It's on the short list of cards I toy with from time to time. More often than not when I include it it's in the board, but it's a perfectly fine card and a reasonable meta choice.
OP, just one question, wht did you drop the Student of Warfare to only 3 copies???? A 3 mana investment for a 3/3 First Strike that can grow bigger thanks to the Lieutenant. Also, I'm not all sure about the Thraben Inspector. It's just a little card advantage in the form of the clue, but it dosen't apply any pressure on the oponent. Wouldn't be better to have extra removal in those slots, or anoter 2/1 for 1???
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Sorry for the bad english, not my native language!!!
For this deck? Ajani. Brimaz might have my vote for best standalone 3-drop White creature in Modern, but he's best in a good-stuff type build, which this deck is not. Ajani directly and immediately interacts with your turn 1 and 2 plays (Turn 1 Lynx, turn 2 Lynx Lynx swing for 4, turn 3 Ajani swing for 16 anyone?), so if you're looking to add one, Ajani would have my vote.
OP, just one question, wht did you drop the Student of Warfare to only 3 copies???? A 3 mana investment for a 3/3 First Strike that can grow bigger thanks to the Lieutenant. Also, I'm not all sure about the Thraben Inspector. It's just a little card advantage in the form of the clue, but it dosen't apply any pressure on the oponent. Wouldn't be better to have extra removal in those slots, or anoter 2/1 for 1???
I have found that having multiple copies of Student early on is a liability. An opening hand with 2 Students likely means you have to play one on turn 2, which may commit you to pumping mana into him turn 3, which you may not be able to effectively do if you also want to leave one open for Brave/Tithe. A 3/3 first strike for 3 is exciting: a 1/1 vanilla for 1 (and 2 if you can't get him to 3 right away) is not.
Inspector is a card I was down on when I saw it in other people's lists, but it impressed me when I actually played with the card. It's a pretty decent top deck, and actually isn't bad to play on turn 2. The second point of toughness can be surprisingly relevant sometimes, and the clue token means you're never upset when someone has to use a removal spell on it or trade a creature with it. Heck, you're not even that upset when you suicide it in to flip Kytheon. I'm not saying it's the best, which is why I only run 3 copies of it, but I think it's a lot better than running more removal (I'm honestly not even sure we need the Paths main). If they were to print another 2/1 for 1 with a relevant ability, I would probably run that instead, but if Dragon Hunter is the best that's left, I'll just play the Human version of Elvish Visionary instead.
It has been awhile since I posted on here, and the overall arc of my list has changed a bit.
I have been doing extensive testing at my local LGS as well as Magic Online's queues and have solidified a list I will take into a leauge sometime today. I will explain the oddities and changes below
To start off, this list was built to fare better against grinder matchups and midrange-control decks such as Grixis Delver and Nahiri Jeskai, while still being able to goldfish turn 4 if the matchup requires (Tron, Merfolk, D&T)
What I truely enjoy about the list is its reliabilty on the "Holy Trifecta" as I call it. We all know what these do.
Path to Exile: Our Premier removal spell, kills Goblin Electromancer or a Tasigur with equal force. I cannot see myself NOT running 4, but you could run 3. Brave the Elements: A true swiss army knife. Protection from any colored removal, mini-fog when declaring blocks, or the best of all, A WIN CONDITION. 4-of for me. Honor of the Pure: I know we have had our disputes over this card but I have been running into more Electrolyze decks that can destroy our chances of goldfishing that it won its spot as a four-of. It is also FANTASTIC with Spectral Procession and Gather the Townsfolk.
About the Token Producers, it seems as if they are our only option to increase our stability late game without extending our decks reliance on the graveyard with cards like Return to the Ranks.
Gather the Townsfolk: A Raise the Alarm type of human generator that functions as a theoretical +2/+2 (or sometimes +5/+5 thanks to Zoo) to all our Human lords. It is also a more conservative turn two play against more aggressive decks. Spectral Procession: I had SERIOUS doubts about this card because it was not synergistic with the Human game plan, but the value I gained from this card has outweighed all concerns. Against Nahiri Jeskai and other traditional control matchups it has stablized the board after a Supreme Verdict and has warrented many 3-for-1s in my favor. Against Jund it is a saturation of threats our deck needed to survive the constant onslaught of removal. And most imortatly, giving our deck flying has curbed many attempts by D&T, Affinity, Infect and Tokens to steal easy wins from me. It also allowed me to win against a board stall with Merfolk and Abzan Company.. You all should give it try at least sideboard against grindier matchups. You will not regret it.
Mainboard Switches and commentary:
Soldier of the Pantheon: This card has destroyed Junk and D&T builds single-handedly. On of the best Lions in my opinion. Mardu-Woe Reaper: With the rise of Dredge agian he is back in the main to combat pesky Vengeful Pharaohs and other ridiculous creatures. Thraben Inspector: As OP has stated, basically the Human version of Elvish Visionary, with the added perk that it is a 1/2. FANTASTIC top-deck as well Student of Warfare: I love this card for what it does on a stalled out board. Late-Game it has the ability to dominate and turn the tide. Sadly there is only so many times I can have it targeted by Flickerwisp, Vapor Snag or outright Terminated after I poured my manabase for three turns into it, that I just want to go home and cry. I side it out against a lot of decks, but it still has its uses. Not many goyfs have kept this position for this long. I will keep it in for awhile. Cavern of Souls: Unless you like to stare down Chalice of the Void for a living, this is our best option against it. Also perks against Nahiri Jeskai.
Other Sideboard Consireations and Commentary:
Thalia, Heretic Cathar: I ran one of her in the side against control-heavy metas and it did wonders. Yes, I know, it costs three, but it can turn the tide into our favor with how much tempo they lose. Celestial Flare: Here lies the answer to your Infect and Bogles problems. It just wrecks them. It also serves as the Brave the Elements replacement in colorless creature match-ups (Eldrazi, Affinity and sometimes Tron). Could be replaced with Blessed Alliance thanks to Eldritch Moon. Imposing Sovereign: A mini big Thalia that can curb Thopter-Sword shenanigans. Good against Eldrazi as well. Burrenton Forge-Tender: This is our extra answers against Red sweepers such as Pyroclasm and Amger of the Gods. Fantastic Burn counter and absolutely obliterates red Assault Strobe style decks. Sundering Growth: I thought this card wasn't needed thanks to Stony Silence. Then I played against Troll Worship. Do not make the same mistake I did. Angel's Grace: Mini Fog against aggro decks and Ad nauseum destroyer. This card has single-handedly won me games. It will never leave sideboard. EVER.
I do not expect all of you to read all of this but this is where I am at.
Honestly, people underestimate the ally package. Without running the ally playsets, you are left running essentially vanilla savannah lions like mardu woe-reaper and soldier of the pantheon, which never really grow. Let's take a step back to this thread's main idea-mono-white goyfs->1 or 2 drops that grow to insane sizes.
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 as compared to 1 mana 2/1 savannah lions and mana sinks like figure of destiny/student of warfare. 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 there for a red splash if we sideboard in our boros charms; It can also be 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
2x Boros Charm-antisweeper, also gives a lot more reach
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.
The main deck changes are very cheap to make, and I would really recommend people to try out human allies if you've never tried it before!
I'm not sure about the maindeck Abzan Falconer though, it is very situational and can be bolted easily (unless you have an anthem on board) which is a huge tempo-loss.
Also with so many growing creatures already and more 2-drops I am not sure how necessary is to play the full 4x Honor of the Pure.
With the full 4x anthems (and Champion/Lieutenant) I would look into playing Gather the Townsfolk which gets really good the later the game goes and can be a good play against ultra-aggressive decks.
In a mono-white deck I would go with 4x Flagstones of Trokair for deck thining over fetches.
1-2 against Death and Taxes. Sadly I lost both board stalls without enough awnsers. The second game I did get to steamroll over three Thalia, Guardian of Thrabens. Totally fine with that loss
2-0 8-Whack. Both games my creatures became too large for them to bushwhack through. Thank you Thalia's Lieutenant.
0-2 Valukut Breach. I drew no removal and missideboarded thinking Valukaut triggers were red. then they through the breached Emrekul an dthen I was finished.
Regarding the allies build, I will defiantly try it out online.
Yeah I can see the Falconer concern; It generally won't be a turn 3 play though so here's to hoping that they've exhausted all their bolts Would depend on the local meta though, an easy swap with Thalia, Guardian of Thraben any time!
I honestly haven't had a chance to properly test this deck; unfortunately, I don't have an MTGO account and my local game store doesn't really support modern. I do like Student of Warfare but my only gripe with it is it will remain a vanilla 1/1 for a while; I'd much rather be deploying my hand and buffing my creatures with new units than pumping mana into a card that can be easily removed. With 8 fetches I think it would be relatively easy to splash black/green and run a couple copies of Anafenza, the Foremost which helps grow our creatures more and is out of bolt range. This is just theory craft though, have never tried Anafenza before.
Though the core of the deck is monowhite, I do have a pair of Boros Charm in the sideboard hence the red splash, as an answer to board sweepers; would you simply not run those? Hard sweepers seem to be the decks largest weakness (our creatures out grow red sweepers like Anger of the Gods) cards like Wrath of God and Supreme Verdict can really screw the deck over. Going monowhite I could see including Selfless Spirit as a method to mess with sweepers, but that loses the surprise factor boros charm has.
@Ridley, great! looking forward to your update on how the human allies went!
What I like about Student of Warfare is the flexibility, if you have more creatures you play them and if not you can sink mana into him.
For board protection Selfless Spirit does indeed seem very good as it provides an evasive body to pressure the opponent instead of having to keep mana open for Boros Charm.
Another card I was looking into for the SB is Proclamation of Rebirth which seemed like most cost-effective resurrection spell against decks that 1 for 1 us with removal untill they take over the game.
I played against Grixis control lately and it was a particulary miserable match-up.
I wasn't able to attack through the discard+efficient removal and lost on board to Tasigur, the Golden FangKalitas, Traitor of Ghet and Goblin Dark-Dwellers (after SB they have even more removal).
I really hate that level up has to be a sorcery; would a green splash with a Temple Garden and 8 fetches used along side Warden of the First Tree be flexible enough? Since we are cutting the Honor of the Pure we don't lose out on the fact that Warden is not white. The advantage that would bring would be that its essentially an infinite mana sink and can be used at instant speed, allowing us to leave up mana for Brave the Elements or Repel the Abominable, but the drawback would be that it requires specific quantities of mana to "level up", so we might lose out on the occasional loose bit of mana that is not quite enough to rank the Warden up.
Proclamation of Rebirth does look great! I haven't had a chance to sideboard in Return to the Ranks yet so don't have any experience as to whether or not we will have enough mana to make the x cost worth
I've played against a casual friend who has a budget affinity deck (doesn't run arcbound ravagers) but that contains everything else; the Etched Champion definitely was a pain, but Abzan Falconer helped me outrace him each time I was able to get him out.
The best green addition would be Mayor of Avabruck in my opinion, though Warden isn't bad but I'm not sure if the instant activation is worth losing on first-strike and the ability to slowly sink mana into Student.
Other good SB options can be:
1. Ratchet Bomb - for Tokens, Zoo/Goblins and Bogles, Infect and removing nasty permanents.
2. Auriok Champion - for Burn and Jund/Grixis and various aggro decks (Suicide Zoo).
3. Blessed Alliance - for Bogles, Infect and Burn.
Would Mayor of Avabruck be too similar to honor of the pure, in that it clogs up the 2cd slot?
Oh and has running 4 colorless sources ever been a problem especially when you want to be casting either 2 white one drops on turn 2 or a Kazandu Blademaster? I can visualize possible games where a plains and a Mutavault are all the lands that we have for the entire duration.
Unfortunately budget reasons keep me away from properly stocking up a good sideboard; just feels bad to spend $40 for Auriok Champion that won't see play often :/ perhaps eventually I'll come around to that point!
I´ve been testing (6 saturdays) in my meta (grixis, infect, toons of monoreds, WB eldrazi, jund, delver, robots(it's not affinity anymore, come on), trons (U, RG, UW), 8rack, boogles) and it's better to have 4 Ghost Quarter instead of 4 Mutavault, and 3 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben MD, the same goes for 4 Gather the Townsfolk over 4 Brave the Elements. Actually Brave is a good sb card.
Expedition Envoy it's such a dead draw if going on the humans allies theme. That was my worst tournament, maybe I was unlucky, but I had a pretty bad experience (1-4).
leon, would you mind posting the complete decklist that you ended up running after the weeks of testing? It seems that you have a lot of changes and additions so its just a bit hard to keep track of what you might be dropping to add some of these cards!
A couple of questions, though they may be misguided since I don't know your current deck composition:
What made you decide to drop Brave the Elements? Was there any specific matchup that influenced your decision?
What drove you to the statement that 19 lands is the magical number? Could you provide some rational regarding that? And it would seem,though of course I do not have any testing experience with your build, that 19 lands would make it very hard to consistently play cards that require 4 lands to be playable such as Gryff's Boon and Elspeth, Knight-Errant. Even the 3 cc cards that you talked about in the sideboard appear to be questionable in terms of consistency with 19 lands.
What deck did you run Expedition Envoy in? Could you explain why it was a dead draw?
I need to disagree with the statement at Auriok Champion. Not only does it further any human synergies, gets buffed by anthems like Honor of the Pure, it is also a body, and also has protection from black as an added bonus. The circle requires you to constantly keep mana up, which is not what a rush deck wants to be doing in the early turns - and when you do have the mana available to activate circle, it might just be too late.
I have to confess my sin: I have definitely stand aside from mono-white to favor the Boros power. The deck went 3-1, my only loss against a UR storm wich I couldn't stop in time. Even managed a turn 3 kill against a Scapeshifth:
Turn 1, Champion.
Turn 2, Kytheon and Monastery Swifthspear, hit 4.
Turn 3, dash a Ligthning Berserker and play the Lieutenant. Hit for 13, game for me, since my oponent had fetch/shock himself.
It's a lot more fragile than the mono-white one drops version of the deck, but in my opinion it has a better start and mid game than the mono-white.
Special mention to Blessed Alliance. The card is awesome, and don't let anyone tell you otherwise. The gain 4 is, by far, the less usefull mode, and even that is good to stop those nasty burn deck for a turn or two. The sacrifice an attacking creature kills Tron, Bogles, Infect, you name it. And the Untap??? Well, I don't need to explain that one
Hanweir Garrison is a creature I had my doubts, but in practice is far more powerfull than in theory. The flip side is something we are never gona use. The only reason the deck have a Hanweir Battlements is because the chance of melding it panics the oponent, and the haste for R is always good. But putting two humans tokens during combat is the best. If the opponent dosen´t spend the removal on the Garrison, they'll end up faceing a huge army of tokens (that, algo, grows our Champions and Lieutenants). If they spend the removal, then is removal that is not faced against our real treats, like Gideon, Battle-Forged.
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Sorry for the bad english, not my native language!!!
I've been already posting this in the Modern Human thread, but since these overlap: what do you think about Signal Pest in a Thalia, Guardian of Thraben monoW WW build? Seems to be a nice anthem effect, I'm currently testing...
Signal Pest does indeed seem pretty good here, but not in a human-centric deck.
Some time ago I tried to build a kind of "White Affinity" hybrid with it and Ardent Recruit but it didn't work.
Now with the printing of Toolcraft Exemplar and Smuggler's Copter it might be worth trying again, though I'm still not sure how to balance a list between the aggressive 1-drops and the artifacts to support Ardent Recruit/Toolcraft Exemplar.
The deck can potentially have some explosive openings, Ethersworn Canonist can be annoying for some decks and Smuggler's Copter can help against flooding and filter and get through big ground blockers.
I also think about adding some Cranial Plating to the deck but I'm not sure what should be cut for it.
For anyone still interested in the deck (the original one with Steppe Lynxes and Figures of Destiny), I'm starting to give streaming a try. Feel free to drop by if you see me online, as I'll most likely be streaming Goyfs. You can find me at https://www.twitch.tv/hoolawgaming.
In fact, if I can I'm going to try to stream a little bit tonight, maybe around 10:00pm EST (4 and a half hours from now). Hope to see you guys there!
I am getting back into Magic. I played some in 2012 just standard format. I read your article that you wrote on white goyfs and it showed me that modern is the right fit for me. I am a dad also extremely limited on time to keep up with standard meta. I played an aggro white/blue deck very similar to the standard one you posted in the article. I enjoyed reading your article and I really enjoy playing white aggro I'm about to sleeve up a version of the deck that you wrote about. This being my first post I'm not sure how to post a deck list, so bear with my noob posting.
Here is what I'm thinking:
4 steppe lynx
4 champion of the parish
4 Kytheon, hero of Akros
4 student of warfare
4 figure of destiny
4 grand abolisher
3 Thalia, gaurdian of Tharben
4 Thalia's lieutenant
3 Auriok Champion
Instants:
4 brave the elements
2 mana tithe
Land:
10 plains
10 fetches
Sideboard:
Not sure completely here could use some help, but I'm thinking...
I know how you feel about Thalia from your article and about other two drop creatures, but I feel like all the two drops I have selected are really strong. Please feel free to inform me if I'm wrong. I haven't bought any of cards yet. I'm just looking for some expert opinions on my idea (based closely on your idea).
You know my thoughts on Thalia, so I won't rehash them. I just want to make clear that I think she's a reasonable choice, it's just that, based on my experience, she works against the deck a little more than she works for it.
I'm not sure about Thalia's Lieutenant. I haven't tested it without running all Humans, so I don't know how awkwardly she plays with Lynx and Figure. Probably not much of a problem, but it could be a little more inconsistent than you want.
Grand Abolisher is a card that I've toyed with in the past, and while the effect seems awesome on paper, it never quite works out as well as you want it to. It's similar to a card like True Believer or Ethersworn Canonist in that you have high expectations for how much work it will put in against certain decks, but then it severely underperforms against the rest of the field. 2 power for 2 mana is just such a hard sell for such an aggressive deck as this. I can see the idea of starting out hyper-aggressive and then becoming more disruptive to close out, but in my experience it rarely works out the way you want it to.
As for Auriok Champion, I think it's far too passive a card for a deck like this.
All that being said, the best thing you can do is test for yourself, and see what works and what doesn't. If I remember right, I think the Auriok Champions are pricey enough that I would straight up recommend not trying them out, but I think the others are either cheap enough or likely to find homes in other decks you play to give a whirl. As for possible replacements, if you really want to keep up with 2 drops, consider things like Accorder Paladin or Knight of the White Orchid or possibly Honor of the Pure (yes, I advocated against it in the comments to my article, but it's still a reasonable choice).
As for the sideboard, I think everything you listed is fine except for Pacifism. 2 mana is a bit too much for extra removal, and it's not clear to me what you're trying to neuter that something like Path or Dismember won't take care of more efficiently.
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now, ajani, caller of the pride vs brimaz, King of oreskos?
17 Plains
Spells
4 Brave the Elements
3 Path to Exile
2 Mana Tithe
Creatures
4 Champion of the Parish
4 Kytheon, Hero of Akros
4 Boros Elite
4 Soldier of the Pantheon
4 Mardu Woe-Reaper
3 Student of Warfare
3 Thraben Inspector
4 Thalia's Lieutenant
4 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
1 Path to Exile
2 Dismember
3 Sunlance
4 Nearheath Pilgrim
2 Rest in Peace
3 Immortal Servitude
For this deck? Ajani. Brimaz might have my vote for best standalone 3-drop White creature in Modern, but he's best in a good-stuff type build, which this deck is not. Ajani directly and immediately interacts with your turn 1 and 2 plays (Turn 1 Lynx, turn 2 Lynx Lynx swing for 4, turn 3 Ajani swing for 16 anyone?), so if you're looking to add one, Ajani would have my vote.
I have found that having multiple copies of Student early on is a liability. An opening hand with 2 Students likely means you have to play one on turn 2, which may commit you to pumping mana into him turn 3, which you may not be able to effectively do if you also want to leave one open for Brave/Tithe. A 3/3 first strike for 3 is exciting: a 1/1 vanilla for 1 (and 2 if you can't get him to 3 right away) is not.
Inspector is a card I was down on when I saw it in other people's lists, but it impressed me when I actually played with the card. It's a pretty decent top deck, and actually isn't bad to play on turn 2. The second point of toughness can be surprisingly relevant sometimes, and the clue token means you're never upset when someone has to use a removal spell on it or trade a creature with it. Heck, you're not even that upset when you suicide it in to flip Kytheon. I'm not saying it's the best, which is why I only run 3 copies of it, but I think it's a lot better than running more removal (I'm honestly not even sure we need the Paths main). If they were to print another 2/1 for 1 with a relevant ability, I would probably run that instead, but if Dragon Hunter is the best that's left, I'll just play the Human version of Elvish Visionary instead.
4x Champion of the Parish
4x Thalia's Lieutenant
4x Kytheon, Hero of Akros
4x Thraben Inspector
3x Soldier of the Pantheon
3x Mardu Woe-Reaper
2x Student of Warfare
4x Path to Exile
4x Brave the Elements
4x Honor of the Pure
4x Gather the Townsfolk
2x Spectral Procession
Lands
16x Plains
2x Cavern of Souls
1x Spectral Procession
2x Angel's Grace
3x Burrenton Forge-Tender
3x Rest in Peace
4x Celestial Flare
2x Stony Silence
Good Day to all!
It has been awhile since I posted on here, and the overall arc of my list has changed a bit.
I have been doing extensive testing at my local LGS as well as Magic Online's queues and have solidified a list I will take into a leauge sometime today. I will explain the oddities and changes below
To start off, this list was built to fare better against grinder matchups and midrange-control decks such as Grixis Delver and Nahiri Jeskai, while still being able to goldfish turn 4 if the matchup requires (Tron, Merfolk, D&T)
What I truely enjoy about the list is its reliabilty on the "Holy Trifecta" as I call it. We all know what these do.
Path to Exile: Our Premier removal spell, kills Goblin Electromancer or a Tasigur with equal force. I cannot see myself NOT running 4, but you could run 3.
Brave the Elements: A true swiss army knife. Protection from any colored removal, mini-fog when declaring blocks, or the best of all, A WIN CONDITION. 4-of for me.
Honor of the Pure: I know we have had our disputes over this card but I have been running into more Electrolyze decks that can destroy our chances of goldfishing that it won its spot as a four-of. It is also FANTASTIC with Spectral Procession and Gather the Townsfolk.
About the Token Producers, it seems as if they are our only option to increase our stability late game without extending our decks reliance on the graveyard with cards like Return to the Ranks.
Gather the Townsfolk: A Raise the Alarm type of human generator that functions as a theoretical +2/+2 (or sometimes +5/+5 thanks to Zoo) to all our Human lords. It is also a more conservative turn two play against more aggressive decks.
Spectral Procession: I had SERIOUS doubts about this card because it was not synergistic with the Human game plan, but the value I gained from this card has outweighed all concerns. Against Nahiri Jeskai and other traditional control matchups it has stablized the board after a Supreme Verdict and has warrented many 3-for-1s in my favor. Against Jund it is a saturation of threats our deck needed to survive the constant onslaught of removal. And most imortatly, giving our deck flying has curbed many attempts by D&T, Affinity, Infect and Tokens to steal easy wins from me. It also allowed me to win against a board stall with Merfolk and Abzan Company.. You all should give it try at least sideboard against grindier matchups. You will not regret it.
Mainboard Switches and commentary:
Soldier of the Pantheon: This card has destroyed Junk and D&T builds single-handedly. On of the best Lions in my opinion.
Mardu-Woe Reaper: With the rise of Dredge agian he is back in the main to combat pesky Vengeful Pharaohs and other ridiculous creatures.
Thraben Inspector: As OP has stated, basically the Human version of Elvish Visionary, with the added perk that it is a 1/2. FANTASTIC top-deck as well
Student of Warfare: I love this card for what it does on a stalled out board. Late-Game it has the ability to dominate and turn the tide. Sadly there is only so many times I can have it targeted by Flickerwisp, Vapor Snag or outright Terminated after I poured my manabase for three turns into it, that I just want to go home and cry. I side it out against a lot of decks, but it still has its uses. Not many goyfs have kept this position for this long. I will keep it in for awhile.
Cavern of Souls: Unless you like to stare down Chalice of the Void for a living, this is our best option against it. Also perks against Nahiri Jeskai.
Other Sideboard Consireations and Commentary:
Thalia, Heretic Cathar: I ran one of her in the side against control-heavy metas and it did wonders. Yes, I know, it costs three, but it can turn the tide into our favor with how much tempo they lose.
Celestial Flare: Here lies the answer to your Infect and Bogles problems. It just wrecks them. It also serves as the Brave the Elements replacement in colorless creature match-ups (Eldrazi, Affinity and sometimes Tron). Could be replaced with Blessed Alliance thanks to Eldritch Moon.
Imposing Sovereign: A mini big Thalia that can curb Thopter-Sword shenanigans. Good against Eldrazi as well.
Burrenton Forge-Tender: This is our extra answers against Red sweepers such as Pyroclasm and Amger of the Gods. Fantastic Burn counter and absolutely obliterates red Assault Strobe style decks.
Sundering Growth: I thought this card wasn't needed thanks to Stony Silence. Then I played against Troll Worship. Do not make the same mistake I did.
Angel's Grace: Mini Fog against aggro decks and Ad nauseum destroyer. This card has single-handedly won me games. It will never leave sideboard. EVER.
I do not expect all of you to read all of this but this is where I am at.
Happy Brewing!
GModern Belcher
GGreen Deck Wins
3I'm the King
RBlazeTron
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
2x Boros Charm
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 as compared to 1 mana 2/1 savannah lions and mana sinks like figure of destiny/student of warfare. 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 there for a red splash if we sideboard in our boros charms; It can also be 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
2x Boros Charm-antisweeper, also gives a lot more reach
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.
The main deck changes are very cheap to make, and I would really recommend people to try out human allies if you've never tried it before!
I'm not sure about the maindeck Abzan Falconer though, it is very situational and can be bolted easily (unless you have an anthem on board) which is a huge tempo-loss.
Also with so many growing creatures already and more 2-drops I am not sure how necessary is to play the full 4x Honor of the Pure.
I would probably cut 2x Abzan Falconer, 2x Honor of the Pure and a land to add: 4x Student of Warfare (or a 2/2 split with Soldier of the Pantheon) and the 4th Path to Exile.
With the full 4x anthems (and Champion/Lieutenant) I would look into playing Gather the Townsfolk which gets really good the later the game goes and can be a good play against ultra-aggressive decks.
In a mono-white deck I would go with 4x Flagstones of Trokair for deck thining over fetches.
2-1 against Merfolk. Brave the Elements did the winning for me, second game I scooped to a Chalice of the Void on 1. I did not have Cavern of Souls online
1-2 against Death and Taxes. Sadly I lost both board stalls without enough awnsers. The second game I did get to steamroll over three Thalia, Guardian of Thrabens. Totally fine with that loss
2-0 Burn. First game I had two Thalia's Lieutenants and three Brave the Elements, so their Searing Blazes never stood a chance. Second game they flooded out and I abused that fact.
2-0 8-Whack. Both games my creatures became too large for them to bushwhack through. Thank you Thalia's Lieutenant.
0-2 Valukut Breach. I drew no removal and missideboarded thinking Valukaut triggers were red. then they through the breached Emrekul an dthen I was finished.
Regarding the allies build, I will defiantly try it out online.
I honestly haven't had a chance to properly test this deck; unfortunately, I don't have an MTGO account and my local game store doesn't really support modern. I do like Student of Warfare but my only gripe with it is it will remain a vanilla 1/1 for a while; I'd much rather be deploying my hand and buffing my creatures with new units than pumping mana into a card that can be easily removed. With 8 fetches I think it would be relatively easy to splash black/green and run a couple copies of Anafenza, the Foremost which helps grow our creatures more and is out of bolt range. This is just theory craft though, have never tried Anafenza before.
Though the core of the deck is monowhite, I do have a pair of Boros Charm in the sideboard hence the red splash, as an answer to board sweepers; would you simply not run those? Hard sweepers seem to be the decks largest weakness (our creatures out grow red sweepers like Anger of the Gods) cards like Wrath of God and Supreme Verdict can really screw the deck over. Going monowhite I could see including Selfless Spirit as a method to mess with sweepers, but that loses the surprise factor boros charm has.
@Ridley, great! looking forward to your update on how the human allies went!
For board protection Selfless Spirit does indeed seem very good as it provides an evasive body to pressure the opponent instead of having to keep mana open for Boros Charm.
Another card I was looking into for the SB is Proclamation of Rebirth which seemed like most cost-effective resurrection spell against decks that 1 for 1 us with removal untill they take over the game.
I played against Grixis control lately and it was a particulary miserable match-up.
I wasn't able to attack through the discard+efficient removal and lost on board to Tasigur, the Golden Fang Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet and Goblin Dark-Dwellers (after SB they have even more removal).
Affinity is also tough unless I draw my SB hate cards (which I have quite a bit against them: Stony Silence, Disenchant, Repel the Abominable and Thalia, Guardian of Thraben).
Etched Champion is also difficult to deal with.
Proclamation of Rebirth does look great! I haven't had a chance to sideboard in Return to the Ranks yet so don't have any experience as to whether or not we will have enough mana to make the x cost worth
I've played against a casual friend who has a budget affinity deck (doesn't run arcbound ravagers) but that contains everything else; the Etched Champion definitely was a pain, but Abzan Falconer helped me outrace him each time I was able to get him out.
My main loses to Affinity are to them sac'ing their board with Arcbound Ravager to one shot me with Inkmoth Nexus or to Etched Champion (backed up by Whipflare).
Other good SB options can be:
1. Ratchet Bomb - for Tokens, Zoo/Goblins and Bogles, Infect and removing nasty permanents.
2. Auriok Champion - for Burn and Jund/Grixis and various aggro decks (Suicide Zoo).
3. Blessed Alliance - for Bogles, Infect and Burn.
Here is my current list:
4x Champion of the Parish
4x Expedition Envoy
4x Hada Freeblade
3x Kytheon, Hero of Akros
4x Soldier of the Pantheon
4x Student of Warfare
4x Kazandu Blademaster
4x Thalia's Lieutenant
4x Brave the Elements
4x Path to Exile
Enchantment (2)
2x Honor of the Pure
Land (19)
1x Eiganjo Castle
4x Flagstones of Trokair
4x Mutavault
10x Plains
2x Auriok Champion
2x Disenchant
2x Repel the Abominable
2x Rest in Peace
2x Selfless Spirit
2x Stony Silence
3x Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
Oh and has running 4 colorless sources ever been a problem especially when you want to be casting either 2 white one drops on turn 2 or a Kazandu Blademaster? I can visualize possible games where a plains and a Mutavault are all the lands that we have for the entire duration.
Unfortunately budget reasons keep me away from properly stocking up a good sideboard; just feels bad to spend $40 for Auriok Champion that won't see play often :/ perhaps eventually I'll come around to that point!
Expedition Envoy it's such a dead draw if going on the humans allies theme. That was my worst tournament, maybe I was unlucky, but I had a pretty bad experience (1-4).
Anafenza, Kin-Tree Spirit is good but no that much. I've tried with 3 and 2, and having 2 was better. If you want to use her, 2 is perfect. Also, doesn't work with Gather the Townsfolk But is fantástic with Eerie Interlude
Knight of the White Orchid is slow. But pretty good against midrange.
Gryff's Boon or Elspeth, Knight-Errant's second hability to your less important creature make you win games asap.
Sword of War and Peace and Mirran Crusader are godlike sb cards, but I wouldn't use more than 1 sword and 3 Mirrans.
Instead of Auriok Champion, just use Circle of Protection: Red and still having the same results.
19 lands is the magic number. Not 20, except with 2-3 Knight of the White Orchid, not 18 because mono-white doesn't have Lightning Bolt
And practice, this deck needs practice even though it doesn't looks like.
Well, that's it, I'm gonna keep testing, and posting any changes or great aditions.
A couple of questions, though they may be misguided since I don't know your current deck composition:
What made you decide to drop Brave the Elements? Was there any specific matchup that influenced your decision?
Why Anafenza, Kin-Tree Spirit, a card that doesn't synergize with Champion of the Parish and Thalia's Lieutenant? What did you replace with it?
What drove you to the statement that 19 lands is the magical number? Could you provide some rational regarding that? And it would seem,though of course I do not have any testing experience with your build, that 19 lands would make it very hard to consistently play cards that require 4 lands to be playable such as Gryff's Boon and Elspeth, Knight-Errant. Even the 3 cc cards that you talked about in the sideboard appear to be questionable in terms of consistency with 19 lands.
What deck did you run Expedition Envoy in? Could you explain why it was a dead draw?
I need to disagree with the statement at Auriok Champion. Not only does it further any human synergies, gets buffed by anthems like Honor of the Pure, it is also a body, and also has protection from black as an added bonus. The circle requires you to constantly keep mana up, which is not what a rush deck wants to be doing in the early turns - and when you do have the mana available to activate circle, it might just be too late.
Oh and for further discussion, here's a deck list of monowhite human soldiers that finished second at a recent SCG qualifier: https://www.mtggoldfish.com/archetype/modern-mono-white-humans-27423#paper
It seems that we were on point in considering Selfless Spirit as a solid sideboard option against sweepers!
4x Champion of the Parish
4x Monastery Swiftspear
4x Thraben Inspector
3x Kytheon, Hero of Akros
3x Lightning Berserker
4x Thalia's Lieutenant
2x Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
2x Ash Zealot
2x Hanweir Garrison
4x Path to Exile
4x Lightning Bolt
2x Boros Charm
2x Eerie Interlude
Lands (20)
4x Sacred Foundry
4x Clifftop Retreat
4x Arid Mesa
1x Hanweir Battlements
4x Plains
3x Mountain
4x Wear/Tear
3x Blessed Alliance
2x Electrickery
2x Stony Silence
2x Rest in peace
2x Deflecting Palm
I have to confess my sin: I have definitely stand aside from mono-white to favor the Boros power. The deck went 3-1, my only loss against a UR storm wich I couldn't stop in time. Even managed a turn 3 kill against a Scapeshifth:
Turn 1, Champion.
Turn 2, Kytheon and Monastery Swifthspear, hit 4.
Turn 3, dash a Ligthning Berserker and play the Lieutenant. Hit for 13, game for me, since my oponent had fetch/shock himself.
It's a lot more fragile than the mono-white one drops version of the deck, but in my opinion it has a better start and mid game than the mono-white.
Special mention to Blessed Alliance. The card is awesome, and don't let anyone tell you otherwise. The gain 4 is, by far, the less usefull mode, and even that is good to stop those nasty burn deck for a turn or two. The sacrifice an attacking creature kills Tron, Bogles, Infect, you name it. And the Untap??? Well, I don't need to explain that one
Hanweir Garrison is a creature I had my doubts, but in practice is far more powerfull than in theory. The flip side is something we are never gona use. The only reason the deck have a Hanweir Battlements is because the chance of melding it panics the oponent, and the haste for R is always good. But putting two humans tokens during combat is the best. If the opponent dosen´t spend the removal on the Garrison, they'll end up faceing a huge army of tokens (that, algo, grows our Champions and Lieutenants). If they spend the removal, then is removal that is not faced against our real treats, like Gideon, Battle-Forged.
Signal Pest does indeed seem pretty good here, but not in a human-centric deck.
Some time ago I tried to build a kind of "White Affinity" hybrid with it and Ardent Recruit but it didn't work.
Now with the printing of Toolcraft Exemplar and Smuggler's Copter it might be worth trying again, though I'm still not sure how to balance a list between the aggressive 1-drops and the artifacts to support Ardent Recruit/Toolcraft Exemplar.
Here is the idea:
4x Memnite
4x Ardent Recruit
4x Court Homunculus
3x Kytheon, Hero of Akros
4x Signal Pest
3x Soldier of the Pantheon
4x Thraben Inspector
4x Toolcraft Exemplar
4x Ethersworn Canonist
4x Path to Exile
4x Smuggler's Copter
Lands (18)
4x Blinkmoth Nexus
1x Eiganjo Castle
4x Flagstones of Trokair
9x Plains
3x Dispatch
2x Fragmentize
3x Brave the Elements
2x Rest in Peace
2x Stony Silence
3x Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
Do you think this idea can actually work ?
The deck can potentially have some explosive openings, Ethersworn Canonist can be annoying for some decks and Smuggler's Copter can help against flooding and filter and get through big ground blockers.
I also think about adding some Cranial Plating to the deck but I'm not sure what should be cut for it.
For anyone still interested in the deck (the original one with Steppe Lynxes and Figures of Destiny), I'm starting to give streaming a try. Feel free to drop by if you see me online, as I'll most likely be streaming Goyfs. You can find me at https://www.twitch.tv/hoolawgaming.
In fact, if I can I'm going to try to stream a little bit tonight, maybe around 10:00pm EST (4 and a half hours from now). Hope to see you guys there!
Thanks to everyone who dropped by the stream tonight. As promised, here's the 75 I ran:
7 Plains
4 Flooded Strand
4 Marsh Flats
4 Windswept Heath
1 Flooded Strand
Spells
4 Brave the Elements
2 Path to Exile
2 Mana Tithe
4 Steppe Lynx
4 Champion of the Parish
4 Kytheon, Hero of Akros
4 Boros Elite
4 Student of Warfare
4 Figure of Destiny
4 Soldier of the Pantheon
4 Mardu Woe-Reaper
3 Grafdigger's Cage
2 Celestial Flare
2 Dismember
2 Sunlance
2 Nearheath Pilgrim
2 Kataki, War's Wage
2 Elspeth, Knight-Errant
I am getting back into Magic. I played some in 2012 just standard format. I read your article that you wrote on white goyfs and it showed me that modern is the right fit for me. I am a dad also extremely limited on time to keep up with standard meta. I played an aggro white/blue deck very similar to the standard one you posted in the article. I enjoyed reading your article and I really enjoy playing white aggro I'm about to sleeve up a version of the deck that you wrote about. This being my first post I'm not sure how to post a deck list, so bear with my noob posting.
Here is what I'm thinking:
4 steppe lynx
4 champion of the parish
4 Kytheon, hero of Akros
4 student of warfare
4 figure of destiny
4 grand abolisher
3 Thalia, gaurdian of Tharben
4 Thalia's lieutenant
3 Auriok Champion
Instants:
4 brave the elements
2 mana tithe
Land:
10 plains
10 fetches
Sideboard:
Not sure completely here could use some help, but I'm thinking...
Sunlance
Path to exile
Burrenton Forge-Tender
Mardu Woe Reaper
Kataki, War's Wage
Pasifism
Grafdiggers cage
Celestial Flare
I know how you feel about Thalia from your article and about other two drop creatures, but I feel like all the two drops I have selected are really strong. Please feel free to inform me if I'm wrong. I haven't bought any of cards yet. I'm just looking for some expert opinions on my idea (based closely on your idea).
Thanks,
AggieSnake
You know my thoughts on Thalia, so I won't rehash them. I just want to make clear that I think she's a reasonable choice, it's just that, based on my experience, she works against the deck a little more than she works for it.
I'm not sure about Thalia's Lieutenant. I haven't tested it without running all Humans, so I don't know how awkwardly she plays with Lynx and Figure. Probably not much of a problem, but it could be a little more inconsistent than you want.
Grand Abolisher is a card that I've toyed with in the past, and while the effect seems awesome on paper, it never quite works out as well as you want it to. It's similar to a card like True Believer or Ethersworn Canonist in that you have high expectations for how much work it will put in against certain decks, but then it severely underperforms against the rest of the field. 2 power for 2 mana is just such a hard sell for such an aggressive deck as this. I can see the idea of starting out hyper-aggressive and then becoming more disruptive to close out, but in my experience it rarely works out the way you want it to.
As for Auriok Champion, I think it's far too passive a card for a deck like this.
All that being said, the best thing you can do is test for yourself, and see what works and what doesn't. If I remember right, I think the Auriok Champions are pricey enough that I would straight up recommend not trying them out, but I think the others are either cheap enough or likely to find homes in other decks you play to give a whirl. As for possible replacements, if you really want to keep up with 2 drops, consider things like Accorder Paladin or Knight of the White Orchid or possibly Honor of the Pure (yes, I advocated against it in the comments to my article, but it's still a reasonable choice).
As for the sideboard, I think everything you listed is fine except for Pacifism. 2 mana is a bit too much for extra removal, and it's not clear to me what you're trying to neuter that something like Path or Dismember won't take care of more efficiently.