Challenge 1-1 : Tribal Trials

[Salbei]

Tribal Trials
Challenge: 1-1
Unlocks:(Mystic Enforcer)
Description:opponent plays a tribal deck and gets a free creature.
NavigationChallenge Index - Archive for Set 1


Please discuss this Challenge here!

[t0xica]

I just Re-finished this challenge. i used a jace/stax deck instead of the oath i used the 1st time i beat it. Just been trying this, because lot of people complained about getting bored of always doing the oath for the set 1.


.32 4 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
.726 3 Moat
.1975 3 Propaganda
.6 4 Armageddon
.1909 4 Trinisphere*
.1888 4 City of Traitors
.1710 4 Ancient Tomb
.1912 4 Crucible of Worlds
.457 4 Mox Diamond
.876 2 Oblivion Ring
.1573 4 Smokestack
.573 1 Horizon Canopy
.508 2 Mishra's Factory
.188 5 Plains
.254 4 Tundra
.1728 4 Wasteland
.126 2 Island
.806 2 The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale


So as a mini(and obvious)guide
- Win condition: Jace the mind sculptor, just exile their library and wait.
- Stall the opponent, u should try to have in your initial hand, propaganda, tabernacle or moat. usually they can be played, in turn 1 or 2
- mana accel is in form of ancient tomb, city of traitors, and the moxes.
- armagedon smokestack trinisphere help to finish performing the lock
- and the crucible is well, u can replay any land after u finish it off, and make the deck a little more agile

some nice locks

armageddon + propaganda
armageddon + tabernacle(from hand/from crucible): just a next turn wrath effect
crucible + Smokestack

basically all u do is make time to set jace up, not sure but think that ai, dont counter jace so not a big deal

the only round i found trouble was:

zombies: they r really quick and i finished with only 2 life remaining 3/4 zombie damage, 1/4 burn from the tombs

faeries: here our moat dont worth a dime, remember if u use the tabernacle AI will always pay the upkeep cost, so u dont need to worry from other creatures, and propaganda just keep the damage to 1 per turn max since u prolly can blow all their lands quick

the other ones was straightfoward beware of soldiers they are always hard

[HornofAmmon]

I think there might be a bug with certain decks for this challenge. Using Manalink 2.0 SCV, I've played it fine with a white deck. But when I switched over to a blue artifact deck, suddenly I kept losing the game right at the start, right after I click Tribal Trials and before my first turn. I re-tried many times, and I think this only occurs when my initial hand contains blue cards (?) rather than all artifacts/lands. When it's the latter, I can play the Kobolds level but then I auto-lose on the next stage, when I start with blue cards in my hand again.

Here is the deck I'm trying to use, if someone could tell me if there's some cards there that are messed up or something that'd be great.


.1547 3 Frogmite
.1548 2 Myr Enforcer
.1208 3 Cathodion
.126 28 Island
.537 3 Transmute Artifact
.1549 1 Qumulox
.1317 2 Phyrexian Walker
.260 2 Unsummon
.1676 4 Arcbound Worker
.743 1 Argentum Armor
.210 3 Etched Champion
.983 1 Grafted Wargear
.58 1 Kuldotha Forgemaster
.466 4 Memnite
.1045 4 Steel Overseer
.450 1 Sword of Feast and Famine
.955 2 Wurmcoil Engine
.44 2 Control Magic
.1706 3 Master of Etherium
.317 2 Tolarian Academy
.1879 3 Etherium Sculptor
.653 1 Darksteel Colossus
.529 2 Su-Chi
.1529 2 Akroma's Memorial
.995 1 Coastal Piracy
.1810 1 Broodstar
.1216 4 Seat of the Synod

[HornofAmmon]

Edit: it's not blue cards in general, since I just started the challenge fine with another deck that had blue cards. So it must be one or some of the cards above in specific that's causing the bug?

[aww1979]

Tolarian Academy is on the restricted list; you may only use one in your deck. Reduce that to one copy of that card and you should be fine.

[HornofAmmon]

Tolarian Academy is on the restricted list; you may only use one in your deck. Reduce that to one copy of that card and you should be fine.

Ahhhhhhhhhhhh. Didn't even think about that angle; it worked like a charm. Thanks!

Now to completely re-do my deck so I can actually survive more than 3 turns against the zombies...

[HornofAmmon]

Dang, I just died on round 3 after an epic round 2 where on one turn I was down to 1 health vs 20, and 5 zombies vs my 4 creatures, with 5 Islands and only a Wurmcoil Engine and Transmute Artifact in my hand. Luckily, one my creatures was a Su-Chi, so I transmuted him into another creature and used his extra mana to cast my Wurmcoil... In any case, in the third bout I was just going to win in one turn with a Sword of Feast and Famine'd Wurmcoil, when out of nowhere a Control Magic stole it and my dreams...

So on the same vein, I'm hoping you guys can help me build a better deck to take on this challenge.

My rather ambitious goal is to beat it without using Moat, Platinum Angel (since the AI can't respond intelligently to it), or too many restricted/banned cards. I'm trying to use an artifact deck with affinities and Transmute Artifact/Tinker to get big quickly. But I'm really a newb at Magic in general so I'm hoping for some tips, especially on better cards to add and trying to make the deck faster. Here's what I'm using right now:



.1547 2 Frogmite
.1548 2 Myr Enforcer
.126 22 Island
.1549 2 Qumulox
.260 2 Unsummon
.1676 2 Arcbound Worker
.210 2 Etched Champion
.466 4 Memnite
.1045 3 Steel Overseer
.450 2 Sword of Feast and Famine
.955 2 Wurmcoil Engine
.1706 3 Master of Etherium
.1879 3 Etherium Sculptor
.653 1 Darksteel Colossus
.1529 1 Akroma's Memorial
.1216 4 Seat of the Synod
.1351 1 Tinker
.537 3 Transmute Artifact
.1208 3 Cathodion
.529 1 Su-Chi
.317 1 Tolarian Academy
.1891 2 Echoing Truth

Please feel free to laugh and/or make helpful suggestions. Thanks guys.

[aww1979]

Well, it's not a bad start, but yeah there are some things I'd change. First, I'd ask whether you have Sower of Temptation unlocked (it's the reward for one of the later challenges) so it might be unusable for you, unless you did that one already, and I would find that surprising since the Gimme! challenge is much harder than this one, and not one I'd recommend starting with.

If I were to build an affinity deck like this, I would remove both the Darksteel Colossus and add one Blightsteel Colossus. (it's a new card that is much better) You don't need two because you will never ever cast it unless you get Tinker, or maybe Tolarian Academy + enough stuff that you've already won.

Also... Tinker is restricted so if that deck works, then Jatill has to change that :p If it is working for you, milk it for all it's worth! Anyway, to make the deck legal I would also take out 3 Tinker.

I would also remove both of the Sword of Feast and Famine, because untapping your lands doesn't really help that much in this deck. I probably wouldn't use any equipment (more personal style than anything else) but if you are dead set on it, I'd probably pick Sword of Fire and Ice instead, because card draw + killing weenies (or +2 more damage) is better in this deck than opponent discarding + you untap lands. (plus protection red is handy against some of the red decks)

I would also remove Akroma's Memorial because you won't get to cast it very often. I can see why you are using Unsummon, but Echoing Truth might be a better choice. It's a turn slower (which can be a problem, given the AI is starting with a creature on turn 0) but it unsummons all copies of the card.

I would also exchange the qumulox for more frogmite/myr enforcer/master of etherium, because those are quicker.

I haven't counted how many cards that this all changes, but I would also do my best to cut the deck down to 60 cards if it isn't already. I usually run a 60 card deck with 23 land, unless it has an abnormally high number of very cheap or very expensive spells. (most people these days seem to use 24-25 or sometimes even a bit more, but in my day it was usually 23)

If you want some spoilers, my thread here talks about the challenges: viewtopic.php?f=57&t=3790 It covers about 3/4 of the challenges, and has all of the challenge quirks and and at some point I'll get around to redoing the rest.]

edit: looks like you took some of the suggestions before I even posted them :p

[HornofAmmon]

Thanks for the great advice, I'm taking it right now and my deck already feels better.

Tinker: Yes 4 copies will crash the game!
Sower of Temptation: Nope, it doesn't work, since I haven't finished a single challenge yet.
Blightsteel Colossus: Geez, this card is great against the AI, since the AI evidently doesn't know about infect and thus it becomes a one-hit kill when it's unblocked, which happens if the AI has HP > 15.

Anti-air: The reason I had Akroma's Memorial and Qumulox was because I can't find any other decent anti-air to go with my deck. From the artifacts available in Manalink SCV, I only have Tetravus, Tetravalus, and paltry others to use to block the Bitterblossum fairies. Wish there was a Sharding Sphinx or something I could use.

Platinum Angel: Due to the above, and general uber-frustration, I'm giving in and putting two of them in my deck. So far they've gotten me to round 4 once, after saving my life 1000 times in round 3, but I didn't get lucky enough to pick up a Transmute Artifact or Tinker to beat the Kithkin. I'm thinking that if I go Platinum Angel, I need to change the deck so it focuses on getting her out, using stepping stones with Transmute Artifact, like the following:

Cathodion + 3 islands => P Angel
Myr Enforcer => P Angel
Frogmite + 5 islands => P Angel, etc.

I took your advice about getting the deck down to 60 cards. Here's what I have right now:


.1547 3 Frogmite
.1548 2 Myr Enforcer
.126 18 Island
.1676 2 Arcbound Worker
.210 3 Etched Champion
.466 3 Memnite
.1045 2 Steel Overseer
.955 2 Wurmcoil Engine
.1706 3 Master of Etherium
.1879 3 Etherium Sculptor
.1216 4 Seat of the Synod
.1351 1 Tinker
.537 4 Transmute Artifact
.1208 4 Cathodion
.317 1 Tolarian Academy
.1891 2 Echoing Truth
.782 1 Blightsteel Colossus
.1308 2 Platinum Angel

60 cards, 23 land. It's already faster than anything else I've made, but I feel like there's still too much luck involved in getting stuff out to win 10 in a row. Maybe I should put in a Tabernacle or two? A Sphere of Resistance? More blue cards?

Thanks again!

[Wronskian]

I don't know if you will agree those chnages but I think Tinker is your main winning card. That's why I would add 4 Personal Tutor and 1 Mystical Tutor to get Tinker every game.

Even if you don't use moxes, you can use 3 Mox Opal.

I would also add Mishra's Workshop and Ancient Tomb, would remove Steel Overseer because its ability is pretty useless. I would also remove Arcbound Worker and Etched Champion because Master of Etherium is good even if you only have non-creature artifact. Maybe you can try Cranial Plating with Ornithopter instead of Myr Enforcer. You will need less lands.

But those changes would make your deck look like a mix between very common decks. Not the best optimization, but sufficient for this challenge.

Personnaly, I don't understand why you don't want to use "imbalanced" cards. Tinker and Tolarian Academy are really imbalanced.

[HornofAmmon]

I don't know if you will agree those chnages but I think Tinker is your main winning card. That's why I would add 4 Personal Tutor and 1 Mystical Tutor to get Tinker every game.

Even if you don't use moxes, you can use 3 Mox Opal.

I would also add Mishra's Workshop and Ancient Tomb, would remove Steel Overseer because its ability is pretty useless. I would also remove Arcbound Worker and Etched Champion because Master of Etherium is good even if you only have non-creature artifact. Maybe you can try Cranial Plating with Ornithopter instead of Myr Enforcer. You will need less lands.

But those changes would make your deck look like a mix between very common decks. Not the best optimization, but sufficient for this challenge.

Personnaly, I don't understand why you don't want to use "imbalanced" cards. Tinker and Tolarian Academy are really imbalanced.

Ah, well the story is, at first I completely underestimated the difficulty of the challenge and wanted a further "challenge" by beating it without restricted cards (only had Tolarian Academy and no Tinker in the first rendition). Then I got wtfpwned a few times, and decided I didn't care about restricted cards anymore, but still make an artifact creature deck that could outmuscle the damn tribals. Unfortunately, that also proved beyond my meager capabilities, so I put Platinum Angel in while still keeping the middling creatures, which, you are right, don't fit in well now.

I noticed aww1979 already posted a "Boring Angel" deck that has everything needed to get Platinum Angel out (viewtopic.php?f=57&t=3790#p50772). After taking the advice above what I got left is pretty similar to his, except I'm using less deck manipulation and keeping an outside chance of winning without Tinker. I don't think it's stronger, though, since the farthest I've gotten is round 6 so far, haha:


.126 16 Island
.466 4 Memnite
.1706 4 Master of Etherium
.1879 3 Etherium Sculptor
.1216 4 Seat of the Synod
.1351 1 Tinker
.537 3 Transmute Artifact
.1208 3 Cathodion
.317 1 Tolarian Academy
.1891 2 Echoing Truth
.782 1 Blightsteel Colossus
.1308 2 Platinum Angel
.169 1 Mox Sapphire
.230 1 Sol Ring
.352 1 Mystical Tutor
.334 4 Personal Tutor
.17 1 Black Lotus
.312 1 Ponder
.955 2 Wurmcoil Engine
.510 1 Mishra's Workshop
.1710 2 Ancient Tomb
.1547 2 Frogmite


Edit: Wooo! Actually won using this deck! Got lucky quite a few times, including one mulligan down to 3 cards - and round 9 would've been a two-turn kill if I didn't get the Angel out (she collected a nice 160 tokens from those soldiers). I'm proud that I actually won one round without her, smiting those goblins with fast Wurmcoil Engine's, but this deck definitely could've been more optimized.

I wonder if a better player could design a fast creature deck that could actually have good odds at beating this, or if you absolutely need either Platinum Angel/Moat or a lot of lockdown cards.

[aww1979]

I've done this challenge with a fairly standard white weenie deck, making sure to include lots of removal like Swords to Plowshares and Path to Exile to handle the first turn creatures. The list is on the forums somewhere.

[HornofAmmon]

I've done this challenge with a fairly standard white weenie deck, making sure to include lots of removal like Swords to Plowshares and Path to Exile to handle the first turn creatures. The list is on the forums somewhere.

I tried WW to begin with also, with a soldier-based deck, but mine would certainly not be fast enough to fight round 9/10. Are you talking about this from your tutorial post:

.1414 4 Knight of Meadowgrain
.1935 4 Kitchen Finks
.38 4 Augury Adept
.1933 4 Figure of Destiny
.807 3 Ajani Goldmane
.240 4 Swords to Plowshares
.1458 4 Wizened Cenn
.1585 3 Baneslayer Angel
.694 1 Karakas
.528 1 Strip Mine
.17 1 Black Lotus
.167 1 Mox Pearl
.230 1 Sol Ring
.53 3 Kor Firewalker
.581 4 Soul Warden
.188 18 Plains

[aww1979]

It might've been that one; I'm not sure anymore. That deck could probably beat tribal trials with a little luck; it would need a plowshares in round 9/10 in the opening hand most likely, or a firewalker to block the sliver queen.

[joo]

Hi everyone (lurker, just registered now).

First and foremost, the obligatory "thanks" to jatill and everyone else (since mox), who had the guts to painstakingly disassemble and reassemble this game, update the cards and art, and take it to a point that no commercial software house would be able to reach (if nothing else, due to eventual royalties/copyright problems with WoTC). You guys rock.

Now... I was only now able to beat this challenge (I suck, I know), and I have tried all suggested decks (most were pretty good, but I always eventually died due to bad hands). As a joke, I tried using a stupid Hermit Druid/Life Gaining combo deck I made just for fun and somehow I won :\ wtf?

Anyway, since I managed to beat this challenge with that deck, I'll just leave it here, in case it helps someone (it's not optimized at all, though):

;Deckity Deck
;GBU
;Player
;no@spam.com
;00/00/2011
;1
;4th Edition
;

.370 4 Hermit Druid
.745 3 Green Sun's Zenith
.62 1 Demonic Tutor
.478 1 Jötun Grunt
.705 1 Bridge From Below
.681 4 Narcomoeba
.700 3 Dread Return*
.1663 1 Ancestor's Chosen
.78 1 Felidar Sovereign
.333 1 Vampiric Tutor
.249 1 Time Walk
.1 1 Ancestral Recall
.499 1 Brainstorm
.1440 4 Careful Study
.1395 1 Frantic Search
.390 1 Crop Rotation
.666 1 Cabal Therapy
.1891 4 Echoing Truth

.806 1 The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale
.252 4 Tropical Island
.12 3 Bayou
.258 3 Underground Sea
.1834 4 Misty Rainforest
.307 2 Farseek
.165 1 Mox Emerald
.166 1 Mox Jet
.167 1 Mox Pearl
.169 1 Mox Sapphire
.17 1 Black Lotus
.230 1 Sol Ring
.1897 3 Land Grant

If it's not obvious, the logic is to just somehow play a Hermit Druid as soon as possible and activate its ability, dumping all your deck in the graveyard. Then, just flashback Dread Return to bring Felidar Sovereign and Ancestor's Chosen from the graveyard into play. You should also try to bring Jötun Grunt into play (sacrificing Ancestor's Chosen, if needed), as a safeguard against decking yourself, but it isn't required.

This deck works because the tribal decks don't have much creature destruction, so you can usually reach the combo without losing Hermit Druid or Felidar Sovereign.

First turn Tabernacle was almost guaranteed win (doubly so, if you're the one playing first), and so was Crop Rotation (to fetch Tabernacle).

Good luck.