I've recently been running through the Evolving Wilds of a dark, swampy Forest. After striding through the area for a while, I found a Jungle Hollow. Out of nowhere, I heard a loud and echoing clicking. I suddenly felt like a Doom Blade was hanging over my head. 'Don't Grapple with the Past', I heard my old friend's voice in my head. The clicking became louder and louder, and suddenly, I saw a giant Spider Spawning out of the shadows. I started running, but didn't come too far as some Arachnus Web tangled my leg and I fell. More and more spiders appeared, until I finally saw the creatures commanding them: A giant Arachnus Spinner and his mistress, the queen of all that have eight legs: Ishkanah, Grafwidow, the embodyment of her arachnian goddess Shelob, Child of Ungoliant.
In this moment, I knew I was lost. Oh, great Nyx Weaver, please let me have a better fate in my next life.
You might have guessed what we have here: Spider Tribal. Once a bad tribe, they have come a long way. The combination of Ishkanah, Grafwidow, a Delirium package, Arachnus Spinner and some deaththouchers makes the tribe very able to fight through long and grindy games. Rotwidow Pack made this even better, as it represents another four copies of Ishkanah's life-loss ability. From a flavour perspective, Spider Delirium is pretty great, and the deck even plays like a spider's hunting strategy: You let your opponent's creatures wander into your web, doing hardly anything other than putting some creatures into their way and working on getting delirious: Deadly Recluse, Sporecap Spider and Rotwidow Pack are great blockers. With defenses up, you use Nyx Weaver, Vessel of Nascency and Grapple with the Past to get delirium online. Duress and Doom Blade help to disrupt your opponent. Once Arachnus Spinner hits the board, you can use your spiders to throw some Arachnus Webs out of your library or graveyard, thus further disrupting any aggression coming your way. By this time, you maybe already have pinged your opponent with your spiders, and even if you have not, Ishkanah and/or Rotwidow Pack should usually be able to finish the job within a few turns. To get to this point, you'll need some time, so your life total will propably have dropped a little. With LotR, the deck got a new lord to deal with this problem: Shelob, Child of Ungoliant makes our spiders hard to remove and even harder to block, and the food she produces can often make the difference of losing or winning a grindy game. To find the fitting spider for each situation, Mwonvuli Beast Tracker is an absolute all-star in the deck, giving you access to each and every creature card in the deck for a measly three mana.
The deck is rather slow, and you often have to play quite carefully to not die. But after some time, you'll usually be able to take control of the field with Arachnus Web. By the way: You actually usually want to put the web onto a creature with four or more power to not have them get stuck one the board. If you like the deck, I'd appreciate some +1s, and if you have any suggestions, feel free to leave a comment.
Planned changes:
Out:
1x Grapple with the Past
In:
1x Arasta of the Endless Web
