by Johnny Cycles, January 9th, 2026

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! Nothing says Christmas like Werewolf Tribal! Thanks to jordanleebc19 for the decklist! Werewolves are a fun tribe that have gotten some powerful additions thanks to our return to Innistrad. But, they haven’t yet gotten the Modern Horizons treatment. Can they compete in Modern without that? Let’s find out!

Decklist – Werewolf Tribal

by jordenleebc19
Format: Modern

Creatures (30)

4 Ignoble Hierarch
4 Kessig Prowler
4 Young Wolf
4 Outland Liberator
4 Werewolf Pack Leader
2 Eladamri, Korvecdal
2 Endurance
4 Immerwolf
2 Tovolar, Dire Overlord

Artifacts (4)

4 Aether Vial

Enchantments (4)

4 Sylvan Anthem

Spells (4)

4 Lightning Bolt

Lands (18)

2 Boseiju, Who Endures
1 Commercial District
4 Copperline Gorge
3 Forest
1 Mountain
1 Stomping Ground
2 Thornspire Verge
4 Wooded Foothills

Sideboard (15)

2 Vexing Bauble
2 Veil of Summer
2 Torpor Orb
3 Blood Moon
1 Dismember
2 Endurance
3 Force of Vigor

Deck Tech

Primary Game Plan

We are an aggressive, go-wide strategy looking to flood the board, play some lords to pump our team, and beat face. Along the way, there are some sweet synergies that can draw us cards, chip in sneaky damage, and let us flood the board with the right set of cards on top of our library.

Our aggression starts in the 1-drop slot, as it should. We have the best 1-mana Werewolf for our deck in Kessig Prowler. Young Wolf gives us some nice recursion. And Ignoble Hierarch, mostly included for a bit of ramp, also serves to pump an early attacker thanks to its exalted.

From there, our 2-drops all serve double duty. Outland Liberator is an effective piece of main-deck hate against a whole host of strategies. From Affinity to Tron, from Blink to Izzet Prowess, this 2-mana 2/2 gives us a way to interact with a lot of different decks. If we ever get to attack while it’s a Werewolf against any of these decks, we should be winning.

Meanwhile, Werewolf Pack Leader gives us some much needed card advantage, albeit conditional. Being able to make it a 5/3 is an added bonus, though I’ve yet to get anyone with this sneaky ability. Guess my opponents practice the first rule of Magic…

Finally, Sylvan Anthem is an all-star in our deck. Not only does it give us a difficult-to-deal-with lord effect, but it helps us sculp our draws, as well. Assuming we remember proper sequencing. Mistakes may have been made on this front a number of times.

Our 3-drop spot is where the deck comes together (minus Endurance, which is a necessary evil to have a chance against Reanimator in the first game). Immerwolf is a sweet lord with sneaky intimidate. Preventing our Werewolves from transforming hasn’t really come up yet, but I can see that block of text being relevant.

Tovolar, Dire Overlord should pump our team the same as Immerwolf. Alas, this Human Werewolf didn’t get the Modern Horizons treatment. Still, the card draw he gives us is crucial to us closing out games, while the Kessig Wolf Run attached to his Werewolf side can ensure we punch through the damage we need to win.

Finally, there is another non-Werewolf in Eladamri, Korvecdal. I was on the fence about this Elf Warrior being included over the full playset of Tovolar, Dire Overlord, but I like having some diversity in our card advantage and in our legendary creatures. Furthermore, we have to jump through a lot of hoops to draw cards off of Tovolar, while Eladamri can give us value the turn we resolve him.

Aether Vial and Lightning Bolt round out our 60. I’m not a huge fan of Aether Vial and usually prefer Collected Company as a more powerful way to catch back up and/or close out games. However, I’ve seen Aether Vial in action in this deck enough to see why its included. When our hand is flush with threats, having an Aether Vial on the battlefield feels almost unbeatable. Of course, when our opponent has systematically destroyed every creature we cast, drawing an Aether Vial on turn 5 or 6 will have you wishing it was Collected Company. Live by the sword, die by the sword.

Sideboard

There is something so satisfying about playing Blood Moon in a Werewolf Tribal deck. I play it in my Commander Werewolf deck, even if land denial is considered both hateful and a bracket 4 characteristic (the rest of the deck is certainly not bracket 4). I also think having the potential to play a Blood Moon on turn 2 makes it an obvious inclusion to fight the big mana (and greedy mana) decks.

Otherwise, it’s mostly the usual suspects. Force of Vigor feels like a necessary tool against Affinity and Hammertime, but I’d consider making room for Meltdown, as well. Against Affinity, Force of Vigor often just isn’t enough. Torpor Orb and Vexing Bauble both have their places, while Veil of Summer is amazing. Finally, Dismember gives the deck a bit of targeted removal.

Let’s get to the games!

Match 1 vs. Eldrazi Aggro

Match 2 vs. Golgari Cauldron

Match 3 vs. Esper Control

Match 4 vs. 4-Color Frog

Overall Record: 2-2

Well, those were some fun games! I was pleasantly surprised at how competitive the deck was. I definitely didn’t have as much success with my OG Werewolf Tribal deck (see more on this below). However, I do think we were on the favorable end of variance a couple of times. Our Golgari opponent, in particular, had their combo both games, but we had our own answers.

18 lands felt pretty low, particularly as we frequently got mana screwed. Still, I know how bad this kind of deck plays when it floods, so this may be a necessary risk.

jordanleebc19 sent me an updated version of his deck and I had a chance to test it out as well. Here’s the new list:

Decklist – Werewolf Tribal 2.0

by jordenleebc19
Format: Modern

Creatures (28)

4 Kessig Prowler
4 Young Wolf
4 Frenzied Baloth
4 Outland Liberator
4 Werewolf Pack Leader
2 Cemetery Prowler
4 Immerwolf
2 Tovolar, Dire Overlord

Artifacts (4)

4 Aether Vial

Enchantments (4)

4 Sylvan Anthem

Spells (4)

4 Lightning Bolt

Lands (20)

2 Boseiju, Who Endures
2 Commercial District
4 Copperline Gorge
3 Forest
1 Mountain
2 Stomping Ground
2 Thornspire Verge
4 Wooded Foothills

Sideboard (15)

2 Vexing Bauble
2 Veil of Summer
2 Torpor Orb
3 Blood Moon
1 Dismember
2 Endurance
3 Force of Vigor

The big changes come in the form of more aggression in Frenzied Baloth, some on-theme graveyard hate in Cemetery Prowler, and a couple of more lands. Overall, I like this new direction. Both Aether Vial and Collected Company provide a deck like this pseudo-haste, so adding an on-curve creature with haste is great. Meanwhile, with Cemetery Prowler, we’re sacrificing speed for a decent threat that can both ramp us and hose key cards in our opponent’s graveyards.

Match 1 vs. Mill

Match 2 vs. Reanimator

Match 3 vs. Mono White Angels

Overall Record: 2-1

Okay, so this record is misleading. We got super lucky against our Reanimator opponent, for one. Second, I played another three matches with the deck and got crushed each time. The sound didn’t record, but I’m not sure I’d post all the games anyway even if it had.

We played Tron, Grixis Reanimator, and Grixis Control. Our Reanimator opponent scooped the match after beating us in game 1, but the match-up doesn’t feel great. Sure, we have the tools to beat it, but we’re very much reliant on finding our hate pieces on time.

The Grixis Control match-up was miserable. Despite putting pressure on our opponent each game, they were able to answer our threats and eventually turn the corner and win. Tron also beat us easily.

These matches, however, really encapsulate the challenges this kind of deck faces. If we don’t have an aggressive start, we’re generally too slow to win, as our top end 3 drops are not individually overly powerful. Tovolar, Dire Overlord is great and all, but he dies to Lightning Bolt, can’t attack until we untap with him, and gets blocked very easily.

Similarly, if our opponent uses spot removal to answer our first wave of creatures, we are at the mercy of the top of our deck. When we draw creatures or lord effects, we stand a chance. When we hit one too many lands, though, we die.

Our best games saw us win with multiple creatures in our hand and a board of three or more Wolves/Werewolves with one lord effect. Unfortunately, the deck lacks the consistency to achieve this.

A New Direction?

As I’ve mentioned in several of the videos, Werewolf Tribal happens to be the second deck I built on mtgo. It was a Midrange deck that struggled with spot removal and the busted cards in the format. Still, having played a more aggressive Werewolf deck for awhile now, I wanted to revisit that Midrange deck and give it another spin. Here’s the decklist.

Decklist – Midrange Werewolf Tribal

by johnnycycles
Format: Modern

Creatures (26)

3 Ignoble Hierarch
4 Outland Liberator
4 Werewolf Pack Leader
4 Immerwolf
3 Tovolar, Dire Overlord
2 Nightpack Ambusher
4 Volatile Arsonist
2 Tovolar’s Huntmaster

Enchantments (4)

4 Utopia Sprawl

Spells (8)

4 Lightning Bolt
4 Malevolent Rumble

Lands (22)

2 Cavern of Souls
2 Commercial District
4 Copperline Gorge
4 Forest
1 Kessig Wolf Run
1 Mountain
2 Stomping Ground
2 Thornspire Verge
4 Wooded Foothills

Sideboard (15)

4 Veil of Summer
3 Blood Moon
1 Dismember
3 Force of Vigor
4 Leyline of the Void

Match 1 vs. Sultai Spell Slinger

Match 2 vs. Mono Black Necrodominance

Overall Record: 1-1

I didn’t try the deck too much, as I just didn’t have a lot of time. Furthermore, its limitations remain much the same as they were. We are pretty slow compared to the rest of the format and are playing a very fair strategy. The cards we’re playing, while individually powerful, are easily answered. When we ramp into our 3 drops and big finishers without our whole board being picked apart, the deck feels great. Unfortunately, this plan is a fragile one. Finally, as our match against Mono Black demonstrated, if we’re playing even a slightly unfair deck, only our best and most aggressive starts will have a chance.

Still, it was a lot of fun to play! My love for Volatile Arsonist and Tovolar’s Huntmaster remain strong. I’m sure I’ll revisit the deck again in the future.

What Does Werewolf Tribal Need to Compete?

When thinking about the best tribal decks in Modern, there is Merfolk at the top, then Goblins and Elves after. None are tier 1, but both provide a blueprint for what Werewolves need to be competitive. More lord effects in the 2-drop slot alongside more powerful abilities attached to its creatures up the curve. In particular, we need more card advantage. Rundvelt Hordemaster and Leaf-Crowned Visionary are two examples of the kind of creature Werewolves need to compete.

Conclusion

Werewolves are a fun and janky tribe to build a deck around. They have some sweet abilities and their transforming from Human to Werewolf is both sweet and somewhat unique to Magic. They would be a lot more fun to play if we had more powerful creatures in the 2- and 3-drop slot. Nevertheless, I really enjoyed the deck jordanleebc19 sent me. Thank you again!

If there’s a deck you’d like for me to try out, please email it to me at johnnycycles16@gmail.com. As always, thanks for watching and reading!