-Picking a tribe and sticking to it was key. The cards I didn't use were good on their own, but tribal cards already have decent floors, and tend to make each other better.
Snapping Sailback and
Colossal Dreadmaw are solid cards, but when the deck also uses
Otepec Huntmaster and
Savage Stomp, they're just nasty. One particular move I felt dirty doing happened in my last game. I played
Otepec Huntmaster on turn 2, then on turn 3 I played
Frenzied Raptor for
, then I played
Savage Stomp for
, killing my opponent's 2/2 and clearing a lane for 5 damage on turn 3. I won 3 turns later.
-In a deck that relies on tempo, it's okay to tap out. Through efficient mana use, you can gain the upper hand in a hurry. With Otepec Huntmaster and
Kinjalli's Caller
in the deck, it made it that much more tempting to play Colossal Dreadmaw on turn 4 and give it haste. I didn't like that the deck was a one-trick pony, but an opponent told me, "If your one-trick pony is 20 damage by turn 5, you don't need anything else."
-What some call "power creep" is noticeable in Ixalan, but I think Wizards is just figuring out what is the best and worst you can do with certain cards at certain mana costs. Still...
