"I am Princess Vespa, daughter of Roland, King of the Druids!"
"Oh great. That's all we needed. A Druish princess."
"Funny, she doesn't look Druish."
Heheh. Time for my next obscure tribal deck: Druids.
If there's anyone on this site that's been following my decks, they'd notice I'm a big tribal fan. Probably no card shows up in my decks more often than Cavern of Souls. :-)
Some tribes are easy and obvious: Vampires, Zombies, Elves, Goblins, Humans, a few others. Not to take away from those decks at all (I have tribal decks for them all that I love), but some of them practically build themselves. Others take a bit of work.
I've already explored some tribes that actually had more support in the past then they do now, but still continue to get some powerful helpers in most every recent block: Archers, Berserkers, Assassins...obscure tribes like that.
Here's the next one: Druids.
Like some of the other "looser" tribes, there's really only one card that truly ties all Druids together, but it's very powerful. It can basically be game-ending. Just to highlight what I mean, here's the card in full text:
Gilt-Leaf Archdruid 3GG
Creature — Elf Druid 3/3
Whenever you cast a Druid spell, you may draw a card.
Tap seven untapped Druids you control: Gain control of all lands target player controls.
WOW.
So not only does it turn every Druid played after into card draw, but it was a planeswalker-esque "ultimate" ability: steal all your opponent's lands. Basics, duals, special utility lands...they're all susceptible. ALL lands.
Like I said, potentially game-ending.
Now, that doesn't mean I just tossed in Gilt-Leaf Archdruid and as many other Druids as I could find and hope you're able to trigger that. I selected Druids with a purpose. A few highlights:
- Llanowar Mentor is the only card in the game that makes Druid tokens, spawning Llanowar Elf tokens. Need I say more?
- Mul Daya Channelers is conditional depending on the top card of your deck, but either condition is great. With all but 7 cards fitting one of the two conditions, she'll almost always be useful to have on your table.
- Nightshade Peddler (yeah, he's a druid!) might seem a bit counterintuitive. Using him typically means you're trading small guys to take out larger opposing creatures. Isn't one of the keys to try and keep your own guys alive? Yes, but sometimes a noble sacrifice must be made to get rid of key creatures. And hopefully, knowing this, the Peddler can discourage the opponent from attacking with said creature in the first place.
- Chameleon Colossus. Wait a second, he doesn't look Druish at all! But he is. He counts as a Druid, and also counts as other creature types, including another important one we'll get to in a second....
- Joraga Treespeaker is not only a great mana dork, but leveled all the way up, he can turn EVERYONE into a great mana dork.
- Elvish Archdruid is obviously best in an Elf deck...which this, coincidentally, is very close to being. Two thirds of the creatures happen to be the Archruid's pointy-eared brethren (or those that mimic them...looking at you, Chameleon Colossus!), so he turns even the lowliest into able warriors while acting as the ultimate mana dork.
- And speaking of mana dorks, you've probably surmised by now that this staple of creature has the potential to generate gobs of mana. It does. Even though it might break the theme a bit, it seemed only natural to find a way to turn all that mana into potential alternate win-cons...which I chose to do in creature form. Craterhoof Behemoth is game over if you have a decent number of creatures on the field...something pretty likely when over half the deck is creatures! Skarrg Goliath has two modes: either play it outright, or turn it into a great combat trick, turning a seemingly small and innocent attacker into a crushing blow. Their cost is easy to bring down with all the mana-generating druids you're packing!
- Another way to reap the benefits of all that mana is with Asceticism. Not only does it eliminate most targeted removal, but with its regeneration potential, you can turn extra mana into ways to save your key creatures in the face of board wipes...maybe even all of them if you can prepare for it to hit.
Sideboard has a couple more big, expensive fatties to suit your needs (they're sideboarded because they don't have the same immediate impact potential as Behemoth and Goliath, but can still take the game over by themselves) and some mass wipers to deal with enchantments, artifacts, and flyers. Krosan's Grip is also a virtually uncounterable way to deal with an enchantment or artifact you REALLY need gone. Additionally, there's some extra protection with another Asceticism and black/blue-stifling Autumn's Veil.
What do you think? Feeling Druish yet? :-)