Tuesday Night Takeover
Arahbo, Roar of the World
Article May 15, 2026

Arahbo, Roar of the World Cat Tribal

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Commander Overview

Arahbo, Roar of the World is one of the most popular cat-themed commanders, having made his appearance back in 2017. He offers a powerful buff to a cat creature with his eminence ability, and for a small investment of mana, makes them dangerous killing machines later in the game.

Arahbo wants you to play him as an aggro, combat deck, but there are a lot of lifegain synergies with cats, so this deck has a secondary lifegain theme.

This deck request was submitted with a $200 budget, and I managed to keep it under budget, including the commander.


Bracket 2 Selesnya Cat Tribal
Command Zone

Arahbo, Roar of the World

Legendary Creature — Cat Avatar
$161.66

Creature 34

1 Ajani's Pridemate $0.28
1 Arahbo, the First Fang $0.71
1 Brimaz, King of Oreskos $7.34
1 Bronzehide Lion $0.44
1 Felidar Cub $0.10
1 Felidar Guardian $2.77
1 Felidar Sovereign $3.43
1 Feline Sovereign $1.39
1 Fleetfoot Panther $0.30
1 Healer of the Pride $0.40
1 Helpful Hunter $0.33
1 Infirmary Healer $0.23
1 Jedit Ojanen of Efrava $0.96
1 Keeper of Fables $0.34
1 King of the Pride $0.46
1 Kutzil's Flanker $0.36
1 Kutzil, Malamet Exemplar $4.05
1 Leonin Vanguard $0.32
1 Leonin Warleader $5.40
1 Loam Lion $0.34
1 Mirri, Weatherlight Duelist $5.93
1 Nacatl War-Pride $1.35
1 Pride Sovereign $2.85
1 Prowling Serpopard $2.66
1 Qala, Ajani's Pridemate $0.42
1 Qasali Ambusher $0.47
1 Qasali Slingers $10.77
1 Regal Caracal $0.37
1 Sacred Cat $0.47
1 Seht's Tiger $0.47
1 Territorial Scythecat $0.28
1 Trained Caracal $0.06
1 Trove Warden $0.43
1 West Wind Avatar $0.18

Planeswalker 1

1 Ajani, Caller of the Pride $0.53

Instant 9

1 Akroma's Will $16.09
1 Beast Within $0.53
1 Condemn $0.25
1 Heritage Reclamation $0.28
1 Lifelong Friendship $9.46
1 Noxious Revival $7.53
1 Rebuff the Wicked $7.18
1 Reprieve $1.29
1 Swords to Plowshares $1.12

Sorcery 8

1 Cultivate $0.33
1 Fumigate $0.35
1 Nature's Lore $2.10
1 Overwhelming Stampede $1.76
1 Sevinne's Reclamation $0.33
1 Shamanic Revelation $1.36
1 Soul's Majesty $2.98
1 Winnowing $0.33

Artifact 7

1 Arcane Signet $0.41
1 Conjurer's Mantle $1.94
1 Herald's Horn $4.90
1 Pyre of Heroes $2.13
1 Sol Ring $1.08
1 Stoneforge Masterwork $3.57
1 Talisman of Unity $6.38

Enchantment 6

1 Ajani's Welcome $2.10
1 Beastmaster Ascension $3.89
1 Kenrith's Transformation $0.96
1 Lure $0.19
1 Strength of the Harvest $0.29
1 True Conviction $5.02

Land 34

1 Animal Sanctuary $2.33
1 Brushland $0.94
1 Canopy Vista $0.33
1 Command Tower $0.36
1 Evolving Wilds $0.28
11 Forest
1 Horizon Canopy $4.77
1 Krosan Verge $0.32
1 Myriad Landscape $0.27
12 Plains
1 Razorverge Thicket $0.60
1 Sunpetal Grove $0.66
1 Temple Garden $7.48

Tokens Used 6

Beast
Cat
Cat Soldier
Cat Warrior
Copy
Sacred Cat

EDH BRACKET

1
Exhibition
2
Core
3
Upgraded
4
Optimized
5
cEDH
Bracket 2 // Core

The average current preconstructed deck.

  • No Mass Land Denial
  • No Chaining Extra Turns
  • No 2-Card Infinite Combos
  • No Game Changers
  • Few Tutors

How to Play the Deck

With well over 300 cat creatures available for us to choose from, I really had to narrow down to the most impactful ones to add. Many of the cats are anthems, while others have more utility, such as artifact or enchantment removal.

The goal of the deck is to get cats out quickly, build them up over time with +1/+1 counters and other buffs, and swing for lethal. The lifegain aspect of the deck helps pad our life against other aggro decks so we can be less scared of swinging out.

Synergies in the deck

Cats work well with other cats, that’s about all there is to it. Lifegain, buffs, and the whole nine (lives) are possible with this deck. Arahbo doesn’t even have to come out most games if you don’t want, as his passive buff can make 1 drops formidable on turn 2.

Phases of the Game

Early-Game: Look to play out some 1-drop cats like Sacred Cat or Loam Lion on turn 1, and start attacking by turn 2 using Arahbo’s buff.

Mid-Game: Throw down some anthem creatures like King of the Pride or Arahbo, the First Fang and fill up your board with cat tokens.

Late-Game: Leverage your removal wisely and use a finisher like Qala or Overwhelming Stampede to pummel your opponents.

Card Breakdowns

Ramp

The overall curve of the deck is pretty even, with the majority of our spells and creatures costing between 2 and 5. As such, we don’t need a ton of ramp, because cats are pretty cheap to cast. I did include the standard green package with Cultivate, Nature's Lore, and cheap fetch lands like Evolving Wilds and Myriad Landscape.

Card Draw/Card Advantage

It’s difficult to draw a lot of cards in Selesnya, but our top-deck manipulators help mitigate that pitfall. More about them later.

For card draw, we have Shamanic Revelation and Soul's Majesty, both capable of drawing us a full grip of cards. Keeper of Fables is a card-draw king, and his squire is Helpful Hunter.

Removal

I went kind of heavy on removal with this build, as it’s important to neutralize threats that are non-creature almost more than those that are creature. Our cats can easily out-muscle opponent’s boards, but artifacts and enchantments can really throw a wrench in our plans.

Thankfully, cats are quite good at blowing stuff up. Feline Sovereign rewards us with combat damage by granting a Nature’s Claim effect, while Heritage Reclamation provides a one-off effect. I also included Qasali Slingers, as they are a better version of Sovereign’s ability, but that card recently shot up in price, so you could leave it out if you want.

For creature removal, we have Swords to Plowshares and Winnowing, and as a worst case scenario, Fumigate.

Protection

Once you’ve built up a board of ferocious cats, you want to be able to protect them. For that reason, I’ve included stuff like Reprieve and Rebuff the Wicked. Condemn can also stop a deathtouch creature or other big bad from hitting you for a lot by putting it on the bottom of its owners library.

While not technically protection, there are some stax pieces in the deck that create a mild buffer between you and your opponents. Prowling Serpopard makes your creatures uncounterable, while Mirri, Weatherlight Duelist makes it so only 1 creature can attack you and 1 creature can block your attacks. Additionally, Kutzil, Malamet Exemplar limits how much people can interact with you on your turn as a kind of kitty Grand Abolisher.

Utility / Support

Kindred decks have a lot of artifact support, and most of them manipulate the top of our library or let us dig for creatures. Herald's Horn and Pyre of Heroes let us hunt for more creatures to refill our hands, plus the Horn is a cost-reducer.

Conjurer's Mantle is the best iteration of this ability, letting us attack to look at the top 6 cards of our library and bring one creature that shares a type with the equipped creature to our hand. Plus it grants vigilance, so we can still have a blocker.

The lifegain support in the deck comes from Ajani's Welcome, Healer of the Pride, and Leonin Vanguard. These help pad our life total for a potential win with Felidar Sovereign.

Mana Base

The mana base is pretty simple, with most lands not entering tapped. Krosan Verge and Myriad Landscape can fetch us the colors we need in a pinch. We also have some early game mana rocks in Sol Ring, Talisman of Unity, and Arcane Signet.

Win Conditions

As mentioned above, having more than 40 life and getting to your upkeep with a Felidar Sovereign wins you the game. However, that’s not super likely, as you immediately become a threat when you play him.

Instead, using a combination of creature buffs, we aim to swing for lethal trample damage. Arahbo grants a big buff and trample, and Qala, Ajani's Pridemate also offers a buff. Beastmaster Ascension and True Conviction give our cats +5/+5, double strike and lifelink, which make them super formidable.

Before a big swing, we can throw out an Overwhelming Stampede or Akroma's Will to ensure we give everything keywords. Alternatively, if we’re attempting to take out one player, we can use Lure or Mirri to ensure they won’t have enough blockers to handle our herd of cats.

Strengths of the Deck

Puts up big threats quickly

Can easily dismantle artifact or enchantment strategies

Weaknesses of the Deck

Deathtouch is scary for our cats

Repeated life loss from aristocrat style decks makes it hard to be confident enough to swing out.

Conclusion

Cats are one of the most popular creature types in all of Magic, and with green-white being their primary colors, Arahbo will only get more tricks up his sleeve as time goes on.

While this deck is technically a bracket 2 because it only has 1 tutor and no game changers, I’d feel confident playing this at a low to mid bracket 3 table.

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