Thanks everyone! This a format I really like and so getting to spread the word while building is awesome.
As for Yeva's Forcemage, I actually did consider him, and he could actually be good in the deck, but due to the power level of the format as a whole, I feel that he can be a bi slow as a 3-drop, and easy to negate through chumping. Like I said, I could be completely wrong, but that's the fun of testing and playing!
With Sparkmage Apprentice, I like the card, but the main reason I chose the Fanatic over her was due to a lack of 1-drops that actually survive hit on time, and he can perform the same function as the Apprentice at instant speed, allowing him to be a more flexible creature overall. My idea was ultimately to keep the deck from dying if I don't hit the Kavu every time, while allowing the deck to really shine when it does appear.
I'd actually love to build with Stonecloaker, as he's an amazing creature, but unfortunately he's uncommon and therefore not legal in Pauper. The closest I can get to him is Whitemane Lion, a fun dude for sure, and certain to be used at some point or another in the not too distant future.
Also, I've been playtesting the deck a little in the past while, and there have been a few changes to the deck that I'll address in my next article, mainly regarding the manabase and replacing Predator's Strike with Lightning Bolt, along with some edits to the sideboard.
Gating creatures in general have been among my favorites since they first appeared. Though I favor Stonecloaker over the kavu that is a matter of where he is used more than anything (I don't play much pauper at all.) On the other hand your article does have some interesting points about how to (ab)use the little guy for maximal fun/advantage. Also fun is Flametongue Kavu bounced, Avalanche Riders bounced (post attack), etc. The shenanigans are endless. I may just have to do some tribal building with Kavu, a tribe I have neglected for a few years.
What about Sparkmage Apprentice? I used to use her (speaking of the M10 art) in my own Kavu build with some degree of success against 2011's archetypes, and she interacts nicely with the Kavu, where cards like Mogg Fanatic are actually nombos. My build was more control-based though, yours has more of a strong aggro feel with some control transformations in game 2.
Wow, that's a great Christmas present! I lost track of this (amazing) series a while back (thought you kind of gave up when ME4 came out), and I can't believe two full years have passed since. Re-reading your previous installment from November 2, 2010, you even said you were planning to complete the run by the end of that year. :)
And Walls are a passion of mine, too. And I'm with you about what were happening with them in the early sets, and the weird obsession with unlikely materials during the Legends time. In my latest Tribal article, where I counted the (future) creature types that were already present in Alpha, I was noticing how Walls got 10% of what would amount to be their total numbers right from the start. The fact is that they used the "summon" idea, as you says, to convey the classic concept of a mage conjuring barriers to protect himself. Then treated these barriers as creatures, because they needed to have Power and Toughness and be "killed", and there wasn't (or they didn't want for it to be) another card type to accommodate them. I like that they are so much NOT creatures that one of the defining traits of Living Wall is that it is, in fact, living.
Of course deep down the MTG flavor, as it translates during the games, is just silly. I never read the set novelizations, but from glimpses here and there on the web, I can tell none of the planeswalker characters is ever depicted doing anything like summoning creatures out of thin air to fight each other. Plus, the player has to be the most beloved planeswalker in the multiverse to be able to have sworn enemy creatures (say, Avacun and Griselbrand) fight alongside just for the sake of him.
Anyway, you're wrong about the Wall tribe. It's actually one of the strongest tribes in the game (not thanks to the members mentioned in this article, of course). I believe you saw a win by NemesisParadigm, whose WallDrazi archetype dominated Tribal Apocalypse in 2011 (not with Emrakul, though, since he was banned). He didn't use Show and Tell at all, he used the super-fast, super-powerful, super-effective wall-based ramp and wall-based card advantage (Overgrown Battlement, Wall of Roots, Tinder Wall, Wall of Blossoms/Omens, Wall of Mulch). Pretty hard to stop, or work around. Pretty scary.
I am not sure I'd give them coal golems but then again maybe a few socks and underwear. I am pretty unhappy about the deletion of most of the daily event results so that colors my view of whether they were naughty/nice. Undergarments I think sends the right message. (I care but I'm not happy.)
Yes, its a very fun format and its actually pretty balanced, The cool part is that there are plenty of decks to choose from and there is always room to brew up something spicy. Thank you for checking my contribution to this site.
Magma Spray is another good option but I would prefer something that can also target Player for damage. You would never know when you will need extra damage.
Magma Spray is also slightly more powerful in the effect itself, in that even if the damage is prevented, the exile-if-dies-this-turn part still applies, unlike with Pillar. It's interesting how Pillar is now ubiquitous due to the undying creatures and various returning Zombies, while Magma Spray during Alara standard wasn't anywhere near the former's popularity. O tempora o mores.
Updates on this week's Tribal Commander!
(Reposted from the forum)
After some thought and talks with players, the event will be MULTIPLAYER, not 1v1. We'll do 2 rounds of Swiss (40-minute single games, 3-man or 4-man tables), then a Top 4 final table.
Elf, Goblin, Human and Wizard are confirmed banned as tribes. Single members can be used as off-tribe cards or Commanders.
Also: the only banned cards (in addition to the official Commander bannings that are built in the client) are Engineered Plague, Extinction and Tsabo's Decree. The other Tribal bannings/restrictions don't do much in Commander multiplayer (if you can't deal with Moat in Commander, you won't survive the game anyway), Emrakul is already officially banned, Iona can't hose a whole table, and Progenitus is hard to pull off. Plus, Elf and Goblin not being in the event as tribes makes cards like Glimpse of Nature and Goblin Lackey kinda irrelevant.
Extinction itself is almost harmless in a format where Decree of Pain or Plague Wind are routinely casted, but I didn't want to push people into black-based builds over the allure of those 3 tribal-specific cards. Of the remaining two, Circle of Solace is easily dealt with, and Peer Pressure is just idiotic.
Check the revised rules with the off-tribe Commanders and available tribe combinations here.
I would go with Magma Spray over Pillar of Flame, same effect but instant speed. Is some number of Electrolize worth it in UR burn? Three mana is a lot, but cantripping on top of burn is really nice.
Personally while I was preparing for Grand Prix Indy, I did over 30 sealed decks at a cost of 26 per (to be fair not all of them were 26) I longed for an option to play six pack sealed in a non daily event environment, and to make it cheaper.
It may not be the best option but I think it will be used for extra practice. It's cheaper at least.
I agree with what WOTC said about 4 pack sealed being a very swingy format. But even so I played it quite a lot because for usually less than 2 tix I could open an extra pack to build my collection (or get another shot at a money rare)and the prize support was decent. I won't be playing in the phantom drafts as they just represent horrible value ( collectively we pay $64 for 12 packs) and there is no chance to catch any money rares.
I would however play 1/2 phantom drafts. If they offered a sealed deck format where I got to open 3 packs and they topped my pool up with 3 phantom packs they could price it exactly the same as the draft formats (14 tix or 3 packs and 2 tix) and offer the same level of prize support (8-4 or swiss payouts). This way we could play a "real" sealed format for the same price as a draft.
Thanks everyone! This a format I really like and so getting to spread the word while building is awesome.
As for Yeva's Forcemage, I actually did consider him, and he could actually be good in the deck, but due to the power level of the format as a whole, I feel that he can be a bi slow as a 3-drop, and easy to negate through chumping. Like I said, I could be completely wrong, but that's the fun of testing and playing!
With Sparkmage Apprentice, I like the card, but the main reason I chose the Fanatic over her was due to a lack of 1-drops that actually survive hit on time, and he can perform the same function as the Apprentice at instant speed, allowing him to be a more flexible creature overall. My idea was ultimately to keep the deck from dying if I don't hit the Kavu every time, while allowing the deck to really shine when it does appear.
I'd actually love to build with Stonecloaker, as he's an amazing creature, but unfortunately he's uncommon and therefore not legal in Pauper. The closest I can get to him is Whitemane Lion, a fun dude for sure, and certain to be used at some point or another in the not too distant future.
Also, I've been playtesting the deck a little in the past while, and there have been a few changes to the deck that I'll address in my next article, mainly regarding the manabase and replacing Predator's Strike with Lightning Bolt, along with some edits to the sideboard.
Again, thanks for the welcome!
As Kuma said, Welcome to Puremtgo! :)
Gating creatures in general have been among my favorites since they first appeared. Though I favor Stonecloaker over the kavu that is a matter of where he is used more than anything (I don't play much pauper at all.) On the other hand your article does have some interesting points about how to (ab)use the little guy for maximal fun/advantage. Also fun is Flametongue Kavu bounced, Avalanche Riders bounced (post attack), etc. The shenanigans are endless. I may just have to do some tribal building with Kavu, a tribe I have neglected for a few years.
For more background on the illustrious Mr AJ check out the premier issue of my Legendary Personality series: http://puremtgo.com/articles/magical-legends-players-profile-ajimpy
Welcome to PureMTGO!
What about Sparkmage Apprentice? I used to use her (speaking of the M10 art) in my own Kavu build with some degree of success against 2011's archetypes, and she interacts nicely with the Kavu, where cards like Mogg Fanatic are actually nombos. My build was more control-based though, yours has more of a strong aggro feel with some control transformations in game 2.
Yeva's Forcemage seems like it would work really well with your Kavu. :)
Glad to see you back with this series!!
Wow, that's a great Christmas present! I lost track of this (amazing) series a while back (thought you kind of gave up when ME4 came out), and I can't believe two full years have passed since. Re-reading your previous installment from November 2, 2010, you even said you were planning to complete the run by the end of that year. :)
And Walls are a passion of mine, too. And I'm with you about what were happening with them in the early sets, and the weird obsession with unlikely materials during the Legends time. In my latest Tribal article, where I counted the (future) creature types that were already present in Alpha, I was noticing how Walls got 10% of what would amount to be their total numbers right from the start. The fact is that they used the "summon" idea, as you says, to convey the classic concept of a mage conjuring barriers to protect himself. Then treated these barriers as creatures, because they needed to have Power and Toughness and be "killed", and there wasn't (or they didn't want for it to be) another card type to accommodate them. I like that they are so much NOT creatures that one of the defining traits of Living Wall is that it is, in fact, living.
Of course deep down the MTG flavor, as it translates during the games, is just silly. I never read the set novelizations, but from glimpses here and there on the web, I can tell none of the planeswalker characters is ever depicted doing anything like summoning creatures out of thin air to fight each other. Plus, the player has to be the most beloved planeswalker in the multiverse to be able to have sworn enemy creatures (say, Avacun and Griselbrand) fight alongside just for the sake of him.
Anyway, you're wrong about the Wall tribe. It's actually one of the strongest tribes in the game (not thanks to the members mentioned in this article, of course). I believe you saw a win by NemesisParadigm, whose WallDrazi archetype dominated Tribal Apocalypse in 2011 (not with Emrakul, though, since he was banned). He didn't use Show and Tell at all, he used the super-fast, super-powerful, super-effective wall-based ramp and wall-based card advantage (Overgrown Battlement, Wall of Roots, Tinder Wall, Wall of Blossoms/Omens, Wall of Mulch). Pretty hard to stop, or work around. Pretty scary.
It's good to see this series' triumphal return! It's my favorite thing on the site.
I am not sure I'd give them coal golems but then again maybe a few socks and underwear. I am pretty unhappy about the deletion of most of the daily event results so that colors my view of whether they were naughty/nice. Undergarments I think sends the right message. (I care but I'm not happy.)
Yes, its a very fun format and its actually pretty balanced, The cool part is that there are plenty of decks to choose from and there is always room to brew up something spicy. Thank you for checking my contribution to this site.
Nice blog with lot of information
Pretty seek format actually.
You're right, I wasn't look at it that way. It's more of a Shock with the instant speed traded for the exiling effect.
Magma Spray is another good option but I would prefer something that can also target Player for damage. You would never know when you will need extra damage.
Thank you very much for your comments, I improved the points you mentioned before. Always open for the new suggestions :)
Magma Spray is also slightly more powerful in the effect itself, in that even if the damage is prevented, the exile-if-dies-this-turn part still applies, unlike with Pillar. It's interesting how Pillar is now ubiquitous due to the undying creatures and various returning Zombies, while Magma Spray during Alara standard wasn't anywhere near the former's popularity. O tempora o mores.
Updates on this week's Tribal Commander!
(Reposted from the forum)
After some thought and talks with players, the event will be MULTIPLAYER, not 1v1. We'll do 2 rounds of Swiss (40-minute single games, 3-man or 4-man tables), then a Top 4 final table.
Elf, Goblin, Human and Wizard are confirmed banned as tribes. Single members can be used as off-tribe cards or Commanders.
Also: the only banned cards (in addition to the official Commander bannings that are built in the client) are Engineered Plague, Extinction and Tsabo's Decree. The other Tribal bannings/restrictions don't do much in Commander multiplayer (if you can't deal with Moat in Commander, you won't survive the game anyway), Emrakul is already officially banned, Iona can't hose a whole table, and Progenitus is hard to pull off. Plus, Elf and Goblin not being in the event as tribes makes cards like Glimpse of Nature and Goblin Lackey kinda irrelevant.
Extinction itself is almost harmless in a format where Decree of Pain or Plague Wind are routinely casted, but I didn't want to push people into black-based builds over the allure of those 3 tribal-specific cards. Of the remaining two, Circle of Solace is easily dealt with, and Peer Pressure is just idiotic.
Check the revised rules with the off-tribe Commanders and available tribe combinations here.
I would go with Magma Spray over Pillar of Flame, same effect but instant speed. Is some number of Electrolize worth it in UR burn? Three mana is a lot, but cantripping on top of burn is really nice.
Hey, you did improve the pictures as suggested. :) They look good, great job on that front. The rest was already great. :)
Rain of Gore is an excellent hoser for Soul Sisters (and sometimes Melira Pod). The only card I think both decks are missing is Fulminator Mage.
This is on me, I did a quick read through before leaving for Indy and I missed this. sorry!
Personally while I was preparing for Grand Prix Indy, I did over 30 sealed decks at a cost of 26 per (to be fair not all of them were 26) I longed for an option to play six pack sealed in a non daily event environment, and to make it cheaper.
It may not be the best option but I think it will be used for extra practice. It's cheaper at least.
*Sutcliffe
I agree with what WOTC said about 4 pack sealed being a very swingy format. But even so I played it quite a lot because for usually less than 2 tix I could open an extra pack to build my collection (or get another shot at a money rare)and the prize support was decent. I won't be playing in the phantom drafts as they just represent horrible value ( collectively we pay $64 for 12 packs) and there is no chance to catch any money rares.
I would however play 1/2 phantom drafts. If they offered a sealed deck format where I got to open 3 packs and they topped my pool up with 3 phantom packs they could price it exactly the same as the draft formats (14 tix or 3 packs and 2 tix) and offer the same level of prize support (8-4 or swiss payouts). This way we could play a "real" sealed format for the same price as a draft.
What do people think?
And a quick thanks for the great content!
Quite possible.
I would also expect some sort of shaman brew with tooth and nail/kiki-jiki kill options.
If humans are an allowed tribe green/white would by something to look out for.
Captain Sisay is well traveled ground for commander tournaments.