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By: ShardFenix, Thomas Rayne
Oct 18 2009 12:03pm
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Welcome everyone to my exploration of Classic Tribal's less loved armies.  Now sure there are always Soldiers, Merfolks, Faeries, Elves, Goblins, etc. that see play all the time.  After playing about 10 matches against nothing but these tribes in the casual room I decided to branch out and see what some of the other tribes had to offer.  I'll be honest from the start, in a purely competitive sense I do not think I would advocate any of these decks as they are.  This is simply a list of some lesser played tribes and some suggestions intended to hopefully get your mind cranking and inspire to try your own and maybe bring them to Tribal Apocalypse (Classic Tribal Wars 1v1 PRE held every aturday at 1:30pm est).

First off I would like to talk about some slithery friends of mine.  Know I now there are some Snake decks out there, but personally I don't know if they really have an "endgame" per say.  The late plays I have seen unfortunately tend to involve Coat of Arms which unfortunately is not a tribal card.  Instead I stole this idea from a deck I used to casually play in an old standard environment.  Luckily, snakes have always had three lords.  Today I decided to focus on Sachi, Daughter of Seshiro and some of her colleagues.

Sachi, Daughter of SeshiroSakura-Tribe ElderOrochi Leafcaller(pic= Sakura-Tribe Scout)

Now this certainly has a lot of mana generation going on but what to ramp into?  Of course there is only one green sorcery I could think of, Tooth and Nail.  Okay I hear some people thinking well this is not tribal, and I say, yes it is.  Using the Snake Shamans as intended i.e. mana production I can cast this and win the game.  Now comes the issue of targets.  In my mind there are two packages that should be in all TaN decks.  The first is Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker and Pestermite for the win.  The second which will probably get me ripped apart is Triskelion and Mephidross Vampire.  That leaves us with one or two more package slots depending on how you fix your mana base.  For the third group I'll have to wait for Zendikar but, I like the combo of Painter's Servant and Iona, Angel of Emeria.  Unfortunately without Zendikar you need something different.  I know being able to summon up two Sundering Titans is back breaking to most decks.  However i also want a slot for Eternal Witness.  It is up to you personally, but I choose to run one of each.  This allows you to use the Titan and retrieve the Tooth and Nail for the next turn.

 

Now that we have dealt with unfairly cheating huge creatures into play, let's try fairly playing them.  By this I mean giants.  A rarely if ever used tribe, giants are a slow tribe to get started.  The cheapest ones start at four mana.  So know what to do for those turns while you wait.  Luckily the Magic gods saw fit to place giants in the colors of decent board removal.

PyroclasmSulfurous BlastAustere CommandOblivion Ring

With these cards you can easily keep the ground clear until your fatties come out to play.  Another thing I took into account was that since giants are something expensive they need to be more than warm bodies.  Luckily there are plenty of giants with abilities to help.  (Thudercloud Shaman) and Desolation Giant both get the nod as additional board clearers while Wandering Graybeard and Arbiter of Knollridge help keep the life up.  So simply put have fun early burning your opponents creatures like a Fourth of July barbeque and then enjoy just smashing them with giants later.

Fe Fi Fo Fum
Classic Tribal Wars
Creatures
4 Desolation Giant
4 Thundercloud Shaman
4 Taurean Mauler
4 Giant Harbinger
3 Wandering Graybeard
1 Arbiter of Knollridge
20 cards

Other Spells
4 Pyroclasm
3 Sulfurous Blast
4 Oblivion Rings
3 Austere Command
2 Feudkiller's Verdict
4 Ancient Amplitheater
12 cards
Lands
4 Battlefield Forge
2 Vivid Crag
7 Mountain
7 Plains
20 cards
 
Desolation Giant

 

Finally I want to look at a new spin on an old favorite.  Now I know elves is played a lot, but what about elvish dragons?  Okay if you don't think I'm crazy after that let me continue.  I played this deck during Onslaught block constructed.  No it couldn't beat goblins or slide, but this deck is probably the most fun I have ever had.  It starts off with your basic elf choices.

Llanowar ElvesWirewood HivemasterWirewood ChannelerWirewood Herald

So far so good.  What's that you say?  That is right I did mention dragons.  Well another great use for mana from Wirewood Channeler is obviously to play out big dumb enchantments.  If that wasn't obvious to you it's ok, I am kinda strange.  Well what better enchant to use with all the elves and tokens than HUMILITY!!!  Ok, not really not here we go:

Day of the Dragons

That's right.  After making tons of insects and playing out elves make them useful and turn them into huge 5/5 red flying dragons.  Now I have also included blue to help fight the inevitable.  You have a handful of counters to protect the enchantment and the dragons.  You also get 4 bounce spells in case they destroy your creatures, so that you can return the Day of the Dragons and get your elves back.

Elfball?...no DRAGONS
Classic Tribal Wars
Creatures
4 Llanowar Elves
4 Wirewood Hivemaster
4 Wirewood Channeler
4 Wirewood Herald
4 Birchlore Rangers
3 Caller of the Claw
1 Ambush Commander
24 cards

Other Spells
4 Day of the Dragons
4 Chain of Vapor
4 Counterspell
12 cards
Lands
4 Yavimaya Coast
3 Temple of the False God
9 Forest
8 Island
24 cards
 
Ambush Commander

 

Well, that's it for now.  I have a few other tribes in the works and you will see them later.  For now, thank you for reading and let me know what you think below.

-ShardFenix

19 Comments

So let me get this by Jed R (not verified) at Sun, 10/18/2009 - 12:29
Jed R's picture

So let me get this straight.... you don't condone using Coat of Arms, which is quite obviously a tribal themed card, but you are alright with injecting Tooth.dek into a shell of snakes? Way to embrace the spirit of the format........

i don't condone coat of arms by ShardFenix at Sun, 10/18/2009 - 14:15
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i don't condone coat of arms for the simple fact that it is a symmetrical effect thereby pumping your opponents creatures as well as your own. I dont know about you but i would rather my opponents creatures not get massively pumped off of my work.

That's why you don't by Jed R (not verified) at Sun, 10/18/2009 - 15:30
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That's why you don't telegraph it. It is your killing stroke. As you are the person playing it you have control of when you do play it for maximum efficiency. If someone plays Coat without the advantage or at least the opening to end the game then they deserve to perform poorly.

menace13's picture

i built a snake tribal only to play with my 3 fav snakes orhan viper,coiling oracle and lorescale w0000t.

tribe by Ryan5309 (not verified) at Sun, 10/18/2009 - 17:26
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i am still looking for a good build for a Volver deck. i haven't come across one or figured out how to play them efficiently. i kind of like to pair the Volvers with doubling season to increase the kicker effects. miraris wake is also a must have, but what else is in the deck? any advice?

I have actually thought about by ShardFenix at Sun, 10/18/2009 - 20:37
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I have actually thought about doing volver's as a deck one week coming up. Im not sure if doubling season would be necessary but door of destinies would be good as would prismatic omen. Then in my mind go with a domain subtheme for tribal flames and something..

That is an awful lot of by StealthBadger at Mon, 10/19/2009 - 04:30
StealthBadger's picture

That is an awful lot of mass-removal in your giants deck (18 mass-removal spells!!!!!)! I played something quite similar in tsp-lor standard, and have a couple of reccomendations;
I can't see any particular reason not to be running 3-4 Brion Stoutarms. I ran 4, because he is a legend, but your opponent will kill him as soon as he hits play anyway (and if they don't then you're probably doing fine!). I'd probably sub him in for sulfurous blast or pyroclasm, as he does a similarly good job of stemming aggro-rushes.
I'd also reccommend testing silence, or perhaps moonhold, as in my experience the deck just folds to any kind of vague combo (unless it's slow enough to distrupt through austere command), maybe a disenchant type spell?

I might be tempted to go:
-4 pyroclasm
-3 sulfurous blast
-1 giant harbinger

+4 Brion Stoutarm
+4 Lightning Helix

I guess maybe oblivion ring does some work against combo?

And here's my Giants by Lord Erman at Mon, 10/19/2009 - 04:40
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And here's my Giants build:

24 Lands
4x Sacred Foundry
4x Battlefield Forge
4x Ancient Amphitheater
4x Ancient Tomb
4x Reflecting Pool
4x Rugged Prairie

20 Creatures
4x Brion Stoutarm
4x Desolation Giant
4x Wandering Graybeard
4x Taurean Mauler
4x Ivory Giant

16 Other Spell
4x Wrath of God
4x Pyroclasm
4x Oblivion Ring
4x Lightning Helix

LE

I just want to say adding in by Paul Leicht at Mon, 10/19/2009 - 10:25
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I just want to say adding in the Stonecloaker part of the Desolation Row combo helps a lot against dredge/recursion combos.

ill be honest i am unfamiliar by ShardFenix at Mon, 10/19/2009 - 11:58
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ill be honest i am unfamiliar wih "desolation row" but any means of consistently returning wrath effects to yourhand is definitely good. Another card to use there oculd be crystal shard and just adjust the mana base to include either the u/w and r/u dual or shock lands.

Maybe this will help clarify by Paul Leicht at Mon, 10/19/2009 - 13:26
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Maybe this will help clarify it.

http://puremtgo.com/articles/desolation-row

moar snakes by menace13 at Mon, 10/19/2009 - 10:34
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and ophidian how could i forget the draw go creature

What happened at the tripal by StealthBadger at Tue, 10/20/2009 - 09:04
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What happened at the tripal combocalypse this weekend?

ok due to midterms and such by ShardFenix at Thu, 10/22/2009 - 01:10
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ok due to midterms and such the previous two weeks 3 and 4 are combined in my next article.

Apart from the unusual Golems by bingobongo at Wed, 10/21/2009 - 04:10
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Apart from the unusual Golems I played I do also have a most unusual Nephilim deck... Unfortunately the mana base is a complete nightmare and it vary rare i even play a card .... so it un-loved :(

I am now looking into a Avatar deck ... but again the mana base looks more expensive than what i would like to pay for a casual deck

other decks i am looking at is another version of angels this time using Multicolour ones and the new allies but i think we need more Zen block yet to see their true power

Just a few ideas to add to the pot

And hopefully i will be back for the Apocalypse this week

i think there is a decent not by ShardFenix at Wed, 10/21/2009 - 05:00
ShardFenix's picture

i think there is a decent not competitive but decent bant or naya theme allied deck...the black ones just seem to week. White and green have hands down the best allies. So from there its only if you want draw and control or burn...oh and the ally lord is red.

I question the difference by Paul Leicht at Thu, 10/22/2009 - 12:42
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I question the difference between decent and competitive in this context. What do you mean exactly? It wins against bad decks but loses to good ones? :/

decent is something that i by ShardFenix at Thu, 10/22/2009 - 12:53
ShardFenix's picture

decent is something that i would have a fun time playing and could win a good number of casual games with but not something i would feel completely comfortable running in a tournament environment. So maybe something like a tier 2 deck perhaps.

sway of the stars by whiffy at Wed, 10/21/2009 - 22:38
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sway of the stars in dragon ball is semi rediculos. it is not that hard to reset the game at 10 life with a full grip and 10 power of elves on the board