Do you sense that fluster on the horizon? There's a sudden chill in the air and a crackle in the distance. I sense we're about to be swept up in the middle of a perfect storm. What the heck am I talking about? Tiny Leaders™, of course! Welcome back to another installment of Casual Corner, brought to you by the fine folks at Fanatix. Today, as we examine the latest craze in the Magic community, I use the term "casual" in the sense that we're discussing a non-sanctioned format, but make no mistake, Tiny Leaders™ can be very high-octane and lends itself very well to Spikey players, particularly those that like to brew. If you're not yet familiar with Tiny Leaders™, let's take a quick look at the ins and outs of the format, examine some of the interesting deck building implications, and, of course, look at a few decks.
First of all, Tiny Leaders™ is a
EDH/Commander variant, which means that many of the core tenants of EDH are
still present. Namely, you still construct singleton decks that fit within your
commander's color identity. What's different? The most impactful rule is that
all of your cards, including your commander, must have a converted mana cost of
less than 4. Whoa. Did your mind lurch as you envision exactly what that does to your card
choices? This rules especially places a considerable constraint on the players,
but I've found the process of mining the card pool for format gems to be extremely
interesting. Additionally, the deck size is set at 50 (forty-nine plus your
commander) and the life totals begin at 25. As you may have guessed based on
these criteria, the format is meant to be played in a duel (1v1) setting. The
format also has a banned list in place to address cards that are considered
format warping or lead to degenerate deck construction. The format's creator,
Bram Tackaberry, along with other invested colleagues of his, maintain the
official rules and banned list at the Tiny
Leaders™ home page. I'd recommend giving it a visit to check out the FAQ, the Banned List, and
just to stay on top of the latest news.
Alright, maybe you're skeptical.
I mean EDH is great. Really great. EDH allows you to do obscene things to lots
of opponents. I'd never advocate ditching EDH. I would, however, recommend a
little shake up every now and again and I've found the compact and efficient Tiny
Leaders™ scuffles to be the perfect partner to complement the mighty EDH haymaker
brawls. Here, I'd like to take a second to explain why I think Tiny Leaders™ is
so sweet.
Power
Despite the ceiling on the mana
cost, the cards swimming around in the Tiny Leaders™ card pool are packed with
a lot of power. As you might expect, many of the best cards in the format are
Legacy staples. Legacy is known for its highly-efficient cards, with entire
decks composed of one and two mana spells. However, when you mix in the
singleton nature of the format, you're forced to diversify your cards and go
hunting for other options that allow you to maintain your core strategy. While
this facet does increase the variance quite a bit, I think it serves as a
benefit rather than a hindrance, as many of the decks are reminiscent of decks
you might assemble during a Cube draft. Cube is an entirely different topic on
its own, but it's an amazing format that allows you to explore the best of Magic's history. So, when you take some
of the best ingredients from both Legacy and Cube and stir them together in a
cauldron, throw in a pinch of ingenuity, you cook up the spicy dish that is Tiny
Leaders™.
Strategy
Just
as I said above, Tiny Leaders™ sometimes offers a Cube-esque experience, which
is great. If you enjoy the intricacies of Limited Magic, I think you'll immediately latch on to Tiny Leaders™. The
efficiency of the creatures spurs the games into motion quickly with tactical
and strategic decisions having to be made very early. Aggressive, creature-based
strategies are common, but they don't dominate completely. There are some very
potent ones available though, to be sure. Even if you look no further than tribal
decks there are some powerful options just among some of the classic tribes
like Goblins, Merfolk, and Elves. Looking past the tribal options all manner of
powerful aggressive strategies open up when commanders like Lyzolda, the Blood
Witch, Isamaru, Hound of Konda, and Radha, Heir to Keld. Whichever color(s) you
prefer to battle with, there's assuredly a compelling aggressive deck waiting
to be built.
Control decks appear to be quite
viable too, but the brewers have to get creative if they are looking for mass
creature removal. Rather than packing some of the tried and true
"wrath" effects so common in EDH, control players in Tiny Leaders™
lean more heavily on damage-inflicting or -N/-N effects like those from Anger
of the Gods or Drown in Sorrow. Luckily, those effects scale well with the
average toughness of the available creatures, so the tensions among archetypes
still strike a nice balance. To assist the control mage in their exploits, the
spot removal in the format is unparalleled. With access to all of Magic's most efficient targeted
removal, the options are varied and potent. Some of these reactionary spells are
instilled with some extra effectiveness simply by virtue of the format's
guiding criteria. Cards like Smother, Abrupt Decay, and Spell Snare were
already plenty good, but in the arsenal of a Tiny Leader, they can spell
one-for-one doom with unprecedented potency. If control strategies appeal to
you, you'll find several commanders waiting readily for you. Toshiro Umezawa, Vendilion
Clique, Sygg, River Cutthroat, and Geist of Saint Traft are all waiting for you
to brew them up a home.
I'm still pondering what exactly
a mid-range deck looks like in Tiny Leaders™. I imagine it's one that relies
more on early blocking and card advantage to stabilize and get ahead in the
game, but whereas classic mid-range strategies have a powerful closer at the
top of their curve (something akin to Broodmate Dragon or Elspeth, Sun's
Champion), a mid-range deck in this format will have to be inventive in spotting
just the right card(s) to reliably serve as a finisher. My hunch is that the
format provides plenty of space to explore more "grindy" strategies. When
I consider some of these possibilities, my mind immediately considers graveyard
recursion. Traditionally, generating card advantage from the graveyard has been
one of the hallmarks of mid-range decks and I suspect that will hold true in Tiny
Leaders™ as well. With that strategic bent, I can see commanders like Varolz,
the Scar-Striped, Hua Tuo, Honored Physician, or Feldon of the Third Path being
a solid place to start.
Combo decks don't get left out
either. The Tiny Leaders™ Banned List does eliminate some of the most egregious
enablers of combos like Demonic Tutor, Vampiric Tutor, and Hermit Druid, but
there is no doubt room in the format for highly powerful synergies. Thanks to
the variance presented by the singleton nature of the format, combinations deemed
too strong for Modern like Sword of the Meek/Thopter Foundry, Vampire Hexmage/Dark
Depths, and Punishing Fire/Grove of the Burnwillows are all fair game in Tiny
Leader. These are just the tip of the iceberg, I'm sure. There are still some insanely
powerful enablers and tutors available that I'm sure will be sure to assemble
all manner of infinite shenanigans. Ezuri, Renegade Leader, along with some other
Elf pieces, is among the combo commander options that can provide extremely
resilient and redundant options for "comboing off." As the community
begins collectively crunching down the permutations available in Tiny Leaders™,
I really look forward to seeing what comes out of this camp of decks.
One other interesting note about
strategies: this format may serve as one of the most conducive for a mill deck
to thrive. With a little extra padding on the life total and a slightly smaller
library size, the ratios are ripe to rattle the format with this very popular
alternate win condition. With cards like Glimpse the Unthinkable, Mind Grind,
Windfall, and Prosperity legal, there may be a niche in the format for the
strategy to catch some opponent's decks off guard.
Deck Design
Perhaps
my favorite function of Tiny Leaders™ is the way it unlocks cards that didn't
previously have a place to shine. Much like EDH gives seven and eight mana
spells an arena to dominate, Tiny Leaders™ provides the perfect setting for really
cool and powerful cards that get edged out of other four-of Constructed formats
and that aren't splashy enough to contend in EDH. It's been remarkably easy to
construct decks for the format, too. A quick stroll through your binder and
you're bound to find some cards that you've always thought would be awesome to
play with, but just didn't quite serve the right role. Now they do. Grin wide
as you sleeve up that Kor Outfitter, Ambassador Laquatus, Master of the Feast, Ghitu
Slinger , and Scute Mob. They're the first among many of your cards that will
now have a new home. On top of that, you also get to view cards in a new light.
Certain classes of cards get an extra boost in the format, particularly X
spells or cards with mechanics that let you grow the spell's effect to be
larger than a three-mana spell would be. Cards that make use of kicker, or
kicker variants like entwine, overload, and strive, get some extra mileage in Tiny
Leaders™ because they allow you to cheat big effects under the CMC restriction.
Sure, you can't pay 2BB for Damnation, but you can pay 3BBB to have Forced
March do the same job. Finding new tools like this is among what makes
exploring the card pool and the history of Magic
so interesting. Speaking of the history of the game, I'd like to return back to
my storm analogy from the introduction. It really did take a perfect storm for
this format to exist. It required that Magic
thrive for over 20 years, churning out interesting cards and reaching a
critical mass of legendary creatures with CMC less than four. I don't know of
other games with this kind of depth and longevity. I'm not sure there is
another. It took a long time to get to the point where a format like Tiny
Leaders™ can exist, let alone thrive, so I intend to enjoy it.
Decks
Of course, it wouldn't be a Magic post without a few deck lists. I
rounded up a few lists from some of the locals that have already embraced the
format. Hopefully, these will give you a sense of the format's depth and
diversity.
Grenzo, Dungeon Warden
by Jeremy Norsworthy
//Lands
|
//Creatures
|
//Spells
|
//Sideboard
|
1 Akoum Refuge
|
1 Adaptive Automaton
|
1 AEther Vial
|
SB: 1 Aggravated Assault
|
1 Auntie's Hovel
|
1 Frenzied Goblin
|
1 Dragon Fodder
|
SB: 1 Blood Moon
|
1 Blood Crypt
|
1 Frogtosser Banneret
|
1 Dralnu's Crusade
|
SB: 1 Cover of Darkness
|
1 Cavern of Souls
|
1 Goblin Bushwhacker
|
1 Goblin Bombardment
|
SB: 1 Dreadbore
|
1 Dragonskull Summit
|
1 Goblin Chieftain
|
1 Krenko's Command
|
SB: 1 Engineered Plague
|
1 Graven Cairns
|
1 Goblin Deathraiders
|
1 Living End
|
SB: 1 Knucklebone Witch
|
6 Mountain
|
1 Goblin Guide
|
1 Quest for the Goblin Lord
|
SB: 1 Perish
|
1 Mutavault
|
1 Goblin King
|
1 Warren Weirding
|
SB: 1 Rain of Gore
|
3 Swamp
|
1 Goblin Matron
|
SB: 1 Shattering Spree
|
|
1 Tresserhorn Sinks
|
1 Goblin Rabblemaster
|
SB: 1 Spikeshot Elder
|
|
1 Urborg Volcano
|
1 Goblin Ruinblaster
|
||
1 Goblin Sharpshooter
|
|||
1 Goblin Warchief
|
|||
1 Legion Loyalist
|
|||
1 Mad Auntie
|
|||
1 Sensation Gorger
|
|||
1 Skirk Drill Sergeant
|
|||
1 Skirk Prospector
|
|||
1 Squee, Goblin Nabob
|
|||
1 Stingscourger
|
|||
1 Tuktuk the Explorer
|
|||
1 Warren Instigator
|
|||
1 Weirding Shaman
|
I love how
deep Jeremy goes on this deck, really exploring some of the lesser-known black
Goblins that Lorwyn block had to offer and finding some awesomely obscure cards
like Dralnu's Crusade. Plus, Grenzo is just ridiculous as a Tiny Leader,
scaling beyond the CMC cap and providing a rather absurd source of card
advantage with his "dungeon raid" ability.
Skullbriar, the Walking Grave
by David Sirkis
//Lands
|
//Creatures
|
//Spells
|
//Sideboard
|
3 Snow Covered Swamp
|
1 Deathrite Shaman
|
1 Duress
|
SB: 1 Autumn's Veil
|
3 Snow Covered Forest
|
1 Birds of Paradise
|
1 Inquisition of Kozilek
|
SB: 1 Carpet of Flowers
|
1 Bloodstained Mire
|
1 Elves of Deep Shadow
|
1 Thoughtsieze
|
SB: 1 Deglamer
|
1 Polluted Delta
|
1 Diregraf Ghoul
|
1 Rancor
|
SB: 1 Chainer's Edict
|
1 Verdant Catacomb
|
1 Carnophage
|
1 Sylvan Library
|
SB: 1 Krosan Grip
|
1 Treetop Village
|
1 Gravecrawler
|
1 Smallpox
|
SB: 1 Sudden Death
|
1 Mutavault
|
1 Dark Confidant
|
1 Smother
|
SB: 1 Engineered Plague
|
1 Bayou
|
1 Lotleth Troll
|
1 Abrupt Decay
|
SB: 1 Triumph of Ferosity
|
1 Overgrown Tomb
|
1 Bloodghast
|
1 Victim of Night
|
SB: 1 Toxic Deluge
|
1 Cavern of Souls
|
1 Scavenging Ooze
|
1 Hymn to Tourach
|
SB: 1 Pernicious Deed
|
1 Command Tower
|
1 Putrid Leech
|
1 Dark Tutelage
|
|
1 Bojuka Bog
|
1 Reclamation Sage
|
1 Phyrexian Arena
|
|
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
|
1 Varolz, the Scar-Striped
|
1 Maelstrom Pulse
|
|
1 Wasteland
|
1 Terravore
|
1 Sword of Fire and Ice
|
|
1 Eternal Witness
|
1 Putrefy
|
||
1 Courser of Kruphix
|
1 Lilianna of the Veil
|
David's take
on Skullbriar very likely qualifies as mid-range in this format. His list reads
like the Hall of Fame of Black and/or Green cards with so many cards looking to
generate tremendous value either through raw power or recursion. This deck
looks extremely resilient to me and I'm guessing it has pretty good game in
most matchups.
Brimaz, King of Oreskos
by Garret Darley
//Lands
|
//Creatures
|
//Spells
|
1 Windbrisk Heights
|
1 Mirran Crusader
|
1 Brave the Elements
|
1 Ghost Quarter
|
1 Kor Sanctifiers
|
1 Mobilization
|
1 Eiganjo Castle
|
1 Elite Vanguard
|
1 Spear of Heliod
|
1 Kjeldoran Outpost
|
1 Precinct Captain
|
1 Path to Exile
|
1 Secluded Steppe
|
1 War Priest of Thune
|
1 Mana Tithe
|
1 Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
|
1 Banisher Priest
|
1 Ajani, Caller of the Pride
|
13 Plains
|
1 Soldier of the Pantheon
|
1 Glorious Anthem
|
1 Boros Elite
|
1 Swords to Plowshares
|
|
1 Containment Priest
|
1 Midnight Haunting
|
|
1 Knight of the White Orchid
|
1 Crusade
|
|
1 Flickerwisp
|
1 Sunlance
|
|
1 Spirit of the Labyrinth
|
1 Honor of the Pure
|
|
1 Mikaeus, the Lunarch
|
||
1 Champion of the Parish
|
||
1 Kor Skyfisher
|
||
1 Samurai of the Pale Curtain
|
||
1 Silverblade Paladin
|
||
1 Imposing Sovereign
|
Garrett is
jamming a really powerful looking White Weenie build. These decks are sure to
shine, as White for decades has dominated Constructed Magic with efficient and/or disruptive threats. I like his
commitment to the "anthem plan" here, too. By packing all four of the
best white anthem effects (granting +1/+1 to your creatures), this deck is
assuring that the tokens produced by Brimaz are a legitimate threat. This deck
came to tussle.
Feldon of the Third Path
by Eric Peel
//Lands
|
//Creatures
|
//Spells
|
1 Darksteel Citadel
|
1 Etched Champion
|
1 Ichor Wellspring
|
1 Great Furnace
|
1 Epochrasite
|
1 Mycosynth Wellspring
|
1 Forgotten Cave
|
1 Arcbound Worker
|
1 Galvanic Blast
|
1 Smoldering Crater
|
1 Arcbound Ravager
|
1 Shrapnel Blast
|
10 Mountain
|
1 Arcbound Slith
|
1 Mox Opal
|
1 Phyrexia's Core
|
1 Arcbound Stinger
|
1 Hammer of Purphoros
|
1 Blinkmoth Nexus
|
1 Burnished Hart
|
1 Whipflare
|
1 Inkmoth Nexus
|
1 Signal Pest
|
1 Chaos Warp
|
1 Stingscourger
|
1 Starstorm
|
|
1 Ghitu Slinger
|
1 Mind Stone
|
|
1 Steel Overseer
|
1 Swiftfoot Boots
|
|
1 Ornithopter
|
1 Lightning Bolt
|
|
1 Vexing Devil
|
1 Kuldotha Rebirth
|
|
1 Goblin Welder
|
1 Chimeric Mass
|
|
1 Myr Retriever
|
1 Burst Lightning
|
|
1 Perilous Myr
|
1 Harness by Force
|
This is a
fun list that I've been experimenting with. It utilizes many of the popular elements
from many Affinity (aka Robots) lists that have made their way in and out of
Modern and Legacy. In a stalemate, the backup plan for the deck is to use
Feldon in conjunction with creatures like Vexing Devil, Ghitu Slinger, Stingscourger,
and Burnished Hart to generate some edges on the opponent and eventually
"out value" them.
It's about time to wrap up these
ramblings. In short, try Tiny Leaders™....it's really sweet. My hunch is that
it will prove to be a long-lasting format with lots of room for exploration and
will provide a stage for all of the psychographics to play on.
Thanks for
reading. I'll see you on the battlefield!
No comments:
Post a Comment