Treefolk Tribal Update: Tarkir: Dragonstorm

Update (Tarkir: Dragonstorm):

With the release of Tarkir: Dragonstorm, Treefolk Tribal is getting an upgrade!

In: Betor, Kin to All , Out: Ulvenwald Observer

In: Felothar the Steadfast , Out: Harmonize

In: Arbor Adherent , Out: Seedguide Ash

In: Reunion of the House , Out: Old Man Willow

In: MacCready, Lamplight Mayor , Out: Sight of the Scalelords (bonus upgrade)

In: Nethroi, Apex of Death , Out: Shriekwood Devourer (bonus upgrade)

In: Escape Tunnel , Out: Terramorphic Expanse (bonus upgrade)

In: Hagra Mauling , Out: Forest (bonus upgrade)

In: Yavimaya, Cradle of Growth , Out: Forest (bonus upgrade)

Betor, Kin to All is a great addition to our Treefolk Tribal since it is a top toughness matter support card. Its ability checks the sum of the toughness of our creatures and reward us for having 10+, 20+ and 40+. The base reward (10+) which sounds easy for our build, let us draw a card at the beggining of our end step. At 20+ it untaps each creature we control which helps our build a lot, while the more demading 40+ can be a finisher as each opponent looses half thier life. Amazing utility for our build.

Ulvenwald Observer gets cut because it costs a lot and the draw on death trigger isn’t optimal.

Felothar the Steadfast works wonders with our build, its power and synergy make it ideal even as an alternate commander for our Treefolk Tribal. It is one generic mana more expensive than Doran, the Siege Tower and is a toughness combat damage enabler that affects only our own creatures (while Doran affects each creature), but comes with two other abilities: the first enables defenders to attack, which is fine but not crucial to our build, but the second make it an amazing mana engine. By paying , and sacrificing another creature, we draw cards equal to the sacrificed creature’s toughness, then discard cards equal to its power. We can get amazing value out of it, as high toughness and low power are core strategies of our build.

Harmonize gets cut because although it is better as a one-time draw spell, Felothar the Steadfast can flood us with cards repeatedly and provides our build more consistency.

Arbor Adherent is an amazing ramp source for decks with high toughness creatures, as it has “:Add X mana of any one color, where X is the greatest toughness among other creatures you control”. It naturally fits our Treefolk Tribal deck as we can easily get a ton of value out of it.

Seedguide Ash gets cut because it is expensive and the ramp on death trigger is not optimal for our build as we have no consistent way to trigger it.

MacCready, Lamplight Mayor is a great evasion giver for our Treefolk Tribal since many of our Treefolk have 2 or less power and it provides them skulk until end of turn whenever they attack. (They can’t be blocked by creatures with greater power). Moreover, it discourages players to attack us with creatures with power 4+, as whenever they do, they lose 2 life and we gain 2 life. A great addition to our build.

Sight of the Scalelords gets cut because it is expensive and although the buff may help us, it can’t compare to the evasion MacCready, Lamplight Mayor provides.

Nethroi, Apex of Death (cast with Mutate) and Reunion of the House are two amazing graveyard recursion cards for our Treefolk Tribal. Due to our low power strategy, they can bring back to the battlefield many of our creatures and they become mass grave recursion spells that can net us amazing value.

Shriekwood Devourer gets cut because it is expensive and the ramp on attack trigger is not optimal for our build as we have no consistent way to give it Haste.

Old Man Willow gets cut because it has little synergy with our strategies.

Yavimaya, Cradle of Growth has nice synergy with our deck since many of our Treefolk care about Forests in play or have other synergies with Forests. Few examples are Dungrove Elder, Dauntless Daurbark, Kalonian Twingrove and Battlewand Oak. In addition it greatly helps in color fixing, so it is a valuable tool for our Treefolk Tribal.