This is how we do Tribal Wars.
Challenges and Articles forum
Posted on Dec. 11, 2012, 11:54 a.m. by thedemonsday
I am sure many of you have heard of tribal wars, and some of you have played it. However, ask yourself this, "Have I ever really played Tribal Wars?" Playing tribal elves/zombies/goblins/humans and trowing in a few copies of Coat of Arms is hardly playing the format for what it is.
In my play group we rather enjoy having contests to see who can play the craziest tribal while fitting within out rules and focusing more on flavor rather then meta-game power.
- You must have at least one third of your deck as your trible, tribal spells included.
- Legacy ban list + Coat of Arms , Door of Destinies , and Adaptive Automaton
- All cards in your deck must be justified as far as flavor is concerned.
Here are a few decks that I have put together for our games, some easier to play then others.
Tribal Wars: BEARS!. (no description yet)
Reassembling Horde. (no description yet)
thedemonsday says... #3
I would take out the Amoeboid Changeling and Counterspell because they don't fit the tribal. Also slivers are really easy to do, so I don't think they would pass in my group, but if you are always allowed to do whatever kind of tribal you want.
December 11, 2012 1:04 p.m.
UmbrotheUmbreon says... #4
They support the tribal deck. Amoeboid Changeling counts as a Sliver and gest the buff, fights off against other Sliver decks, helps create Slivers to steal with Sliver Overlord . Counterspell stops board wipes and sweepers, as those are what hurt Slivers the most.
You said one third had to be tribal. I covered that part easily. I don't have any banned cards, nor any of the three you listed. Also tribal Slivers is easy when you have two or three colors, but I am going with all five, so it isn't exactly easy.
December 11, 2012 1:32 p.m.
thedemonsday says... #5
Amoeboid Changeling helps the deck, but it doesn't fit the flavor. The same goes for Counterspell , so unless there is a flavor reason for someone who summons slivers to also summon a changeling or do a counter spell then it breaks the third rule. For example in my clerics deck I have Innocent Blood because it fits the flavor of sacrificing things to your deity. Go for the Throat was almost removed untill we agreed it worked on the same principle that Innocent Blood worked on. Right now I am thinking about getting rid of Doom Blade for Terror simply because its flavor works better.
Also Slivers inherently have tribal support and that is the reason we don't do things like zombies, goblins, elves, or humans. So in my group slivers would not pass because it is to easy despite it being five colored. For example our group is currently running Skeletons, Drakes, Bears, and Spiders, so there is not a lot of tribal support for our decks. However, we picked unsupported tribals because it forces us to be more creative with how we play and build.
December 11, 2012 1:52 p.m.
UmbrotheUmbreon says... #6
Amoeboid Changeling odes fit the flavor cause it is part Sliver, can make other creatures Slivers, or stop the opponent if they are running Slivers. How is that not flavorful to Slivers? Counterspell is there for support, so unless your group doesn't allow board wipes, sweepers, etc then it is useful.
It's not easy no matter what way you slice it dude. I've built Sliver decks and have seen Slivers. There are a lot of them, with all kinds of abilities. Five colors with so many Slivers to choose from, plus you need multiples, and you need to keep it at 60 cards for consistency, so it REALLY isn't as easy as you think.
Besides, if you guys are playing for fun why shouldn't other tribal decks be allowed?
December 11, 2012 2:04 p.m.
jan2692wal says... #7
If you're not playing competitively, than allowing elves, goblins, zombies, and humans can go in many different directions (like my zombies The Magic Formula: Unscythe's Zombie Legion. No tribal deck is easy to put together due to all of the options, and if you're going for flavor than that makes it that much harder. Also, i think banning Adaptive Automaton hurts many tribes more than anything, seeing as most tribes don't have lords and you guys seem to be pushing for more obscure tribes to be played. What if i want to play Weirds, Squirrels, or Leviathans?
December 11, 2012 2:18 p.m.
jan2692wal says... #8
also, not allowing counterspells and kill spells because they are "unflavorful" is a bit ridiculous.
December 11, 2012 2:19 p.m.
UmbrotheUmbreon says... #9
jan2692wal says...
also, not allowing counterspells and kill spells because they are "unflavorful" is a bit ridiculous.
So much win in that statement
December 11, 2012 2:27 p.m.
thedemonsday says... #11
We are not banning the counterspells and kill spells, we are just saying if you are going to use them then yo have to have a flavor reason. If I wanted I could stick Dash Hopes in my clerics deck and I dont think it would be an issue to anyone. If I was playing wizards then Counterspell would not be an issue, but Counterspell in a sliver deck I think can be contested.
As for Adaptive Automaton , in our group this has been an issue because many tribes don't have lords. However we are just thinking of getting rid of lords altogether, but it is still being debated. I am on the fence about it because on the one hand it helps out the more obscure tribes we try to play, and on the other hand it somewhat hinders our games. What might end up happening is Adaptive Automaton will only be allowed in tribes that don't have a lord. Also there is not enough squirrels to have deck, it sucks.
December 11, 2012 2:49 p.m.
thedemonsday says... #12
@Jan2692wal If someone in our group said "I want to do zombie tribal, but it is going to be really wonky and flavorful" then I am sure we would just ask to see the decklist before green-lighting it.We don't have a leader and this is supposed to be our way of hindering ourselves to make an otherwise simple task much harder, and since it is harder it forces us to play cards we normally would not without using our normal staples to smooth it out.
December 11, 2012 2:55 p.m.
jan2692wal says... #13
Deranged Hermit , the Earthcraft /Squirrel Nest combo, Chatter of the Squirrel , Acorn Catapult , card:Druid's Call, Krosan Beast , Liege of the Hollows , Nantuko Shrine , Nut Collector , Squirrel Mob , Squirrel Wrangler , and Swarmyard
December 11, 2012 2:58 p.m.
thedemonsday says... #14
Unless we made an exception there are only two squirrel spells Krosan Beast and Squirrel Mob . However none of use feel like doing them so it was never an issue.
December 11, 2012 3:01 p.m.
.....could you use Adaptive Automaton in a "construct" deck?.... it is naturally a construct, and there are a lot of constructs that could be used to make a deck.
It could possibly make quite a good deck, especially if only pitted against other 'tribal' decks that have to follow this deck construction style.
December 11, 2012 3:17 p.m.
thedemonsday says... #16
I don't see why not if it was a construct deck, I will ask the others what they think.
December 11, 2012 3:27 p.m.
jan2692wal says... #17
if youre going for amore flavorful version of tribal wars, i don't see why the cards i mentioned above shouldn't be allowed
December 11, 2012 3:37 p.m.
My Construct deck... Construct.
Quickly thrown together, so it can probably be worked on to be made better...
I'm sure you can agree that Amass the Components fits with the deck theme, as does the Urza Lands.
December 11, 2012 3:48 p.m.
thedemonsday says... #19
In the original rules of tribal wars it states you have to have 1/3rd of your deck be the tribe you pick, creatures and tribal spells included. The four, five if he decides to show up, have played this for a few weeks and had no big problems. If someone wanted to do a tribal that did not have enough creatures to play but had spells that directly supported it, like squirrels, then I am sure it would not be an issue to allow it. If you want to play Tribal wars in your group feel free to play as you wish, I really was only urging the banning of Door of Destinies , Coat of Arms , and conditionally Adaptive Automaton because the fit in every tribal deck. I was also urging you to play for the flavor and wacky competitive fun rather then the pure meta like most decks do.
If your group wants to say the Grizzly Fate is a "Tribal Sorcery - Bear" then that is fine, and I am not here to stop you. If you want to say that a changeling is flavorful for any deck then that is up to you, we disagree with that and that is our choice.
We chose this because we got bored with Pauper EDH, with color limitations required, and so we switched to this. In a few more weeks we will prolly end up playing some other wacky gametype with the rules changed to make it harder.
December 11, 2012 3:52 p.m.
If wacky gametypes are what you are looking for, try having everyone in your group play Chaos EDH, (with different commanders if you like), with all the planes from Planeschase + Archenemy schemes. Most fun ever playing Magic.
December 11, 2012 4:52 p.m.
Human Surge < Resolve Primal Surge to win the game. Opponents generally leave you alone because you seem to be helping the game until you kill the table in one attack step.
December 11, 2012 5:39 p.m.
Fleetfiend says... #23
Here's one that I was working on, though it's not entirely flavorful and in its current state it has Coat of Arms . I may modify it to fit these rules: Hounds of Hell
December 11, 2012 9:08 p.m.
Roborapter says... #24
for the people who are complaining, stop complaining, it's the dudes own play group, it doesn't matter if you like it or not, it's not your play group. i know he want people to ake decks for it but just chill out.
December 11, 2012 9:38 p.m.
Fleetfiend says... #25
Also, I was just inspired to make this: Cracklestorm
I think it's cheating a little, since it almost allows me to use any burn spell I want. xD
December 11, 2012 10:04 p.m.
deck:call-of-the-sphinx would fit this fairly well, i think. it could probably use a little more flavor but it's a tribe without much support or any lords so it seems to fit the criteria. also, Adaptive Automaton and Shapeshifter need to be taken out.
December 11, 2012 10:48 p.m.
MagicalHacker says... #28
Oops. I meant Play ALL The Creature Types!
Also, yinfinity, i don't see why Shapesharer is a problem.
December 13, 2012 12:06 p.m.
it's not a sphinx and doesn't fit the flavor. under normal circumstances i would leave it in, but we're talking about decks to fit this guys playgroup and he's made it very clear that flavor is very important. i would probably look for some cards to do with riddles to replace it, since sphinxes are riddlers.
December 13, 2012 2:32 p.m.
Epochalyptik says... #30
Moved to Challenges forum.
The White Order is a tribal knight deck that I've been using since shortly after I started playing Magic. It's not competitive, but it's consistent and powerful in a casual environment.
December 13, 2012 2:48 p.m.
MagicalHacker says... #31
Ok I thought you were talking about adding Shapesharer to the ban list under Adaptive Automaton .
December 13, 2012 10:51 p.m.
Does you like fishes? I like fishes. in any competitive group my deck would be turned into sashimi, but it's fun and the simic are nice (and don't kill their own fishes too much)
Oh, the magical Fishes! (RAAAVNICAN FISHES!)
It's weak but it's flavorful and ravnican.
November 2, 2014 11:52 p.m.
Also I think coat of arms would make sense in like a soldier/human/knight deck, but outside of that it's just unflavorful. (or I guess maybe elves or goblins, but those are too easy to make) All hail the fiiish!
November 2, 2014 11:55 p.m.
vampirelazarus says... #35
People should really check dates.
Thread is two years old.
Stop necrobumping, people.
UmbrotheUmbreon says... #2
Tribal Slivers are evil. I"m sure my Sliver deck qualifies for this :)
The Endgame
December 11, 2012 12:57 p.m.