Casual Project: Bears!!

[Steamflogger]

Hey friends, please bear with me for a second!

In my casual group I'm the tribe deck kinda guy. Goblins, Zombies, Merfolk, Werewolves, you name it I like it. I started playing Magic 14 years ago which is why I favour the old card frame and play Legacy tournament-wise. In my casual group I can build anything I want because of how playing with 5 other guys works. Slow and weaker decks are much more likely to establish a board. I'm always looking for new ideas and some time ago I stumbled over this little guy.

http://magiccards.info/scans/en/po2/63.jpg
Now tell the little buddy he isn't allowed to play. SEE! You can't.

I've browsed magiccards.info back and forth and came to the conclusion that there might be some potential in building a bear deck (with retro cards).
So far my idea is as follows. Get as many bears out as possible and Overrun or get a Coat of Arms going. Interaction? U wot m8?
But I want to be dull with style and maybe find some tricks and ruses.

Set cards are

Bears
Werebear
Bear Cub, Grizzly Bears, Balduvian Bears
Razorclaw Bear
Striped Bears
River Bear
Golden Bear
Grizzly Fate

Caller of the Claw to save from mass removal (casual hoo!)

Overrun
Coat of Arms win conditions

Forest


Other cards that I'm considering (to be updated)
Kamahl, Fist of Krosa
Kamahl's Summons
Whip Silk
Brawn
Alpha Status
Blanchwood Armor
Skyshroud Claim
Collective Unconscious
Drop of Honey

Decklist attempt Edited in on Dec 12th

4 Werebear
2 Razorclaw Bear
3 Striped Bears
2 River Bear
2 Golden Bear
2 Pale Bears
2 Bear Cub
2 Grizzly Bears
2 Balduvian Bears
2 Caller of the Claw

3 Grizzly Fate
2 Parallel Evolution
1 Sylvan Library
2 Primal Rage
2 Words of Wilding
4 Overrun
3 Coat of Arms

20 Forest


Now here's the part that I'd like you to help me with: I'm looking for cards that could
a. have a bear (not a dead one :cry:) in the picture most important one!
b. offer some nice tricks or
c. are nice old cards that might work here in general.

Maybe some spells, enchantments, artifacts, lands or some more bear enhancing creatures. There just have to be some cards for this deck because

http://i.imgur.com/GmWaWT0.jpg

[Jander78]

There's not a whole lot of bears to choose from.
http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Search/Default.aspx?action=advanced&subtype=+["Bear"]

A couple of noticable bears:
Ashcoat Bear - A Flash Bear!
Pale Bears - Redundant with River Bear, but fun if your friends play islands.

[Bed Decks Palyer]

Grizzly Fate needs Parallel Evolution.

As a big fan of animal MtG, I wish you good luck with your project. I always wanted to build a cats deck, or at least some 1996 Zoo with River Boas, Savannah Lions, Karoo Meerkats, Kird Apes, etc.

[Steamflogger]

There's not a whole lot of bears to choose from.
http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Search/Default.aspx?action=advanced&subtype=+["Bear"]

A couple of noticable bears:
Ashcoat Bear - A Flash Bear!
Pale Bears - Redundant with River Bear, but fun if your friends play islands.

Hmm I want to keep full retro vibe, so Ashcoat Bear isn't possible. But Pale Bears! Who could reject a polar bear?



Grizzly Fate needs Parallel Evolution.

As a big fan of animal MtG, I wish you good luck with your project. I always wanted to build a cats deck, or at least some 1996 Zoo with River Boas, Savannah Lions, Karoo Meerkats, Kird Apes, etc.

WOOT Parallel Evolution!! Forgot about that one. Awesome card. That's one of these nice tricks I was talking about. I really like the little tombstone on flashback cards from the Odyssey cycle (which is my favourite one altogether) and I get to play more of the Odyssey player reward bear tokens.
Also River Boa is my friend's favourite card! I should get him to build a Zoo deck like that. Recently he got Jakub Šlemr's 1999 monoblack quarterfinals deck together. With tournament legal and blackbordered cards of course, not the whole pack you could buy back then.
And you should go for your cats deck! It looks like there are 128 cats, so you have a much better pool of cards than I do with my bears :laugh:

Also I found Insist. Has a bear on it but that card seems a bit too desperate in bear finding concerns. No one will ever counter my bears.

[Teluin]

Could you play Winter Orb?

[Steamflogger]

Could you play Winter Orb?

Hmm are there rotting polar bears in the front? :eek:

[Dice_Box]

Bearscape?

[Steamflogger]

Bearscape?

I want to get threshold for Werebear and especially for Grizzly Fate. Saw that card while searching for "bear" and I don't think it works well with this deck.

[Ace/Homebrew]

The art on Forest Bear makes me laugh. :smile:

Words of Wilding turns draws into bears. And you desparately need a couple good 3 drops.

[Teluin]

Hmm are there rotting polar bears in the front? :eek:

Oh right. Polar Kraken?

[apple713]

Could you play Winter Orb?

definitely this due to the bear theme.

Also, you should play gaea's cradle if you strategy is swarming the board.

Bearscape
Kamahl's Summons
Words of Wilding
Spectral Bears
hibernations end
giant growth

bear edh (http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/bears-21-04-14-1/)
bear decklist (http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/bear-force-one/)

Get some originals
http://940ee6dce6677fa01d25-0f55c9129972ac85d6b1f4e703468e6b.r99.cf2.rackcdn.com/products/pictures/123379.jpg

[Steamflogger]

The art on Forest Bear makes me laugh. :smile:

Me too :D The new Grizzly Bears also look like he's doing a tree flip instead of a table flip.


Words of Wilding turns draws into bears. And you desparately need a couple good 3 drops.

I thought about this card a 2nd time now and I think it's better than I first thought. I wouldn't play to many but skipping a draw once in a while when you're doing good to get a guaranteed creature doesn't sound too bad. You're also right with the 3 drops. Have to look for those.


Oh right. Polar Kraken?

Are you high? :laugh: That's a blue card! Which has bears on it yeah...


definitely this due to the bear theme.

Also, you should play gaea's cradle if you strategy is swarming the board.

Bearscape
Kamahl's Summons
Words of Wilding
Spectral Bears
hibernations end
giant growth

bear edh (http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/bears-21-04-14-1/)
bear decklist (http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/bear-force-one/)

Get some originals
http://940ee6dce6677fa01d25-0f55c9129972ac85d6b1f4e703468e6b.r99.cf2.rackcdn.com/products/pictures/123379.jpg

Hmm Gaea's Cradle is a nice card but I don't want to spend a gazillion moneys on this deck. Still NO to Winter Orb because it seems to kill those polar bears. Since I want this to be a pure retro and consistent deck I'll mind stuff like this. Same goes for all cards in modern frame you named.

Kamahl's Summons goes to the 'maybe pile' due to it being symmetric. Have to test that one in my group.
Spectral Bears won't work since black is the worst color in multiplayer Magic. Trust me, I'm the only one with playing zombies and Pox.

I'll take some inspriration from the posted decklists and will try to get a first version together in my original post.

https://www.magickartenmarkt.de/img/4e74fd1e05af8a90bd54176220a4bd0d/cards/Player_Rewards_Promos/bear_token_green_221.jpg
I like this one better :wink:

[jrw1985]

The art on Forest Bear makes me laugh. :smile:

Paws Up! Don't Shoot!

[Bed Decks Palyer]

I played a similar deck back in... wow... well, it was some time ago. I completely forgot about that, but once the many bear cards showed up, I remembered that for a brief time I tried this in our (now dead) casual group.
I didn't like neither Kamahl's Summons nor Bearscape for obvious reasons. I think I used something to return Stripped Bears, but I'm nost sure what it was, maybe Stampeding Wildebeests, a card I played everywhere. (Not a bear, though.)
I wouldn't play WOrb, you have no mana acceleration, unless you plan to cut bears for Wild Growth, elves or manarocks.

edit: I know what I played. I used the two toeken generators with flashback, then I played some card that draws number of cards equal to creatures I controlled, finished with Kamahl's Summons. Super clunky thing.

[Steamflogger]

I played a similar deck back in... wow... well, it was some time ago. I completely forgot about that, but once the many bear cards showed up, I remembered that for a brief time I tried this in our (now dead) casual group.
I didn't like neither Kamahl's Summons nor Bearscape for obvious reasons. I think I used something to return Stripped Bears, but I'm nost sure what it was, maybe Stampeding Wildebeests, a card I played everywhere. (Not a bear, though.)
I wouldn't play WOrb, you have no mana acceleration, unless you plan to cut bears for Wild Growth, elves or manarocks.

Wow didn't know a card like Stampeding Wildebeests already existed back then. I use the similar Species Gorger in my Evolve deck to produce Evolve triggers. I'll sure get me some beests, maybe for other decks.


edit: I know what I played. I used the two token generators with flashback, then I played some card that draws number of cards equal to creatures I controlled, finished with Kamahl's Summons. Super clunky thing.

Aww there's no Heartstone for enchantments. You could go reeeeally clunky with one of those, token generators, your draw spell and Words of Wilding.
BTW do you remember the draw spell's name? If that's an old one it might be worth considering for this deck.

[Bed Decks Palyer]

Wow didn't know a card like Stampeding Wildebeests already existed back then. I use the similar Species Gorger in my Evolve deck to produce Evolve triggers. I'll sure get me some beests, maybe for other decks.
I played it everywhere. Everywhere.
They reprinted them in I think M10, and they also made two functional reprints (Stampeding Serow and Roaring Primadox in case you want to build new-framed etb based green deck.



Aww there's no Heartstone for enchantments. You could go reeeeally clunky with one of those, token generators, your draw spell and Words of Wilding.
BTW do you remember the draw spell's name? If that's an old one it might be worth considering for this deck.
http://gatherer.wizards.com/Handlers/Image.ashx?multiverseid=19739&type=card

[Steamflogger]

http://gatherer.wizards.com/Handlers/Image.ashx?multiverseid=19739&type=card
Awesome. Added to the 'considered' pile.

Also by now I see how good Gaea's Cradle would be for this deck. Would love to have two of those but this legend rule nonsense made them expensive as hell. 90€ ~ $112 :eek:
Ok.. pitiful Americans. I just checked the SCG shop and those crazy people sell them for $180.

[Bed Decks Palyer]

Awesome. Added to the 'considered' pile.

Also by now I see how good Gaea's Cradle would be for this deck. Would love to have two of those but this legend rule nonsense made them expensive as hell. 90€ ~ $112 :eek:
Ok.. pitiful Americans. I just checked the SCG shop and those crazy people sell them for $180.

Yes, Cradle would be perfect. It's a shame that there's no Magus of the Cradle, preferably a Human Bear Druid. :laugh:

I think you should decide what you want from the deck. If fun with nice pictures is all that you want, then you might play 28 Bears.dec and be fine. Otoh, you may try a different route with heavy emphasis on the token generators, including the dreadful Kamahl's Summons, using some kind of ramp etc.
While the "Dem Bearz, Much Bearz!" deck is an easy one to build - simply throw the nice cards into a pile, shuffle with Forests -, the tricky one is the Parallel Grizzlies. You may try to build something viable of:
- Grizzly Fate and Parallel Evolution for tokens
- Collective Unconscious for card draw after the tokens are made
- then add Kamahl's Summons to make some bears of the many bears you draw
- with a grandiose finaly being Summer Bloom or two to massively ramp you for the flashbacks. And yes, I just called Summer Bloom a grandiose finale... :smile: :tongue:

But maybe this is too complicated. I'd start with this:

Noble Bears, the Deck

Noble: Kamahl, Fist of Krosa or Coat of Arms
Kamahl is more nice, he's a bear tamer, makes overruns - see below why that's important -, etc. Otoh, Coat stops Engineered Plague.

Support: 4 Overrun
The four available uncommons. I guess the usage is obvious.

Bears:
35 basic bears

Forests:
20 common lands

[TsumiBand]

I know it is not 'old magic', but Green has the benefit of the Fight mechanic to enable removal. How more Bear-like does it get?? You maul the piss out of an offending creature. mmmBRAWR.

If you find it to be thematically pleasing, consider Prey Upon or Pit Fight for your deck.

Also, it occurs to me that it would probably be better against you than for you, but... Drop of Honey for the lulz? You could have a Bees and Honey subtheme with Unyaro Bee Sting and Bee Sting and Hornet Sting. Maybe even Killer Bees and Unyaro Bees. There's only enough Bee cards in Magic for a subtheme anyway, so where better to place it?

[Bed Decks Palyer]

Also, it occurs to me that it would probably be better against you than for you, but... Drop of Honey for the lulz?
Tsumi, you know I love you, don't you?

Yeah, the new frame was a mistake. It looks like two distinct games, and it's awful. Otoh, it really helps to those with analysis paralysis, as it draws a huge line where to stop: "No, thanks, my Magic ends at Scourge."
Otoh, the brawl... I mean fight mechanic. That's something sooo bearish! Shame that Werebear and friends weren't reprinted in new frame (even more shame that the new cards don't have the old frame, but this horse cadaver is already beaten enough), as then it would be possible to build a one-frame-only deck with all the new fancy stuff.

I'd try the Noble Bears first. It's easy like a Beginners Guide to Creature Combat in Magic: the Gathering, and if you'll add a trick or two (mostly Giant Growth and similar stuff), it might be pretty funny while a bit too one-dimensional. Although, the latter needn't to be a problerm, from what I remeber from playing against some of the more sophisticated piles my good old friend built, the ability to swing unopposed and progress the simple gameplan by simply tapping simple lands to play simple threats, might be simply the best, better than all the rest.
also, there's something really satisfying in playing Overrun and then tapping the four or five bears for the win. Sadly, the bears' curve isn't the best, as you start at two and cannot add them exactly well, due to their cmc of 2 and/or 3. But maybe you'll find a solution, or maybe the tokens-based deck is a better idea.

edit: Tsumi, so you edited the post with the bees&honey subtheme right when I was declaring my love for you? :laugh:

edit2: Words of Wilding combo well with Sylvan Library, right?

[Steamflogger]

Noble Bears vs Token Plan

I like the way you're thinking! The whole token plan winding up in Summer Bloom is beyond most people's wildest casual dreams :laugh:
But both ideas have their merits. I'm not sure if you've seen the list I put into my first post so I'll post it again:


4 Werebear
2 Razorclaw Bear
3 Striped Bears
2 River Bear
2 Golden Bear
2 Pale Bears
2 Bear Cub
2 Grizzly Bears
2 Balduvian Bears
2 Caller of the Claw

3 Grizzly Fate
2 Parallel Evolution
1 Sylvan Library
2 Primal Rage
2 Words of Wilding
4 Overrun
3 Coat of Arms

20 Forest

That's my first idea to get both. I think the numbers are ok. Already taking from your post: Coat of Arms or Kamahl, Fist of Krosa?
Coat of Arms is nice because it's a permanent effect. I don't need to pay mana in the final alpha strike and already have 4/4 bears with just 3 of them -> Can start chipping away LP much earlier + bears are somewhat protected.
With Kamahl, Fist of Krosa I wouldn't need the extra Primal Rage because both finisher already include Trample. My opponents can't benefit from a symmetric effect and Kamahl fits better into the bear theme.
The Noble Bears plan is a bit too simple I feel. But it's easy to build so I'll test it for sure. The rich and glorious token plan seems interesting though and I'd like to explore in this direction :laugh:
Here I would definitely cut Coat of Arms for Kamahl, Fist of Krosa. And I think Word of Wilding has to be cut, too, and make place for Collective Unconscious.
So I guess it would be somethink like this


4 Werebear
2 Razorclaw Bear
3 Striped Bears
2 River Bear
2 Golden Bear
2 Pale Bears
2 Bear Cub
2 Grizzly Bears
2 Balduvian Bears

3 Grizzly Fate
2 Parallel Evolution
3 Collective Unconscious
2 Summer Bloom
2 Kamahl's Summons
4 Overrun
3 Kamahl, Fist of Krosa

20 Forest

Also this version needs Gaea's Cradle more than anything.. I guess I'll have to ask the others if 2 proxies are fine with them. :confused:
Apart from that the numbers seem ok. It could work out like this. What do you think?


Edit: both of you were faster posting than I was with writing this one. To avoid a double post or something I'll get ready for my weekly casual meetup and continue writing when I'm back :smile:

[Bed Decks Palyer]

I like the way you're thinking! The whole token plan winding up in Summer Bloom is beyond most people's wildest casual dreams :laugh:
But both ideas have their merits.
I'm always glad to make someone's day! :smile:



I'm not sure if you've seen the list I put into my first post so I'll post it again:


4 Werebear
2 Razorclaw Bear
3 Striped Bears
2 River Bear
2 Golden Bear
2 Pale Bears
2 Bear Cub
2 Grizzly Bears
2 Balduvian Bears
2 Caller of the Claw

3 Grizzly Fate
2 Parallel Evolution
1 Sylvan Library
2 Primal Rage
2 Words of Wilding
4 Overrun
3 Coat of Arms

20 Forest

Yep, I saw the list. Elegant casual bears deck without any unreliability if draws don't go that well. Cast bears, smash face, overrun. The only thing I'm not sure about is the Primal Rage. Your bears are too tiny for trample to matter, and once you got Kamahl/Overrun out, it doesn't mater anymore. But I guess they're there to make use of Coat of Arms and to not get chumped forever.




That's my first idea to get both. I think the numbers are ok. Already taking from your post: Coat of Arms or Kamahl, Fist of Krosa?
Coat of Arms is nice because it's a permanent effect. I don't need to pay mana in the final alpha strike and already have 4/4 bears with just 3 of them -> Can start chipping away LP much earlier + bears are somewhat protected.
With Kamahl, Fist of Krosa I wouldn't need the extra Primal Rage because both finisher already include Trample. My opponents can't benefit from a symmetric effect and Kamahl fits better into the bear theme.
Agreed.



The Noble Bears plan is a bit too simple I feel. But it's easy to build so I'll test it for sure.
Agreed again, while elegant, this deck is far too in the casual part of the casual spectrum.



The rich and glorious token plan seems interesting though and I'd like to explore in this direction :laugh:
Here I would definitely cut Coat of Arms for Kamahl, Fist of Krosa. And I think Word of Wilding has to be cut, too, and make place for Collective Unconscious.
So I guess it would be somethink like this


4 Werebear
2 Razorclaw Bear
3 Striped Bears
2 River Bear
2 Golden Bear
2 Pale Bears
2 Bear Cub
2 Grizzly Bears
2 Balduvian Bears

3 Grizzly Fate
2 Parallel Evolution
3 Collective Unconscious
2 Summer Bloom
2 Kamahl's Summons
4 Overrun
3 Kamahl, Fist of Krosa

20 Forest

Also this version needs Gaea's Cradle more than anything.. I guess I'll have to ask the others if 2 proxies are fine with them. :confused:
Apart from that the numbers seem ok. It could work out like this. What do you think?
I think you should at leasst try the rich and glorious, as it offers far more space for tinkering. I'm afraid that it'll be pretty hard to blanace the numbers, as you need bears for Kamahl's Summons to work, but then you need some non-creature spells too. Summer Bloom might be cut if your group will allow Cradle or two.



Edit: both of you were faster posting than I was with writing this one. To avoid a double post or something I'll get ready for my weekly casual meetup and continue writing when I'm back :smile:
gl, hf!

[Steamflogger]

I know it is not 'old magic', but Green has the benefit of the Fight mechanic to enable removal. How more Bear-like does it get?? You maul the piss out of an offending creature. mmmBRAWR.

If you find it to be thematically pleasing, consider Prey Upon or Pit Fight for your deck.

I've also thought about Fight cards and adding those new ones. But it just takes so much feeling away when you browse through your almost perfectly beautiful old deck and suddenly a 'new' card pops up. I've built a really good retro Nic Fit that looks slick as hell. Verdant Force + player reward saproling tokens, Apac swamps, Urza's Saga forests, Tainted Wood, old Llanowar Wastes... you get the drift :smile:
It just feels soo good to play with a deck like this.


Also, it occurs to me that it would probably be better against you than for you, but... Drop of Honey for the lulz? You could have a Bees and Honey subtheme with Unyaro Bee Sting and Bee Sting and Hornet Sting. Maybe even Killer Bees and Unyaro Bees. There's only enough Bee cards in Magic for a subtheme anyway, so where better to place it?


Tsumi, you know I love you, don't you?

Love you too, Tsumi! I had the same idea yesterday!! My thoughts: Hmm what.. what ARE bear things? Well they sure like honey! And it appears Drop of Honey is the only honey related card in entire MTG. My first impression was like yours, not the best card here. But at 2nd thought it could be nice in a Coat of Arms build. And it adds TONS of sweet flavour! I'm really thinking about investing here. (And there's no cooler set symbol than the Arabian Nights saber)



Yeah, the new frame was a mistake. It looks like two distinct games, and it's awful. Otoh, it really helps to those with analysis paralysis, as it draws a huge line where to stop: "No, thanks, my Magic ends at Scourge."

I did this exact thing. Refused to buy the new cards from 2003 to 2010 until a new uni friend convinced me to accompany him to a Friday Night Draft with Scars of Mirrodin packs. We went again and again, I had fun in this semi competitive atmosphere and we would play the whole night at his place after FNM with our old decks and mourining the good old times while having fun with new stuff.
Soon after we discovered the local Legacy scene and I joined my casual group. Both led to lots of new cards and here I am building a bear deck 4 years later :laugh: Still being all sentimental about those cards that became my biggest hobby.


edit2: Words of Wilding combo well with Sylvan Library, right?

WOW nice find dude!! That one didn't even occur to me. Now THAT'S one of these tricks I was talking about. Surprising your friends with a play like that is awesome :cool: So you can pay 2 colorless to get 2 tokens and then take your 'normal' draw? I'm going to add a second copy of Sylvan Library to the first version. That's the best deal in the whole deck, CA-wise.


The only thing I'm not sure about is the Primal Rage. Your bears are too tiny for trample to matter, and once you got Kamahl/Overrun out, it doesn't mater anymore. But I guess they're there to make use of Coat of Arms and to not get chumped forever.

Yep, that's what Primal Rage is for. I'll try to include the following cards in this first version: Sylvan Library + Words of Wilding, Coat of Arms + Primal Rage and Coat of Arms + Drop of Honey. For now this way to produce tokens seems easier than what the 2nd version does. But I feel I shouldn't up the numbers of those cards too much since they don't do much on their own. And you don't want more than one library or words in play. So.. I guess testing is needed to decide what works out in the end.


gl, hf!
Thanks! Much fun was had, a bit less luck though. Didn't win a single game this evening. But I had a 52/52 Kavu Predator. That I had to Swords to Plowshares myself to 'protect' it from Echoing Truth. 74 LP are quite nice but weren't enough to hold off a friend on monogreen devotion with several Primalcrux, Khalni Hydra and Vigor + a billion little shenanigans for Primalcruxes on steroids :laugh:

[Bed Decks Palyer]

I've also thought about Fight cards and adding those new ones. But it just takes so much feeling away when you browse through your almost perfectly beautiful old deck and suddenly a 'new' card pops up. I've built a really good retro Nic Fit that looks slick as hell. Verdant Force + player reward saproling tokens, Apac swamps, Urza's Saga forests, Tainted Wood, old Llanowar Wastes... you get the drift :smile:
It just feels soo good to play with a deck like this.
Sure, no questions about.
What I find especially disgusting are the mixed frames. There's some elegance even in the completely-new-frame decks, although most of the art sucks and it cannot match the old beauties. But things get really ugly once you mix the frames, it doesn't even look like the same game anymore.
I like the Nic Fit idea. Might be nice. Reminds me how much I miss my old casual group, where you could play nearly everything, even bears. (Not that I had that much success wth Kamahl' Summons...) I have built an old frame Terrageddon, but I'm still considering that I'll try something else.





Love you too, Tsumi! I had the same idea yesterday!! My thoughts: Hmm what.. what ARE bear things? Well they sure like honey! And it appears Drop of Honey is the only honey related card in entire MTG. My first impression was like yours, not the best card here. But at 2nd thought it could be nice in a Coat of Arms build. And it adds TONS of sweet flavour! I'm really thinking about investing here. (And there's no cooler set symbol than the Arabian Nights saber)
:cool::smile:




I did this exact thing. Refused to buy the new cards from 2003 to 2010 until a new uni friend convinced me to accompany him to a Friday Night Draft with Scars of Mirrodin packs. We went again and again, I had fun in this semi competitive atmosphere and we would play the whole night at his place after FNM with our old decks and mourining the good old times while having fun with new stuff.
Soon after we discovered the local Legacy scene and I joined my casual group. Both led to lots of new cards and here I am building a bear deck 4 years later :laugh: Still being all sentimental about those cards that became my biggest hobby.
Same here, except that I subdued much faster. I returned to the game in 2006 an went straight for the tournament settings, as I was fed up with some of the aspects of casual gaming and scene. Seems like I'll do the 180° turnover pretty soon...



WOW nice find dude!! That one didn't even occur to me. Now THAT'S one of these tricks I was talking about. Surprising your friends with a play like that is awesome :cool: So you can pay 2 colorless to get 2 tokens and then take your 'normal' draw? I'm going to add a second copy of Sylvan Library to the first version. That's the best deal in the whole deck, CA-wise.
It works differently. But I wan you to find the solution by yourself, although I'll lead you into the correct answer.
What is the WoW doing? Is it replacement effect? (Yes.)
What does Sylvan Library do, is it a trigger?
What does SL want from you? (To either retunr or pay 4 lf?)
So, what happens if you replace ALL of your draws? But what happens of you replace ONLY SOME of them?
:smile:



Yep, that's what Primal Rage is for. I'll try to include the following cards in this first version: Sylvan Library + Words of Wilding, Coat of Arms + Primal Rage and Coat of Arms + Drop of Honey. For now this way to produce tokens seems easier than what the 2nd version does. But I feel I shouldn't up the numbers of those cards too much since they don't do much on their own. And you don't want more than one library or words in play. So.. I guess testing is needed to decide what works out in the end.
I'd start with 2 Libraries and 2 WoW, 2 Coats and 2 Rages.
SL is good on its own, although some shuffles won't hurt. (Do you own green fetches?)
Coat is a win con and Rage helps to break through. If you find that it is bad, you payed what, € 0,05?
Drop o Honey is an expensive card and is usable only if you already got the Coat out... and even then it could be bad, if the opponent plays tribal deck. I'd prox it first, if your group is fine with that.



Thanks! Much fun was had, a bit less luck though. Didn't win a single game this evening. But I had a 52/52 Kavu Predator. That I had to Swords to Plowshares myself to 'protect' it from Echoing Truth. 74 LP are quite nice but weren't enough to hold off a friend on monogreen devotion with several Primalcrux, Khalni Hydra and Vigor + a billion little shenanigans for Primalcruxes on steroids :laugh:
Maybe next time? :smile:
Good luck and have fun!

[Steamflogger]

Sure, no questions about.
What I find especially disgusting are the mixed frames. There's some elegance even in the completely-new-frame decks, although most of the art sucks and it cannot match the old beauties. But things get really ugly once you mix the frames, it doesn't even look like the same game anymore.
I like the Nic Fit idea. Might be nice. Reminds me how much I miss my old casual group, where you could play nearly everything, even bears. (Not that I had that much success wth Kamahl' Summons...) I have built an old frame Terrageddon, but I'm still considering that I'll try something else.

You're right, both my Simic Evolve Deck and my Werewolf deck are completely new-framed. Those decks feel much better without added old cards and are fun to play.
I'll PM you the decklist of my retro Nic Fit.


It works differently. But I wan you to find the solution by yourself, although I'll lead you into the correct answer.
What is the WoW doing? Is it replacement effect? (Yes.)
What does Sylvan Library do, is it a trigger?
What does SL want from you? (To either retunr or pay 4 lf?)
So, what happens if you replace ALL of your draws? But what happens of you replace ONLY SOME of them?
:smile:

Hmm I'm pretty sure I've figured it out. Sylvan Library lets me draw 3 cards and I have to pay 4 lp for each card drawn past the first one or else I have to put those back. So it's ok to replace those draws with Words of Wilding activations but as soon as I draw a card and for example activate Words of Wilding for the other two draws I have to put two cards back or pay 8lp. So it's either just the usual Sylvan Library without anything else or 3 Token for just 3 mana without a draw that turn.


Do you own green fetches?

Not yet but I'm planning on getting old Wooded Foothills for a while now. This might be a reason to finally do it :wink:


Drop of Honey
Yeah I guess going for a few test runs with just a proxy seems like a good idea.

So this is what I'll try to run now (after ordering everything (else) we've discussed)


4 Werebear
2 Razorclaw Bear
3 Striped Bears
2 River Bear
2 Golden Bear
2 Pale Bears
2 Bear Cub
2 Grizzly Bears
2 Balduvian Bears
2 Caller of the Claw

2 Sylvan Library
2 Words of Wilding
2 Parallel Evolution
2 Grizzly Fate
1 Primal Rage
1 Drop of Honey

4 Overrun
3 Coat of Arms

4 Wooded Foothills
16 Forest

I was thinking about dropping Caller of the Claw to have room for 3 Grizzly Fate and 2 Primal Rage but for a start just 21 creatues feels a bit too few and the card itself is also pretty cool. The most beary druid in the game. That actually isn't a druid.. weird.

Other thoughts are:
Are 4 Overrun too many? Would 3 Kamahl, Fist of Krosa be even more sufficient?
Or do I EVEN need to swap numbers for Overrun/Kamahl and Coat of Arms in this build?
If I had these I would definitely add at least 2 Gaea's Cradle.

The version above (open for some modification) seems to be the most fun. After thinking about those 3 questions the time to theorize should be over and the real deal aka playing the deck shall start. I'm stoked! :smile:

[Bed Decks Palyer]

I thought a bit about the deck and had some ideas.
You may use some ramp (for flashbacks) and shuffle effect (for SL). What about Thawing Glaciers, Harrow or Far Wanderings? Both have their merits, but I guess the best you can do is to proxy those two Cradles and be done with the thing...:smile:
You're right with the question on Overruns (there needs to be some creatures in the deck to function), but then again Kamahl is legendary, so the best you can do is trying this in real life.
good luck. This deck is such a blast from the past, I simply cannot understand why I took me nearly a page before I remembered that I also played something similar, although without Portal dudes. (I don't like its graphic design.)

[Steamflogger]

Thawing Glaciers seem to be fitting. I don't think I can push in more nonland cards but maybe two of those.

I guess I'm down to ordering now. Hmm I'm adding up prices and surprisingly the deck isn't as cheap as I would have expected. All those Legacy relevant cards are pushing the price to 180€ or ~ $225. It's not that I can't use them in tournaments but still I think it will take a month or two to get everything together. Haha it's always like this. I end up buying whole new casual decks instead of some Legacy cards. Well ok this time it's both but i was thinking about getting a playset of City of Traitors. Those are about as much as this whole deck :laugh: I can borrow them but it's always nice to own cards so you don't need to ask everyone to get your deck together. I played Sea Stompy (yeah I'm always in on the obscure decks) in the last few tournaments and I neither own Cities nor Jaces or Forces. Those have to wait I guess because I really want to play bears now!!

And there's something about that I have to disagree with you :tongue: I really like the Portal sets' card design! Plated Wurm and Spined Wurm both were in the first batch of cards that I bought myself. I think Portal's Winter's Grasp is one of the best looking cards in the game. BUT! All of this is just opinion.

[TsumiBand]

I guess I find myself splitting lists according to frame whenever possible too - in casual formats anyway, or at least, formats I approach casually. So like, EDH and random stuff we try out at work like "Pauper + 8 Uncommons" and whatnot. So I can appreciate not wanting to cross the streams with card frames!

Also, this is probably a terrible idea but -- instead of the Bees/Honey/Bears route you could throw in stuff like Ring of Kalonia, Ring of Gix, maybe even Sol Ring... because, get it, ring bearers. Ring bears. It's funny. Ring bearer. Heh. Heh heh.

meh

Also I tried using Gatherer to see how many cards use the phrase "bad news" in their flavor text - there are only 3, Goblin Pyromancer, Rod of Ruin, and Ironhoof Ox. So there will be no Bad News Bears, nor will you be the bear(er) of bad news.

I'm trying too hard, aren't I :P I have a strong urge to build-a-bear.dec now

[Richard Cheese]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vmxbsj8RwGQ

[Steamflogger]

...SSSSSSSSSSSSSAH! I take that as a sign of approval.

And it looks like someone watched How I Met Your Mother a bit too much :laugh: I like the idea but then again I'm German and probably the only one in my casual group who watched the original. So I'd also be the only (sad) one who gets it.

I just renamed the Cockatrice file to build-a-bear.cod Unfortunately the .dec extension was back in MWS. Didn't use that in years.


So this is the most recent list:


4 Werebear
2 Razorclaw Bear
3 Striped Bears
2 River Bear
2 Golden Bear
2 Pale Bears
2 Bear Cub
2 Grizzly Bears
2 Balduvian Bears
2 Caller of the Claw

2 Sylvan Library
2 Words of Wilding
2 Parallel Evolution
2 Grizzly Fate
2 Primal Rage
1 Drop of Honey

3 Kamahl, Fist of Krosa
3 Coat of Arms

4 Wooded Foothills
2 Thawing Glaciers
16 Forest


Never owned Thawing Glaciers and also never saw anyone play them. So I just guessed that 2 are right, but I'll order 3. Time will tell.

[Bed Decks Palyer]

Decklist looks solid. And the price... well, it's no like the bears made some important amount of it, and the fetches+stuff are pricey for a reason. You may always use them in some more "real" deck. :)
I'm interested how the Glaciers will work for you, it's pretty slow card, much better for control decks (of the past), but then again it's the only solid ramp+shuffle available for your deck, unless you'll add any of the Harrow and its companions. I still feel like your deck needs some kind of ramp to reliably cast the many high-cmc spells. Also, I'd love to see Collective Unconscious and Kamahl's Summons combo working, but this isn't possible withut those Gaea's Cradles, as it's pretty mana-intensive to play on one turn.
Let us know about any progress! :)

[TsumiBand]

And it looks like someone watched How I Met Your Mother a bit too much :laugh: I like the idea but then again I'm German and probably the only one in my casual group who watched the original. So I'd also be the only (sad) one who gets it.

Ha, actually I forgot that they had a ring bear bit on HIMYM. My wife watches the hell out of that show, I catch an episode from time to time.

It's *almost* too bad that you're going old-frame-only, because Hibernation's End would be fitting and not terrible. (actually the real shame is that Hibernation is a Blue spell)

[Bed Decks Palyer]

Ha, actually I forgot that they had a ring bear bit on HIMYM. My wife watches the hell out of that show, I catch an episode from time to time.

It's *almost* too bad that you're going old-frame-only, because Hibernation's End would be fitting and not terrible. (actually the real shame is that Hibernation is a Blue spell)
Hibernation's End is amazing card!

[Steamflogger]

It's *almost* too bad that you're going old-frame-only, because Hibernation's End would be fitting and not terrible. (actually the real shame is that Hibernation is a Blue spell)

If that card was from actual Ice Age I'd play it, no doubt! :laugh: Same with Bear Umbra. Both are cool cards but I really want to stick to my retro rule, so I won't. Then again I did not only start this thread to get some suggestions from you guys but also to maybe inspire some to building their own bear decks. You can build it much less expensive, go for it.

[Bed Decks Palyer]

I cannot build bear deck, I'd be a Bear Decks Palyer then... :)
My desire is to build something with GWR in it, with lots of creatures and stuff. But then again casual gaming is dead where I live, except for the EDH (which I dislike for its one-of random nature) and then some six-men tables which are an environment more hostile to green dudes than a polluted delta and a coal power plant combined. But I'd love to play with Kird Apes, Savannah Lions, River Boas, twelve burn and some lands. Frankly, this is far out of my budget.

[Steamflogger]

A whole lot of off-topic incoming (still posted since there might be more people who are interested in starting a prosperous casual group):
Yeah I feel the same about EDH. I had an idea but was never motivated to acutally build a deck. About casual gaming.. is there maybe a local (where you live) Magic forum or maybe national? When we lose too many people we advertise in the biggest German Magic forum. "Looking for new people! We are a friendly group and play somewhat enhanced casual but keep Legacy bannings. If you are interested please answer here, we PM you where we meet..." and so on. You can easily do this the other way around and start a group yourself. Even if some have pretty bad decks at first, Magic is a game of competition. So it's just natural that they up their decks more and more until everyone is on a somewhat even level. We meet in a bar/pub btw. If you or someone else has enough space, even better.

If you or anyone else wants some more advice about this (or anything else related) please PM me to keep this thread about what it is supposed to be: Bears :smile:

[mojoiskewl]

http://magiccards.info/scans/en/ktk/147.jpg

not playing bear punch in bear deck.

I know its the bear getting punched, but its a bear. ya know bears.

[Bed Decks Palyer]

http://magiccards.info/scans/en/ktk/147.jpg

not playing bear punch in bear deck.

I know its the bear getting punched, but its a bear. ya know bears.

Needs altered-into-old-frame massage immediately.

[Steamflogger]

Guys.. GUYS!!! It's ready.

http://i.imgur.com/LkdPDzs.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/4gLLB6x.jpg

It took exactly 2 years to gather this deck in the way I envisioned it. Phew.. :smile:

In its current and above visible form:


4 Werebear
2 Razorclaw Bear
3 Striped Bears
1 River Bear
2 Golden Bear
2 Pale Bears
1 Bear Cub
3 Grizzly Bears
2 Balduvian Bears
2 Caller of the Claw

2 Sylvan Library
2 Words of Wilding
2 Grizzly Fate
2 Primal Rage
2 Drop of Honey

3 Kamahl, Fist of Krosa
3 Coat of Arms

4 Wooded Foothills
2 Thawing Glaciers
4 Tranquil Thicket
12 Forest

A recent addition is Tranquil Thicket. I browsed through possible non-basics to add, looking for a green one that somehow saccs or in another way ends up in the gy. First I found Hickory Woodlot, which seemed interesting since I can't afford a Gaea's Cradle, but I just didn't feel the artwork for this deck. Remember, it's all about the flavour for this one. Then I went past good old Tranquil Thicket and it dawned me: there's more in this tranquil thicket.. there's bears!!

https://www.abugames.com/images/products/tokens/beartokendyssey.jpg

It's such a nice match with Words of Wilding and can build up threshold for Werebear and Grizzly Fate. Thawing Glaciers will still need some testing and the singleton bears happened due to space shortage. As you can see I wanted to add some pimp with the 3 grizzlies and happened to get my hands on two Drop of Honey.

So much for now :wink: I will report back soon with experiences and possible changes. If there are any questions feel free to ask.

[Bed Decks Palyer]

That's a beautiful deck!

I think that there are only a few not-so-sure choices. I'd try Collective Unconscious in place of Primal Rage, as I still think that PR does very little due to bears' low stats, while CU adds another dimension to your deck (card advantage), moreover mixed with some interesting possibilites in longer games (like interactions with Grizzly Fate, WoW, Panzerfuker or Kamahl). But I guess it's up to test.
Also, three Kamahls might be one too many.
Do I see zero Overrun? Tss-tss...

Jesus Christ, that's one heck of a nice deck. Makes me wanna build something crazy, preferably in green. Also props for the Drop of Honey!

Have you played it a lot? I missed your last posts by a few months, and I'd be really interested in the bears' life; I'm great fan of wildlife.

[Steamflogger]

That's a beautiful deck!
Have you played it a lot? I missed your last posts by a few months, and I'd be really interested in the bears' life; I'm great fan of wildlife.
Thanks! It really feels like living the wild life with this deck :smile: I've been playing it almost every other week.
Same here about missing your last post unfortunately.. But! I come with pictures and stories!

https://i.imgur.com/0tfuzpf.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/WPxvzz7.jpg

These guys have been so much fun :smile: Apart from just being the coolest thing to put into play, they win games against strong casual decks. My favourite game so far was an epic battle between a giant bear army vs eldrazi. Having 9/9 and growing trample bears mauling away on my opponent, while they have to stick huge aliens every turn to keep me from killing them was just the best thing ever.
Razorclaw Bear is one of my favourite cards now. He's such a brawler! His ability either provides evasion or death to regular blockers.
Also I'm still in love with the little things this deck can do, you know, the ones I was looking for during development. E.g. calling an additional bear out of a Tranquil Thicket via Words of Wilding, with Coat of Arms in play has won me games.

Regarding your concerns, Primal Rage turned out to be vital to actually get damage past opposing blocks. I think that's just how our casual meta works. Loads of small and disposable blocks. But I'm thinking about dropping Caller of the Claw. It's a really falvourful card but as far as I remember it actually did stuff in only one game. So this might be where Collective Unconscious will go. Thanks for reminding me.
Kamahl, Fist of Krosa is my source of Overrun. It takes an additional turn, but the possibility of several activations + his tree friends ability make him a lot better than single overruns. Also we developed this kind of lore to my deck, where the bears want to enter the 'Sylvan Library of druids' to learn stuff, but only the Werebears were already smart enough to disguise themselves as druids :laugh: Kamahl is the friendly bouncer who constantly has to take out the other bears that try to sneak in. There is no way I could drop him now. What would the other druids say?

I'd like to finish this with one of my favourite moments in MtG ever, which was provided by Coat of Arms. After spawning a bunch of bears and declaring attack one of my friends fearfully shouted: G-GUYS? Does anyone have some wizards or.. um.. cats?

[Steamflogger]

Update from my last post: I swapped Caller of the Claw for Collective Unconscious and really have to say that I like it. It takes the deck from mid to late game or reloads when I'm stuck with just a few Grizzly Bears (meaning the 2/2 body). Again thanks for the reminder BDP!

Also another little sneaky play came into being during the last game. I had Kamahl, Fist of Krosa and Drop of Honey in play and noticed I can use him to plant bee-hives everywhere! Yesss..
Excuse my flowery description :tongue:
I used his tree friends ability and turned threatening opposing lands into 1/1 creatures, which then were destroyed by Drop of Honey. It was beautiful.