I know this is an archetype that has been visited many times but in recent sets we have received a lot of new tools and pieces for this deck. The deck is fast enough to steal wins from most combo decks and give a lot of other agro decks a serious run for their money. It’s fairly consistent and has great sideboard tools against the field. It does still have room to grow though. I think all it needs is a solid 3cmc lord and maybe a solid aggressive 2cmc option as well. Otherwise I’m fairly sold on the rest of the deck. Here it is:
MAIN Creatures
I can’t cover literally every single option available to us for this archetype, at least not right now. I can expand this later if necessary. Some notable and “obvious” options are excluded partially for budget reasons and partially because, despite their utility, aren’t aggressive enough for what this deck is trying to do. Thraben Inspector is a hard card to evaluate. Its value is that it’s a human that comes with card draw. Its resilient against blockers and attackers. It has a lot of upsides but in a deck that is trying to get as aggressive as possible, it may not always be the right choice. That said, the card draw definitely helps with consistency where it lacks in speed. That said, this deck needs speed the most. Its probably the right play to swap this guy for a more aggressive option. Champion of the Parish is our Wild Nacatl. A large portion of the deck is geared around getting him to 3 power on turn 2. There are a lot of lines of play that reward us for packing Champ. Turn 1 Champ into 2x 1-drops, or literally any 2-drop is going to get us at least 3 damage on turn 2. Kytheon, Hero of Akros is a really cool option that we recently got. It’s a human that turns into a pretty powerful beater that also happens to be kind of good on defense. I’m going to ignore his activated ability because I can’t think of a time I’ve ever really used it. However, getting to swing with him, flip him, make an indestructible blocker out of your other best attacker (oh, and simultaneously making it hard to remove Kytheon by virtue of turning him into a ‘Walker instead of a creature), puts you in a very good position to continue to be aggressive the next turn. It seems very win-more but, as dumb as it sounds, that’s kind of what we want. The deck wins most often by ramming the opponents early and establishing a board state by turn 3 or 4 that they just have to scoop too because they know they can’t recover. Thalia’s Lieutenant are another awesome recent addition. This is our one lord but also serves as Champion of the Parish 5-8 on the same card, which is pretty nice. One of the major challenges of this deck is sequencing your plays in such a way as to maximize their impact. That said, there are times where playing the Lieutenants is NOT the right play. I have one more than a few games where they got stranded in play because it was more efficient to take other lines of play. Don’t just take the obvious play, aim for maximum impact. Lightning Mauler should NOT be underestimated. Often people will want to drop Champion -> Lieutenants but often the better play is Champion -> Mauler. We can put 4 damage on board on turn 2 by going Champion/Kytheon -> Mauler. Following that up with a turn 3 Lieutentants gets you 11 total damage by turn 3 assuming you have no other play. Again, this card takes a lot of experience to understand how to play optimally in this deck. Its great for recovering quickly as well. It can really surprise an opponent. Hanweir Garrison is the card that made me want to revisit this archetype. It can be a little slow but Mauler helps with that. The advantage of this card is that it’s a really powerful finisher. When coupled with a Champ/Lieutenant the attack step buff it provides is incredible. If a game drags on long then the combo with its land counterpart can stop a game in 1 turn. It offers the deck everything we want in terms of a curve topping finisher. The best part is we don’t have to raise our curve to include 4 drops which helps keep the deck as low to the ground as possible. Scab-Clan Berserker is a card I think a lot of people will disagree with. I understand people’s hesistation and I really just threw it in so I could play test the deck but I was so glad that I did. There might be better options down the road and it’s also possible this should be split with Thalia, Heretic Cathar. I just think in most metas the Haste 3 drop is better able to maintain the pressure we want. Not to mention that it offers a lot of pressure on certain decks because of the tax. Across a single turn its capable of supplying 4 damage by itself on turn 3. Across two turns it can provide upwards of 5-9? For a deck that wants to get aggressive, she sure fits the bill. Thalia, Heretic Cathar is excluded because it isn’t as aggressive as other options but it does help to slow down your opponent’s ability to deploy blockers. I think this is a meta call. If you have a lot of B/W Tokens in your meta I think she becomes preferable over Garrison (not Berserker since they further punish the Instant & Sorcery token makers). She is Legendary though so you need to be careful how many you run. 3 should likely be the absolute most for a 3-drop Legendary but I would be inclined to lean closer to 2.
Spells Lightning Bolt…I mean we are playing Mountains… Gather the Townsfolk is a card that fits in the deck. It enables powerful turn 1 Champions. They aren’t particularly great on their own but work well, if not sometimes awkwardly, with Champion, Kytheon, and Lieutenants. It’s not exciting but its functional if, again, occasionally awkward. They feel very clunky. Lightning Helix is just more reach, removal, and the life gain occasionally helps us drag the game out long enough against aggressive opponents to field something they simply can’t deal with.
Lands
The first three I feel like are the real reason you should consider running this deck as a budget aggro option. They are what make the entire deck simultaneously cheap enough and consistent enough to consider Inspiring Vantage is one of the biggest boosts this deck has received lately. Definitely a staple no matter what your budget but there are very reasonably priced (compared to other Modern legal duals) despite how much play they are seeing in Standard. Expect these to remain where they are until after rotation where we could see them drop to as low as $4-5. Battlefield Forge is another great option. It’s been around for a while but with the recent reprint it is fairly cheap. The biggest advantage it offers is really one of “critical mass”. Its yet another dual that enters play untapped. Our life total is rarely of major concern to us. We also have ways of gaining life back if we need to. Hanweir Battlements really helps out the decks overall game plan and offers a unique opportunity to go really big when a matchup is dragging on too long. The haste option should not be ignored. It can help you recover very quickly or just help maintain solid pressure. I wouldn’t run too many though as the deck has pretty strict color requirements. Clifftop Retreat can come into play untapped but gets really awkward with all of our other duals and utility lands. If you have Fetches and Shocks then it becomes slightly more attractive. Still, as a budget option, you could do worse.
Sacred Foundry is one of the first upgrades I would make to the deck for obvious reasons. I would probably just replace basics honestly. The deck doesn’t need more than a couple of basics to fetch with Path to Exile or Ghost Quarter. Other than that the deck is trying to play as consistently as possible and Sacred Foundry really helps with that. Arid Mesa is the last card I would attempt to obtain. Its utility in this deck is quite diminished versus other decks in the format and pretty much acts as Sacred Foundry’s 5-8. That said, that is exactly what we want it to do. It’s just another way to consistently fix our mana early.
SIDEBOARD
What you put in varies a lot based on your meta but here are a few suggestions. Lightning Helix is an option. I doubt its often where you would want to be but it can be useful against Burn to have more ways to gain life. It’s not a bad option because it serves a twofold purpose of maintaining our aggressive game plan while slowing down theirs. Stony Silence is a solid option against Affinity and Tron. We are fast enough against Tron that slowing them down just a little bit is often good enough. Versus Affinity, their guys are pretty good blockers so some number of Wear // Tear might be appropriate. Path to Exile also might be preferable to try and just increase the amount of removal you have available. Rest in Peace is an excellent addition against Dredge and Snapcaster decks. The best part is that the symmetrical affect doesn’t bother us even a little bit as we have 0 interaction with our graveyard. Path to Exile is a good choice in some amount depending on your meta. It’s something you will want against Tarmogoyf or Primetime. Wear // Tear is good against anything fielding artifacts or enchantments. Pyroclasm hurts us but having a sweeper available is probably a good idea. Its not impossible to imagine a situation where Pyroclasm misses a lot of our guys too. Anger of the Gods is another good option for a sweeper. You might wonder why you would want something like this and the honest answer is Hatebears. Most of their guys will die to Anger of the Gods. It’s a pretty rough matchup so I would suggest holding all of your hastey options in hand until after you have Angered and then lay it out and put the pressure back on as hard as you can. Boros Charm is an obvious include for any meta running sweepers. They also double as reach so the options are quite versatile.
Anyway, that’s the deck as I have it currently. It’s a lot of fun and better than you might think. Just watch out for matchups like Merfolk, Hatebears, and Eldrazi. Their guys generally outclass ours in a way that makes It very difficult to get through or race. If you see a lot of combo or control it’s a good option though. It matches up pretty well against Delver decks, Ad Naseum, Scapeshift (not Titanshift, that’s 50/50), Living End, etc.
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I strongly recommemd you check out the Boros Humans list by Corbin Hosler on TCGplayer. The list is a little different, using Soul Warden and Soul Attendant to get into the late game while swarming the board with tokens. It's a real riot to play.
As for your list, it looks solid. If you could give me some testing results, could I snag your list for a primer about getting into Modern on a budget? I'll give you credit for the deck, of course.
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I strongly recommemd you check out the Boros Humans list by Corbin Hosler on TCGplayer. The list is a little different, using Soul Warden and Soul Attendant to get into the late game while swarming the board with tokens. It's a real riot to play.
As for your list, it looks solid. If you could give me some testing results, could I snag your list for a primer about getting into Modern on a budget? I'll give you credit for the deck, of course.
I’m cool with that! I’ll write up something regarding specific match ups or are you looking for something more like a play-by-play of a given match rather than an overview of vs. certain archetypes (i.e.- Jund, Merfolk, Eldrazi, etc.)?
Silverblade Paladin deals a lot of damage, fast. Even if he's "only" paired with Lightning Mauler, they alone go in for 8 "first strike" dmg on turn 3. Bond to a huge Champion or pumped by Lieutenant, he goes out of hand quickly.
Blood Moon is still quite good against many decks game2.
Other than the sideboard and certain budget mana differences, our lists are actually pretty close. Have you tried any other 1-drops in place of Thraben Inspector? Before I picked up Kytheon I used Soldier of the Pantheon as an ultra-budget replacement. I had considered running that over Inspector. I really like that Inspector draws a card and is a decent top deck as a result but Soldier just is so much more aggressive with potentially relevant upside (depending on the matchup).
I hadn’t really considered Silverblade Paladin. Seems decent. One problem I have run into with the Soulbond mechanic is that targeted removal can pretty handily negate the advantage. I would worry that adding more Soulbond makes that problem occur more often. What has your experience been? Have you ever tried Scab-Clan Berserker in that slot? Obviously you would need more Mountains for that change but…. One of the reasons I choose Berserker is because I wanted each card to be able to, with the exception of Mauler, stand alone as a threat so regardless of what I top decked, there was relevant upside. I also knew that I wanted to end the game as fast as possible and so any 3-drop I had needed to be able to recover my board as quickly as possible and Berserker's Haste really appeals to me for that. Plus if it gets in and then gets removed it essential acheived two attack steps worth of damage (or a single Double Strike from just the Paladin) in the single turn it managed to survive and its been my experience that often is enough to close out the game. I also really like it matchups like Burn. It kind of operates like a 1-sided Eidolon of the Great Revel, albeit a turn slower.
Burrenton actually seems like some really neat tech against Anger of the Gods. Pithing Needle is always a great sideboard choice if you know your meta. Blood Moon is a little out of my budget range though XD.
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Why wait for 3 mana when you've got everything you need at 1 and 2 cmc? You get 2 extra lords in Mayor of Avabruck and Hamlet Captain, you've got mid/late game sustainability with Warden of the First Tree, a card which is also fine in the early game as an extra beater. All this along with the usual Humans suspects and you've got a fast, consistent, resilient aggro deck. I've been very happy with it.
This list is about 105 tix on MTGO and can be made cheaper by replacing the fetches. In paper, the mana base would need to be further simplified and maybe some other concessions depending on budget. Some later upgrades would be things like Cavern of Souls and Auriok Champion.
I like this because it lowers the curve a lot, adds another anthem like affect as well as another really good beater that benefits a LOT from the anthems. Also, it means that Expertise can cast everything in the deck and even remove a blocker AND add a beater to finish out games faster. I think this is going to be pretty good.
Why wait for 3 mana when you've got everything you need at 1 and 2 cmc? You get 2 extra lords in Mayor of Avabruck and Hamlet Captain, you've got mid/late game sustainability with Warden of the First Tree, a card which is also fine in the early game as an extra beater. All this along with the usual Humans suspects and you've got a fast, consistent, resilient aggro deck. I've been very happy with it.
This list is about 105 tix on MTGO and can be made cheaper by replacing the fetches. In paper, the mana base would need to be further simplified and maybe some other concessions depending on budget. Some later upgrades would be things like Cavern of Souls and Auriok Champion.
Full disclosure: Green is my least favorite color in magic but a WIDE margin. Some part of my choice to go red was bias because my absolute favorite color in magic is red lol.
That said, if I'm playing aggro, especially in Modern, I'm probably not going to do it without Lightning Bolt. Reach + removal is everything an aggro list wants. Also, access to haste makes a much bigger difference than most people think. Also, red gives you access to Lightning Mauler which produces several reliable 4 damage on turn 2 plays. The deck plays out really fast to try and get under decks like Jund and Scapeshift. Even if a deck is resilient, what control deck exists in the format to test or require that? I feel like speed is more important in this format especially if you consider that the hyper fast decks of the format like Infect and Zoo don't care about your resilience because they are just going to trample over you anyway.
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Great to see you're still on Boros humans, I also still play the deck and it's performing spectacular. Metallic Mimic was an insta-fit for us and shines with Gather the Townsfolk, Hanweir Garrison and Abzan Falconer. Kari Zev, Skyship Raider didn't convince me yet, but I still have her in my list because I want her to be good But as a 4-of I'm pretty sure that's too much. Her Expertise is a great card, but I didn't try it in the deck. Here's my list (lands were still on budget, but the deck is running so I neglected a bit to optimize, same with SB):
Falconer is some spicy tech with all the +1/+1 counters flying around! I LOVE the idea.
In the build I suggested, there were 2 reasons I went with 4x Kari Zev. My experience with Kytheon is that he often dies fast enough that having multiples has not been a problem because, again, he just dies super fast. I have a feeling that will be the case with Kari as well. The second reason is because I wanted to try and max out the number of spells I can cast off of Expertise.
I'm thinking the ideal line of play would be something like Champion -> Mauler -> Expertise dropping Lieutenant w/ Haste. By turn 3 that's like 12 damage not including whatever creature you were able to grab? Most lines of play should be capable of doing roughly that with the build I suggested. I could see maybe dropping 1 Kari Zev and going up 1 Expertise?
I just love the idea of Lieutenant & Mimic with Kari Zev. Being an evasive First Striker that you can pump plus her token means she could potentially hit pretty hard for a 2 drop, like a baby Garrison almost.
Granted the 2cmc concentric build is probably just for testing. Hanweir Garrison is a super powerful card that can wins games all by itself in some cases. I can't imagine dropping it.
RE: Green
I don't want to discourage people from playing Green, in fact I know a lot of people gravitate to it because of Mayor of Abarbruk but I honestly don't think that green's card are powerful/impactful enough to make it as competitive as red is. Hanweir Garrison and Lightning Mauler are the reasons to play Humans IMO. Gaining access to Lightning Bolt in an aggro deck is clutch for close out games. I just can't imagine this deck having a prayer without those elements. Humans are not individually powerful enough to make the long game happen in Modern. There are just too many powerful things floating around to have a chance at that.
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On a side note, if you want to end up including fetches you don't actually need Arid Mesa if you cut the Basic Mountains. Nothing costs double red so even though I have a playset of each I only run 2 Sacred Foundry and 2 Inspiring Vantage along with 8 fetches and 9 plains. With that manabase, or one like it, you could simply play Flooded Strand and/or Windswept Heath making it much more affordable.
I don't even know if Fetches are really all that necessary in most cases. If you aren't using them for color fixing, what are they even in the deck for? In that case I think 4x Inspiring Vantage is an absolute must (considering the deck never wants that fourth land anyway) and 4x Battlefield Forge (as an easy untapped dual) is probably the way to go.
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I find they add tremendous consistency to the deck's manabase, almost guaranteeing red while also keeping the amount of white you have as high as it needs to be. It also lets me play Magus of the Moon with less downside.
It's not like the deck is bad without them or anything, far from it. I was just building my version to be the best it could be, not a budget affair, and felt they moved it closer towards that and I thought it might be worth noting if somebody else was planning to evolve their deck over time. Really I imagined the rest of my post would be more helpful.
My issue with Lords in such an aggressive deck is that I'd want keep him back instead of pressing for the kill. While he does give a boost, he isn't helping what we already have on board.
I prefer to pair Mimic with Kitchen Finks and Viscera Seer. In a perfect world that is a turn three win, though that's magic Christmas land territory. And it's talk for a different thread.
So I took a non-budget build of Boros Humans to my local modern night, and won with a 3-1 record! Here's how it went and what was good where, and cheaper alternatives where I can come up with them.
Creature replacements: Lightning Mauler-Replaces Goblin Guide. Pluses are that it's a human and is better when jamming multiple creatures. Drawbacks are that it takes an extra turn to come out and is bad in topdeck mode.
Game 1: I'm on the play. He gets Tron on turn 3 and plays Karn. Fortunately I've been applying a lot of pressure so he has to -3 to remove my Champion and I have Bolt in hand. He then sees no threats in his next 2 draws and I win by turning things sideways.
In: 4 Paths
Out: 4 Bolts
Game 2: So he starts by ripping Magus out of my hand and I assume it's going to be game for him. However he saw no threats and I got 20 damage by turn 4. It wasn't really a game.
Conclusion: So my opponent had bad draws and it wasn't much of a match. However, I have tested quite a bit against other tron variants, mostly G/R but also G/W, and have yet to lose. We're fast and can run land hate, so I'm pretty confident that we're favoured here.
Abzan-0/2
Game 1: I kept a slower hand, and it bit me. He landed 2 Birds of Paradise which allowed him to push through 2 Maguses.
In: 4 Paths
Out: 3 Thalia, 1 Bolt
Game 2: I start fast, but his creatures outgrow mine thanks to a T2 Anafenza and when he lands Siege Rhino it closes out the game.
Conclusion: If the game goes too long against B/G/x, we don't have much game. Definitely putting Mirran Crusader back in the board.
Boros Burn-2/0
Game 1: I'm on the draw, but he suspends a Rift Bolt instead of landing a creature which sets the tune for the rest of the game. A lot of burn also goes to my face instead of my creatures, which was probably a mistake.
In: 2 Leyline, 1 Path
Out: 3 Magus
Game 2: So game 2 goes very similarly to game 1, only with more of my creatures dying. However I land a Thalia when he's at 2 lands and he had already used up his removal. This allows me to play pretty much unmolested.
Conclusion: So these were very much races. I'd tested against R/W/g Burn which is roughly half a turn faster, and came out roughly 50/50. That half a turn counts for a lot, though I was about 1 or 2 burn spells away from losing both games so it's still really close.
Bant Eldrazi-2/0
Game 1: My opponent didn't draw any Thought-Knots or Displacers which I think helped a lot. With some strategic blocking and a couple of Lieutenants I manage to beat him down.
In: 4 Paths
Out: 3 Thalia, 1 Bolt
Game 2: I land Magus with him at 3 non-basics and he doesn't draw another land. It was decidedly one-sided.
Conclusion: Magus and Thalia's Lieutenant can win games out of just about nowhere.
Overall: I boarded in Paths every game so 3 are going mainboard for the 3 Accorder Paladin which did literally nothing. Burn was close, and with a better pilot I might have lost and would have at least gone to 3 games, so some better hate might be in order. I definitely need something against B/G/x which is in my experience our worst matchup. And although I didn't mention it, I also found myself topdecking lands frequently so I think 20 is a better number.
This is my version of Boros Humans. In testing its been going well. Still trying new things. The only upgrade I would make right now would be throwing some Sacred Foundry's in there. It only cost 40 or so tix online and I've been quite impressed. I will post a more in depth post later after more games.
4 Battlefield Forge
4 Champion of the Parish
4 Imposing Sovereign
4 Inspiring Vantage
2 Kari Zev's Expertise
3 Kessig Malcontents
3 Kytheon, Hero of Akros
4 Lightning Bolt
3 Lightning Mauler
5 Mountain
3 Path to Exile
6 Plains
4 Reckless Bushwhacker
4 Soldier of the Pantheon
4 Thalia's Lieutenant
3 Thraben Inspector
I've been favoring a deck heavy on haste, prowess and burn lately. Record in MTGO Tournament Practice Lobby is 57 and 25, for a win percentage of 69.5%. With the burn, I've pretty much owned Death's Shadow...so that's a bonus too.
Scab-Clan Berserker can be great in this deck - but two is the limit. That being said - I'm not managing the sideboard very well...so suggestions are appreciated.
I hope this isn't necroing the thread, as it's still on the first page. I just wanted to say I've found a lot of success with Lightning Berserker. It dodges most sweepers, triggers Champion and Lieutenant as well as the Soul Sisters which some people run, and the firebreathing effect gives a late game mana-sink so it's not a dead draw later on.
And if @Les777 still wants some advice I'd cut Disenchant for Kor Firewalker or something to that effect because Wear//Tear does a better job and you already run 4 of them.
4x Thraben Inspector
4x Champion of the Parish
4x Kytheon, Hero of Akros
4x Thalia's Lieutenant
4x Lightning Mauler
4x Hanweir Garrison
4x Scab-Clan Berserker
SPELLS (10)
4x Lightning Bolt
4x Gather the Townsfolk
2x Lightning Helix
4x Inspiring Vantage
4x Battlefield Forge
4x Clifftop Retreat
2x Hanweir Battlements
5x Plains
3x Mountain
2x Path to Exile
3x Sudden Shock
2x Boros Charm
2x Wear // Tear
3x Stony Silence
3x Rest in Peace
Link to deck @ TappedOut.net
MAIN
Creatures
I can’t cover literally every single option available to us for this archetype, at least not right now. I can expand this later if necessary. Some notable and “obvious” options are excluded partially for budget reasons and partially because, despite their utility, aren’t aggressive enough for what this deck is trying to do.
Thraben Inspector is a hard card to evaluate. Its value is that it’s a human that comes with card draw. Its resilient against blockers and attackers. It has a lot of upsides but in a deck that is trying to get as aggressive as possible, it may not always be the right choice. That said, the card draw definitely helps with consistency where it lacks in speed. That said, this deck needs speed the most. Its probably the right play to swap this guy for a more aggressive option.
Champion of the Parish is our Wild Nacatl. A large portion of the deck is geared around getting him to 3 power on turn 2. There are a lot of lines of play that reward us for packing Champ. Turn 1 Champ into 2x 1-drops, or literally any 2-drop is going to get us at least 3 damage on turn 2.
Kytheon, Hero of Akros is a really cool option that we recently got. It’s a human that turns into a pretty powerful beater that also happens to be kind of good on defense. I’m going to ignore his activated ability because I can’t think of a time I’ve ever really used it. However, getting to swing with him, flip him, make an indestructible blocker out of your other best attacker (oh, and simultaneously making it hard to remove Kytheon by virtue of turning him into a ‘Walker instead of a creature), puts you in a very good position to continue to be aggressive the next turn. It seems very win-more but, as dumb as it sounds, that’s kind of what we want. The deck wins most often by ramming the opponents early and establishing a board state by turn 3 or 4 that they just have to scoop too because they know they can’t recover.
Thalia’s Lieutenant are another awesome recent addition. This is our one lord but also serves as Champion of the Parish 5-8 on the same card, which is pretty nice. One of the major challenges of this deck is sequencing your plays in such a way as to maximize their impact. That said, there are times where playing the Lieutenants is NOT the right play. I have one more than a few games where they got stranded in play because it was more efficient to take other lines of play. Don’t just take the obvious play, aim for maximum impact.
Lightning Mauler should NOT be underestimated. Often people will want to drop Champion -> Lieutenants but often the better play is Champion -> Mauler. We can put 4 damage on board on turn 2 by going Champion/Kytheon -> Mauler. Following that up with a turn 3 Lieutentants gets you 11 total damage by turn 3 assuming you have no other play. Again, this card takes a lot of experience to understand how to play optimally in this deck. Its great for recovering quickly as well. It can really surprise an opponent.
Hanweir Garrison is the card that made me want to revisit this archetype. It can be a little slow but Mauler helps with that. The advantage of this card is that it’s a really powerful finisher. When coupled with a Champ/Lieutenant the attack step buff it provides is incredible. If a game drags on long then the combo with its land counterpart can stop a game in 1 turn. It offers the deck everything we want in terms of a curve topping finisher. The best part is we don’t have to raise our curve to include 4 drops which helps keep the deck as low to the ground as possible.
Scab-Clan Berserker is a card I think a lot of people will disagree with. I understand people’s hesistation and I really just threw it in so I could play test the deck but I was so glad that I did. There might be better options down the road and it’s also possible this should be split with Thalia, Heretic Cathar. I just think in most metas the Haste 3 drop is better able to maintain the pressure we want. Not to mention that it offers a lot of pressure on certain decks because of the tax. Across a single turn its capable of supplying 4 damage by itself on turn 3. Across two turns it can provide upwards of 5-9? For a deck that wants to get aggressive, she sure fits the bill.
Thalia, Heretic Cathar is excluded because it isn’t as aggressive as other options but it does help to slow down your opponent’s ability to deploy blockers. I think this is a meta call. If you have a lot of B/W Tokens in your meta I think she becomes preferable over Garrison (not Berserker since they further punish the Instant & Sorcery token makers). She is Legendary though so you need to be careful how many you run. 3 should likely be the absolute most for a 3-drop Legendary but I would be inclined to lean closer to 2.
Spells
Lightning Bolt…I mean we are playing Mountains…
Gather the Townsfolk is a card that fits in the deck. It enables powerful turn 1 Champions. They aren’t particularly great on their own but work well, if not sometimes awkwardly, with Champion, Kytheon, and Lieutenants. It’s not exciting but its functional if, again, occasionally awkward. They feel very clunky.
Lightning Helix is just more reach, removal, and the life gain occasionally helps us drag the game out long enough against aggressive opponents to field something they simply can’t deal with.
Lands
The first three I feel like are the real reason you should consider running this deck as a budget aggro option. They are what make the entire deck simultaneously cheap enough and consistent enough to consider
Inspiring Vantage is one of the biggest boosts this deck has received lately. Definitely a staple no matter what your budget but there are very reasonably priced (compared to other Modern legal duals) despite how much play they are seeing in Standard. Expect these to remain where they are until after rotation where we could see them drop to as low as $4-5.
Battlefield Forge is another great option. It’s been around for a while but with the recent reprint it is fairly cheap. The biggest advantage it offers is really one of “critical mass”. Its yet another dual that enters play untapped. Our life total is rarely of major concern to us. We also have ways of gaining life back if we need to.
Hanweir Battlements really helps out the decks overall game plan and offers a unique opportunity to go really big when a matchup is dragging on too long. The haste option should not be ignored. It can help you recover very quickly or just help maintain solid pressure. I wouldn’t run too many though as the deck has pretty strict color requirements.
Clifftop Retreat can come into play untapped but gets really awkward with all of our other duals and utility lands. If you have Fetches and Shocks then it becomes slightly more attractive. Still, as a budget option, you could do worse.
Sacred Foundry is one of the first upgrades I would make to the deck for obvious reasons. I would probably just replace basics honestly. The deck doesn’t need more than a couple of basics to fetch with Path to Exile or Ghost Quarter. Other than that the deck is trying to play as consistently as possible and Sacred Foundry really helps with that.
Arid Mesa is the last card I would attempt to obtain. Its utility in this deck is quite diminished versus other decks in the format and pretty much acts as Sacred Foundry’s 5-8. That said, that is exactly what we want it to do. It’s just another way to consistently fix our mana early.
SIDEBOARD
What you put in varies a lot based on your meta but here are a few suggestions.
Lightning Helix is an option. I doubt its often where you would want to be but it can be useful against Burn to have more ways to gain life. It’s not a bad option because it serves a twofold purpose of maintaining our aggressive game plan while slowing down theirs.
Stony Silence is a solid option against Affinity and Tron. We are fast enough against Tron that slowing them down just a little bit is often good enough. Versus Affinity, their guys are pretty good blockers so some number of Wear // Tear might be appropriate. Path to Exile also might be preferable to try and just increase the amount of removal you have available.
Rest in Peace is an excellent addition against Dredge and Snapcaster decks. The best part is that the symmetrical affect doesn’t bother us even a little bit as we have 0 interaction with our graveyard.
Path to Exile is a good choice in some amount depending on your meta. It’s something you will want against Tarmogoyf or Primetime.
Wear // Tear is good against anything fielding artifacts or enchantments.
Pyroclasm hurts us but having a sweeper available is probably a good idea. Its not impossible to imagine a situation where Pyroclasm misses a lot of our guys too.
Anger of the Gods is another good option for a sweeper. You might wonder why you would want something like this and the honest answer is Hatebears. Most of their guys will die to Anger of the Gods. It’s a pretty rough matchup so I would suggest holding all of your hastey options in hand until after you have Angered and then lay it out and put the pressure back on as hard as you can.
Boros Charm is an obvious include for any meta running sweepers. They also double as reach so the options are quite versatile.
Anyway, that’s the deck as I have it currently. It’s a lot of fun and better than you might think. Just watch out for matchups like Merfolk, Hatebears, and Eldrazi. Their guys generally outclass ours in a way that makes It very difficult to get through or race. If you see a lot of combo or control it’s a good option though. It matches up pretty well against Delver decks, Ad Naseum, Scapeshift (not Titanshift, that’s 50/50), Living End, etc.
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As for your list, it looks solid. If you could give me some testing results, could I snag your list for a primer about getting into Modern on a budget? I'll give you credit for the deck, of course.
I’m cool with that! I’ll write up something regarding specific match ups or are you looking for something more like a play-by-play of a given match rather than an overview of vs. certain archetypes (i.e.- Jund, Merfolk, Eldrazi, etc.)?
Other than the sideboard and certain budget mana differences, our lists are actually pretty close. Have you tried any other 1-drops in place of Thraben Inspector? Before I picked up Kytheon I used Soldier of the Pantheon as an ultra-budget replacement. I had considered running that over Inspector. I really like that Inspector draws a card and is a decent top deck as a result but Soldier just is so much more aggressive with potentially relevant upside (depending on the matchup).
I hadn’t really considered Silverblade Paladin. Seems decent. One problem I have run into with the Soulbond mechanic is that targeted removal can pretty handily negate the advantage. I would worry that adding more Soulbond makes that problem occur more often. What has your experience been? Have you ever tried Scab-Clan Berserker in that slot? Obviously you would need more Mountains for that change but…. One of the reasons I choose Berserker is because I wanted each card to be able to, with the exception of Mauler, stand alone as a threat so regardless of what I top decked, there was relevant upside. I also knew that I wanted to end the game as fast as possible and so any 3-drop I had needed to be able to recover my board as quickly as possible and Berserker's Haste really appeals to me for that. Plus if it gets in and then gets removed it essential acheived two attack steps worth of damage (or a single Double Strike from just the Paladin) in the single turn it managed to survive and its been my experience that often is enough to close out the game. I also really like it matchups like Burn. It kind of operates like a 1-sided Eidolon of the Great Revel, albeit a turn slower.
Burrenton actually seems like some really neat tech against Anger of the Gods. Pithing Needle is always a great sideboard choice if you know your meta. Blood Moon is a little out of my budget range though XD.
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4 Champion of the Parish
4 Warden of the First Tree
3 Kytheon, Hero of Akros
4 Thraben Inspector
3 Student of Warfare
4 Thalia's Lieutenant
4 Mayor of Avabruck
2 Hamlet Captain
2 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
4 Gather the Townsfolk
4 Path to Exile
2 Blossoming Defense
Lands (20)
4 Temple Garden
4 Sunpetal Grove
4 Windswept Heath
3 Forest
5 Plains
2 Kataki, War's Wage
3 Gaddock Teeg
3 Kor Firewalker
2 Elspeth, Knight-Errant
3 Rest in Peace
2 Natural State
Why wait for 3 mana when you've got everything you need at 1 and 2 cmc? You get 2 extra lords in Mayor of Avabruck and Hamlet Captain, you've got mid/late game sustainability with Warden of the First Tree, a card which is also fine in the early game as an extra beater. All this along with the usual Humans suspects and you've got a fast, consistent, resilient aggro deck. I've been very happy with it.
This list is about 105 tix on MTGO and can be made cheaper by replacing the fetches. In paper, the mana base would need to be further simplified and maybe some other concessions depending on budget. Some later upgrades would be things like Cavern of Souls and Auriok Champion.
4x Thraben Inspector
4x Champion of the Parish
4x Kytheon, Hero of Akros
4x Thalia's Lieutenant
4x Lightning Mauler
4x Kari Zev, Skyship Raider
4x Metallic Mimic
4x Lightning Bolt
4x Gather the Townsfolk
2x Kari Zev's Expertise
4x Inspiring Vantage
4x Battlefield Forge
4x Clifftop Retreat
6x Plains
4x Mountain
2x Path to Exile
3x Sudden Shock
2x Boros Charm
2x Wear // Tear
3x Stony Silence
3x Rest in Peace
I like this because it lowers the curve a lot, adds another anthem like affect as well as another really good beater that benefits a LOT from the anthems. Also, it means that Expertise can cast everything in the deck and even remove a blocker AND add a beater to finish out games faster. I think this is going to be pretty good.
Full disclosure: Green is my least favorite color in magic but a WIDE margin. Some part of my choice to go red was bias because my absolute favorite color in magic is red lol.
That said, if I'm playing aggro, especially in Modern, I'm probably not going to do it without Lightning Bolt. Reach + removal is everything an aggro list wants. Also, access to haste makes a much bigger difference than most people think. Also, red gives you access to Lightning Mauler which produces several reliable 4 damage on turn 2 plays. The deck plays out really fast to try and get under decks like Jund and Scapeshift. Even if a deck is resilient, what control deck exists in the format to test or require that? I feel like speed is more important in this format especially if you consider that the hyper fast decks of the format like Infect and Zoo don't care about your resilience because they are just going to trample over you anyway.
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Falconer is some spicy tech with all the +1/+1 counters flying around! I LOVE the idea.
In the build I suggested, there were 2 reasons I went with 4x Kari Zev. My experience with Kytheon is that he often dies fast enough that having multiples has not been a problem because, again, he just dies super fast. I have a feeling that will be the case with Kari as well. The second reason is because I wanted to try and max out the number of spells I can cast off of Expertise.
I'm thinking the ideal line of play would be something like Champion -> Mauler -> Expertise dropping Lieutenant w/ Haste. By turn 3 that's like 12 damage not including whatever creature you were able to grab? Most lines of play should be capable of doing roughly that with the build I suggested. I could see maybe dropping 1 Kari Zev and going up 1 Expertise?
I just love the idea of Lieutenant & Mimic with Kari Zev. Being an evasive First Striker that you can pump plus her token means she could potentially hit pretty hard for a 2 drop, like a baby Garrison almost.
Granted the 2cmc concentric build is probably just for testing. Hanweir Garrison is a super powerful card that can wins games all by itself in some cases. I can't imagine dropping it.
RE: Green
I don't want to discourage people from playing Green, in fact I know a lot of people gravitate to it because of Mayor of Abarbruk but I honestly don't think that green's card are powerful/impactful enough to make it as competitive as red is. Hanweir Garrison and Lightning Mauler are the reasons to play Humans IMO. Gaining access to Lightning Bolt in an aggro deck is clutch for close out games. I just can't imagine this deck having a prayer without those elements. Humans are not individually powerful enough to make the long game happen in Modern. There are just too many powerful things floating around to have a chance at that.
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On a side note, if you want to end up including fetches you don't actually need Arid Mesa if you cut the Basic Mountains. Nothing costs double red so even though I have a playset of each I only run 2 Sacred Foundry and 2 Inspiring Vantage along with 8 fetches and 9 plains. With that manabase, or one like it, you could simply play Flooded Strand and/or Windswept Heath making it much more affordable.
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It's not like the deck is bad without them or anything, far from it. I was just building my version to be the best it could be, not a budget affair, and felt they moved it closer towards that and I thought it might be worth noting if somebody else was planning to evolve their deck over time. Really I imagined the rest of my post would be more helpful.
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Reid Duke's Level One
Who's the Beatdown
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I prefer to pair Mimic with Kitchen Finks and Viscera Seer. In a perfect world that is a turn three win, though that's magic Christmas land territory. And it's talk for a different thread.
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Reid Duke's Level One
Who's the Beatdown
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The list
9 Plains
4 Windswept Heath
4 Flooded Strand
2 Sacred Foundry
2 Inspiring Vantage
Creatures (35)
4 Champion of the Parish
4 Thalia's Lieutenant
3 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
4 Goblin Guide
4 Hanweir Garrison
3 Kytheon, Hero of Akros
3 Mardu Woe-Reaper
3 Magus of the Moon
4 Soldier of the Pantheon
3 Accorder Paladin
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Path to Exile
1 Stony Silence
3 Kataki, War's Wage
2 Rest In Peace
3 Boros Charm
2 Leyline of Sanctity
Land replacements:
Battlefield Forge & Clifftop Retreat-Budget Shock/Fetch replacements. Also consider running more copies of Inspiring Vantage.
Creature replacements:
Lightning Mauler-Replaces Goblin Guide. Pluses are that it's a human and is better when jamming multiple creatures. Drawbacks are that it takes an extra turn to come out and is bad in topdeck mode.
Isamaru, Hound of Konda-Another Goblin Guide replacement. No haste, still isn't a human, but doesn't feed lands.
Dragon Hunter-Third Guide replacement. Another 2/1 Human for W.
Vryn Wingmare-Replaces Thalia, though as it's not a human I would leave it in the sideboard.
Scab-Clan Berserker- Thalia, Guardian of Thraben replacement. Better main than Wingmare thanks to human creature type.
Ghost Quarter-A Magus of the Moon replacement as although it's a budget-ish replacement for Blood Moon
the price difference is only about 5$.
Thalia, Heretic Cathar-Replaces Magus to hose greedy manabases.
Sideboard replacements:
Kor Firewalker-Replaces Leyline. Actually may try this one over the Leyline regardless of budgetary restrictions.
Burrenton Forge-Tender-Replaces Leyline more completely as it also protects against Ad Nauseam decks, but is worse against burn.
Relic of Progenitus-My favourite RiP replacement thanks to card draw.
Matches:
G/B Tron-2/0
Game 1: I'm on the play. He gets Tron on turn 3 and plays Karn. Fortunately I've been applying a lot of pressure so he has to -3 to remove my Champion and I have Bolt in hand. He then sees no threats in his next 2 draws and I win by turning things sideways.
In: 4 Paths
Out: 4 Bolts
Game 2: So he starts by ripping Magus out of my hand and I assume it's going to be game for him. However he saw no threats and I got 20 damage by turn 4. It wasn't really a game.
Conclusion: So my opponent had bad draws and it wasn't much of a match. However, I have tested quite a bit against other tron variants, mostly G/R but also G/W, and have yet to lose. We're fast and can run land hate, so I'm pretty confident that we're favoured here.
Abzan-0/2
Game 1: I kept a slower hand, and it bit me. He landed 2 Birds of Paradise which allowed him to push through 2 Maguses.
In: 4 Paths
Out: 3 Thalia, 1 Bolt
Game 2: I start fast, but his creatures outgrow mine thanks to a T2 Anafenza and when he lands Siege Rhino it closes out the game.
Conclusion: If the game goes too long against B/G/x, we don't have much game. Definitely putting Mirran Crusader back in the board.
Boros Burn-2/0
Game 1: I'm on the draw, but he suspends a Rift Bolt instead of landing a creature which sets the tune for the rest of the game. A lot of burn also goes to my face instead of my creatures, which was probably a mistake.
In: 2 Leyline, 1 Path
Out: 3 Magus
Game 2: So game 2 goes very similarly to game 1, only with more of my creatures dying. However I land a Thalia when he's at 2 lands and he had already used up his removal. This allows me to play pretty much unmolested.
Conclusion: So these were very much races. I'd tested against R/W/g Burn which is roughly half a turn faster, and came out roughly 50/50. That half a turn counts for a lot, though I was about 1 or 2 burn spells away from losing both games so it's still really close.
Bant Eldrazi-2/0
Game 1: My opponent didn't draw any Thought-Knots or Displacers which I think helped a lot. With some strategic blocking and a couple of Lieutenants I manage to beat him down.
In: 4 Paths
Out: 3 Thalia, 1 Bolt
Game 2: I land Magus with him at 3 non-basics and he doesn't draw another land. It was decidedly one-sided.
Conclusion: Magus and Thalia's Lieutenant can win games out of just about nowhere.
Overall: I boarded in Paths every game so 3 are going mainboard for the 3 Accorder Paladin which did literally nothing. Burn was close, and with a better pilot I might have lost and would have at least gone to 3 games, so some better hate might be in order. I definitely need something against B/G/x which is in my experience our worst matchup. And although I didn't mention it, I also found myself topdecking lands frequently so I think 20 is a better number.
Out Maindeck:
3 Accorder Paladin
1 Plains
In Maindeck:
3 Path to Exile
1 Mardu Woe-Reaper
Out Sideboard:
3 Path to Exile
2 Leyline of Sanctity
In Sideboard:
3 Mirran Crusader
2 Kor Firewalker
4 Battlefield Forge
4 Champion of the Parish
4 Imposing Sovereign
4 Inspiring Vantage
2 Kari Zev's Expertise
3 Kessig Malcontents
3 Kytheon, Hero of Akros
4 Lightning Bolt
3 Lightning Mauler
5 Mountain
3 Path to Exile
6 Plains
4 Reckless Bushwhacker
4 Soldier of the Pantheon
4 Thalia's Lieutenant
3 Thraben Inspector
Sideboard:
2 Boros Charm
2 Disenchant
2 Lightning Helix
2 Mirran Crusader
1 Path to Exile
2 Relic of Progenitus
2 Skullcrack
2 Stony Silence
Scab-Clan Berserker can be great in this deck - but two is the limit. That being said - I'm not managing the sideboard very well...so suggestions are appreciated.
Deck: Boros Human/Burn
//Main
4 Arid Mesa
4 Ash Zealot
4 Champion of the Parish
2 Inspiring Vantage
2 Kytheon, Hero of Akros
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Lightning Helix
4 Monastery Swiftspear
2 Mountain
2 Path to Exile
2 Plains
3 Sacred Foundry
4 Searing Blaze
4 Soul-Scar Mage
4 Thalia's Lieutenant
4 Thraben Inspector
4 Windswept Heath
3 Wooded Foothills
//Sideboard
2 Disenchant
3 Molten Rain
2 Path to Exile
2 Relic of Progenitus
2 Scab-Clan Berserker
4 Wear // Tear //
Display deck statistics
And if @Les777 still wants some advice I'd cut Disenchant for Kor Firewalker or something to that effect because Wear//Tear does a better job and you already run 4 of them.
The deck plays maindeck Magus of the Moon and Dire Fleet Daredevil (not sure if it is good enough) along with Aether Vial and the Norin + Porphorus combo.
In the updated build he added Smuggler's Copter to the deck which is a very good addition but taking out all the Lightning Bolts and playing without removal seems wrong.
I'd rather replace Legion Loyalist and the Dire Fleet Daredevils to keep the bolts.
Some other humans which might be worth including in the deck are Mentor of the Meek (for card draw) and Grim Lavamancer.