4 Promising Tribal Decks from March of the Machine
Aside from new mechanics, new battle cards, and "deeper" Phyrexian support, March of the Machine also featured new tribal support with cards featuring an interesting combination of well-known abilities and effects. Quite the expected resource toolbox, but mashed in ways unique enough to feel fresh, providing a reasonable degree of variety to known tribal builds in current Standard.
There is one rather weird quirk to the addition of these cards. As you can see with the cards above, not only are the effects mashed. A good number of them will also have type combinations that are unexpected since they are legendary team-up cards. So, depending on newer deck brew concepts, you might see some of them in builds that don't typically involve their stats or part of their effects at all.
As for Phyrexian tribal builds, they will not be included in this list. They have a separate article featuring their brews here.
Battle Birds
Your typical fast-and-hot-with-control Izzet build gets a huge tribal update thanks to a good number of March of the Machine cards, with the prime inclusion of Bloodfeather Phoenix
. Not only usable for looting and surveil shenanigans, but it can also combine well with Ledger Shredder
, who is more than happy to dunk it to the graveyard every time it connives. It also synergizes perfectly with Invasion of Mercadia // Kyren Flamewright
as it transforms, leading to a good number of sudden-turn lethals, assuming you have already generated a good amount of either tokens or burn spells.
Rampaging Raptor
is also a nice hasty addition, even if not tribally relevant, since it can crack Invasion of Mercadia // Kyren Flamewright
in one swing for the aforementioned combo. Though it is pretty vulnerable when cast recklessly without alternatives.
Featured Cards:
Izzet Battle Birds (import)
Main 60 cards (17 distinct)
Lands - 21
Main 60 cards (17 distinct)
Lands - 21
The New Angels
Sick and tired of mono-red ruining your ranked match Mondays? Then life gain Errant and Giada angels might be the right deck for you! It's a tribal mix of combat simplicity and option effectiveness that allows tricks like blink and flash to play around overwhelmingly aggressive plays. Sure, it has life gain, but not prominent enough compared to its other arguably spicier responses.
Well... the deck may be a tad bit too ironically reliant on Archangel of Wrath
+ Steel Seraph
though. Fortunately, it is still a fairly well-integrated Angel tribal that lets its pieces work together at any scale, thanks to Errant and Giada, Guardian of Ghirapur
, Giada, Font of Hope
, and Invasion of Gobakhan // Lightshield Array
Featured Cards:
Errant and Giada Angels
Main 60 cards (21 distinct)
Lands - 25
Main 60 cards (21 distinct)
Lands - 25
Jeskai Dragons?
This deck really only has two dragon cards, or one if you don't count a transformed Invasion of Tarkir // Defiant Thundermaw
. But this gets a pass as a "tribal" deck, due to the laser focus of the deck on those two dragons, plus they each can synergize their abilities with each other perfectly. Without counterspells, Zurgo and Ojutai can infinitely evade any type of targeted removal and sorcery speed effects to keep drawing filtered cards each turn. And if supported by burn spells effectively, it can slowly outpace any deck, at rare times even mono-red!
For Invasion of Tarkir // Defiant Thundermaw, it doesn't matter how often you show Zurgo and Ojutai to the opponent; the exchanged extra damage poses no strategic loss on your part. Then, if you manage to transform it, those two dragons will just overwhelm any field, made even worse if the opponent is unable to respond in time to your transformed Fable of the Mirror-Breaker // Reflection of Kiki-Jiki
.
Featured Cards:
Jeskai Dragons
Main 60 cards (22 distinct)
Lands - 26
Main 60 cards (22 distinct)
Lands - 26
Main 60 cards (22 distinct)
| Instant, Sorcery, Enchantment, Artifact (26) | |||
|---|---|---|---|
|
2
Impulse
|
$0.24€0.26 | ||
| $0.25€0.150.03 | |||
| $5.05 | |||
| $15.28€20.3317.40 | |||
| $0.33€0.570.02 | |||
| $1.19€1.310.03 | |||
| $6.31 | |||
| $0.500.02 | |||
| Other (4) | |||
| $4.69€4.370.40 | |||
| Creature (4) | |||
| $0.850.02 | |||
| Land (26) | |||
|
1
Plains
|
$0.150.03 | ||
|
2
Island
|
$0.150.03 | ||
|
4
Mountain
|
$0.150.03 | ||
| $1.85€1.370.03 | |||
| $1.38€1.100.02 | |||
| $5.50€5.165.21 | |||
| $6.78 | |||
| $9.76 | |||
Knights as New Soldiers?
For a more typical beatdown style of a tribal deck, this Azorius brew ditches some of the more potent newer spells of its color identity in exchange for a Knight-focused build. The win condition and primary strategy are simple: bring a different knight for each spell cast whenever possible. Every bit of their effects will complement the other, creating this Sliver-like snowball of advantages. Because of this deck's considerable potential to create lots of tokens and vigilant units in one turn, Knight-Errant of Eos
becomes an easy addition, often even being cast for free.
Archangel Elspeth
makes a special appearance here, since some of your vigilant knights may require her -2 loyalty ability. Same reason why three copies of Invasion of Gobakhan // Lightshield Array
are also in this deck.
Featured Cards:
🥶🥚 ARE KNIGHTS THE NEW SOLDIERS?!
Main 60 cards (19 distinct)
Lands - 24
Main 60 cards (19 distinct)
Lands - 24
Main 60 cards (19 distinct)
| Creature (21) | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| $7.350.26 | |||
| $0.15€0.040.03 | |||
| $0.15€0.100.03 | |||
| $0.20€0.130.03 | |||
| $2.880.44 | |||
| $4.141.00 | |||
| $2.21 | |||
| Instant, Sorcery, Enchantment, Artifact (5) | |||
| $0.25€0.170.03 | |||
| $1.24 | |||
| Other (7) | |||
| $1.78€2.370.35 | |||
| $3.80€4.114.89 | |||
| Planeswalker (3) | |||
| $3.95€2.900.10 | |||
| Land (24) | |||
|
3
Island
|
$0.40€0.220.03 | ||
|
3
Plains
|
$0.35€0.150.04 | ||
| $6.08 | |||
| $7.00€9.061.77 | |||
| $3.170.30 | |||
| $3.99 | |||
| $9.49 | |||
About ChrisCee:
A witness since the time the benevolent silver planeswalker first left Dominaria, ChrisCee has since went back and forth on a number of plane-shattering incidents to oversee the current state of the Multiverse.
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