Under the Eclipse: Grub’s Goblins and Brigid’s Kithkins

Lorwyn Eclipsed gave us a number of good additions to Commander in general and since we’re all about this new set lately I wanted to explore 2 distinct Tribal decks that run Commanders with the latest flipping iteration of paying mana at the start of your first main phase.

A Rakdos-colored Goblin Tribal deck, led by Grub, Storied Matriarch, and a Selesnya-colored Kithkin Tribal deck, led by Brigid, Clachan's Heart. So let’s dive in:

Grub’s Goblin Cuisine

First we have Grub, Storied Matriach, a Black, 2/1 Goblin Warlock with menace that puts a Goblin from your Graveyard back to your hand whenever she enters the battlefield or flips onto this form.

She can flip onto and gains the ability to Blight 1 (put a -1/-1 counter on one of your creatures) whenever she attacks; if you do, she will then create a copy that is tapped and attacking of the blighted creature, and at the end step, you sacrifice the token.

The deck can win through plain old attacking with a massive goblin army, but it also heavily relies on an aristrocrats-like gameplan which goes between draining opponents like a normal aristocrats deck, to pinging them directly every time one of your Goblins enters or dies.

Boggart Cursecrafter specifically works with Goblins dying, pinging every opponent every time one of your Goblins dies. Boggart Mischief works like a Bastion of Remembrance while also giving us an extra Goblin token if we Blight 1. Grave Venerations works as another aristocrats effect while also letting us bring back creatures from our graveyard to our hand every one of our end steps. Then we have Funeral Room // Awakening Hall which is yet another aristocrats effect Enchantment, which also has a 2nd use further ahead into the game in which we can return all of our dead creatures back to life.

We only have two non-Goblin creatures in the deck: Purphoros, God of the Forge which usually sits quietly on the sidelines while constantly shocking our opponents for 2 damage, and Mirkwood Bats which takes advantage of both creating and sacrificing tokens by also pinging each opponent for 1. We also have Impact Tremors which is yet another way to ping our opponents every time a creature ETBs on our side. You can see how quickly this can all get out of control.

To help us reach such heights we have some ramp from artifacts like Sol Ring, Arcane Signet, Rakdos Signet, and Ruby Medallion since most of our cards are red.

The Soul Stone deserves its own section, as not only is it a mana rock, but it can be harnessed by exiling a mere Goblin token and from then it will keep giving us back creatures each upkeep.

Let’s go ahead and take a look at our assortment of Goblins, then. Frogtosser Banneret makes all of our Goblin and Rogue spells cheaper, Goblin Warchief which does the same while also giving all our goblins haste, Hexing Squelcher protects us from getting countered at all, while also giving all of our creatures Ward – Pay 2 life. Conspicuous Snoop lets us play Goblin spells from the top of our library. Goblin Chirurgeon allows us to regenerate a Goblin in exchange of sacrificing another creature. Scuzzback Scrounger gives us the option to advance our game a bit faster if we Blight 1 each turn. Taster of Wares can disrupt all our opponents and let us steal important spells.

We have a fair share of token generation in the form of Howlsquad Heavy which gives all of our other Goblins haste while also giving us a token each turn; Legion Warboss generating a Goblin token every turn; Krenko, Mob Boss which doubles all of our goblins, an insane effect; and Siege-Gang Commander which creates three 1/1 Goblin tokens whenever it ETBs.

Most of these tokens are not supposed to last, but they aren’t wasted in any way thanks to Goblin Bombardment letting us do some extra pinging, or take out key creatures, and every time one of our cratures dies, Grave Pact forces our enemies to sacrifice a creature for each one that died.

Warren Instigator and Krenko, Tin Street Kingping both have very powerful effects at the cost of having to attack in the first place, which is why Rogue's Passage becomes a key piece, letting them attack freely. Dolmen Gate works especially well with Krenko because it allows him to constantly attack without worries while gathering counters and tokens.

We also have our lords, Rundvelt Hordemaster, Goblin Chieftain which also gives haste to other goblins, Goblin King which also gives Mountainwalk, Hobgoblin Bandit Lord which can also become a deadly shot with his 2nd ability, and Mad Auntie which can also Regenerate other goblins. Metallic Mimic though not a lord per se, boosts all of our following goblins played.

As for tutoring, Boggart Harbinger tutors a goblin to the top of our library; Eclipsed Boggart lets us look at the 4 top cards of our deck and put a Goblin, Swamp or Mountain in hand; and Goblin Matron straight up tutors a goblin card onto our hand. Finally Gamble, a 1 mana tutor that can easily change the game early on.

Eventually, we can also become an unstoppable force thanks to our lords in combination with artifacts like Herald's Horn, Patchwork Banner, Door of Destinies, “Banned of Kinship”] and Chronicle of Victory.

Other notable cards are Molten Echoes which essentially doubles all of our nontoken goblins, and Bloodline Bidding which works especially well on tribal decks like ours, returning all of our goblins back from the death and into the field. Such cards in combination with a decent setup with Purphoros, God of the Forge or Impact Tremors can easily end the game on the spot.

If Goblins interest you, but you didn’t want to play yet another creature beatdown deck, this might be the deck for you!

Kithkin Warcry

Here we have Brigid, Clachan's Heart, a White, 3/2 Kithkin Warrior that creates a 1/1 Green and White Kithkin creature token whenever she enters the battlefield or flips onto this form.

She can flip onto Brigid, Doun's Mind and gains the ability to tap to add X Green or X White where X is the number of creatures you control.

Bluntly put, this works as almost every other Selesnya Token decks with the key difference being that it leans heavily into the Tribal Kithkin plan, and looks to exploit Brigid, Doun's Mind‘s ability which pretty much is a Gaea's Cradle (which we also have in the deck) but in creature form. However, unlike other Selesnya Token decks, it has other pathways to victory, more notably Helix Pinnacle which can very easily get to the 100 counter mark with the help of Gaea’s Cradle effects: the Cradle itself, Bridig’s green side, Growing Rites of Itlimoc land side Itlimoc, Cradle of the Sun, and Evendo, Waking Haven.

Of course, to get there we need creatures, A LOT of them, so to help us get there we have Ojer Taq, Deepest Foundation and Parallel Lives which multiply our token generation, and as for token generators we have Brigid herself, Planeswalker in the form of Ajani, Outland Chaperone and Elspeth, Storm Slayer; Enchantments like Kinbinding, Clachan Festival, Militia's Pride; and even artifacts Halo Fountain.

With the addition of Cryptolith Rite or Springleaf Parade all of our creatures or tokens can also give us crazy amounts of mana which can easily get out of control if put to good use.

As for our normal creatures we have a lot of utility. Amrou Kithkin makes so that no creatures with power 2 or more can block our Kithkins; Dundoolin Weaver can bring any permanent from our graveyard back to our hand; Eclipsed Kithkin looks at the top 4 of our deck whenever he ETBs and lets us grab a Kithkin, Forest, or Plains; Chomping Changeling works as a Naturalize; Kinsbaile Borderguard enters as a huge creature as a byproduct of playing our Kithkins; Order of Whiteclay lets us recycle creatures of cost 3 or less; Champion of the Clachan boosts all of our Kithkins; Galepowder Mage lets us blink creatures whenever it attacks; Thoughtweft Trio can block any number of creatures; and Brigid, Hero of Kinsbaile keeps opponents in check by threatening to deal 2 damage to all of their creatures.

As with Grub’s deck, we also take advantage of being a Tribal deck by playing cards like Herald's Horn which lowers the cost of out Kithkin while also letting us “draw” extra cards; Patchwork Banner which is a small anthem and mana rock, Door of Destinies which increasingly boosts our Kithkin; Banner of Kinship which usually enters with a fair number of counters thus boosting our Kithkin a lot; and Chronicle of Victory quietly turning all of our small 1/1 Kithkin into powerful beasts that need serious consideration while also giving us extra card draws.

Halo Fountain not only helps us early game by creating tokens or drawing cards, but it can also win us the game if we untap fifteen tapped creatures, which shouldn’t be card to achieve considering the amount of tokens we can generate, and that we can just tap them for mana instead of attacking.

Another more obvious way to finish the game is with huge finishers like Craterhoof Behemonth and Moonshaker Cavalry quickly and unexpectedly overwhelming our opponents out of nowhere. With all of our extra mana generation Mirror Entity can also becomes an incredibly powerful finisher.

Of course, we also need our fair share of protection spells as no enemy would let us follow our gameplan without any hiccups. That’s where cards like Teferi's Protection, Flawless Maneuver, and Heroic Intervention become a must have for us, keeping our creatures safe at the most important moments.

Card draw is also very important, which is why we have Tocasia's Welcome and Welcoming Vampire which lets us draw pretty much every one of our turns, Caretaker's Talent which doubles as an anthem effect later on, and Shamanic Revelation which not only can let us draw a massive amount of cards, but also gain a massive amount of life out of nowhere.

If silently building your presence until you can have very explosive turns with insane amount of mana sounds like your thing, this might just be your deck.

Closing Thoughts: Lorwyn Revisited, Tribal Reborn

Lorwyn Eclipsed feels like a love letter to an era of Magic that many Commander players still hold close: a plane defined by tribes, identities, and mechanical cohesion rather than raw efficiency alone. What makes this set particularly exciting is not just the nostalgia factor, but how it modernizes those ideas without stripping away what made them special in the first place. The new flipping commanders, with their “pay mana at the start of your first main phase” mechanic, are emblematic of that design philosophy. They reward planning, commitment, and board presence, three things Commander players already value deeply.

Both Grub, Storied Matriarch and Brigid, Clachan's Heart exemplify how we can treat Tribal decks not just as linear beatdown strategies, but as fully realized engines capable of pivoting between multiple angles of play. Though these decks can be about attacking with a bunch of creatures that share a creature type, they aren’t just about that.

Whether you prefer draining the table one Goblin at a time or flooding the board with a village that taps for absurd amounts of mana, these decks prove that tribal Commander is more than alive, it’s evolving. And if this is the direction future sets continue to explore, we may be entering a new golden age for tribal-based strategies in the format, which I for one, welcome.