Welcome to the world of Bears!<applause> Just to give you a quick run-down, this is a deck I've been playing and constantly tinkering with for a little over 2 years. It originally started out as more of a joke, lol I said I was going to bring Bear Tribal to the top, but after using it and switching it up for quite some time I actually started to really like how the deck plays.
Making bears work as a tribal was not easy; After playing around with a lot of concepts and different spells over the years I determined two key themes that bears excel in (or, just don't suck in lol):
(1) Threshold
(2) Sylvan Library + WoW
The two decks that I wanted to model it from was Tempo Thresh & a G/R Stax deck that used Library, WoW, and Firespout called Sun Tower.
In a similar way, I can use drop of honey, lots of removal & cantrips to build threshold and control the board till I'm able to get to Threshold. Once the deck gets to the mid-game, if it can keep the board under control, that's where it begins to take over.
Here's a breakdown of some of the spells and how they're used in the deck...
~~~~~ Land Mutavault: He's a factory, he's a bear, he's a merfolk! He's superland! And in the situation Door of Destinies gets counters he really benefits on offensive.
Horizon Canopy: This was a later addition to the deck, but the free card draw's helped the deck tremendously and definitely worth the pain.
Spells Drop of Honey: Bears love honey! But in all seriousness, this card is a very good early response to kill all your opponents tempo. Many times this is the MvP in the deck, since it helps you survive early rushes against fast aggro till you can follow up with Garruk, etc. and start to take control. One note, this card does not target so shroud and/or protection will not save creatures from being destroyed, only indestructibility. Also, if the creatures are tied for power, you get to choose. This is important, 'cause if you have a 3/3 Spectral Bear early game vs their 3/4 Goyf, you can still choose their Goyf!
Manamorphose: Free cantrip and deck thinner that helps you achieve threshold faster. This card really makes the concept of the deck work. In some situations it can work as a color fixes when someone wastes a red or white source; I remember one situation being stuck under blood moon, it helped me color-fix to get Worship out and take the game.
Sylvan Library/Words of Wilding: Sylvan Library is an excellent turn2 drop on its own, but for those who aren't familiary with the combo, Words of Wilding can be used to skip the stacked draws you get with Library to generate some pretty severe creature power. This combo, outside of Thresh, are the two main win conds for the deck!
Grizzly Fate: One of the decks main finisher spells. Like Deranged Hermit, it provides an army out of nowhere; for 5cmc you get 8/8 worth of creatures and with Garruk out, the ability to flashback and overrun makes it particulary powerful. A very underwhelming card outside Thresh, but mid-late game it becomes very good and in matchups where you're at a standstill you want to see this, not to mention Countertop does not like this card.
Steely Resolve: "Bear" and sometimes "Beast" will usually be the call. Being able to give all of your bears shroud is a huge advantage. Removal's gonna sit in their hand. Jace won't be able to bounce. Maze of Ith will have to just sit and chill. Another note, in some rare situations it can actually be used against your opponent to prevent them from being able to target their creaures with spells (aka enchantments, Stompy, etc.)
Worship: Against many decks, this card is "oops, I win". Especially great with Steely Resolve & Mutavault, you're almost unkillable unless they can force life loss or disenchant.
Ashcoat Bear: Better than Bear Cub :p. The instant speed makes it versatile though, being able to hide blockers makes it good as removal. Allows some pretty slick combat tricks with Door of Destinies out as well.
Spectral Bears: Early game 'Goyf' for Bears. Good early blocker and sits well under Drop of Honey to hold off early assault.
Werebear: Late game 'Goyf', early game mana elf to accellerate you into Harmonize, Garruk or other Enchantments. Pretty much reason to go Thresh
Caller of the Claw: Great insurance against board sweeps or after you decide to group block, might as well get 'em all back! Does not save tokens, but 2G for 4/4-->8/8 in power is pretty good, and the flash also allows it to work with Drop of Honey.
Garruk Wildspeaker: Pretty much the glue that binds the deck together. Really great early game once you hold off opponent with Drop, you can follow up with him and Multi-task or more commonly start creating Beasts. Late game Overrun pretty much breaks any stand still if you think you can crit strike.
~~~~~
That's pretty much it. I've had a lot of fun and some success with the deck, I mean considering the fact that it's a bear deck going up against a lot of top decks, finishing 500 for the night and up feel like a friggin' amazing achievement Just wanted to share and see what everyone's thoughts are, thanks.
I'm starting to feel this might be a pet card of mine, but I'd like to squeeze in an Enlightened Tutor to up your redundancy on finding your wincon or stallcons. How important / how easy to cast are the Harmonizes if you're only running 20 lands? Garruks definitely help, but I'm figuring the Harmonize is trying to draw into one.
Seems interesting, I'm quite intrigued to see this combo of sorts and this much thought put into a concept that I all too often see just thrown together as bad-tribal.
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Currently Playing: Legacy: BWG Dark Horizons UWB Esper Stoneblade GUB Lands BGB (Pact) Spanish Inquisition
EDH: BGWKarador, Spirit Warmage
I'm starting to feel this might be a pet card of mine, but I'd like to squeeze in an Enlightened Tutor to up your redundancy on finding your wincon or stallcons. How important / how easy to cast are the Harmonizes if you're only running 20 lands? Garruks definitely help, but I'm figuring the Harmonize is trying to draw into one.
I think that's a great idea, the Tutor would definitely give me some more consistency at the cost of CA, of course, but I'm willing to test it out.
The good thing is I'd be able to cut down on multiples; I'm thinking maybe going something like:
+3 Enlightened Tutor
-1 Grizzly Fate
-1 Steely Resolve
-1 Words of Wilding
Words is definitely worthless in multiples, and figure 1x Grizzly Fate to draw into will have to do, rarely would I ever need to see more than one. I'm thinking of keeping the Harmonize, because the CA is just so good and I might need after running Tutors anyways, but we'll see. Thanks
PS- Did you make that awesome picture? If so, mad props.
I think that's a great idea, the Tutor would definitely give me some more consistency at the cost of CA, of course, but I'm willing to test it out.
The good thing is I'd be able to cut down on multiples; I'm thinking maybe going something like:
+3 Enlightened Tutor
-1 Grizzly Fate
-1 Steely Resolve
-1 Words of Wilding
If it's worth running a 1-of Worship to save your tail, then it's worth having a way to find it that can also find your win-con. Tossing in a singleton Oblivion Ring takes a step away from the fluffy, but it gives you a target you can go pull up to get rid of a Pithing Needle on WoWilding or something else annoying such as Ghostly Prison/Propaganda.
On that note, you could stabilize your mana a bit more by dropping the Taiga/Firespouts and instead grab some Ghostly Prisons of your own. Sure, it only holds them back rather than kills them, but firespout in an aggro deck that only has one creature with possibly T4 unless Garruk just overran for win doesn't seem too practical to me, but granted, I've never played a deck using firespout before.
Another step from the un-fluffy, but what do you do about combo-based decks?
Is there any use for something akin to City of Traitors or Ancient Tomb? If you WoW off from a Library, it's my understanding you'll have to negate both draws or do it before your normal draw else you'll end up putting two back still and thus nix`ing your normal draw per turn for only one Bear, or am I confusing how you can stack that? Either way, it lets Garruk/WoW come down earlier and generates more mana when untapped to allow for flashing back Grizzly Fate sooner. Thoughts? In my minimal shuffling about with this last night, I almost wanted to just cut down to Library+WoW and take it to more of a STAX-esque build since you get so many free permanents and Trinisphere is just so nasty against some decks.
Just some rambling thoughts
~ Rith
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Currently Playing: Legacy: BWG Dark Horizons UWB Esper Stoneblade GUB Lands BGB (Pact) Spanish Inquisition
EDH: BGWKarador, Spirit Warmage
Thanks, I used to run maindeck Ghostly Prisons at one point till someone mentioned dropping them a while back. But now that I'm gonna' run tutors, I guess it makes more sense to SB those instead of Firespouts. Afterall, it works awesome with Drop of Honey and is randomly awesome against some decks like Ichorid.
Oblivion Ring is a great idea, too, I'll have to think about that one. If I can't find a place maindeck, maybe SB?
Is there any use for something akin to City of Traitors or Ancient Tomb? If you WoW off from a Library, it's my understanding you'll have to negate both draws or do it before your normal draw else you'll end up putting two back still and thus nix`ing your normal draw per turn for only one Bear, or am I confusing how you can stack that? Either way, it lets Garruk/WoW come down earlier and generates more mana when untapped to allow for flashing back Grizzly Fate sooner. Thoughts? In my minimal shuffling about with this last night, I almost wanted to just cut down to Library+WoW and take it to more of a STAX-esque build since you get so many free permanents and Trinisphere is just so nasty against some decks.
I’ll start by saying I don’t know a lot about bears . . .
Mirror Entity seems like it would interact well with Drop of Honey assuming of course the deck has extra mana. Otherwise, I know it is not a bear but Qasali Pridemage is a very good card.
This is actually making my morning THAT much better...
How to get better on a budget: Ashcoat Bear...a bear with flash. ninja bear people. This has to be 4x because he's the 2nd best bear printed Werebear....auto 4x. The best bear printed by far
*bear #3* ---> 9,10,11,12
*bear #4* ---> 13,14,15,16. Tribal you're going to want at least 16 [tribe] cards
Mutavault....should be 4x, replacing factory. Acts as bears 17,18,19,20. Bear Umbra..makes any critter THAT much better. fits the bear theme. and serves as protection. 2-4x
Garruk...he's a house. 2-3x
Hosing your friends (only if your friends run appropriate decks) Pale Bears ...islewalk in legacy is soooo tech Spectral Bears...a beast in general. But if they have black, omg.
Ideas: Door of Destinies...should be a 3x MD. If you increase the amount of bears you run, this becomes a 1-sided coat of arms (don't run coat). Slate of Ancestry....can be in here to refuel your hand. X critters to draw X cards. Silly. Not mandatory, but very good in casual formats. Bearscape....recycle-a-bear. It takes dead cards/bears and makes new bears
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That which nourishes me, destroys me
10th at SCG: Syracuse (2014), GP:NJ Last-Chance Grinder Winner (2014):: Former Legacy Mod
I mean, hell, we're all on a forum for something that most people would describe as a "children's card game"...do what makes you happy. You are never too old to enjoy yourself.
I'll put this bluntly. If a really cool, unique guy went up to a normal girl, and is ugly, he's weird. if he goes up and is hot, then he's cool and unique.
Standard
It's like watching grass grow, except it's ridculously expensive.
Yeah Steiny, Mirror Entity's pretty clutch I never even thought about running him, but its almost worth trying if I'm generating a lot of tokens, him out & Garruk is like a double threat.
The cat is too good for this deck lol, but yeah! He's so much more versatile, and better all around in an aggro deck. The only thing, not being a real bear makes me feel like a traitor to my own cause and while Spectral is a mere watchwolf, early game he serves a better blocker and sits better under Drop of Honey.
I love the Pale Bears, I've thought many times about running them SB vs blue decks, but my deck'd have to run like 4x Jitte to justify him, 'cause phantom warrior sucks in Legacy as well unless you have some killer equip backing him up ^^
Last tourney I went 2-2, which was all right. My first loss was to an aggro Loam, I gave a really good fight, one game I remember I was gonna swing my my creatures next turn but seismic assault pulled off a kill out of nowhere, I ate one too many draws with Library heh; Final game me and my opponent were both 2-1, and he was running some G/w/u tempo deck that ran goyf, Heirarch, wastes, and even armageddon with Daze and I think maybe Spell Pierce? It was a great deck, he took both games but game 1 he literally got mana screwed and was able to keep me at bay for like 7 turns with 1 Tabernacle lol, since my deck's all about numbers I could do little more than hit him for 2 damage from time to time then choose to sac a creature, then once his Ghostly Prison got up winning was nearly impossible 'cause I didn't have the mana to attack while holding my creatures on the board >.< This brings me to the conclusion that I almost might want Crop Rotation in the deck over E. Tutor, or maybe both of them and include maybe like a 1-of Wasteland & 1-of Maze of Ith? Anyways, thought I'd give some recent feedback, time to try again.
Now with more cards out from 2011 is there any changes you've made to this deck? I really want to build this and I currently have a pretty basic bear tribal deck right now.
Now with more cards out from 2011 is there any changes you've made to this deck? I really want to build this and I currently have a pretty basic bear tribal deck right now.
So would you go as far to say as this deck is as refined as it could be. The meta I have around me has a bunch of Nic fit and shardless bug and stoneblade, think this list would be decent against those decks? Also any substitions for drop of honey. Definitely not in the budget..
4 Windswept Heath
2 Wooded Foothills
4 Savannah
1 Taiga
2 Horizon Cannopy
3 Forest
2 Mutavault
2 Mishra's Factory
Non-Creature Spells (25)
3 Drop of Honey
4 Swords to Plowshares
4 Manamorphose
2 Harmonize
2 Grizzly Fate
4 Sylvan Library
2 Words of Wilding
2 Steely Resolve
1 Door of Destinies
1 Worship
3 Ashcoat Bear
4 Spectral Bears
4 Werebear
1 Caller of the Claw
3 Garruk Wildspeaker
4 Krosan Grip
4 Choke
4 Firespout
3 Tormod's Crypt
Welcome to the world of Bears! <applause> Just to give you a quick run-down, this is a deck I've been playing and constantly tinkering with for a little over 2 years. It originally started out as more of a joke, lol I said I was going to bring Bear Tribal to the top, but after using it and switching it up for quite some time I actually started to really like how the deck plays.
Making bears work as a tribal was not easy; After playing around with a lot of concepts and different spells over the years I determined two key themes that bears excel in (or, just don't suck in lol):
(1) Threshold
(2) Sylvan Library + WoW
The two decks that I wanted to model it from was Tempo Thresh & a G/R Stax deck that used Library, WoW, and Firespout called Sun Tower.
In a similar way, I can use drop of honey, lots of removal & cantrips to build threshold and control the board till I'm able to get to Threshold. Once the deck gets to the mid-game, if it can keep the board under control, that's where it begins to take over.
Here's a breakdown of some of the spells and how they're used in the deck...
~~~~~
Land
Mutavault: He's a factory, he's a bear, he's a merfolk! He's superland! And in the situation Door of Destinies gets counters he really benefits on offensive.
Horizon Canopy: This was a later addition to the deck, but the free card draw's helped the deck tremendously and definitely worth the pain.
Spells
Drop of Honey: Bears love honey! But in all seriousness, this card is a very good early response to kill all your opponents tempo. Many times this is the MvP in the deck, since it helps you survive early rushes against fast aggro till you can follow up with Garruk, etc. and start to take control. One note, this card does not target so shroud and/or protection will not save creatures from being destroyed, only indestructibility. Also, if the creatures are tied for power, you get to choose. This is important, 'cause if you have a 3/3 Spectral Bear early game vs their 3/4 Goyf, you can still choose their Goyf!
Manamorphose: Free cantrip and deck thinner that helps you achieve threshold faster. This card really makes the concept of the deck work. In some situations it can work as a color fixes when someone wastes a red or white source; I remember one situation being stuck under blood moon, it helped me color-fix to get Worship out and take the game.
Sylvan Library/Words of Wilding: Sylvan Library is an excellent turn2 drop on its own, but for those who aren't familiary with the combo, Words of Wilding can be used to skip the stacked draws you get with Library to generate some pretty severe creature power. This combo, outside of Thresh, are the two main win conds for the deck!
Grizzly Fate: One of the decks main finisher spells. Like Deranged Hermit, it provides an army out of nowhere; for 5cmc you get 8/8 worth of creatures and with Garruk out, the ability to flashback and overrun makes it particulary powerful. A very underwhelming card outside Thresh, but mid-late game it becomes very good and in matchups where you're at a standstill you want to see this, not to mention Countertop does not like this card.
Steely Resolve: "Bear" and sometimes "Beast" will usually be the call. Being able to give all of your bears shroud is a huge advantage. Removal's gonna sit in their hand. Jace won't be able to bounce. Maze of Ith will have to just sit and chill. Another note, in some rare situations it can actually be used against your opponent to prevent them from being able to target their creaures with spells (aka enchantments, Stompy, etc.)
Worship: Against many decks, this card is "oops, I win". Especially great with Steely Resolve & Mutavault, you're almost unkillable unless they can force life loss or disenchant.
Ashcoat Bear: Better than Bear Cub :p. The instant speed makes it versatile though, being able to hide blockers makes it good as removal. Allows some pretty slick combat tricks with Door of Destinies out as well.
Spectral Bears: Early game 'Goyf' for Bears. Good early blocker and sits well under Drop of Honey to hold off early assault.
Werebear: Late game 'Goyf', early game mana elf to accellerate you into Harmonize, Garruk or other Enchantments. Pretty much reason to go Thresh
Caller of the Claw: Great insurance against board sweeps or after you decide to group block, might as well get 'em all back! Does not save tokens, but 2G for 4/4-->8/8 in power is pretty good, and the flash also allows it to work with Drop of Honey.
Garruk Wildspeaker: Pretty much the glue that binds the deck together. Really great early game once you hold off opponent with Drop, you can follow up with him and Multi-task or more commonly start creating Beasts. Late game Overrun pretty much breaks any stand still if you think you can crit strike.
~~~~~
That's pretty much it. I've had a lot of fun and some success with the deck, I mean considering the fact that it's a bear deck going up against a lot of top decks, finishing 500 for the night and up feel like a friggin' amazing achievement Just wanted to share and see what everyone's thoughts are, thanks.
GWRUB[EDH] Reaper KingGWRUB
GW[Legacy] BEARS (#1 Threat in America)GW
UR[Legacy] Arcane MeleeUR
With Drop of Honey, StP, and some of the other cards it's a bit of control which is interesting.
PS- Did you make that awesome picture? If so, mad props.
Seems interesting, I'm quite intrigued to see this combo of sorts and this much thought put into a concept that I all too often see just thrown together as bad-tribal.
BWG Dark Horizons
UWB Esper Stoneblade
GUB Lands
BGB (Pact) Spanish Inquisition
EDH:
BGW Karador, Spirit Warmage
(and I'd second the Enlightened Tutor inclusion, seems like it would smooth out the deck a little more).
I think that's a great idea, the Tutor would definitely give me some more consistency at the cost of CA, of course, but I'm willing to test it out.
The good thing is I'd be able to cut down on multiples; I'm thinking maybe going something like:
+3 Enlightened Tutor
-1 Grizzly Fate
-1 Steely Resolve
-1 Words of Wilding
Words is definitely worthless in multiples, and figure 1x Grizzly Fate to draw into will have to do, rarely would I ever need to see more than one. I'm thinking of keeping the Harmonize, because the CA is just so good and I might need after running Tutors anyways, but we'll see. Thanks
MS Paint ftw! lol
GWRUB[EDH] Reaper KingGWRUB
GW[Legacy] BEARS (#1 Threat in America)GW
UR[Legacy] Arcane MeleeUR
If it's worth running a 1-of Worship to save your tail, then it's worth having a way to find it that can also find your win-con. Tossing in a singleton Oblivion Ring takes a step away from the fluffy, but it gives you a target you can go pull up to get rid of a Pithing Needle on WoWilding or something else annoying such as Ghostly Prison/Propaganda.
On that note, you could stabilize your mana a bit more by dropping the Taiga/Firespouts and instead grab some Ghostly Prisons of your own. Sure, it only holds them back rather than kills them, but firespout in an aggro deck that only has one creature with possibly T4 unless Garruk just overran for win doesn't seem too practical to me, but granted, I've never played a deck using firespout before.
Another step from the un-fluffy, but what do you do about combo-based decks?
Is there any use for something akin to City of Traitors or Ancient Tomb? If you WoW off from a Library, it's my understanding you'll have to negate both draws or do it before your normal draw else you'll end up putting two back still and thus nix`ing your normal draw per turn for only one Bear, or am I confusing how you can stack that? Either way, it lets Garruk/WoW come down earlier and generates more mana when untapped to allow for flashing back Grizzly Fate sooner. Thoughts? In my minimal shuffling about with this last night, I almost wanted to just cut down to Library+WoW and take it to more of a STAX-esque build since you get so many free permanents and Trinisphere is just so nasty against some decks.
Just some rambling thoughts
~ Rith
BWG Dark Horizons
UWB Esper Stoneblade
GUB Lands
BGB (Pact) Spanish Inquisition
EDH:
BGW Karador, Spirit Warmage
Oblivion Ring is a great idea, too, I'll have to think about that one. If I can't find a place maindeck, maybe SB?
Yeah, that actually sounds a lot like the //www.mtgthesource.com/forums/showthread.php?5006-[Primer">-Sun-Tower-(RG-UbaStax)&highlight=Sun+Tower"]Sun Tower deck I mentioned above that runs the Stax, Firespout, WoW etc., which was one of the decks that inspired some of my ideas. I took some of the concept into mind, it's an amazing deck, but prolly just wont cut it for 'Bears' since it'd have a difficult time getting Thresh like the one I use does now
GWRUB[EDH] Reaper KingGWRUB
GW[Legacy] BEARS (#1 Threat in America)GW
UR[Legacy] Arcane MeleeUR
Mirror Entity seems like it would interact well with Drop of Honey assuming of course the deck has extra mana. Otherwise, I know it is not a bear but Qasali Pridemage is a very good card.
BRGKarrthus, Tyrant of Jund
UTeferi, Mage of Zhalfir
UBWZur the Enchanter
WUBRGChild of Alara
WUBRGSliver Queen
How to get better on a budget:
Ashcoat Bear...a bear with flash. ninja bear people. This has to be 4x because he's the 2nd best bear printed
Werebear....auto 4x. The best bear printed by far
*bear #3* ---> 9,10,11,12
*bear #4* ---> 13,14,15,16. Tribal you're going to want at least 16 [tribe] cards
Mutavault....should be 4x, replacing factory. Acts as bears 17,18,19,20.
Bear Umbra..makes any critter THAT much better. fits the bear theme. and serves as protection. 2-4x
Garruk...he's a house. 2-3x
Hosing your friends (only if your friends run appropriate decks)
Pale Bears ...islewalk in legacy is soooo tech
Spectral Bears...a beast in general. But if they have black, omg.
Ideas:
Door of Destinies...should be a 3x MD. If you increase the amount of bears you run, this becomes a 1-sided coat of arms (don't run coat).
Slate of Ancestry....can be in here to refuel your hand. X critters to draw X cards. Silly. Not mandatory, but very good in casual formats.
Bearscape....recycle-a-bear. It takes dead cards/bears and makes new bears
10th at SCG: Syracuse (2014), GP:NJ Last-Chance Grinder Winner (2014):: Former Legacy Mod
Yeah Steiny, Mirror Entity's pretty clutch I never even thought about running him, but its almost worth trying if I'm generating a lot of tokens, him out & Garruk is like a double threat.
The cat is too good for this deck lol, but yeah! He's so much more versatile, and better all around in an aggro deck. The only thing, not being a real bear makes me feel like a traitor to my own cause and while Spectral is a mere watchwolf, early game he serves a better blocker and sits better under Drop of Honey.
I love the Pale Bears, I've thought many times about running them SB vs blue decks, but my deck'd have to run like 4x Jitte to justify him, 'cause phantom warrior sucks in Legacy as well unless you have some killer equip backing him up ^^
Last tourney I went 2-2, which was all right. My first loss was to an aggro Loam, I gave a really good fight, one game I remember I was gonna swing my my creatures next turn but seismic assault pulled off a kill out of nowhere, I ate one too many draws with Library heh; Final game me and my opponent were both 2-1, and he was running some G/w/u tempo deck that ran goyf, Heirarch, wastes, and even armageddon with Daze and I think maybe Spell Pierce? It was a great deck, he took both games but game 1 he literally got mana screwed and was able to keep me at bay for like 7 turns with 1 Tabernacle lol, since my deck's all about numbers I could do little more than hit him for 2 damage from time to time then choose to sac a creature, then once his Ghostly Prison got up winning was nearly impossible 'cause I didn't have the mana to attack while holding my creatures on the board >.< This brings me to the conclusion that I almost might want Crop Rotation in the deck over E. Tutor, or maybe both of them and include maybe like a 1-of Wasteland & 1-of Maze of Ith? Anyways, thought I'd give some recent feedback, time to try again.
Cheers
GWRUB[EDH] Reaper KingGWRUB
GW[Legacy] BEARS (#1 Threat in America)GW
UR[Legacy] Arcane MeleeUR
Necropotence
Its abilities interact well with the deck's engine.
Unfortunately, Necros are banned