It was the first year of the product, and those decks were massively under-printed compared to the sets released from 2013 to now
The Art of Deviation Generally, in a tribal deck, you want to avoid playing creatures that aren't of your tribe if possible
While Imotekh does have some combo potential such as Tortured Existence + Phyrexian Altar for infinite death triggers (add a finisher like Zulaport Cutthroat to win), it can also focus on just pooping out a ton of creature tokens and winning with those instead
Tribute Mage, while a much newer card, has quickly secured a position in my blue decks as well, though Ill admit, its mostly to fetch mana rocks
Well, the set was very hyped when announced, and it felt like it would be huge
Tellah, Great Sage Its hard to stomach a 5-mana 3/3, commander or not, but theres promise to firing off a huge burn spell and essentially doubling up on the damage with Tellah, Great Sages last ability