Anyone play Tribal on here?

[el bingren]

          So a quick intro...I'm a straight T1 player by trade, I used to play pretty regularly in northeast Ohio a few years back with people like J. Stinnett, Tim and Jeff Wilson.  I even went to a nice Mox Tourney in Columbus a few years ago ran by Steve that was a lot of fun, I believe Madness took home the mox that day, my only gripe is that it was an all-proxy which resulted in 75% of the players running Tog or Slaver.  I want to say that was the first and last experience I had getting beat by the late Vintage Champ Chang Xiansheng.  I'm going back home the weekend of the 24th when the Mox tourny is in Lakewood right in my backyard but I'm going to a cousin's wedding so unfortunately I can't make it.  Anyways, I've since joined the Air Force and to make a long story short I've ended up here in Maryland where there is NO T1 scene around within a 2-hour drive.  So after asking around I've found a store about 25 min. away that does Legacy Tribal of all themes.  I'm too excited about this but I'm just desperate to play someone face-to-face instead of MWS nowadays so I'm at their mercy.  I used to run fish back then and I'd like to say I ran it pretty well, hybrid-controlly-small aggro is definitely my playstyle.  Anyways, so I'm rummaging through all my cards and the only decent cards I can find Tribal-wise are my ancient Sotari Monks and Priests from way back when.  I would run the mono-white with Emperial Armor but I feel strange playing without FOW and Brainstorm so I splashed blue for card advantage and was on my way. 
     
          Everything went well as expected, my only loss coming from my very first game against random.dec because since I thought this pile together so fast I forgot to include islands.  I felt so dumb when I sacked the delta and searched for like 2 minutes looking for an island, I was forced to concede that game then won game 2 handily and then game 3 I drew 9 lands out of 14 cards so...yeah. 
     
          So my very open-ended question is if any of you have some experience in playing Legacy Tribal and if so help me come up with a decent little budget deck.  I refuse to spend amounts of money on anything that's not T1 or T4 so I'd like to play something that's cheap, uncommon and effective.  After all my sifting I've narrowed it down to being biased towards Faeries, Cats, Slooooow Beasts, maybe Horrors and Spellshapers.  The rule is that you have to have 1/3 of your deck be boys and it's league so the scoring system is kinda janky basically being such that if you play with an uncommon creature type you get more points than if you were playing and established type such as elves or gobs, etc.  It seems that these types of decks are extremely weak to removal so I won't make the mistake of not rolling in next time with plenty.  Swords and Sigil of Sleep were enough to get me by this time but I'd prefer a little more aggressive approach next time around.  So that's it really, if anyone has any knowledge to lend that'd be great.  I'll pop up my very budget tentative list I plan on rolling with next time for funs sake and we'll see if anything happens.  Thanks.
     
     Faeries are So Gay

     Beef
     4 Cloud of Faeries
     4 Faerie Squadron
     4 Could Sprite
     4 Surveilling Sprite
     4 Thornwind Faeries

     Draw/Counter
     4 Standstill
     4 Fire/Ice
     4 FOW
     2 Daze

     Removal
     4 Lightning Bolt

     Lands
     4 Volcanic Island
     4 Mishra's Factory
     4 Polluted Delta
     2 Flooded Strand
     3 Wasteland
     1 Strip Mine
     3 Island
     1 Mountain

          There it is in it's awesomeness.  I know it looks like garbage but it's super budget and I'm not expecting to beat everyone, but it seems that with this I should be able to drop my hand and swing fast enough to hold off anything crazy long enough to 'beat' for 20.  So like I said this is very tentative as I still other cards are just too good in this format like Ostracize, Control Magic and a bevy of others.  So, I apologize if this post breaks any rules, I read over them before this but it's very possible I missed something.  Thanks again.

[el bingren]

          Um...correction.  Up in that first paragraph that's "I'm NOT too excited about this" and not "I'm too excited about this".  Once again, "I'm NOT too excited about this" Thanks!

[Illissius]

Awesome, I've always wanted to make a Faerie deck. Your creature base looks like about the best you could come up with, given the limited number of Faeries available, but I don't like Faerie Squadron. 1/1 dorks without flying in a creature-heavy format are pretty bad. I'd rather use the Sea Sprite / Weatherseed Faeries team, especially if red decks are popular.

Also, if this is Legacy tribal (as opposed to Vintage), then Strip Mine is banned, not restricted.

Here's my attempt:

TurboFaeries

4 Aether Vial
4 Cloud Sprite
4 Cloud of Faeries
4 Surveilling Sprite
4 Sea Sprite
4 Weatherseed Faeries
4 Coastal Piracy
4 Turbulent Dreams
4 Force of Will
4 Other Counterspell
4 Wasteland
4 Rishadan Port
12 Island

Aether Vial is pretty awesome, and doubly so with Cloud of Faeries. Coastal Piracy = Necropotence. Play Faeries. Attack with Faeries. Draw lots of cards. Pitch lots of cards to Dreams away your opponent's board. Play more Faeries. Repeat as necessary.

I'm not sure what Other Counterspell should be. Candidates are Counterspell, Remand, Memory Lapse, Mana Leak, Daze, Misdirection, and Disrupting Shoal. Probably one of the free ones, but they're all pretty narrow.


Alternately, green also has some Faeries, of which some, for whatever reason, lack flying entirely, and one is Aisling Leprechaun. (I'm not going to use those).

4 Aether Vial
4 Scryb Sprites
4 Cloud Sprite
4 Cloud of Faeries
4 Surveilling Sprite
4 Faerie Noble Sea Sprite
4 Curiosity / Mask of Memory
4 Force of Will
4 Misdirection
4 Overrun
4 Flooded Strand
4 Windswept Heath
4 Tropical Island
4 Forest
3 Island
2 Gaea's Cradle

This has no board control, so it's essentially a race to Overrun. It's a shame you can't fit 4 Vials, 20 Faeries, 8 card draw, 8 bounce, 8 counters, 4 Overrun, and 20 lands in a 60 card deck, because I'd certainly like to.

EDIT - It turns out Faerie Noble isn't a Faerie. Damn it.

          Um...correction.  Up in that first paragraph that's "I'm NOT too excited about this" and not "I'm too excited about this".  Once again, "I'm NOT too excited about this" Thanks!

There's a button at the top of your posts called Edit, which you can use to fix this.

[el bingren]

I really like the Coastal Piracy addition, maybe I can finagle some through cheap trade or something. 

I went with Faerie Squadron because I thought it'd be a decent drop if the game lasted long enough, and more importantly it rounds out my creature base with 8 1-droppers instead of just the four.  I figure that since my deck is so weak power wise I must be dropping a 1/1 flyer every game first turn to have a chance. 

You also think I should do away with the whole spot removal theory?  I'm very partial to Fire/Ice as I've been in love with it since it's inception.  But I suppose with enough card advantage through Piracy or MoM with sufficient counter back-up should be enough to overwhelm.  I like the removal to deal with problems like Wellwisher, Grim Lavamancer, Timberwatch Elf, Spikeshot/Goblin Sharpshooter, etc.  It seems that in this format there's plenty of random good utility creatures that cause problems if not immediately dealt with.

I'm definitely willing to part with Standstill for something like MoM or Piracy.  I figured my typical goldfish would be...

Turn 1: 1-drop Faerie
Turn 2: Cloud, Standstill
Turn 3: Spot Removal/Drop lots of Faeries
Turn 4: Turn 3 till game ends.

I also love the Port idea but then again I have none so I'll have to add that to the list of trades.  Thanks for the input, I love the ideas and the other direction you're coming from.  And I know about the green Faeries, they don't really bring anything to the table and if i keep them mono-blue I can splash red and play Forces/Mis-Ds easier.  MMMk, it's late.

[Jacob Orlove]

I went with Faerie Squadron because I thought it'd be a decent drop if the game lasted long enough, and more importantly it rounds out my creature base with 8 1-droppers instead of just the four.  I figure that since my deck is so weak power wise I must be dropping a 1/1 flyer every game first turn to have a chance. 

Faerie Squadron
U
Creature - Faerie
1/1
Kicker 3U (You may pay an additional 3U as you play this spell.)
If the kicker cost was paid, Faerie Squadron comes into play with two +1/+1 counters on it and with flying.

It only has flying if you pay the kicker.

[el bingren]

Son of a B your right, stupid Faerie Squadron!  Sea Sprite it is!  There I go assuming again.  How can a Faerie not have flying?!?  That's like a ninja that can't slit someone's throat.

I'll have to brush of a Conclave too for this one, can't skip on that.

Keep in mind I'm not totally committed to Faeries, only about 70%.  It seems that there are still plenty of cards waiting to abuse inferior cards in this type of play.  There has to be a decent deck that can run Slice and Dices and Pyroclasms all day or Nauseas and Ostracizes.  That's just the tip of the iceberg, I know.  Man it's fun to be thinking up decks and playing again!

[Hi-Val]

You'd mentioned abusing sorceries, and my mind immediately went to Anarchist. If you go with a Human tribe, you get Anarchist and Witness. You could bash together a deck that used Rampant Growth and Explosive Veggies to ramp up mana if you wanted, and then maybe even use Spellweaver Helix to get more bang out of sorceries. unfortunately, Pyroclasm seems to kill all your humans : ( You could also do a wall deck with Wall of Blossoms and Wall of Mulch for card advanatage, and then find a not-sucky way to win.

If you went with Human or Wizard, you could also use Salvagers and Trinket Mage to either make infinite mana or just make a cog deck if you didn't want to be cheesy. If you go WU, you get Wizard Replica, Voidmage Prodigy, Scrivner, Azorius Guildmage, Patron Wizard, Azami, Meloku and plenty of others.

[Illissius]

I really like the Coastal Piracy addition, maybe I can finagle some through cheap trade or something.
...
I also love the Port idea but then again I have none so I'll have to add that to the list of trades.

Yeah, I asssumed "budget" was in terms of what you don't already have (the land base you originally suggested isn't exactly inexpensive), but as I don't know what you do or don't have, I just suggested whatever. Coastal Piracy is an uncommon in Masques, so you should be able to get them pretty cheap. Port is relatively expensive, though not nearly as much as in its T2 heyday.

I went with Faerie Squadron because I thought it'd be a decent drop if the game lasted long enough, and more importantly it rounds out my creature base with 8 1-droppers instead of just the four.  I figure that since my deck is so weak power wise I must be dropping a 1/1 flyer every game first turn to have a chance.

As mentioned, they don't fly. Aether Vial is a good one drop though, and also helps to keep the Faeries flowing.

You also think I should do away with the whole spot removal theory?

You certainly don't need it to remove blockers, as Faeries fly. Keeping your opponent's dudes from killing you in the meantime is, however, useful. Turbulent Dreams fulfills this function in my version of the deck. Moat is also an idea.

I like the removal to deal with problems like Wellwisher, Grim Lavamancer, Timberwatch Elf, Spikeshot/Goblin Sharpshooter, etc.  It seems that in this format there's plenty of random good utility creatures that cause problems if not immediately dealt with.

This is a good point, one I hadn't considered. You can splash red as you've done, just bounce and counter them, or other options include Psionic Blast, Legacy's Allure, Old Man of the Sea, and Vedalken Shackles. Firestorm is another good one. You could also use Umezawa's Jitte or Sword of Fire and Ice, but they're pretty expensive, albeit not in the same way.

I'm definitely willing to part with Standstill for something like MoM or Piracy.

I actually wanted to use 4 Curiosity 4 MoM originally, and then dropped them for Piracies for lack of space. Standstill is also good, and has bonus synergy with Aether Vial and Faerie Conclave. If you're not using Piracies, I'd suggest dropping the Dreams, though, because I don't think the other options can draw enough cards to fuel it well.

I'll have to brush of a Conclave too for this one, can't skip on that.

With only four one-drops that's a good idea, but with eight (Vial), I don't think they're necessary, and could get in the way.

Keep in mind I'm not totally committed to Faeries, only about 70%.  It seems that there are still plenty of cards waiting to abuse inferior cards in this type of play.  There has to be a decent deck that can run Slice and Dices and Pyroclasms all day or Nauseas and Ostracizes.

Sure:

4 Galina's Knight
4 Silver Knight
4 Paladin en-Vec
4 Defender of Law
4 Knights of Thorn / Knight of Dawn (not sure which is worse)
4 Pyroclasm
4 Powerstone Minefield
4 Crusade
4 Swords to Plowshares
2 Armageddon
4 Windswept Heath
4 Flooded Strand
4 Plateau
2 Tundra
6 Plains
2 Mountain

Could also use things like (Rolling) Earthquake, Breath of Darigaaz, Flamebreak, Shard Phoenix, Aether Flash, and Blind Seer, but the latter four have too much off-color mana in them, I think.

Alternately, the same in black has better critters (if Coldsnap is legal), but no Pyroclasm:

4 Llanowar Knight
4 White Knight
4 Order of the White Shield
4 White Shield Crusader
4 Paladin en-Vec
4 Plague Spitter
3 Last Laugh
3 Pestilence
4 Castigate
4 Vindicate
4 Polluted Delta
4 Flooded Strand
4 Scrubland
4 Godless Shrine
3 Plains
1 Swamp
1 Bayou
1 Savannah

That's just the tip of the iceberg, I know.  Man it's fun to be thinking up decks and playing again!

I agree. Makes me want to design a couple of Horror and Elemental decks as well... and I'm not even going to be playing them.

[el bingren]

I really like the Coastal Piracy addition, maybe I can finagle some through cheap trade or something.
...
I also love the Port idea but then again I have none so I'll have to add that to the list of trades.

Yeah, I assumed "budget" was in terms of what you don't already have (the land base you originally suggested isn't exactly inexpensive), but as I don't know what you do or don't have, I just suggested whatever. Coastal Piracy is an uncommon in Masques, so you should be able to get them pretty cheap. Port is relatively expensive, though not nearly as much as in its T2 heyday.

Yeah my bad, I pretty much have T1 cards.  If it's a rare and was never playable in T1, odds are I don't have it.  I guess the mana base is kinda misleading for a budget deck from the decklist, sorry bout that.  I guess I'm not really looking to drop more than like 10-15 dollars here for extra cards.  One more reason to play these Faeries since they'll only be a few dimes per.

I went with Faerie Squadron because I thought it'd be a decent drop if the game lasted long enough, and more importantly it rounds out my creature base with 8 1-droppers instead of just the four.  I figure that since my deck is so weak power wise I must be dropping a 1/1 flyer every game first turn to have a chance.

As mentioned, they don't fly. Aether Vial is a good one drop though, and also helps to keep the Faeries flowing.

I honestly just can't see Vial in here.  There's no room.  It's bad enough having to run 20 creatures in a deck, let alone Faeries, so I need the maximum number of slots open to cards that do stuff.  I also don't see the advantage Vial gives me besides playing creatures at the end of my opponents turn.  If i drop it turn 1 the next turn I'll drop a Faerie through it and just play another with my 2 land, the same result as if I played the 1-drop first turn anyway.  I plan to exhaust all my mana in the early turns to drop guys as fast as possible anyways, I guess 3rd turn it may help by saving me a mana or two but...ah God why am I talking about Vial this much?  Enough with Vial.  Vial is used to get past counter and in this format I don't see that as a problem.

You also think I should do away with the whole spot removal theory?

You certainly don't need it to remove blockers, as Faeries fly. Keeping your opponent's dudes from killing you in the meantime is, however, useful. Turbulent Dreams fulfills this function in my version of the deck. Moat is also an idea.

I'm not worried about removing blockers and I'm not too worried about being killed by quick aggro as most of these guys play slower decks.  Like I said earlier it's the Wellwishers, the Lavamancers and other random good ability guys that all spell game over for me.  I do like Vedalken Shackles, that card's a beast.  Psionic Blast is soo sexy but alas I have none.  Same with Firestorm, I would use Jitte and Sword but at this local place they are banned due to sweetness.

I'm definitely willing to part with Standstill for something like MoM or Piracy.

I actually wanted to use 4 Curiosity 4 MoM originally, and then dropped them for Piracies for lack of space. Standstill is also good, and has bonus synergy with Aether Vial and Faerie Conclave. If you're not using Piracies, I'd suggest dropping the Dreams, though, because I don't think the other options can draw enough cards to fuel it well.

I rolled house last week with 4 Curiosity but I'm trying to get away from it.  I also used Sigil of Sleep which turned out to be a house, I'm thinking though that Bolt/FireIce can handle what Sigil did last time and then some.  I definitely need to find a median with Curiosit/Mom/Standstill and Piracy.  Piracy seems to slow to me because once the fourth turn comes round odds are they have bigger, better and meaner cards than I do.  I'm trying to play the role of sneaking in real quick and stealing games before they get a chance to do too much.

I'll have to brush of a Conclave too for this one, can't skip on that.

With only four one-drops that's a good idea, but with eight (Vial), I don't think they're necessary, and could get in the way.

This is true.

Oh that black list you submitted is nice, Pestilence oh Pestilence, I have most of the black knights so maybe I'll throw that together for when I'd had my fill of Faerie pounding.

I guess I didn't directly say it before but I was trying to go with a not-so-common creature type like the few I mentioned in my first post Hi-Val.  I'd run Wizzys and Elves all day but they only get you about half of the points that a Faerie or Spellshaper deck would award so I'm trying to stay away from them.  Sort of the same with Clerics, Humans and Knights and all other established types.  I just like the knight deck there cuz I have most of them sitting around so what the hell.

[That0neguy]

from my limited knowlege of tribal I hear its a suprisingly dumb format ussually dominated by humans>salvagers LED or something like shawman>tooth and nail.  Im not sure if you want to bring this deck there although maby the meta is not as broken as the one my freinds have described on MODO.

From what they have been talking about it seems like the attack step should not be all too relavent as people just atempt to combo off anyways, using dorks as speed bumps and possibly combo parts.

[el bingren]

from my limited knowledge of tribal I hear its a surprisingly dumb format usually dominated by humans>salvagers LED or something like shawman>tooth and nail. I'm not sure if you want to bring this deck there although Amby the meta is not as broken as the one my Friends have described on MODO.

From what they have been talking about it seems like the attack step should not be all too relevant as people just attempt to combo off anyways, using dorks as speed bumps and possibly combo parts.

          Yeah I felt the same way before I played it.  Here at this place they've pretty banned combo elements in order to promote creature interaction.  So Salvagers and Tooth aren't allowed.  And again it's a format in which lesser creature type wins lead to multiples of points compared to better types.  It's surprisingly fun to think up little paths to victory with crappy creatures, or to play bad decks with synergy like all pro-red clerics or knights combined with boardsweeping red Slice and Dicey/Starstormy cards.  Even if someone does come with combo that's what the red and counter in my deck is for so I'm not too worried.  Just as examples the Salvagers and Tooth combos take a decent amount of land to pull off, more for Tooth, what ever happened to people playing counters??  I can't imagine playing a non-red/brown or non-combo deck that didn't have counters in it.  That's just crazy.

[Illissius]

Incidentally, Time Spiral fixes the Faerie Noble problem with Sprite Noble, and comes this close to fixing the not-enough-pro:red-Knights problem, if only Tivadar were one (or you can try Knight of the Holy Nimbus).

[keys]

Yeah I was going to mention Sprite Noble.  Here's a list I made up:

4 Cloud Sprite
4 Cloud of Faeries
4 Sea Sprite
4 Weatherseed Faeries
4 Sprite Noble

4 Force Of Will
4 Daze

3 Umezawa's Jitte
3 Sword Of Fire And Ice

4 Standstill

4 Chrome Mox
4 Lotus Petal

4 Faerie Conclave
3 Flooded Strand
2 Polluted Delta
5 Island

I really like the full 8 Pro-red faeries.  And I think Jitte/SoFI are much better than Coastal Piracy.  Standstill/Faerie Conclave feel at home here.  Chrome Mox and Lotus Petal are necessary acceleration.

Fun