As pointed out in my multiplayer version, Tariel combines the decks that I considered iconic while I was playing as a young mage. When I first started to play this game, I was always attracted to land destruction, and quickly developed a nether void, contamination deck, a deck that would actually fair well in vintage until after the fall of the superman decks and development of stuffing every mox into a deck. Besides that, I also was a great fan of Kai Budde's wildfire artifact deck, and of black/white draw decks (where I would play solitary confinement and moats). And lastly, my enjoyment of stax/prison decks in general.
This deck is the latest incarnation of my favourite play-style, attempting to create a stax deck with a general who can abuse all the sweepers, hate out creatures in graveyards, create targets to be sac'd, and protect my planeswalkers.
The reason behind adding white and not sticking with just a b/r LD strategy is because 1) Bitterblossom is banned, and you need tokens, 2) tabernacle is banned and now you have it on a dude, 3) allows you access to many key stax cards, and other strong control cards, 4) Sun titan plays very well with this deck.
This deck is meant for players who want to lock the game down, and enjoy playing land destruction.
Some main considerations I had while making this deck:
Keep as many cards' mana costs below three, to compete with aggro and abuse sun titan
Functionally follow similar deck construction percentages as Kai Budde's Wildfire deck. Such as 33.3% lands, 20% mana rocks
Make sure that I can survive my own LD/STAX, be it through artifacts or tokens
Have ways to deal with weenie aggro early on, such as moat, and have methods to handle fatties and fliers, such as ensnaring bridge
Attempt to keep my Solitary confinement strategy viable while also allowing enough room for LD.
First off, you are most likely asking, why so many? While many LD decks will emphasize more lands, I find the utilization of artifact mana in mass quantities to really benifit the deck, and allows our double lands to really shine. Following the pattern set out by Budde in his wildfire deck, we really want our deck to have around 20% artifact mana. Currently, this deck fluctuates around that percentage.
No chrome mox? I find that while Diamonds are worthwhile, losing a playable card is often to rough to justify this card.
Lastly, I lean my artifact mana base a bit on the white side because I want to make sure I can cast my key white lock pieces, sun titan, and LD spells.
Chalice of the Void This card allows you to shut down turn one plays. Works quite nicely in a hand with a double mana producing land, or mox.
Winter Orb We're playing stax, remember? Helps either lock down a deck late that just tapped out, or disrupt early combos.
Sphere of Resistance Helps shut down those combos, and a great early card to help against aggro
Impending Disaster IMO this card is not played enough. It is also made much better by adding in white, because we can now use sun titan to recur land destruction.
Trinisphere Helps put the lock down on low casting spells.
Enlightened Tutor Our lock pieces are all enchantments and artifacts, so its only natural that we want to search for them. While this is card disadvantage, it does allow us to set up powerful turns.
Expedition Map With all non-basic lands, this card has a lot of power.
Ivory Tower In order to survive while locking down the game and paying life for cards, we need this card.
Skullclamp Plays very well with the rest of the deck, excellent card.
Dark Confidant Can be very risky, but thankfully we can sac him if need be!
Temporal Aperture A hangover card from the Wildfire deck. Absolutely fun to play. Easily replaced, however. Great usage of extra mana though. Would be stronger with a scroll rack or divining top, just need to find room.
Solitary Confinement Fantastic lock down card, great with the amount of draw we have.
Defense Grid Another card for the counterspell matchups, or other instant shenanigans.
Contagion Clasp A fantastic card in two ways. 1) It kills a mana dork, don't underestimate this early! 2) It proliferates our planeswalkers and tangle wire, most excellent!
Sword of Feast and Famine Helps us under our own lock, and against the prevalence of green in commander.
Nevermore A very strong card against commander combo decks, and decks that are all in on their commander (edric, animar, etc). Also protects against a blowout card you assume they have access to (if you know the deck your playing/meta, otherwise, just get the commander).
Sun Titan INFINITE VALUE CARD... no, seriously, look at all the 3 mana or less permanents. I want to run seven of these.
First why only 34? We really do not need much more than 35% lands in this deck, as our mana rocks heavily skew our ability to survive our own LD. No need to flood on lands. When we run as close to 20% mana rocks, we really only need to dedicate 33% of the deck, in theory, to land.
Because of our reliance on mana rocks, we end up having to cut out some cards we would really like to play with. Here are some of the cards I would like to play with but just didn't make the cut:
Scroll Rack/Top - Both great cards, one is frowned upon. Just not as strong as pure draw we have access to.
Moon effects - We run way to many nonbasics, and three colours. Could end up hurting ourselves more!
Sorin Markov - Close to getting in, but new Sorin stole the day. Might drop ivory tower for him, but not sure if the extra mana cost is worth it.
Death Cloud - Runs against our objective of keeping solitary confinement in play, although could easily be put back in, as removal and hand destruction might be worth it.
Masticore - Would be handy to have a machine gun! With the card draw I think this is possible, but would be hard to do if I also have a solitary confinement out. If I added him, I think the deck would demand a Squee, Goblin Nabob.
1-2 mana removal spells - this is perhaps the largest glaring omission, and something I feel I should fix with a swords and a smallpox. Another choice would be Peacekeeper, who is quite handy for the aggro matchups, and can be tutored with imperial. As you can see, I have a bias towards permanents, because of sun titan.
Please suggest cards you feel that I am missing! I only own the paper version of this deck, so my testing is limited, one day I will get this running online!
Thank you for reading! Again, this is the FBL of my multiplayer deck, and I actually find it more fun to play without the sol rings, even in multiplayer games against people who do =).
As pointed out in my multiplayer version, Tariel combines the decks that I considered iconic while I was playing as a young mage. When I first started to play this game, I was always attracted to land destruction, and quickly developed a nether void, contamination deck, a deck that would actually fair well in vintage until after the fall of the superman decks and development of stuffing every mox into a deck. Besides that, I also was a great fan of Kai Budde's wildfire artifact deck, and of black/white draw decks (where I would play solitary confinement and moats). And lastly, my enjoyment of stax/prison decks in general.
This deck is the latest incarnation of my favourite play-style, attempting to create a stax deck with a general who can abuse all the sweepers, hate out creatures in graveyards, create targets to be sac'd, and protect my planeswalkers.
The reason behind adding white and not sticking with just a b/r LD strategy is because 1) Bitterblossom is banned, and you need tokens, 2) tabernacle is banned and now you have it on a dude, 3) allows you access to many key stax cards, and other strong control cards, 4) Sun titan plays very well with this deck.
This deck is meant for players who want to lock the game down, and enjoy playing land destruction.
Some main considerations I had while making this deck:
French Ban list!
1 Tariel, Reckoner of Souls
//Mana rocks (19):
1 Mox opal
1 Mox Diamond
1 Voltaic Key
1 Coldsteel heart
1 Fire Diamond
1 Charcoal Diamond
1 marble Diamond
1 Grim Monolith
1 Talisman of Indulgence
1 Boros Signet
1 Orzhov Signet
1 Rakdos Signet
1 Darksteel Ingot
1 Worn Powerstone
1 Coalition Relic
1 Tooth of Ramos
1 Thran Dynamo
1 Khalni Gem
1 Gilded Lotus
//Land Destruction and Disruption: 15
1 Chalice of the Void
1 Winter Orb
1 Sphere of Resistance
1 Impending Disaster
1 Trinisphere
1 Contamination
1 Armageddon
1 Ravages of War
1 Nether Void
1 Wildfire
1 Burning of xinye
1 Catastrophe
1 Destructive Force
1 Devastation
1 Desolation Angel
1 Reassembling Skeleton
1 Luminarch Ascension
1 Elspeth, Knight-Errant
1 Smokestack
1 Braids, Cabal Minion
1 Sorin, Lord of Innistrad
1 Elspeth Tirel
//Card Draw and Tutor: 11
1 Enlightened Tutor
1 Expedition Map
1 Ivory Tower
1 Skullclamp
1 Temporal Aperture
1 Dark Confidant
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Imperial Recruiter
1 Solitary Confinement
1 Phyrexian Arena
1 Bloodgift Demon
//Removal and other Utility: 11
1 Defense Grid
1 Contagion Clasp
1 Sword of Feast and Famine
1 Nevermore
1 Liliana of the Veil
1 Ghostly Prison
1 Tangle Wire
1 Forcefield
1 Ensnaring Bridge
1 Moat
1 Magus of the tabernacle
1 Sun Titan
//Lands: 34
1 City of Brass
1 Grand Coliseum
1 Rupture Spire
1 Command Tower
1 Glimmervoid
1 Gemstone Mine
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
1 Flagstones of Trokair
1 Badlands
1 Scrubland
1 Arid Mesa
1 Marsh Flats
1 Bloodstained Mire
1 Blood Crypt
1 Godless Shrine
1 Sacred Foundry
1 Ancient Den
1 Great Furnace
1 Vault of Whispers
1 Darksteel Citadel
1 Boseiju, Who Shelters All
1 Dust Bowl
1 Rishadan Port
1 Wasteland
1 Phyrexian Tower
1 Ancient Tomb
1 City of Traitors
1 Kher Keep
1 Kor Haven
1 Mikokoro, Center of the Sea
1 Volrath's Stronghold
1 Reliquary Tower
1 Buried Ruin
First off, you are most likely asking, why so many? While many LD decks will emphasize more lands, I find the utilization of artifact mana in mass quantities to really benifit the deck, and allows our double lands to really shine. Following the pattern set out by Budde in his wildfire deck, we really want our deck to have around 20% artifact mana. Currently, this deck fluctuates around that percentage.
No chrome mox? I find that while Diamonds are worthwhile, losing a playable card is often to rough to justify this card.
Lastly, I lean my artifact mana base a bit on the white side because I want to make sure I can cast my key white lock pieces, sun titan, and LD spells.
Chalice of the Void This card allows you to shut down turn one plays. Works quite nicely in a hand with a double mana producing land, or mox.
Winter Orb We're playing stax, remember? Helps either lock down a deck late that just tapped out, or disrupt early combos.
Sphere of Resistance Helps shut down those combos, and a great early card to help against aggro
Impending Disaster IMO this card is not played enough. It is also made much better by adding in white, because we can now use sun titan to recur land destruction.
Trinisphere Helps put the lock down on low casting spells.
Contamination If your not playing black, good luck.
Armageddon 4 mana land decon, exactly what we want to do!
Ravages of War Functional reprint of the card above
Nether Void One of the strongest cards in the deck. You want to get this out before your opponent gets ahead, or right after mass LD.
Wildfire Land destruction and creature removal, not much more you could want!
Burning of xinye Functional reprint of Wildfire
Catastrophe Great utility, and its what you need when you need it.
Destructive Force YAW - yet another wildfire
Devastation An entwined catastrophe...
Desolation Angel Armageddon that we can volrath's back.
Reassembling Skeleton Quite a versatile card that fuels our many sac demanding spells.
Luminarch Ascension Great wincon, spews out cheap tokens, serious threat generator, and can slip it out under our void pieces.
Elspeth, Knight-Errant In a bitterblossomless world, we need to get creative. So we add white and profit from great token generating planeswalkers!
Smokestack This is STAX, fyi.
Braids, Cabal Minion STAX # dos.
Sorin, Lord of Innistrad More tokens + vindicate!
Elspeth Tirel Tokens!!! lots of them! Great value.
Enlightened Tutor Our lock pieces are all enchantments and artifacts, so its only natural that we want to search for them. While this is card disadvantage, it does allow us to set up powerful turns.
Expedition Map With all non-basic lands, this card has a lot of power.
Ivory Tower In order to survive while locking down the game and paying life for cards, we need this card.
Skullclamp Plays very well with the rest of the deck, excellent card.
Dark Confidant Can be very risky, but thankfully we can sac him if need be!
Demonic Tutor obv.
Imperial Recruiter Go get braids, pass turn.
Temporal Aperture A hangover card from the Wildfire deck. Absolutely fun to play. Easily replaced, however. Great usage of extra mana though. Would be stronger with a scroll rack or divining top, just need to find room.
Solitary Confinement Fantastic lock down card, great with the amount of draw we have.
Phyrexian Arena A worse necropotence
Bloodgift Demon Arena # dos
Defense Grid Another card for the counterspell matchups, or other instant shenanigans.
Contagion Clasp A fantastic card in two ways. 1) It kills a mana dork, don't underestimate this early! 2) It proliferates our planeswalkers and tangle wire, most excellent!
Sword of Feast and Famine Helps us under our own lock, and against the prevalence of green in commander.
Nevermore A very strong card against commander combo decks, and decks that are all in on their commander (edric, animar, etc). Also protects against a blowout card you assume they have access to (if you know the deck your playing/meta, otherwise, just get the commander).
Liliana of the Veil Removal that we can get back via Sun titan.
Ghostly Prison Make the beating stop... PLZ!
Tangle Wire Great lockdown card. Helps against every matchup.
Forcefield Excellent card against big dudes.dec
Ensnaring Bridge Another card that is great against big dudes.dec
Moat Stronk card is stronk
Magus of the tabernacle Poor man's tabernacle, also, the only one we get in FBL
Sun Titan INFINITE VALUE CARD... no, seriously, look at all the 3 mana or less permanents. I want to run seven of these.
First why only 34? We really do not need much more than 35% lands in this deck, as our mana rocks heavily skew our ability to survive our own LD. No need to flood on lands. When we run as close to 20% mana rocks, we really only need to dedicate 33% of the deck, in theory, to land.
Artifact Lands - To power out our mox opal
Flagstones of Trokair A land that replaces itself, excellent!
Boseiju, Who Shelters All Uncounterable LD
Phyrexian Tower With plenty of sac outlets, this can help us ramp or play under the lock pieces.
Ancient Tomb, City of Traitors, Mishra's Workshop - We need our ramp!
Kher Keep Tokens!
Kor Haven Maze of Ith that makes mana
Mikokoro, Center of the Sea Feeds solitary confinement
Volrath's Stronghold Our creatures are value cards, and we want to be able to squeeze more value out of them.
Buried Ruin Poor man's academy ruins.
Because of our reliance on mana rocks, we end up having to cut out some cards we would really like to play with. Here are some of the cards I would like to play with but just didn't make the cut:
Scroll Rack/Top - Both great cards, one is frowned upon. Just not as strong as pure draw we have access to.
Moon effects - We run way to many nonbasics, and three colours. Could end up hurting ourselves more!
Sorin Markov - Close to getting in, but new Sorin stole the day. Might drop ivory tower for him, but not sure if the extra mana cost is worth it.
Death Cloud - Runs against our objective of keeping solitary confinement in play, although could easily be put back in, as removal and hand destruction might be worth it.
karn, Silver Golem - I want this dude in this deck.
Masticore - Would be handy to have a machine gun! With the card draw I think this is possible, but would be hard to do if I also have a solitary confinement out. If I added him, I think the deck would demand a Squee, Goblin Nabob.
1-2 mana removal spells - this is perhaps the largest glaring omission, and something I feel I should fix with a swords and a smallpox. Another choice would be Peacekeeper, who is quite handy for the aggro matchups, and can be tutored with imperial. As you can see, I have a bias towards permanents, because of sun titan.
Other cards that could be good - elesh norn, grand cenobite, linvala, keeper of silence, michiko konda, truth seeker, academy rector, Kismet, the elephant kismet.
Please suggest cards you feel that I am missing! I only own the paper version of this deck, so my testing is limited, one day I will get this running online!
Thank you for reading! Again, this is the FBL of my multiplayer deck, and I actually find it more fun to play without the sol rings, even in multiplayer games against people who do =).
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