This is my pet deck, and I'd appreciate any advice people can offer. Tribal and rogue combo are my favorite types of decks to build and play, which is the main reason I love this deck so much. Before I get into the objectives and intricacies of the deck, I'd like to give a shout out to Kevin of Rogue Deckbuilder for inspiring this deck.
The premise of this deck is to use triggered abilities of Ally creatures, namely
Halimar Excavator
and the various clone effects (
Jwari Shapeshifter
, Phantasmal Image) to dump the top of your library into your graveyard, and recur said allies to trigger enough abilities to completely mill out an opponent. The other combo pieces are Return to the Ranks and Rally the Ancestors. The convoke on Return the Ranks is huge, enabling a possible turn three kill. I know what you're thinking, "Wait, this deck can win on turn three?". Yes, it can, and with your help I think it could become more consistent, or at least have better sideboard options.
So now you know plan A, but that doesn't always work out, as any combo player knows. The second line of victory is to gain disgusting amounts of life and slowly chip away at your opponent's library, eventually milling them out. This is achieved with
Ondu Cleric
and the aforementioned clones. You can gain upwards of hundreds of life (not quite infinite), but usually enough to grind out opponents by your lack of card advantage. The third option is the less used beatdown plan. Perhaps you want to get out from under opposing sweepers, or just can't win the game otherwise due to graveyard hate, but this plan of attack is legitimately viable. With scaling creatures like Hada Freeblade and
Kazandu Blademaster
that can outpace large Tarmogoyfs, it is possible to outrace many midrange, and even some aggressive decks.
Referring to the turn three kill, I will admit that I would be generous to say that it occurs often, but with Plan A in mind, a combo kill can be achieved easily on turns 4 or 5. Never the less I'll give an example of a turn three kill. (Keep in mind that you only need to mill around 53 cards given that your opponent will draw from 5-7 cards in their starting hand and will have drawn 2-3 cards in their draw step.)
Turn 1:
Ally Encampment
, Hada Freeblade
Turn 2: Plains,
Halimar Excavator
, targeting yourself (mill at least one clone/milling ally)
Turn 3: Glacial Fortress, Jwari Excavator, copying
Halimar Excavator
, target yourself with both triggers (at this point you should have at least 2 clone/mill allies in the graveyard),
Stoneforge Acolyte
targeting opponent for 8 cards into graveyard, cast Return to the Ranks where x=2, targeting both the clone/mill allies, milling opponent for 2x4x6=48 cards, 48+8=56, leaving them dead assuming they didn't mulligan to 1, at which point you could kill them other ways.
I'd also like to explain some of the card choices, to help you better understand their reasoning, and to help myself get better feedback. Disclaimer: these are my opinions, and you may have better ideas of what could help make the deck fluid, and please feel free to leave opinions in the comments section. Firstly, I am aware that Changelings exist, and I even included some in earlier generations of the deck, but the creatures were weak and didn't allow the beatdown plan C, which can earn you some wins. Also, the true Zendikari Allies are white, which is certainly relevant for the white convoke spell, Return to the Ranks. In the turn three kill, at least 1 of your creatures would be blue, and if the lands couldn't produce white for non-creature spells, the kill wouldn't occur. An argument can be made for Snapcaster Mage to be in the main deck to cast a reanimating spell in the graveyard or to "continue the combo" and flashback a Return to the Ranks and cast it with the creatures you just brought back, but that is overkill. A couple other specific albeit small card choices depended on survivability. I never intend on using
Stoneforge Acolyte
's ability, but the second point of toughness is relevant in just enough of scenarios to be worthwhile. Despite having other options, you get the most of your deck when you have a horde of small creatures on both the battlefield and in the graveyard.
