Hello happy people! Today let's dig into the weakest barely supported little tribe of all time, Barbarians, with their lord, Balthor the Stout!

This 3-drop 2/2 mono-Red Dwarf pumps all your Barbarians by +1/+1 and can pump their front with a big mana boost. He has been errata'ed to a Barbarian. According to Gatherer there are only 32 other mono-Red Barbarians so it's not a deep tribe, but what can I do with it?

Ready? Let's do it to it! There are only 28 decks online on EDHREC.com, so that's a pretty small, dedicated crew of players. Did you know that in the story Balthor comes back as a mono-Black Zombie and that I built around him a couple of years ago?

Barbarians of Note

Godo is a classic 6-drop that fetches your deck for any equipment, drops it, and then when it swings first you can untap it and your Samurai and get another attack this turn. I added Skullclamp to fetch as well as a piece we'll look at later. I also tossed in the obvious pair of footwear (Boots, Greaves) to grab if you need to protect Balthor or a key dork like the second one of these. Karlach is a just-printed 5-drop 5/4 with the ability to attack the first time and then untap the attackers and net another combat step. They also get first strike this turn which can create some unfortunate chump blocks or blocking decisions. Karlach led me to add in a sub-theme of taking more attacks.

Two Dungeon-caring Barbarians! The former will give you a solid 5/3 trampler for 4 mana and then gives you the initiative which will explore a certain Dungeon. Then when it swings you can exile and cast it for free if you completed a Dungeon. Then the latter card is a fatter 7/3 with trampler for 5 mana and then when it is dealt damage you explore the Dungeon. Nice pair!

The General is the last card we'll look at in this section. This 3/2 is essentially unblockable with horsemanship. Love it loads here.

Lovisa and Balthor are it for the pumping of Barbarians. She will give all your Barbarians (and Warriors and Berserkers) haste and +2/+2 a big fat boost worthy of her five cost. Love her loads here. And then I tossed in Vanquisher's Banner, another 5-drop that gives your Barbarians +1/+1 and then draws you a card as you cast Barbarian - nice card flow.

The X artifact makes an X-sized Black Barbarian (you choose black for blocking fear and not dying to Terror and Dark Banishing effects). That's a pretty nice token over time to add to your board presence and you can easily get a 3/3 or 4/4. The Herald is a 6 drop 2/2 that can pump Barbarians by +1/+1 and then dig 4 and grab Barbarians and out them into your hand. Nice card for more pumpage and card flow in case you get lucky.

The Nexus is our final card in this section. Your stuff is almost all Barbarians, and you can tap it and make a 2/2 blue Barbarian, nice for the creature flow. You can see why it's here no doubt. Note that the Nexus will also make your team Samurai for Godo's untap trigger.

Synergies and Win-Cons

The equipment was added after Godo arrived to the deck and then I can grab it and drop it and then equip a dork for free and give it double strike, and you can flash it as a combat trick, and it's arguably one of the best pieces of equipment in a Red deck including colorless options. The creature can shoot a foe for three, attack them for 3, and then deal 6 in one card and be echoed if you need to keep it around. After it was printed, I added it to Abe's Deck of Happiness and Joy, and it was heavily played in casual decks for quite some time. Nice call back.

Keldon Warlord is a 4-drop X/X based on creatures, and I added in Rogue's Passage since it can be stopped by anything. Moraug, Fury of Akoum is a 6-drop with landfall that gives you a Relentless Assault free attack for the fences to be smashed. Your attackers get pumped as well even without multiple attacks. It's very strong here.

Answers

I like to have some mass removal; enter the Mortars that can sorcery shoot a foe's dork for four damage or overload for six and hit everything you don't control for 4. Nice! The Arsonist is a 3/3 that shoots any target for three on arrival if you have threshold. I also ran it in Abe's Deck of Happiness and Joy since it could hit a kill a player as well as a creature or planeswalker they controlled unlike the commonly played Flametongue Kavu.

The first Barbarian will destroy an artifact on arrival to the battlefield or make a Treasure if there is nothing to care about. Kamahl, can blast stuff on arrival to the battlefield with his haste and tapping to Bolt any target. I also tossed in his sister Jeska. They were raised by Balthor so they have to make it, after all.

I have all of the "discard to draw" card flow effects here that make Treasures that you can use for mana ramping for your firebreathing. The Score is one such option. The Chandra is a powerful 4-drop that is here for that first +1 to exile the top card of your library, cast it, and then if not to shoot your foes for 2 each, and then the +1 to ramp 2 is fine as well. Don't sleep on her -3 to Lightning Blast a dork either.

Ramp and Lands

Caged Sun is a powerful way to make a ton of mana, since you call Red and can pump your team and double your Red land output. I also tossed in Extraplanar Lens to imprint a Snow-Covered Mountain on arrival and then double their mana output from all players. I also tossed in the Gauntlet as well to pump your stuff and your foes', don't run more than one of these at a time.

A starting 3 loyalty on a 4-drop 'walker. The Koth is here for that -2 to make a mana for each Mountain you control. And tapping a Mountain, then +1 and untapping it to make a mana is not that bad. Or you can swing with said Mountain on a 4/4 dork. Whichever works for you!

Most of my lands are obvious. I wanted card flow for the Room. At the cost of just one life you can swap for a card and tap 4 mana total (this taps for one). I also wanted a win-con in land form. Since I was running few nonbasics, for the Lens, therefore I felt that Valakut could be a possible game winner dealing to a foe each time a Mountain arrives to the party if you control enough Mountains when it does so. Nice right?

I also pulled two lands to make two Barbarians. The Haven will tap for snow mana and needs three Snow-Covered Mountains to create a 4/3 vigilance Barbarian/Samurai. I also tossed in Mutavault. The Cavern can tap for Red to make Barbarians and then they are uncounterable. Nice combo. They are very strong here!

Since we have a few Dungeon cards in here I pulled a land for this card that can tap your leader and 4 mana to venture away. I also slotted in the Map as a mana rock that costs three, taps for colorless, and then can venture for 3 mana tap as a sorcery. Nice pair!

Ready?

Barbarian Tribal | Commander | Abe Sargent

• Commander (1)
• 1 Balthor the Stout

• Creatures (29)
• 1 Adaptive Automaton
• 1 Balduvian Warlord
• 1 Barbarian General
• 1 Barbarian Guides
• 1 Barbarian Lunatic
• 1 Barbarian Riftcutter
• 1 Brass Herald
• 1 Burnished Hart
• 1 Caves of Chaos Adventurer
• 1 Changeling Berserker
• 1 Combat Celebrant
• 1 Duplicant
• 1 Godo, Bandit Warlord
• 1 Kamahl, Pit Fighter
• 1 Karlach, Fury of Avernus
• 1 Keldon Champion
• 1 Keldon Warlord
• 1 Jeska, Warrior Adept
• 1 Leyline Tyrant
• 1 Lovisa Coldeyes
• 1 Moraug, Fury of Akoum
• 1 Neheb, Dreadhorde General
• 1 Pardic Arsonist
• 1 Plundering Barbarian
• 1 Reckless Barbarian
• 1 Solemn Simulacrum
• 1 Taurean Mauler
• 1 Tiger-Tribe Hunter
• 1 Zalto, Fire Giant Duke

• Planeswalkers (3)
• 1 Chandra, Pyromaster
• 1 Chandra, Torch of Defiance
• 1 Koth of the Hammer

• Spells (13)
• 1 Aftershock
• 1 Big Score
• 1 Chaos Warp
• 1 Faithless Looting
• 1 Fissure
• 1 Light up the Stage
• 1 Mizzium Mortars
• 1 Pirate's Pillage
• 1 Relentless Assault
• 1 Seize the Spoils
• 1 Unexpected Windfall
• 1 Vandalblast
• 1 Aggravated Assault

• Artifacts (14)
• 1 Caged Sun
• 1 Dungeon Map
• 1 Embercleave
• 1 Extraplanar Lens
• 1 Fire Diamond
• 1 Gauntlet of Power
• 1 Lightning Greaves
• 1 Maskwood Nexus
• 1 Riptide Replicator
• 1 Ruby Medallion
• 1 Skullclamp
• 1 Sol Ring
• 1 Swiftfoot Boots
• 1 Vanquisher's Banner

• Lands (40)
• 28 Snow-Covered Mountain
• 1 Cavern of Souls
• 1 Dwarven Mine
• 1 Dungeon Descent
• 1 Faceless Haven
• 1 Myriad Landscape
• 1 Mutavault
• 1 Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
• 1 Path of Ancestry
• 1 Rogue's Passage
• 1 Scavenger Grounds
• 1 Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle
• 1 War Room

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And...there you go! So, what did you think of my brew? Anything in here that I missed or that you are inspired by? Check it out!