I'm sure you saw it. The new Tribal Leader for Commander that's a perfect swiss army knife of Tribal Loving.

We are now living in an era of Morophon. Morophon has arrived...

As a reminder, here is Morophon!

Now the good news is that we already had a Five-Color leader for any tribe, so let's not get over-excited. I've heard people say things like, "Finally! We have a Five-Color Leader for any tribe!" No, we already did. Her name was Karona. She was created when Kamahl killed Phage, Akroma and Zagorka in one giant blow of his sword named Soul Reaper. Now, the card, Karona, False God, hasn't been that good...

Her haste and ability to +3/+3 an entire team is great! But then the fact that she switches sides? No thanks. I have seen her lead a five color Group Hug deck once too. But you get the idea - she is great until you have to give her away. If she can't kill in that first attack? However, I have seen people gang up and take down someone with her Commander damage in just one turn, so it's not the worst disadvantage ever. But she's not maximally flexible...

Which is where Morophon steps in.

Now, to be fair, Morophon isn't going to replace decks with Five-Color Tribal leaders already.

I don't see Najelela, Tazri, the various Slivers or Dragons stepping aside for Morophon. I don't think that the generic changeling that costs seven mana is going to inspire like Horde of Notions will for Elementals or even Reaper King for Scarecrows. Or Atogatog.

Where I think Morophon adds flexibility though, is that you can do a quartet of new things:

1. Unify a Tribe - There are a number of creature types out there that have entries in many colors. Even if they were supported by leaders, they have not had one true leader to bring all of those colors together. Want some examples? Sure! Zombies. We've had Zombies in in Innistrad sets, over on Amonkhet's plane, in multiple places, including Ravnica and Dominaria, and even some entries. Now, you could have one, consistent, Five-Color Zombie deck that includes everything from God-Eternal Oketra to Zombie Master. The same is true of popular tribes like Spirits, Elves, and Merfolk. The ability to unify an entire tribe that has previously been splintered across colors is something very intoxicating for many Commander players.
2. Creates New Tribes - There are a number of tribes out there that never had support for a larger build, other than potentially Karona. For example - Shapeshifters! And that's funny since Morophon is actually a Shapeshifter too, so he could lead a Shapeshifter deck. And the same is true of Ogres. You could make a Thopter deck with Thopter making cards in most colors.
3. It's Not Truly Five Color - Because Morophon is colorless, you don't have to have It lead an entire Five-Color build. If you wanted to stick with just the colors of your Tribe of choice, you could easily do so. And that opens up a lot of interesting options. For example, take Samurai. We only have 37 Samurai in print, just one of which is Green, and none of which are Blue. If you wanted, you could just do Mardu Samurai. Another example of tribes that have limited colors include Naya Wurms or Sultai Faeries which adds Green Faeries to your Dimir ones.
4. Remove a Current Leader That Doesn't Help the Tribe - A few tribes out there already have a leader in the right colors! But that leader is just a generic one-size fits all presence, that merely serves as color unifying marker used to unite the colors of the tribe without any mechanical fealty. That sort of a leader is to be easily cast aside for Morophon. A good example of this may be Goblins. We have Goblin legendary Commanders in Mono-Red or in Rakdos and Gruul. However, the only Jund Goblin legendary leader we had until now were the Shattergang Brothers, but they are just a color marker for the deck, they don't help you in any way. Now, you could take that deck, and swap out the Brothers for Morophon.

Because Morophon opens up massive new tribal synergies with these four new concepts, I suspect that it could wind up being a top-ten Commander. It's only five colors if you want it to be. Unlike many other options, it can be what colors or what tribes you want.

With that understanding?

It's. High. Time. It's. Past. Time.

Let's finally make that Ape tribe deck. Because Wizards still hasn't given us a Gruul Ape leader.

My rules for this deck, other than Morophon and a few other cards out there to make this work mechanically, only use cards that are on theme. Since my leader is a changeling, I ruled that other changelings and such would be on theme, as well as generic tribal enablers like Herald's Horn. After that? It's all fun!

Rise of the Apes | Commander | Abe Sargent

• Commander (1)
• 1 Morophon, the Boundless

• Creatures (29)
• 1 Ancient Silverback
• 1 Apes of Rath
• 1 Chameleon Colossus
• 1 Changeling Berserker
• 1 Changeling Titan
• 1 Gargantuan Gorilla
• 1 Gorilla Berserkers
• 1 Gorilla Chieftain
• 1 Gorilla Shaman
• 1 Gorilla Titan
• 1 Hooting Mandrills
• 1 Kird Ape
• 1 Kird Chieftain
• 1 Mirror Entity
• 1 Ravenous Baboons
• 1 Savage Gorilla
• 1 Sidisi's Pet
• 1 Silverback Ape
• 1 Simian Grunts
• 1 Simian Spirit Guide
• 1 Summit Apes
• 1 Taurean Mauler
• 1 Uktabi Kong
• 1 Uktabi Orangutan
• 1 Wily Bandar
• 1 Adaptive Automaton
• 1 Brass Herald
• 1 Metallic Mimic
• 1 Grunn, the Lonely King

• Spells (27)
• 1 Appetite for the Unnatural
• 1 Decree of Savagery
• 1 Gorilla War Cry
• 1 Kindred Summons
• 1 Pounce
• 1 Savage Alliance
• 1 Savage Summoning
• 1 Crib Swap
• 1 Distant Melody
• 1 Harsh Mercy
• 1 Kindred Dominance
• 1 Prey Upon
• 1 Primal Command
• 1 Primal Growth
• 1 Primitive Justice
• 1 Rivals' Duel
• 1 Roar of Challenge
• 1 Roar of the Crowd
• 1 Tooth and Nail
• 1 Bestial Fury
• 1 Fervor
• 1 Hidden Gibbons
• 1 Primal Rage
• 1 Primitive Etchings
• 1 Rhythm of the Wild
• 1 Steely Resolve
• 1 Tooth and Claw

• Artifacts (8)
• 1 Door of Destinies
• 1 Herald's Horn
• 1 Obelisk of Urd
• 1 Pillar of Origins
• 1 Riptide Replicator
• 1 Sol Ring
• 1 Vanquisher's Banner
• 1 Volrath's Laboratory

• Lands (36)
• 11 Forest
• 11 Mountain
• 1 Cavern of Souls
• 1 Cinder Glade
• 1 City of Brass
• 1 Command Tower
• 1 Gruul Turf
• 1 Jungle Shrine
• 1 Mana Confluence
• 1 Path of Ancestry
• 1 Savage Lands
• 1 Sheltered Thicket
• 1 Stomping Ground
• 1 Taiga
• 1 Unclaimed Territory
• 1 Yavimaya Coast

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And there we are!

What did you think of my Ape build?

We have a number of strong Apes that do things.

We've got Apes that destroy artifacts and lands and such all day long.

Now I am running a card that, technically, illegal, but it shouldn't be:

This is Uktabi Kong. There is no reason this card has a silver border. The size, abilities, casting cost, art, flavor text - none of them aren't able to be printed in black border. And he'll give your Apes a big, board-smashing presence that you can benefit from.

We also have some fun Apes that have smashing presences as well, beyond the Kong. Such as Grunn!

These folks are fun too! Now, because we don't have as many Apes as we should (cough Wizards cough), I am running cards like Kird Ape, Sidisi's Pet, and Silverback Ape. Wizards....we need more Apes!

In the meantime, I began adding in Ape-themed support cards like Fervor and Primal Rage that'll give your team haste and trample, as well as cards like Tooth and Nail, and many, many fighting mechanics.

We also have some Ape-themed removal...

Such as these! Now, in the interests of openness, Wizards has made a competing tribe of primates (Monkeys). The problem is that Monkeys aren't a big tribe either. We only have four that were printed with the Monkey type (Wily Bandar, Scrounging Bandar, Zodiac Monkey, and Tree Monkey) as well as bizarrely, Ravenous Baboons.

That last one makes no sense, as the card was printed with Apes, and the rule for creature types has been to add others, not to remove ones that have been supported, so if you are running a real-life copy of a creature, such as Ravenous Baboons, then it should match the type printed on the card, unless it's no longer supported.

Anyways, welcome to your primate deep dive. Did you enjoy my deck? I hope so! Any suggestions or anything that you'd make? Just let me know!

What are you looking to build with Morophon? Any decks or tribes inspire you? Thanks again for reading!