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Apr 15, 2012 -- 12:29PM, AnelDerys wrote:

I had predicted this very thing happening, although I expected it to be a multi-colored planeswalker instead of mono-red.  I'm a little taken-aback at the direction they followed with this little guy.  He screams snowball, so I would expect him in big-red or as a sideboard option (or synergy with proliferate) in the current rdw.  Things is, is he really capable of snowballing in this meta?  You almost have to have the ability to protect yourself as a planeswalker, and hes taking up the valuable(in red decks) two-slot, where Incinerate , Stormblood Berzerker and Shrine of Burning Rage are comfortably sitting as the go-to spells.  Is it time to make room for another red two-drop?  I can see this in a deck with snowball vamps like Stromkirk Noble and Curse of Stalked Prey , but then it is also competing for slot with the Curse as well.  The new 4/3 Vexing Devil as a 1-drop with the condition that the opponent can take 4 damage instead of leaving it on the battlefield (which the red player will say thx for the game to most of the time), is already vieing for the 1-slot, and one-mana cards are usually what leaves a deck to make room for really good two-drops that have recently arrived on the scene.

I'm not saying he wont be played (because he is amazing at trolling other creature decks, and/or the control deck that is cheating toward one side of the meta or the other), but I think players will have to re-define what red is in this meta, almost from the ground-up in order to make effective use of this fellow.

I can definitely see justifying a mono-red draft deck with him.  Think about it...You WILL have a second color, and maybe even a splash third, but enough single-colored-mana spells will likely be passed that you can look toward some of the controlling aspects of black or blue to aid your deck.  I'm crossing my fingers for then to print less cc spells that I will want to play, and put more fun stuff in c, 1c and 2c so I can splash more effectively in draft.  Here's looking at you Killing Wave !

You appear to have one of the best perspectives in terms of where Tibalt fits into the current metagame... he is likely going to call for a deck than what is commonly played at the moment.

Now I'm pretty new to Magic, having just started with Innistrad, but I'm interested in Tibalt and tend to describe my limited experience as being a Johnny... so with that in mind, please bear with my novice deck-building skills... (and I'm strictly in a Standard or Block Constructed frame of mind due to my limitations)

In terms of looking at what we do know and can offer Tibalt, what about considering Forge Devil as the protection he needs for Turn 1? Either just play land at outset, or if you are second to start, Forge Devil easily gets rid of Delver . And then he sits in as a small protection for Tibalt as he ticks up in turn 2. Forge Devil could also be flickered if need be, but I imagine at that point you'll be wanting to pull in some bigger guns to protect Tibalt and yourself, rather than playing around with the little devil. But Forge Devil seems like a better option than Geistflame for turn 1 because you are also getting a creature for blocking. You do get hit for 1 yourself when you cast him, but that comes with the territory of devil flavor. Which also reminds me that Devil's Play has a very apt quote that I believe is important to keep in mind when building the kind of deck Tibalt wants to be built into: 
"A devil's hands are never idle."
In otherwords, in a devil deck, you are bound to be discarding and kind of have to roll with the randomness of it maybe...?

I was also looking at Infernal Plunge as a possible contender for Tibalt's deck, but it didn't really fit an early-turn strategy I could figure out yet.

Most importantly, I'm thinking that the as-of-yet-unspoilt card mentioned in this article which Tibalt is supposed to like a lot could be Reforge the Soul , which was just spoilt in the AVR image gallery.

Reforge the Soul: Show

That card would pair nicely with his -4, no...?

Anyway, I'm just spitballing here, maybe there's something there that someone with some more experience can tie together...?

I think a sideboard should look something like this:
2 Increasing savagery
2 Hunger of the howlpack
3 Contagion Clasps
4 Galvanic Blasts
2 Garruk, primal hunter
2 Garruk Relentless

Here's the why for each of them:
Increasing Savagery: recurrs with the Charmbreakers, and lets us grow our threats  to ridiculous sizes. Synergizes with our proliferate and grows more valuable as the game progresses.
Hunger of the Howlpack: also recurs, so we can low impact early and high-impact later. We can whipflare away the board and have a geist undie, then make him angry and hungry. And, if our opponent has an undying creature on the way to the graveyard, we can keep him dead this way.
Contagion Clasp: more proliferate, and can shrink down a flipped delver. Eventually, he can answer something as big as a Dungrove elder.
Galvanic Blast: If we are running all our artifacts, we can achieve metalcraft pretty reliably. We can also cast a small one and then recurr it for 4 damage.
Garruk, Primal Hunter: we need a way to make meatshields (the beast tokens) and he can eventually make a mess of wurms. Card draw w/ no discard is also cool.
Garruk Relentless: If we are playing a similar deck (burn heavy), he gives us an edge in the removal department. Utility creature will die to him, and he'll flip often. Or, we could keep him as a remover using proliferate to keep him alive, or take down a 3/3, but if he flips, he'll tutor extra Charmbreakers/make deathtouchy walls.

Unfortunately, I don't have the budget to build this (unless I find someone who will loan me some of the cards), but if someone does build it, I'd love to hear how well it works (or doesn't). This actually seems like it would be awesome, particularly as if you have an extra Garruk or other planeswalker you can try to tibalt him away. The decks approach is to get right into the thick of things, force control to play a different game than they want, and basically try to win by being better at keeping our threats alive/kicking/bigger/coming than most other decks. Possible change: cut one of the Garruks for 2 runechanter's pike.

Apr 16, 2012 -- 7:42AM, gruulsmash wrote:

You know, I'm starting to think of tibalt as a better turn 6 play in a green red deck.

This!
I don't see him as being turn 2 play but turn 4 or later. If you've emptied your hand of cards that are useful 'right now', and you want to dig with red consistently, then he is great. The random reduces its strength but then where's the fun/flavour in having a red 2 drop planeswalker without risk? No risk, no reward and that is one of my favourite aspects of red. It's exciting to bet it all on the next draw

Apr 17, 2012 -- 8:56PM, aabrook wrote:

Apr 16, 2012 -- 7:42AM, gruulsmash wrote:

You know, I'm starting to think of tibalt as a better turn 6 play in a green red deck.

This!
I don't see him as being turn 2 play but turn 4 or later. If you've emptied your hand of cards that are useful 'right now', and you want to dig with red consistently, then he is great. The random reduces its strength but then where's the fun/flavour in having a red 2 drop planeswalker without risk? No risk, no reward and that is one of my favourite aspects of red. It's exciting to bet it all on the next draw

You seem like the player who thinks every card has a use and we just have to find it. I like that. So do you think I found it?