3 Humans decks made Day 2 of SCG Columbus, and all 3 in the Top 32 (7th, 11th, 18th). Jonathan Rosum just lost in the quarterfinals to Death's Shadow. Lists are here - Zan Syed's list is missing for some reason, but he's definitely on Humans since he was featured in Day 1 coverage.
3 Humans decks made Day 2 of SCG Columbus, and all 3 in the Top 32 (7th, 11th, 18th). Jonathan Rosum just lost in the quarterfinals to Death's Shadow. Lists are here - Zan Syed's list is missing for some reason, but he's definitely on Humans since he was featured in Day 1 coverage.
I wish there was a guide somewhere on how to best play Meddling Mage. It seems like a very good card, but I don't play Modern often enough to fully know the metagame and what cards I should name with. Save for when I play Kitesail Freebooter first, it's always a wild guess for me (in game 1). So I'm down to 3 in the main deck because of this... anybody has a reading recommendation for how to best play Mage?
This is what I've been using. It's actually a full-on sideboard guide, but it has recommended Meddling Mage targets for a variety of matchups. I keep a list of these targets in a note on my phone and try to read them before playing any Modern tournament, and it helps.
The site has a nice amount of Humans-related content, actually - it's written by a guy who has some experience playing it in the SCG circuit.
Finally found a place where there's quite the healthy discussion on Humans, so it looks like I'll be back to visiting this forum regularly just for this thread, lol.
I've been playing Humans since Collins Mullen ran the tables at SCG Cincinnati with it, and it's settled into my go-to deck for Modern tournaments. It fits the fine medium between aggression and disruption that is right up my alley, which I could never seem to get with other decks I've played in the past (could never try out DNT because I can't seem to find Flagstones).
This is the list I tried out at the latest tournament:
Some observations and notes on my card choices, and what I'd change:
- I went down to 3 little Thalia mostly because of how the sideboard has a fair number of non-creature spells now, and because I felt like I kept drawing multiples. In its place, I put in the second Bob main - makes a matchup like Burn a little rougher, but I do like the added capability to grind since that helps fight the local meta a little bit better. It might just be that I'm very unlucky with Thalia (I always seem to draw them in pairs), but I'll likely stick with this 3-2 split for now.
- I also cut back on Phantasmal Image to try out Harsh Mentor after seeing it in one of the GP lists. In theory it's supposed to help against matchups like Affinity (lots of activated abilities) and Abzan Company. Then I realized that any smart Coco player could just play a big enough Walking Ballista (say, for 3), kill the Mentor, and proceed to dump infinite mana for infinite counters on Ballista anyway. Right now it strikes me as a little too cute to play over the added versatility Image gives, so I'll probably go back to the 3rd Image. I could go up to 4 Images again and cut either Bob #2 or Reflector #4 - this is what I'll have to look at soon.
- For the sideboard, I feel like the 2 Anafenzas, Dismembers, Grafdiggers and Mirran Crusaders, and 1 Sin Collector, have all been solid and are what I'd start any future list with. I tried out Stony Silence, realized it also shuts down my Vials, and will probably go back to good ol' Vithian Renegades (do we seriously not have a Human that kills BOTH artifacts and enchantments?). I don't know if Reclamation Sage is worth the non-human synergy for the full Naturalize effect, but I would like the ability to deal with things like Blood Moon and Worship in some way.
- I've cut back completely on Riders of Gavony because there aren't a whole lot of Humans/Merfolk/other tribal decks in the local meta bar Eldrazi, and I think the deck has enough game against Eldrazi decks even without it.
- I know some pros have been going with Gut Shot over Staticaster, and I think it's a fine choice - I'm just preferring the latter because I can't justify Gut Shot when Lingering Souls midrange decks still abound in the area. I might be wrong on this one.
- Haven't been able to play Kambal, Consul of Allocation even once, so I have no idea how good he is yet. Is he worth it over something like Ethersworn Canonist?
- Hostage Taker is a card that I've continually been impressed with, even if I keep going back and forth on 1-2 in the board. I honestly don't think 4 mana is too much, at least in postboard games - the matchups where I bring it in tend to slow down that 4 mana is feasible enough. My experience with it is that people will usually snipe the humans that either threaten to end the game fast (Champion, Mantis Rider) or disrupt their gameplan (Mage, Kitesail, Thalias) first, so that you can usually play it safely afterwards and there's barely any removal left (which Kitesail helps you figure out because lol Pirate synergy). Against Affinity, it can help you take that Cranial Plating that's going to kill you, force an early pop of Arcbound Ravager (best paired with Reflector Mage), or get you an artifact creature to chump Etched Champion. Eldrazi and Death's Shadow have some high-value targets (Smasher, TKS, Tasigur/Angler) that can just swing the game if you manage to nab them. I've also realized that it's fine against Lantern - sometimes you'll take their lone Ensnaring Bridge and kill them by surprise, sometimes you can take a key lock piece to keep them off balance long enough for you to swing in and win. The usual suspects (Decay, Brutality) don't kill it, either, so I kind of feel safe tapping out for it.
Some other things to try in the near future: Eduardo Sajgalik suggested Hero of Bladehold when he was streaming the deck, as an additional bulky threat against Lightning Bolt-based decks that can threaten to end the game immediately. I know some lists have also been going with Orzhov Pontiff in the board, and it seems fine as a more versatile Staticaster that has the option of pumping your team and swinging for lethal. Finally, the 8-0 list in the latest Modern Challenge on MTGO is Humans, and features a card I have yet to see in any list - Kessig Malcontents! That's an interesting way to give Humans some form of reach, and I assume helps against decks like Death's Shadow where you can just surprise kill them out of nowhere.
Salt Road Patrol gums up the ground like it's nobody's business. Reminds me of Rotted Hulk, for sure. The P/T is designed in a way that it gets through common red removal (Bring Low) while still dodging Smite the Monstrous (until you Outlast). Oftentimes I had this as a 3/6 that just stopped the board.
Even earlier than that, though: Archer's Parapet. In grindy Abzan mirror matches this card won me games because it just sits there and plays defense while pinging your opponent. It's (really slow) inevitability that shores you up, allowing you to hide behind walls and Outlast your guys.
Those two, plus Disowned Ancestor really help Abzan stall and come through late game with bigger stuff. Not to mention you can grow the Ancestor into a beatstick that will probably not die.
I did not like Jeskai Windscout at least in Sealed. It might be nuts in draft, though, where you can really make Prowess work and just tempo-cheap swing the opponent the death.
Seems like good starts for builds. Two of them seem like a Dredge build that has Necropolis Fiend, Whip of Erebos and Hornet Queen, there's a Constellation build, even an Aggro build that curves Pantheon into Rakshasa Deathdealer into Anafenza.
Of the six, I'm most interested in the one that got 2nd. It's fairly straightforward - has 4 Hero's Downfall, 4 Thoughtseize, and 4 Drown in Sorrow between the 75. I've been playtesting it for the past couple of hours and mana is much, much more consistent than the other builds I've been playing (those with Brimaz, King of Oreskos wants WW on turn 3, this one just wants W T3 for Abzan Charm0.
Plus a large amount of warrior creatures in the colors, and even some in the two clans it slots into (Abzan and Mardu).
R/W seems to be pointing towards something aggressive, as with Highspire Mantis and Ride Down. Does seem to fit with the way Mardu (aggro rush) and Jeskai (aggressive tempo + prowess) want to play.
As well as a wipe that takes care of weenies but not it's high toughness guys - Death Frenzy. Obviously meant to play with both the B/G clans - Sultai wants to buy time to set up Delve, Abzan wants to buy time to get a stalled board and just start outlasting to victory.
I am not sure what U/R is, but there's something there.
The allied-color pairs are probably a little more straightforward than this because they're all just in one clan, but I can't figure it out. Maybe that's the way it's supposed to go? Seems like in draft I'd try to stick to an enemy-color pair early on so I'm open to two clans as the draft progresses, as compared to an allied-color pair since that just leads to one.
I have to admit, those five-color builds made me wish I played those. So it seems like I was on the way towards an Embodiment of Spring ramp build (which is true), but FTW ended up with Butcher (I thought it was too greedy, probably could have gotten away with it) and less morphs (but with Abzan Guide) while I went towards having morphs that I could consistently turn face up (Glacial Stalker and Mistfire). In hindsight, I wasn't a fan of the Mistfire and the Stalker was unspectacular, if alright, so I think I should have played Abzan Guide. He also has Jeskai Charm where I have Temur.
magicmerl ended up with something very different, though, and for that I'm curious as to how you approached building this deck/your thought process that led to this. I'd never have thought to play Tormented Voice, actually.
Out of all the Sealed Pools I have I posted this because of the amount of fixing available is just a lot - 5 banners, 9 colored nonbasics and 2 Embodiment of Spring - so there's definitely a lot of options.
I think what made it good was the creatures available at common - Abzan has a one-mana Outlast at 0/4 and a two-mana 0/5, which I realized does most of the heavy lifting. Ainok Bond-Kin is an alright card for its costs as well, even the uncommon lords were fine bodies for their cost (I think the weakest ones were Abzan Battle Priest and Tuskguard Captain, First Strike/Flying/Deathtouch ones were the best).
The enablers were VERY important, though. Dragonscale Boon, Armament Corps (insanely efficient at 5), Feat of Resistance and so on, because they allow you to hold up mana/deploy a threat while leaving your Outlast guys on defense. I saw someone at the prerelease who had ALL the Outlast lords and no reliable way to trigger them. You need a mix of both.
I agree with the idea that outlast is a way to break parity and pull ahead later on. You don't Outlast with just one guy on the battlefield (I'd rather play a morph), because that's just begging for you to be blown out. You instead play 0/4, 0/5 walls and morphs to stall, kill anything that can get past, then drop Outlast guys and build them up while hiding behind walls. Hold defense and build up a Sliver army, then take over the game. Knowing when to switch between a control approach and an aggressive one is key. Most of the Abzan players (myself as well) I talked to noted how Disowned Ancestor and Archer's Parapet do some heavy lifting early game, because these are the cards you hide behind while your dudes get bigger.
Also, I feel as if EVERY store should put up a primer on Morph. Morph not using the stack needs to be known by everyone. No, you can't respond to me flipping it face up. And revealing any morph when it changes zones (bounce, exile). Actually, most of the confusion I saw came from Morph.
No, you cannot exile additional cards for your Delve spell as "paying mana" when I hit it with a counter like Temur Charm or Stubborn Denial.
Only time I went Temur out of the 5 seeded packs I had, all other 4 were Abzan.
With the variety of fixing here, I went Temur splashing some of the flashy gold cards - Duneblast, Villainous Wealth and the two Efreets, as well as pretty much everything that said "draw a card". I forced those two as much as possible because the previous flight I saw how insane those two could be. I'll come up with the decklist later, because at the moment I can't remember the manabase I worked with.
Looking back I probably should've played a Banner instead of the Ascendancy, because my big dudes (save Colossodon) enter the battlefield as morph anyway. I didn't play Force Away because I'd rather spend the early turns playing tapped lands/fetching with Embodiment/laying down morph dudes. Most games were won either via Duneblast/a HUGE Villainous Wealth (6 seems to be the sweet spot so you can nab those common morph guys), leaving behind a large dude (Glacial Stalker most of the time, actually) and hitting anything the opponent tried to play afterward with removal.
So, last weekend marked the last set of WMCQs around the world, and the last significant tournaments we'll see the current Standard (RTR-Theros) environment in. Sure, it won't phase out until next week, but with the prereleases in the next couple of days we'll all be looking towards the new format coming in.
Before we move on though, I'd like to ask people here what their overall thoughts were of this Standard environment. Did you enjoy it? Did you like the number/variety of decks that won/could win? And so on. Any cards rotating out that you would love to see again in future Standard formats?
Somehow I use a similar method to yours, except I count activated abilities if the mana needed to use it is a splash color (say, Scaldkin or Crackling Triton would also count as one R).
How about recommended numbers for the taplands? Say you're Mardu (Mainly RW splashing B for some removal), would you play all taplands you have of the appropriate colors (BW, RB, RW)? Say your Sealed deck is an aggressive Mardu deck that wants to curve out as much as possible, how much ETB tapped lands could you play?
Although since yesterday, 4/5 times I seem to either have an End Hostilities or a High Sentinels of Arashin. And whenever I try going Abzan I almost ALWAYS end up with a Duneblast.
Seems like a nuts card in Abzan colors, considering that Abzan has the biggest butts in the set. I can see many people trying for a curve of T1 Disowned Ancestor into a T2 4/4. That's.... pretty crazy.
Worst case scenario you're probably getting a 3/3 for BG (it is Abzan, after all), which seems like decent value.
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Rosum's list, 7th
Powell's list, 11th
Syed's list, 18th
The SCG feature match takes place at around 4.5 hours in through the day 1 coverage vid.
There's even a nice mirror match featured in Day 1 between Rosum and Syed, which is pretty fun to watch.
Good weekend for the deck, I'd say.
http://www.mattling.com/2017/11/modern-humans-sideboard-guide.html
This is what I've been using. It's actually a full-on sideboard guide, but it has recommended Meddling Mage targets for a variety of matchups. I keep a list of these targets in a note on my phone and try to read them before playing any Modern tournament, and it helps.
The site has a nice amount of Humans-related content, actually - it's written by a guy who has some experience playing it in the SCG circuit.
I've been playing Humans since Collins Mullen ran the tables at SCG Cincinnati with it, and it's settled into my go-to deck for Modern tournaments. It fits the fine medium between aggression and disruption that is right up my alley, which I could never seem to get with other decks I've played in the past (could never try out DNT because I can't seem to find Flagstones).
This is the list I tried out at the latest tournament:
4 Champion of the Parish
4 Noble Hierarch
2 Dark Confidant
3 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
2 Phantasmal Image
4 Thalia's Lieutenant
4 Kitesail Freebooter
4 Meddling Mage
4 Mantis Rider
4 Reflector Mage
1 Thalia, Heretic Cathar
1 Harsh Mentor
4 Aether Vial
Lands:
4 Horizon Canopy
4 Ancient Ziggurat
4 Cavern of Souls
4 Unclaimed Territory
2 Seachrome Coast
1 Plains
2 Mirran Crusader
2 Dismember
2 Grafdigger's Cage
2 Stony Silence
2 Kambal, Consul of Allocation
1 Izzet Staticaster
1 Hostage Taker
1 Sin Collector
2 Anafenza, the Foremost
Some observations and notes on my card choices, and what I'd change:
- I went down to 3 little Thalia mostly because of how the sideboard has a fair number of non-creature spells now, and because I felt like I kept drawing multiples. In its place, I put in the second Bob main - makes a matchup like Burn a little rougher, but I do like the added capability to grind since that helps fight the local meta a little bit better. It might just be that I'm very unlucky with Thalia (I always seem to draw them in pairs), but I'll likely stick with this 3-2 split for now.
- I also cut back on Phantasmal Image to try out Harsh Mentor after seeing it in one of the GP lists. In theory it's supposed to help against matchups like Affinity (lots of activated abilities) and Abzan Company. Then I realized that any smart Coco player could just play a big enough Walking Ballista (say, for 3), kill the Mentor, and proceed to dump infinite mana for infinite counters on Ballista anyway. Right now it strikes me as a little too cute to play over the added versatility Image gives, so I'll probably go back to the 3rd Image. I could go up to 4 Images again and cut either Bob #2 or Reflector #4 - this is what I'll have to look at soon.
- For the sideboard, I feel like the 2 Anafenzas, Dismembers, Grafdiggers and Mirran Crusaders, and 1 Sin Collector, have all been solid and are what I'd start any future list with. I tried out Stony Silence, realized it also shuts down my Vials, and will probably go back to good ol' Vithian Renegades (do we seriously not have a Human that kills BOTH artifacts and enchantments?). I don't know if Reclamation Sage is worth the non-human synergy for the full Naturalize effect, but I would like the ability to deal with things like Blood Moon and Worship in some way.
- I've cut back completely on Riders of Gavony because there aren't a whole lot of Humans/Merfolk/other tribal decks in the local meta bar Eldrazi, and I think the deck has enough game against Eldrazi decks even without it.
- I know some pros have been going with Gut Shot over Staticaster, and I think it's a fine choice - I'm just preferring the latter because I can't justify Gut Shot when Lingering Souls midrange decks still abound in the area. I might be wrong on this one.
- Haven't been able to play Kambal, Consul of Allocation even once, so I have no idea how good he is yet. Is he worth it over something like Ethersworn Canonist?
- Hostage Taker is a card that I've continually been impressed with, even if I keep going back and forth on 1-2 in the board. I honestly don't think 4 mana is too much, at least in postboard games - the matchups where I bring it in tend to slow down that 4 mana is feasible enough. My experience with it is that people will usually snipe the humans that either threaten to end the game fast (Champion, Mantis Rider) or disrupt their gameplan (Mage, Kitesail, Thalias) first, so that you can usually play it safely afterwards and there's barely any removal left (which Kitesail helps you figure out because lol Pirate synergy). Against Affinity, it can help you take that Cranial Plating that's going to kill you, force an early pop of Arcbound Ravager (best paired with Reflector Mage), or get you an artifact creature to chump Etched Champion. Eldrazi and Death's Shadow have some high-value targets (Smasher, TKS, Tasigur/Angler) that can just swing the game if you manage to nab them. I've also realized that it's fine against Lantern - sometimes you'll take their lone Ensnaring Bridge and kill them by surprise, sometimes you can take a key lock piece to keep them off balance long enough for you to swing in and win. The usual suspects (Decay, Brutality) don't kill it, either, so I kind of feel safe tapping out for it.
Some other things to try in the near future: Eduardo Sajgalik suggested Hero of Bladehold when he was streaming the deck, as an additional bulky threat against Lightning Bolt-based decks that can threaten to end the game immediately. I know some lists have also been going with Orzhov Pontiff in the board, and it seems fine as a more versatile Staticaster that has the option of pumping your team and swinging for lethal. Finally, the 8-0 list in the latest Modern Challenge on MTGO is Humans, and features a card I have yet to see in any list - Kessig Malcontents! That's an interesting way to give Humans some form of reach, and I assume helps against decks like Death's Shadow where you can just surprise kill them out of nowhere.
Even earlier than that, though: Archer's Parapet. In grindy Abzan mirror matches this card won me games because it just sits there and plays defense while pinging your opponent. It's (really slow) inevitability that shores you up, allowing you to hide behind walls and Outlast your guys.
Those two, plus Disowned Ancestor really help Abzan stall and come through late game with bigger stuff. Not to mention you can grow the Ancestor into a beatstick that will probably not die.
I did not like Jeskai Windscout at least in Sealed. It might be nuts in draft, though, where you can really make Prowess work and just tempo-cheap swing the opponent the death.
http://www.magic-league.com/deck/85910/black_aggro_with_sorin.html#Abzan Midrange191726
Seems like good starts for builds. Two of them seem like a Dredge build that has Necropolis Fiend, Whip of Erebos and Hornet Queen, there's a Constellation build, even an Aggro build that curves Pantheon into Rakshasa Deathdealer into Anafenza.
Of the six, I'm most interested in the one that got 2nd. It's fairly straightforward - has 4 Hero's Downfall, 4 Thoughtseize, and 4 Drown in Sorrow between the 75. I've been playtesting it for the past couple of hours and mana is much, much more consistent than the other builds I've been playing (those with Brimaz, King of Oreskos wants WW on turn 3, this one just wants W T3 for Abzan Charm0.
Chief of the Edge
Chief of the Scale
Raider's Spoils
Rush of Battle
Plus a large amount of warrior creatures in the colors, and even some in the two clans it slots into (Abzan and Mardu).
R/W seems to be pointing towards something aggressive, as with Highspire Mantis and Ride Down. Does seem to fit with the way Mardu (aggro rush) and Jeskai (aggressive tempo + prowess) want to play.
B/G looks like high-toughness, defensive creatures - just basing this off Kin-Tree Invocation but the color pair has access to some rather large butts:
Disowned Ancestor
Archer's Parapet
Sidisi's Pet
As well as a wipe that takes care of weenies but not it's high toughness guys - Death Frenzy. Obviously meant to play with both the B/G clans - Sultai wants to buy time to set up Delve, Abzan wants to buy time to get a stalled board and just start outlasting to victory.
I am not sure what U/R is, but there's something there.
The allied-color pairs are probably a little more straightforward than this because they're all just in one clan, but I can't figure it out. Maybe that's the way it's supposed to go? Seems like in draft I'd try to stick to an enemy-color pair early on so I'm open to two clans as the draft progresses, as compared to an allied-color pair since that just leads to one.
I have to admit, those five-color builds made me wish I played those.
magicmerl ended up with something very different, though, and for that I'm curious as to how you approached building this deck/your thought process that led to this. I'd never have thought to play Tormented Voice, actually.
Out of all the Sealed Pools I have I posted this because of the amount of fixing available is just a lot - 5 banners, 9 colored nonbasics and 2 Embodiment of Spring - so there's definitely a lot of options.
The enablers were VERY important, though. Dragonscale Boon, Armament Corps (insanely efficient at 5), Feat of Resistance and so on, because they allow you to hold up mana/deploy a threat while leaving your Outlast guys on defense. I saw someone at the prerelease who had ALL the Outlast lords and no reliable way to trigger them. You need a mix of both.
I agree with the idea that outlast is a way to break parity and pull ahead later on. You don't Outlast with just one guy on the battlefield (I'd rather play a morph), because that's just begging for you to be blown out. You instead play 0/4, 0/5 walls and morphs to stall, kill anything that can get past, then drop Outlast guys and build them up while hiding behind walls. Hold defense and build up a Sliver army, then take over the game. Knowing when to switch between a control approach and an aggressive one is key. Most of the Abzan players (myself as well) I talked to noted how Disowned Ancestor and Archer's Parapet do some heavy lifting early game, because these are the cards you hide behind while your dudes get bigger.
Also, I feel as if EVERY store should put up a primer on Morph. Morph not using the stack needs to be known by everyone. No, you can't respond to me flipping it face up. And revealing any morph when it changes zones (bounce, exile). Actually, most of the confusion I saw came from Morph.
No, you cannot exile additional cards for your Delve spell as "paying mana" when I hit it with a counter like Temur Charm or Stubborn Denial.
1 Erase
1 Firehoof Cavalry
1 Salt Road Patrol
1 Siegecraft
1 War Behemoth
1 Watcher of the Roost
1 Crippling Chill
1 Disdainful Stroke
2 Embodiment of Spring
1 Force Away
2 Glacial Stalker
1 Jeskai Windscout
1 Mistfire Weaver
1 Taigam's Scheming
1 Weave Fate
1 Wetland Sambar
2 Debilitating Injury
1 Dutiful Return
1 Molting Snakeskin
1 Sidisi's Pet
1 Throttle
1 Unyielding Krumar
1 Bring Low
1 Canyon Lurkers
1 Crater's Claws
1 Dragon Grip
1 Hordeling Outburst
1 Mardu Heart-Piercer (FOIL)
1 Summit Prowler
3 Tormenting Voice
2 Trumpet Blast
1 Valley Dasher
1 Alpine Grizzly
2 Become Immense
2 Dragonscale Boon
1 Highland Game
1 Naturalize
1 Pine Walker
1 Sagu Archer
1 Seek the Horizon
1 Temur Charger
2 Tusked Colossodon
1 Abzan Ascendancy
1 Abzan Guide
1 Duneblast
1 Kin-Tree Invocation (FOIL)
1 Villainous Wealth
1 Snowhorn Rider
1 Temur Ascendancy
1 Temur Charm
1 Master the Way
2 Efreet Weaponmaster
1 Jeskai Charm
1 Butcher of the Horde
3 Abzan Banner
1 Mardu Banner
1 Temur Banner
1 Blossoming Sands
2 Dismal Backwater
1 Frontier Bivouac
1 Nomad Outpost
1 Scoured Barren
1 Swiftwater Cliff
1 Thornwood Falls
2 Tomb of the Spirit Dragon
1 Tranquil Cove
Only time I went Temur out of the 5 seeded packs I had, all other 4 were Abzan.
With the variety of fixing here, I went Temur splashing some of the flashy gold cards - Duneblast, Villainous Wealth and the two Efreets, as well as pretty much everything that said "draw a card". I forced those two as much as possible because the previous flight I saw how insane those two could be. I'll come up with the decklist later, because at the moment I can't remember the manabase I worked with.
How would you build this?
EDIT: Deck:
1 Highland Game
2 Glacial Stalker
1 Mistfire Weaver
1 Sagu Archer
1 Pine Walker
2 Efreet Weaponmaster
1 Snowhorn Rider
1 Tusked Colossodon
1 Mardu Heart-Piercer
1 Crippling Chill
1 Temur Charm
1 Weave Fate
1 Bring Low
1 Crater’s Claws
1 Master the Way
1 Duneblast
1 Villainous Wealth
1 Blossoming Sands
2 Dismal Backwater
1 Frontier Bivouac
1 Nomad Outpost
1 Swiftwater Cliff
1 Thornwood Falls
1 Tranquil Cove
3 Forest
3 Mountain
3 Island
1 Plains
Looking back I probably should've played a Banner instead of the Ascendancy, because my big dudes (save Colossodon) enter the battlefield as morph anyway. I didn't play Force Away because I'd rather spend the early turns playing tapped lands/fetching with Embodiment/laying down morph dudes. Most games were won either via Duneblast/a HUGE Villainous Wealth (6 seems to be the sweet spot so you can nab those common morph guys), leaving behind a large dude (Glacial Stalker most of the time, actually) and hitting anything the opponent tried to play afterward with removal.
Before we move on though, I'd like to ask people here what their overall thoughts were of this Standard environment. Did you enjoy it? Did you like the number/variety of decks that won/could win? And so on. Any cards rotating out that you would love to see again in future Standard formats?
Gathering Magic has a nice summary of the Standard season in statistics here: http://www.gatheringmagic.com/nickvigabool-091814-standard-snapshot-metagame-in-review/
How about recommended numbers for the taplands? Say you're Mardu (Mainly RW splashing B for some removal), would you play all taplands you have of the appropriate colors (BW, RB, RW)? Say your Sealed deck is an aggressive Mardu deck that wants to curve out as much as possible, how much ETB tapped lands could you play?
Although since yesterday, 4/5 times I seem to either have an End Hostilities or a High Sentinels of Arashin.
Variance, I guess.
Seems like a nuts card in Abzan colors, considering that Abzan has the biggest butts in the set. I can see many people trying for a curve of T1 Disowned Ancestor into a T2 4/4. That's.... pretty crazy.
Worst case scenario you're probably getting a 3/3 for BG (it is Abzan, after all), which seems like decent value.