• 1x Terramorphic Expanse
• 1x Thornwood Falls
• 1x Tranquil Cove
• 1x Unclaimed Territory

Instant (8)

• 1x Beast Within
• 1x Counterspell
• 1x Flurry of Wings
• 1x Heroic Intervention
• 1x Return to Nature
• 1x Swan Song
• 1x Swords to Plowshares
• 1x Worldly Tutor

Commander (1)

Sorcery (11)

• 1x Airborne Aid
• 1x Cultivate
• 1x Dusk / Dawn
• 1x Farseek
• 1x Fumigate
• 1x Harsh Mercy
• 1x Kodama's Reach
• 1x Migratory Route
• 1x Rampant Growth
• 1x Shamanic Revelation
• 1x Time Wipe

Enchantment (10)

• 1x Bower Passage
• 1x Concordant Crossroads
• 1x Cryptolith Rite
• 1x Favorable Winds
• 1x Gravitational Shift
• 1x Guardian Project
• 1x Reconnaissance
• 1x Reconnaissance Mission
• 1x Soulcatchers' Aerie
• 1x True Conviction

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Bird Tribal is an idea I've played with before, in the summer of 2018 when I tried to make a Kangee, Aerie Keeper decklist work. As with many other ideas for Commander decks I've had over the years, it didn't work out as I hoped when I started testing it online, and I ended up scrapping the idea and forgetting about it entirely.

Cycle forward over 18 months to a month ago, when I found myself in need of a more casual decklist for a Commander event near the end of March. The event is fairly casual and uses a points system to disincentivise combo decks and extra turn decks, as well as stax strats and land destruction. On the flipside, it heavily incentivises creativity in deck building, as well as other things like good sportsmanship.

As such, though my Syr Gwyn deck is certainly of a suitable power level for the event, it's not exactly a creative choice, so I looked for something more interesting and initially opted for Morophon, the Boundless Tribal Everything. However, this idea fell apart as all the options became overwhelming, so I tried to do the same sort of deck around Mistform Ultimus instead. However, this fell foul of my budget restriction for the event, as well as having a conflict in terms of the endgame to go for.

Having spent ages looking through all the tribal lords, it was inevitable that I would end up with something in that area after those two failures, with Bird tribal coming out on top. I was initially going to build around Ishai, Ojutai Dragonspeaker (as Kangee is way too mana-intensive to be a suitable Commander), but I eventually decided to go with Derevi, Empyrial Tactician so as to avoid having two decks of the same colour combination (why do that when there's so many options?).

I may think that Derevi - and any other Commanders able to directly or indirectly cheat Commander tax (e.g. Yuriko for the former and the Eminence Commanders for the latter) - is a design mistake, but she fits the deck well beyond just being a Bird: her abilities at least seem like they should work well in a deck built around evasive fliers. The presence of Green also crucially adds ramp to the deck, as well as some other utility pieces like Aerie Mystics and Concordant Crossroads .

In any case, this is a fairly standard Bird Tribal list, with a few cards such as Reconnaissance added to take advantage of Derevi's abilities. Hopefully it works at least somewhat well, but any changes to improve it would be welcome.

Date added	4 years
Last updated	3 years
Exclude colors	BR
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	3 - 0 Mythic Rares 44 - 0 Rares 23 - 0 Uncommons 17 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	3.12
Tokens	Beast 3/3 G, Bird 1/1 W, Bird 2/2 U, Bird 3/4 W, Bird Soldier 1/1 W, Food
Folders	Walkers deck lists