Is Tribal zoo any good in the competitive format?
Modern forum
Posted on Dec. 12, 2014, 6:50 a.m. by AvatarDante
I just made a tribal zoo deck, although I have the cards for making big zoo (and some funds for any cards missing) I don't really like it as much (plus I can't seem to find any consistency for deck build. if you have big zoo I'd love to see your deck list if you wouldn't mind!). I'm hoping to attend my first GP sometime early next year so if I go I'd like to know if tribal has some chance (I don't expect to win overall, but I'd like to do decent and not get knocked out quickly on the first day and sit around while my friends/drivers still play haha). I really do enjoy playing tribal, I will keep it for FNM but if changing from tribal to big increases my chance significantly at GP I'd switch to big zoo for it (I'd be getting a ride there, I don't want to just sit at the sidelines and wait as my friend/ride plays :P)
If you are curious here is my deck list!
http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/rise-from-the-dead-sttraft-help-protect-the-zoo/
Hjaltrohir says... #3
Zoo seems pretty good against the current meta, and your deck seems fairly good/competitive as well. Best of luck in the GP...
December 12, 2014 7:05 a.m.
I honestly don't think Zoo is all that great at the moment. Scapeshift can just do whatever it wants and not care, Delver resolves Blood Moon and you never cast spells again, and Birthing Pod can operate at the same speed you do, but with more value out of its cards. Not to mention, Geist of Saint Traft is really bad unless he comes down on turn two off Noble Hierarch. Otherwise, he just gets blocked by Young Pyromancer tokens, Voice of Resurgence, etc. and you paid 3 mana to do 4 damage and maybe get a creature.
I think 5-Color Burn with Tribal Flames and Treasure Cruise is probably the way to go. It doesn't have to worry about its opponent blocking all of its damage. Nor is it at risk of running out of gas because it plays four copies of Ancestral Recall.
I say this because it looks like you have all of the cards to play Tribal Burn already. There's just a few commons and uncommons you'd have to find that are under $0.75 each.
December 12, 2014 7:20 a.m.
AvatarDante says... #5
Thanks guys! Also thanks awesomeguy37 for the compliment. I'm fairly new to modern, and I seem to be the only guy in my meta (college club, and people at FNM) who plays zoo. It may be because of the Tarmogoyf (I got them for $50 a piece a while back, wasn't sure if I was going to play modern but I knew that if I did I'd go zoo as I love creature decks, so I got them and luckily I did haha) but still a little unnerving when you are new to a format and you seem to be the only zookeeper in your meta. I understand that it doesn't have to be competitive, but the players I play with all play with competitive decks. I ask because I do want to have a good time which I know doesn't mean winning, but its hard to have fun if you just get wrecked easily. (I played small zoo against a kiki-pod player, he killed me so quickly in both rounds that I got whip lashed HARD). .
December 12, 2014 7:22 a.m.
AvatarDante says... #6
sylvannos I've never heard of Tribal burn before, do you have/know of a decklist which I can look to see what's like? (I tried searching but either came with tribal zoo or old decks that were made before Deathrite Shaman was banned)
December 12, 2014 7:26 a.m.
I guess tribal zoo isnt quite as good as small zoo or gruul zoo at the moment. It is a bit slower so all of what sylvannos said is true. However smaller variants of zoo are better at the moment. Gruul zoo/small zoo is faster than scapeshift, also uses bloodmoon (so we'll have a basic forest/plains set up) and is faster than pod. Nearly everything in any zoo deck is 3 toughness (kird nacatl e1 loam lion steppe lynx etc) So Pyromancer doesnt stay around long before he takes it like the indian guy on the log bridge in predator.
December 12, 2014 7:30 a.m.
AvatarDante says... #8
sylvannos unfortunately I do not have Scalding Tarn, and I realize that I have some expensive cards in this deck, I'm a little wary of paying $40 a piece for lands. I may be more inclined after bannings are announced and Treasure Cruise is safe. (I know there are speculations on both ends, but I just think it has a good chance to get banned. Not because of how good it is, but the fact a lot of the top decks appear to be U/R and treasure cruise seems to be the reason. From what I read up on modern Wizard bans cards if the card warps the format completely, and I've noticed after khans came out a lot of people seem to be playing U/R these days. Again, it's just a speculation I'm not saying I'm right and others are wrong it's just what I assume from the information given. If you disagree about it getting banned, I'd love to hear why!
December 12, 2014 7:35 a.m.
AvatarDante says... #9
Portfolio well maybe one of the tokens will be worthy enough as a trophy for my Wild Nacatl, I tried small zoo, the big problem I had with it is that it's a bit like storm in that if you didn't win by turn 3/4 than you lost. Tribal I have a little more leeway as it's much harder to kill Geist of Saint Traft. Yes BloodMoon is a problem, but the beauty of having blue is i can counter it Swan Song. If it hits the field I have Wear / Tear or I just replace on of my sideboard cards for a Qasali Pridemage though need to find which one to replace it with haha.
December 12, 2014 7:42 a.m.
@AvatarDante: You don't need Scalding Tarns because you're not playing any lands in Burn that aren't Mountains. You just need the red fetch lands, which you already have (Arid Mesa, Wooded Foothills).
An example deck would be:
4x Arid Mesa2x Blood Crypt2x Bloodstained Mire3x Mountain2x Sacred Foundry2x Steam Vents1x Stomping Ground4x Wooded Foothills-----------------------------------20 Lands
4x Goblin Guide4x Monastery Swiftspear-----------------------------------8 Creatures
4x Boros Charm4x Bump in the Night4x Lava Spike4x Lightning Bolt4x Rift Bolt2x Searing Blaze2x Skullcrack4x Treasure Cruise4x Tribal Flames-----------------------------------32 Other Spells
2x Ancient Grudge2x Combust4x Geist of Saint Traft2x Searing Blaze2x Skullcrack1x Smash to Smithereens2x Wear / Tear-----------------------------------15 Sideboard Cards
December 12, 2014 8:09 a.m.
AvatarDante says... #11
sylvannos wow thanks! That does look interesting, I'll definitely get the cards and maybe even switch out to burn every once in a while at FNM ( burn is my second favorite to zoo). I'm missing Monastery Swiftspear which may be a bit difficult to get as it seems to be in high demand (at least in my store, and I can't order online for a while). Missing quite a few of the commons/ uncommons but to my knowledge non of them are to crazy overpriced (hopefully). Land wise I seem to only be missing 1 Bloodstained Mire and 1 Steam Vents. Thanks I really like this deck idea and will hopefully try it out sometime in the near future (with some variation of course, so I'm not outright copying you/ whoever this deck belongs too),
December 12, 2014 8:20 a.m.
sylvannos I dont think you are correct about 5 color tribal burn being the deck to run right now. The list you are suggesting would perform just as well or better with 2, maybe 3 colors (and is also NOT a tribal deck). Splashing black for bump in the night is just unnecessary. Theres plenty of burn spell that would fit in without splashing black. It would just be diluting the burn deck and slowing it down.
December 12, 2014 9:18 a.m.
Servo_Token says... #13
Tribal Flames is why that deck is both 5 color and called "Tribal". And personally, I think it's much better than 3-4 color variants.
December 12, 2014 11:49 a.m.
GlistenerAgent says... #15
5C Tribal Flames Burn sounds real bad. UR or even Jeskai Burn is probably the way to go, just because making your mana less consistent than it could be just to play a 2 for 4 spell (getting to four lands is somewhat unlikely and painful) is not worth it.
As for Little Zoo, don't play that either. I'd play the Big Naya version with Knight of the Reliquary, Baneslayer Angel which is very strong against Delver, and other such generally bigger guys. It's much more resilient and has a better lategame even if your early guys to get removed, which I really can't say about the lower-to-the-ground list.
December 12, 2014 4:45 p.m.
I brought up 5C Tribal Burn because it seemed like the OP wanted to play a deck with Tribal Flames. You only need three lands (Blood Crypt, Sacred Foundry, Steam Vents) for Tribal Flames to do four damage, which is the same as Boros Charm. With two lands, you're doing three damage, making it a slightly worse version of Skullcrack or Searing Blaze. Four lands gets you five damage. Shrapnel Blast and Face to Face are the only other spells in Magic that do 5 damage for 2 mana, if my Gatherer skills are up to par.
4 Color Burn (which is basically R/W Burn with Bump in the Night and Treasure Cruise) is probably superior. Three color variants are probably better than those completely. That's because you get to play Blood Moon and have an easier time casting Lightning Helix and Boros Charm.
December 12, 2014 6:16 p.m.
GlistenerAgent says... #17
I don't even know if there's space in the Burn sideboard for Blood Moon, and I don't think they even want the card. Smash bash.
DNB says... #2
All Zoo variants are positioned well at the moment. The meta everywhere is flooded with UR delver which bends over pretty hard to zoo. For every 2/1 or 1/1 they produce we are producing an equal or greater amount of 3/3s that just snort on through.
December 12, 2014 6:55 a.m.