Have you seen the spoiled legendary human Kambal, Consul of Allocation? 1WB 2/3. 2 life loss to opponent and 2 life gain to you whenever am opponent casts a non-creature spell. A good sideboard if you have access to B
Kambal allows you to gain life when the opponent plays Skullcrack or Atarka's Command, and fights Eidolon of the Great Revel in an unprecedented manner. He may be an addition to Thalia, where blue decks would play counterspells, or black would play Sin Collector. Maybe he's worse than other cretaures like Fiendslayer Pal or Auriok Champ though. Still good to have one more good option.
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Pioneer - A bunch of stuff Modern - Humans Legacy - Grixis Phoenix / Death & Taxes
At 5 CMC I'm not really sure what sort of deck that'd fit into, if any, but it's an interesting option. 3 for a flying 2/2 that drew one card would've been awesome, haha...
It's not terrible. I'd find a spot for it. It might be decent in a daxos or grand arbiter augustin IV commander deck. Herald of war would be a decent combo in a uw +1/+1 counters deck. Or mistform warchief would help it cost less. An awkward combo but it would help get it into play. Warden of evos isle would probably end up in that deck. It fits. Just not necessarily in standard.
I'd main board at least one. Every deck has non creature spells. Then I'd side board another one or two and side them in depending on what I'm up against. My human's might get a black splash if I pull this guy.
-headminerve
I like him, I love his flavour, he's pure Orzhov and I'm sure he'll be a standard all star. However, he also lets you get timewalked by bolt. I'll probably never run any cmc3 creature with toughness 3 or less for that reason.
However, he also lets you get timewalked by bolt. I'll probably never run any cmc3 creature with toughness 3 or less for that reason.
Both things you state here make no sense.
1- if your opponent uses Bolt on him, you gain 2 life and your opponent loses 2 life. You haven't been timewalked at all : you gained life and your opponent wasted 3 damage on a creature.
2- You wouldn't run any 3-cmc Human with 3 toughness or less, which leaves you with Anafenza the Foremost only... Many 3-drops are very good, some have 3 toughness like Mantis Rider, some have 1 toughness like Orzhov Pontiff or Sin Collector. Besides, you play Mikaeus who's a potential 3-drop with toughness 2...
Now, you don't run a version with Coco, or an actual aggro list, but a BW deck between Aristocrats and Tokens. Imho, that kind of list doesn't quite belong to what we're discussing here, and that may explain why Kambal isn't an attractive card for you. Understand that for more common builds, like Coco 3/4/5C or low curve aggros, Kambal is worth testing.
On the other hand, the 5-drop Mulldrifter has nothing to do in this topic. At least not without a list and a plan.
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Minerve-
Yeah with CoCo he'd be a sweet deal. And that's close enough to timewalk in my book, I generally find taping out after t2 on your main phase and then having that resource traded on end step is a blow out, with or without the trigger. But it all depends on how you play him I guess. My decks more dead guy ale than those but I see your point, it is a human tribal though and I've been consistently top 8ing with it at FNM. On Mikaeus, unless I have no cards in hand or my opponent is on a low removal deck he's not getting played for more than 2, he's there because of his extra synergy with Lieutenant and High-Priest. Yeah, I'd test him, but I'd only run him with dorks and CoCo.
edit- I think he may be a great addition to abzan company actually
I think Dead Guy Humans is a welcome variation for this thread. IMO if you're running Champion + Lieutenant and enough Humans to support them then the deck belongs here. Some sort of CoCo variation may end up being the most optimal but there's no reason to stifle sharing here unless the thread begins to move so fast that we can't keep up with everything, and there isn't much danger of that.
Granted black gives you access to Bob, sin collector, cartel aristocrat, zulaport cutthroat, and discard/kill spells galore...heck even rally the ancestors for an instant speed combo kill off a stocked yard. Generally if you don't mess with the yard much or at all in game 1 it's a solid plan for games 2-3 and the drain kill can come from left field - aristocrat being your sac outlet.
That being said, if you're in red with burning tree emissary, there is little reason outside of flavor to not run reckless bushwhacker. T1 champion of the parish into 1-4 emissaries and a whacker is a heck of a clock if you're on the play and your opponent casts a cantrip...
I think I may brew a Abzan build around the following:
Might be a little fragile but it seems like a really fun deck that can switch gears mid-late game. Worth noting that village bell ringer is an in color human. Stretching to 4 colors to splash an incredibly hard to hit kiki-jiki mirror breaker could be very hard, but with rally, coco, and maybe eldritch evolution and/or chord of calling you could pull it off as a one of? You would need a way to pitch it if you draw it though. Feels like this awkward mash up of humans/Kiki chord/Abzan coco but it may not be too hard to pull off. Probably just stick to the above.
@Headminerve: What matchups do you find yourself siding Fiendslayer Paladin and Mirran Crusader in for, what do you side out, and how have they performed so far?
Mirran Crusader helps in the tough MU Abzan is. Jund can also outvalue us, and overall, Tarmogoyf and big fatties (Rhino, Kali) are hard to run through. I think these decks are better armed than Humans to get a favorable MU overall. He's not stellar because Lingering Souls stop him, and he needs to grow at least once to be really game-breaking. Fiendslayer Paladin is a flex slot. You need a card to gain life against Burn and anything that will fairly race you. I like him because he can face BRx decks rather efficiently. Without a pump though, he's very often not big enough to get through most creatures he'll face. He's not excellent in my SB, maybe because there's a better way to manage the SB in the first place.
These cards usually take the slot of subpar creatures like a couple of Noble Hierarchs (because I know the game will go long, which is bad news but oh well, or will be pretty fast thanks to an overwhelming board, and Noble isn't good in either case).
I can also cut a couple Path to Exile since giving them lands is often a good way for the to activate their creature lands. Reflector Mage has been great to tempo my opponents out, especially for a strategy that depends on how overwhelming your board can be.
The one thing I notice with the Coco version is it's very strong if you get ahead, but when you're behind, many topdecks are subpar. You can flood too. That's one argument in favor of Jace, Vryn's Prodigy, besides the fact he recycles Coco.
I need a lot of time and practice to figure out what the deck needs, and eventually if it's viable in a competitive environment (i.e. large field). Any feedback of your experience will be good for the topic !
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If it's the lifegain the reason to use Fiendslayer Paladin, wound't be better to use Auriok Champion??? Protection is far more superior than the pseudo-protection of the paladin, and while it's not so usefull in the attack as the paladin, the soul sister can stands in the battlefield for more time, making the lifegain more significant.
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Sorry for the bad english, not my native language!!!
Here's a monowhite human allies version to consider; recent 3-0 at LGS Modern Monday, didn't drop a single game the entire tournament either; swept through Naya Burn, Merfolk, and Izzet Delver with ease.
If you've never tried playing human-allies before, I recommend you give it a shot - it allows for consistent explosive starts, and is not reliant on having Champion or Thalia's Lieutenant for explosive starts, because Hada Freeblade and Kazandu Blademasters fill a similar role.
I'll go a bit into why the ally package brings so much more to the table. Let's start by breaking the deck down.
4x Champion of the Parish
4x Thalia's Lieutenant
3x Kytheon, Hero of Akros
4x Thraben Inspector
Standard Humans package, self explanatory - 3 Kytheon's because drawing multiples is basically a mulligan - you have one less card to work with. Thraben Inspectors over the other vanilla one drops because of the card advantage; I have never found thraben inspector a bad draw at any point in my experience with him.
4x Hada Freeblade
4x Kazandu Blademaster
4x Expedition Envoy
Allies package;Hada Freebladeis our Champion of the Parish numbers 5-8; often times he can grow up to 3/4 or larger - literally another one-mana goyf that has staying power. Even if we only get one single other ally into play besides Hada, it will still be a one mana 2/3, which is substantially better than a savannah lion. Kazandu Blademaster2 for 2/2 first strike vigilance? Already solid in all sorts of match ups - a single other ally would make this card a 2 mana 3/3 first strike vigilance, not to mention multiple allies, honor of the pures, or lieutenants. The first strike, vigilance key words are game breaking against any aggro deck, including burn, zoo, and certain death's shadow builds Expedition Envoy A vanilla 2/1 for 1 seems weak, until you realize this card buffs up to 16 other creatures in our deck upon entry into the battle field - 2 times better than any other savannah lion that can only buff champion and lieutenant
The ally package allows us to run an interesting card:
2x Abzan Falconer
With the +1/+1 counters allies employ, paired with lieutenant, most, if not all, of our creatures will be buffed with flying. This is a big deal and a blowout, breaks through stalled board situations, and can function as an alpha strike that pumps some of your creatures while also likely lasting for more strikes in the following turns. Something to note is the lack of flyers in modern, making a flying "lord" effect an amazing addition to a deck with no evasion. These will be sideboarded out against control and combo decks with little to no threats.
Spells
3x Path to Exile
4x Brave the Elements
4x Honor of the Pure
Fairly standard spells package; I opted not to include the 4th path because most of the time I'd rather draw another creature rather than a second path. I don't run token generators because I feel there is not enough value - if the tokens we made were 2 mana for human allies, that would function amazingly in this deck. Unfortunately, there is no such card. An argument could be made for spectral procession but I'd really rather other ways to come back from a boardsweeper.
Lands
9x Plains
1x Eiganjo Castle
1x Sacred Foundry
1x Westvale Abbey
4x Flooded Strand
4x Windswept Heath
Foundry is optional, generally used as a bluff in game 1 - and this has actually happened - my opponent would play sub-optimally because he believed I had a lightning bolt in my hand, especially if we shock ourselves for the Foundry to enter untapped. Because we are generally the aggressor, our life total does not matter as much.
8 fetches to thin the deck
1 Eiganjo Castle because there is no reason not to include a copy, given that it enters untapped.
1 Westvale Abbey as a late game mana sink that also buffs any Champions and Lieutenants we happen to have around. If I had Horizon Canopy I'd run those instead.
Sideboard
2x Thalia, Guardian of Thraben-an argument can certainly be made to main deck her, but I find myself getting taxed relatively often, and would prefer them to only be sideboarded in when necessary. These can be swapped with the main deck Abzan Falconers; it is fine to have the falconers start on the sideboard as well and be added against creature based decks.
2x Return to the Ranks-antisweeper, gives us late game staying power
2x Lantern Scout-another benefit of the ally package is the other cheap white human allies we get. Note that this one gives creatures we control, rather than allies we control, lifelink. One mass attack on the turn he is played can put our life total far out of reach of the most aggressive decks there are.
2x Ranger of Eos-late game staying power, also great to sideboard in if our opponent runs Path to Exile to help us get to the 4th land.
1x Path to Exile-no need to be explained
3x Dismember-against decks that need more interaction, such as Infect, Abzan Coco, these come in
1x Abzan Falconer-more consistency to break board stalls in creature based matchups
2x Repel the Abominable-blowout card against combo decks of all sorts, like scapeshift, ad nauseum, and even burn or infect. The versatility of this card is amazing; I've played it against burn and cast it on turn 3 after my opponent suspended two rift bolts on turn 2, and it is not a card that people expect to face. Repel can also blowout infect after they stack all of their lethal buffs on an inkmoth or glistener elf, and isn't stopped by vines of vastwood. In fact, if played against certain decks, Repel acts as a time walk for us.
#Not using Student of Warfare in Mono-White Humans is rather strange imho, I would go with it over Thraben Inspector (I use him in a build without allies and more anthems).
#I would also play the full 4x Path to Exile before maxing out on Honor of the Pure (you really don't want multiples unless you are already winning).
#Abzan Falconer is too slow in this deck imho and relies too much on other cards, even MD Lantern Scout seems like a better idea.
#Against sweepers I prefer to use the more proactive Selfless Spirit out of the SB.
I'm not sure about the 4x Mutavaults here (another option is Cavern of Souls) but they help against flooding out and keeping the pressure. Flagstones of Trokair help against flooding as well and don't require paying life like fetchlands.
About the SB:
I wonder if the new Fragmentize can replace Disenchant in the SB, what do you think of this card here ?
And there is also Authority of the Consulate (which is like a cheaper version of Blind Obedience), can it be good for aggro mirrors (Zoo, Merfolk, Affinity) ?
My main problem with Student of Warfare is that for the most part, it will just be a 1cc vanilla 1/1, because I'd lean towards developing my board rather than putting mana in to level him. He is also way slower than falconer; as a 3cc for 3/3 first strike, it's really not amazingly costed. Falconer is a game ender and breaks through any board stall. I'd rather spend 3 mana on Thraben Inspector + another card, as that builds strongly into the allies synergy as well as Champion of the Parish or Thalia's Lieutenant. For a single card, Thraben Inspector contains far more burst potential - can chain into other allies and humans to buff your entire board again.
I like to think of the synergies in the deck this way: each 1 mana creature has the potential to grow to insane sizes itself, or buff each other. Expedition Envoy may look like trash when placed alone next to Student of Warfare, but because it buffs so many other creatures in our deck, it will consistently represent 3 or 4 power for 1 mana, which is amazing mana efficiency.
@Dennis, try playing with a pair of Abzan Falconer I think it may surprise you, especially with the large amount of creature based strategies in modern. Though of course, these are the first to be sideboarded out against non-creature-based strategies.
And good point with Honor of the Pure I find myself sideboarding them out very often as well, because its hard to sideboard out creatures because they all rely on each other. I'll try experimenting with 3 copies and see how that feels.
As for colorless lands, I cut down on them because the deck always, always, wants double white on turn 2. Running a playset of Mutavault means we are likely to start hands with Mutavault+white source, which is incredibly limiting in terms of explosive power the deck can bring. I think the best land to counter flooding would be Horizon Canopy, and I'd happily play 3 copies if I could afford them. I've actually had the colorless source almost lose me games before, and wished I'd simply had another plains in its place.
Fragmentize looks great and I'll be looking to try fitting a pair (or 3) into the sideboard for sure!
I wouldn't worry about aggro mirrors - this deck absolutely crushes and outraces them. One mana 2/2 for a Goblin Guide? How about I show you a 1 mana 3/3, 4/4, or larger, Champion of the Parish, or a 1 mana 2/3, 3/4 Hada Freeblade? The Goblin Guide and Wild Nacatl have fixed sizes, they'll never grow past a certain point. At this weekends modern tournament, I won 1 game with 17 life remaining against naya burn, having only taken 3 damage off a searing blaze - burn was forced to keep pointing spells at my creatures because they were just completely outclassing what he had. My problem with cards like Authority of the Consulate is that it doesn't develop your board and only serves to stem a bit of damage from haste creatures. If we are running this out on turn 1, then we will be behind in board by far, and we won't be able to properly apply pressure from the tapped creatures our opponent plays. Even a savannah lion is a better play, as it can trade with most other one drops while dissuading attacks or forcing a removal spell.
@Stompbee
I think the best choice for an antisweeper would be splashing red for boros charm, which I am considering.
I'll revisit the Human-Ally theme. The last time I tried it I got a few bad hands with awkward mixes of early Allies without later Allies to grow them and the inconsistency put me off a bit, but I can see the potential power. Perhaps I didn't build my list correctly.. and I suppose it would be somewhat hypocritical to complain about consistency here when I've built around CoCo, which is certainly a lottery in its own right.
I completely agree that Thraben Inspector is more valuable than Student of Warefare in that list due to the importance of ETB triggers for your whole team. And I also agree that Horizon Canopy would be a better way to get card advantage from your lands.
Has the combination of Brave the Elements, Return to the Ranks, and Repel the Indomitable been enough to cover board wipes? I was just surprised that with 8x anti-wipes you were still considering Boros Charm. Perhaps you could elaborate on your experience there. Also, do you have enough mana for Return to the Ranks? If everything is wiped and you're sitting at ~3 lands you're only getting one creature back, and this deck really depends upon the synergy of many creatures.
The problem with this kind of synergy based decks is that they lose to any interactive deck that can hit it's removal in the right timing
(unless we have Brave the Elements and mana open to cast it) as on their own the creatures in the deck are rather weak.
There is also no reach (in Mono-White) to finish off opponents after you got them low and they stabilized, the deck has no mid/late game whatsoever.
If not disrupted the deck can be pretty good but it is usually not the case.
If it's the lifegain the reason to use Fiendslayer Paladin, wound't be better to use Auriok Champion???
Yeah I play that card too. The question is rather how you gain life instead of which one gains you more. Auriok is passive, Fiendslayer is active. Besides, how do you fill your SB ? It's not an easy question, and there might not be a perfect answer. Kitchen Finks gains life too, as well as some non-cretaure spells. The SB has to be as broad as possible (because there's a lot of even or unfavorable MUs), and unfortunately, the best human creatures often provide only "fine" answers to a rather narrow variety of MUs.
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Pioneer - A bunch of stuff Modern - Humans Legacy - Grixis Phoenix / Death & Taxes
@Kazeroth have you played any matches against Jund or UWR control? I agree that there are some explosive starts but the curve is so low that it's begging for some kind of draw mechanism on top of Inspector and Canopy. I also ran back into the old consistency problem of the Allies sometimes pulling their weight and sometimes feeling weak if I didn't draw enough of them while Goldfishing. Perhaps real matches would be different, but I think I'd build Human-Soldier over Human-Ally if I were to put the money down for paper testing. When everyone is both a human and a soldier it feels a lot more consistent and it's a bit less reliant on synergy.
At 5 CMC I'm not really sure what sort of deck that'd fit into, if any, but it's an interesting option. 3 for a flying 2/2 that drew one card would've been awesome, haha...
I like him, I love his flavour, he's pure Orzhov and I'm sure he'll be a standard all star. However, he also lets you get timewalked by bolt. I'll probably never run any cmc3 creature with toughness 3 or less for that reason.
Both things you state here make no sense.
1- if your opponent uses Bolt on him, you gain 2 life and your opponent loses 2 life. You haven't been timewalked at all : you gained life and your opponent wasted 3 damage on a creature.
2- You wouldn't run any 3-cmc Human with 3 toughness or less, which leaves you with Anafenza the Foremost only... Many 3-drops are very good, some have 3 toughness like Mantis Rider, some have 1 toughness like Orzhov Pontiff or Sin Collector. Besides, you play Mikaeus who's a potential 3-drop with toughness 2...
Now, you don't run a version with Coco, or an actual aggro list, but a BW deck between Aristocrats and Tokens. Imho, that kind of list doesn't quite belong to what we're discussing here, and that may explain why Kambal isn't an attractive card for you. Understand that for more common builds, like Coco 3/4/5C or low curve aggros, Kambal is worth testing.
On the other hand, the 5-drop Mulldrifter has nothing to do in this topic. At least not without a list and a plan.
Yeah with CoCo he'd be a sweet deal. And that's close enough to timewalk in my book, I generally find taping out after t2 on your main phase and then having that resource traded on end step is a blow out, with or without the trigger. But it all depends on how you play him I guess. My decks more dead guy ale than those but I see your point, it is a human tribal though and I've been consistently top 8ing with it at FNM. On Mikaeus, unless I have no cards in hand or my opponent is on a low removal deck he's not getting played for more than 2, he's there because of his extra synergy with Lieutenant and High-Priest. Yeah, I'd test him, but I'd only run him with dorks and CoCo.
edit- I think he may be a great addition to abzan company actually
Granted black gives you access to Bob, sin collector, cartel aristocrat, zulaport cutthroat, and discard/kill spells galore...heck even rally the ancestors for an instant speed combo kill off a stocked yard. Generally if you don't mess with the yard much or at all in game 1 it's a solid plan for games 2-3 and the drain kill can come from left field - aristocrat being your sac outlet.
That being said, if you're in red with burning tree emissary, there is little reason outside of flavor to not run reckless bushwhacker. T1 champion of the parish into 1-4 emissaries and a whacker is a heck of a clock if you're on the play and your opponent casts a cantrip...
I think I may brew a Abzan build around the following:
champion of the parish, thalia's lieutenant, mayor of avabruck for beats.
noble heirarch for ramp and exalted beats.
sin collector, Thalia 1.0, 2.0, and kambal, consulate of allocation for disruption.
dark confidant, colected company, and rally the ancestors for CA.
cartel aristocrat, zulaport cutthroat, melira, sylvok outcast and kitchen finks for life gain funsies. Sac drain + rally into another round seems particularly juicy.
Might be a little fragile but it seems like a really fun deck that can switch gears mid-late game. Worth noting that village bell ringer is an in color human. Stretching to 4 colors to splash an incredibly hard to hit kiki-jiki mirror breaker could be very hard, but with rally, coco, and maybe eldritch evolution and/or chord of calling you could pull it off as a one of? You would need a way to pitch it if you draw it though. Feels like this awkward mash up of humans/Kiki chord/Abzan coco but it may not be too hard to pull off. Probably just stick to the above.
Fiendslayer Paladin is a flex slot. You need a card to gain life against Burn and anything that will fairly race you. I like him because he can face BRx decks rather efficiently. Without a pump though, he's very often not big enough to get through most creatures he'll face. He's not excellent in my SB, maybe because there's a better way to manage the SB in the first place.
These cards usually take the slot of subpar creatures like a couple of Noble Hierarchs (because I know the game will go long, which is bad news but oh well, or will be pretty fast thanks to an overwhelming board, and Noble isn't good in either case).
I can also cut a couple Path to Exile since giving them lands is often a good way for the to activate their creature lands. Reflector Mage has been great to tempo my opponents out, especially for a strategy that depends on how overwhelming your board can be.
The one thing I notice with the Coco version is it's very strong if you get ahead, but when you're behind, many topdecks are subpar. You can flood too. That's one argument in favor of Jace, Vryn's Prodigy, besides the fact he recycles Coco.
I need a lot of time and practice to figure out what the deck needs, and eventually if it's viable in a competitive environment (i.e. large field). Any feedback of your experience will be good for the topic !
Here's what I have been running:
4x Champion of the Parish
4x Thalia's Lieutenant
3x Kytheon, Hero of Akros
4x Thraben Inspector
4x Hada Freeblade
4x Kazandu Blademaster
4x Expedition Envoy
2x Abzan Falconer
3x Path to Exile
4x Brave the Elements
4x Honor of the Pure
Lands
9x Plains
1x Eiganjo Castle
1x Sacred Foundry
1x Westvale Abbey
4x Flooded Strand
4x Windswept Heath
2x Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
2x Return to the Ranks
2x Lantern Scout
2x Ranger of Eos
1x Path to Exile
3x Dismember
1x Abzan Falconer
2x Repel the Abominable
If you've never tried playing human-allies before, I recommend you give it a shot - it allows for consistent explosive starts, and is not reliant on having Champion or Thalia's Lieutenant for explosive starts, because Hada Freeblade and Kazandu Blademasters fill a similar role.
I'll go a bit into why the ally package brings so much more to the table. Let's start by breaking the deck down.
4x Champion of the Parish
4x Thalia's Lieutenant
3x Kytheon, Hero of Akros
4x Thraben Inspector
Standard Humans package, self explanatory - 3 Kytheon's because drawing multiples is basically a mulligan - you have one less card to work with. Thraben Inspectors over the other vanilla one drops because of the card advantage; I have never found thraben inspector a bad draw at any point in my experience with him.
4x Hada Freeblade
4x Kazandu Blademaster
4x Expedition Envoy
Allies package;Hada Freebladeis our Champion of the Parish numbers 5-8; often times he can grow up to 3/4 or larger - literally another one-mana goyf that has staying power. Even if we only get one single other ally into play besides Hada, it will still be a one mana 2/3, which is substantially better than a savannah lion.
Kazandu Blademaster2 for 2/2 first strike vigilance? Already solid in all sorts of match ups - a single other ally would make this card a 2 mana 3/3 first strike vigilance, not to mention multiple allies, honor of the pures, or lieutenants. The first strike, vigilance key words are game breaking against any aggro deck, including burn, zoo, and certain death's shadow builds
Expedition Envoy A vanilla 2/1 for 1 seems weak, until you realize this card buffs up to 16 other creatures in our deck upon entry into the battle field - 2 times better than any other savannah lion that can only buff champion and lieutenant
The ally package allows us to run an interesting card:
2x Abzan Falconer
With the +1/+1 counters allies employ, paired with lieutenant, most, if not all, of our creatures will be buffed with flying. This is a big deal and a blowout, breaks through stalled board situations, and can function as an alpha strike that pumps some of your creatures while also likely lasting for more strikes in the following turns. Something to note is the lack of flyers in modern, making a flying "lord" effect an amazing addition to a deck with no evasion. These will be sideboarded out against control and combo decks with little to no threats.
Spells
3x Path to Exile
4x Brave the Elements
4x Honor of the Pure
Fairly standard spells package; I opted not to include the 4th path because most of the time I'd rather draw another creature rather than a second path. I don't run token generators because I feel there is not enough value - if the tokens we made were 2 mana for human allies, that would function amazingly in this deck. Unfortunately, there is no such card. An argument could be made for spectral procession but I'd really rather other ways to come back from a boardsweeper.
Lands
9x Plains
1x Eiganjo Castle
1x Sacred Foundry
1x Westvale Abbey
4x Flooded Strand
4x Windswept Heath
Foundry is optional, generally used as a bluff in game 1 - and this has actually happened - my opponent would play sub-optimally because he believed I had a lightning bolt in my hand, especially if we shock ourselves for the Foundry to enter untapped. Because we are generally the aggressor, our life total does not matter as much.
8 fetches to thin the deck
1 Eiganjo Castle because there is no reason not to include a copy, given that it enters untapped.
1 Westvale Abbey as a late game mana sink that also buffs any Champions and Lieutenants we happen to have around. If I had Horizon Canopy I'd run those instead.
Sideboard
2x Thalia, Guardian of Thraben-an argument can certainly be made to main deck her, but I find myself getting taxed relatively often, and would prefer them to only be sideboarded in when necessary. These can be swapped with the main deck Abzan Falconers; it is fine to have the falconers start on the sideboard as well and be added against creature based decks.
2x Return to the Ranks-antisweeper, gives us late game staying power
2x Lantern Scout-another benefit of the ally package is the other cheap white human allies we get. Note that this one gives creatures we control, rather than allies we control, lifelink. One mass attack on the turn he is played can put our life total far out of reach of the most aggressive decks there are.
2x Ranger of Eos-late game staying power, also great to sideboard in if our opponent runs Path to Exile to help us get to the 4th land.
1x Path to Exile-no need to be explained
3x Dismember-against decks that need more interaction, such as Infect, Abzan Coco, these come in
1x Abzan Falconer-more consistency to break board stalls in creature based matchups
2x Repel the Abominable-blowout card against combo decks of all sorts, like scapeshift, ad nauseum, and even burn or infect. The versatility of this card is amazing; I've played it against burn and cast it on turn 3 after my opponent suspended two rift bolts on turn 2, and it is not a card that people expect to face. Repel can also blowout infect after they stack all of their lethal buffs on an inkmoth or glistener elf, and isn't stopped by vines of vastwood. In fact, if played against certain decks, Repel acts as a time walk for us.
#I would also play the full 4x Path to Exile before maxing out on Honor of the Pure (you really don't want multiples unless you are already winning).
#Abzan Falconer is too slow in this deck imho and relies too much on other cards, even MD Lantern Scout seems like a better idea.
#Against sweepers I prefer to use the more proactive Selfless Spirit out of the SB.
Here is my version:
4x Champion of the Parish
4x Hada Freeblade
4x Expedition Envoy
4x Student of Warfare
4x Soldier of the Pantheon
3x Kytheon, Hero of Akros
4x Kazandu Blademaster
4x Thalia's Lieutenant
1x Eiganjo Castle
4x Flagstones of Trokair
4x Mutavault
10x Plains
Instant (8)
4x Brave the Elements
4x Path to Exile
Enchantment (2)
2x Honor of the Pure
2x Auriok Champion
2x Disenchant
2x Repel the Abominable
2x Rest in Peace
2x Selfless Spirit
2x Stony Silence
3x Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
I'm not sure about the 4x Mutavaults here (another option is Cavern of Souls) but they help against flooding out and keeping the pressure.
Flagstones of Trokair help against flooding as well and don't require paying life like fetchlands.
About the SB:
I wonder if the new Fragmentize can replace Disenchant in the SB, what do you think of this card here ?
And there is also Authority of the Consulate (which is like a cheaper version of Blind Obedience), can it be good for aggro mirrors (Zoo, Merfolk, Affinity) ?
I think that he became irrelevant since the printing of Thalia, Heretic Cathar.
He costs 2 mana and is easier to remove compared to Authority of the Consulate which also gains you life.
I like to think of the synergies in the deck this way: each 1 mana creature has the potential to grow to insane sizes itself, or buff each other. Expedition Envoy may look like trash when placed alone next to Student of Warfare, but because it buffs so many other creatures in our deck, it will consistently represent 3 or 4 power for 1 mana, which is amazing mana efficiency.
@Dennis, try playing with a pair of Abzan Falconer I think it may surprise you, especially with the large amount of creature based strategies in modern. Though of course, these are the first to be sideboarded out against non-creature-based strategies.
And good point with Honor of the Pure I find myself sideboarding them out very often as well, because its hard to sideboard out creatures because they all rely on each other. I'll try experimenting with 3 copies and see how that feels.
As for colorless lands, I cut down on them because the deck always, always, wants double white on turn 2. Running a playset of Mutavault means we are likely to start hands with Mutavault+white source, which is incredibly limiting in terms of explosive power the deck can bring. I think the best land to counter flooding would be Horizon Canopy, and I'd happily play 3 copies if I could afford them. I've actually had the colorless source almost lose me games before, and wished I'd simply had another plains in its place.
Fragmentize looks great and I'll be looking to try fitting a pair (or 3) into the sideboard for sure!
I wouldn't worry about aggro mirrors - this deck absolutely crushes and outraces them. One mana 2/2 for a Goblin Guide? How about I show you a 1 mana 3/3, 4/4, or larger, Champion of the Parish, or a 1 mana 2/3, 3/4 Hada Freeblade? The Goblin Guide and Wild Nacatl have fixed sizes, they'll never grow past a certain point. At this weekends modern tournament, I won 1 game with 17 life remaining against naya burn, having only taken 3 damage off a searing blaze - burn was forced to keep pointing spells at my creatures because they were just completely outclassing what he had. My problem with cards like Authority of the Consulate is that it doesn't develop your board and only serves to stem a bit of damage from haste creatures. If we are running this out on turn 1, then we will be behind in board by far, and we won't be able to properly apply pressure from the tapped creatures our opponent plays. Even a savannah lion is a better play, as it can trade with most other one drops while dissuading attacks or forcing a removal spell.
@Stompbee
I think the best choice for an antisweeper would be splashing red for boros charm, which I am considering.
I completely agree that Thraben Inspector is more valuable than Student of Warefare in that list due to the importance of ETB triggers for your whole team. And I also agree that Horizon Canopy would be a better way to get card advantage from your lands.
Has the combination of Brave the Elements, Return to the Ranks, and Repel the Indomitable been enough to cover board wipes? I was just surprised that with 8x anti-wipes you were still considering Boros Charm. Perhaps you could elaborate on your experience there. Also, do you have enough mana for Return to the Ranks? If everything is wiped and you're sitting at ~3 lands you're only getting one creature back, and this deck really depends upon the synergy of many creatures.
(unless we have Brave the Elements and mana open to cast it) as on their own the creatures in the deck are rather weak.
There is also no reach (in Mono-White) to finish off opponents after you got them low and they stabilized, the deck has no mid/late game whatsoever.
If not disrupted the deck can be pretty good but it is usually not the case.
Yeah I play that card too. The question is rather how you gain life instead of which one gains you more. Auriok is passive, Fiendslayer is active. Besides, how do you fill your SB ? It's not an easy question, and there might not be a perfect answer. Kitchen Finks gains life too, as well as some non-cretaure spells. The SB has to be as broad as possible (because there's a lot of even or unfavorable MUs), and unfortunately, the best human creatures often provide only "fine" answers to a rather narrow variety of MUs.