Kibo, Uktabi PrinceKibo, Uktabi Prince | Art by Zoltan Boros

Enough Monkey-Monkey-ing around. It's time for some data analysis!

Welcome once again to Fire and Ice! This is the data-driven series where I go over cards that are becoming more or less popular for different Commander decks, and talk about why they may be gaining or losing popularity. I'm Julia, EDHREC's Duchess of Data, and I'm super excited to jump into today's article! As a reminder, the math that supports this series is detailed in this article.

EDHREC, of course, has a ton of data. We'll draw conclusions from that data about how certain commanders' decks have changed over time, give insight about new cards, and hopefully provide some tech for your favorite commander's list.

Today, we're focusing on Kibo, Uktabi PrinceKibo, Uktabi Prince. This Gruul () commander is the 134th most popular commander on EDHREC, and currently has nearly 15,000 decks to his name. Let's see what gives this ape his shape.

Kibo, Uktabi PrinceKibo, Uktabi Prince

What's Hot and What's Not for Kibo, Uktabi Prince?

For , Kibo is a 2/2 Monkey Noble. We can him to have each player make a Banana (a token that can be tapped and sacrificed for either or and to gain two life). Additionally, when an opponent's artifact goes to the bin, we get to put a +1/+1 counter on all of our primates. Finally, when Kibo attacks, the defending player sacrifices an artifact.

That's a lot of abilities. Kibo pilots seek to take advantage of a board full of artifacts, using pingers and other synergy pieces to ensure that those 'naners don't go to waste. They also usually fill their 99 with tons of monkeys.

Among this commander's most popular cards are Viridian RevelViridian Revel (87% inclusion rate), Gorilla ShamanGorilla Shaman (83% inclusion rate), and Silverback ElderSilverback Elder (84% inclusion rate).

What's Fiery for Kibo Decks?

Hit-MonkeyHit-Monkey - Fire Score of 11.32

Talk about keyword soup! This Monkey Assassin has every ability under the sun, and doesn't cost too much mana. Reach, vigilance, deathtouch, hexproof, haste, and "uncounterability" are all extremely useful these days, especially given how many nonsensically powerful creatures are running around in current-day sets.

While Hit-Monkey doesn't work directly with our artifact-centric gameplan, he is likely going to be the most versatile hominid on the field at any given moment.

Guerrilla GorillaGuerrilla Gorilla - Fire Score of 8.72

Two-mana creatures that can sacrifice themselves to destroy artifacts are pretty commonplace in Magic, from CankerbloomCankerbloom to Cathar CommandoCathar Commando. This variant just so happens to be an Ape, which easily earns him a spot in Kibo's kingdom.

I want to note the subtle power creep here, though. Usually, we need to pay to access this sort of effect on a two-drop creature. Here, the effect is free, but we can only destroy noncreature artifacts and enchantments. It's a small change, but it may be a harbinger of even stronger abilities down the road.

MugatoMugato and GumatoGumato - Fire Scores of 6.45 and 5.15

These are some big, scary Apes. Mugato and Gumato are both relatively generic five-drops, but they're more powerful than some Apes/Monkeys from throughout this game's history. That's enough to earn them a slot in our 99.

It's great to suit these vigilant creatures up with +1/+1 counters using our commander, as they can prove their potency on offense and defense.

Heroic FeastHeroic Feast - Fire Score of 1.98

With all the Bananas we'll be creating, Heroic Feast will be handing out +1/+1 counters all the time. It'll usually dole them out to two creatures at a time, but we can spread the love a bit more if we've got Fangren MarauderFangren Marauder on the field.

This enchantment can help us push through for a bit more combat damage. It may not be the quickest way to win, but a three-mana counter production engine like this is certainly powerful.

Killmonger, Ruthless UsurperKillmonger, Ruthless Usurper - Fire Score of 1.95

Our first card of the day! Killmonger works beautifully with our commander. Kibo will pass out artifact tokens to our opponents turn after turn, and Killmonger will punish our opponents for hoarding all of them like the greedy players they are.

Once Killmonger is on the board, our opponents are in a lose-lose situation. Either they hold onto their Banana tokens and risk a big attack from this Human Villain, or they sacrifice their Bananas and we get to load our Apes and Monkeys up with counters. This card may deserve a spot in even more Kibo lists. The more I talk about it, the better it seems...

Party DudeParty Dude - Fire Score of 1.62

This card is very similar to Viridian RevelViridian Revel. Both are enchantments that let us draw cards as our opponents "eat" the tokens we give them. We even need to pay into these enchantments to access more cards with them.

Party Dude does a bit more than Viridian Revel, though, as it forces each player to make another artifact token and can even buff up one of our attackers if we invest enough mana. Each of these enchantments is great in this list, though, and they can both find room in Kibo 99s.

What's Icy for Kibo Decks?

Summit ApesSummit Apes and Gorilla BerserkersGorilla Berserkers - Ice Score of -1.37 and -1.27

These are both bad Apes. They were likely in most Kibo lists to bump up the count of relevantly-typed creatures, even though they're not quite up to par with even modern-day commons.

As new, exciting primates like Guerrilla GorillaGuerrilla Gorilla and Hit-MonkeyHit-Monkey come onto the scene, it becomes harder to justify keeping Summit Apes and Gorilla Berserkers around. These two creatures have most probably been cut to make room for some of the Fiery cards in this article.

CultivateCultivate - Ice Score of -1.13

Cultivate is a good ramp spell, sure, but we've got better things to do on turn three. Kibo also costs , and he's pretty central to our game plan.

Even if we've got three lands on the field and none in hand on turn three, it's difficult to resist the temptation of just casting Kibo instead of Cultivate. After all, our commander provides us with extra mana too! Decks with three-mana commanders like this one usually want to ramp on turn two or four, so Cultivate's drop in popularity checks out.

Kird ChieftainKird Chieftain - Ice Score of -1.10

Much like Summit Apes and Gorilla Berserkers, Kird Chieftain is not a fantastic card. But, I wanted to talk about it separately because it does have some marginal utility.

We're loading our hairy guys up with tons of +1/+1 counters thanks to our commander, but those Apes and Monkeys may not always have a way to punch through for combat damage. Kogla, the Titan ApeKogla, the Titan Ape, for example, has a huge stat line but lacks trample.

But is a lot to pay for a simple keyword. This activated ability evidently isn't enough to save this Chieftain from being cut out of many Kibo lists.

What's in a Kibo, Uktabi Prince Deck?

Here's a Kibo list with all of his hot cards and none of his cold cards...

Conclusion

It's neat to see a -heavy artifact deck. There's so much cool green artifact synergy that's rarely played in Commander because this color just doesn't make great use of the card type! I'm partial to Sarinth SteelseekerSarinth Steelseeker, Teething WurmletTeething Wurmlet and Ace, Fearless RebelAce, Fearless Rebel, all of which are neat inclusions in a Kibo list.

What's your favorite card that cares about artifacts? Let me know in the comments below, and I'll be back next week with a particularly salty Fire and Ice!