Puschkin

I just had a glimpse at your deck, I'll need some more time for it. Today's my second wedding anniversary ... if I want to celebrate a third one I can't spent more time on Magic today :P

Deck that needs help is Pyromania (not the spellflinger edition, the original), I got the Dracos now and need to work them in. However, judging by your deck you seem to enjoy trickier decks. So, instead I'd like you to have a look on this puppy:
http://www.mtgvault.com/puschkin/decks/maralen-lockdown/

You are probably the only one on this site to comment on that one ...

Ugh? It's legal in Vintage and Commander.

Who the hell needs extra turns if you just drew your entire deck?

Yes, that name comes from the Monty Pythin movie. Potch was just wondering if today's players still know why he is called Tim. After all, that movie is older than most players.

That unglued card refers to Timmy because Wizards categorizes us players as Timmys, Johnny and Spikes. Timmy is the casual powergamer that loves big creatures, game-turning effects and so on. (Spike is the numbercrunching competitive player and Johnny is the creative and flavour loving one).

I don't understand why decks like this one don't run 4 Manamorphose. Would be the first things to add.

Vexing Devil looks out of place here. Blistercoil Weird or Nivmagus Elemental is probably what you want in that slot.

Why play Magus of the Future if you could play Future Sight instead? The Magus can get killed way more easily.

This deck lacks punch. The problem is: You've got a nice combo there but what do you do once it goes off? Yes, you'll have a creature out that is big enough to punch your opponent back into 1993 but it's just big - no trample, no flying or whatever, your opponent can simply chumpblock it for a few turns or indefinately if he has something as innocent as a regenerator.

When you combo goes off, you can draw as much cards as you want. So, why not include a card that allows you to win the turn you go off? It could be as simple as replacing 1 or 2 of the Azorious Charms with Selesnya Charm which allows you to give your Fathom Mage trample. Or include one of the various blue spells that make a creature unblockable (Distortion Strike is especially nice since it has rebound, so if you opponnet has a Fog or something like this in the crucial turn, you can try again next turn). Stonewood Invocation would be perfect because it does not only give trample, it also protects the Fathom Mage AND can't be countered or otherwise be messed with. However, it costs 4 mana and assuming you spend some mana on getting the combo out this might mean you'll have to wait another turn until you untap.

Apart from that you should of course run Fathom Mage 4 times. And you'll need some library maipulation since you'll need 3 different cards to get going. Since they are 2 creatures and 1 enchantment, Commune with the Gods is a possibility but you run blue, so there are certainly better alternatives.

EDIT:
Just realized you are at 54 cards currently, so you could include my suggestions without having to cut anything.

mymobbsdeep,
I feel the same. If you need ideas you might want to look up my decks, you'l probably not be disappointed. And in some cases I still need some help that nobody here so far was able to give, so you are welcome. I'll do the same with your decks if you want me to.

Absolutely, yes, people should focue less on the "hot" decks (they got enough attention already) and more on the unloved ones. In fact I think it would be better for this site if the unloved decks would be default view, not the hot ones.

BTW, I offer a service for deck critique, all you have to do is drop a line here:
http://www.mtgvault.com/puschkin/decks/puschkin-please-help-me/

Well, that isn't entirely true: You should actually do a little bit more, add a proper deck description, add information like intended format, casual/tourney, 1-on-1/multiplayer etc. Some times, a deck is unloved and stays unloved because it is an incoherent mess or secretly genious but incomprehensible without a description.

Ugh, please not that discussion again ... I am not into football ("soccer") anyway but attend these games anyway for the party, chips & beer :)

Anyway, jgee70, your deck has been doctored :)

Hm, you didn't provide any description. Is this for 1-on-1 or multiplayer? Casual or serious (tourney)? Is this supposed to be a theme deck (knights)?

Among your creatures, there are two recurring themes: double strike and stuff that refuses to die. But I don't see cards that take advantage of this. Here some things to consider:

* Double Strike is cool by itself but the creatures that have it are properly balanced and have a higher casting cost. This means double strike only really pays out if you boost that creature's power (because for every point of power it gets it will do 2 more damage). You run 4 Crusades and that's it - I would run power boosting equipment in this deck. Something as simple as Darksteel Axe can go a long way in this. Doesn't have to be that one, if you can afford the Swords, use one of those. Or, if this is for multiplayer, Loxodon Warhammer would be amazing.

* Talking of Crusade, its an old card and it's bonus applies for ALL white creatures, including your opponent's. Unless you plan to play this deck in a Two-Headed-Giant match where you know your partner will also run white, Honor the Pure will be better than Crusade.

* I would run Wrath of God in this. Sure, your deck is purely creature based. However, Knight Exemplar makes most of your dudes indestructible and Knight of Sursi can dodge Wrath while suspended. If you use Day of Judgment instead of Wrath of God, Knights of the Holy Nimbus might also survive.

* Some of your creatures aren't Knights. I don't know if this is an issue for you or not.

* True Conviction is powerful of course but also very expensive. In many cases, when you can finally play it, you don't have creatures anymore or you have already won or lost anyway. Then again, you run only one copy for the lolz. Yet I think, this is a perfect card to cut to make room for equipments.

* Benalish Knight isn't exactly a powerhouse. I don't see where the flash would be useful in this. I would run Order of the White Shield instead. They would add an option where you can dump access mana you might have late game (works very well when soulbounded to Silverblade Paladin). Or, if you need room for something else, this would be the first creature to cut.

* I guess, if you could afford a Brimaz, King of Orestos, you would run him already, but I wanted to mention him anyway.

And germany is my nation ;) We beat you, but the USA still made it into the round of 16.

Later. I am now off to watch my country enter the round of sixteen :)

"Tribal" was introduced with Onslaught which focussed on creature types. During that time "creature mania" decks were a thing (decks that run nothing but creatures and lands) and that idea was modified into "tribal decks" - creature decks limited to one creature type. "Tribal deck" was the official word for it from the get-go because prior to Onslaught, the creature type didn't really matter with some few exceptions. Before that, if you ran just one creature type for any reason, it was called a "theme deck". Since the things you mentioned are also themes, that term isn't exactly specific, so people stuck to "tribal", even though tribal originally referred to a specific format.

Anyway, I didn't post this to spoil anyone's fun, my initial comment was more like a piece of snark highlighting the fact that tribal decks are so common and easy to build that it's hardly a challenge. Please don't stop building them and have fun in this project, I am just an oldfart that needs to rant a bit here and there :)

I beg to differ. If the people you play with don't get what "casual" means, no limitations and format rules in the world will change that. They'll still munchkin the shit out of it, no matter if it is tribal decks, EDH or whatever.

For example, if I want to "break" this challenge, I would pick goblins and build a deck with the bare minimum of 20 creatures (Piledrivers and all) and fill the rest with the most efficient burn I can find. Basically any Legacy gobo-burn deck slightly modified to meet the 20-critters-rule. Or I pick "thopter" and build a thopter deck including the infinite token combo (Thopter Foundry and Sword of the Meek) which would vilate the spirit of this challange but not the given limitations and rules.

As soon as you say to yourself "man, that's boring, I'll do an insect deck even though it's not competitive because this is casual, damnit" you realized an important thing and format limitation become obsolete. Because, if you are able to tone yourself down and play an insect tribal, why can't you tone yourself down in a less restrictive environment as well?

Meanwhile I think the true challange is to build a creature deck with a theme that is NO tribal deck!

Let's face it, you are extremely limited in what to use when you build a tribe deck and the cards give you direct hints at what to include. Never understood the appeal of this and always hoped tribal decks would just be a fad but they just keep on infesting casual ever since Onslaught and are the standard by now.

Thanks^^

Commented on the Frenemies deck. I'll do the EDH tomorrow, it will take some time.

Meanwhile I enjoy tweaking more than building new ones. First, it's more convenient. Then, it's fun to update existing decks when a new Magic Set has been released. But more importantly: If you make just a few changes and play in between you can monitor how this effects performance. That's not only fun, it also a good way to learn something.

It is fun to play and solid but not really good. It takes too long to build up and a Wrath of God or similar will put you back to square one. It is just not explosive as most modern decks are, opponents have time to prepare or worse, to do their own thing. But, that's from my perspective and I usually play against opponents that are as experienced as I am. I can see this deck doing considerably better in an environment of typical casual decks (tribal decks of all sorts etc.). But in my group, if you play an "honest" creature deck that only has tricks regarding creature combat - well, then you'd rather have a fast and brutal one like Pump up the Wham!

No, it's "finished" in the sense that it is built and already in use. But I never stop tweaking decks! Decklist is up to date but the description isn't, I'll fix that soon. Cards in the sideboard are still cards I consider adding.

No :)
You have to distinguish between the bonus from Warcaller and +1/+1 counters. The Warcaller pumps other elves for each counter on it while the Biomancer puts additional counters on new Warcallers according to it's total power. Here a breakdown:

STEP1:
Cast Warcaller A, kicked twice. He will be a 1/1 + 2 counters = 3/3

STEP 2:
Cast a Biomancer. He will be 4/6 (no counters)

STEP 3:
Cast Warcaller B, kicked twice. He will be a 1/1 plus 2 from Warcaller A => 3/3 plus 2 counters from kicker plus 4 counters from Biomancer since that has currently power 4 (boosted by Warcaller A but not B because B is still on the stack when calculating the Biomancers power) = 9/9 (of which 6 are counters)

Biomancer gets another +6 because Warcaller B has 6 counters, boosting him to 6/12 (no counters).

Warcaller A also gets the bonus from Warcaller B but NOT in the form of counters, so he will now be 9/9 (but still only 2 counters).

Step 4:
Cast a Zameck Guildmage. He will be 10/10 (no counters) because Warcaller A and B have a total of 8 counters.

Step 5:
Cast a Spike Feeder. He will be 12/12, all of which are counters, because he gets 8 from Biomancers power and two from itself but he isn't an elf.

Step 6:
You have 5 cards in hand and cast a Realm Seekers. How big will he be?