Themed Deck Tribal - Attack on Titan EDH
Hello all and welcome to the first installation of Themed Deck Tribal. (TDT for short!)
The basics of what this is and how this will work going forward. In TDT we will take characters, moments from a show, items and/or weapons. You name it, and find the perfect Magic: The Gathering card to represent it! Just to lay the groundwork here, I don’t just pick based on art or name alone. I take everything into account but the effect of the card usually takes priority over name and art. Alters can do the art part.
At the end of each post, you can put in the comments what you’d like to see next on TDT! As a result, you may even be featured.
So... now as you probably but have already seen while glancing down… or Up at the title.
Attack On Titan EDH
Attack on Titan is huge as of late, the new season has just ended the first part so it’s hard to miss it! Plus with the last set bringing lots of giants along with it, it was just too perfect of a time to make this TDT, all the paths were connecting for this moment.
As I said earlier, we will be focusing on more of the big characters and moments of the show. But in general, an Attack on Titan themed deck would follow three main themes.
- Walls
- Titans/Giants
- Flying Humans
When building a Commander deck for Attack on Titan, cards with these tribes is a great way to make a more general themed. Finding 60-70 cards based on specific characters will have you reaching for the real bottom of the barrel… I rather not have to pick what one of my cards will be Connie… Like, come on, Connie?
Now, let’s get into more specific characters and moments from the show!
Season 1-3 Spoilers Ahead, No Manga Spoilers. (Please watch it, it’s a great show <3 )
Let’s start off with my favourite character, Erwin Smith- who, in my opinion, should have been saved instead of Armin, please prepare yourself for my upcoming 3000-word article on why he should have lived.
Odric, Master Tactician is perfect for Erwin, it is fitting in both name and effect. Erwin is, to put it lightly, a Master Tactician in the show. What separates him from the likes of Armin (ew) who is also quite tactical, is he has to be fighting right alongside his units. The effect also shows he knows how to command a battle and is willing to make sacrifices for the sake of mankind. Always dedicating his heart, but maybe for more selfish reasons.
When representing Erwin Smith in a card, Odric was my top choice for many different reasons. However, another option was Syr Konrad, the Grim as he is willing to sacrifice his own for victory.
Realm-Cloaked Giant is one of the reasons I even thought about making this series as it fits the Colossal Titan to a T.
Not only is it just a freaking big 7/7 titan, but it also has an explosion attached to it. That is clearly referencing the Colossal Titans nuke entrance. The fact that it doesn’t destroy other giants is also perfect, as when he explodes the armoured titan is unaffected. The fact the card is an adventure type is also perfect but that may lead to spoilers. Make sure to watch season 4, it’s great!
Colossal Titan’s card was one that I just couldn’t think of any other card that could even come close to this one. In saying that Desolation Giant was a second choice, but it was just too small to be the Colossal.
For Levi, I choose Giant killer, but really it represents all the scouts. Surprisingly, a lot of people kill titans in the show.
At the most basic level, it’s a giant killer, I mean come on. Even the fact that it’s an adventure is like them going on expeditions outside the walls. The tap target creature is fitting too, as you can compare it to the blades cutting the back of the titan's heel making them fall to the ground. However, the reason I chose Levi as the poster boy for Giant Killer is because of the creature type. Levi grew up in the underground making him, when he was younger, a human peasant and I thought that was a nice little detail (and kinda funny).
My other option not just for Levi, but the Ackerman family, in general, was Serra Ascendant. It’s a flying human that can take over a game... That is really fitting, whenever one is on screen the titans don’t stand a chance… I ended up going for Giant killer for Levi, but Mikasa can still be Serra Ascendant.
Rolling Stones is a great representation of foreshadowing the reveal at the end of season 1.
The Walls are made of Titans and something can bring them out at any moment. In all honestly, I thought the best thing about this one was the visual image of the wall as this titan-like creature towers over the people in the art. Art aside, the titan coming out of the wall being told as "your walls can attack" is bone-shaking. When I found the card, I knew I had to add it to the list even if there wasn’t much to it.
There are many cards that have, “let your walls attack,” but this one’s art was just too perfect. However, High Alert is another option but only works with defender Walls.
Titan's Strength is one of the most obvious choices as it’s too perfect.
For cards that represent more of the series’ moments, I don't have any different card suggestions. It's specific to the situations, and I thought I would use this as an example for the future of TDT. However, this card can also just represent titan transformations in general. It makes the creature bigger... That’s more of an excuse as the effect isn’t that important this time around. I mean come on, it’s called “Titan's Strength” and it has a titan figure with a bolder. Anyone who has watched the show could put two and two together to get four, four being this card.
That's all for Attack on Titan!
I hope these cards have given you some ideas on how to make an Attack on Titan EDH deck. There were some more ideas I had based on Season 4 and the Manga however, I wanted to keep it more friendly to people who are waiting for all of season 4 to come out before they watch it.
I couldn’t add everything I wanted or else this article would feel really bloated. I would love to see new ideas from you all, fire them in the comments.
In conclusion, I would like to ask: what would you like to see next on TDT?
Doesn’t matter what media, post it in the comments and the most requested one will get a future feature in TDT. It may not be the next one, as if I don’t know the series personally I may have to watch it.
Hope you all have a fantastic day, this has been Alex form Commander's Herald signing out!
