I would also suggest mirri as the commander, consistent early beats that also protection you from attacks is significantly better than giant growth on a stick, especially sense it sounds like you already invested in some powerhouse equipment. Unless you have a lot of token or other swarm strategies in your group I'd cut norn, cats arnt very good at going wide.
Besides the commander swap and upgrading a few of the lackluster cats I agree with the direction most of the suggestions are going, upgrade the spot removal it come with and add a little card draw to smooth things out
A few notable non creature things you're missing.
umbral Mantle
eldrazi monument
warstorm surge
blasting station
sword of paruns
thousand year elixir
ashnods altar
mana echoes
You don't need obelisk of urb because the size of your creatrues just won't matter and most of your instants and sorceries arnt needed, as you will either swing with or sacrifice your arbitrarily large number of goblin for the win.
I think there are some creatrues you could add but I will try porting my list over when I'm not on my phone and can use card tags for the decklist
Nylea's emissary seems like a good inclution, a trampler to pump or giving something bigger trample in the late game.
Also a fan of phantom tiger, but he gets less useful without static pumps
So felidar guardian just got banned, so I lose a great blocker and can no longer blink regal caracal.
I guess this means I can add in the removal I'd planned for renewed faith and use the guardian spots spots to try out lone rider. Not going to lie though, I'm sad to lose that interaction. Without him I probably need rider for a more aggressive strategy sense my gumming up the ground plan takes a hit
I was going to leave serpopard in the board, He fought it out with aetherstream leopard and I decided trample was going to be relevant more often than uncounterable, even if it's on a smaller creature.
As I mentioned I plan on swapping out renewed faith, but I was thinking of bringing in some more spot removal. That might be a good spot for lone rider instead
Dont really get to cast too many spells in one turn so i expect that if im getting above 50 I will probably win anyway.
I do think I'm going to replace the renewed faith to add a 3rd alliance, 3rd cast out, and 4th metallic mimic but I will give it a little longer before I make the swap
This is a first draft for cat tribal deck. While i dont believe it is a strong enough theme for high level play, i do think it may be good enough for fnm level events.
I wanted to take advantage of the power level of regal carcal, and while it slots well into all sorts of decks this seemed like a fun way to get the most out of his abilities.
Even without carcal in play this deck is able to gain a lot of life. between that and the bodies that can be put down, we should be able to give aggro decks a fit. Slower decks may be overrun by the number of creatures coming out or fail to answer the alternate win conditions of approach of the second sun and felidar sovereign. The limited removal should be saved for big or evasive threats and vizier of the menagerie tries to fill in for the lack of card advantage and he may get bumped to 3 copies if 2 with eldritch evolution doesnt seem like enough.
White has many good options for the sideboard, providing answers for most things that end up causing problems. Specific to this deck, there is felidar cub and prowling serpopard which provide effects too narrow for main deck inclusion but happen to benefit from the tribal synergies when they are sided in.
Walking ballista's usefulness is more dependant on its size than a Lott of other creatures. To use your example, shrinking a servant in no way stops is from doing its thing. Ballista absolutely needs it's counters while not everything else cares.
I think you are right about 8 yahenni's expertise being too many so I cut the second set of 4. I may still have too many but it's my best way to deal with aggressive starts or token decks. And I should always have something relevant to cast off it
I'm not sold on vizier, but stalling a threat with her ability and sticking around to block it the next turn seems worth testing. Maybe it will stall the turns I need to draw an answer, maybe it's a wasted spot and I'll cut it.
You make a good point for succumb, with only two colors the double black probably won't be a problem. And I have sign in blooded for the win exactly one time in all the time it was in standard lol
I like that oath can make blockers, but I originally had a split between it and trial and if it's too slow I'll swap them. I also thought it would be fun to have one copy of the black cartouche because lifelink and resetting the trial, but it's probably too cute.
I try to minimize my etbt lands but I suspect you are right about a 4ty vents and will add it.
Final reward is my one peace of instant speed, unconditional removal. I could play a singleton murder in its place but I think the exiling will be worth the extra mana. Once again, time and testing will tell.
Thanks for the input, I will definitely be adding succumb and anither vent. And will be keeping a close eye on your other suggestions during testing
For aggressive decks like mardu or rb sweltering suns might help. it wont be killing any vehicles but most of their other plays should die. and if nothing else you can trade it in for another card.
Both of those sound like reasonable choices. of course walking ballista might start being less good with all these -1/-1 counters flying around canceling out his counters. One of those things we will just have to see about.
It doesn't really fit the "more powerful" criteria, but for lowering the curve I would suggest trying festering mummy
it can take counters for an aggressive turn 2 like blisterpod but instead of ramping for t3 it can trade up if it needs to block. Also plays nice with nest later in the game which blisterpod does less well.
So not as good as bp early but I think better after turn 3, which is when you wete wanting something to play the same turn as nest
Personally, I think flash creatures are the solution. Rather than tapping out for a hexproof flyer, I'd rather flash in my win cons EOT, hope the opponent doesn't have instant speed, unconditional removal (so basically either Unlicensed Disintegration or Natural Obsolescence), and then hopefully untap and be able to keep counter magic mana up and actually counter any removal. I'm currently on a pure draw-go style list, with 4 Gearhulks, 3 Spell Quellers, and no sweepers, so every spell is instant speed, and it's been pretty awesome.
If you want to tap out for a hard to deal with threat, then I think Gideon of the Trials is the answer. He can pressure opposing planeswalkers, put a decent clock on the opponent, not die to and keep at bay something like Heart of Kiran, and only costs 3cmc. He's the control Gideon walker, and looks a lot better than something like Haven or Glyph Keeper.
EDIT
Also, if we're looking for some alternate, not creature win cons, then I think the answer is to go black and try and win with Cruel Reality
I wouldn't tap out for a big flier, I'd play it turn 9+ to hold to hold up counter/kill spell. Not in too big a hurry. Though I'm not playing any big end game stuff in my current list. Just Gearhulks and new Gideon cause I agree that he seems like a solid card for control. My list should be near the bottom of page one.
On another note, I want to start testing this bw list. It started out at 46 spells and was thinned down to a 61 card deck. I welcome suggestions because this is a first draft.
Besides the commander swap and upgrading a few of the lackluster cats I agree with the direction most of the suggestions are going, upgrade the spot removal it come with and add a little card draw to smooth things out
umbral Mantle
eldrazi monument
warstorm surge
blasting station
sword of paruns
thousand year elixir
ashnods altar
mana echoes
You don't need obelisk of urb because the size of your creatrues just won't matter and most of your instants and sorceries arnt needed, as you will either swing with or sacrifice your arbitrarily large number of goblin for the win.
I think there are some creatrues you could add but I will try porting my list over when I'm not on my phone and can use card tags for the decklist
Also a fan of phantom tiger, but he gets less useful without static pumps
Also took out the removal for card advantage, and added some creatures.
3 Eldritch evolution
3 approach of the second sun
creatures:
2 aetherstream leopard
3 lone rider
2 felidar sovereign
4 metallic mimic
3 scrounging bandar
4 regal caracal
3 vizier of the menagerie
2 prowling serpopard
3 lifecrafter's beastiary
enchantments:
3 always watching
lands:
4 scattered groves
4 fortified village
2 canopy vista
8 plains
7 forest
I guess this means I can add in the removal I'd planned for renewed faith and use the guardian spots spots to try out lone rider. Not going to lie though, I'm sad to lose that interaction. Without him I probably need rider for a more aggressive strategy sense my gumming up the ground plan takes a hit
As I mentioned I plan on swapping out renewed faith, but I was thinking of bringing in some more spot removal. That might be a good spot for lone rider instead
And I have been strongly considering lone rider, as he definitely likes some cats. Any suggestions one what to take out for him
I do think I'm going to replace the renewed faith to add a 3rd alliance, 3rd cast out, and 4th metallic mimic but I will give it a little longer before I make the swap
I wanted to take advantage of the power level of regal carcal, and while it slots well into all sorts of decks this seemed like a fun way to get the most out of his abilities.
Even without carcal in play this deck is able to gain a lot of life. between that and the bodies that can be put down, we should be able to give aggro decks a fit. Slower decks may be overrun by the number of creatures coming out or fail to answer the alternate win conditions of approach of the second sun and felidar sovereign. The limited removal should be saved for big or evasive threats and vizier of the menagerie tries to fill in for the lack of card advantage and he may get bumped to 3 copies if 2 with eldritch evolution doesnt seem like enough.
White has many good options for the sideboard, providing answers for most things that end up causing problems. Specific to this deck, there is felidar cub and prowling serpopard which provide effects too narrow for main deck inclusion but happen to benefit from the tribal synergies when they are sided in.
2 blessed alliance
3 Eldritch evolution
3 approach of the second sun
3 renewed faith
2 aetherstream leopard
3 felidar guardian
3 felidar sovereign
3 metallic mimic
3 scrounging bandar
4 regal caracal
2 vizier of the menagerie
2 cast out
3 always watching
Land:
24 stuff
Edited for spelling and additional detail
I'm not sold on vizier, but stalling a threat with her ability and sticking around to block it the next turn seems worth testing. Maybe it will stall the turns I need to draw an answer, maybe it's a wasted spot and I'll cut it.
You make a good point for succumb, with only two colors the double black probably won't be a problem. And I have sign in blooded for the win exactly one time in all the time it was in standard lol
I like that oath can make blockers, but I originally had a split between it and trial and if it's too slow I'll swap them. I also thought it would be fun to have one copy of the black cartouche because lifelink and resetting the trial, but it's probably too cute.
I try to minimize my etbt lands but I suspect you are right about a 4ty vents and will add it.
Final reward is my one peace of instant speed, unconditional removal. I could play a singleton murder in its place but I think the exiling will be worth the extra mana. Once again, time and testing will tell.
Thanks for the input, I will definitely be adding succumb and anither vent. And will be keeping a close eye on your other suggestions during testing
it can take counters for an aggressive turn 2 like blisterpod but instead of ramping for t3 it can trade up if it needs to block. Also plays nice with nest later in the game which blisterpod does less well.
So not as good as bp early but I think better after turn 3, which is when you wete wanting something to play the same turn as nest
I wouldn't tap out for a big flier, I'd play it turn 9+ to hold to hold up counter/kill spell. Not in too big a hurry. Though I'm not playing any big end game stuff in my current list. Just Gearhulks and new Gideon cause I agree that he seems like a solid card for control. My list should be near the bottom of page one.
On another note, I want to start testing this bw list. It started out at 46 spells and was thinned down to a 61 card deck. I welcome suggestions because this is a first draft.
3 vzier if determent
2 regal caracal
2 angel of sanctions
planeswalkers:
3 Gideon of the trials
1 sorin grim nemesis
2 Liliana the last hope
enchantments:
3 cast out
3 oath if Liliana
3 painful lesson
1 never
2 fumigate
4 yahenni's expertise
1 sram's expertise
instants:
1 final reward
2 to the slaughter
1 anguished unmaking
2 fatal push
2 grasp of darkness
3 concealed courtyard
3 shambling vent
10 swamp
9 plains