MTG Salvation

If I ever add another one drop to my list, it would definitely be Kytheon, Hero of Akros. Experiment one will at best be a 3/3 that reverts to a 1/1 when it regenerate. Kytheon can flip into an indestructible 4/4 Gideon.

Gut Shot and Izzet Staticaster are very useful in the mirror. Both kills Hierarch, Champion, Lieutenant, Image and Thalia... copy it with Image to kill Freebooter and Meddling Mage. Considering Humans is the most popular deck in Modern, having good cards for the mirror is important. Note that Staticaster is also good vs Mardu Pyromancer, Affinity, Infect, Elves, etc. I dream of pairing Staticaster with something that could grant it Deathtouch... if you have a good idea to achieve that goal, be my guest.

About Big Thalia : I'll play 2 copies in the main deck for the time being (taking the flex spot, and Reflector Mage down to 3). I believe she could be very good against Mardu Pyromancer and Hollow One, as well as slowing down Tron, Control, Toolbox Company and Krark-Clan Ironworks. These decks dominate the format, and having a main deck card that is universally good is an important asset we should not disregard. Her ability is continuous, unlike Reflector Mage. She's like a repeatable pseudo-removal, because she effectively prevents creatures from blocking (Reflector Mage main use). Combine with Hierarch to play on T2 (Reflector Mage is very rarely what we want to play on turn 2).

You may be right about Meddling Mage. It's harder naming the right removal. Freebooter makes it easier, however. Maybe playing 3 is the right number... with Kytheon or Confidant taking the vacant spot?

Quote from Click5 »

On another note, Gerry mentioned in a recent GAM podcast...

Can you share a link?

Thanks for the response, patbou. Kytheon does seem pretty spicy as another 1 drop, might have to test that.

How effective are Gut Shot and Izzet Staticaster in practice though? Didn't someone say during commentary recently that the Humans mirror comes down to who draws more Thalia's Lieutenants? Gut Shot could still be useful, if you have it early, but Staticaster coming down on turn three at best seems pretty weak in the mirror, and probably too late against Affinity, Infect, and Elves. Granted, it's pretty good against Mardu, but I feel Auriok Champion and a fast clock is such a beating anyway, two extra slots dedicated to that match up might be pushing it.

The card is good when drawn early. Midgame, it pulls some wieght in combat but certainly loses some of its value. The card wins on the spot when you have it in your opening hand, that's why it's played.

What card are you talking about?

Quote from patbou »

Quote from Click5 »

On another note, Gerry mentioned in a recent GAM podcast...

Can you share a link?

It's episode 79 around 28 minutes, I believe


Double edit: Okay, it's in there, more like 36 minutes in

Sorry, I was talking about Staticaster.

Don’t forget that Staticaster kills any Image in the mirror. Even if fat Champions and Lieutenants survive 1 point of damage, Thalia and Hierarch are vulnerable to it. And copy Staticaster with Image to start cleaning the board. It’s a good card, and you want two in the matchups that matter (a lot do). Gut Shot is more a metagame call. I wouldn’t play it at my LGS, but at a PPTQ or Grand Prix, it can be a very good call.

Big B&R list update today. If they ban anything out of humans I will be pretty sad since humans wasn't even in the top 16 of GP Barcelona or the top 32 of the SCG open. Also hoping no SFM unban though I would be fine if they banned stirrings or unbanned GSZ.

That said after a bit of moping about no good humans in M19, I think militia bugler is going to be fairly decent (at least in the board). I played against it a few times in standard and what impressed me the most about it was that it digs for answers. I think one issue with humans previously has been that since we only see 12 cards a game we don't always draw our sideboard cards and I think bugler can help us dig for them. Personally, I don't run anything with more than 2 power in my board.

I have been mulling over Militia Bugler and I think I have a conclusion. Looking for verification that my framing of this probability problem, and my reasoning, are correct: I think Bugler fills the flex slots going forward, no question, as soon as it's legal. Maybe even as more than a two-of.

Here's an explanation of my thought process. I used an online hypergeometric calculator to do the math for me. My assumptions:

• The sample size is four;
• The population is the number of cards remaining in the library (N);
• The number of successes are (N) - ((remaining Mantis Riders [max. 4]) + (remaining lands [max. 18]) + (remaining Vials [max 3]) + (non-Mantis Rider creatures drawn so far [varies]));
• We want one or more hits;
• We play a standard Vial build with Bugler as the two flex spots.

Test Case: I tried to consider how to minimize live hits and maximize dead ones for this scenario. A very bad situation (worse cases could be imagined of course) for a hit off Bugler would be in the following game:

• We kept an opening seven on the draw with one land, one Vial, and all creatures. We never draw any Mantis Riders, lands or Vials.
• We cast Bugler on T4, off a T1 Vial and only one land in play.
• We cast two one-drops on T2, and another one-drop and a two-drop on T3 (or kept all these in hand, doesn't matter for this, as long as these cards are not in the library).
• The rest of our hand (on the draw, four non-Bugler cards remain in hand) is also only made up of potential hits for Bugler. Now, 18 lands, 4 Mantis Riders, and 3 Vials remain in our library.
• In this scenario, we have 24/49 hits left in our library, which leads to a 92.9% chance to get one or more targets in the top four cards.

Conclusion: Even when the library is skewed towards dead draws, Militia Bugler is still extremely likely to be a two-for-one at a decent rate.

Granted, sometimes Bugler is going to bottom a Mantis Rider and whiff; or instead, draw a late-game Champion, Hierarch, or other low-impact card. However, in other cases it will whiff, but by doing so it will bottom four consecutive dead draws.

Running out of threats is this deck's weak point. Digging for more action will make the deck more consistent, and as shown, Bugler can be expected to hit in the large majority of cases. The point about finding sideboard cards is also well said and adds to Bugler's virtues.

Note that Bugler gets worse in decks with Kessig Malcontents, Restoration Angel, Thalia, Heretic Cathar, and the like--though it is also probably in contention with those specific cards for the slots.

If my framing of the problem is useful (criticisms welcome!) then Bugler seems an auto-include, no question. Thoughts?

Thanks for doing the math and tests, i mostly feel the same way about the card.

Let's say, for sake of discussion, this card would be part of the core as a 4of and lets us dig for threats and bullets. What cards would have to be shaven and what bullets would we run to maximize the Bugler's potential pre and post board?

Big Thalia is old tech that's coming around again. My sense is that this kind of phenomenon is likely for Humans for the foreseeable future--the main game plan is very strong, but can benefit from being tweaked and reinforced by swaps among a few slots. Right now, Tron is very good, and big Thalia is excellent against Tron, so she makes sense if you are planning for that matchup.

As far as making more room for Bugler, I am not so sure that is a correct idea, but if it were then I think the third (and possibly fourth) slots in the main might have to come from an Image, a Reflector Mage, or a Freebooter. All are not great against Jeskai, which is a weak matchup for us, while Bugler seems likely to be excellent in that match. A side benefit is that Bugler can dig for any of these cards, slightly counteracting the pain of cutting one copy (but also slowing down its deployment, it should be said). For instance, I have run only three Reflector Mage before, and it occupies the same spot on the curve as Bugler does, which is relevant.

[EDIT] The more I think about it, the more I like cutting one Image for Bugler #3. An opener with multiple Images can be pretty weak.

In terms of sideboard options to maximize Bugler's effectiveness, the standard answers all seem fine to me. Bugler does make some of the more marginal options worse--stuff like Heron's Grace Champion, Notion Thief, and the mostly-abandoned Vithian Renegades.

I have seen Torpor Orb played against me twice in the past couple of weeks. It has me reconsidering Qasali Pridemage. Also, I'm thinking Gaddock Teeg is looking good as spicy tech against lots of decks--namely Tron, KCI, and Elves, but he also helps against the sweepers, Cryptic Command, and planeswalkers out of UWx builds.

I really like Teeg out of the board against UW Control.
I won a game that I had turn 2 MM on Path into turn 3 Teeg locking out sweepers and Cryptic. That gave me time to find Image/MM to lock out Detention Sphere and left him without options to kill my hatebears.

I played Big Thalia last week and really liked the deck with her. Won against BG Midrange (Thalia was good), Tron (Thalia was insane) and Hollow One (Thalia was really good), lost to Jeskai some close games.

I've played some games with three Militia Bugler proxies in the deck. Cut Restoration Angel, Kessig Malcontents and one Phantasmal Image

Played against a friend with JundDS and Tooth and Nail. I won't go into details about the games since the former is highly favoured and the latter highly unfavoured .

On the Bugler though, more often than not i had the oppurtunity to cast Bugler and find a Liutennant or something else impactful which i could immediately vial in. Those are real value plays!
I'm digging those lines so far, The 4card dig is really deep and chances of whiffing are very very slim. The 2/3 (3/4) vigilance body is also nothing to scuff at, attacking and blocking for days afrer getting value.

I played Humans at my 23 person FNM tonight. Did pretty good!

Round 1 vs. Storm. Good matchup, right? New player that I haven't seen here before. Should be easy. Nope. I play a Champion of the Parish and double Kitesail Freebooter, taking a Remand and a Grapeshot. The only reason why I took Remand is that he could Remand my 2nd Freebooter and I wanted the clock, with the +1/+1 right away on Champ. I draw only lands this game. He is dead on board at 3 life to 20, but draws and casts a Sleight of Hand. (He has a Baral in play and I couldn't find a Reflector Mage - screw that, I couldn't draw a non-land!) He gets Opt. Opt, then finds a Manamorphose. He does that and gets...Manamorphose. He does that and gets Manamorphose. He gets Gifts Ungiven and has enough to use the 4th Manamorphose from his deck to get the Past in Flames off, so I put the Rituals in his hand. He goes off and shows me the 2nd Grapeshot. I just had to make sure in case the only Grapeshot he had was under my Kitesail Freebooter. He got me! In the next game, I disrupt him and name, "Past in Flames" in time, as that WAS his final draw and was his only potential "out." Got there! In the final game, I started with Noble Hierarch into Sin Collector into Kitesail Freebooter and a Phantasmal Image on Collector, but I draw literally all lands and a single turn 3 Champion of the Parish, so I have no clock. At 5 life, he goes off and kills me with Gifts Ungiven. I can't Sin Collector the top of his deck (nor draw a Meddling Mage this game). This guy was 3-0 going into Round 4, which kind of upset my friend on Storm too at 2-2 on the day. Lots of variance in Modern. Wild format! 1-2.

Round 2 vs. RG Breach. In the first game, he did a "lethal Scapeshift," but wait, he had the other Mountain in his hand, so he couldn't get me. He ends up getting the creatures by playing the Mountain for the turn for 3 Valakut triggers, but I rebuild and end up getting there. I had a Reflector Mage in hand and drew Meddling Mage and Thalia to take on 2 Simian Spirit Guide and a Woodfall Primus. I was at a higher life total and got Freebooter and Noble Hierarch to kind of incentivize him to race with Primus. In the next game, I Kitesail Freebooter Anger of the Gods and Sweltering Suns and get there with a bunch of huge creatures. The first game was punted, but I think he learned a huge lesson on Valakut decks. Since I play a lot of Titanshift, I always make sure that I have it. In the final game, he was at 1 life and I had Kambal, Consul of Allocation out so Summoner's Pact killed him. No outs since his out is to chain non creatures spells. I don't think the card is all too good against them; probably better against Breach than Titanshift because of 4 Pact and Through the Breach, but it is good to go with the other GAS that I drew. 2-0.

Round 3 vs. Mono Blue Tron. The guy wanted to leave, so he left. I essentially got a Bye this round, so I played against the guy from Round 2 on Amulet Titan. Although he's played it for a while, it took him a while to adjust and since we were playing for fun, I helped him with some lines. He won 3 of 6 games. 2-0.

Round 4 vs. GR Eldrazi. He mulled to 5. He Dismembered a Mantis Rider, a Champion of the Parish, and Bolted a Thalia, but he had no gas and just a single Eldrazi Obligator to get Reflector Maged for lethal. In game 2, he got Torpor Orb into Engineered Explosives on 2. This allowed me to force him to crack the EE and Meddling Mage, Mantis Rider, and Phantasmal Image don't care about Torpor Orb. He had no gas and I did lethal to him on the final turn, still keeping the Gut Shot from my original hand. Aether Vial made it tough for him because a Bloodbraid Elf didn't know to attack or not since I was Mantis Ridering him. So he attacked me since I was flying over him, but then I got in with ground creatures too. I also Vialed in Freebooter and Reflector Mage to gets some more damage in too. 2-0.

I finish 3-1, which isn't too bad. I'm going through a stage where I was playing Modern 4-6 times per week, but can only play now 1-2 times. So I figured Humans would be an easy way to get store credit, considering I just bought Affinity with 3 Opals, so I need a 4th on Store Credit hopefully.

Confused about Round 4, there, FCG; didn't his EE take out his own Torpor Orb?

Quote from deaddrift »

Confused about Round 4, there, FCG; didn't his EE take out his own Torpor Orb?

Yes, it did. It wasn't the best sequencing by him. He may have thought that I had a hand that was completely dead with those in play. I actually wasn't sure about Phantasmal Image with Torpor Orb and I asked a Judge a turn after I could have cast it instead of another creature to speed up the clock. Meddling Mage was one I was pretty sure wasn't affected by Orb and I confirmed that with a Judge to make sure. As I did that out loud, my opponent also confirmed it.

The whole time, I personally was scared that he would get enough value off Engineered Explosives, then blow it AND his Torpor Orb, then cast Thought-Knot Seer the next turn (with Orb gone now and me sandbagging 2 drops).

I get the Bugler is an inferior draw engine compared to Dark Confidant argument. But I think a better analogy would be to Silvergill Adept, since both get value once on ETB, reveal a card from hand, draw a card (well 95%)... and both can then swing freely (cough vigilance) or block without sacrificing some kind of value beyond the body. Many of our guys can't say the same.

Can't wait to try it out on Friday, going to run it as a three-of.

Got a PPTQ coming up, would be interested to see people’s sidebaords as well as some notes on siding options in our tougher match ups, particularly what people are cutting. Thanks in advance.

My current sideboard:

• 2 gut shot
  
• 2 reclamation sage
  
• 2 sin collector
  
• 2 damping sphere
  
• 2 Izzet Staticaster
  
• 2 Kataki war’s wage
  
• 2 auriok Champion
  
• 1 gaddock teeg
  

Sideboard looks solid, If you run Gaddock Teeg and feel confident to cast it when it's needed, you could aswell try Qasali Pridemage instead of Reclamation Sage, the card is just stricktly better versus Torpor Orb which has been popping up every now and then. It can also be found with Militia Bugler if you suspect anything like that (or bloodmoon/worship)

About Militia Bugler.
I'm currently testing with 3 copies, i cut 1 Phantasmal Image, 1 Kessig Malcontents and Restoration Angel.
How does everybody feel about the card. Especially Restoration Angel has been very good for me in my recent games. though both cards just don't go well together.
Amongst the best plays where: T3 cast Militia Bugler with Aether Vial on two, and vial in the hit. This has mostly been Thalia's Lieutenant, and is a big hit when applying preasure. Can be anything disruptive if needed though.

One remark and while it has not happened before, the card i want to topdeck most of the time, is also the one we cannot hit with Militia Bugler, which is Mantis Rider obviously. Has this happened to someone?