The Stack #37- Our Native Tribes

Hey there Zoners.

Of all the various themes, tribal decks are the most difficult to build because they require a delicate trade-off between strict theme and function.

Today, we're saluting our favorite types, and our favorite creatures in these tribes. So let's get to it!

This is how we Stacked.

VENSER'S JOURNALIST'S PICK

Venser's Journalist- NOT SURE
I'm a big fan of tribal decks that have the potential to be unstoppable. I have a pretty sweet modern deck with four of these bad boys in them. Once you get two DS Captains out, all your spirits are Hexproof! And a 2/2 flyer for 1WU ain't bad either.

The reason I'm on the fence about this card for commander is that in most tribal situations, I'd want at least the potential to have multiple DS Captains on the field at any given time. Sure, you could fill a deck with clone-variants and a Cackling Counterpart, but those cards could have much better applications. The fact of the matter is that a lone one of these guys is only pretty good; you'd have to find some way to protect him if you're banking on beefing up all your spirits for an extended period of time.

I'd be more willing to give him a thumbs up as a Pauper General, but the same situation above would apply. Of course, in Pauper the playing fields are usually a bit more equalized.

Johnny Confidant- *PAUPER* THUMBS UP
In Pauper Commander, These Captains along with the Guild Mages (or Gold Mages) are very great starting points to get into the format. Not like it's extremely hard or competitive to get into this format, but for anyone who wants to get a similar feel to regular EDH its a good middle ground. they give a solid boost, good color pairing, and usually some good effects off of the Mages.

I can see myself playing off a Captain but I'd choose the Zombie Cap'n. Deathtouch and retaliation in your general's effects are solid.

Uncle Landdrops-  THUMBS DOWN
Not something I'd play, but it's a good card, as JC and VJ have mentioned, in Pauper and the 60-card formats it's been in. I really like the artwork a lot. It's gritty, elegant, and there's a nice historical connectivity created by the art style and the Captain's clothing style that makes it feel real.

Grandpa Growth- THUMBS DOWN
Yea, not much to say. Not a playable card in Commander, but was a sweet card in on of the sweetest limited formats in recent memory. As for its time in the 60 Standard spotlight, it shouldn't have come as a big surprise that Hexproof proved dominant and abusive in a format with no true Wrath effect, but then the archetype disappeared off the map entirely when Supreme Verdict was printed. This highlights the power of the namesake mechanic, but also shows the absurdity of the 'spiral' power creep within the game.

GRANDPA GROWTH'S PICK

Grandpa Growth- THUMBS DOWN
Thumbs down because I would never start this in Commander. I love Specters though and I am eagerly awating the day that a B/R/U Specter lord gets printed so I can finally have a tribal Commander deck that I care about building.

The reason I like this card so much is that it fits into a larger category of value creatures that I just can't get enough of. Getting an efficient body for three mana is nice, but nothing too special in constructed. The thing that sets these creatures apart is that they net you a card when they come into play. We are talking about Eternal Witness, Lifebane Zombie, Sin Collector, etc. These should have their own tribe.

Johnny Confidant- THUMBS UP
I've played with Lily's Specter once upon a time in my Vela deck and i loved it, U/B Blink with copy effects and had fun while my opponents tried to recover and survive off of top decks. This card is no Mindslicer but at least he doesn't force you to dump your hand as well. Perhaps you'd have to play Black Myojin for that.

Venser's Journalist- THUMBS UP
This card is a cog in my Nath of the Gilt Leaf discard deck and I love it. This and Conjurer's Closet are a great duo. Come to think of it, many things with Conjurer's closet are a great duo. But the specter is still awesome because a flying creature that makes everyone else lose some hand advantage is doing double duty. I want my cards to do things and then do more things, you know.

Uncle Landdrops- THUMBS UP
Unlike GG, I am playing this card. Combined with Geth's Grimoire and various reanimate spells, I've been able to assemble decent value in multiplayer, which probably explains why he's not playing it. This card scales a little better, and when you can build your own Syphon Mind, it's a little more worth your while.

JOHNNY CONFIDANT'S PICK

Johnny Confidant-  THUMBS UP
I love me some Shamans, they always have my favorite abilities and I plan to make a tribal shaman deck sometime soon. Among my favorite shamans I have Kiki-jiki, Deathrite Shaman, and Oracle of Mul Daya but hands down favorite is E-Wit.

To me Shamans are a cornerstone of EDH deckbuilding that often goes unnoticed. Sure we may see the Goblin, Human or the Elf primary type but not often do we appreciate the Second type.

Uncle Landdrops- THUMBS UP
I've talked a lot about my thoughts on this card, but she really does speak for herself. Sweet card. Perhaps the only true staple in Magic, in my opinion.

Grandpa Growth - THUMBS UP
True candidate for one of the best value cards ever. It is among a handful of cards that, as I say, make it wrong not to play Green. Tribal shamans may not be a deck, but if there 30 more shamans with this power level I'd be singing a different tune.


Venser's Journalist- THUMBS UP
I like the Eternal Witness. It's a classic retrieval card good for just about anything with Green in it. I must admit, JC makes a good point about most not noticing the "second type" of subtype. I do, however, prefer the Witness just as a stand alone card, not necessarily a tribal-specific card.


UNCLE LANDDROPS' PICK 

Uncle Landdrops-  THUMBS UP
Spirit has been my favorite tribe since I first started playing Magic. What can I say? I'm a sucker for the Kamigawa surrealism.

As far as Spirits go, White Myojin is pretty okay. I don't have a clear cut favorite Spirit, but most of them are white, and there are a lot of things to like about it and its Cleansing Fire. Divinity Counters are relevant, and having an attacker when the rest of the field is gone generates some nice tempo late in the game, which is really the only time he's gonna get cast.

I've made a real effort to play less 7+ CMC cards in the last year or so, but the Myojin cycle is a serious exception, and this one is worth it.

Johnny Confidant- THUMBS UP
A lot of spirits here so i guess i'm lucky to pick my favorite of the bunch and i've chosen the Myojin's. Truely some strong abilities once you pull away their Immortality (aka Divinity) counter. While the White one is good for a wrath effect i don't know if i'd play it, although there are some, specifically the Black and Green ones because sometimes i'm a jerk like that or i'm a timmy like that haha.

I just liked the flavor of Kamigawa with the Spirit war and the idea that black was more of the "hero" in the color pie. Probably the same reason why i liked the flavor of Ravnica and how Grand Arbitor of the Azorius was more or less the villian.

Grandpa Growth- THUMBS UP
I have played a bunch of this card. Maybe not so much as I started to really get into the format, but it is solid value and it does the things you want it to do. It is not a runnaway game-stealer like some other expensive cards, but I hear 'fairness' appeals to some people. Spirits are pretty sweet though. Kamigawa was one of my favorite sets, no two ways about it. It was also home to my favorite gimmick draft format Triple Betrayers! Go ninja go ninja GO!

Venser's Journalist- THUMBS UP
Like UL, I too put spirits at the top of my tribal list (with merfolk a close second), and I think that the Myojin certainly have earned their place in the spirit realm. Cleansing Fire is a great wrath effect that gives an incredible bonus to the controller.

We mustn't forget how this can also become quite broken if your spirit deck has any type of proliferate (because I want seven divinity counters) in it. Or you can abuse the divinity by bouncing it back to your hand, but that's less economical and proliferate tends to be more rewarding in a clockwork sense.

That's all we got today. Until next time, have an A1 Day.

-UL and the TGZ Gang

UL's Favorites: Little(r) Green Men

Happy Tuesday Zoners! Landdrops is back in his originally scheduled time, and we're going to continue my favorites segment chatting about the OG's of the Forest.

Green is a color I can't seem to stay away from. So it was no surprise that it took me a while to check and double check to make sure that these 10 were in fact my favorites. Cause I have a bunch. 

However, I was surprised to find that most of the creatures I like are comparatively smaller than you might expect for this color, which is known for big Beasts and even bigger Wurms.

10. Sakura-Tribe Scout

I know she's got four stick-looking arms and swords, and she's a Snake, but I still call her Shrek's Wife, or Fiona, and you're not gonna stop me.

For one reason or another, I've been trying to find a copy of this card for a while, and I always seem to cut it from an order or forget it.

I finally got a chance to play her in my Borborygmos Enraged EDH (cause I'm tough like a lumberjack), and I've been really impressed.

Unlike Walking Atlas, which is an unfortunate card with many flaws I can't even begin to count on my fingers, I like Fiona cause she powers out lands in my hand, which can help with mana floods and ramping into  a big Commander, which I certainly have in ol' Borby. This effect is really really good on Turn 1 in 1v1. Though Terrain Generator is probably just better, being able to put nonbasics into play is a nice relevant skill. She's not for every deck, but she's effective where it counts.

                                                                                                9. Krosan Tusker

In all the time I've been playing this card, I think I've only cast him twice. Once was on purpose and necessary. I needed a dude, and I was about to die. The other was a Cascade trigger off Maelstrom Wanderer, and I laughed while swinging all my guys for lethal.

Tusker isn't made for the battlefield though. His sole purpose in your deck is to be a Green Instant-speed Divination, netting you a land and another card.

I never get tired of cycling this guy. He's one of my favorite "secret" pieces of tech, though I'm not sure he's an actual secret if you've been playing EDH a long time or you've been following this blog for any length of time. I almost always keep a 3-lander with this guy in an opening hand. Ranking him here at 9 probably doesn't do diligence to just how much I like him, but he's not coming into play if you're managing the game properly, so don't worry about the 5GG at the top. This guy's CMC is really 2G, and it's one of the most reliable pieces of card advantage green has.

  8. Ant Queen

There's a lot of love for Verdeloth and Nemata, and I don't get it when "Auntie Ants" here exists.

If it's armies-in-a-can you want, Ant Queen is my favorite. I love Saprolings too, but why play with Saps when you can spit out Ant-Babies? Isn't that just better? (Ant-Baby tokens are soon to come.)

Say what you want about unpumpable chumps. They're much better to Skullclamp and chump block. I'm not interested in making them big and relevant. They're tokens, and there's an Overwhelming Stampede for that.

On the curve, a 5/5 for five is great. she can make 3 dudes assuming you play a land every turn, whereas Nemata and Verdeloth, though great nostalgia picks, just don't want to come out before you begin the late-late.

                                                                                               7. Spike Weaver

I've long since retired my old Chorus of the Conclave EDH deck, mostly because Animar's way more fun and I couldn't justify playing two decks with the exact same plan.

However, Spike Weaver was a key part to the coolness that the Chorus deck had, if it had anything.

Spikey was constantly changing games, and I wasn't even using him to protect me. In fact, I used him a couple times to keep other opponents from dying, which made him a lot more unpredictable. Politics are a thing in multiplayer, and he helped me abuse them.

Doing so also helped bring a lot of unnecessary hate to him, which in turn helped me keep Gaddock Teeg or Sun Titan, which were far more instrumental in the deck's wins.

I know it's not a good card cause it's fairly predictable, but I still like what it does, and the way it looks kinda harmless sitting on that branch, even though we all know it really isn't. Also, I'm sure Gatherer ruined his cool creature type, but yeah- he's a Spike, which isn't usually irrelevant to the way I pick cards, but I like it here.

  6. Dryad Arbor

Dryad Arbor's something I've been looking to play for a while, and since the FTV Reprints, I've finally felt comfortable dropping the dimes to get copies.

Being a Forest, a Dude, and Green makes her(?) the most tutorable card in any Green Deck, and I think that's pretty cool. Making your tutors get even more utility provides some flexibility that can be useful.

I'm often Green Sun's-ing for 0 to go get Arbor on Turn 1 in Borborygmos. I've also been known to Worldly Tutor for an Arbor when I need the land.

Your Grave Pact-ing Opponents are gonna love you when they're fry short of getting rid of your Avenger of Zendikar or whatever.


                                                                                                5. Sylvok Replica

I had Acidic Slime here at number five, but I decided to go with Sylvok Replica, which is basically a green card due to the activation cost in order to save time when I roll out my Artifact dudes. He may pop back up again there. I don't know. I'm playing this by ear.

Anyway, like our slimy friend, Replica is solid utility. Though not quite as good, Replica is a little more handy, as you can chump and sac to destroy something, or you can wait until your opponent forgets about him as a relevant board threat, and then blast their Gauntlet of Power into oblivion.

Obviously, Acidic Slime outclasses my friend here a little bit with deathtouch, but still favor Replica as the cheaper option with a reasonable activated ability. I usually play both, but I felt like this guy was worth mentioning cause a lot people play Acidic Slime. I've got both in my Dollar General Glissa deck and Animar, where Replica is actually kinda better than Slimer.

  4. Chameleon Colossus

I don't play this card as much as I should now, but I still love it.

He's one of the cheapest late-game threats to cast, and this card is often a blowout. Cause if you don't take care of it immediately, especially in the late-late, you're going to die.

One of my favorite tricks was to combine overruns with him, especially Overwhelming Stampede or Triumph of the Hordes, before that got really absurd.

He is a metagame choice though. If your group relies on black to get rid of dudes, he's a perfect addition to any roster. Cause he's every creature type.


                                                                                                3. Eternal Witness

I'm not sure it gets too original from here on out, but E-Wit is my homegirl. Probably one of the most abusive cards for Green card advantage. Being able to get back countered creatures or spells is huge, and she's half the reason Green is played wayy too much now.

When you play other colors, she gets even better. With Blue, I've set up Mimic Vat Time Warp locks. With Rite of Replication and an Early Harvest, I saw one of the guys in my playgroup make infinite E-Wits and mana.

If I'm ever going to define the word "Staple," this is the picture I want next to it in the EDH dictionary. Eternal's such a fitting word for this warrior woman.



  2. Sakura-Tribe Elder

Speaking of EDH-themed things in real life, Alex Trebek told me he was the answer to last night's Daily Double on EDH jeopardy.

This is a card that is 100% guaranteed to make your deck better. He makes Dawntreader Elk look like Wood Elemental. 

I think this guy speaks for himself. He's a Rampant Growth and a dude. GG plays this, I play this, you should play this, and so enough said. We'll move on to my favorite card.





                                                                                                1. Fierce Empath

Let's set the record straight. Cause I'm not saying that Fierce Empath is a better card than Elder. We're splitting hairs here though, in my opinion.

But I had to pick one, and Fierce Empath is my absolute favorite green creature. And if (the biggest IF) I ever get tired of casting Solemn Simulacrum, Fierce Empath would be the only card in my mind to unseat the Saddest Robot.

GG played this against me in Pauper a year or two ago, and that was all it took. I went home immediately and bought 4-6 copies of this guy, and I never looked back.

I'm pretty sure I'm the leading expert (next to Gatherer) on Empath targets. I'm not kidding.

This guy does so much work in every deck I put him in. My favorite combo is to go search for Krosan Tusker and leverage maximum card advantage. However, I've done a lot of different things with Empath.

So far, my Animar deck has been the most broken place for him. There's a list of targets a mile long, and depending on what the board looks like, he's a toolbox with endless possibilities, getting anything from Maelstrom Wanderer to Duplicant or even Sun Quan to close out a game. He also really likes getting Steel Hellkite for more removal, Etherium-Horn Sorcerer for more Cascade, or Prime Speaker Zegana for super-sexy card draw times. Like I said- the list is a mile long.

We've got a pretty nice week ahead of us here at TGZ. Thursday Johnny Confidant returns with this great article on Karador. Saturday's going to be a pretty great stack episode, where we dissect some of our Dragon's Maze favorites, and Grandpa Growth will be back Sunday with a piece from his In General series. So don't be a Square. 

Keep tuning in for all things essentially Commander. Same bat times, same bat place.
Your turn.
-UL