I was instructed by my friends to create a tribal deck for our Magic games. I'm new to the scene, so I still need some help with deck construction. Anyways, I was wondering if some of you could help me build a specter deck? I really have little clue of what I'm doing...
I don't want the whole thing to be based on making the opponent discard their hand, since that would kind of be a little boring, but it seems as though that's what specters are for; so if that's what you think is best, then I'll follow it.
I'm thinking I should go either Black and Blue to help the specters break through any defense. So maybe something like Aqueous form. Also, I was thinking Wheel of Torture might be a good addition.
The only time I've success with Spectre's is by running things that negate spectre's reluctance to actually block.
Run stuff like Earthquake for example, and ways to penalise people for having a low hand, like Wheel of Torture.
But seriously, spectre's are lame. You don't have many spectre's to choose from, and they're essentially ***** if you can't get the damage through.
Against literally any deck faster than you, you're toast.
If you have the choice for ANY tribal clan for a deck, one of the first few I'd be looking at would be either Elves or Goblins.
After that, there are many choices like Soldiers, Knights, Beasts, Merfolk, Elementals & Vampires > ALL of which I would pick for a variety of reasons instead of spectre's.
These decks all have much better synergy, resilience and a much deeper card pool to select from than Spectre's, meaning you can find good cards that just work well, and there are also many budget options too.
I was thinking of trying Werewolves or just Wolves.
Dangit. Why do specters have to suck so bad. Some of them look cool as Hell...
Thanks for the advice though, I appreciate it. I guess I might have to skip out on specter tribal. Maybe I'll just look for a deck with specters in it that does well.
Wolves are definitely worth a look.
Their ability to just fill a field with tokens can be pretty overwhelming if built right, but bear in mind some of the pieces might not be very budget.
Liliana's Specter - This one is almost a must. In a 2v2 or free for all game, I'd be able to preserve food for centuries with all of the salt...
Do you want to play this deck for duels, for small multiplayer games like 2v2 or in big free for all rounds? There is a HUGE difference in deckbuilding between duel decks and multiplayer decks for large rounds.
Here is a first draft of what you could play for duels and small multiplayer games, could need some more tuning though:
Idea here is to drop your specters fast and then kill anything of your opponent so that he/she can't stabilize. This deck doens't use Shrieking Affliction or Megrim effects, the discard effect is used to destabilize your opponent and to increase the size of Nighthowler, which is one of your best cards here. Nightveil Specter is a champ and is played heavily in devotion decks, those other specter s also have BB in their cost, so including Gary was the obvious choice, he can drop for large amounts of life loss and will so finish what your specters began. Dark ritual for speeding the deck up. Cheap removal will kill any early blocker, Dismember could be Grasp of Darkness if you are on a budget. Immortal Servitude will help you in longer games and returns all your specters and the horror.
mana base Spawning Pool is a good blocker, pay two mana to make him a creature, block with it, then tap itself for mana and regenerate with it. Barren Moor helps cycling through your deck. Ebon Stronghold is for a faster start if needed, but can be replaced by basic swamps.
I tinkered around a little bit with the decklist above with a deckbuilder against the goldsfish. I removed the Spawning Pools because they only slow you down and the deck need a fast start. Ebon Stronghold seems to be good to let you drop a specter in turn two if no Dark Ritual is at hand. And the deck needs card draw desperately, so i added Underworld Connections. Other draw spells like Sign in Blood would be okay, but Underworld Connections are better for multiplayer games and they contribute to Gary. So here is an updated version that i would play:
Yeah, I removed spawning pool too. Other than that the deck performed pretty good. Do you think you could make a better specter deck if it wasn't tribal? I really like the way you build decks :0
Also, I found a card, can't remember it's name right now, but it cost one black and it makes the opponent discard a card and mill one. I'll have to go find it, but do you think it would be a good addition?
At this point, I'm not really concerned with how the deck handles in Multiplayer. Right now, I just want to be able to have Liliana's Specter and Nightveil Specter in a decent deck lol. I like the way those two look a lot...
I'm thinking a good idea might be to dip into blue or red, and then throw in a land that can tap for different colored mana, that way nightveil specter's ability can be put to good use. For example, mana confluence. Exile a card with nightveil specter, then use mana confluence to match the mana of the exiled card.
Yeah, I removed spawning pool too. Other than that the deck performed pretty good. Do you think you could make a better specter deck if it wasn't tribal?
Also, I found a card, can't remember it's name right now, but it cost one black and it makes the opponent discard a card and mill one. I'll have to go find it, but do you think it would be a good addition?
I don't know the card right now, but i'm with Xyz's opinion, the specters cause enough discard, you won't need to run other discard spells alongside.
I'm thinking a good idea might be to dip into blue or red, and then throw in a land that can tap for different colored mana, that way nightveil specter's ability can be put to good use. For example, mana confluence. Exile a card with nightveil specter, then use mana confluence to match the mana of the exiled card.
If you got the budget for dual lands, sure. But i wouldn't extra build around him. You can always play a land of your opponent if the specter grabs one, then you have the mana. Othewise i would rely on lucky hits, namely colorles cards.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
To post a comment, please login or register a new account.
I was instructed by my friends to create a tribal deck for our Magic games. I'm new to the scene, so I still need some help with deck construction. Anyways, I was wondering if some of you could help me build a specter deck? I really have little clue of what I'm doing...
I don't want the whole thing to be based on making the opponent discard their hand, since that would kind of be a little boring, but it seems as though that's what specters are for; so if that's what you think is best, then I'll follow it.
I'm thinking I should go either Black and Blue to help the specters break through any defense. So maybe something like Aqueous form. Also, I was thinking Wheel of Torture might be a good addition.
Anyways, I filter searched specters and here's some of the creatures that popped up:
Hollow Specter
Guul Draz Specter
Hypnotic Specter
Liliana's Specter - This one is almost a must. In a 2v2 or free for all game, I'd be able to preserve food for centuries with all of the salt...
Nightveil Specter
Scythe Specter
Silent Specter
Whispering Specter
Blizzard specter
Doomsday Specter
More cards that I've found:
Run stuff like Earthquake for example, and ways to penalise people for having a low hand, like Wheel of Torture.
But seriously, spectre's are lame. You don't have many spectre's to choose from, and they're essentially ***** if you can't get the damage through.
Against literally any deck faster than you, you're toast.
If you have the choice for ANY tribal clan for a deck, one of the first few I'd be looking at would be either Elves or Goblins.
After that, there are many choices like Soldiers, Knights, Beasts, Merfolk, Elementals & Vampires > ALL of which I would pick for a variety of reasons instead of spectre's.
These decks all have much better synergy, resilience and a much deeper card pool to select from than Spectre's, meaning you can find good cards that just work well, and there are also many budget options too.
Dangit. Why do specters have to suck so bad. Some of them look cool as Hell...
Thanks for the advice though, I appreciate it. I guess I might have to skip out on specter tribal. Maybe I'll just look for a deck with specters in it that does well.
Their ability to just fill a field with tokens can be pretty overwhelming if built right, but bear in mind some of the pieces might not be very budget.
I've not got experience with Werewolves, sorry.
The Rack, Shrieking Affliction, Dark Ritual, Duress, Hymn to Tourach
Also just use Specters at most with 4cmc.
Once opponent has no more cards in hand, not just your critters will beat, but you'll also punish them through Rack and Affliction.
Well, yes, those creature types will build stong(er) decks, but i wouldn't drop the Specter idea, not in casual.
Do you want to play this deck for duels, for small multiplayer games like 2v2 or in big free for all rounds? There is a HUGE difference in deckbuilding between duel decks and multiplayer decks for large rounds.
Here is a first draft of what you could play for duels and small multiplayer games, could need some more tuning though:
4 Nightveil Specter
4 Hypnotic Specter
4 Liliana's Specter
3 Needle Specter
4 Nighthowler
3 Gray Merchant of Asphodel
4 Dark Ritual
2 Immortal Servitude
4 Victim of Night
3 Dismember
3 Geth's Verdict
2 Spawning Pool
4 Barren Moor
2 Ebon Stronghold
14 Swamp
Idea here is to drop your specters fast and then kill anything of your opponent so that he/she can't stabilize. This deck doens't use Shrieking Affliction or Megrim effects, the discard effect is used to destabilize your opponent and to increase the size of Nighthowler, which is one of your best cards here. Nightveil Specter is a champ and is played heavily in devotion decks, those other specter s also have BB in their cost, so including Gary was the obvious choice, he can drop for large amounts of life loss and will so finish what your specters began.
Dark ritual for speeding the deck up. Cheap removal will kill any early blocker, Dismember could be Grasp of Darkness if you are on a budget. Immortal Servitude will help you in longer games and returns all your specters and the horror.
mana base
Spawning Pool is a good blocker, pay two mana to make him a creature, block with it, then tap itself for mana and regenerate with it. Barren Moor helps cycling through your deck. Ebon Stronghold is for a faster start if needed, but can be replaced by basic swamps.
I'm going to throw it in a deck playtest now and give it a shot.
4 Nightveil Specter
4 Hypnotic Specter
3 Liliana's Specter
4 Needle Specter
4 Nighthowler
3 Gray Merchant of Asphodel
4 Dark Ritual
2 Immortal Servitude
3 Victim of Night
2 Dismember
3 Geth's Verdict
3 Underworld Connections
Land 21
4 Barren Moor
3 Ebon Stronghold
14 Swamp
Also, I found a card, can't remember it's name right now, but it cost one black and it makes the opponent discard a card and mill one. I'll have to go find it, but do you think it would be a good addition?
At this point, I'm not really concerned with how the deck handles in Multiplayer. Right now, I just want to be able to have Liliana's Specter and Nightveil Specter in a decent deck lol. I like the way those two look a lot...
I'm thinking a good idea might be to dip into blue or red, and then throw in a land that can tap for different colored mana, that way nightveil specter's ability can be put to good use. For example, mana confluence. Exile a card with nightveil specter, then use mana confluence to match the mana of the exiled card.
Glad i could help you If you want to break the tribal a little bit, just replace the Needle Specter with Vampire Nighthawk
I don't know the card right now, but i'm with Xyz's opinion, the specters cause enough discard, you won't need to run other discard spells alongside.
If you got the budget for dual lands, sure. But i wouldn't extra build around him. You can always play a land of your opponent if the specter grabs one, then you have the mana. Othewise i would rely on lucky hits, namely colorles cards.