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By: Paul Leicht, Paul Emerson Leicht
Jan 20 2010 2:34am
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Magic (r)Evolution: A deck 10 years in the making
By Paul Emerson Leicht January 17, 2009.

A picture by Paul Emerson Leicht ©2008

'Many moons ago, on a distant planet' ...Oh wait, no. That isn't quite right. Starting over:

Back when Mercadian Masques first came out, I was a semi-weekly columnist at Neutralground.net. Back then there was only paper magic, and microprose and apprentice32. I have never been an inventor of tier 1 decks though I have tinkered with some in an effort to make them resistant to their mirror match ups. Usually such efforts caused much hilarity amongst my better skilled peers. Any entertainment is better than none right? Anyway I do love building rogue decks and one in particular struck me as a lot of fun when Masques came out. I never did play it in tourney though eventually I wrote an article about it called (r)Evolutionary Theory. That was also the name I chose for the deck.

Here is a deck list from that article (circa 2001):

 

As you can see it was very mix and match with strange cards included like High Market and Kor Haven which I assume I added to slow down aggro decks which at the time were as popular as they are now. The 1 of spells are a bit odd. I assume this deck was made after much tweaking and tuning and detuning. Other cards that had been in the deck: Avalanche Riders, Nekrataal, Flametongue Kavu (though this came later), (Tradewind Riders). In other words: any tool to fit in the box in the tradition of RecSur.

There was no sideboard because I never even thought about bringing it to a constructed tourney. Such tourneys at NG were really bloodbaths of highly teched out versions of the latest tier 1 decks. This deck would not have stood a chance vs anything decent. But it was fun to play both online (irc) and off.

Fast forward to 2006-07 and I rediscovered Magic Online. I developed my collection enough with the help of friends to build a new version of this deck. Timespiral brought back some great Rebels like Defiant Vanguard and I came up with many variants even using the vanguard card: Seshiro, the Annointed Avatar. (Acts as a Conspiracy on turn 0) for that format to make a semi-original deck. 

The deck list then ran something like: 4x Amrou Scout, 4x Blightspeaker, 4x Defiant Vanguard, 4x Conspiracy (or not if using Seshiro), 4x Aven Riftwatcher, 4x Ramosian Revivalist and a tool box of whatever good "Enters the Battlefield..." creatures I could find.

So how is this trip down memory lane relevant today? Well I have been playing Tribal Wars as of late, (both classic and to a lesser extent Standard) and thus have been exploring all the various ways to make tribes fun. I haven't played with rebels for a while now and feel it is time to bring them back into the spot light.

Here is the deck I am currently working with: 

 

This is more or less still the same deck though it has upgrades (and downgrades) due to card availability. It is really not fast enough to deal with Goblins who are the menace of the format along side Elves, Zombies, Merfolk, and Dredge (aka 'Ichorimp'). However while this deck has a hard time with Goblins it does fine vs most of the other races mentioned above. 2x Conspiracy evolved after a few games where I drew 2-3 of them and decided that while it is important it isn't key. All the cards in the deck are castable. The hardest part of the deck is drawing enough land to fetch the 4+ cmc cards which is why I included a single Kor Cartographer. This really wants to be Borderland Ranger or Civic Wayfinder for the 2/2 body it provides. Having the land come into play tapped isn't very good even at the beginning of my opponent's end step.

The Qasali Pridemage was originally Harmonic Sliver until I realized something key about this card. It loses the type "sliver" when Conspiracy is in play making the fetch for it from either the library or grave null and void for purpose. The loon is actually a great way to return a bounced Riftwatcher to the deck for further fetch purposes.

Flametongue Kavu seems self explanatory. Basically it is there to handle 4 toughness guys who have low power, while the Big Game Hunters take care of the more muscular guys.

Man-o'-War is just utility bounce, taking care of any number of possible threats and or helping to recast a good "Enters the Battlefield" critter.

Zealot il-Vec was one of my initial cards in the 2006 deck and I am not sure he has a place in today's version. His ability to ping 1 toughness creatures is offset by being a poor answer to much of what serves damage these days. With Llanowar Reborn and (Oran-Rief, the Vastness) both available to pump toughness the shadow pinger is less useful than he once was. Also tribal classic is a lot different than standard in 2006 was. Yes the  anthems and voltron type strategies were available then too but they cost something. Suffice to say that he is candidate number one for replacement below in the final deck list.

Sower of Temptation seems to garner the most concessions. People do not like having their creatures stolen, never mind that the thief is easy to kill and or counter.

Murderous Redcap is just insane when faced with 3/3s. He comes in and pings something (opponent?) then when he dies from blocking a 3/3, comes back and kills the blocked creature. I Love it. I might have to put another in just because.

Blind Hunter is an interesting card with potential to be evasive damage, + 4 point life swing. I would prefer it had a better toughness vs spells like Volcanic Fallout but it is reasonably priced for it's effect. Particularly if you can use it for the kill.

Bound in Silence is a card I have mixed feelings about. It is certainly no Path to Exile/Sword to Plowshares. On the other hand there is something to be said for tying up your opponent's creatures as an instant effect pre combat.  I haven't decided whether these really deserve their '4 of' status much less any place at all in the deck. They do stall but perhaps that function would be better left to moats or prisons.

Wrath of God x 2 is your backup plan if you can't deal with your opponent's creatures any other way. This could easily be Damnation too but how much mass removal should one bring? I have not solved this question yet. I think the answer really depends on the deck. The more creature based your deck is, the harder it takes symmetrical mass removal. Extinction is another possibility since this is tribal wars so it is guaranteed to be good. And yes it is legal despite being one of the tribal sweepers. Maybe it is the cost that lets it get by where Tsabo's Decree is banned. No wait it is cheaper. Well it doesn't wreck your opponent's hand too which is one way to get massive frown lines. Oh and it doesn't hit regeneration. Well I guess that explains it. I have had people comment on the unfairness of such a card in the format so it really is a matter of opinion as far as I can tell.

One card not in the deck that might have a place is Cho-Manno, Revolutionary. He was in one of my early builds and while he is technically not indestructible he does block many creatures with impunity. at .25 I probably should have a set just for the heck of it or even 1 to toss in to this and singleton decks.

The plan:

1. Play a Blightspeaker or Amrou Scout. Build up lands till you can fetch rebels.

2.Fetch a Defiant Vanguard if they aren't showing signs of red, otherwise bring in Aven Riftwatcher to regain some life and keep the skies friendly to you. Vanguard comes in usually either to block and destroy something big if you can't target it with Big Game Hunter, or as back up fetch and to get Ramosian Revivalist out.

3. At 5 mana if your op isn't pressuring you, bring in Conspiracy. Otherwise fetch blockers/killers with Vanguard.

4.???

5. Win.

 

Below are some actual games that I had in the "Casual" room at random with players of varying degrees of difficulty

The Games (in synopsis)

Game 1 vs baronandre (playing Red Green Beasts):

PallimudCanopy CrawlerRolling Earthquake

I kept a hand with 2 lands and  no rebels. But I did have a Bound in Silence and a conspiracy so 'yay' for drawing my enchantments...o.O He started with a Sacred Foundry so I immediately knew I was in for burn. I drew into a 2 cost rebel fetcher and laid it down cautiously. I managed to get to 5 mana quickly enough and he was stuck on 2 then 3 lands for a bit but eventually played out a Krosan Warchief. (These warchief guys rock this format by the way.) I immediately killed it with Flametongue Kavu before he could get mana up to regenerate with.  He responded with a Rolling Earthquake for 2.  3 creatures of mine hit the graveyard. I came back with my flying drainlife Blind Hunter and he set down a 'Pile O Mud' aka Pallimud at which point I flashed back to 1997 or so. No it wasn't good then either, but it was definitely fun in limited. Just for good measure I put a binding on it to avoid being hammered by it. He played more beasts. I bound them too...or fetched my big game hunter and shot them down. Eventually he Rolling Earthquakeed again for 2 to start us over, but not before I laid  conspiracy down.

He laid down more beasts. I did fun tricks with Sawtooth Loon and Aven Riftwatcher regaining all my lost life. He killed them by attacking with his with his beasts, but  I brought out more. He played more beasts -- most notably Ember Beast which imho is subpar for his deck though it hit hard enough during our game.-- His bound Canopy Crawler supplied pump to which ever guy I didn't block but I stabilized after killing off his remaining Ravenous Baloth with a revived hunter brought back with Ramosian Revivalist. After the smoke cleared he had no more attackers and I had several guys out. Then he played Chalice of the Void naming 3 and I thought: "Ruh Roh!" A very nasty card vs my deck. The upside is that Rebels don't need to be cast. All I needed to do was not let my guys die to another sweeper. I am certain he was hoping to draw a sweeper to stop my Revivalist from bringing back hunters and Riftwatchers. But even so I managed to get down a Volrath's Stronghold

Here I drew a Harmonic Sliver and thought..."hey I can cast it, let it be countered and revive it...bye bye Chalice..."

Wrong! Harmonic Sliver like all slivers has an ability that reads "All slivers have 'yadda yadda'", which means that with Conspiracy turning off creature types other than rebel I end up destroying nothing. But I do get the <strike>sliver</strike> erm rebel in play. A beefy 1/1 vanilla creature for 3! Or rather for 9...  His last minute Aether Charge did not help him even with 5 cards in hand (I assume most were land or useless cards) but he did get me to 6 life. He gave me a "gg" and that ended that. Turns he is a very congenial player. I look forward to more games and conversations with Baron.

Game 2 vs iwin101 (playing goblins):

Goblin WarchiefGoblin SharpshooterGoblin Matron

All I can say is I double mulliganed no land hands and he rolled me very swiftly with no mercy. My rebels were merely roadbumps on his path to victory. After he laid down a 2nd consecutive Goblin Sharpshooter with haste I conceded. My two Defiant Vanguard were easy pickings.

Game 3 vs 1234Qwert (playing humans)

Silver KnightEternal WitnessSword of Light and Shadow

His humans dominated with a Sword of Light and Shadow in play and even a wrath of god did not stall them for long. However midway into the game he just quit. I questioned him afterwards and he claimed he had a technical issue...but he was immediately playing another game. It seemed odd. We were having a discussion about what each of us thought casual was and then boom he was gone. No doubt he was going to win this game though I had a few plays. Without drawing my replacement for harmonic sliver: Qasali Pridemage there was no way to stop him from attacking and recurring his guys. Plus my Bound in Silence were useless vs the protection from white. Alas we will never know. His comments after were rather waspish so I don't know if my remarks on the casualness of my deck upset him or if he was just having a bad day. It is hard enough to read people when they are right in front of you. Online it is anyone's guess.

Game 4 vs Kalandine (playing Fish):

Lord of AtlantisMerrow ReejereyCounterspell

This game was totally his with everything important I tried to cast being stopped with a counter. I finally conceded to the inevitable once he managed to get enough Merfolk out. For the record this was not as far as I could tell Vial Fish but just plain counter fish. Still, a very effective deck in this format though perhaps a bit more competitive than my rebels.

Game 5 vs Kalandine (playing Bears): (You may have read his article on tribal bears but here is the link).

Llanowar RebornGrizzly BearsQuiet Disrepair

Last time I played against this deck I won handily with my birds deck. This game was entirely different. He laid multiple Llanowar Reborn and I made one too with my Vesuva which I used to remove a counter from Murderous Redcap when it came back from blocking a 3/3 bear. Unfortunately for me he played a Quiet Disrepair on the Bound in Silence I played on his Grizzly and after using it to keep my air attacks from killing him he undid the leash and swung in for lethal with his 3/3s. After using Snakeform to take out my remaining blocker. A Wrath of God Might have saved me here. The Bound in Silence suddenly seemed REALLY bad. This is but one reason it must come out.

Game 6-7 vs Dmack11 (playing Trolls):

Cudgel TrollGarruk WildspeakerLoxodon Warhammer

I played against this deck twice tonight. The first time I wrecked him with his own Cudgel Troll enchanted with a +3/+3 aura by stealing it with my Sower of Temptation. This time around my rebels held the ground while my Riftwings gained me life and stole his via air attacks. He got Garruk out but after he made a token I cast Wrath of God and restarted by laying down a fetcher. He played Loxodon Warhammer and attached it to another Beast token but I Bound that token in silence. Then he made another token and attached the warhammer to it but I killed it with a fetched Big Game Hunter.

He stalled my fetcher a little by placing Faith's Fetters on it but I simply played a Revivalist and another fetcher. He played a Mossbridge Troll and I fetched a Bound in Silence for that too. He then played out a Horned Troll and attached it with the hammer but I played Sower of Temptation the next turn targetting it. At which point he gracefully conceded.

The deck in Summary:

Overall I went 4-3 before starting this article. An inconclusive test but enough for me to experience how enjoyable it was to play rebels yet again. Rebels with toolbox creatures and conspiracy is really fun to play with and can win occasionally. That is really all one can ask from a casual deck. This probably won't win any PREs but it definitely is something to think about. The deck has unexpected outs against some popular strategies and is probably a little too random to be any good. I tuned it once more for this article and will keep playing it in casual to see how it does after adding in more green. I actually made 2 lists so you get a bonus:

The final builds for thought:

deck #1:

Deck #2:

 

The card choices for these decks are a little arbitrary and have  alot to do with my quirky collection. Feel free to take these and redesign them and tune them up. Now onto another topic dear to my heart.

BIRDS!!!

I wrote a few articles back about some decks I was working on. I posted some last article (end of the year) but held back this tribe so I could tune it a bit more. This is the deck I was playing with when I ran across Kalandine a few weeks ago (described in his bears article, if you clicked the link I put up top). It had Kathari Bombers and More Shoreline Rangers in it then.

 

Thanks to AJ_Impy for suggesting the Stormscape Familiars. I added them and upped the count of Keepers to 4 as well The deck has a lot more power now. After a night of games  vs AJ and others in casual I ended up rebuilding the list. Some of the interactions I really liked such as Kathari into Parasitic Strix when I had another black permanent in play already. or even better Deny Reality (bouncing something nasty) into Remnant into Sword of Fire and Ice. Cascade provides enough synergy with the rest of the deck that it manages to survive past initial onslaughts and can take control of the mid to late game. It also has the potential to kill without ever swinging. This is all without ever using a Hypergenesis or Living End to combo out. I love that kind of deck too but combo is less interesting to me than tactical control decks.

 

I know some people dislike cascade with a passion so I built this next deck in to see if Birds could stand without the mechanic that some people say is the most unfair thing in recent sets (Baneslayer Angel Not withstanding).

 

I replaced all the cascade cards with defensive cards and counterspells. 2 Sensei's Top + 1 Counterbalance is my one 'semi-combo' just to shake things up a little. I built this version mainly to throw in the Moats. The decks that have been stomping me lately have been grounded decks so I figured why not shut down the assault? Having fought several such decks (goblins mainly but rats too) in casual with this I discovered indeed that it does usually shut down them down if I live long enough. On the other hand this deck fairs less well against the flying tribes (such as Angels) so it is not quite ready for the PRE yet.

All of these decks really show just how versatile Classic is for the Tribal Wars format. There are so many interesting choices that it takes actual tourney play to fully display which decks are worth it and which bite the dust. Even so you can do quite a lot just playing in 'Casual Play' without ever leaving the room. Many of the TWC decks you will face there will be if not tier 1 at least semi-competitive. This is why I don't scruple at all about running counters or land destruction as called for. Fun decks have their place too and it all sort of melds together, since decks can be both in this format.

If you are curious about the format there is a weekly Player Run Event held by ShardFenix and sponsored by MTGOTraders.com which takes place in /tribal every Saturday. Sign up is 12:30 and the tourney starts at 1pm. Bring a deck (no sideboard) and a fun attitude and join in the good times. The players are mostly very friendly and helpful if you need advice. Usually there are between 8 and 16 players so it is a small group still. The prizes are small but as the group grows so will the prizes.

Until next time, Magically yours,

Paul Emerson Leicht (aka Winter.Wolf on modo)

 

13 Comments

I enjoyed your rebel deck but by DarkFox (not verified) at Wed, 01/20/2010 - 10:17
DarkFox's picture

I enjoyed your rebel deck but I noticed it really doesn't have a solution for those stubborn tribes like gobos, elves and zombies. Have you thought about running hallowed burial instead of Wrath and bumping it up to 4? Since you are running a toolbox deck your toys will still be easy enough to grab.

Also what timezone is that tribal event time?

Glad you enjoyed it. Hallowed by Paul Leicht at Wed, 01/20/2010 - 11:14
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Glad you enjoyed it. Hallowed Burial is an interesting call. I don't own any so that makes a difference in what I build.

The tourney takes place 1pm Eastern standard time. (sign up is 12:30)

When you had Kor Cartographer by Lashof (not verified) at Wed, 01/20/2010 - 10:27
Lashof's picture

When you had Kor Cartographer and replaced it with Civic Wayfinder/Borderland Ranger, did you think about replacing it with Wood Elves?
You'd need to change the mana base around a bit so you could get some forest duals, but Wood Elves (a) Costs 3, and so can be fetched by the "(4), T: Fetch a rebel with 3 or less" guys, and (b) Puts the land into play untapped.

Wood Elves is ok. The big by Paul Leicht at Wed, 01/20/2010 - 11:13
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Wood Elves is ok. The big problem with that is I have just one dual land that triggers with that. Temple Garden. I dunno if you noticed lately but rav duals have overshadowed even ME1 duals in price. When extended season ends I may go collect some more. The reason I chose Civic Wayfinder/Borderland Ranger is they are not as limiting and they give a bigger body, which means a potential trade instead of chump.

Thanks for the thought though...I may yet redesign that deck again and try wood elves once I get some more duals.

I think one of the problems by Flippers_Giraffe at Wed, 01/20/2010 - 10:44
Flippers_Giraffe's picture

I think one of the problems from looking at the deck lists is inconstancy most of the major tricks and utility cards are only one off's

This will cause problems in the game as you are relying a lot more on luck than if you say ran 4 of one particular card over four different ones.

Using comes into play tapped lands also slows your deck down a lot as well. I prefer to use cards like Terramorphic Expanse as it gives you a choice. Vivid's are nice but I wouldn’t trust them or more to the case them and the uncommon land cycle from shards, both is a bit much as you will always be playing a turn behind.

On the Rebel side I'd go for the Cho-Manno, Revolutionary and Pariah combo to give you an edge. I think the ally decks could also do with some early spot removal maybe Lightning Helix

Wow long time no see Flips. by Paul Leicht at Wed, 01/20/2010 - 11:10
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Wow long time no see Flips. Yeah the Rebels deck suffers from my collection and all but the idea behind the 1 ofs is being able search for silver bullets not have consistent draws of silver bullets. One of is all the deck needs for many of the cards. The main problem the deck has is the early rebels die quickly to the vast amounts of removal in the game. The mana base could be better. On the other hand it is what it is...they could be dual lands and fetches if I had the right ones.

I am not a fan of passive card combos like Cho-manno+ anything that sucks up damage. At 5 mana to fetch or 4 to play from your hand its going to be too slow to matter vs anything that wins via direct damage.

What ally decks do you mean? I am currently working on some ally decks but I haven't written about them yet.

err I meant Rebel deck must by Flippers_Giraffe at Wed, 01/20/2010 - 14:14
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err I meant Rebel deck must have been distracted.

casual is not my thing but by whiffy at Wed, 01/20/2010 - 11:33
whiffy's picture
4

i like your articles there paul, well written and thought out but i have to wonder about one thing.

"I dunno if you noticed lately but rav duals have overshadowed even ME1 duals in price. When extended season ends I may go collect some more."

This is a classic format, play the real duals. I understand a budget constraint is a real thing for people who dont have the cards but, if your thinking of buying rav duals i have to ask, why not just get med duals? You said it yourself there cheaper then rav. With extended ending soon you will be able to grab the rav at a nice rate but the med duals will certainly not go down and should go up when legacy is in its swing. I just wonder if you thought about this. seems like a much better buy on every level (cost included) if yer actually gonna spend cash or tix.

heya Whiffy again long time by Paul Leicht at Wed, 01/20/2010 - 13:26
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heya Whiffy again long time no see :) Yeah I would love the me duals...but those are never going to be much lower than they are now. I expect rav duals will decline rapidly once the spikes who are using them now sell them off. What I mean by that is that I want as many color fixers as I can get for my buck. Getting duals will only be possible a few times for me.

I also wanted to say that I by Lord Erman at Wed, 01/20/2010 - 14:03
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5

I also wanted to say that I enjoyed reading this one as much as I enjoyed your previous articles. Reading about fun is always fun, especially when it's well written. Oh and that cascade Birds deck really looks very brutal (brutal = nice in my vocabulary).

Good job as always.

LE

Great article. Cascade in by kalandine at Wed, 01/20/2010 - 14:05
kalandine's picture

Great article. Cascade in tribal is unexpected and seems very good the one time I faced it.

My Merfolk deck is just counter fish - I do not yet own Vials. The full deck list is in my Deck Divination #5 article this week.

Thanks guys for the comments. by Paul Leicht at Wed, 01/20/2010 - 14:57
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Thanks guys for the comments. LE: It can be very brutal (and fun)...thanks to AJ for the Storm Familiars idea it gets some pretty quick cascades going and even a little mana hose does not stop it. Kalandine Ok cool. Meanwhile I encountered yet another variation on WhiteBlue Merfolk using all the funky tap a merfolk or tap two merfolk to do x. Guy won with 30 or so 1/1s on the board without a lord in sight. Removing the special monsters wasn't sufficient as he kept bringing more out.

thats when infest becomes by ShardFenix at Wed, 01/20/2010 - 21:37
ShardFenix's picture

thats when infest becomes amazing....I played against u/w merfolk the other day and it was a tribal build in a non tribal format. They make good decks though they lose out on the power of going monocolored.