Don't be afraid to trim down your artifacts and enchantments to just one or two copies. The tutors are there to virtually become copies 2 to 6. And just in case you missed it, Bow of Nylea and Enlightened Tutor will replenish your deck over and over again. Asceticism got disenchanted? Bring it back on the bottom of your library, tutor it again, then shuffle to ensure that the other cards you just returned never gets stuck under your deck. Unless you get hit by Extirpate effects, you'll be tutoring a lot during games.
Use this as reference:
4 Tutors
1 Asceticism
2-3 O-rings
1-2 Bows of Nylea (1 if you're not expecting artifact and enchantment hate at all)
This already gives you at least 3 extra slots in your deck, enough room for other handy stuff like Sylvan Library/Mirri's Guile and whatnot.
As for the mana base, Brushland is a cheap GW land that doesn't come in tapped. Birds of Paradise shouldn't be that pricey as well.
I think you need to work on your mana base. A few mana dorks and GW lands will definitely make casting those Oozes, Archetypes, Spikes, etc. much easier and much faster.
I also think the Prisons are unnecessary and overkill, a removal suite of 4 Vipers and 4 O-rings should be enough to keep early threats and other troublesome stuff at bay while you try to establish board control. Another route you could take, which is a bit costly and might be too OP'ed in some casual playgroups, is to run 4 Enlightened Tutors and a toolbox consisting of select artifacts and enchantments. Doing this gives you more flexibility, more slots, and less of the stuff that are bad in multiples (e.g. Bow of Nylea).
There's plenty of cheap and efficient ways to deal with it, you can never really go wrong with many of the suggestions above.
If you're looking for something lulzy and unconventional, just put that pesky Obliterator up for Illicit Auction and see if it finds a new and "more responsible" owner.
LOL, reminds me of a friend who quit magic around 4 years ago and built at least 15 "tribal" decks in his entire career. His choice of tribes were always unconventional and just plain silly in a good way, and it was always a blast playing with or against them. Laughter always ensues in our playgroup everytime we talk about this guy and his deckbuilding ideas.
Some of his decks that I could remember off the top of my head: (it should be noted that many of these decks were created a long time ago when creature typing was relatively vague and during the pre-Onslaught era where the tribal theme itself wasn't even as remotely popular and viable as it is now)
Horses - Not exactly sure of the deck's exact color/s, but it had green horses like Tarpan and Zodiac Horse coupled with artifact creatures that look like horses. Also had a few Unicorns in there but no Pegasi, and had horse-themed stuff like Jandor's Saddlebags.
Ships/Boats - Not really a tribal deck per se nowadays since the typing of the "Summon Ships" of old has already been updated to something else. This deck even had Dandan because sometimes the boats in the card's artwork was more obvious than the actual creature which was in fact a fish.
Building it shouldn't be too difficult and expensive even with all the rares listed. I run the same list for nostalgia's sake, copied from an issue of Inquest listing the top ten decks of all time (the list was made in '97 so take it with a grain of salt). 4 Strip Mines might seem overkill for casual but the deck's power level is quite low by today's standards, and Strip Mine basically evens the playing field a bit when playing against the decks of this era. People in my playgroup don't mind the Strips at all, but this is just personal experience, so adjust accordingly.
1. Black Lotus - Known for its power and hefty price tag. A lot of people who aren't even into Magic are aware of its existence.
2. Juzam Djinn - The game's poster boy for roughly a decade or so.
3. Necropotence - The significance of Black Summer in Magic's history rivals that of the Black Death in world history. Much like rats and the Black Death, Necropotence and the Black Summer are synonymous to each other.
4. Lightning Bolt - Easily one of the game's most popular cards, and the meter stick of spot removal. There are only 2 kinds of creatures in Magic: those that die from it and those that don't.
5. The rest of the Power 9 - One of the first bits of knowledge you learn in the game is the existence of an elite group of cards known as the 'Power 9.' Admit it, you knew about the Power 9 before you even knew how to properly use the stack.
6. The Original Duals - Barring 8 of the Power 9, few cards can rival these in terms of desirability. Doesn't matter if you play in eternal formats or not, if you play Magic, chances are you want to get your hands on at least one.
7. Counterspell/Force of Will - Synonymous to blue, these cards made a lot of strategies possible and impossible.
9. Serra Angel/Shivan Dragon - There was a time when a lot of people actually wanted these more than any of the Power 9.
10. Sol Ring - Widely considered as the 10th Power, 9th (replacing Timetwister) if it wasn't printed as an uncommon. A staple in every format it is legal in.
11. Hurloon Minotaur/Jester's Cap - Similar (but to a lesser extent) to Juzam, these cards were pretty much the poster boys of the game for YEARS.
12. Channel/Fireball - Doesn't matter if you weren't even playing way back in '94, if you think of combo in general these two are one of the first, if not the first things to come to mind.
13. Millstone - An entire strategy is named after it. If you're still using the term "Library Burn," chances are you've been living under a rock for the past 20 years.
14. Skullclamp - One of the most broken cards printed in recent memory. Kinda like Necropotence, it reminds us of a significant time in the game's history.
Assuming you have a few extra Forces and blue fetchlands to spare, High Tide is a viable option. You can pretty much brew up a fairly competent list with only Cunning Wish to worry about. Sure the deck runs the format's most commonly played cantrips (Brainstorm, Ponder, Preordain), but acquiring extra copies of each should be a walk in the park.
And then there's Death-Mask Duplicant which can end up having every single one of these abilities imprinted on it: (i dare you pull it off at least once in your lifetime)
Maybe start by cutting down on your discarders. I know it's a big part of your game plan but trust me, you don't need to dedicate a third of your deck on discard effects alone. 12 should be enough, 8 of which are straight-up discard spells such as Hymn and Duress, with the rest being multi-functional like Death Cloud and Lily of the Veil if budget isn't so much of an issue.
Secondly, there are plenty of beaters out there that puts Wicked Akuba and Stronghold Overseer to shame--a lot of them priced under a dollar or two. There's Nantuko Shade if you're looking for a pure hitter, then there are the likes of Massacre Wurm, Bloodgift Demon and Lord of the Void which are all big guys with nasty abilities.
You need something to keep your hand loaded with threats and answers. You're playing black, the second best color when it comes to drawing cards, you have a lot to choose from. You also have access to tutors. If your playgroup doesn't mind playing with and against powerful cards like Demonic Tutor and Vampiric Tutor, and if they're well within you're budget, run them.
Hi guys, this is my current list which swept the last 2 paper pauper tourneys (both 4-rounders with at 12 least people in attendance) held at our LGS. Sideboard may have changed tho, since I do remember running a few copies of Beckon Apparition somewhere in there. I met MBC (2-0), Boros (2-0), Infect (2-1), and Sligh (2-0) during my last run with it.
It's just a fairly straightforward gain-life-while-beating-face deck a-la Soul Sisters. I never went for the full sister package (despite being a fan of Suture Priest) since Skyfisher can do their job just as well and having all 12 of them takes up so much space.
I don't think you even need a full set of Path to Exile with this kind of deck, your walls should be able to do well in holding off attackers. It might be better for you to have 4 O-Rings and 2 Paths (or none at all if you're not even expecting a lot of problematic utility creatures) instead.
Enlightened Tutor
And yeah, you're welcome.
Use this as reference:
4 Tutors
1 Asceticism
2-3 O-rings
1-2 Bows of Nylea (1 if you're not expecting artifact and enchantment hate at all)
This already gives you at least 3 extra slots in your deck, enough room for other handy stuff like Sylvan Library/Mirri's Guile and whatnot.
As for the mana base, Brushland is a cheap GW land that doesn't come in tapped. Birds of Paradise shouldn't be that pricey as well.
I also think the Prisons are unnecessary and overkill, a removal suite of 4 Vipers and 4 O-rings should be enough to keep early threats and other troublesome stuff at bay while you try to establish board control. Another route you could take, which is a bit costly and might be too OP'ed in some casual playgroups, is to run 4 Enlightened Tutors and a toolbox consisting of select artifacts and enchantments. Doing this gives you more flexibility, more slots, and less of the stuff that are bad in multiples (e.g. Bow of Nylea).
If you're looking for something lulzy and unconventional, just put that pesky Obliterator up for Illicit Auction and see if it finds a new and "more responsible" owner.
Some of his decks that I could remember off the top of my head: (it should be noted that many of these decks were created a long time ago when creature typing was relatively vague and during the pre-Onslaught era where the tribal theme itself wasn't even as remotely popular and viable as it is now)
Cockroaches - "Cockroach" isn't exactly a creature type, this is basically an "insect" deck with a cockroach theme. A BG deck centered around Giant Cockroach, Endless Cockroaches, Brood of Cockroaches and Rancor.
Horses - Not exactly sure of the deck's exact color/s, but it had green horses like Tarpan and Zodiac Horse coupled with artifact creatures that look like horses. Also had a few Unicorns in there but no Pegasi, and had horse-themed stuff like Jandor's Saddlebags.
Ships/Boats - Not really a tribal deck per se nowadays since the typing of the "Summon Ships" of old has already been updated to something else. This deck even had Dandan because sometimes the boats in the card's artwork was more obvious than the actual creature which was in fact a fish.
EDIT: My bad, it's an uncommon, assumed it was otherwise.
Move on.
4x Howling Mine
3x Stormbind
4x Ernham Djinn
4x Tinder Wall
2x Fireball
4x Incinerate
2x Jokulhaups
4x Lightning Bolt
2x Orcish Lumberjack
2x Orgg
1x Shatter
4x Karplusan Forest
8x Mountain
4x Strip Mine
Building it shouldn't be too difficult and expensive even with all the rares listed. I run the same list for nostalgia's sake, copied from an issue of Inquest listing the top ten decks of all time (the list was made in '97 so take it with a grain of salt). 4 Strip Mines might seem overkill for casual but the deck's power level is quite low by today's standards, and Strip Mine basically evens the playing field a bit when playing against the decks of this era. People in my playgroup don't mind the Strips at all, but this is just personal experience, so adjust accordingly.
2. Juzam Djinn - The game's poster boy for roughly a decade or so.
3. Necropotence - The significance of Black Summer in Magic's history rivals that of the Black Death in world history. Much like rats and the Black Death, Necropotence and the Black Summer are synonymous to each other.
4. Lightning Bolt - Easily one of the game's most popular cards, and the meter stick of spot removal. There are only 2 kinds of creatures in Magic: those that die from it and those that don't.
5. The rest of the Power 9 - One of the first bits of knowledge you learn in the game is the existence of an elite group of cards known as the 'Power 9.' Admit it, you knew about the Power 9 before you even knew how to properly use the stack.
6. The Original Duals - Barring 8 of the Power 9, few cards can rival these in terms of desirability. Doesn't matter if you play in eternal formats or not, if you play Magic, chances are you want to get your hands on at least one.
7. Counterspell/Force of Will - Synonymous to blue, these cards made a lot of strategies possible and impossible.
8. Jace, The Mind Sculptor - The poster boy of the modern era.
9. Serra Angel/Shivan Dragon - There was a time when a lot of people actually wanted these more than any of the Power 9.
10. Sol Ring - Widely considered as the 10th Power, 9th (replacing Timetwister) if it wasn't printed as an uncommon. A staple in every format it is legal in.
11. Hurloon Minotaur/Jester's Cap - Similar (but to a lesser extent) to Juzam, these cards were pretty much the poster boys of the game for YEARS.
12. Channel/Fireball - Doesn't matter if you weren't even playing way back in '94, if you think of combo in general these two are one of the first, if not the first things to come to mind.
13. Millstone - An entire strategy is named after it. If you're still using the term "Library Burn," chances are you've been living under a rock for the past 20 years.
14. Skullclamp - One of the most broken cards printed in recent memory. Kinda like Necropotence, it reminds us of a significant time in the game's history.
15. Tolarian Academy - See Necropotence and Skullclamp.
16. Winter Orb/Stasis - Synonymous to control and prison-based strategies.
17. Tarmogoyf/Masticore/Morphling/Psychatog/Hypnotic Specter/Jackal Pup/Stoneforge Mystic/Dark Confidant/Deathrite Shaman/Snapcaster Mage - The best creatures (in terms of overall playability) of their respective eras.
18. Demonic Tutor/Unholy Strength (original art) - No mom, we're playing a game made by some guy named Richard Garfield, not Charles Manson.
19. Wrath of God - One of the finest examples of card design. Powerful yet simple, and comes with amazing artworks to boot.
20. Zendikar/Onslaught fetchlands - Mainstays in every format they're legal in, these cards basically raised the bar of deckbuilding.
The same can be said for Solidarity.
Timmies love Titanic Ultimatum.
Baneslayer Angel and Hellkite Overlord are also loaded with a bunch of abilities. Urza's Science Fair Project deserves to be mentioned as well.
And then there's Death-Mask Duplicant which can end up having every single one of these abilities imprinted on it: (i dare you pull it off at least once in your lifetime)
Flying
Fear
First Strike
Double Strike
Haste
Trample
Islandwalk
Plainswalk
Forestwalk
Mountainwalk
Swampwalk
Legendary Landwalk
Snow Forestwalk
Snow Swampwalk
Snow Plainswalk
Snow Landwalk
Nonbasic Landwalk
Pro-Black
Pro-Red
Pro-Green
Pro-Blue
Pro-White
Pro-Demons
Pro-Angels
Pro-Creatures
Pro-Monocolored
Pro-Multicolored
Pro-Lands
Pro-Snow
Pro-CMC 3 or greater
Pro-Spirits
Pro-Arcane
Pro-Wordy
Pro-Legendary creatures
Pro-Kavu
Pro-Colored spells
Akroma and Sphinx of the Steel Wind can't help but be jealous.
Secondly, there are plenty of beaters out there that puts Wicked Akuba and Stronghold Overseer to shame--a lot of them priced under a dollar or two. There's Nantuko Shade if you're looking for a pure hitter, then there are the likes of Massacre Wurm, Bloodgift Demon and Lord of the Void which are all big guys with nasty abilities.
You need something to keep your hand loaded with threats and answers. You're playing black, the second best color when it comes to drawing cards, you have a lot to choose from. You also have access to tutors. If your playgroup doesn't mind playing with and against powerful cards like Demonic Tutor and Vampiric Tutor, and if they're well within you're budget, run them.
I don't know how much money you're willing to spend, but Cabal Coffers and Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth might suit your fancy.
4 soul warden
4 cathedral sanctifier
4 doomed traveler
4 lone missionary
4 squadron hawk
4 kor skyfisher
3 leonin skyhunter
3 loyal cathar
2 temporal isolation
2 journey to nowhere
2 oblivion ring
4 bonesplitter
Land:
20 plains
3 dawn charm
3 sunlance
3 dust to dust
1 oblivion ring
2 kami of ancient law
3 mana tithe
Hi guys, this is my current list which swept the last 2 paper pauper tourneys (both 4-rounders with at 12 least people in attendance) held at our LGS. Sideboard may have changed tho, since I do remember running a few copies of Beckon Apparition somewhere in there. I met MBC (2-0), Boros (2-0), Infect (2-1), and Sligh (2-0) during my last run with it.
It's just a fairly straightforward gain-life-while-beating-face deck a-la Soul Sisters. I never went for the full sister package (despite being a fan of Suture Priest) since Skyfisher can do their job just as well and having all 12 of them takes up so much space.