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Welcome to another theme week at StarCityGames.com. This time, the Ferrett asked everyone to write about Tribal Wars. Without the online card pool, many creature types became available, and I knew it would be my duty to cover some of the wackiest and craziest ideas for tribal decks that I could come up with. In honor of Tribal Wars, I decided to reference another war in my article…
A sort time ago, on a kitchen table not so far away…
Tribal Wars
Episode 3 ½
The Unused Types
War! The mighty tribal forces have engaged in the epic fight to determine which creature type is the best tribe in Magic: The Gathering. The conflict has drawn many different tribes into the fighting, ranging from Goblins to Elves to Beasts, and even to Squirrels. Heroes have emerged on all sides. Chaos is rampant.
In the midst of this chaos, several rather unpopular creature types have banned together to form the Confederacy of Unused Types in an attempt to achieve dominance over the kitchen table. In a daring move, the sinister General Ultimus, leader of the Unused forces, has captured the Supreme Spirit Kokusho the Evening Star. With little time, two heroes head to rescue him…
(On board the Unused Type command ship, Rootwalla, Our two heroes enter the room where Kokusho is being held.)
Manakin: Don’t worry, Kokusho; we’ll get you out of here in no time.
Horobi, Death’s Wail: Uh, Manakin. I think we’ve got company.
Manakin: What?
Horobi: Look!
(The chancellor and the two spirits stare as a massive amount of lizards enter the room.)
Kokusho: This is going to be a long day.
(Scene fades out and fades back in with our two heroes captured by the lizards and our brought before General Ultimus)
General Ultimus: Ah, General Horobi, it is so nice of you to stop by on such sort notice *cough cough cough*.
Horobi: You’ll never get away with this.
General Ultimus: And Manakin Skywalker! I was expecting a creature with your reputation to be something better than a Myr.
Manakin: I expected you to be larger than a Giant Octopus.
General Ultimus: Skulking trash. Your equipment shall make an excellent addition to my own! (Takes Horobi’s Sword of Light and Shadow and Manakin’s Sword of Fire and Ice.)
Horobi: Really? I think it’s time you’re taught your place. (Manakin and Horobi cast Magnetic Theft to get back their weapons). General, your time is… (Falls over after trying to equip his sword.)
General Ultimus: (Surprised) He killed himself with his own power! *coughs* How did he equip his sword in the first place?
Manakin: I, um, don’t think we had equipped our swords… (Anger consumes him) It doesn’t matter, though; your time is over, General Ultimus! (Begins hacking through lizards, unharmed due to his protection from red.)
General Ultimus: You still lose, Manakin! (Casts Evacuation)
(Scene fades out)
I found quite a few different creature types, but I decided to limit it to just three. One of the types that were of particular interest to me was Lizards. Surprisingly, there are only fifteen lizards in Magic. Even more surprising, red has the most lizards. Not to say lizards was that exciting a creature type; it just proved to build a rather basic deck.
Deck I: The Phantom Lizards
The deck’s main mana curve is centered on three, making Aether Vial a very sound choice for putting you lizards into play. Aether Vial also allows you to play lizards while saving mana for echo costs. Other than those few little things, the deck isn’t anything too exciting, just beat on your opponent with lizards until they die. The Earthquakes and Pyroclasms are in there to help you deal with your opponent’s creatures since quite of few of your own creatures survive through them, allowing you to get by unblocked and kill problem creatures. The Magma Jets are in there to help you by providing spot removal and allowing some card manipulation. Like I said, nothing special, but it gets the job done.
| Tribal Lizards Featured by Matthew Lubich on 2005-06-12 | ||
Artifacts 4 Aether Vial Artifact Creatures 4 Scissors Lizard Creatures 4 Dromosaur 4 Lava Runner 4 Pygmy Pyrosaur 2 Shivan Raptor 4 Vug Lizard |
Instants 4 Magma Jet Sorceries 2 Earthquake 4 Pyroclasm Basic Lands 22 Mountain Lands 2 Forgotten Cave | Stats: Average mana: 1.47 Average creature mana cost: 3.00 Average creature power: 2.45 Average creature toughness: 2.45 Deck Composition: Sorceries: 10.00% Creatures: 30.00% Basic Lands: 36.67% Artifacts: 6.67% Instants: 6.67% Lands: 3.33% Artifact Creatures: 6.67% |
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Download this deck in Magic Online Text format! | |
(Scene fades in, revealing Legends; General Horobi slowly makes his descent)
Horobi: (To himself) I’m glad Scuttling Death has Soulshift 4.
(Lands on the surface and is greeted by several former Legends)
Sol’Kanar the Swamp King: We welcome you, Champion’s Spirit — what brings you to our peaceful block? I certainly hope not the Tribal Wars; few of us actually have creature types.
Horobi: Actually, I did come for that very reason. There have been rumors that the Unused Type leaders have been gathered here.
Sol’Kanar: (In a low voice) It’s true; they have taken refuge in the city. They are at the Adventurer's Guildhouse.
Horobi: In that case, I’ll alert my men immediately. If you have any Eternal Warriors, now would be a good time to use them.
(Horobi rides to the guild house on a Plated Rootwalla that was not used in the first deck. When he peeks into the room were the Confederacy’s leaders, he sees General Ultimus with them along with a Homarid Shaman, a Leaping Lizard, a Grimclaw Bat, and many other creatures.)
Horobi: Here goes nothing. (Flies down to the center of the chamber.)
(Gnomes begin to circle around Horobi, and General Ultimus comes to greet him)
General Ultimus: General Horobi — so interesting to see you alive, soul-shifting spirit scum! *cough cough cough*
Horobi: It ends now general.
General Ultimus: Guards, attack!
(Ultimus’s remaining lizard bodyguards try to attack Horobi but die after he casts Rend Flesh while splicing two Horobi’s Whispers. The Gnomes are ready to attack Horobi, but Ultimus signals them to hold off.)
General Ultimus: I will deal with you myself.
Horobi: How do you intend on doing that?
(General Ultimus produces a Sword of the Chosen, a Runesword, a Zelyon Sword, and a Celestial Sword.)
Horobi: And just how do you plan to use those? My presence prevents it.
General Ultimus: Before you came here, I took a hint from another bad rare.
Horobi: You don’t mean…
General Ultimus: That Which Was Taken. Prepare to die!
(Horobi and Ultimus begin their epic duel while spirit reinforcements and Legends begin pouring into the Guildhouse to attack the Gnomes. The fighting continues and it looks like the fight is fairly even, though the duel between Ultimus and Horobi is going rather poorly for the Champions of Kamigawa rare.)
Horobi: How the heck do I beat this guy?
(After ducking under one of the Mistform’s mighty blows, Horobi catches sight of That Which Was Taken)
General Ultimus: It is useless, General Horobi; you are finished.
Horobi: I don’t think so. (Jumps at That Which Was Taken and looks at a Hearth Kami.) Destroy this, Kami!
(That Which Was Taken is destroyed by the little Hearth Kami.)
General Ultimus: That still won’t help you; I still have the bonuses given to me from my swords.
Horobi: But it’s the end step — and you used a Celestial Sword, Grievous.
General Ultimus: (Making one final Lunge) NOOOO!
(Horobi dodges and watches as the mighty Ultimus dies)
(Scene Fades Out)
Gnomes ended up being the second creature type I choose. Gnomes don’t have much as far as power goes, with Ticking Gnomes as the best offensive creature the type has to offer. Also, they all tend to cost about the same as the lizards.
So how do you make Gnomes good? For starters, gnomes are hardly effected by things like Trinisphere, even though I ultimusly decided not to use it.
Secondly, since most gnomes don’t have a color, you never have to worry about getting color-screwed - just mana screwed. Thirdly, a deck that contains Copper Gnomes can just as easily use Tinker along with Fabricate to help you fuel out some truly powerful Artifacts - one of which could be a Darksteel Forge.
Now that you have a general idea (Or is that General Idea? – The Ferrett), time for the deck.
| Tribal Gnomes Featured by Matthew Lubich on 2005-06-12 | ||
Artifacts 4 Aether Vial 1 Darksteel Forge 2 Metrognome 2 Nevinyrral's Disk Artifact Creatures 4 Bottle Gnomes 4 Clockwork Gnomes 4 Copper Gnomes 1 Darksteel Colossus 4 Patchwork Gnomes 4 Ticking Gnomes |
Artifact Lands 4 Darksteel Citadel Sorceries 4 Fabricate 1 Tinker Artifact Lands 4 Seat of the Synod Basic Lands 9 Island Lands 4 Blinkmoth Nexus 4 Mishra's Factory | Stats: Average mana: 1.77 Average creature mana cost: 3.24 Average creature power: 2.29 Average creature toughness: 2.53 Deck Composition: Basic Lands: 16.07% Lands: 14.29% Artifacts: 16.07% Artifact Creatures: 30.36% Artifact Lands: 14.29% Sorceries: 8.93% |
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Download this deck in Magic Online Text format! | |
So how does the deck play out? Well, its whole goal is to guard against the early offensive and then throw down either an early Darksteel Colossus or Forge to seal the game. The defensive is mainly provided by Bottle, Patchwork, and Ticking Gnomes. Copper Gnomes and Tinker help you get your large stuff into play. Aside from forging an invincible Gnome army with Metrognome and a Darksteel Forge, you can also use the Forge/Nevinyrral’s Disk combo to prevent your opponent from ever keeping a permanent again. However, the deck is very slow, so you are bound to die against some of the faster creature types.
(Scene fades in to reveal the Wookiee homeworld with Master Yosei, just as Kokusho issues order 66.)
Yosei, the Morning Star: I sense a disturbance. (Turns and sees two Femeref Archers pointing their bows at him; he casts Swords to Plowshares twice.)
Yosei: Trouble we are in, yes.
Uktabi Kong: Arrrg. (Orders his troops to attack the spirit forces.)
Okay, so I didn’t put all the weird creature types as part of the Confederacy, but it still works out. Apes are probably the strongest of the three types I chose — at least as far as power and toughness go. However, just like the other two types, Apes have the tendency to fall around three mana.
Unlike the other two decks, Aether Vial is nowhere to be seen due the Apes’ distaste for artifacts (ever seen the Uktabi kinds?). This is okay, though, since green is just plain good when it comes to accelerating mana.
| Tribal Apes Featured by Matthew Lubich on 2005-06-12 | ||
Artifacts 2 Monkey Cage Creatures 3 Barbary Apes 4 Gorilla Warrior 4 Sakura-Tribe Elder 4 Silverback Ape 3 Simian Grunts 2 Uktabi Kong 3 Uktabi Orangutan |
Enchantments 4 Rancor 4 Wild Growth Sorceries 3 Rampant Growth Basic Lands 24 Forest | Stats: Average mana: 1.73 Average creature mana cost: 3.48 Average creature power: 3.17 Average creature toughness: 3.13 Deck Composition: Enchantments: 13.33% Sorceries: 5.00% Basic Lands: 40.00% Creatures: 38.33% Artifacts: 3.33% |
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| Download this deck in Apprentice format! |
Download this deck in Magic Online Text format! | |
The deck is just mainly a green aggro deck focused around Apes. You use your Sakura-Tribe Elders, Rampant Growths, and Wild Growths to fuel out mana and beat down with you large apes. Rancor gives them trample, and Monkey Cage provides you with more monkeys. The Uktabi apes allow you to nuke artifacts and, in the case of Uktabi Kong, make more apes. If you’re the strongest player physically, you just might want to include Side to Side in this deck.
Until next time, may the Tribal Forcemage be with you.
Matthew Lubich
Dan Paskins has already played in English Regionals. Want to know what the master Red mage played and what advice he has on the format in general? Step inside, my friends, step 
