Tribal Council - Season 2
Features
Deco_y
8 April 2013
1782 views
8 April 2013
1782 views
Welcome back to Tribal Council, where the Tribes come out to play and get trounced.
This week: Kor.
*Please note that I realize now that I made a few mistakes reading the cards and using their effects. I will try to be extra careful in further articles and not be a complete wanker. I will also perhaps re-do the matches between these 2 decks. Happy reading!
Now I mentioned in my last article that when wading into deeper formats, you should probably stick to what you know. But that is for wimps, and people smarter than I. Real men(and women) jump head first into crap they have no idea about! Variety is the spice of life, and taking chances is probably the #2 cause of death behind playing with firearms inebriated. I'm here to make that #1.
Poor humor aside, let's jump in.
Now the first thing that jumps into your head when you think of the Kor is equipment decks, and if you ever run red, that bastard Kor Firewalker. So I figure that is as good a place as any to get this party started. Let's start with the creatures!
A.) The One Drop
Kor Duelist: Cheap equipment on this dude can result in some fairly heavy damage early game.
Kitesail Apprentice: In addition to being an alternate drop to Duelist, Apprentice can gain flying which will prevent headaches against those annoying fliers.
B.) The Two Drop
Here is where the Kor decks get realllly crowded and is more of a style choice. Let's dive in.
Armament Master: What a beast. It adds a great statline boost to useful equipment that don't give boosts, think of that little equipment called Basilisk Collar. This baby is going in.
Kor Firewalker: This D-bag is great sideboard tech against red and should be in EVERY. SINGLE. SIDEBOARD. For Kor decks.
Kor Outfitter: In addition to being able to dropping Outfitter turn 2, I'd more prefer to keep him back until later in the game if I can help it. If you want to F someone's S up, on turn 4, drop an Ogre's Cleaver, then drop Outfitter and equip the Cleaver to your Kor Duelist. If you managed to play an Armament Master previously, on TURN 4 you're swinging with an 8-3 with double strike. That can be pretty deadly. He decreases any equip cost to WW, and that's pretty useful.
Kor Skyfisher A handy flying body and the drawback can be turned into an advantage. It doesn't help my equip deck as much as I'd like, so it'll be included, but at a reduced count.
Looter il-Kor: This card seriously makes me want to splash blue for this deck. You're not going to run into a large number of other creatures with Shadow, so this with Armament Master and ANY equipment quickly builds a draw engine, draws removal from your other more essential kor, AND it would also allow me to splash for counter magic. I might come back to this.
Marsh Threader Sideboard VS black.
C.) The Three Drop
Devout Lightcaster: Very sexy sideboard material VS black. I'll have to put a few in sideboard.
Kor Hookmaster: The tapping ability is very useful, and if I have a Kor Skyfisher in hand, I might wait to play this first. Right now I only have about 16 creatures, so I might just include this to get more creature into the fold.
Kor Sanctifiers: Sideboard tech.
So this is all the good Kor creature wise. No, I didn't ignore Stoneforge Mystic, she is banned and this deck will be completely Modern legal.
Creatures(21)
4x Kor Duelist 4x Kitesail Apprentice 4x Armament Master 3x Kor Outfitter 3x Kor Skyfisher 3x Kor Hookmaster
Equipment-
Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to the star of the show. Let's be honest, all the creatures in Kor decks are pretty much the same. What will make or break your Kor deck Every. Single. Time. will be the equipment. You can go completely aggro, you can hold back for more combo-y effects, or whatever mix your heart desires. I think I'll probably go 70%-75% early game equipment with some space left for some heavy hitting equipment.
Basilisk Collar: Such a sick equipment. Gains you life and kills the balls off of anything your opponent has. 4 of please.
Blade of the Bloodchief: I used this in my vampire deck for my first article, but hot damn I love this card. There might be a fair amount of death going on with this thing. It gives +1/+1 counters that will stay on the equipped creature, even if you move the equipment, and that can be super helpful. I'm going to hold off on including this equipment for now, but damn I love this card, and it'll also be one your opponent probably won't expect.
Bonesplitter: This is one of those choices that make magic fun and challenging to play. Do you run Bonesplitter or Darksteel Axe? What about Trusty Machete? It all depends on what costs you're willing to pay for what effects. I'll pass on these for now.
Infiltration Lens: I already have a 4 of Basilisk Collar, and if I have a bunch of these things in my deck I'm going to be counting on Armament Master a little more then I'd like. I'll put a few in, but not a full 4.
O-Naginata: Definitely a sick piece of equipment. I don't have enough power on my creatures, and it would all depend on if I had a Master on the field. I feel like in this case better safe then sorry, so I'll pass.
Banshee's Blade: This can get pretty ugly with a Duelist, or to a lesser extent with a Kitesail Apprentice. It also has some later game reach since the counter stay on THE EQUIPMENT, and not the creature. Swing with a creature, then move this aside to a blocker? It just keeps getting better. I'll take some.
Cranial Plating: As much as I like this card, I don't think I'm going to get enoug artifacts onto the field to make this worthwhile over a different equipment.
Inquisitor's Flail: This can ratchet up the damage pretty quick. I might throw 1 or 2 in.
Ring of Thune: Giving vigilance is pretty good and watching my creatures grow brings a tear to my eye. I'll take 3.
Now since I'm getting pretty close to my limit here, I'm gonna look for some equipment that will destroy all that they touch. Artifacts that strike fear into even Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker.
I'll take a Sword of Fire and Ice, Sword of Light and Shadow, and a Sword of Kaldra.
Oh yeah, and one of those Batterskull things.
After some tweaking and adjusting, this is the deck!
Deck(60)
Creatures(19)
4x Kor Duelist 3x Kitesail Apprentice 4x Armament Master 3x Kor Outfitter 2x Kor Skyfisher 3x Kor Hookmaster
Equipment(15)
3x Basilisk Collar
2x Infiltration Lens
2x Banshee's Blade
1x Inquisitor's Flail
3x Ring of Thune
1x Sword of Fire and Ice
1x Sword of Light and Shadow
1x Sword of Kaldra
1x Batterskull
Instant(4)
Land(22)
2x Buried Ruin
2x Cavern of Souls
2x New Benalia
16x Plains
Your Mother's a Kor
Modern
360 VIEWS | IN 1 FOLDER
The deck chosen at random to go against my Kor deck is....
Sensei taught me the secrets of divination
Modern
SCORE: 2 | 1015 VIEWS | IN 2 FOLDERS
Game 1-
L wins the roll and keeps a hand of 2xPlains, Kor Duelist, Armament Master, Kor Outfitter, Infiltration Lens, Banshee's Blade.
E Keeps their opening hand.
Turn 1:
L plays Plains, and casts Kor Duelist. L passes.
E draws. E plays Halimar Depths, and passes.
Turn 2:
L draws Kitesail Apprentice. L plays Plains and casts Banshee's Blade. Duelist attacks and hits (L 20 E 19). L passes.
E draws and plays Island and passes.
Turn 3:
L draws Plains and plays it. L plays Kor Outfitter and attches bansee's blade to Kor Duelist. L attacks with duelist and hits (L 20 E 17). L casts Kitesail Apprentice but it runs into Condescend. L passes.
E draws. E plays and Island and casts Mystic Speculation. E passes.
E is gonna be pretty screwed if they don't play a creature soon.
Turn 4:
L draws Plains and plays it.
Time to go for the kill
L casts Armament Master. L casts Infiltration Lens but it runs into a Negate. L swings with Duelist and Outfitter and connects (L 20 E 5). L passes.
E draws and plays an Island. E casts Delver of Secrets Flip and then casts Telling Time. E passes.
Turn 5:
L draws Kor Skyfisher. L swings with Duelist and Outfitter, with Delver of Secrets Flip blocking the Duelist (L 20 E 3). L casts Kor Skyfisher, and returns Kor Outfitter to his hand. L recasts the Outfitter, taking the bansee's blade and equiping it to Kor Skyfisher. L passes.
E draws and concedes. I drew my next card and saw it was Brave the Elements. Pretty decent timing had I needed it.
Well this deck got a pretty decent starting hand that kinda shows the early game pressure Kor decks and make. E got some lands and draw spells, but no Delver or any other creatures definitely hurt, and probably didn't show what it can do, though it gave me some hints. My hunch says there will probably be some Snapcaster Mage love in this too.
Game 2-
E mulligans their opening hand. I was told it had 6 Island, ouch.
L keeps an opening hand of 4xPlains, Infiltration Lens, Sword of Fire and Ice, Armament Master.
I was tempted to mulligan, but having Sword of Fire and Ice made me wanna chance it.
E keeps it's hand of 6.
Turn 1-
E plays Island and casts Delver of Secrets Flip. E passes.
That's more like it.
L draws Kor Duelist. L plays a Plains and casts Kor Duelist. L passes.
Turn 2-
E draws. E plays Island and passes.
L draws Plains and plays it. L casts Infiltration Lens but it runs into Negate. L passes.
Turn 3-
E draws. E plays an Island and plays another Delver of Secrets Flip. E passes.
L draws Plains and plays it.
Floooooood. Here's hoping no more Negates...
L casts Sword of Fire and Ice. L passes.
Turn 4-
E draws. E plays an Island and passes.
Jesus, what is E drawing? That's horrendous luck to not draw a spell.
L draws Kor Outfitter and plays a Plains. L casts Armament Master and Kor Outfitter, attaching SoFaI to Kor Duelist. Duelist swings and hits (L 20 E 6). L draws Plains and Basilisk Collar from the SoFaI and passes.
Yes I should have just dealt the extra 4 damage to the Delver of Secrets Flip, but I kinda messed up and hit E instead.
Turn 5-
E draws and reveals Serum Visions, flipping both Delver of Secrets Flip into Insectile Aberration Flips. E plays an Island and plays Serum Visions. E casts Snapcaster Mage, and flashes back Serum Visions. E concedes.
L would have drawn Plains.
L wins the match 2-0!
Overview:
After looking over the deck list for RussischerZar's deck, the lack of creature targeted counterspells pretty much did it. The deck also got SUPREMELY unlucky with it's draws. It's hard to get a feel for how a deck performs with such a small sample size, so I'm sure this deck functions much better then it showed today. As always, feel free to take a gander at his deck and provide all the loving commentary that Tappedout can offer! Until next week!
Tribal Councils Overall Record: 1-1
That's all a question of timing and such. I'm sure other rules people can clarify this, but I thought all this stuff triggers after combat?
April 8, 2013 10:18 p.m.
Rhadamanthus says... #3
Banshee's Blade triggers exactly when it says it does: when the equipped creature deals combat damage. First strike damage and regular combat damage are dealt in two separate steps of the combat phase. cartwheelnurd has the right idea.
April 8, 2013 11:29 p.m.
The trigger states "whenever equipped creature deals combat damage, put a charge counter . . .". The combat damage from the first strike portion of the double strike damage would be dealt before the second attack, meaning the counter would be placed at that time. The +1/+1 would then be effective immediately, because it is a static ability of the equipment.
April 8, 2013 11:47 p.m.
Rules corner! I like it! At least it didn't effect the outcome.
April 9, 2013 12:04 a.m.
http404error says... #6
Admittedly, Modern has a rather limited pool of Kor available to you. I might go up to 8 one-drops, though, since some of the higher curve Kor are underwhelming.
Banshee's Blade is bad. 4 mana for no initial payoff is awful. Isn't this a rather aggressive deck that wants to hit hard early? The point is that if you have the spare mana to juggle these around, you're losing.
Your lack of Bonesplitter s is holding you back, especially curving out with one of your one-drops. You're underestimating the raw power of having such a low cost. One mana makes a world of difference for a fast deck. Should be 4.
4 Basilisk Collar seems silly since you are likely to draw multiples when you're drawing fewer creatures. I'd cut to 3 or fewer, because in the end, this isn't killing your opponent faster. I guess it would be good in a race, but there are plenty of 3-total-mana equipments to choose from.
It seems like you want more cheap power-boosting equipment to take the most advantage of your Kor, especially the Master. Shuko ? Bone Saw ? Bonesplitter ? With all these hanging around, Cranial Plating suddenly becomes more lucrative, even moreso than Golem-Skin Gauntlets . Grafted Wargear is a personal favorite. Don't forget the creature-type happy Veteran's Armaments . These are all equips you should take into consideration over the vast majority of your current kit, which seems rather lackluster.
April 9, 2013 12:47 a.m.
I'll be honest, I can't wait to see my deck show up in here someday. I just really hope it isn't up against goblins haha. Anyway, nice follow up!
April 9, 2013 12:52 a.m.
I included Banshee's Blade because it made for a good combo with Kor Duelist , as it actually won me game 1. I don't necessarily aim for the most competitive deck ever, just a fun one.
But a thank you to http404error to pointing out good strategy for Kor decks.
April 9, 2013 1:08 a.m.
pookypuppy6 says... #9
Do you plan to do the more supported and choicy tribes first, like Zombies and whatnot first, and then go on to do obscure ones later? I know it's bloody difficult within the confines of the Modern format with so much competition, but I'd still love to see Spiders give it a crack of the whip. Or Oozes!
April 9, 2013 1:12 a.m.
I'm going to basically do whichever tribe I feel like doing at that time haha.
I will probably focus on the bigger tribes first.
April 9, 2013 1:33 a.m.
mossflower says... #11
I think you're misreading Armament Master : he gives the +2/+2 for each equipment attached TO ARMAMENT MASTER. It certainly seems as if you have the wrong impression about him from the way you talked about him in the article, and it seems that you misplay him too.
For example, on game 2 turn 4, your opponent was still at 20, and you took him down to 6, meaning you dealt 14 damage. You attacked with Kor Duelist equipped with Sword of Fire and Ice . Kor Duelist was a 3/3 double striker that dealt 2 damage on every hit, for a total of 10. I'm assuming the extra 4 damage came from what you thought was Armament Master buffing Kor Duelist , even though Armament Master had no equipments attached to it, and therefore did not give any buff.
April 9, 2013 1:40 a.m.
Euphonatron says... #13
If your rules for Tribal Council call for strictly tribal creatures, then I can understand not including Puresteel Paladin , but a sorcery just brought to my attention yesterday that cannot be ignored is Steelshaper's Gift . when you're running with the swords, it can almost guarantee you color specific protection.
btw, I am ABSOLUTELY a kor fanboy, but I played
against Noc Noc, Whose There? just for fun. The vampires early removal spelled doom for the Kor. 0-2 :'(
April 9, 2013 1:52 a.m.
Euphonatron says... #14
@mossflower - Kor Duelist 's double strike means that combat damage is dealt twice, so SoFaI's effect is triggered twice. 2 damage x 2 =4
April 9, 2013 1:55 a.m.
Euphonatron says... #15
oh dang lol mossflower i misread your comment. my bad.
April 9, 2013 1:57 a.m.
Fuuuuuu. I completely misread Armament Master . That's my bad. Maybein the future with all this feedback I can re-do Kor cause it looks like I dun goofed pretty good this time.
April 9, 2013 2:11 a.m.
gheridarigaaz says... #18
I'd've suggested the 0 equip equipment... they might not be as strong as you'd like but considering half the buffs you should be getting are from the creatures themselves, it'd be a lot easier to just pass the equipment on to the next blocker.
Lightning Greaves and Shuko for a start, would turn your 1-drops into sizeable attackers
Specter's Shroud would be a good way of dealing with combo and control decks too
April 9, 2013 5:34 a.m.
RussischerZar says... #19
I wasn't at all expecting to find my deck here, haha. Seeing it crushed like this makes me a little sad.
Admittingly, my deck has definite problems against aggro, which the Kor deck certainly is. Also, I initially had some bounces in this deck, which KrazyCaley all chose to removed in his Apprentice's Workshop episode for it (see Old Sensei's Divinations for the old deck list).
I also rarely encounter this kind of aggro in my casual meta, so my deck performs way better there.
Anyway, Kors > me. :P
April 9, 2013 5:35 a.m.
theemptyquiver says... #20
In the Kor deck maybe 1x Emeria, The Sky Ruin
If things are going poorly, those can sometimes help turn the tide to your favor late game...
April 9, 2013 9:46 p.m.
MetaphysicalxProdigy says... #21
Tch, can't believe you played Banshee's Blade instead of Bonesplitter . And no Puresteel Paladin , Steelshaper's Gift or Dispatch ? Shame :P
April 10, 2013 3:22 a.m.
megawurmple says... #22
I really want one of my top 2 decks to play against your tribal. It would be fun, and I think I'd give you a run for your money.
April 10, 2013 8:06 a.m.
@Leafs_suck: Fun read again! While there have been some mistakes already pointed out, I think it's still entertaining to see your process, then ending with a random match. I don't get to play Magic nearly as much as I would like, so even reading a play-by-play is really fun for me.
Perhaps you could do a part 2 to this and make a few adaptations to the deck then do a rematch? It should be a bit less work for you this time.
April 10, 2013 11:56 a.m.
theemptyquiver says... #24
sewellius that is funny. i have a similar reaction to reading the play-by-play too. it's pretty engaging for me because i want to play more but i only get real live matches about once every other week or so.
April 10, 2013 12:44 p.m.
@theemptyquiver: Yep, we have to play vicariously this way due to our lack of live play opportunities.
April 10, 2013 3:52 p.m.
Leafs_suck, have you even considered using something like LackeyCCG to play the decks against each other? That way both players are using their own decks. It might get difficult to contact some people though.
April 10, 2013 8 p.m.
Thats a whole bunch of organizing that I have zero desire to do haha.
Since I missed up this weeks so much, I have tomorrow off so I might try to string another one together. Hopefully with many less errors lol
April 11, 2013 2:35 a.m.
pookypuppy6 says... #28
Don't get too down about errors and stuff at first, it's the first few articles of your new series and it'll smooth out as you get more used to writing and playing. Of course, with unfamiliar cards and tribes, special attention needs to be paid too.
I've already given my spiel on oozes and spiders, but I'm curious to see what you come up if you consider to do shapeshifters. That'll be a weird-ass can of something to invent.
April 11, 2013 3:28 a.m.
RussischerZar says... #29
Snakes are also awesome I heard. There are so many cool ones, see my Snake-EDH deck: Snakes, why'd it have to be snakes?.
cartwheelnurd says... #1
I found a slight error I think, in game 1, turn 3. You swing with a 1/1 Kor Duelist equipped with Banshee's Blade . You should hit for 1, then before regular damage happens the blade triggers and you get another counter. You should have dealt an extra damage that turn.
April 8, 2013 10:02 p.m.