Tribal Trials - 1

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Tribal Trials

Episode 1 - Paladin

One of the aspects I’ve enjoyed the most about WoW TCG is the prominence of Warcraft’s class identity throughout the design space. Some call me Bradifer, and today I would like for you to join me on my exploration of the tribal decks of WoW TCG. But not your standard tribes like Beast, Demon, or Night Elf. Instead we’re focusing on allies that match your hero’s class, or “class tribal” decks as we may refer to them.

It’s a fun concept, but I’m aiming for a more competitive angle with these decks.

With that in mind let’s look at some class tribal decks that have proven themselves in the classic format.

Warlock

Initially we already know Warlock features a class tribal theme in a famous classic aggressive staple, Souldrinker Bogmara.

That deck typically plays around 15 warlocks and 4 lesson of the nethers. This deck's consistent cheap threat package combined with the high tempo of free cards like lesson of the nether has proven itself as a top tier aggro deck for WoW TCG.

Bogmara’s Gameplan:

  • Play Aggressive Threats

  • Combine High Tempo Synergies for Explosive Openers

  • Disrupt the Opponent’s Key Cards

  • Burn the Opponent Out

NextLevelPlays stayed on the grind with Bogmara, making minor innovations until he earned this 1st place finish. He chose to add card advantage in the form of Life Tap + Spy of Kilrogg and keep the quest count to 8. The addition of 2 Dark Bargains main deck and 4 Miniature Voo Doo Masks in the 75 allowed the deck to consistently disrupt the opponent’s niche cards while dumping threats onto the board.

Decklist from October Classic 2021

1st. @NextLevelPlays

//play-1
1 Souldrinker Bogmara

//deck-1
2 Dark Bargain
3 Spy of Kilrogg
2 Life Tap
4 Lesson of the Nether

4 Bloodsoul
4 Broderick Langforth
4 Onnekra Bloodfang
3 Rosalyne von Erantor
4 Bazul, Herald of the Fel
4 Dagax the Butcher
4 Takara, Timewalker Warlord
4 Twilight Vanquisher Knolan
3 Cairne, Earthmother's Chosen

4 Bottled Void
3 Miniature Voodoo Mask

4 Akama's Promise
4 Orders from Lady Vashj

//sideboard-10
1 Miniature Voodoo Mask
3 Skumm Bag'go
2 Talisman of the Horde
4 The Promises of Darkness

Hunter

Sebi's hunter showcased Hemet's ability to ramp up your mana if you're willing to commit to tribe of mostly-hunter allies. This was also the first deck that I’ve seen with a first place trophy taking advantage of the Warp mechanic with [[Track From Beyond]] as a usually-free card selection spell. Serious props to Team Germany’s Sebi for the deck and his keen impulse to tune the warp mechanics into a proven competitor.

Shaii’s Gameplan

  • Fill the board with allies for Viewless Wings/ The Defias Brotherhood.

  • Use Hemet/Gromble to spend your resources quickly. (High Tempo Explosive Opener).

  • Disrupt the Opponent.

  • Quest to find the missing synergy pieces or to hit track from beyond usually aiming for Viewless Wings.

  • The backup plan of just play lots of allies quickly and pump the team with a Fang tutored up from Pet Collector Kashuum.

The Journey Begins

With 2 examples of highly competitive tribal themed decks providing a practical goal, I’m starting down a long and Stranglethorny path to discover other viable class tribes.

Is there a faster way to figure this out than to build decks for every class? Probably.

Do I have a need for speed? No.

There’s 11 classes, 3+ factions, and 3+ talents per class, so let's get started with the core build and synergies.

[[Platinum Disks of Swiftness]] Ramping up your mana isn't very common in WoW TCG, so when I see a card that enables it, I think it's worth exploring. If we can reliably curve out ahead of our opponents, then we can reliably out-tempo them, which gives us the time to refill our hand.

[[Bros Before Hozen]] [[A Heroes Burden]] [[Uncatalogued Species]] [[The Opening of the Dark Portal]]

Bros is going to be a 4-of in all these decks. The other quests give consistency and cheap draw. 1 cost quests will often allow you to "double spell" by drawing a card while still deploying threats, matching the tempo of your board presence.

With up to potentially 16 redundant quests, we have the option of building warp effects into the deck for additional high tempo/free cards.

[[Worthy of Passing]] Sometimes this quest is free while curving out, other times you can play it in the mid-late game and exhaust your extra disks or spare allies to guarantee cheap draw.

[[The Darkspear Rebellion]] The new kid on the block is worth considering anytime a strategy lands in Horde and wants the game to go past turn 5.

With the above mentioned core cards, here's what a shell might look like:

4 Bros Before Hozen

4 A Hero's Burden

0-4 Uncatalogued Species

0-4 The Opening of the Dark Portal

0-3 Worthy of Passing

3-4 Darkspear Rebellion (If we’re Horde)

4 Platinum Disks of Swiftness

4 Lesson of ____

4 ____ from Beyond (Warp Card)

 

Paladin

The card pool for Paladin synergies has been imprinted in my mind since I was a teenager venturing through WOW TCG’s Naxxramas, one of the most enjoyable PVE Raids in paper. The raid needed a horde tank, and the BELF paladin cards were the best fit for the job.

Lesson of the Divine on its own, allowed the tank to hold down an enemy for 2 turns for 0 mana and net 0 cards. The lesson is locked in for this deck. The warp card, Blessing from Beyond can change our anvils into hammers. If we go all-in and try reveal quests, we need cheap allies in play worth attaching the +3/+3 blessing to, otherwise we wont have any targets.

Holy Shock is just a high quality Paladin removal card, which can let you dominate a board with instant speed 2-for-1’s. For Great Honor lets us find our 3 cost removal and is the only reveal quest we play that can select Platinum Disks. Other talent choices would require a heavier rebuild of the deck, and I really wont to lean on getting Paladins into play and forcing combat.

The paladin allies don’t really solve any of the paladin hero’s problems, namely ability and equipment removal, so we know going into this the deck could have weaknesses in the main deck. As a format, Classic is sometimes about executing your own game plan better than your opponent can execute theirs.

If your opponent is planning on attacking with any heroes or allies, then we might be favored in that matchup. In order to commit to our paladin ally theme, our lineup is looking pretty underpowered at B Tier as far as Classic power level goes, so let’s hope our synergies can outplay pure power.

Farisa’s Gameplan

  • Use Platinum Disks and Xavar to spend your resources quickly (High Tempo Explosive Opener)

  • Create a large threat with a free warp card that goes tall on board presence (High Tempo Explosive Opener)

  • Stall games with removal, protectors, and healing until you can out grind your opponent or find a finisher

  • The backup plan of just play some ok-ish allies is less reliable in this brew without much ability/equipment removal

 

We’re running 4-ofs of the best paladin allies, the others are experimental and give you some card selection from your reveal quests. As an ally deck we’re still quite fair compared to the rest of Classic, so we’ve got a basic aggro plan of play creatures, draw cards, and hope to out-tempo or out-grind our opponents.

Our team of paladin allies are often protectors so we are pre-built as an anti-aggro slightly bigger midrange deck. With built in heals/protectors/card draw and some reactive lines of play, we are poised for a longer game where our slow engines like Nadina and Darkspear can keep the cards flowing.

Let’s live in dreamland for a moment.

Turn 1. Bros Before Hozen, Platinum Disks of Swiftness, Xavar the Resourceful. On opponent’s turn we ready our quest, then complete it with the open mana. The quest reveals a random paladin ally and a Blessing from Beyond, which we cast for free on Xavar, making him a 1 cost, 4/5.

Turn 2. Attack for 4. Play For Great Honor. Exhaust Disks for a turn 3 Chuho Dawnchaser. Xavar readies For Great Honor on the opponent’s turn, and we use it to cast Blessing of the Kindered on Paladin at instant speed. Chuho is now a 3/6 spellshield protector and Xavar is a 5/6 protector.

Turn 3. Exhaust disks, cast Alethia Brightsong and Delve seeing a second Blessing from Beyond. We can play that for free off of completing For Great Honor at instant speed, so we’ll leave that up on the opponent’s turn. We can Holy Shock Main phase to swing our creature into an opponent’s for a free trade and kill another creature with 4 holy damage, or send it to the opponent’s face. If Xavar is still alive, he readies our quest to complete on the opponent’s turn 3, letting us reveal another blessing and maybe even a Lesson of the Divine. Alethia is ready and can be exhausted to cast the Lesson on our opponent’s turn.

The 1-ofs aren’t great, but this deck needs competitive testing to determine which paladins give it the best chance. Playing a card like Platinum Disks also asks that you spend your resources in a way where you’re actually using it. Ramping into bigger paladins, playing on curve while questing, or saving resources open for reactive spells.

This gets weird with our suite of somewhat-threatening team. We actively want to play up the curve, but the cards really aren’t getting much better. Tirion is a questionable curve topper up at 6, but his effect can be the finisher this deck needs to turn all your 3’s and 4’s into punchy threats. Having access to 2 means you can see him often enough with your reveal quests, and you can occasionally find and play him in the same turn for large packets of damage on a stalled board.

What are your thoughts on synergy driven class tribal decks in WoW TCG?

Will this Paladin surprise a few decks? I sure hope so. Maybe the dreamland draws will happen often enough to produce a defensive/explosive hybrid.

This was the first entry in the Triibal Trials I won’t spoil which class is next, but I will leave some inspiration behind should another competitor enter the ring.

Thanks for not ganking me on our journey.

-Bradifer