by Elton Gahr

Created on: October 23, 2009

If you've paid enough attention to magic the gathering flavor text and names over the year you have heard the name Kor, typically white creatures they are human warriors and until recently they have not had enough power to become a real tribe, but with the addition of a handful of cards in the Zendikar at least one of which is almost certain to be played the idea of a tribal deck that may be competitive needs to be considered.

That card that will be the center of a good Kor deck is Conqueror's Pledge. A sorcery that costs three white and two colorless, it puts six 1/1 Kor soldier tokens into play, and has a kicker of six colorless mana that lets you put six more 1/1 tokens into play. Alone this is a useful enough card, but if you can combine it with just a few other Kor Cards and it could be very useful.

The second of the cards that would be central to a Kor deck would be that of the Armament Master. This is one of the only cards that gives any type of a bonus to other Kor, and without that there is no great reason to build a tribal deck. Costing two white for a 2/2 creature he gives all other Kor +2/+2 for every piece of equipment attached to him. This card, a single piece of equipment and Conqueror's Pledge gives you six 3/3 creatures and can be played by the fifth turn, add a second piece of equipment and it becomes truly impressive.

Beyond that there is not a lot that really needs to be in a Kor deck. The Kor Duelist could easily fit into the deck since you are likely to be playing equipment and this 1/1 creature for one white gets double strike when equipped making it useful to equip early. As does Kor Outfitter that costs two white, is 2/2 and allows you to equip a piece of equipment for free when it comes into play. This is unlikely to be a huge advantage as equipment generally does not cost any more to equip than to play, but it does allow you to put this out on a turn when you would otherwise be spending the mana on the equipment.

Outside of a tribal setting there is not a great reason to play Kor as a group, but sometimes it is simply fun to surprise people by playing a tribe they won't expect, and by combining good equipment with a few good cards you might be able to make a Kor deck that could be dangerous.

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