Thinking about cutting some of the Instants and Sorceries above since they're usually the first things I board out after Game 1. Considering main-decking Beast Within since I find myself boarding it in a lot. It destroys everything and a 3/3 is usually no match for the creatures we can put out. I'm just playing 2 Assault Formations because I think its good but I don't want the deck reliant on having it out in order to win games. Wondering if I should run more Blossoming Defense type of spells to blank removal or more evasion spells like Canopy Cover to get through chump blockers.
So I've tried brewing with this a lot and haven't gotten it to be competitive yet.
The strongest brew was an all-in Doran build with heavy removal and 4 tower defense for an overrun finish. Here are some of my notes:
The most successful shell was to run loads of t1 ramp / tutor: 4 birds of paradise, 4 treefolk harbinger, 4 noble hierarch. The 8 mana dorks are great for getting a 3-drop down on t2 or eating some early removal. The harbinger can help fix your mana or just be Doran 5-8.
Bosk was largely unimpressive. He comes down on t2, but on t2 you want to be playing a 3-drop like Doran or lingering souls. He only has 3 toughness, which isn't that great considering something like mono-G stompy is throwing out 3/3s for 2 or better, plus he does to bolt, etc...
The only 2-drop creature I ran was Spellskite. It's pretty obvious why he's awesome in a deck running Doran.
Dungrove looks great on paper, but unless you're ramping via Search for Tomorrow, Sakura-Tribe Elder, and Explore (which if you are, you should probably just be playing titan-shift), he's not all that great. He's often just a 3/3 or 4/4 still on t6 or so ... not where this deck wants to be.
For a 5 drop (even on t4) timber protector isn't terribly impressive. I think he does justify including 1-2 copies since he might add more than his 6 toughness, which is fine, but unless you have a Doran out, he's not amazing. At least he doesn't die to push.
To not auto-lose to combo you need 4-8 Duress and/or Thoughtseize in the 75. You need some solid removal too, so Fatal Push, Path to Exile, Dismember, Nameless Inversion, abrupt decay, etc... should probably be between 6-8 copies in the 75 ... and to make things more complicated, you should be running at least 4 grave-hate cards too in the 75.
I kinda mentioned it earlier, but Lingering Souls was a nice addition due to it being blockers to keep life high and also evasive creatures for getting the 5 toughness from tower defense when it was time to overrun with Doran.
Vines of Vastwood is a worthwhile inclusion, but I probably wouldn't bother with much more protection than that.
Assault Formation is pretty bad. You want to be developing your board every turn ... if it drew a card like spreading seas or something then it might be playable, but it's basically a trap.
For the deck to support all this stuff, you need a pretty solid abzan manabase. I'd run at least 8 forest fetches with a couple of each tomb / temple, a playset of Murmuring Bosk, and the rest basics.
The biggest problem with the deck is when you run against combo decks that don't care about your creatures like storm, ad nauseum, tron so you need your sideboard to have a plan against those decks.
New cards that may improve the deck:
Eldritch Evolution with sideboard hate creatures like Eidolon of Rhetoric, Gaddock Teeg, Aven Mindcensor, Kataki, Anafenza the Foremost, etc... (the more I think about it the more I don't like it due to taking up to many slots but prob worth testing)
Lost Legacy (3 CMC to win the game against specific decks you have awful matchups against)
The original decklist is the best Treefolk Tribal list in my opinion. With infect being all but dead going Dran themed to play 4 Spellskite is not as appealing. Also, I'm pretty sure Arashi was a meta dependant card and could be cut. I would also upgrade Nameless Inversion and Abrupt Decay into a combination of Paths, Pushes, Decays etc... There are also a few dead sideboard cards you can replace like Torpor Orb which was for the Twin matchup. To be honest it is a pretty weird sideboard and if you don't understand what the cards are for switch them for cards you know how to use. I agree with a lot of the post above but I thought Thorn of Amethyst was a great card out of the sideboard.
I've been playing for some time with a treefolk deck which is based on the one presented in the first post of this thread and which, I believe, stays true to its original intent.
- I removed Heartwood Storyteller because I felt I actually used quite a few non-creature spells.
A Doran, the Siege Tower / Assault Formation / Tower Defense deck can be fun to build and play but it has nothing to do with the original idea of this treefolk deck which I found to be a lot more subtle and efficient.
I would define the deck as mid-range with mana acceleration, quality creatures and moderate disruption. What I find fantastic about this deck is the amount of sinergy between the different cards :
I don't have any experience of competitive Magic and I actually only play using Forge. This is why I didn't include a sideboard because I've never actually used one.
That being said, I've played with many different decks and I have a strong belief that this deck could actually do well in a tournament.
It can easily control aggro decks. It is fairly resilient to disruption and would, I believe do well against control and mid-range decks.
It is however going to have trouble against combo decks. Adding discard spells (Thoughtseize, Inquisition of Kozilek...) might help against them.
I'd be glad to see this deck getting more attention.
So I HATE bosk banneret, it always gets blown up and is usually a waste of a turn 2. Especially since its does nothing for doran, important in my decks version.
I wish we could run 8 sakura tribe elder but alas...
I wanted to get something that could be kinshipped in with Leaf-crown but there isnt that many targets.
In terms of shamans theres not much there, Beastcaller Savantis about the best you can do in terms of mana.
So I decided to try to play 4 more copies of tribe elder, aka farseek/rampant growth.
so far it's testing better than I expected. For refrence, I run the doran/tower defense route (w/o assault formation b/c its 2 slow)
I got hyped when I saw a treefolk spoiled but its meh at best and we REALLY need a good 2 drop treefolk. Changelings arent much help either sadly.
Anyone running anything different at the CMC 2 slot?
4 Treefolk Harbinger
2 Ulvenwald Tracker
4 Bosk Banneret
3 Sakura-Tribe Elder
4 Dungrove Elder
4 Dauntless Dourbark
3 Leaf-Crowned Elder
2 Oracle of Mul Daya
2 Timber Protector
2 Assault Formation
Instants and Sorceries (6)
2 Primal Bellow
2 Vines of Vastwood
1 Harmonize
1 Reach of Branches
24 Forest
Thinking about cutting some of the Instants and Sorceries above since they're usually the first things I board out after Game 1. Considering main-decking Beast Within since I find myself boarding it in a lot. It destroys everything and a 3/3 is usually no match for the creatures we can put out. I'm just playing 2 Assault Formations because I think its good but I don't want the deck reliant on having it out in order to win games. Wondering if I should run more Blossoming Defense type of spells to blank removal or more evasion spells like Canopy Cover to get through chump blockers.
The strongest brew was an all-in Doran build with heavy removal and 4 tower defense for an overrun finish. Here are some of my notes:
The most successful shell was to run loads of t1 ramp / tutor: 4 birds of paradise, 4 treefolk harbinger, 4 noble hierarch. The 8 mana dorks are great for getting a 3-drop down on t2 or eating some early removal. The harbinger can help fix your mana or just be Doran 5-8.
The beaters were 4 Dauntless Dourbark, 4 Leaf-Crowned Elder, and 4 Doran, the Siege Tower. These guys eat non-bolt removal like crazy too, so think about your sequencing.
Bosk was largely unimpressive. He comes down on t2, but on t2 you want to be playing a 3-drop like Doran or lingering souls. He only has 3 toughness, which isn't that great considering something like mono-G stompy is throwing out 3/3s for 2 or better, plus he does to bolt, etc...
The only 2-drop creature I ran was Spellskite. It's pretty obvious why he's awesome in a deck running Doran.
Dungrove looks great on paper, but unless you're ramping via Search for Tomorrow, Sakura-Tribe Elder, and Explore (which if you are, you should probably just be playing titan-shift), he's not all that great. He's often just a 3/3 or 4/4 still on t6 or so ... not where this deck wants to be.
For a 5 drop (even on t4) timber protector isn't terribly impressive. I think he does justify including 1-2 copies since he might add more than his 6 toughness, which is fine, but unless you have a Doran out, he's not amazing. At least he doesn't die to push.
To not auto-lose to combo you need 4-8 Duress and/or Thoughtseize in the 75. You need some solid removal too, so Fatal Push, Path to Exile, Dismember, Nameless Inversion, abrupt decay, etc... should probably be between 6-8 copies in the 75 ... and to make things more complicated, you should be running at least 4 grave-hate cards too in the 75.
I kinda mentioned it earlier, but Lingering Souls was a nice addition due to it being blockers to keep life high and also evasive creatures for getting the 5 toughness from tower defense when it was time to overrun with Doran.
Vines of Vastwood is a worthwhile inclusion, but I probably wouldn't bother with much more protection than that.
Assault Formation is pretty bad. You want to be developing your board every turn ... if it drew a card like spreading seas or something then it might be playable, but it's basically a trap.
For the deck to support all this stuff, you need a pretty solid abzan manabase. I'd run at least 8 forest fetches with a couple of each tomb / temple, a playset of Murmuring Bosk, and the rest basics.
Pioneer: Spirits
EDH: Ur-Dragon + Lord Windgrace + Arixmethes + Atla Palani + Kalamax
New cards that may improve the deck:
Eldritch Evolution with sideboard hate creatures like Eidolon of Rhetoric, Gaddock Teeg, Aven Mindcensor, Kataki, Anafenza the Foremost, etc... (the more I think about it the more I don't like it due to taking up to many slots but prob worth testing)
Lost Legacy (3 CMC to win the game against specific decks you have awful matchups against)
The original decklist is the best Treefolk Tribal list in my opinion. With infect being all but dead going Dran themed to play 4 Spellskite is not as appealing. Also, I'm pretty sure Arashi was a meta dependant card and could be cut. I would also upgrade Nameless Inversion and Abrupt Decay into a combination of Paths, Pushes, Decays etc... There are also a few dead sideboard cards you can replace like Torpor Orb which was for the Twin matchup. To be honest it is a pretty weird sideboard and if you don't understand what the cards are for switch them for cards you know how to use. I agree with a lot of the post above but I thought Thorn of Amethyst was a great card out of the sideboard.
8 Forest
4 Murmuring Bosk
3 Overgrown Tomb
4 Verdant Catacombs
3 Windswept Heath
4 Dauntless Dourbark
4 Doran, the Siege Tower
4 Dungrove Elder
4 Leaf-Crowned Elder
4 Sakura-Tribe Elder
1 Timber Protector
4 Treefolk Harbinger
3 Abrupt Decay
4 Fatal Push
3 Nameless Inversion
3 Search for Tomorrow
Here are the changes I made, compared to the original deck :
- I removed cavern of souls, because they'd cripple Dungrove Elder and Dauntless Dourbark.
- I replaced Ulvenwald Tracker with Fatal Push. While Ulvenwald Tracker is a shaman, it is slow, inefficient and casting it for free with Leaf-Crowned Elder wouldn't be such a great feat. Fatal Push on the other hand can be fueled by your sacrified fetch-lands and Sakura-Tribe Elder.
- I replaced Birds of Paradise with Search for Tomorrow because the birds are neither treefolk nor shaman while Search for Tomorrow boosts Dungrove Elder and Dauntless Dourbark.
- I removed Heartwood Storyteller because I felt I actually used quite a few non-creature spells.
A Doran, the Siege Tower / Assault Formation / Tower Defense deck can be fun to build and play but it has nothing to do with the original idea of this treefolk deck which I found to be a lot more subtle and efficient.
I would define the deck as mid-range with mana acceleration, quality creatures and moderate disruption. What I find fantastic about this deck is the amount of sinergy between the different cards :
- Doran, the Siege Tower works great in this deck, being a 5/5 for 3 mana, boosting Treefolk Harbinger, Leaf-Crowned Elder and Timber Protector, but you can perfectly win games without him.
- The most central card is, I believe, Leaf-Crowned Elder which is the main reason for playing as many treefolks and shamans as possible.
- Murmuring Bosk can be found by fetch-lands and Treefolk Harbinger and has, in my experience, no risk of coming into play tapped.
- All your lands are forests and Sakura-Tribe Elder adds extra lands making both Dungrove Elder and Dauntless Dourbark grow large very fast.
- Nameless Inversion is a treefolk, you may reveal it for Murmuring Bosk, fetch it with Treefolk Harbinger in case of emergency, and cast it for free with Leaf-Crowned Elder.
- Treefolk Harbinger can be very useful in the first turns for balancing your hand and can later let you choose which card to play for free with Leaf-Crowned Elder, maybe Timber Protector?
I don't have any experience of competitive Magic and I actually only play using Forge. This is why I didn't include a sideboard because I've never actually used one.
That being said, I've played with many different decks and I have a strong belief that this deck could actually do well in a tournament.
It can easily control aggro decks. It is fairly resilient to disruption and would, I believe do well against control and mid-range decks.
It is however going to have trouble against combo decks. Adding discard spells (Thoughtseize, Inquisition of Kozilek...) might help against them.
I'd be glad to see this deck getting more attention.
It was never more than a casaul deck anyway so this hardly changes anything.
I wish we could run 8 sakura tribe elder but alas...
I wanted to get something that could be kinshipped in with Leaf-crown but there isnt that many targets.
In terms of shamans theres not much there, Beastcaller Savantis about the best you can do in terms of mana.
So I decided to try to play 4 more copies of tribe elder, aka farseek/rampant growth.
so far it's testing better than I expected. For refrence, I run the doran/tower defense route (w/o assault formation b/c its 2 slow)
I got hyped when I saw a treefolk spoiled but its meh at best and we REALLY need a good 2 drop treefolk. Changelings arent much help either sadly.
Anyone running anything different at the CMC 2 slot?
Vampire Discord https://discord.gg/ZWpy2hQ9Hr
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Concerning the fact that the deck is not enough fast to work in modern format, did someone used some tweaks like Heartless Summoning, Utopia sprawl + Arbor Elf to speed up or Trinisphere to slow opponent?