Don't want to play "BLEH-skai" or "FLAB-zhan"? Here's a sweet tribal aggro deck for you!
If you like what you see, please remember to +1 and comment!
For those that saw my previous soldier tribal deck, you will know that I like to play decks that are viable but not seen often in the meta.
This deck is a very aggressive warrior tribal deck built for Khans Standard. I wrote up this list since I'm a fan of building tribal decks and I haven't really seen anyone at my local game store playing warriors yet. This deck also gives me a chance to play a few cards that I haven't had the chance to play yet.
This is still very in the early stages of deck building (I still need to get all of the cards together), so lots of changes are still to come.
The game-plan is to curve out with creatures very quickly and use their synergy to end the game as soon as possible.
Besides the warriors having synergy with each other, we also have a few small combos that work quite well:
Athreos, God of Passage
+
Bloodsoaked Champion
+
Tymaret, the Murder King
is a sweet way to curve out turn 3 and gives the deck a lot of reach.
Goblin Rabblemaster
+
Mardu Ascendancy
is BAT-SHIT insane. Both attacking triggers can be stacked so that ascendancy resolves first, adding a bunch of attacking goblins to the field, which then lets Rabblemaster's trigger resolve and get a huge power increase.
I'm relatively happy with the current creature base, but am unsure on what spells/enchantments should be played. The land base could also use a bit of tweaking, so any comments / suggestions are greatly appreciated!
Main Deck Breakdown - What I've chosen and why.
Creatures: 27
1-drops
Bloodsoaked Champion - The ideal turn 1 play. Just being a 1-mana 2/1 with the warrior subtype is nice, but the extra raid ability to keep coming back makes for a very annoying creature to play against. Not being able to block is fine, this is an aggressive deck that should be attacking every turn. 4-of because he's awesome.
2-drops
Chief of the Edge - 3/2 body for 2 mana is great. Giving bonuses (which can stack) to all of the other warriors in the deck makes this an instant 4-of.
Chief of the Scale
- Although morph isn't seeing a ton of competitive play right now, being a 2 mana 2/3 warrior is great. Again, the bonuses that are given to my other warriors helps with this deck's synergy. Another instant 4-of.
Mardu Skullhunter
- An interesting warrior that I am trying out. Although a 2-mana 2/1 body isn't ideal, the raid trigger forcing my opponent to discard something is great for keeping me ahead in card advantage. 4-of to continue testing.
Tymaret, the Murder King - One of the main reasons for splashing red. Being a 2-mana 2/2 warrior is great, having the ability to come back from the graveyard is annoying for my opponent to deal with. On top of this, having synergy by sacrificing Bloodsoaked Champion AND triggering Athreos, God of Passage can allow me to push through damage and pressure planeswalkers when attacking normally isn't possible. Can be a late game mana sink if needed. Keeping to a 3-of since he is a Legendary creature which can return to the battlefield.
3-drops
Goblin Rabblemaster - The other big reason for splashing red. If the recent Pro Tour has shown anything it is the power of an unanswered Rabblemaster. Having the warrior subtype also means that Rabblemaster gets bigger and hits harder. ALSO generates goblins which, although aren't warriors, can be sacrificed to Tymaret, the Murder King for extra damage. 4-of because this guy is ridiculous.
Athreos, God of Passage - Seems to fit nicely in to this deck. With the deck mainly being focused on Black/White creatures, getting enough devotion to turn Athreos in to a 3-mana 5/4, indestructible creature is awesome. Even without becoming a creature, giving my opponent another cost to remove my creatures can end games very quickly. 3-of since he is indestructible and legendary.
4-drops
Iroas, God of Victory - Loved playing this guy in my pre-khans soldier deck. He allows my other creatures to stay aggressive by making them indestructible while attacking and giving a small form of evasion. There usually won't be enough devotion to make Iroas in to a creature, but the bonuses he brings to other creatures on the field makes him feel worth the slot. 1-of since that's all I have and he's legendary.
Planeswalkers: 2
Sorin, Solemn Visitor - Another recent addition that saw a lot of play in the Pro Tour. Sorin's +1 ability allows more damage to be pushed through and also gives lifelink which can help stabilize from my pain / fetch lands as well as help in race situations. -2 simply adds more board presence and asks your opponent to deal with a creature and and planeswalker. I doubt the -6 ability will ever go off in this sort of deck, but still possible.
Instants: 6
Ride Down - Testing out as a way of pushing damage through fat-ass blockers such as Courser of Kruphix and Siege Rhino.
Mardu Charm
- After some minor deck changes, the charm has finally made itself available for testing. All 3 modes feel relevant with making more creatures (which happen to be warriors!), killing a 4-toughness blocker or forcing discard at instant speed.
Enchantments: 2
Mardu Ascendancy
- Testing this out for the moment. Being able to go more wide with the deck by adding more tokens when I attack is great. Although the tokens aren't warriors, having more fodder to sacrifice to Tymaret, the Murder King is great. Also having the option to mitigate Anger of the Gods and Drown in Sorrow is fantastic as some other decks run these in the main. ______
Sideboard - Hate against the meta! (Work in Progress)
Banishing Light
What to sideboard in against: Planeswalkers / Enchantments.
Reasoning: A bit of a catch all against cards I otherwise can't deal with. Currently debating Banishing Light vs Utter End so I've decided to try both.
Crackling Doom
What to sideboard in against: Mid-range / Monsters.
Reasoning: Removal for big monsters like
Sagu Mauler
and Stormbreath Dragon while also pressuring my opponent's life total or re-directing damage to kill a planeswalker.
Erebos, God of the Dead
What to sideboard in against: Life gain or Control decks.
Reasoning: Against decks that like to gain a lot of life, Erebos stops shuts them down completely. Also sided in vs control as another way of keeping up in card advantage and can easily become an indestructible creature with enough devotion.
Hammer of Purphoros
What to sideboard in against: Control / Grind.
Reasoning: Can be sided in for the grindy games to keep pressure on my opponent. Giving my creatures haste is nice against sorcery-speed removal. Top decking lands late-game suddenly turns in to getting more hasted dudes.
Mardu Ascendancy
What to sideboard in against: Mass-removal.
Reasoning: Keeping some in the sideboard for decks that run Drown in Sorrow and Anger of the Gods. Might also be sided in against decks that lack enchantment removal that I need to "go-wide" against.
Raiders' Spoils
What to sideboard in against: Control
Reasoning: In games where my own life total matters much less, Raiders' Spoils helps push more damage through and gives me more card draw so that my opponent can't get card advantage over me.
Stain the Mind
What to sideboard in against: Combo
Reasoning: This is pro-active kind of "catch all" card to remove a critical part of my opponent's deck. Being able to exile Jeskai Ascendancy out of my opponent's Jeskai combo deck for example makes half of the deck useless. The fact that this exiles instead of discards is relevant with against delve cards and self mill / Whip of Erebos decks. Can be played as early as turn 3 thanks to convoke. Also lets you look through your opponent's entire deck and see what other surprises they have sideboarded against you. Knowledge is power
Utter End -
What to sideboard in against: Anything?
Reasoning: Another card to hedge against any other permanent that I can't remove. Very similar to Banishing Light, but is instead speed and a little bit more expensive.
Zurgo Helmsmasher -
What to sideboard in against: Black-based creature removal decks or monsters
Reasoning: Requires a very specific, instant-speed answer (Bile Blight / Utter End /
Devouring Light
) to stop him from dealing damage on the turn he is played. 7 power with haste means that Zurgo can slug it out with the big boys like
Sagu Mauler
and Polukranos, World Eater.
Maybe Board - Other things that I've considered.
Bile Blight - Yet to be tested. More cheap removal which allows my creatures to get damage through. Can possibly screw myself over vs any deck that runs the same creatures I do.
Boon of Erebos
- Tried this as a combat trick to push through more damage / save some of the more important creatures like Goblin Rabblemaster. However the life loss didn't feel good vs other aggro / mid-range decks considering the amount of pain / fetch lands.
Brave the Sands - Yet to be tested. Keeping on my radar for now in case this deck needs to get a defensive edge against other decks. Using my 1/1 goblins to chump block 2 attacking creatures can potentially be huge.
Mardu Hordechief
- Yet to be tested. Another warrior that makes more warriors! Trying to keep my curve on the lower side, but getting 2 warriors from the 1 card seems nice.
Obelisk of Urd - Yet to be tested. Seems to fit perfectly inside a tribal deck, but works tons better if you can consistently put this out by turn 3. In my previous 'Soldier' tribal deck, this was possible thanks to 1-drop in to Raise the Alarm in to convoking Obelisk of Urd. Although still possible with warriors by putting out 3 1-drops by turn 2, this is a lot less consistent.
Oreskos Swiftclaw
- Yet to be tested. 2-mana 3/1 warrior can potentially push a lot of damage through, however I prefer the synergy that my other 2-drops provide.
Pharika's Cure
- Yet to be tested. Extra damage with a bit of life gain to stabilize from pain lands. Still need to play test to see how relevant the life gain is. Ride Down is better for pushing damage through for 2 mana.
Rush of Battle
- Yet to be tested. Potential big damage boost and a small bit of toughness + lifelink! Downside is being a 4-mana sorcery which your opponent can respond to.
Seeker of the Way
- Yet to be tested. Super awesome in the 'Jeskai Wins' decks seen at the pro tour, less useful in a deck that runs more than 50% creatures.
Soldier of the Pantheon
- Yet to be tested. A great 1-mana 2/1 with relevant abilities, but missing out on the 'Warrior' sub-type.
Take Up Arms
- Yet to be tested. 3 warriors at instant speed which get all the bonuses from Chief of the Edge and
Chief of the Scale
can be potentially very powerful, but I'm not sure I want to be curving out to 5-mana spells.
Trumpet Blast
- Not yet tested. This deck can build a very big board presence, so being able to add a ton of damage at instant speed can potentially blow games out.
Tormented Hero
- Was running this in the mainboard but found that it felt bad on playing this on any turn other than turn 1. Dropping
Tormented Hero
allowed me to add
Mardu Charm
in to the main deck and also let me change my land base to be a tiny bit slower, but more consistent.
