Magic Deck Vortex: Must Have Theme Wrap-up!

Magic Deck Vortex(MDV) has a plethora of archived Tribal decks - so many so, that MDV is one of the leaders of the pack when it comes to Tribal decks. Why is this? Well, I have an affinity for them. Back when I used to create many decks at a time, my collection of real-life decks was about 40% tribal. At any time, I had about 50 decks in the box which means about 20 of them were tribal (i.e. Wizards, Goblins, Orcs, Spikes, Illusions, Demons, etc.)

So why am I talking about this? The answer is simple. I’m going to revisit a contest of old involving tribal decks and then work with it, resolve it (finally, right?!) and follow it up with something new and exciting!

Some time ago, back in 2003, I posted a contest called “Must Have Theme.” In this contest I challenged visitors of MDV to create a tribal theme deck. The deck had to involve creature types I didn’t currently have in the Deck Database. Since then, MDV’s deck database has grown significantly and I can’t really compare these decks to the Database anymore. However, I thought it would be fun to re-visit this contest and proclaim a winner. I would imagine many of you have forgotten about this mainly because I never wrapped it up in 2003. In fact, there were many contests I never completed, and for that I apologize. But we won’t dwell on that, now, will we? No, we won’t.

Let's revisit the guidelines for this contest as posted in November of 2003! Yeah, I know.. it’s been a long time. Note: that every time the word “theme” is used, “theme” should really be replaced with the word “tribal” by today’s standards. Here they are as quoted from the original contest page:

Must Have Theme Contest Guidelines.

The deck cannot be more than 60 cards and not less than 60 cards.
Your deck must use 16 cards which specifically make your deck a theme deck.
Your deck must use other cards to support the theme.
You must have a title and short description. If you don't, you submission will get a -1 penalty.
You can use cards from any set.
If a card is restricted in any format, you must restrict that card to a quantity of only one.
No power nine cards (original Moxes, Black Lotus, Time Walk, Ancestral Recall, and Time Twister) There is a -5 penalty for using any of these cards.
The deck can be any number of colors. If you go the no-color route (using no color spells and only artifacts, then you get +1.5 bonus points.)
Your deck must have at least two legendary cards. This includes legendary lands, artifacts and/or creatures. If not, your deck will lose 1 point.
Feel free to use the combo pages to give you ideas for your deck.
Try not to copy any deck already on Magic Deck Vortex
Decks are rated based on the information below. The rating system has recently changed so you might want to review it again.
Have fun and be creative
If you win the contest you get to pick one of the next contest themes and you get to choose the next TOP 30 CARD listing or the next FEATURED CARD.

These guidelines were standard for most contests, with a few lines changed here and there to cater to the theme of the contest I was having.

Let me first say that judging these decks was VERY difficult. I mean, I love all tribal decks. There were some decks that were cool but not really what I would personally look for in a tribal deck. Then there were cool tribal decks that didn’t adhere to the rules. Then there were just COOL tribal decks. My original top five had about 10 decks in it before I weeded out the ‘not as cool’ decks with much difficulty.

Also, know that I’ve decided to scrap the point system completely and just review the decks on a personal level. Really, I am looking for decks that are fun, efficient and keep true to their tribal nature. There were several decks that made this criterion and if they didn’t, they were either shipped off to my “honorable mention” folder or my “eww” folder.

There were twenty-eight submissions to the contest, and several didn’t stick to the guidelines. For instance, one was just a theme deck without the tribal nature and thus, despite being a fun deck, was disqualified from the top five. Then there were others that neglected to include two legendary cards. Any cool decks that I don’t review in the top five section will be featured further down in the honorable mention category. Be prepared for lots of deck lists.

…hmm. Sorry, couldn’t help it. Actually, if you haven’t seen Dead Man’s Chest, I would highly recommend it. I never saw the first Pirates of the Caribbean movie, but I thoroughly enjoyed the second. Oh, and it’s rated PG-13, just for clarity’s sake.

Anyway, the fifth place deck is obviously a pirate theme deck and let me tell you, I have many-a-time tried to make a pirate tribal deck. I can’t say any of my attempts went well, but I tried, right? Nor can I say this tribal deck is perfect, but it sure is fun. Here’s the deck list:

First, let me say this deck was oozing at the seams with flavor. I mean, with cards like Blatant Thievery, Bribery, Treachery and Control Magic, the theme of this tribal deck is great. Let’s not forget the inclusion of Pirate Ship! Here are Rick’s comments on the deck (edited for clarity only):

Well, I think that pretty much sums it up. This deck is placing fifth more for its flavor than for its playability although I can imagine it playing decent in an average casual game. There are lots of control elements. One deck that you will have trouble with is a creatureless deck, as many of the spells in this deck count on your opponent having creatures.

With that, ARRRRH! (Feel free to say that out loud a few times to make yourself feel more in tune with the deck. In fact, play the deck and every time you play a spell, say “ARRRH!” That should thoroughly annoy your opponents.)

Imagine a group of people who have no fixed home. A group of people that move according to the seasons from place to place in search of food, water and even grazing land. Imagine a group of nomads. Why are you imagining a group of nomads? Because the fourth place deck in this contest is a tribal nomad deck!

Nomads are a strong willed and persistent bunch. In small groups or even alone they have to be able to perform many tasks and be prepared for anything. They have to be prepared to survive anything, that is. I think the flavor text from Tireless Tribe gives a strong feeling of what nomads are:

"We've survived starvation, dwarf attacks, and heatstroke.
Why should a little sandstorm bother us?"
– Tireless Tribe

This deck plays out like a weenie deck, with lots of cheap creatures and Swords to Plowshares for some creature control. To add to your arsenal of efficient creatures, you get Icy Manipulator and Nomad Decoy to help tap down your opponent’s major threats until you can get Meekstone out. The inclusion of Meekstone in this deck is one of the reasons it made the top five.

Meekstone denies any creature with power three or greater an untap during that player’s untap step. Combined with cards like Leonin Sun Standard and Pianna, Nomad Captain you make your creatures bigger without suffering the effects of Meekstone. Plus, the deck was designed without any big creatures – even considering your two threshold creatures of Mystic Penitent and Mystic Visionary. Every creature has a power of 2 or less.

An interesting card choice is that of Spurnmage Advocate. You can tap him and return two target cards in an opponent’s graveyard to their hand to destroy target attacking creature. At first I thought this was a bad inclusion, but then I realized you could just return a creature with power 3 or greater in their graveyard back to their hand to use his effect. When your opponent recasts the creature, just tap it down with Icy Manipulator or Nomad Decoy.

To round out the deck, a play set of Disenchants was included for obvious reasons. Kor Haven is a legendary land to help against creature damage when your creatures are all tapped out. Lastly, the creator included a few copies of Fountain of Cho to help pay for a big Leonin Sun Standard effect to likely end the game.

Minions. These guys pillage, kill, recur, and kill some more. And they don’t just kill for food like the nomads. They kill either for the enjoyment of it or because they were told to.

Unfortunately, we haven’t seen a new minion since the Odyssey block. You have to wonder why. Perhaps WotC has decided Minion is no longer part of their current scheme of creature races and classes. Minions to me are like a subservient to a greater evil. But I guess a minion could be any number of things like an Elf Assassin, Goblin Scout or even a Demon Advisor! I am going to venture to say that we won’t see minion around again for a while. Perhaps that would make a good question for ‘Ask Wizards’.

Anyway, despite not seeing any NEW minions since Judgment, there are still a hearty number of them. 37 to be exact. Filled with useful cards like Bone Shredder, Priest of Gix and Rag Man, there is some room to make a minion tribal deck. Plus, minions have some powerful Legends including Braids, Chainer, and Phage! This next deck placed third in this contest – let’s take a look, shall we?

That deck has quite a few combos floating around in it. Plus, it’s not only a tribal deck but a fun (maybe annoying for your opponent) recursion deck too. Let’s take a look at Thomas’s description of the deck as submitted (quoted):

His description of the deck does all of the work for me. While this deck isn’t exactly the most original deck in the world, I enjoyed the adaptation he put on it making it a full-fledged tribal deck with all of the great minions. Including Soul Foundry and Helm of Possession really kind of made this deck a definite top five.

The following deck has four seasons: tolerable, hot, really hot, and ARE YOU KIDDING ME??!! While playing this deck, you break a sweat the instant you lay your first land. The deck is so hot, you will find yourself eating hot chilies to cool your mouth off while playing it. That and the deck is so hot even Furnace Dragon couldn't withstand the heat! But Squee did.

This next deck is a tribal Phoenix deck and a well crafted one at that. Even for being made in 2003 before Phoenix decks had access to Skarrgan Firebird! Of course, if you can find room in the deck, Dissension’s Phoenix would make a great addition.

Phoenix cards in Magic have this nice little built-in ability of recurring themselves from the graveyard. Cards like Shivan Phoenix just go to your hand when they hit the graveyard. Bogardan Phoenix gets a second life for free but then after the second death goes to the ‘removed from the game’ zones. Although, cards like Power Conduit and Chisei, Heart of Oceans can help give your Bogardan Phoenix infinite numbers of lives. Then you have Shard Phoenix which you can bring back to your hand when its in the graveyard for a measly three red mana. Lastly, the oldest member of the group is Firestorm Phoenix (from Legends) that is basically an older and slightly less powerful Shivan Phoenix.

Everything else in the deck is self-explanatory, although lets take a look at Charles’s description of the deck:

I personally would have included some cheaper burn cards like Shock, Pyroclasm and Incinerate just to help out the early game. But as you can see this deck packs a punch without ‘em.

Oh, and for the record, I have NO idea how to write out the plural form of ‘Phoenix’.

There are only four Magic creatures in existence that are ‘Carriers’ and the following deck uses them all. All four were originally printed in Urza’s Legacy and all four did the same thing: Tap and Sacrifice to give a creature -X/-X. The X varied from creature to creature.

Who would have thought to make a deck using these guys? I mean, their ability isn’t exactly exciting nor does it build a deck all on its own. However, this deck was so amusing to me that it placed first in the competition!

The deck uses some cards I would have never thought of but I can see why they’re included. Nathan turned this Carrier tribal deck into another recursion deck. Anyone else seeing pattern here in the top five? Note that I didn’t plan it this way. Anyway, Ivory Gargoyle, Reborn Hero and Remembrance are all included in this decklist.

Just in the fact that this guy used Reborn Hero, Ivory Gargoyle, Circle of Despair, Inheritance and Remembrance in one deck and made it work earned the deck a spot in the top five. These are all cards you don’t see too often in casual decks and I must give him props for original deck concept and execution. Mind you, recursion isn’t anything new, but with the cards he is sporting in the deck, it’s original to me.

Scenario: You have one of each Phyrexian carrier, Welkin Hawk, Remembrance and Inheritance in play. Use the Plaguelord’s ability to sacrifice the Hawk and give one your opponent’s creatures -1/-1. Let’s say that creature is a 3/3. When the Hawk goes to the graveyard, pay 3 to Inheritance. When the Hawk hits the graveyard, both the Hawk’s ability and Remembrance’s ability go on the stack. Ultimately, you now get to pull two Welkin Hawks out of your library and draw a card. Now, sacrifice one of your Carriers (like the debaser) to give that creature -2/-2 and kill it. When your Debaser hits the graveyard you get to pull another Debaser out of your library and opt to pay 3 for another card.

That’s just one scenario with this deck. You can sacrifice one of your creatures to Circle of Despair and prevent all damage from one source and then because of Remembrance you can search out a creature with that same name is put it back into your hand. You can sacrifice either Reborn Hero or Ivory Gargoyle to Phyrexian Plaguelord to reduce on your opponent’s creatures and then recur them. The Gargoyle recurs for free; the Reborn Hero recurs for WW. You could even sacrifice your Academy Rector to one of the many sacrifice outlets and pull out and into play one of your three different enchantments.

Don’t forget you have two legendary lands, Volrath’s Stronghold and Phyrexian Tower. Volrath’s Stronghold will put a creature in your graveyard on top of your library and the Tower is just another sacrifice outlet only it benefits you with more mana. As your graveyard will fill quickly with cards, Nathan included two Feldon’s Canes to shuffle your graveyard back into your library when your library starts to look a little low. And finally, Cabal Ritual provides a little mana acceleration.

Overall, this deck is fun. It was well designed and thus well deserving for first place in this contest. Congrats. If you are still around, be sure to email me with your choice of a new featured card or a new top 30-something creature feature.

There are a whole bunch that deserve an honorable mention and thus I am just going to list the decks with minimal to no comment on each one. Note that there is no particular order in the presentation of these decklists. Here we go…

Oooh... a spellshapers deck! ...with every spellshaper... I do like the toolbox twist on it though.

I was always a big fan of Cephalids, but I think I would have taken them more on a Llawan - Alter Reality road. That's just me.

Too bad Coldsnap wasn't out until just now. This deck could have been an actual Auroch deck!

Now that's a strange deck. You may not have a clue what this deck is really about until you read the author's description:

Well, that wrap's up Honorable Mentions. If you are still around and your deck didn't make the top 5 or honorable mentions, don't fret. There is still a chance with the next deck building contest.

A "Class"ic Deckbuilding Contest:

"Class"-ified Tribal.

Welcome to Classified Tribal! It’s the latest deckbuilding contest hosted by Streetz. This isn’t some top-secret society of tribal deck-builders. Instead, it’s a "class"ic deckbuilding contest centered on Tribal Classes.

What do I mean? You definitely know what a race is, right? You know, like Goblin, Elf, Cephalid, Hound, Viashino, Fox, etc. If you know what a race is, you should know what a class is. Think back to your role-playing background, if you have one. When you build a new character in AD&D you choose your race and your class. In some cases you might choose multi-class (more than one). A class is a Wizard, Cleric, Archer, Rogue, Samurai, Assassin... (for examples).

THE CHALLENGE: Create a tribal deck using a class as your main theme. The usual guidelines will apply (mentioned below). Email your submissions to magicdeckvortex@hotmail.com. Submissions are due by 8/14/06.

Here are the classes you have to choose from (there may be more classes in Magic, but these are the ones you have to choose from):

Advisor, Alchemist, Ambush-Party, Archaeologist, Archer, Artificer, Assassin, Assembly-Worker, Avenger, Bandit, Barbarian, Berserker, Bodyguard, Bureaucrat, Cleric, Constable, Crusader, Designer, Drill-Sergeant, Druid, Exorcist, Farmer, Flagbearer, Gamer, General, Guardian, Gypsy, Hag, Harlequin, Heretic, Hero, Horseman, Hunter, Knight, Legionnaire, Lord, Mage, Maiden, Master, Mercenary, Merchant, Mime, Mob, Monk, Mystic, Ninja, Noble, Nomad, Paladin, Paratrooper, Pikemen, Pirate, Preacher, Priest, Raider, Ranger, Rebel, Robber, Rogue, Sage, Samurai, Scavenger, Scout, Shaman, Smith, Soldier, Sorceress, Spellshaper, Spy, Squire, Tactician, Taskmaster, Thief, Townsfolk, Tracker, Villain, Waiter, Warrior, Witch and Wizard.

Mind you it is very important you have at least 16 cards that share the same creature type. Thus, a creature type with less than 4 different creatures would be disqualified. The only exception to this disqualification is if you use 4 Mistform Ultimus and/or 4 Proteus Machines. Some of the creature types listed above only have 1 creature in them, so I wouldn’t recommend using those (such as):

Alchemist, Ambush-Party, Archaeologist, Assembly-Worker, Avenger, Constable, Crusader, Designer, Drill-Sergeant, Exorcist, Farmer, General, Gypsy, Harlequin, Heretic, Horseman, Hunter, Legionnaire, Mage, Maiden, Master, Mime, Mob, Noble, Paratrooper, Pikemen, Preacher, Priest, Raider, Ranger, Robber, Sage, Scavenger, Sorceress, Spy, Squire, Tactician, Taskmaster, Thief, Tracker, Villain, Waiter and Witch.

On a last note, before I put you before the basic guidelines of the contest, if you use Wizard, Cleric, Druid or Soldier, be warned. Your deck will most definitely not make it into the final five. I strongly encourage you not to use one of those class types. Why? Because they are WAY overused to begin with. So, here are the guidelines:

Contest Guidelines.

You must have a title and short description.
The deck cannot be more than 60 cards and not less than 60 cards.
Your deck must have at least 16 cards that all share the same creature type. 4 of those cards can be Mistform Ultimus and/or 4 of those cards can be Proteus Machine.
Your deck must use other cards to support the theme.
You can use cards from any set.
If a card is restricted in any format, you must restrict that card to a quantity of only one.
No power nine cards (original Moxes, Black Lotus, Time Walk, Ancestral Recall, and Time Twister)
The deck can be any number of colors, including no color.
Your deck must have at least two legendary cards. This includes legendary lands, artifacts and/or creatures.
Feel free to use the combo pages to give you ideas for your deck.
Try not to copy any deck already on Magic Deck Vortex.
Be creative and original.
Avoid Wizard, Soldier, Druid and Cleric.
Submissions are due by 8/14/06.
Email your submissions to magicdeckvortex@hotmail.com.

If you made it all the way down here without using the link at the top, congrats! And more importantly, thanks for reading.

Thank you also to all the people who entered this contest three years ago. There were a lot of fun decks and I thoroughly enjoyed looking through them. I wish I had reviewed them sooner, but I'm also glad I can share these all with you now. Know that I won't be waiting three years to post the results from the new "class"ic deckbuilding contest. Also, the majority of the decks posted on this page will be added to the main deck database later this month.

For those of you that plan to enter the new contest, I wish you a hearty good luck! (arr)

P.S. Let me know what you think of this article and/or the new deckbuilding contest in the forum. Link below.