I also agree with Crystal Ball, but it is even better in 4 booster sealed. If you are crafting your draws, you are almost gauranteed to win. Plus, it goes in every deck. Its one of the reasons why Manic Vandal is always (almost) worth maindecking.
+1 for Crystal Ball's rating. It is better in limited than top ever was. Crystal ball is almost like top + fetchland every turn. Now, of course in constructed top offers additional interaction in term is floating cards and accessing them at instant speed... but that is beside the point.
While I sympathize with the sentiments of the author (I also suffer from the same affliction of complete inability to open money cards) the first commenter is right, if the "main reason [you are] playing in these events is to build up [your] collection for Standard events" than just sell packs and buy 'em.
Its not terribly hard to find competition in cas cas in TWC but the deck types vary between Elves Elves Elves and other common archetypes so be prepared for some boring games. I'd say at least 33% of the games I play vs random players are my jank decks vs elves. Goblins used to be the most common but I guess the little green men have gone out of favor since then. (To be replaced by bigger green men.)
I enjoyed this article I have my own zombie deck incarnation that has a base of 4 Rakdos Guildmage, 4 Thornbite Staff, X4 Death Baron. Ping your creature is dead, untap repeat to hearts content.
Another great article, and it leads me to a question. Say someone were to have a new-found appreciation for these kinds of formats, where would the best place be for one to find other people to play Tribal with?
First off I'd just like to say thanks to AJ for finding me online yesterday after I posted and having it out for 3 games with me. He had quickly assembled a dragons deck and I played my B/G sacrifice deck, U/B control deck and W/G enchantress deck. That was pretty cool for me.
Part of what I like about the format is that if it ever becomes popular enough to effect the prices of cards it will prevent any particular archetype from becoming dominant for very long which will keep it dynamic and balanced. (and if your card is suddenly banned it's because it became worth more, doesn't sound that bad heh)
As far as enforcement goes at this stage it is a bit "finicky" atm as AJ said when building yesterday. It is still very casual though so it's just about being polite, checking things when they seem off and keeping track of your own card prices periodically. Later what is popular as a solution is to set the legalities of all cards at the beginning of each month. That will be a lot of work so were holding off for now.
I certianly wouldn't say it's more restrictive than pauper though(it does tend to be a lot cheaper) as the card pool to play with is both larger and stronger. (it would be hard to make that case with cards like Merrow Reejerey, Scorched Earth, Conundrum sphinx, Goblin Chieftain, Vedalken Archmage, and Jinxed Idol all being legal in Heirloom)
Hey thanks for the comments, I do have 1 linvala and I see the reasoning behind more for sure, I will try that. The ancient zig is not in there because of the conscription like you said but probably could be, I just think it would be frustrating to not be able to cast it with 8 land in play.
I don't think you can draw much of a conclusion about the strength of aggro decks based on that game you described. The red/white deck that was drafted was reasonably strong, and may have been the best deck you could draft. You just happened to run into a deck that was stronger. Monoblack with grave titan, black knight, and multiple corrupts is just plain nasty. Blue is well known to be strong and is getting overdrafted; it was good to go in another direction.
There comes a point where it makes more sense just to cash in the packs and buy the cards you want, if you are not opening them. If you've won 50 packs, you can cash those in for $200 and buy a bunch of the cards you need. That pretty much takes luck out of the equation. However, if the play's the thing, well, don't worry too much about what you end up with.
Big bouncing boy (7lbs 13oz) born last night at 20:24 GMT after lightning fast labour. Almost too fast for the midwife and paramedics, who arrived a mere four minutes before the birth. Nearly had to deliver him myself, took ten years off my life at least.
Ok, the guy above beat me to it, just a small comment for the first deck, you should really try some of the lorwyn blovk filter lands, those might allow you to play turn 1 goblin guide and turn 3 groundbreaker with no problems... and groundbreaker's belloved brother (ball lightning) might also work in that deck... although 3rd turn RRR and GGG drops might be push it a little bit too much XD
Great article by the way XD, i liked the grull deck a lot, i'll probably wait till the dust settles with scars before building extended, but i'll keep this list handy so i can tweak it later this year
I agree that some aspects of the deck are nasty. That is a virtue of the decks I have to deal with. I wanted to build a deck that could slug it out in Casual with anything I might find there outside of tourney decks. This deck includes a large and varied tool box to do it. Yes some of the cards are out of place and may seem odd, however they're often needed in the varied matchups. I'm no different than anyone else out there I'd imagine. There's certain games I just hate to lose, and my number one is the 40counters.dek. The other is 2 ticketelves.dek. While I agree that mind twist is a great card, is it really not casual? Anything under 4 mana avaiable and hymn is more efficient. I'm actually really excited that this topic has sparked such interest. The casual room is great fun, and classic is the king of the formats in there. It allows for the most interesting decks by a long shot.
Hmm this is something like what Flips and I discussed a few months ago and I wrote a bit about in one of my articles. Could be fun. Problem is: Fluctuations can really kill a deck if you are on the border with cards. Particular if a card suddenly becomes a Pauper staple out of the blue (it does happen.)
I have always liked your articles and this is no exception.
Suggestions for the black deck.
Although I can see where you are going with the gatekeeper, I would run the Vampire Nighthawk over him. It fits the theme of the deck, and if someone does have a creature out, it deters them from attacking because they will loose the creature, and possibly life if you have the the bond out.
Armillary Sphere I am not a fan of. I have tried to run it in decks but find it's not fast enough. Outside EDH and the occasional slow landfall deck, not a fan. A card I would consider is Absorb Vis. It can cycle for the lands early on, and in the late games if you have a Sanguine Bond out, it deals 8 points of damage. Unlike the sphere wich if you draw late game, is probably going to be a dead card. I would even consider running four of those and cutting back to 2 consume spirits.
The two Bloodghast would probably be Malakir Bloodwitch for me.
I also agree with Crystal Ball, but it is even better in 4 booster sealed. If you are crafting your draws, you are almost gauranteed to win. Plus, it goes in every deck. Its one of the reasons why Manic Vandal is always (almost) worth maindecking.
+1 for Crystal Ball's rating. It is better in limited than top ever was. Crystal ball is almost like top + fetchland every turn. Now, of course in constructed top offers additional interaction in term is floating cards and accessing them at instant speed... but that is beside the point.
While I sympathize with the sentiments of the author (I also suffer from the same affliction of complete inability to open money cards) the first commenter is right, if the "main reason [you are] playing in these events is to build up [your] collection for Standard events" than just sell packs and buy 'em.
Its not terribly hard to find competition in cas cas in TWC but the deck types vary between Elves Elves Elves and other common archetypes so be prepared for some boring games. I'd say at least 33% of the games I play vs random players are my jank decks vs elves. Goblins used to be the most common but I guess the little green men have gone out of favor since then. (To be replaced by bigger green men.)
I love M11 - and Crystal Ball is well placed at #1 in your list. Reminds me of Sensei's Top a while back, seems every deck can use it.
I enjoyed this article I have my own zombie deck incarnation that has a base of 4 Rakdos Guildmage, 4 Thornbite Staff, X4 Death Baron. Ping your creature is dead, untap repeat to hearts content.
Another great article, and it leads me to a question. Say someone were to have a new-found appreciation for these kinds of formats, where would the best place be for one to find other people to play Tribal with?
RE: Paul and Blau
First off I'd just like to say thanks to AJ for finding me online yesterday after I posted and having it out for 3 games with me. He had quickly assembled a dragons deck and I played my B/G sacrifice deck, U/B control deck and W/G enchantress deck. That was pretty cool for me.
Part of what I like about the format is that if it ever becomes popular enough to effect the prices of cards it will prevent any particular archetype from becoming dominant for very long which will keep it dynamic and balanced. (and if your card is suddenly banned it's because it became worth more, doesn't sound that bad heh)
As far as enforcement goes at this stage it is a bit "finicky" atm as AJ said when building yesterday. It is still very casual though so it's just about being polite, checking things when they seem off and keeping track of your own card prices periodically. Later what is popular as a solution is to set the legalities of all cards at the beginning of each month. That will be a lot of work so were holding off for now.
I certianly wouldn't say it's more restrictive than pauper though(it does tend to be a lot cheaper) as the card pool to play with is both larger and stronger. (it would be hard to make that case with cards like Merrow Reejerey, Scorched Earth, Conundrum sphinx, Goblin Chieftain, Vedalken Archmage, and Jinxed Idol all being legal in Heirloom)
Hey thanks for the comments, I do have 1 linvala and I see the reasoning behind more for sure, I will try that. The ancient zig is not in there because of the conscription like you said but probably could be, I just think it would be frustrating to not be able to cast it with 8 land in play.
I don't think you can draw much of a conclusion about the strength of aggro decks based on that game you described. The red/white deck that was drafted was reasonably strong, and may have been the best deck you could draft. You just happened to run into a deck that was stronger. Monoblack with grave titan, black knight, and multiple corrupts is just plain nasty. Blue is well known to be strong and is getting overdrafted; it was good to go in another direction.
There comes a point where it makes more sense just to cash in the packs and buy the cards you want, if you are not opening them. If you've won 50 packs, you can cash those in for $200 and buy a bunch of the cards you need. That pretty much takes luck out of the equation. However, if the play's the thing, well, don't worry too much about what you end up with.
Congratulations to you and your family.
Good for ball three of you!
Thanks guys for the comments. Wyrath you're right of course and m8x115 you will get your cookie in next week's article :).
LE
That's Splendid news Splendid Belt! You should name him Jace :).
LE
Thanks for all the lovely comments :)
Big bouncing boy (7lbs 13oz) born last night at 20:24 GMT after lightning fast labour. Almost too fast for the midwife and paramedics, who arrived a mere four minutes before the birth. Nearly had to deliver him myself, took ten years off my life at least.
Mother and baby doing very well.
Ok, the guy above beat me to it, just a small comment for the first deck, you should really try some of the lorwyn blovk filter lands, those might allow you to play turn 1 goblin guide and turn 3 groundbreaker with no problems... and groundbreaker's belloved brother (ball lightning) might also work in that deck... although 3rd turn RRR and GGG drops might be push it a little bit too much XD
Great article by the way XD, i liked the grull deck a lot, i'll probably wait till the dust settles with scars before building extended, but i'll keep this list handy so i can tweak it later this year
Cheers
That format seems really hard to enforce. It's nice that it is a more restrictive version of pauper. Sounds like a fun idea though.
I agree that some aspects of the deck are nasty. That is a virtue of the decks I have to deal with. I wanted to build a deck that could slug it out in Casual with anything I might find there outside of tourney decks. This deck includes a large and varied tool box to do it. Yes some of the cards are out of place and may seem odd, however they're often needed in the varied matchups. I'm no different than anyone else out there I'd imagine. There's certain games I just hate to lose, and my number one is the 40counters.dek. The other is 2 ticketelves.dek. While I agree that mind twist is a great card, is it really not casual? Anything under 4 mana avaiable and hymn is more efficient. I'm actually really excited that this topic has sparked such interest. The casual room is great fun, and classic is the king of the formats in there. It allows for the most interesting decks by a long shot.
Very interesting. Care to share any of the nuances of the new deck? And what's your sideboard and substitutions?
Hmm this is something like what Flips and I discussed a few months ago and I wrote a bit about in one of my articles. Could be fun. Problem is: Fluctuations can really kill a deck if you are on the border with cards. Particular if a card suddenly becomes a Pauper staple out of the blue (it does happen.)
except objective, not subjective
And congrats on the new kid.
I have always liked your articles and this is no exception.
Suggestions for the black deck.
Although I can see where you are going with the gatekeeper, I would run the Vampire Nighthawk over him. It fits the theme of the deck, and if someone does have a creature out, it deters them from attacking because they will loose the creature, and possibly life if you have the the bond out.
Armillary Sphere I am not a fan of. I have tried to run it in decks but find it's not fast enough. Outside EDH and the occasional slow landfall deck, not a fan. A card I would consider is Absorb Vis. It can cycle for the lands early on, and in the late games if you have a Sanguine Bond out, it deals 8 points of damage. Unlike the sphere wich if you draw late game, is probably going to be a dead card. I would even consider running four of those and cutting back to 2 consume spirits.
The two Bloodghast would probably be Malakir Bloodwitch for me.
Yep. That's it 100% exactly!
"T1 Serra Ascendant, T2 Martyr of Sands"
That is awesome.