Press "F" to pay respect for Jumpstart on Magic: Arena. Hopefully the Limited format will return the digital platform with new packs. In the meantime, let's make more of our own. For those who still haven't been able to buy a physical box of Jumpstart yet, I'm sorry. The good news is if you click over my last few months of articles, you'll have enough variety to build your own box.

The four packs we're talking about this week are all tribal, with creature types that go back to the beginnings of Magic. The first, rebels, were the best thing to come out of the low-powered block of Mercadian Masques. Or perhaps they were the worst thing, depending on how you look at it. Rebels dominated the tournament scene, and games often devolved into a race to see who could first cast Lin Sivvi, Defiant Hero. At the time, legendary rules prevented your opponent from deploying their own Lin Sivvi if you already had yours in play.

Those dark days are over. The legendary rules are better than ever, and Jumpstart may be the best casual format of all time.

Lin Sivvi's Rebels | Jumpstart | AE Marling

• Creatures (10)
• 1 Amrou Seekers
• 1 Blade of the Sixth Pride
• 1 Defiant Falcon
• 1 Defiant Vanguard
• 1 Knight of the Holy Nimbus
• 1 Lin Sivvi, Defiant Hero
• 1 Ramosian Sergeant
• 1 Reveille Squad
• 1 Steadfast Guard
• 1 Whipcorder

• Instants (1)
• 1 Feat of Resistance

• Enchantments (1)
• 1 Bound in Silence

• Lands (8)
• 7 Plains
• 1 Thriving Heath

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Rebels are a classic example of White card advantage. A Ramosian Sergeant can call on the aid of a Defiant Falcon, whose warning shriek can summon a Defiant Vanguard, and if you please you can follow the chain of command even higher. Activating these abilities isn't mana efficient, compared to the creatures you're getting, and meanwhile you're not attacking. But each time you not only put yourself up a card but also build the resistance.

Though I chose Feat of Resistance for its flavor-true name, Bound in Silence has true rebel synergy. Look closer at the card type, and you'll see it's a tribal enchantment for rebels. This means you can search it up with a Defiant Falcon and put it into play, in your opponent's pre-combat phase even. Bound in Silence is another of the wild cards printed in Time Spiral that pushed the boundaries of the game. Another (at the time) was Blade of the Sixth Pride.

This was one of the first full-art cards, and back then a 3/1 for two mana was even interesting. Now take a look at that alternate frame. While I can't say I like it in particular, in general I love innovating new frames. All this contributed to a card that was striking, memorable, and hinted at a much bigger world. What was the Sixth Pride? Had the other five gone extinct? Were some of cheetah people or were they all leonine? Did they still roam somewhere on the salt-scarred savannahs of Dominaria?

While I still do not have all those answers, over a decade later I did write the flavor text for a card in Modern Horizons that called back to Blade of the Sixth Pride.

In a prior article I wrote out my desire to include more changelings in Jumpstart. Not only do they synergize with any tribal theme in the pack, but they have a better chance for cross-pack interaction. Among many things, changelings are rebels, and never forget it.

Rebellious Changelings | Jumpstart | AE Marling

• Creatures (10)
• 1 Avian Changeling
• 1 Cho-Manno, Revolutionary
• 1 Defiant Falcon
• 1 Impostor of the Sixth Pride
• 1 Irregular Cohort
• 1 Ramosian Captain
• 1 Ramosian Lieutenant
• 1 Ramosian Revivalist
• 1 Ramosian Sergeant
• 1 Valiant Changeling

• Instants (2)
• 1 Crib Swap
• 1 Vampire's Zeal

• Lands (8)
• 7 Plains
• 1 Thriving Heath

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For this pack I considered the rare changeling of Mirror Entity but decided the ability to consistently find your bomb would lead to gameplay that was too repetitive. Tutoring it up at end step would also deny your opponent sorcery speed interaction. Instead I included another powerful tribal search target in Crib Swap.

Though Vampire's Zeal isn't technically a tribal instant, I wanted to include it as a reminder that your changelings aren't merely rebels. They're everything, and they will gain first strike too. The first changeling you have in play will also enable Valiant Changeling, which you can then play for merely . As a point of interest, the changeling is also the horse.

I would be remiss if I failed to mention Cho-Manno, Revolutionary, not because his card ever did anything exceptional in tournaments but because he is one of the few Magic characters to attain a happily ever after. A disciple of Ramos, Dragon Engine, Cho-Manno aided the Weatherlight in their battle against Phyrexia. After their victory, he married Orim, Samite Healer (the much stronger card back then). Their descendant, Oriss, Samite Guardian, appears in Time Spiral. Her art is exceptional, with a call-back to her forefather's fountain.

Our next pack includes two more rebels, in the form of Changeling Outcast and Venomous Changeling. They fulfill very different but important roles, counting as both ogres and demons alongside cards that care about those creature types.

Demons Are an Ogre's Best Friend | Jumpstart | AE Marling

• Creatures (11)
• 1 Blood Speaker
• 1 Changeling Outcast
• 1 Desecration Demon
• 1 Gutwrencher Oni
• 1 Renegade Demon
• 1 Takenuma Bleeder
• 1 Venomous Changeling
• 1 Villainous Ogre
• 1 Yukora, the Prisoner
• 2 Raving Oni-Slave

• Enchantments (1)
• 1 Mark of the Oni

• Lands (8)
• 7 Swamp
• 1 Thriving Moor

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I'm not one to judge, but the ogres of Kamigawa have a thing for demons. Here we see interesting tribal mechanics that don't benefit you from having more creatures of a certain type but penalizes you if they're absent. The punishment feels all too appropriate for Black. We have powerful cards like Raving Oni-Slave and Mark of the Oni that can brutalize your foe, but their downside can be just as brutal.

Yukora, the Prisoner is mainly downside. I hardly consider him a rare on power level, so I included another in Desecration Demon. Generally, I found Limited games with the latter to be exciting. That also may be true of Yukora. Playing him would plant a seed of worry in my stomach. Maybe we should call him Yukora, the Big Yikes!

If the adoration ogres feel toward demons is questionable, the attraction of humans toward the horned ones is downright twisted. In this final pack, humans will kill themselves to enable demons. The truly horrifying part is that some of the humans clearly enjoy it.

Relationship Status: Demonic Contract | Jumpstart | AE Marling

• Creatures (10)
• 1 Accursed Witch
• 1 Dire Fleet Hoarder
• 1 Feaster of Fools
• 1 Ravenous Demon
• 1 Skeletal Changeling
• 1 Skirsdag Flayer
• 1 Soldevi Adnate
• 1 Soulstinger
• 2 Dutiful Attendant

• Instants (1)
• 1 Vicious Offering

• Artifacts (1)
• 1 Bloodsoaked Altar

• Lands (8)
• 7 Swamp
• 1 Thriving Moor

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Accursed Witch and Dutiful Attendant love being sacrificed for a greater power. Soldevi Adnate is only too happy to facilitate, and through this gruesome ritual you can introduce your foe to your demons far earlier than respectable. But the last thing you're worried about is decorum. What you're doing is filthy. And it feels great. Why, even alone Soldevi Adnate is as good as Dark Ritual, giving you five mana on turn three. Whatever could you do with such unholy power?

Yes, you could summon in your pentagram a Ravenous Demon. On your turn four, play Dutiful Attendant, sacrifice it, and hit your opponent for nine. True, on the following turn you'll pay the price, so you may wish to wait until an attack from Archdemon of Greed can win the game outright. But it's delicious to sell your soul for the chance of demolishing your opponents. How intoxicating to be part of something greater, even if that demon thinks you're nothing.

A kitchen table covered in Magic cards is a great space to explore this sort of toxic relationship. Please, go crazy with cardboard. Also, I beg you, learn from these game experiences and avoid similar relationships in real life. Unfortunately, it's scarcely an exaggeration to say that many across this country are members of a death cult and indoctrinated to throw away their lives for the greed of demons.