Pattern Recognition #247 - My First Tribal

Features Opinion Pattern Recognition

berryjon

21 July 2022

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Hello everyone! This is Pattern Recognition, TappedOut.Net's longest running article series as written by myself, berryjon. I am something of an Old Fogey who has been around the block quite a few times where Magic is concerned, as as such, I use this series to talk about the various aspects of this game, be it deck design, card construction, mechanics chat, in-universe characters and history. Or whatever happens to cross my mind this week. Please, feel free to dissent in the comments below the article, add suggestions or just plain correct me! I am a Smart Ass, so I can take it.

So, today, I'm going to tell you about my first Tribal deck, and while most of you are probably nodding your head along with my thoughts, and thinking berryjon is going to talk about Rebels, I am not. No, Rebels were not a thing until later, when I had disposable income of my own and could spend the money I wanted on Magic, which actually started with Invasion Block. And my first box, aside from getting me my first of about a dozen Battlefield Forge's, introduced me to the first deck I built that was dedicated to a single Tribe, which I then built. I won some, I lost some, but in the end, it was my deck, and I enjoyed it.

So let's talk about the Kavu.

Introduced in the Invasion Block, the Kavu literally came out of nowhere. I'm not joking about this. Absolutely no one, from the local leaders in the fight against the Phyrexian Invasion all the way through to Urza himself, knew about these things. Multani, Maro-Sorcerer hypothesizes that they may have been awakened due to some use of his power in the early stages of the Invasion, while Urza himself just throws out the idea that Gaea - the elemental spirit of Dominaria itself (no relation to the character voiced by Whoopi Goldberg in Captain Planet aside from the name) - had worked to create the Kavu as an anti-Phyrexian weapon in parallel to his own works, using her own resources.

Regardless of their origin though, the Kavu fit seamlessly into the world of Dominaria, and while they range across the whole of the planet, they are mostly located in Yavimaya and Shiv, the two of the major battlegrounds of the Invasion itself, reflected in their predominantly colors.

Kavu are heavily mutated or evolved lizards, and unlike most lizards, are endothermic, meaning that they do not require external assistance to control their internal body temperature. This can, and has been weaponized by the Kavu, like the Firescreamer or Bloodfire Kavu. This means that the Kavu can live comfortably in their chosen climates, from the dark forests to the high mountains without excessive adaptaions required.

Ranging in size from large dogs (such as Pygmy Kavu or Kavu Glider) to elephantine or greater - Kavu Titan, the Kavu have four or six limbs, the front four (or two on the 4 limbed versions) are plantigrade, which means they naturally rotate 'forward', while the rear two are digitigrade, which means they rotate backwards when in motion. These limbs end in either cloven hooves, much like a goat, or on thick fingers that end in claws, which are extremely useful for grabbing. Because of this, Kavu are exceptional climbers, as demonstrated with the Kavu Climber, and in the years following the Invasion, this skill entered into the cultural consensus of the Llanowar Elves as something that shouldn't happen, can. In addition, Kavu are much, much faster than their size and bulk would indicate,

Their heads and back and outsides of their limbs are often armor plated, with spikes running along the ridgeline for the most part, paired with a massive maw and extraordinarily sharp teeth. This aggressive design allowed them to act as perfect predators against their favourite prey - Phyrexians. Such was their ability to hunt and destroy Phyrexian troops, that, as quoted on Raging Kavu, they took seconds to prove their worth in defending Dominaria.

The Kavu did not limit themselves to just the Phyrexians, however. While they are the preferred prey, the Kavu are generally carnvorous, and have been known to attack sea-creatures, including coastal Merfolk, and anything smaller than them. Or bigger. Or more numerous. Look, Kavu could and did hunt anything that fancied them. This is not to say that they are apex predators, as Drakes and even dragons look at the Kavu as just another source of meat.

This does not mean that Kavu were just wild animals. They are pack animals, and as such, they can be tamed to a limited extent. The Steel Leaf Paladins of Llanowar and Yavimaya are heavy cavalry that use Kavu as their mounts. Hallar, the Firefletcher is a native of Llanowar in the current era who also uses a Kavu as a mount, as well as a source of energy for the fire that they attach to their arrows.

Sadly, the Kavu are currently limited to Dominaria, and there has been no effort made to introduce them as an invasive species into other planes. Thankfully for the latter. Yesterday, I asked Mark Rosewater if there was the possibility of getting more Kavu with Dominaria United and the followup sets this coming year, and he replied with his trademark "Maybe :)". Which is something I can live with.

With what Kavu are, let's talk about them, not mechanically, but rather from a Vorthos and Melvin standpoint.

The Kavu are probably the second truly unique creature type to Magic. Yes, there are plenty of individual examples, like Masticore in Urza's Block, but the Kavu - after the Slivers - are one of Magic's unique creature types. Simply put, they are an original creation for Magic, and because of that, they gained a small following of fans (including myself, obviously) for being something that wasn't utterly derivative or done a thousand times before in other works.

The Kavu were new and different and that made a lot of difference in allowing them to stand out from everything else. Those who read the books and the flavor text could see that their mysterious origins actually played into the narrative of the Invasion block, that Urza and his allies (and subordinates) saw the Phyrexian invasion as something so powerful and potentially overwhelming that they were willing to take any help they could get, even those of dubious providence. If you went into the fight killing Phyrexians, they could adjust to account for you, and be thankful for that help.

This uniqueness meant that in the development for Commander 2017, the one that was Tribal in nature with The Ur-Dragon for Dragons, Arahbo, Roar of the World for Cats, Edgar Markov for Vampires and Inalla, Archmage Ritualist for Wizards, the Kavu Tribe was seriously considered to be one of the Tribes before it was decided to go with more established tribes that had plenty of support already. I can't say I disagree with their choice, but I am disappointed.

And hopefully we'll get more of these lovely lizard mutants in the near future too!

But let's move on now to individual examples and the Kavu as a whole.

To start with, the Kavu are a solid mid-range design, with casting costs ranging from a mana value of to , with the majority being or . Because they were also printed in the Invasion block, which introduced Kicker, Kavu have a disproportionately large number of cards with that mechanic on it, from Untamed Kavu to Kavu Aggressor. Not a lot, mind you, but there's a reason why the aforementioned Hallar, the Firefletcher is both Kicker-oriented, and has a Kavu as a mount. If you're playing a Kavu deck, you're not winning quickly, so be patient.

In addition, no Kavu is a vanilla (ability-less) creature, or a French Vanilla (only has evergreen Keywords) creature. Actually, that's not true. Raging Kavu has Flash and Haste, better go edit the wiki page to update that and done! But with that out of the way, the Kavu have a wide range of activated and enters-the-battlefield abilities, including two Karoo Creatures, the Horned Kavu and the Sparkcaster, both of which can bounce a or creature back to your hand when they enter the battlefield.

Given that the Sprakcaster also deals damage to a target when it ETB's, and can bounce itself back to your hand when you cast it, it is most definitely a hilarity option for when you have ridiculous amounts of mana to use.

There is only one Lord for this tribe (at this time), the Kavu Monarch, a mono- Kavu that gives all your other Kavu Trample. And given what colours they're in, boosting power isn't that hard.

And while the Kavu are predominately , they also have in Caldera Kavu, Hooded Kavu, Firescreamer and Vicious Kavu, with an honorable mention to Slimy Kavu for making a land a Swamp. also gets into the game with Radiant Kavu, and on Kavu Glider. Also, Tundra Kavu can temporarily turn a land into a Plains if you need one. But on the whole, a Kavu Tribal deck is almost archetypal of the Mid-range deck, and is very reasonable at performing just that.

Individually, the Kavu have some stinkers, but on the other hand, they do have a couple of amazingly standout cards. Let's start with the one that was for a time, on the upper-edges of power, not only for a block, but for a format.

Flametongue Kavu

The single most printed Kavu in the game, this Kavu showed up in several World Championship Standard decks in 2001 and 2002, which should give you an indication of just how powerful it was. Namely, the enters-the-battlefield effect of dealing 4 damage to any creature was something that was utterly massive for the game at the time. For comparison, Lightning Blast was in the same Standard rotation, and cost exactly the same. Sure, it was an Instant and could hit any target, but the Flametongue was seen as the better option because not only did it deal with problematic creatures (as Planeswalkers weren't a thing), but it also left behind a 4/2 body on the board, which was good given that the opponent was down a creature.

This was removal with a body, and that made it really effective, so much so that it was seen as borderline too powerful for the format, but not enough to warp it or require banning. It was so good that Wizards actually made TWO more Kavu in vein with this one.

The first was the Firemaw Kavu of Time Spiral. This one dealt two damage to any creature when entering the battlefield, and when it left, it dealt 4 damage. And while being a 4/2 for a Mana Value of is bad, not matter how you cut it, this Kavu also had an Echo cost, meaning that you could simply not pay that cost, and you would be forced to sacrificial it, which then lead to the 4 damage being dealt. It was a downgrade, no two ways about that, but it was on theme.

Much more recently was Flametongue Yearling. This adorable little guy, whose art is a deliberate homage to the original, can be multi-kickered by to enter with additional +1/+1 counters, and when it entered the Battlefield, would deal damage equal to its power. At the very least, you can pay to Shock a creature and have a 2/1 on the battlefield, or you could kicker it once to be for a 3/2 that deals three damage when it ETB's. Which is still decent, all things considered.

Kavu Predator

This Kavu, printed in Planar Chaos, is a surprisingly effective creature, and one that you wouldn't expect from , more like that likes to punish lifegain. At its base, it's a 2/2 with Trample, but if your opponent is playing with dedicated or even incidental lifegain, it gets bigger and bigger in the process. Think Ajani's Pridemate, but with the addition of Trample to it. That is scales with the life gained, and not just triggering once per instance of lifegain can make this creature grow to absurd heights if it runs into an unprepared opponent. And because it has Trample, it can quickly take away what was just so recently gained.

Thunderscape Familiar

Holy shit, this is a good card. As part of a series of cycles in Planeshift, there were five creatures that reduced the cost of spells cast in allies colours by each. And the Thunderscape Familiar reduces the cost of and spells by each. Guess which other colour the Kavu are in?

Please note that unlike Grand Arbiter Augustin IV, this reduction only applies once, and not twice to spells.

And even without that, a 1/1 First Strike is surprisingly effective, especially in the early game. But the real power of the card is the reduction, and that's why it was one of the first cards I put into my Lord Windgrace Slow Grow tournament deck, because cheaper cards are better. But Free Spells are Bad.

Thank you all for joining me this week, and I hope you enjoyed my thoughts. What is your favourite non-typical tribe? So the usual suspects of Elves, Humans, Clerics, Goblins and the like are right out. Comment in the section below!

Join me next week when I talk about something. What? I don't know yet. We're getting close to the start of Dominaria spoilers, and Unfinity, so I might have something new and hip and relevant to talk about!

Until then please consider donating to my Pattern Recognition Patreon. Yeah, I have a job, but more income is always better. I still have plans to do a audio Pattern Recognition at some point, or perhaps a Twitch stream. And you can bribe your way to the front of the line to have your questions, comments and observations answered!