Doggone Purrfect - Cats and Dogs Tribal

Casual Cats Dog RGWU Tokens

PinnedPhoenix

Lands (23)

• 3x Temple of Plenty
• 4x Branchloft Pathway  ^Flip
• 4x Cragcrown Pathway  ^Flip
• 4x Needleverge Pathway  ^Flip
• 4x Overgrown Farmland
• 4x Temple of Abandon

Rin, Seri, Mordenkainen (4)

• 1x Mordenkainen
• 3x Rin and Seri, Inseparable

Cats (11)

• 2x Marisi, Breaker of the Coil
• 2x Mirri, Weatherlight Duelist
• 3x Prowling Serpopard
• 4x King of the Pride

Enchants (10)

• 2x Oath of Ajani
• 4x Bard Class
• 4x Oath of Nissa

Dogs (12)

• 2x Isamaru, Hound of Konda
• 2x Mowu, Loyal Companion
• 4x Bolt Hound
• 4x Pack Leader

---

Sideboard

Other (15)

• 1x Prowling Serpopard
• 1x Temple of Plenty
• 1x Temple of Triumph
• 4x Qasali Slingers
• 4x Stalking Leonin
• 4x Whitemane Lion

---

Are you dog tired of the same old Selesnya scratch? itching for something a little more pawesome, like nine times more lively? You're barking up the right tree, pal, and there's a cat stuck in that tree, and that cat, that tree, that borker... it's you. it's all you.

I wanted to make a Selesnya deck since I have a mono-red barbarian and a Dimir rogue tribal, and I'm really happy with both of those. why not make a Selesnya deck and get the whole color wheel represented?

here's the problem: Selesnya is boring. don't get me wrong, it can be super good, and some of its cards are cool and flavorful. I just don't feel good about putting creatures and tokens on the board, buffing and proliferating them, the whole game dependent on if I can do that before I start topdecking lands. it's not fun to me.

but then I discovered Rin and Seri, Inseparable and fell in love with it immediately. it's the cat's meow. the dog's bark. it probably has something to do with the fact that red's my favorite color, but the idea of building around this card immediately made me warm up to running a (mostly) Selesnya deck.

so here it is! and here's how it works.

On Dogs and Cats

okay, so before I get started I'm gonna whine. cats are a super good tribal with some ludicrously awesome cards: Arahbo, Roar of the World, Kaheera, the Orphanguard, and Brimaz, Kind of Oreskos, to name a few I didn't include. dogs, meanwhile, are next to useless. they have very few cards and most of them aren't good.

the reason why is that for some doggone reason lions, tigers, felidars, and leonins are considered cats, but wolves and werewolves aren't considered dogs. why? it makes no sense. if wolves, dogs, and werewolves were all under a tribe like canid or something, you'd have access to cards like Ascendant Packleader and Tovolar, Dire Overlord  , and dog tribal would be a lot more viable.

sigh. it is what it is. anyway, I did my best to make up for it by skewing toward dogs wherever I could. the small creatures on the board are mostly dogs, the big important ones are mostly cats, plus I threw in a little surprise through my planeswalker. I did my best!

Cats

King of the Pride

King of the Pride - a flat +2/+1 boost on all cats is great, even if the mana cost is a bit steep for a foundation card and the 1 toughness makes it pingable. if I were to tweak the balance, I'd give it two toughness. that said, it plays really well in this deck, turning all your cat legendaries into legitimate threats. once Rin and Seri start pumping out cat tokens, this kitty can become a game ending presence on the board.

Prowling Serpopard

Prowling Serpopard - arguably the meanest blue-hate spell available to green, it'd be worth considering even if it wasn't a cat. it's just great here. if your opponent isn't running any counterspells, consider swapping it with Stalking Leonin for creature hate or Qasali Slingers for artifact, enchantment, and flier hate. between those three cards, you have a cat-tribal counter to a lot of major threats.

Mirri

Mirri, Weatherlight Duelist - what a fun creature. if she's the most powerful card on the board--and she might be, if you can get a King of the Pride or two behind her--you can swing away and probably win the game in short order. if not, hang back and use her to block minor threats until you've got enough creatures down to end it in one stroke.

Marisi

Marisi, Breaker of the Coil - the fact that you can cast it for two mana with a second level bard class is great. it's also a 5/4 that gets buffed by King of the Pride, makes combat-phase chicanery difficult, and via goading can make other players swing in ways they regret. a hard card not to like, it rounds out the theme of cats as the tribe that makes life hard for the other player.

Dogs

Pack Leader

Pack Leader - what a good doggo. it turns your dogs into a backbone, letting you swing with impunity without worrying about them dying. in the late game, it makes all the dog tokens you get from Rin and Seri incredibly dangerous. hands down my favorite dog card.

Bolt Hound

Bolt Hound - a 2/2 borker with haste that buffs all your other attacking creatures every time it attacks. its synergy with Pack Leader is insane, since it allows you to swing with that extra boost, without fear of taking damage, and the fact that it's the only creature that buffs both dogs and cats is a nice touch. use it to put the heat on early, or to swing for that game-deciding extra punch later on.

Isamaru

Isamaru, Hound of Konda - a 2/2 one drop who benefits from Leader of the Pack and procs the level 1 and 3 effects from Bard Class. while not exactly a dazzling card, its sheer efficiency is hard to deny.

Mowu

Mowu, Loyal Companion - a little pricey for its power as-is, the fact that its mena cost gets knocked down to 3 with a second-level Bard Class on the board, and that it's voltronable with both Bard Class and Oath of Ajani, can make it a show-stealing threat.

Enchants

Bard Class

Bard Class - I like the flavor of this card a lot, and it works pretty well here. the +1/+1 boost on legendaries is nice, especially nice for Mowu, and the fact that it shaves the mana cost of all your legendaries except Isamaru at level 2 is even nicer. it really goes off in the late game though. I'll grant that the level 3 effect is a touch expensive to activate--I'd have made it cost four mana instead of five. but red and green are so starved for good card-draw engines, it's hard to be mad about. since this deck is running a total of 17 legendaries, you'll have lots of chances to take advantage, and on a lucky draw you can easily chain legendaries into playing three or four or even five spells in one turn.

worth noting that Bard Class makes it easy to run multiples of legendaries, since swinging with a legendary and then playing it in the second main at a discount price in exchange for a +1/+1 boost, a card draw effect and an untap is often worth it. this allows the deck to run with some consistency while playing with multiple copies of powerful cards.

Oath if Nissa

Oath of Nissa - an effective card draw engine which lets you dig for mana if you're screwed or sniff out Rin and Seri in the midgame, with the fun bonus that you can play whatever Planeswalker you please when it's on the board and the drawback that you can't use it to dig for other enchantments. it's good on its own, but it's broken with a fully upgraded Bard Class. use it in the late game to access the next five cards of the deck for free, accelerating your board state to an insane degree. it's just too good to pass up.

Oath of Ajani

Oath of Ajani - +1/+1 counters on every creature you've got can win you the game if it's played late. it puts two counters on Mowu, costs one less mana and lets you play more cards that turn via Bard Class, and makes Mordenkainen cheaper if you happen to draw him. it's a purrfect fit here.

Rin, Seri, Mordenkainen

Rin and Seri

Rin and Seri, Inseparable - The lynchpin of this deck, a purrfectly powerful Legendary with great flavor to top it off. turns every creature you play into two creatures, taps for a burn and heal effect and, since it benefits from both Pack Leader and King of the Pride, can swing for game-winning damage on its own. not much to say about this puss and pupper. they're the reason this deck exists.

Mordenkainen

Mordenkainen - is including Mordenkainen in this deck kind of silly? yes. is he the best Planeswalker I could've splashed, especially considering that I could choose any planeswalker via Oath of Nissa? no. is he actually pretty good here? sure. and most importantly... does he have a doggo?

so the deal is I was still kinda butthurt about how much dog tribal sucks in MTG and wanted to make them shine as much as possible. Mordenkainen does that! his card draw effect speeds the deck's tempo along, his pooch fits in just fine with Leader of the Pack and Rin and Seri, and that pooch can become a game-ending chonker if you activate Mordenkainen's ultimate. even if it's not the best way I could run this deck, it's definitely the most fun.

voila. a cats and doggos deck that'll pounce on all your friends and scratch and slobber 'em up real good. suggestions welcome, especially for the sideboard, which is still in construction. give it a +1 if you like it!

Top Ranked	Achieved #107 position overall 3 years ago Achieved #12 position in Casual 3 years ago
Date added	3 years
Last updated	3 years
Splash colors	U
Legality	This deck is Casual legal.
Rarity (main - side)	6 - 0 Mythic Rares 44 - 11 Rares 10 - 0 Uncommons 0 - 4 Commons
Cards	60
Avg. CMC	2.68
Tokens	Cat 1/1 G, Dog 1/1 W, Dog Illusion */* U, Emblem Mordenkainen