Fantastic Event and very informative and beautifully constructed article - Well done all-round.
As you say terrible event for YSO all scrubbing out in R1 I guess thats what you get for playing untested rogue and being super vunerable to chalice of the void for 2. Looking forward to Season 3.
Banality is a fact of the tourney. Many people play what works not what is creative. You have to accept this limiting factor as a given and also as a meta choice or risk being shutout.
I've run Valakut when going majority base red, but usually as an incidental rather than a focus. Turning mountains 6-however many into lightning bolts in a creature based format is a good plan even if you're not leaning heavily on it.
Homunculus is a little being created by an alchemist. It's included to cover the trope of mad scientists's horrorific creations, plus some Igor flavour.
Pegasus's plural is "Pegasi". :)
EDIT: It occurred to me that the Pegasus deck should have used Shared Triumph over Intangible Virtue -- this way for the same cost it would have pumped ALL the Pegasi, not just the token ones. And I think it's very unlikely to run into a Pegasus mirror match. :)
I know Kiki-Jiki decks have speed issues. Most of the early creatures aren't good defenders and you have to preserve them in order for Kiki-Jiki to exploit them later -- which is often too late. That's why in the end I ditched the concept of tribal Kiki-Jiki combo entirely (if I want an insta-win combo, I play Ooze.dek instead).
"White allows you to go for Swords, Stoneforge Mystic, Bellringer, Lightning Helix, and Selesnya Evangel"
Wow, that's a lot of things competing for your 16 non-tribal slots! :)
(Especially considering Stoneforge would require to spend slots for equipments too). There's also Ajani Vengeant, btw. But why did you mention Selesnya Evangel in particular? I know she's a Shaman, but is she so crucial? Maybe to solve the defense issues with expendable chump blocker tokens?
I know Punishing Fire/Burnwillows is very effective, I would never suggest not using it because it's bad. I only suggest not using it because (as a combo) it's banal. :) (Swords to Plowshares or Doom Blade are banal, too, but the difference is that they're not combos, just basic tools).
"it has limited use against ramp decks like my Wall-drazi deck and anything using Valakut"
To be fair, though, ramp tribal decks probably represent less than 5% of the metagame. And I only saw one tribal deck using Valakut in the last 42 events -- mine (I might have missed some others though).
Kind of funny... I purposefully made it a little smaller because the larger font was so aesthetically displeasing: a great wall of text. I guess I should have kept it that way. It's hard for me to tell because I keep my font really pretty big because my eyes aren't so great. You can increase or decrease the browser font size by holding Ctrl and pressing + and - respectively. Anyway, I'll keep it in mind in the future and find some other way of making it visually attractive without the small font. =)
One of the biggest problems I've had with Kiki-Jiki based Shaman decks is that they are slow and can't do much against burn. I've redesigned the deck several times now, and I like the inclusion of white. White allows you to go for Swords, Stoneforge Mystic, Bellringer, Lightning Helix, and Selesnya Evangel
I will defend the Punishing Fire/Burnwillows combo because it is an effective way to fight against straight forward weenie decks such as Elves and Goblins. If you are playing a red/green deck, it only takes up 4 non-land non-tribal slots and those slots are extremely valuable. Is it cheesy? Absolutely, but it's also quite effective. It's definitely not broken because it can easily be broken up by land destruction effects like Tectonic Edge, and it has limited use against ramp decks like my Wall-drazi deck and anything using Valakut.
Actually Zombies aren't so popular anymore these days (they just made Top 4 once in Blippian Era -- a third place by Nagarjuna many months ago -- and that's like 1 time over 168 chances). Hope Innistrad will bring them back, they should be as classic as Elves and Goblins.
We have had Assassin decks performing very well recently, and AJ went 4-0 with Devil last week. Btw, Assassin (which was AJ's idea) is meant to represent the serial killer/slasher movie villain Halloween trope.
Thanks to AJ_Impy and Winter.Wolf for the help with the Halloween list of tribes.
And btw, the article about the latest Tribal Apocalypse event (which took place in Saturday October 22) will be published later this week, before the next Tribal Apocalypse event.
Thanks!
Well, this decklist was from before Innistrad, so maybe I'll think about Bell-Ringer. Then again, I should also include Imperial Recruiter at that point. I would lose answers to all that, could be a case of making the deck weaker by trying to make it stronger. It's possible that a Shaman build is still better for a "Kiki-Jiki ending game" combo strategy. (I had a RUG build with 4 Imperial Recruiter and 1 Pestermite in the past, before even the SOM came out).
NIce decks all around. Though if you are already splashing white in the kiki-jiki deck then maybe a Village Bell-Ringer or two from Innistrad would be appropriate for the out of nowhere combo-kill a-la Kiki/Pestermite and maybe even some splinter twin shenanigans.
I'm not worried about Tangle Wire. The Classic Meta has seen Oath and Fish numbers surge to the point that Oath now has more placings than Shop and Fish is a close 2nd also Dredge is 4th. All the match ups are rough for Shop players.
"Welder isn't very useful unless you specifically run artifacts you want to replay or can hav a chain going with repeated activations. Battlesphere + petals work best with welder."
I have to disagree here, playing him he has shown a lotttttt of versatility.
Good synergy with thirst for knowlege.
Good synergy with Vault/Key vs artifact removal or counterspells.
Good synergy with a counterspell, or removal vs workshops, also the main reason to run him.
Completely shuts out opponents tinkers.
Randomly ok vs Oath of druids.
Not an all star by any means, but i think he is worth a slot or two.
I just wish I had bought more Primevals and Inkwells before they shot up :-S
Ah well, what can you do :-D
As an aside, just a warning - some dopey bastage made a FAKE bot called "MTGOTradersBuyBot3" which is NOT run by Heath. Everyone should complain to WOTC to ban / remove that dude since it's against the code of contact to pretend to be someone else.
just figured out what our deck is missing: rune snags. they are too good to pass with snapcaster. better than mana leak, no?
I vote ISD block for next article. Lovin' the next level blue, man.
Fantastic Event and very informative and beautifully constructed article - Well done all-round.
As you say terrible event for YSO all scrubbing out in R1 I guess thats what you get for playing untested rogue and being super vunerable to chalice of the void for 2. Looking forward to Season 3.
Thanks also for the shout to the forums and the wiki. We are encouraging participants and the wider community to contribute to the wiki S3 coverage at http://www.magic-eternal.com/clanwiki/index.php/PRES3.
Keep up the good work and looking forward to casting with you when your move is comeplete.
-Hammer (the fearsome deleter of profiles!)
Banality is a fact of the tourney. Many people play what works not what is creative. You have to accept this limiting factor as a given and also as a meta choice or risk being shutout.
I've run Valakut when going majority base red, but usually as an incidental rather than a focus. Turning mountains 6-however many into lightning bolts in a creature based format is a good plan even if you're not leaning heavily on it.
Homunculus is a little being created by an alchemist. It's included to cover the trope of mad scientists's horrorific creations, plus some Igor flavour.
Pegasus's plural is "Pegasi". :)
EDIT: It occurred to me that the Pegasus deck should have used Shared Triumph over Intangible Virtue -- this way for the same cost it would have pumped ALL the Pegasi, not just the token ones. And I think it's very unlikely to run into a Pegasus mirror match. :)
I know Kiki-Jiki decks have speed issues. Most of the early creatures aren't good defenders and you have to preserve them in order for Kiki-Jiki to exploit them later -- which is often too late. That's why in the end I ditched the concept of tribal Kiki-Jiki combo entirely (if I want an insta-win combo, I play Ooze.dek instead).
"White allows you to go for Swords, Stoneforge Mystic, Bellringer, Lightning Helix, and Selesnya Evangel"
Wow, that's a lot of things competing for your 16 non-tribal slots! :)
(Especially considering Stoneforge would require to spend slots for equipments too). There's also Ajani Vengeant, btw. But why did you mention Selesnya Evangel in particular? I know she's a Shaman, but is she so crucial? Maybe to solve the defense issues with expendable chump blocker tokens?
I know Punishing Fire/Burnwillows is very effective, I would never suggest not using it because it's bad. I only suggest not using it because (as a combo) it's banal. :) (Swords to Plowshares or Doom Blade are banal, too, but the difference is that they're not combos, just basic tools).
"it has limited use against ramp decks like my Wall-drazi deck and anything using Valakut"
To be fair, though, ramp tribal decks probably represent less than 5% of the metagame. And I only saw one tribal deck using Valakut in the last 42 events -- mine (I might have missed some others though).
Oddly enough (Armored Skaab) has really peaked my interest in Zombies.
LOL Yeah, I admittedly wasn't thinking about Pauper. =) Mea culpa!
Kind of funny... I purposefully made it a little smaller because the larger font was so aesthetically displeasing: a great wall of text. I guess I should have kept it that way. It's hard for me to tell because I keep my font really pretty big because my eyes aren't so great. You can increase or decrease the browser font size by holding Ctrl and pressing + and - respectively. Anyway, I'll keep it in mind in the future and find some other way of making it visually attractive without the small font. =)
One of the biggest problems I've had with Kiki-Jiki based Shaman decks is that they are slow and can't do much against burn. I've redesigned the deck several times now, and I like the inclusion of white. White allows you to go for Swords, Stoneforge Mystic, Bellringer, Lightning Helix, and Selesnya Evangel
I will defend the Punishing Fire/Burnwillows combo because it is an effective way to fight against straight forward weenie decks such as Elves and Goblins. If you are playing a red/green deck, it only takes up 4 non-land non-tribal slots and those slots are extremely valuable. Is it cheesy? Absolutely, but it's also quite effective. It's definitely not broken because it can easily be broken up by land destruction effects like Tectonic Edge, and it has limited use against ramp decks like my Wall-drazi deck and anything using Valakut.
hmmm im going to see what i can build and hope im alive enough after the annual robot house halloween party
Actually Zombies aren't so popular anymore these days (they just made Top 4 once in Blippian Era -- a third place by Nagarjuna many months ago -- and that's like 1 time over 168 chances). Hope Innistrad will bring them back, they should be as classic as Elves and Goblins.
We have had Assassin decks performing very well recently, and AJ went 4-0 with Devil last week. Btw, Assassin (which was AJ's idea) is meant to represent the serial killer/slasher movie villain Halloween trope.
I predict large amounts of zombies, spirits and werewolves. If only i still had my spirit or zombie tribal decks...lol
What is a "homoculus"? Is that supposed to be scary?
And Pegus's (Is that the plural?) was my favorite card from Mirage. That needs to be in M13.
Thanks to AJ_Impy and Winter.Wolf for the help with the Halloween list of tribes.
And btw, the article about the latest Tribal Apocalypse event (which took place in Saturday October 22) will be published later this week, before the next Tribal Apocalypse event.
Thanks!
Well, this decklist was from before Innistrad, so maybe I'll think about Bell-Ringer. Then again, I should also include Imperial Recruiter at that point. I would lose answers to all that, could be a case of making the deck weaker by trying to make it stronger. It's possible that a Shaman build is still better for a "Kiki-Jiki ending game" combo strategy. (I had a RUG build with 4 Imperial Recruiter and 1 Pestermite in the past, before even the SOM came out).
Hell-o-ween Apocalypse!
We are are going to be doing a special Hell-o-ween event for the October 29th Tribal Apocalypse! ONLY the following tribes may enter the event:
Assassin
Bat
Demon
Devil
Faerie (black, including multicolor, only)
Gargoyle
Hag
Homunculus
Horror
Imp
Nightmare
Nightstalker
Pirate
Rat (non-Kamigawa only)
Thrull
Scarecrow
Shade
Skeleton
Specter
Spirit
Vampire
Werewolf
Wraith
Zombie
There will be no "Most Endangered Tribe" prize for this event. Regular prizes remain unchanged.
Every player who plays all rounds will recieve a Screeching Bat.
Player placing at top of standings will receive a playset of Headless Horseman.
Nice graphics etc but the text of your interview needs to be larger.
Enjoyed the Cage Michael. Great article and as always sublime formatting. Looking forward to Season 3.
Good article, the tournament looks like it was fun. Everyone knows that Pauper is the eternal format that fires the most daily's though;)
NIce decks all around. Though if you are already splashing white in the kiki-jiki deck then maybe a Village Bell-Ringer or two from Innistrad would be appropriate for the out of nowhere combo-kill a-la Kiki/Pestermite and maybe even some splinter twin shenanigans.
I'm not worried about Tangle Wire. The Classic Meta has seen Oath and Fish numbers surge to the point that Oath now has more placings than Shop and Fish is a close 2nd also Dredge is 4th. All the match ups are rough for Shop players.
"Welder isn't very useful unless you specifically run artifacts you want to replay or can hav a chain going with repeated activations. Battlesphere + petals work best with welder."
I have to disagree here, playing him he has shown a lotttttt of versatility.
Good synergy with thirst for knowlege.
Good synergy with Vault/Key vs artifact removal or counterspells.
Good synergy with a counterspell, or removal vs workshops, also the main reason to run him.
Completely shuts out opponents tinkers.
Randomly ok vs Oath of druids.
Not an all star by any means, but i think he is worth a slot or two.
I just wish I had bought more Primevals and Inkwells before they shot up :-S
Ah well, what can you do :-D
As an aside, just a warning - some dopey bastage made a FAKE bot called "MTGOTradersBuyBot3" which is NOT run by Heath. Everyone should complain to WOTC to ban / remove that dude since it's against the code of contact to pretend to be someone else.