The reason Tibalt looks bad is that he is narrow in a non-obvious way. Nissa Revane is narrow, but that doesn't matter because her abilities simply don't work in a non-Elf deck so no-one runs her there. It's a similar story with Koth of the Hammer and Liliana of the Dark Realms, who will invariably have decks built to take advantage of their focus on specific land types.
Tibalt here, on the other hand, just gets thrown into red decks that kinda sorta work with him and then dismissed as bad. Make no mistake, he is just as narrow as Nissa and needs to be put in a deck that's constructed to work with him and effects like him, but in such decks he is indispensable. (Not to mention that due to the mana curves of decks like that he really needs the {R}{R} cost)
Posted By:
LordRandomness
(5/22/2013 1:46:33 AM)
I use him in a casual burn deck and mostly I just think of him as a mini faithless looting every turn who makes my opponents waste resources
Posted By:
werdwood93
(6/4/2013 9:21:34 PM)
Can't look at this art without thinking "Did I ever tell you the definition of insanity?"
I keep that in mind when I build a deck with Tibalt in. Play to his strengths and he's pretty darn good.
Posted By:
Veggeh
(7/20/2013 4:02:11 PM)
http://manadeprived.com/comics/durdling-around-tamiyos-first-subject/
Posted By:
Lord_of_phyrexia
(7/26/2013 7:45:41 AM)
the only thing better than him is about 5-6 different common and uncommon two drops available in every block.
The place he looks to be be best is burn - most of your spells do the same thing so the random discard shouldn't cause you too much pain.
But then instead of putting down a card which does practically nothing until turn 4, on which he can do 4 damage to a player and kill himself, or he can do nothing until turn 6, assuming your opponent hasn't dealt any damage to him in all of this time of him sitting around being useless, you COULD play young pyromancer and start getting in with a small army of 1/1s starting turn 3 which also helps your game against aggro, and can do things like help activate battalion.
Both cards go in the same decks. Even crazy hellbent/madness decks might like the pyromancer better. Then you start looking at other red two drops and you wonder "why did I care about tybalt?"
Posted By:
CogMonocle
(8/8/2013 5:40:48 PM)
To be honest, I think he's pretty sweet. Yes, he sucks, but if you do it right, he's good. Firstly, he only belongs in a RDW kind of deck. Play out all your creatures and Tibalt will (hopefully) dig for nonlands for you. The main reason I like him, though, is because everyone else hates him. People dislike him so much that he'll just sit there, completely ignored by your opponent. They won't attack him, they won't burn him. And eventually, you'll get a 2-mana Insurrection.
I'm not trying to convince anyone that he's actually good, or that he's constructed playable, but I like him. Plus, that coat.
Posted By:
Alchemix
(10/22/2013 3:11:26 AM)
It's HIM!!
http://youtu.be/NfTD1NDNFIg
Man, I really need to sneeze now.
Posted By:
Goatllama
(10/24/2013 8:24:27 AM)
I really want to find a realistic use for this guy. Every time I look at him in my binder, I see a sweet looking card that I want to play with. But, lo, there is no place for him in any of my decks, and it's difficult justifying building a deck just for him.
I would say one of the upsides to him is that he can draw an attack or two away from you. But every time I've played with or against him, he's generally not activating every turn and nobody really is scared of him and just ignores him.
However, a clever use I've seen for him is with Possibility Storm. Not so much for him, but moreso what you can get for his {R}{R} investment - basically getting a pretty darn good deal on any other planeswalker in your deck. Not a very dignified use, but a decent one.
Posted By:
Raexs
(11/3/2013 2:06:20 PM)
This guy was so hyped I thought for sure it was going to finally be a good red walker... and WotC gave us this O.o
any walker that makes Chandra Ablaze look good needs to be reconsidered
Posted By:
Hunter06
(12/20/2013 7:03:17 AM)
The random discard is what hurts him the most, every other walker, regardless of what else is going on, using their plus ability is never an issue. With tibalt here, if you've got something you want in your hand, then you can't +1 safely. If it was draw a card, discard a card, I'd play it.
Posted By:
Lazrbeams
(2/13/2014 6:09:39 PM)