Zandl's Centaur Tribal [Top8@FNM x2]

Standard* zandl

SCORE: 43 | 29 COMMENTS | 10745 VIEWS | IN 9 FOLDERS


ChiefBell says... #1

I like this deck. The only questionable card is Pit Fight . Whilst it provides essential interactivity with the opponent, a lot of your creatures will be 3/3 (sometimes 4/4) and therefore not able to fight a lot and win. However, I realise with Ajani, they may sometimes be massive.

April 13, 2014 5:33 p.m.

Arvail says... #2

I think you might want to ditch Chronicler of Heroes for Nylea's Disciple because you have 12 3-drops and only 4 4-drops. Guaranteed effect over a small interaction with a 3-of card in your board is worth it. I'd also probably run something like Mizzium Mortars over Pit Fight . You can also run Last Breath . It hits quite a few things in the meta. Experiment One and Elvish Mystic are also possible options if you're looking for a turn 1 play.

April 13, 2014 6:01 p.m.

tempest says... #3

ahaha! being a lover of tribal decks, this one made my day. looks solid too. +1

April 13, 2014 8:28 p.m.

Zeptideo says... #4

I would highly recommend running Elvish Mystic if you want to stick with chronicler of heroes because then you can hit all your three drops on turn two which is gas. Also I agree with adding the Nylea's Disciple. I have been working on this deck also as well as tribal Minotaurs because tribal decks are da bomb. +1

April 13, 2014 11:42 p.m.

zandl says... #5

Thanks for the input thus far! I had a decently strong feeling that Pit Fight wouldn't make it to the final version of the deck, but I've got a soft spot for the card.

Switched it up a bit and added a few of your suggestions. I like having turn-2 Centaurs open with Elvish Mystic (which means turn-3 Warchief and possibly turn-4 Ajani, if I'm lucky). Not sure if you meant Mizzium Mortars or something else, TheDevicer, since I'm not playing Red, but I added Last Breath to the sideboard. It's very good against Chandra's Phoenix , Voice of Resurgence , and Xathrid Necromancer , and I've used it in the past.

Keep the thoughts coming! My goal is to woodshed this down to a playable form by the time Journey Into Nyx is legal for Standard.

April 14, 2014 10:12 a.m.

Wolfninja says... #6

I think he saw that you had Pit Fight and assumed you had red in the deck, that or he just derped. I would maybe trade a Centaur Healer for an extra Nylea's Disciple, but other than it seems like a pretty solid build.

April 14, 2014 1:37 p.m.

YOU HAZ ALL TEH CENTAURS!!!!!

HAZ YOU CONSIDERED Vitu-Ghazi Guildmage FOR SOME LATE GAME CENTAURS? IT'S EITHER 4 OR 6 FOR MORE CENTAURS. YOU WILL HAVE EVEN MORE OF ALL TEH CENTAURS THEN!

April 15, 2014 midnight

RussischerZar says... #8

If you like to go for a more populate route Centaur's Herald might be a good one drop.

April 15, 2014 6:54 a.m.

drsolodolowitz says... #9

Splashing Red is an option here so you would be able to include Fanatic of Xenagos , great Centaur, and other stuff like Mizzium Mortars and better mana for Pit Fight

April 17, 2014 10:54 a.m.

Brawdi says... #10

How about using Door of Destinies so that they can get huge in no time.

April 22, 2014 2:21 p.m.

zandl says... #11

It's certainly not a bad idea, but I'd hopefully just be playing a creature that turn instead of saving them up for the Door.

Also, I just don't see the benefit of playing Red here. I'd get to add Mortars and one average Centaur by muddling with the land-base. GW offers plenty of answers to most things and, after I update this soon with all of JOU being spoiled, you'll see that.

April 22, 2014 2:43 p.m.

miracleHat says... #12

To be honest, i think that Ajani, Caller of the Pride is better in this build than the one that you had. Ajani, Mentor of Heroes is really expensive, while with the other ajani, you can cast it a turn earlier and win the game like that. To be honest, i am more afraid of the possibility that somebody might make their 4/4 vigilance trample all of the sudden have flying and double strike. Just a thought for you.

April 22, 2014 2:46 p.m.

zandl says... #13

While you may be right in some aspects, Ajani, Mentor of Heroes keeps the deck alive past turn-5. Giving something three +1/+1 counters is just about as good as double strike and flying, especially when you consider trample pushes through damage - and that would be ticking down Caller of the Pride while ticking up Mentor of Heroes.

Mentor of Heroes can also buff an army of dudes if I know my opponent is packing spot-removal. If I make all of my creatures threatening, they may run out of options.

Also, Ajani digs deep for more threats if more counters won't do the trick.

Finally, if I'm running low on life, Caller of the Pride's ultimate isn't likely to save me, whereas Mentor of Heroes gives me a large handful of turns to figure something out.

April 22, 2014 2:53 p.m.

miracleHat says... #14

You do have your points. But in a format where Hero's Downfall is running rampant, along with some Dreadbore , you need to have a big impact the turn your planeswalker comes into play. paying 5 mana to put 3 1/1 counters isn't that spectacular. However, giving a creature flying and double strike and swinging for game right then and there is impressive. These are just my thoughts. Also, you aren't going to get to either of ajani's ultimate. When looking at a planeswalkers abilities, i look at the first 2 (except for jace which is 3) abilities. ajani's digging abilities are nice, i will admit that, but if you have a hard choice and you have to put a really good creature on the bottom... you aren't going to get it back. this is why i think that you should switch ajani's.

Final question, why did you choose against Sylvan Caryatid ?

April 22, 2014 3:03 p.m.

zandl says... #15

Elvish Mystic gives me 3 mana on turn-2, which I can use to cast Centaur Healer and Courser of Kruphix . While Sylvan Caryatid is technically the better dork, my second turn is packed with plays, as well. As the only 1-drop in the deck, the Elf functions well and I won't really be needing a big butt on it to block incoming threats, as the Centaurs can take care of that.

Turn-2 Centaur Healer against aggro really knocks them back, especially if I'm on the play. If I follow that up with Pheres-Band Warchief on turn-3, then I'm really rockin'.

tl;dr - It gets me going a turn faster. Caryatid would be turn-2, leading into a turn-3 Warchief with no other Centaurs.

If Caller of the Pride comes out and drops to 1 loyalty, then he's not likely to be a big threat for the rest of the game. As I previously said, Mentor gives the same buff to a 3/3 creature (bigger to a smaller one) and goes up, leading to more of a threat for my opponent.

Honestly, Hero's Downfall and Dreadbore aren't all that common. You only see Hero's Downfall out of MBD (<25% of the meta) and Esper, which doesn't play a playset. Dreadbore only gets played in fringe Jund midrange and Rakdos aggro decks.

There won't be many times, either, where swinging for game with Caller's -3 will happen, either. Doom Blade will not only kill my creature but effectively neuter Caller and make him start at 1 loyalty. His +1 is okay, but it's no game-changer.

Trust me; Mentor of the Heroes is the better card.

April 22, 2014 3:13 p.m.

miracleHat says... #16

Okay then, i will take your word.

April 22, 2014 3:14 p.m.

Dreadbore is also in Jund monsters.

April 22, 2014 8:21 p.m.

zandl says... #18

Right.

"fringe Jund midrange".

April 22, 2014 8:27 p.m.

It;s not fringe. Jund Monsters has actually gotten pretty popular.

April 22, 2014 8:29 p.m.

zandl says... #20

It's getting better with time, as it's essentially being playtested more and more each week.

3 weeks ago, it was a joke.

But still. If Dreadbore 's presence was enough for me to remove Ajani, I'd just take out creatures since people are playing Doom Blade , too.

April 22, 2014 8:32 p.m.

flyguy says... #21

This looks fun. In my centaur deck, Door of Destinies is a star. It's basically something where if I can get it to stick, I win. I would recommend it here for sure.

May 10, 2014 6:11 p.m.

AjaniForever says... #22

Yeah. Think about the Bow of Nylea . Big creatures=Bye-Bye=:)

May 22, 2014 9:03 p.m.

zandl says... #23

Uh. Yeah. Trample + Deathtouch = I win.

May 22, 2014 10:10 p.m.

Bnon says... #24

This deck seems awesome and I liked flyguys reccomendations so I thought it would be better to take out a couple of Elvish Mystic s and add in Door of Destinies

June 20, 2014 9:51 a.m.

zandl says... #25

Elvish Mystic grants a lot of important speed to the deck. Door of Destinies is win-more; if I have enough Centaurs to make the difference noticeable, then I'm probably already winning the game.

DoD is better for tribes with smaller creatures, like Humans. This deck really only needs three Centaurs to win, just because a 4/4 is a pretty big creature in its own right.

I played this for two weeks straight and even proxies up DoD to test it. It's superfluous.

June 20, 2014 11:54 a.m.

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