Tribal Apocalypse
Burn Em If You Got Em
Welcome back everyone to another week of tribal coverage. This week we have some intriguing decks to look at as well as some information to go over regarding the 2hg Tribal event on the 19th of this month. For everyone interested you can join us each and every Saturday in /join tribal at 12:30 pm EDT. Hope to see you there.
First though, lets look over the decks from this past week. We had an roughly average turn out this weekend with about 14 players. Though we did have a very odd round 3, with a decent number of 1-1 players falling to 0-2 pair downs. Do not fret though that still left four 2-1 decks to go over and a 3-0 deck as always. So lets get started.
This was not a very fun deck to play against this week. Though I'm slightly bitter because my deck sucked. In all honesty, this was a very nice deck using very fun cards. I remember right when I came back to Magic at the start of Onslaught building a Mono-White Bird deck using both of the Soulcatcher cards and Battle Screech as well. Somehow though, instead of staying as a bird deck like this one here, it somehow morphed into a Blue Morph/Mill deck. Oh how odd nostalgia ca be. Back to Tribal though. The (Ray of Distorion) was a good call main deck as it killed my Raid Bombardments throughout the match. Also note the Teferi's Moat which coincidentally was paramount in defeating AJ_Impy, the King Of Moat.
What do you mean that isn't a decklist? Ok you caught me. But do to a variety of mitgating circumstances, such as byes and no-show opponents, Kumagoro cruised his way to 2-1 but requested I not show his deck so he could actually play it this coming week. I agreed and so you get Awesom-O instead. We've all been there. Ignore the horrible spelling I didn't make the poster.
Ah Ranth, our perennial article feature. This week instead of dealing with all his "haterz" Ranth decided it would be more fun to scare the pants off everybody. Going first turn Putrid Imp is normally a good sign of someone playing dredge. However luckily, there was no dredging to be done. Still there is a slight reanimation theme, but why fault Imps for what they are good at. Filling the graveyard. Plus you can't really go wrong with a turn 2 or 3 Iona, Shield Of Emeria.
Quite a filthy bunch of vermin if you ask me. But, rats are a deceptively good tribe. Speedy and highly violent when it comes to hand and graveyard destruction. Normally by itself this wouldn't be game ending. It's the part 2 of recursion and killing you with your own guys, that makes this swarm of rats a force to truly be reckoned with.
And our champion. Kalandine pulled it out this week. His elemental deck burned and charred its way through the competition emerging bloodstained but victorious in the end. I think thats all the puns I can manage before you regret having RED this article...nope still got 'em. Anyhow, Kal has followed the one principle to success that has lately ruled Tribal. And that is to play red. He is the only red deck to win prizes this week. Yet he also won the biggest prize of them all. I guess you could say the fire never dies...
June 19th- Special Event: Tribal 2hg
Thats right. ON June 19th we will be playing tribal 2hg. It's fairly simple I believe.
1. Teams will be random. This will cut back on any accusations of unfun team players and what not.
2. Teams will not be announced till the beginning of round 1.
3. Slivers and Cloudposts will be banned based on player requests.
4. Games will be timed at 60 minutes.
5. Don't forget this is a multiplayer event. Build your deck accordingly.
In the end that is all. As always feel free to express, concerns, congratulations, or flamings in the comment section below>
Back to more summer session work(summer classes are far worse than i thought they would be)
-Shard
25 Comments
I have to say I'm disappointed not just by the fact that I can't make the 2hg event, but with these decks I mean surprise yet another mono red burn deck won and imp reanimator?
Do you even look at the decklists before posting?
The "Burn" deck only had 7 legitmate burn cards. (i suppose the argument could be made for tatics but seriously thats more anti discard tech then true burn) His deck is more set up for the soulstoke combo and sub shaman's theme then it is burn.
And then it's not like my reanimtor deck went 2-0 then 2-1 it actually went 1-1 then 2-1. And truthfully that's okay because I got lucky. Not because the deck was any good.(infact i could name several ways to improve the deck)Bottom line on that one....its a budget deck and played like one.
Just try understanding that this is a classic format and that games will on a regular basis end on turn 5 not 10 and you'll quit being so disappointed all of the time.
defensive much?
Not as much as you'd think but really am gettin sick of seeing the tribal crowd feel that they must insult every deck that might be of an "Archtype" or that's "not casual" Get over yourselves Traders sponsors a tournament not a place for the same 8-10 people to get paid to play with their friends and their fun decks.
turn down the tempers guys. Sure red has been winning a lot but then the decks are posted near weekly. Someone could have meta'd an answer by now
RED has been winning alot no question there but i'm not dense enough to automatically compute every red deck must = burn deck. And its that type of attitude that keeps alot of the casual crowd away.
I totally understand and get that you guys dont want to see classic tourney decks ported over every week but that doesnt excuse the regulars actions regarding decks they dont like. The thing about the "Red" decks winning out of the 4-5 weeks of the red decks winning my elementals deck was the only red deck even half worthy of playing in another format.
So What we have here is that people would rather not answer obvious flaws in their deck designs and attempt to make others feel bad for playing thoes said decks that exploit said weakness.
I see your point Ranth about this deck not being the classic burn deck. But I think we should take into consideration that everybodies idea of what a red BURN deck might be varies.
I do want to mention is that I believe this tournament is casual. You're certainly not going to be making large sums of money playing it and I believe it's encouraged to go outside the box to come up with something creative. I do hold your beliefs though that if someone looses with said creative deck, they shouldn't whine about it.
If a red deck is going to consistantly win each week, then people whould build something that can compete against it.
I completely understand and agree that this is a more casual settting for a tourney And i'll be honest my imp deck wouldnt stand a chance if it wasn't! My deck was seriously lacking in consistancy and 2/2 fliers without removal back up just doesnt cut it in a creature based format.
However my main beef was that every time someone seen Lightning Bolt in a mono red deck they cry BURN and do it in such a way that it belittles the person and their deck.
Right/wrong or otherwise thats just not the impression that The tournament wants is it? (and thus why i made the comment about friends gettin paid to play together because doing such gives that exact impresssion)
Kalandine came up with something diffrent and won with it after several weeks of red winning the field i applaud him for that!
Kalandine is the least spiky player I can think of so I am forced to agree here despite personal prejudice against being burned out of a match. Why is it that with 20 creatures the typical burn deck still plays as if it had none? (Don't answer that as it is rhetorical).
I understand it was rhetorical but it does point out my exact train of though here it just comes down to that even if 17 damage is done by the creatures is that people are letting themselves precieve that the loss was to a burn deck because that last 3 was done by a bolt to the face.
It's the prceptions that people need to get over and analyze the real reasons they lost and not blame "burn".
Perhaps a fairer term would be the 'red deck wins' archetype rather than 'burn'. A deck of ball lightnings, spark elementals, hell's thunders and the like backed up by bolts, fireblasts, chain lightnings and so on is more the gameplan people are taking umbrage at. The damage being done by creatures or spells is irrelevant, getting stuff pointed at their dome to kill them on turn 3 seems to be at the root of their ire. Sure, people could beat it with a quasilegacy build that kills on turn 2, or hate it out with pro red, lifegain and shroud, but if you meta one deck, there's enough diversity in the format that you'll get blindsided by another.
Aj i was meaning how JustSin called the red deck here listed as Burn and the elemental deck here hardly qualifies as RDW or Burn infact very few of the decks in the past weeks with the exception of mine fall into that catagory. So really the hate being tossed at him and others was for what valid reason? THAT is what i'm talking about and the general blind attitude that I'm resenting.
And also to be perfectly honest the RDW elemental deck that u describe(such as my build) really gets thrashed by first strikers Or a properly balanced competetive deck. Lets be honest the amount of instant speed removal that gets played is disgustingly low in these tournies for a creature based format.
You've won against a balanced deck running a full 8-pack of 1-mana white instant exile removal. Bear in mind you also need mass removal for swarm decks, and you only have 16 or so noncreature slots to work with.
People don't like there only being one winning strategy, week in week out, and the *appearance* is what matters to their perceptions. Why innovate if it's always a monored fast damage deck that wins, regardless of what you call it or what it qualifies as? Hell, I've won with all-in red decks myself.
"Why innovate if it's always a monored fast damage deck that wins, regardless of what you call it or what it qualifies as?"
exactly
and as i mentioned my deck is probally the only one that has a chance in other formats such as legacy as it's specifically built to make removal more or less dead cards in an opponents hand.
Kaladines deck here is hardly "fast" the only plays it has till turn 3 are L-bolt,gorilla tatics,Lasher,and Harbinger. None of these putting any real pressure on the board With maybe the exception of lasher if u were expecting to use lifegain. After turn 3 he's not going to be casting multiple spells per turn and this all assumes he hit 3 lands by turn 3.
However lookin back at the past 6 tournaments not including the pauper and spirit ones. Yes i can see a trend of burn like red decks winning and can understand the resentment from that, but i still stand that Kaladines deck was actually a very fair and innovative deck and should be shown the respect its earned.
I did. Unfortunately I didn't get drawn against red this week.
@ Shard: there's no temper here
@ Ranth: oh I'm sorry, didn't realize I'm not allowed an opinion my bad
It was just an attempt at pre-emptive mediation.
Also this is the Internet. The Internet is serious business. Seriously. Fact Only.
I am actually writing an article about how this deck came to pass from the original elementals deck I put together (burn) to what I played two weeks ago (Shaman sub-theme) to what I played to win this go around (Shaman sub-theme with hate).
I can say that this deck is actually designed to deal with a decent amount of red hate and has faced multiple protection from red creatures and still won.
The deck, in my opinion, had some unique choices, and based on the amount of time it has taken opponents to read certain cards when I cast them, Rage Forger and Stigma Lasher just don't see a lot of play.
Due to scheduling conflicts, I won't be showing up to Tribal Apocalpze until July, but when I come back, I will probably giving my Kithkin deck another try.
Awesome cant wait to see it! I love kithkins just look at my track record with them in BYOS :) Also Kaladine like i said well done with the deck it was nice to see you win even though some would still like to label such a unique deck as burn. it really is a shame they cant see past the 7 burn spells(11 if u count tatics but meh) to see the beauty of that deck.
I literally think this is the 4th or 5th week in a row that a red/x deck has won
I also went 2-1 last week, check your email for the list there, it was sent right after they tourney.
I beat AJ impy and the birds deck for the 2-1 with my Eldrazi list.
now that i look into it, looks like i missed out on the prize too.
=(
I feel horrible. This is sadly a result of having to write a paper in spanish at the same time as hosting the event. I will certainly get in touch with heath to get you your prize.
I was 1 card away from beating that dec too...
Shard:
Absolutely no problem at all. For me the deck going up and the pride I take from that is worth far more than the tickets, but they certainly aren't scoffed at either!
Anyway, needless to say, no hard feelings. I hadn't even noticed the lack of prize until I didn't see my deck listed there.
Anyway see ya online, and thanks again for running the tourney.