Have you considered Collective Effort as a removal and pump spell. Its been really good for me, the +1 +1 helps against sweepers like Anger of the Gods and remove a blocker/threat.
As for Fiend vs Banisher Priest or Banishing Light, Light is harder to remove and can hit other tough stuff besides creatures. I use Fiend cause it gives me another attacker and pumps Champion/Thalia and the 3 toughness can keep him alive longer if you pump him to 4 and lives past Pyroclasm/Whipflare. If you need a more permanent creature removal Unmake is handy albeit 3 mana and then there's Celestial Flare vs Infect and Enchantress/Hexproof/Cant target creatures.
A lot depends on what your meta looks like for you side.
So it looks like my Abzan Company list is being developed into a Naya/4c deck. This got me thinking, have we fully explored the Abzan Human list.... I will stress that this is only an idea at this stage and I haven't done any testing. If anyone has any suggestions it would be welcome.
There are some obvious interactions in the deck and appreciate that some of them are completely situational but the intention is to make this into a bit of a Grindy deck.
Anyone got any thoughts? Is the deck too 'nice' and is basically a poorly constructed Abzan Company or worse example of some of the human decks in this thread....?
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So it looks like my Abzan Company list is being developed into a Naya/4c deck.
Not sure what you mean. Naya/4C Human decks have been built for years already. What archetype are you talking about precisely ?
Anyone got any thoughts?
Your list looks like what Aristocrats intend to do, but I must be missing something baout the combo. I believe you need a sac outlet for the combo to work, right ?
Imho, I think Abzan Humans isn't where you want to go because the raw power ain't there. It's not the best heavy-aggro combination, not the best tempo combination, and not the best Abzan shell for a midrange or infinite combo approach. The Naya colors are naturally the best trio for an aggro shell.
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Sorry, should've explained it a little better. I currently run the Abzan Comoany list (devoted druid, vizier, kitchen finks etc. etc.), but i am updating my list to splash R. This got me thinking whether my Naya human deck (posted a list earlier in this thread) could be transformed into an Abzan list.
And yes, good spot! I knew something didn't look right about the list when I posted it haha. It was meNt to include x3 viscera seer. As you said I'm not convinced it is the right direction for the deck, but wondered if anyone else had explored it.
Will try and get some testing in with my Naya build and maybe add combat celebrant
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Hello all! I have been checking this thread for a while now and finally decided to sign up. I was fortunate enough a little over four years ago to win a standard SCG Open trophy with a Naya humans list, and lately (mainly due to Thalia's Lieutenant) have been sleeving up Champions again. I'm really inexperienced with these forums but will try and figure out how to create lists appropriately for ease-of-viewing. I feel like I definitely have quite a bit of experience and knowledge to share, and I'd appreciate solutions and constructive feedback to my inevitable rookie-level internet mistakes.
I've been running a little more of a midrange list that is inspired by Todd Stevens' value town CoCo from SCG Dallas a couple of months back.
I've been playing this at my lgs twice a week for a couple of months now, with some tweaks here and there to the md and sb. It's been competitive but not dominant. Renegade Rallier has been awesome alongside KotR, Ghost Quarter, fetches, and Horizon Canopy. Even if it's just to get one of the lands back, it feels pretty busted. I rarely lose a game in which RR revolts early. The value of Tireless Tracker + KotR + fetches is absolutely ridiculous in the mid and late game. Still... I think humans can do better. I think I'd rather be more all-in aggressive Boros or a bit more midrange abzan. I'll post my take on how I would initially build these lists, then I will eventually build, test, and refine these lists if they prove to be somewhat competitive with tier 1-1.5 strategies.
This is a bit more of an all-in Boros list. I haven't seen anything else posted that has quite this arrangement of cards with an artifact sub-theme. It is currently only theory and is completely untested, but it seems good in my head. I've been brewing for almost 20 years now, so I know that most brews end up just not quite making the cut for competitive play. I imagine this to be the case here as well, but I like having fun with it, so here we are.
This is just an example SB, untested and untuned. Aether Vial, Thraben Inspector clues, Metallic Mimic, and Pia and Kiran Nalaar thopters give us a critical mass of artifacts that let us take advantage of one of the more busted burn spells ever printed - Shrapnel Blast. We have a pair of Darksteel Citadels to supplement this; the colorless splash is basically free. Mutavault and Blinkmoth Nexus are also considerations, as is Hanweir Battlements.
With a fairly low curve, and the ability to Vial it in, Abbott of Keral Keep gets the main deck nod over Thalia, Guardian of Thraben (still would keep 2-3 of her in SB). The more looks we get at the potent burn spells we have, the better. Pia and Kiran Nalaar is a house of a card on its' own. It seems like it would be gas to Vial it in with mana up for the ability. This deck has enough artifacts and reach to make that ability much more relevant than it is in a lot of other decks. Bloodlust Inciter + Hanweir Garrison might be too cute. Just in case it isn't, we're gonna try it out with Champions, Lieutenants, and Mimics, oh my! If you've seen the standard Boros Humans recently, you know exactly what I mean.
I'm excited to try this out and will post updates as they occur.
Been playing headminerve's list on Xmage tonight and it's so good! I'm still trying to figure out the sequencing and Coco target priority, but Combat Celebrant is definitely interesting. Notable victories so far include Eldrazi Tron and Sun and Moon. Having 8x mana dorks has actually helped against Blood Moon, and the overall higher curve makes Chalice on 1 not as big of a deal. Skyknight has been the true homie, though. Celebrant on the field, cast Skyknight, detain their blocker, Lightning Mauler to give it haste, swing for 9, exert Celebrant, make it 14.
I'm ordering the missing parts this week. It's too much fun.
Quote from EpicEmpiricism »This is a bit more of an all-in Boros list. I haven't seen anything else posted that has quite this arrangement of cards with an artifact sub-theme. It is currently only theory and is completely untested, but it seems good in my head. I've been brewing for almost 20 years now, so I know that most brews end up just not quite making the cut for competitive play. I imagine this to be the case here as well, but I like having fun with it, so here we are.
This is just an example SB, untested and untuned. Aether Vial, Thraben Inspector clues, Metallic Mimic, and Pia and Kiran Nalaar thopters give us a critical mass of artifacts that let us take advantage of one of the more busted burn spells ever printed - Shrapnel Blast. We have a pair of Darksteel Citadels to supplement this; the colorless splash is basically free. Mutavault and Blinkmoth Nexus are also considerations, as is Hanweir Battlements.
With a fairly low curve, and the ability to Vial it in, Abbot of Keral Keep gets the main deck nod over Thalia, Guardian of Thraben (still would keep 2-3 of her in SB). The more looks we get at the potent burn spells we have, the better. Pia and Kiran Nalaar is a house of a card on its' own. It seems like it would be gas to Vial it in with mana up for the ability. This deck has enough artifacts and reach to make that ability much more relevant than it is in a lot of other decks. Bloodlust Inciter + Hanweir Garrison might be too cute. Just in case it isn't, we're gonna try it out with Champions, Lieutenants, and Mimics, oh my! If you've seen the standard Boros Humans recently, you know exactly what I mean.
I'm excited to try this out and will post updates as they occur.
@EpicEmpiricism: As others have pointed out you have some intriguing synergy there. Some notes:
I like that Aether Vial lets you more reliably cast cards flipped off Abbot, but without Vial in play he seems poorly supported -- not many Prowess triggers and a curve that's a little too high for casting his flips. I agree with Dennis that you either need to trim the curve, support his Prowess plan better (and consider Monastery Swiftspear if so), or reconsider this slot.
20 lands seemed a little light to cast Pia & Kiran (even including Inspector Clues and Abbot flips), again I had trouble casting this without Vial.
As Dennis noted in his build I think 4x Shrapnel Blast is too much -- I experienced several games with more Shrapnel Blasts in hand than artifacts that I could sacrifice. Smuggler's Copter was a good suggestion for making some of your synergy plays come up more reliably, looting away dead Vials / Blasts etc.
I wasn't blown away Bloodlust Inciter. Lightning Mauler might give your curve better value with Vial while being a slightly more capable threat on its own.
Overall the deck seems a little inconsistent and slow at the moment, but I like the concept. There are some strong lines of play when everything lines up.
@Dennis: As I mentioned above I agree with some of your points. I think your proposed build has diluted the Human synergy a bit too much to be useful, though -- the fact that you don't want to run Thalia's Lieutenant is probably a telling sign. Either go all-in on Metalcraft theme and take more cues from Standard Vehicles or refocus on Champ/Lt IMO.
I'm trying to assess if there's a way to run some number of Simian Spirit Guides in the main to help accommodate 2-3x Gideon of the Trials and Blood Moon somewhere in the 75. Turn 2 Gideon or Blood Moon would round out a lot of bad matchups and make the deck significantly more competitive (while also triggering Prowess as a bonus :P).
Been playing headminerve's list on Xmage tonight and it's so good! I'm still trying to figure out the sequencing and Coco target priority, but Combat Celebrant is definitely interesting. Notable victories so far include Eldrazi Tron and Sun and Moon. Having 8x mana dorks has actually helped against Blood Moon, and the overall higher curve makes Chalice on 1 not as big of a deal. Skyknight has been the true homie, though. Celebrant on the field, cast Skyknight, detain their blocker, Lightning Mauler to give it haste, swing for 9, exert Celebrant, make it 14.
I'm ordering the missing parts this week. It's too much fun.
Glad to read you like this approach !
I'm playing it hard these last days and I suggest you to check out my current list:
The one creature I switched was 4x Avacyn's Pilgrim for 4x Glory-Bound Initiate. With 22 lands and 12 3-drops, I eventually conclude It's fine to run only 4 Hierarchs and no additional Pilgrims. They're low impact outside of goldfish starts anyway. Now Initiate : everybody dismissed him here before they played him. First I added Brawlers and they are good with Celebrant and Lightning Mauler, and also decent threats on their own. It adds more tension in the mana though, so I gave Initiate a real try instead of paper theory thoughts, and I am more than convinced it's a cleverer choice in this list.
Burn, Dredge, Eldrazi, Affi,... all these decks are tough to race G1, and if you're given one turn for a 4/4 lifelinker to deal damage, it changes the game. Brawler cannot do that. When Initiate attacks twice with Celebrant or get pumped, the effect is often enough to eventually win. In terms of clock, it deals less in 3 turns than Brawler (10 VS 11) but digs a bigger Life Total differential (14-16 VS 11), which appears to be more relevant in the MUs where I want to give myself a better G1 win rate.
I was working on a WR blitz aggro list and Initiate was great with Silverblade Paladin as well, so I believe it's a card that deserves more attention because it's at the level of Voltaic Brawler for non-green lists.
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Looks cool, I'll try this out! Really appreciate the analytical approach when it comes to life differential.
One thing I'll mention is that I personally really like using Mirran Crusader in the side which I'm not seeing in your list. You haven't lived until you've buffed one with Kessig Wolf Run to a 5/2 Double Strike Trample and then exerted Combat Celebrant!!
Edit: It just keeps getting better... forgot that you can trigger exalted twice because of the second combat step. This is making combat math much more complicated and I love it.
Crusader is a very good SB card, however I filled my SBs with cards that helped me in bad MUs. It still dies to Lightning Bolt and Tarfire while his protections matter vs Jund and Grixis decks (decks that unfortunately play Bolt and red wraths). I prefer Auriok Champion that can't block Tarmogoyf but cannot be removed at all in these MUs. She helps when she blocks Death's Shadow, race Dredge, blocks Kalitas and dodges Pia and Kiran Nalaar, and is MVP vs Burn. There's not enough room in my SB for Crusader according to the MUs I personnally prepare for !
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headminerve: Could you talk more about Echoing Truth in this current iteration? I appreciate its offensive & defensive versatility, as well as the occasional 2+ target upside. It's well suited for a local meta with a high amount of tokens, ensnaring bridge, phyrexian unlife, worship, but for the global meta I can't help but think there might be more direct/efficient or synergistic options in our colors.
In terms of interaction in an aggro deck we want to be able to simultaneously advance our board while also interacting as soon as possible. 1 mana interaction like Vapor Snag or Path to Exile can mean interacting a turn earlier while still putting down threats. Alternatively, we could abandon that last smidgeon of interaction to focus on our clock: with how attractive Double Strike is with Celebrant I could see either Temur Battle Rage or Boros Charm creating more early combo kill opportunities while also addressing other weaknesses in the deck (Evasion / Sweepers, respectively). Perhaps Blessed Alliance's untap mode would be uniquely useful with your 8x Exert threats, while also being a good maindeck answer to Burn, DSJ, Eldrazi, etc.
Since many of these are cards we'd toyed with for previous builds you've probably already considered them here, and perhaps even tested a few. Any thoughts?
I tried TBR a bit, not enough to give a well-shaped feedback. For 2 mana, I'd rather get rid of a blocker with Truth rather than giving one of my guys a pump, because the risk of letting my opponent 241 me is too potent.
Clearly Truth is here because it deals with anything, while Snag and Path are oriented towards creatures I tend to dodge with flyers. Truth gives just enough tempo (same with Skyknight over Reflector Mage) to race the opponent, but mostly gets rid of cards I can't beat otherwise, like Bridge, Unlife, O-Stone, Lili Last Hope, etc...
My idea for now is to cut 2 Celebrants and replace them with Path or something else. Celebrant alone can get stuck in hand because the other 3-drops usually are played in priority.
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Looks cool, I'll try this out! Really appreciate the analytical approach when it comes to life differential.
One thing I'll mention is that I personally really like using Mirran Crusader in the side which I'm not seeing in your list. You haven't lived until you've buffed one with Kessig Wolf Run to a 5/2 Double Strike Trample and then exerted Combat Celebrant!!
Edit: It just keeps getting better... forgot that you can trigger exalted twice because of the second combat step. This is making combat math much more complicated and I love it.
Crusader is an excellent card. However, its struggled to find room in decks. Knightfall, Maverick, Bant, Mono W whatever dont really use it. There was a time Id see it in some sides. It has really good staying power vs Jund, Abzan, Grixis, Elves and Death Shadow builds but there are also the fact that there are so many many good options at the 3 cmc slot that it gets bumped. Too many 3 drops make the deck slower if your trying to be a midrange you need more power then speed. If your going speed you dont want a bunch of 3 drops making your hand clunky and you want to drop stuff every turn. Wish we had more powerful 1 & 2 drops.
As for Fiend vs Banisher Priest or Banishing Light, Light is harder to remove and can hit other tough stuff besides creatures. I use Fiend cause it gives me another attacker and pumps Champion/Thalia and the 3 toughness can keep him alive longer if you pump him to 4 and lives past Pyroclasm/Whipflare. If you need a more permanent creature removal Unmake is handy albeit 3 mana and then there's Celestial Flare vs Infect and Enchantress/Hexproof/Cant target creatures.
A lot depends on what your meta looks like for you side.
4 champion of the parish
4 noble heirarch
2 soul warden
2 dark confidant
3 Saffi eriksdotter
4 Thalia's lieutenant
2 zulaport cutthroat
3 eternal witness
3 renegade rallier
1 Thalia, heretic cathar
1 tuskguard captain
1 xathrid necromancer
4 collected company
4 eldritch evolution
Land
4 windswept Heath
4 verdant catacombs
3 horizon canopy
2 temple garden
2 godless shrine
2 overgrown tomb
2 forest
2 plains
1 swamp
There are some obvious interactions in the deck and appreciate that some of them are completely situational but the intention is to make this into a bit of a Grindy deck.
Main Interaction
saffi eriksdotter + renegade rallier. Add in either champion of the parish / Thalia' lieutenant / zulaport cutthroat / xathid necromancer and this should hopefully give you a good chance of winning the game.
Anyone got any thoughts? Is the deck too 'nice' and is basically a poorly constructed Abzan Company or worse example of some of the human decks in this thread....?
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Why so Bloo? RU
Not sure what you mean. Naya/4C Human decks have been built for years already. What archetype are you talking about precisely ?
Your list looks like what Aristocrats intend to do, but I must be missing something baout the combo. I believe you need a sac outlet for the combo to work, right ?
Imho, I think Abzan Humans isn't where you want to go because the raw power ain't there. It's not the best heavy-aggro combination, not the best tempo combination, and not the best Abzan shell for a midrange or infinite combo approach. The Naya colors are naturally the best trio for an aggro shell.
And yes, good spot! I knew something didn't look right about the list when I posted it haha. It was meNt to include x3 viscera seer. As you said I'm not convinced it is the right direction for the deck, but wondered if anyone else had explored it.
Will try and get some testing in with my Naya build and maybe add combat celebrant
Everyone loves an angry mob RWG
Why so Bloo? RU
I've been running a little more of a midrange list that is inspired by Todd Stevens' value town CoCo from SCG Dallas a couple of months back.
4 Noble Hierarch
3 Avacyn's Pilgrim
4 Champion of the Parish
4 Thalia's Lieutenant
3 Mayor of Avabruck
3 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
4 Knight of the Reliquary
2 Tireless Tracker
2 Renegade Rallier
4 Path to Exile
4 Collected Company
Land
4 Windswept Heath
3 Flooded Strand
2 Misty Rainforest
3 Temple Garden
3 Forest
2 Plains
2 Horizon Canopy
3 Ghost Quarter
1 Gavony Township
3 Stony Silence
2 Blessed Alliance
2 Eternal Witness
2 Ethersworn Canonist
2 Rest in Peace
2 Auriok Champion
2 Mirran Crusader
I've been playing this at my lgs twice a week for a couple of months now, with some tweaks here and there to the md and sb. It's been competitive but not dominant. Renegade Rallier has been awesome alongside KotR, Ghost Quarter, fetches, and Horizon Canopy. Even if it's just to get one of the lands back, it feels pretty busted. I rarely lose a game in which RR revolts early. The value of Tireless Tracker + KotR + fetches is absolutely ridiculous in the mid and late game. Still... I think humans can do better. I think I'd rather be more all-in aggressive Boros or a bit more midrange abzan. I'll post my take on how I would initially build these lists, then I will eventually build, test, and refine these lists if they prove to be somewhat competitive with tier 1-1.5 strategies.
4 Champion of the Parish
4 Thraben Inspector
2 Bloodlust Inciter
4 Metallic Mimic
4 Thalia's Lieutenant
4 Abbott of Keral Keep
4 Hanweir Garrison
2 Pia and Kiran Nalaar
4 Aether Vial
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Shrapnel Blast
Land
4 Inspiring Vantage
4 Arid Mesa
4 Sacred Foundry
4 Plains
2 Mountain
2 Darksteel Citadel
2 Rest in Peace
3 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
4 Path to Exile
2 Blessed Alliance
2 Wear/Tear
2 Auriok Champion
This is just an example SB, untested and untuned.
Aether Vial, Thraben Inspector clues, Metallic Mimic, and Pia and Kiran Nalaar thopters give us a critical mass of artifacts that let us take advantage of one of the more busted burn spells ever printed - Shrapnel Blast. We have a pair of Darksteel Citadels to supplement this; the colorless splash is basically free. Mutavault and Blinkmoth Nexus are also considerations, as is Hanweir Battlements.
With a fairly low curve, and the ability to Vial it in, Abbott of Keral Keep gets the main deck nod over Thalia, Guardian of Thraben (still would keep 2-3 of her in SB). The more looks we get at the potent burn spells we have, the better.
Pia and Kiran Nalaar is a house of a card on its' own. It seems like it would be gas to Vial it in with mana up for the ability. This deck has enough artifacts and reach to make that ability much more relevant than it is in a lot of other decks.
Bloodlust Inciter + Hanweir Garrison might be too cute. Just in case it isn't, we're gonna try it out with Champions, Lieutenants, and Mimics, oh my! If you've seen the standard Boros Humans recently, you know exactly what I mean.
I'm excited to try this out and will post updates as they occur.
I'm ordering the missing parts this week. It's too much fun.
The idea is interesting (though not competitive) but if you want to get the best out of it I'd suggest to go as low to the ground as possible, meaning dropping all the expensive creatures like: Hanweir Garrison, Pia and Kiran Nalaar and even Abbott of Keral Keep and Thalia's Lieutenant
(and also Bloodlust Inciter which is just bad).
This makes Aether Vial completely unnecessary so it can be replaced by another good cheap artifact in the form of Smuggler's Copter.
Instead I suggest going with cheap creatures like: Signal Pest, Inventor's Apprentice, Ardent Recruit, Toolcraft Exemplar and Court Homunculus.
Galvanic Blast can be an alternative to Lightning Bolt here as well going all-in for the artifact-synergy.
I'd definetly go with Blinkmoth Nexus over Darksteel Citadel as a flying creature-land over a do-nothing colorless land.
In the SB a creature like Ethersworn Canonist (both human and artifact) can be used against control/combo (mainly "Storm").
Something like this - https://www.mtggoldfish.com/deck/522048
Here's where I'm at right now:
4x Champion of the Parish
4x Monastery Swiftspear
3x Thraben Inspector
2x Inventor's Apprentice
4x Abbot of Keral Keep
4x Metallic Mimic
4x Thalia's Lieutenant
4x Lightning Bolt
3x Path to Exile
2x Shrapnel Blast
Artifact (7)
4x Mishra's Bauble
3x Smuggler's Copter
Land (19)
4x Arid Mesa
4x Darksteel Citadel
4x Inspiring Vantage
2x Mountain
2x Plains
3x Sacred Foundry
Glad to read you like this approach !
I'm playing it hard these last days and I suggest you to check out my current list:
4 Noble Hierarch
4 Glory-Bound Initiate
4 Thalia's Lieutenant
4 Lightning Mauler
4 Lyev Skyknight
4 Mantis Rider
4 Combat Celebrant
2 Echoing Truth
4 Cavern of Souls
4 Windswept Heath
4 Misty Rainforest
1 Copperline Gorge
1 Razorverge Thicket
1 Forest
1 Plains
1 Temple Garden
1 Sacred Foundry
1 Stomping Ground
1 Breeding Pool
1 Hallowed Fountain
1 Kessig Wolf Run
Basically, when you add more white creatures, you want Hallowed Fountain, but when you have more red ones, you want Steam Vents. It then changes your Wooded Foothills into Misty Rainforest. Also you can play Razorverge Thicket in place of/ split with Copperline Gorge, depending on your SB too (non-creature spells mostly).
The one creature I switched was 4x Avacyn's Pilgrim for 4x Glory-Bound Initiate. With 22 lands and 12 3-drops, I eventually conclude It's fine to run only 4 Hierarchs and no additional Pilgrims. They're low impact outside of goldfish starts anyway. Now Initiate : everybody dismissed him here before they played him. First I added Brawlers and they are good with Celebrant and Lightning Mauler, and also decent threats on their own. It adds more tension in the mana though, so I gave Initiate a real try instead of paper theory thoughts, and I am more than convinced it's a cleverer choice in this list.
Burn, Dredge, Eldrazi, Affi,... all these decks are tough to race G1, and if you're given one turn for a 4/4 lifelinker to deal damage, it changes the game. Brawler cannot do that. When Initiate attacks twice with Celebrant or get pumped, the effect is often enough to eventually win. In terms of clock, it deals less in 3 turns than Brawler (10 VS 11) but digs a bigger Life Total differential (14-16 VS 11), which appears to be more relevant in the MUs where I want to give myself a better G1 win rate.
I was working on a WR blitz aggro list and Initiate was great with Silverblade Paladin as well, so I believe it's a card that deserves more attention because it's at the level of Voltaic Brawler for non-green lists.
One thing I'll mention is that I personally really like using Mirran Crusader in the side which I'm not seeing in your list. You haven't lived until you've buffed one with Kessig Wolf Run to a 5/2 Double Strike Trample and then exerted Combat Celebrant!!
Edit: It just keeps getting better... forgot that you can trigger exalted twice because of the second combat step. This is making combat math much more complicated and I love it.
In terms of interaction in an aggro deck we want to be able to simultaneously advance our board while also interacting as soon as possible. 1 mana interaction like Vapor Snag or Path to Exile can mean interacting a turn earlier while still putting down threats. Alternatively, we could abandon that last smidgeon of interaction to focus on our clock: with how attractive Double Strike is with Celebrant I could see either Temur Battle Rage or Boros Charm creating more early combo kill opportunities while also addressing other weaknesses in the deck (Evasion / Sweepers, respectively). Perhaps Blessed Alliance's untap mode would be uniquely useful with your 8x Exert threats, while also being a good maindeck answer to Burn, DSJ, Eldrazi, etc.
Since many of these are cards we'd toyed with for previous builds you've probably already considered them here, and perhaps even tested a few. Any thoughts?
Clearly Truth is here because it deals with anything, while Snag and Path are oriented towards creatures I tend to dodge with flyers. Truth gives just enough tempo (same with Skyknight over Reflector Mage) to race the opponent, but mostly gets rid of cards I can't beat otherwise, like Bridge, Unlife, O-Stone, Lili Last Hope, etc...
My idea for now is to cut 2 Celebrants and replace them with Path or something else. Celebrant alone can get stuck in hand because the other 3-drops usually are played in priority.
Crusader is an excellent card. However, its struggled to find room in decks. Knightfall, Maverick, Bant, Mono W whatever dont really use it. There was a time Id see it in some sides. It has really good staying power vs Jund, Abzan, Grixis, Elves and Death Shadow builds but there are also the fact that there are so many many good options at the 3 cmc slot that it gets bumped. Too many 3 drops make the deck slower if your trying to be a midrange you need more power then speed. If your going speed you dont want a bunch of 3 drops making your hand clunky and you want to drop stuff every turn. Wish we had more powerful 1 & 2 drops.
A couple of multi-color CoCo lists did well recently, the decks are mostly WG with small splashes for Reflector Mage (or Sin Collector) and SB cards.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3LvlBL2e4fM&list=PLxg8UAfS2YJaGrHVLg6Re88NhloeBdHnq
http://magic.tcgplayer.com/db/article.asp?ID=13982&writer=Craig Wescoe&articledate=6-2-2017
Yeah, it is the same build from mtggoldfish that 5-0'ed a league.
I'm not sure about the maindeck Sin Collector though, seems too narrow.
Also the deck has nothing in the SB against Burn (unless you count Kambal).