Got smashed at a PPTQ today. Only 19 people showed up, as there were 2 other Modern PPTQs locally.
Round 1 vs. Burn. My mull to 6 didn't help me get there. Two 1 drops, Eidolon, double Searing Blaze. Slow, terrible draws by me. GG. In the next game, I keep on 1 land and Vial because I know I have some gas. It is a bit slow, but I get out Noble Hierarch and keep getting a Thalia that gets killed by top decked 1 mana removal, as he was stuck on 2 land and had Boros Charm and Skullcrack in hand. I end up getting there with a late game Auriok Champion. I gain a life and essentially have most odd combinations of cards to win turned off. I keep on Auriok Champion in game 3 with a Phantasmal Image. Double Monastery Swiftspear and Skullcrack take care of the Champion. Maybe I should have not blocked with the Champion, but I was only going to do 1 creature per turn. I stabilize and am within 2 turns of lethal (1 with a Lieutenant draw), but he draws Shard Volley and it's over. 1-2.
Round 2 vs. BridgeVine.In the first game, he has too much gas, looting into Bridge and Vine in the yard and it got worse from there. I scoop with a pretty weak hand. In the next 2 games, I drew all the Champs, Lieutenants, and gas while he floundered about trying to get to the Vengevines or Bridges in the deck. He got a Vine and 3 Bridges, but I just had too many big creatures by then and Auriok Champion pushed me to 23 life, despite missing 3 life gain triggers this game. 2-1.
Round 3 vs. Jeskai. I gave 2 guys a ride. This is one of them. I'm fine with it, but he plays every removal spell that you can within the first 5 turns, including Supreme Verdict, ScM/Supreme Verdict, Wrath of God, and Bolt/Path/Helix. Maybe I named the wrong things with Mages? I scoop late game when I am drawing nothing and he has Teferi now and an active Search for Azcanta. He was at 3 life. In the next game, it is similar, but Thalia, Guardian of Thraben makes it a bit tougher, as he has to Path to Exile twice and Lightning Bolt on turns 2-4 to slow me down in order to Supreme Verdict, then Settle the Wreckage. I play a late game Sin Collector after seeing 7 Instant/Sorcery cards in his graveyard. I know I am not winning this game. I get him to 1 life before the 3rd Lightning Helix pulls him back and then a Search for Azcanta after Supreme Verdict flips and I draw some 1 mana spells (Champ, double Noble Hierarch, double Aether Vial). I actually may consider siding in Gut Shot in the future, as I don't think the opponent suspects this. I'm pretty sure a land can come out as well, but then mulligans with 0 land openers suck as well. Hmmmm. If I am going to be knocked out of a tournament, it better be with poor draws and by someone from my car. 1-2.
Round 4 vs. Affinity. At this point, I'm a bit on tilt. I played Humans because I thought it was consistent. Yet, I am the only one who has mulliganed this tournament, although my BridgeVine opponent did actually draw pretty poorly in the 2nd and 3rd games while I nut drew. He plays a bunch of stuff early and has enough to push through, as my mull to 6 (again) did not produce a single card that could pressure him. He mulled to 6 also; my first opponent to mull today. I always have a problem playing the most inconsistent deck in the room, no matter what I choose. In the next game, I keep with 4 Ancient Ziggurat. My draw steps are 2 Cavern of Souls, Aether Vial, and a 3rd Cavern of Souls and I lose. I may have made a mistake in setting a land to "Human" instead of "Illusion" because I needed Phantasmal Image to copy a 2nd Etched Champion to block his one with Cranial Plating. I had shut down his fliers with Mantis Rider and Kitesail Freebooter, but he drew a 2nd copy of Etched Champion and I couldn't cast the Image in my hand to copy it. I did draw Island, nope, I drew Plains that turn and scooped. 1-2.
Round 5 vs. UR Tempo. This guy is playing a nearly stock Standard UR Tempo list. He also gave my other friend his 2nd loss, knocking him out of contention when my friend mulled to 5, 4, and 5 with Tron. Ugh. He gets there after a mull to 4 cards by me. I mull to 5, but get a Mantis Rider and Image and surprisingly he doesn't have more than a Bolt that was used earlier. In the final game, I get some Lieutenants for my Mantis Rider and my dudes are too big. He tries to burn me out, but missed on 2 draw steps to get a burn spell. It was actually closer than it should have been, but keeping 7 cards is actually pretty good. 2-1.
I go 2-3. I had a friend who played in his 2nd PPTQ ever and got 2nd place with Hollow Bois, losing to Abzan Counters in the finals (another bud). Pretty consistent draws for opponents today. Burn seems like a much more consistent deck than Humans, but then you sometimes see Burn players not draw that final burn spell for lethal when they need it (they draw the other 14 lands or 12 creatures that are left in the deck). Burn is one of those decks where they have been able to put it together against me, but it doesn't happen in each of the remaining rounds. Oh well; may the shuffle gods be better to me tomorrow.
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Legacy - Sneak Show, BR Reanimator, Miracles, UW Stoneblade
Premodern - Trix, RecSur, Enchantress, Reanimator, Elves https://www.facebook.com/groups/PremodernUSA/ Modern - Neobrand, Hogaak Vine, Elves
Standard - Mono Red (6-2 and 5-3 in 2 McQ)
Draft - (I wish I had more time for limited...)
Commander - Norin the Wary, Grimgrin, Adun Oakenshield (taking forever to build) (dead format for me)
Due to budget, I’ve been looking for a mono white human list. Anyone have a list they have found success with?
I used to play a mono-W list with Human Knights plus Champion of the Parish. It could beat mono-R, mono-B, and Rakdos lists all day long but it struggled against anything else. Allies is another idea; they can probably get there faster but are even more vulnerable to removal/board wipes.
I'll post the Knights if you like but with Aether Vials, I'm not sure it even qualifies as budget.
Got smashed at a PPTQ today. Only 19 people showed up, as there were 2 other Modern PPTQs locally.
Round 1 vs. Burn. My mull to 6 didn't help me get there. Two 1 drops, Eidolon, double Searing Blaze. Slow, terrible draws by me. GG. In the next game, I keep on 1 land and Vial because I know I have some gas. It is a bit slow, but I get out Noble Hierarch and keep getting a Thalia that gets killed by top decked 1 mana removal, as he was stuck on 2 land and had Boros Charm and Skullcrack in hand. I end up getting there with a late game Auriok Champion. I gain a life and essentially have most odd combinations of cards to win turned off. I keep on Auriok Champion in game 3 with a Phantasmal Image. Double Monastery Swiftspear and Skullcrack take care of the Champion. Maybe I should have not blocked with the Champion, but I was only going to do 1 creature per turn. I stabilize and am within 2 turns of lethal (1 with a Lieutenant draw), but he draws Shard Volley and it's over. 1-2.
Round 2 vs. BridgeVine.In the first game, he has too much gas, looting into Bridge and Vine in the yard and it got worse from there. I scoop with a pretty weak hand. In the next 2 games, I drew all the Champs, Lieutenants, and gas while he floundered about trying to get to the Vengevines or Bridges in the deck. He got a Vine and 3 Bridges, but I just had too many big creatures by then and Auriok Champion pushed me to 23 life, despite missing 3 life gain triggers this game. 2-1.
Round 3 vs. Jeskai. I gave 2 guys a ride. This is one of them. I'm fine with it, but he plays every removal spell that you can within the first 5 turns, including Supreme Verdict, ScM/Supreme Verdict, Wrath of God, and Bolt/Path/Helix. Maybe I named the wrong things with Mages? I scoop late game when I am drawing nothing and he has Teferi now and an active Search for Azcanta. He was at 3 life. In the next game, it is similar, but Thalia, Guardian of Thraben makes it a bit tougher, as he has to Path to Exile twice and Lightning Bolt on turns 2-4 to slow me down in order to Supreme Verdict, then Settle the Wreckage. I play a late game Sin Collector after seeing 7 Instant/Sorcery cards in his graveyard. I know I am not winning this game. I get him to 1 life before the 3rd Lightning Helix pulls him back and then a Search for Azcanta after Supreme Verdict flips and I draw some 1 mana spells (Champ, double Noble Hierarch, double Aether Vial). I actually may consider siding in Gut Shot in the future, as I don't think the opponent suspects this. I'm pretty sure a land can come out as well, but then mulligans with 0 land openers suck as well. Hmmmm. If I am going to be knocked out of a tournament, it better be with poor draws and by someone from my car. 1-2.
Round 4 vs. Affinity. At this point, I'm a bit on tilt. I played Humans because I thought it was consistent. Yet, I am the only one who has mulliganed this tournament, although my BridgeVine opponent did actually draw pretty poorly in the 2nd and 3rd games while I nut drew. He plays a bunch of stuff early and has enough to push through, as my mull to 6 (again) did not produce a single card that could pressure him. He mulled to 6 also; my first opponent to mull today. I always have a problem playing the most inconsistent deck in the room, no matter what I choose. In the next game, I keep with 4 Ancient Ziggurat. My draw steps are 2 Cavern of Souls, Aether Vial, and a 3rd Cavern of Souls and I lose. I may have made a mistake in setting a land to "Human" instead of "Illusion" because I needed Phantasmal Image to copy a 2nd Etched Champion to block his one with Cranial Plating. I had shut down his fliers with Mantis Rider and Kitesail Freebooter, but he drew a 2nd copy of Etched Champion and I couldn't cast the Image in my hand to copy it. I did draw Island, nope, I drew Plains that turn and scooped. 1-2.
Round 5 vs. UR Tempo. This guy is playing a nearly stock Standard UR Tempo list. He also gave my other friend his 2nd loss, knocking him out of contention when my friend mulled to 5, 4, and 5 with Tron. Ugh. He gets there after a mull to 4 cards by me. I mull to 5, but get a Mantis Rider and Image and surprisingly he doesn't have more than a Bolt that was used earlier. In the final game, I get some Lieutenants for my Mantis Rider and my dudes are too big. He tries to burn me out, but missed on 2 draw steps to get a burn spell. It was actually closer than it should have been, but keeping 7 cards is actually pretty good. 2-1.
I go 2-3. I had a friend who played in his 2nd PPTQ ever and got 2nd place with Hollow Bois, losing to Abzan Counters in the finals (another bud). Pretty consistent draws for opponents today. Burn seems like a much more consistent deck than Humans, but then you sometimes see Burn players not draw that final burn spell for lethal when they need it (they draw the other 14 lands or 12 creatures that are left in the deck). Burn is one of those decks where they have been able to put it together against me, but it doesn't happen in each of the remaining rounds. Oh well; may the shuffle gods be better to me tomorrow.
Mate, I don't want to talk you down on playing humans or sound conddescending. Because it's a great deck and you seem a great player, but you also seem to be all over the place in terms of decks and what to play (and win). I've read and replied to your other topics and threads and my guess is you seem to want to play the opposedly best deck and expect to win with it. I know you know magic so you know that's not the case.
Back to the report. Humans is a deck that requires experience to sequence best, consistent in the sence that it can usually provide a constant flow of treaths to sometimes even overrun the opponents removal, disrupting in the process and win. But, it needs a lot of experience in other decks for the disruption to be most powerfull (i guess you probably got this).
The deck has many faces, and the disruptive part is... well... slow. The other part is highly explosive, but very vulnerable. You need to strike a balance according to matchup and thats where the mulliganning gets hard. Sometimes it just clicks, sometimes it doesn't.
Also keep in mind that most competitive decks have addapted to the supreme reign of humans an control decks these days have dropped coutermagic in favor of removal. Jeskai is just hard
Don't let this pptq stop you from playing the deck! It's great! But the most important factor is that you play what you love.
One of the guys at my local FNM plays an Allies deck, with champion of the parish, student of warfare, brave the elements etc. I don’t think I’ve ever seen him win, but has a blast and has beaten everyone that plays a Tier 1 or 2 deck at some point. If you want, I will grab his list for you?
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It seems that I have gotten worse the more Modern I play. Maybe it is not the format where I personally can do better as I play it and many other decks much more. I have come to learn that. I play Combo decks quite often and I am used to tossing hands back much more than my opponent and playing on the draw, but I play decks that I perceive as "consistent" when I'm tired of the 5 card hand grind. I tried Grixis Shadow and I realized that it can be much more inconsistent as Grishoalbrand. I tried Humans now and mulliganed more often than I do with Bogles. Small sample size you know?
There's 2 ways to look at it. I should stick to 1 deck like I have done usually during PPTQ season before. I know many of the players who have won their respective PPTQs and most of them are not regulars with their decks. Many are very new to Modern and I believe that actually helps! I know 2 players who have won that have been on their decks forever and haven't had this type of success before, so I see that. But I also see someone who played his first PPTQ and ended up beating me in Round 1 due to 4 and 5 card hands out of BridgeVine, which admittedly is glass cannon as ****, but he won the freaking thing! It only had 59 players, but still. That was 58 other players that he was "better than that day." So, I personally feel that sooner or later something will click and I will mulligan not quite as much and get there. Until then, I am having fun with the variance and trying to figure out how to beat my opponents with 5-6 card hands. I could go back to Titanshift. I mulliganed almost the same amount as my opponents, but I would like to do it with another deck now, the decks me qualifying with having been Bogles, Bogles, Grishoalbrand, and Titanshift.
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Legacy - Sneak Show, BR Reanimator, Miracles, UW Stoneblade
Premodern - Trix, RecSur, Enchantress, Reanimator, Elves https://www.facebook.com/groups/PremodernUSA/ Modern - Neobrand, Hogaak Vine, Elves
Standard - Mono Red (6-2 and 5-3 in 2 McQ)
Draft - (I wish I had more time for limited...)
Commander - Norin the Wary, Grimgrin, Adun Oakenshield (taking forever to build) (dead format for me)
Thanks for the comprehensive reply. Will take your comments on board as hadn’t faced the deck before.
Having looked at the deck link you shared, my opponents deck was more of a DredgeVine build - with no Bridges (postie hadn’t delivered them in time!). However, the premise of the deck is pretty similar.
I know you say not to chump with the Champion in the early turns, but facing down 8 damage Turn 2, 8 damage (minimum) Turn 3 and potentially 8-16 damage (depending whether Bloodghast, Amalgam or Gravecrawler make an appearance) Turn 4 means that I would be dead regardless. My only Out would be a reflector Mage and that just isn’t quick enough. I guess in this instance my opponent had the ‘god hsnd’ In the first game and I was always going to struggle to stabilise.
If I play against the Bridge version of the deck I will let you know how I get on - bearing your comments in mind
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How can our sideboard adapt to help us against hardened affinity? Let me just clarify - in a deck with walking ballista, meddling mage and kataki are non-starters.
One of the guys at my local FNM plays an Allies deck, with champion of the parish, student of warfare, brave the elements etc. I don’t think I’ve ever seen him win, but has a blast and has beaten everyone that plays a Tier 1 or 2 deck at some point. If you want, I will grab his list for you?
That sounds very much like my old Knight list.
Allies decks are not usually mono-W, at least, I don't think I've ever seen a mono-W list. That said, there certainly are enough W allies, and some of the key allies are W.
Allies may be able to present a faster clock that Knights but Knights have some resiliency that Allies don't. That mostly down to Knight Exemplar.
But perhaps I am deviating to far from the forum topic so I'll just stop typing.
That makes Fourth bridge prowler not seem like such an odd choice over gut shot (even if gut shot is a card you want in your opening hand).
I didn't realize that was a card, I'll consider it. Though vial on 1 isn't really where you want to be for a combat trick. Staticcaster might just be the better choice there for a similar effect, despite being much slower.
Thanks for sharing these articles.... both really good reads!
Let’s talk about G-Tron. We know that this is one of, if not our toughest match up. The decision that Cedric talks about in his article is something most of us have probably come across. I find it interesting that despite Cedric’s decision he still lost. I have found some success trying to disrupt my opponent by naming ancient stirrings or sylvan scrying with Meddling Mage. But, this doesn’t help if they naturally have Tron (and we are blind naming) or if they topdeck their land - which seems to happen more often than I would like! The other difficulty is the amount of answers they have even if we do slow them down, a single oblivion stone or walking ballista are likely to disrupt us before we can close the game out. There is no way that we can hope to lock them out with Meddling Mage, then copied by Phantasmal Image, naming all their answers - This just isn’t going to happen.
Therefore, should we look at more answers in our sideboard? damping sphere is insane and can help a lot! - if landed on turn 2. gadock teeg has also been invaluable for me, but is pretty susceptible to warping wail and spatial contortion, not to mention Oblivion stone. I know we want our sideboard answer ASAP, but my reservations with the former option are that we can’t find this with militia bugler and the chances of topdecking or draw8ng off a horizon canopy are slim. Are we really likely to mulligan to a hand that has it, or hope we draw it? The latter can be found with Bugler, but isn’t a human and therefore can create mana issues... so what’s the next best solution? Do we revisit Thalia, heretic cathar? Again, this can’t be found with Bugler and unlikely we can play it turn 2, but will it provide enough disruption to help us get there...
Has anyone had any experience/success using either techniques Cedric describes, or an alternatives?
I also watched Todd vs Ross on Channel Fireball. Todd seemed to make beating Tron look pretty easy, and he definitely favoured the more disruptive hands. I think this has to be the answer, but trying to achieve the balance seems pretty impossible. I’ve kept disruptive hands, managed to slow the opponent, but then don’t draw the aggressive elements of the deck and just find myself stalling into my opponent finds their answers.
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what would you do if you cast a Freebooter and the Opp's hand (Jund) is something like this: BBE, Maelstrom Pulse, Abrupt Decay, Land and Thoghtseize.
What would you take? My choice would be Pulse most of the Times.
All things being equal I'd take Abrupt Decay as it is the more efficient removal in that hand. Between Abrupt Decay and Maelstrom Pulse the opponent can kill your Kitesail Freebooter regardless, so at least try to make it as inefficient for them as possible.
Whats your Oppinion about Militia Bugler
Love him but I'm not sure that four copies is correct. He is powerful but can be slow too. I have been testing 2-3 copies main and I probably like 2 more than 3. I definitely wouldn't be trimming Mantis Rider to fit in copies 3 and 4. If I wanted four I would most likely cut Thalia, Reflector Mage, Meddling Mage, Phantasmal Image in some combination down to 3 copies to get the slots.
Do you think it is Worth it or should i stay at 18
I wouldn't even go down to 18 land in this deck. If you want the ability to grind better then I'd look to creatures that enable you to go long against the midrange decks than cutting lands. You can see some of the options I utilize below.
what do you think are the most important cards in the Sideboard
I usually have some number of these at all times in my board:
1. At first my Question is about Kitesail Freebooter, in Paper this Card is Awesome and i often see Plays with it that Perform perfect. But in a Situation where my Opp has 2 or more Removals, so the Thing is i know that he is forced to Remove the Freebooter and looses one of his removals but that doesn't feel right, what would you do if you cast a Freebooter and the Opp's hand (Jund) is something like this: BBE, Maelstrom Pulse, Abrupt Decay, Land and Thoghtseize.
What would you take? My choice would be Pulse most of the Times.
2. Whats your Oppinion about Militia Bugler and the Rest of the Main Deck. I Tested him now and i am blasted of how awesome he is. I used two Flex Slots and 1 Mantis Rider + 1 Reflector Mage to Play four Copies. What do you Think? are four Copies of him to much and did i cut the 'right' cards? most players cut Image but i thinks Image is too good to cut cause you can copy the best card in play and change the board situation with just one card.
3. I play 18 lands that look like this: 4 ancient Ziggurat, 4 Unclaimed territory, 4 Cavern of Souls, 4 Horizon Canopy, 1 Plains, 1 Seachrome Coastand
I think about Cutting one ziggurat and playing a Creature more to get more Topdecks. Do you think it is Worth it or should i stay at 18.
4. I have that feeling that my sideboard is Pretty weak, no matter if i play a stock list or customized for my local meta. what do you think are the most important cards in the Sideboard and what are 'flex' Slots ?
With Freebooter, you should take Abrupt Decay. That way, opponent is left with Maelstrom Pulse, and has to pay 3 mana to get back a spell that is at best a spot removal. Just make sure you don't play same name creatures until Pulse is cast. If you take Maelstrom Pulse instead, opponent can quickly kill the Freebooter with Abrupt Decay, which means they get back a spell that can remove more than one creatures.
I'm not totally convinced Humans need card advantage to win a game. Thus, Militia Bugler is only 2 in my deck, or 3 at worst. Never ever play less than full copy of Mantis Rider. It's your finisher, 95% of the time.
18 lands is not enough. Play 19. The whole community agrees it's the right number. I ran thousands of simulations, and 18 lands is not enough for consistency. You'll mulligan too often, or have trouble finding your 2nd or 3rd land. On the other hand, we *very* rarely flood out. And when we do, Horizon Canopy can be cycled away. (Edit : to make my point more clear, I shall quote myself from next post... With odds so low of having keepable 7, and mulligan being so bad for us (because of synergy), it is suicidal, IMHO, to go below 19 lands. Keepable hands will be even more rare, and you don't want to reduce an already low number).
About the SB, I think Gaddock Teeg has to become a new staple for the time being. UW Control is our new predator, and Gaddock Teeg alone is like a Super Meddling Mage naming Cryptic Command, Terminus, Wrath of God, Supreme Verdict, Jace, Teferi *and* Settle the Wreckage. Unless opponent can remove it with Path to Exile (which we are free to name with Meddling Mage, or exile with Freebooter), we probably have inevitability from there. Gaddock can also prevent Karn and Ugin in Tron matchups.
It seems that I have gotten worse the more Modern I play. Maybe it is not the format where I personally can do better as I play it and many other decks much more. I have come to learn that. I play Combo decks quite often and I am used to tossing hands back much more than my opponent and playing on the draw, but I play decks that I perceive as "consistent" when I'm tired of the 5 card hand grind. I tried Grixis Shadow and I realized that it can be much more inconsistent as Grishoalbrand. I tried Humans now and mulliganed more often than I do with Bogles. Small sample size you know?
There's 2 ways to look at it. I should stick to 1 deck like I have done usually during PPTQ season before. I know many of the players who have won their respective PPTQs and most of them are not regulars with their decks. Many are very new to Modern and I believe that actually helps! I know 2 players who have won that have been on their decks forever and haven't had this type of success before, so I see that. But I also see someone who played his first PPTQ and ended up beating me in Round 1 due to 4 and 5 card hands out of BridgeVine, which admittedly is glass cannon as ****, but he won the freaking thing! It only had 59 players, but still. That was 58 other players that he was "better than that day." So, I personally feel that sooner or later something will click and I will mulligan not quite as much and get there. Until then, I am having fun with the variance and trying to figure out how to beat my opponents with 5-6 card hands. I could go back to Titanshift. I mulliganed almost the same amount as my opponents, but I would like to do it with another deck now, the decks me qualifying with having been Bogles, Bogles, Grishoalbrand, and Titanshift.
It's hard to tell because we don't know the hands you mulliganed, but maybe you mulligan too agressively? Combo players often have to mulligan aggressively to have a functionnal hand that can combo off. This trait is often imported to other strategies, but it's a huge mistake to have such an attitude with Humans. One-landers are usually just fine if you have Vial or Hierarch. And 100% lands should be kept if you've already mulliganed down to 6.
Basically, I try to keep any 7 cards that can play 2+ creatures in the first 3 turns. I ran thousands of simulation once, and this "rule" meant that about 75% of all 7 cards hands are good to keep.
You should also know that Humans are *really* bad at mulligans. The odds of having a keepable 6 cards or pretty low (under 50%, if I recall correctly ; *actually 40%, see below*). And the odds of having a keepable 5 cards are abysmal (avoid at all cost mulligan to 4).
Here, I found this old post I wrote about mulligans... I hope it helps :
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18 lands feel very wrong to me. I've done some really serious maths over this, including Monte Carlo simulations of what are keepable hands, and what's not. First, you have to realise that Humans doesn't take mulligans very well. IT IS NOT THE TYPE OF DECK THAT YOU MULLIGAN AGGRESSIVELY WITH. In fact, you should avoid a mulligan with Humans, unless your hand is downright unplayable. By that I mean :
No land
One land, no Vial (or a non-castable Vial, because Ziggurat) and less than 2 castable one-drops with that single land (ex. : Seachrome Coast with two Hierarch is not good).
Two+ lands, and less than 2 creatures that are castable with these lands and that can be played in the first 3 turns. Ex. #1 : 3 lands with 4 three-drops is not very good, because you'll play only one creature per turn starting turn 3 and this is too slow for Modern's metagame. Ex. #2 : Two Canopy, 2 Freebooter and/or Meddling Mage, and 3 three-drops... you just can't cast a card AT ALL with this hand ; even if a Coast replaces a Canopy, only the Meddling Mage is playable, and the rest is probably dead cards for some time. This is a hand that can make you lose a game.
With these requirements, only 75% of all 7-cards hands are keepable. This number is not very good, and Humans are prone to have bad starting hands (most of the time because of zero or one-landers). If you mulligan, only 40% of 6-cards hands are keepable (which is an insanely low number). Scry will help, and you shouldn't be picky on 6 cards, because the odds go downhill from there. Mulligan to 5 only if the 6 cards are REALLY bad. And never mulligan down to 4, even if you have no lands (or just lands) in your 5-cards hand. The odds of top decking what you need are better in that case than of having a keepable 4-cards:
With 5-cards, only lands ; creatures density is very high in the library : 90% chance of top decking a creature, because of Scry 1. And you're 75% likely to draw 2 creatures in the first two turns. Following that metric, a 6-cards hand that is 100% lands is probably better to keep and scry 1 than mulligan down to 5 (the above odds are only better, because there's one less land in what's left of the library).
With 5-cards, and no lands (and some one-drops) ; land density is very high in the library : You'll get a land on the top deck 58% of the time, thanks to Scry 1. You'll hit land #2 43% of the time in the first 3 turns (on the draw), also thanks to Scry 1. These odds are not great, but they're better than having keepable 4-cards. This is a game you're likely to lose anyway, so go with the better odds and keep.
That being said, mulligan is not only bad because odds of keepable hands are increasingly low the less cards you have. But because with less cards come less synergy, something that Humans needs. Champion and Lieutenant are worse, Meddling won't be preceded by Freebooter, Rider won't be exalted by Hierarch, etc.
Avoiding mulligan becomes primordial for Humans pilot. With odds so low of having keepable 7, and mulligan being so bad for us (because of synergy), it is suicidal, IMHO, to go below 19 lands. Keepable hands will be even more rare, and you don't want to reduce an already low number (some other decks have keepable 7-cards in the 90% range).
Of course, you still have to mulligan about 25% of the time, so you should work to recognize the unkeepable hands. In my case, I never ever assume top deck will save my starting 7 (but I'll go with that assumption if I mulligan). These cards, by themselves, have to put two Humans in play by the end of turn 3, that's my law. If they can't achieve that, that's probably a mulligan. 4 Mantis Rider, 2 Lieutenant and one land is really bad, even if it's explosive if things go well. Five lands and 2 three-drops is probably bad too. One land, a Vial, and no one-drop is unkeepable IMHO (because the best you can do is play a two-drop from Vial on turn 3, and then you're at the mercy of having the right number of counters on Vial to play the rest). If that fits the definition of mulliganing aggressively, then so be it. In my opinion, it just means that I don't want to be relying on the top deck to have functional hand.
One of the guys at my local FNM plays an Allies deck, with champion of the parish, student of warfare, brave the elements etc. I don’t think I’ve ever seen him win, but has a blast and has beaten everyone that plays a Tier 1 or 2 deck at some point. If you want, I will grab his list for you?
Check my signature for a link to my 4 colors Ally deck. I played it against a number of Tier 1 decks during the holidays (not tournament), and results continue to surprise me. It's aggressive enough to win on turn 3 (usually turn 4), and it can switch strategy post SB (milling out Hollow One out of nowhere thanks to instant speed Allies on turn 3 at the end of opponent's turn, and main phase turn 4). I'll probably soon revive this deck. There's a few combo imprinted in this deck that probably mean it can perform well in the metagame).
What’s that thing with Island replacing Seachrome Coast #2? Most lists on MTG Top8 features an Island in the main deck now. Is it because of the prevalence of UW Control (Path to Exile, Field of Ruin)? Any other reasons?
Could Kytheon, out of the SB or in the main deck, be a solution against UW Control? Flip it ASAP, and you have a 4/4 immuned to most of their sweeper...
Yeah, there's no way for you to know all the hands I mulliganed. I actually am way too loose with keeping hands, so mulligans for me literally are unplayable hands or hands that do nothing in the particular matchup (mostly during game 1 if many cards are sided in the other games).
My teammate basically said that you almost never keep if you have no 1 drop (you have 12 of them). I pretty much stick to this, although if I had a bunch of very good 2 drops against the matchup, I'd keep if it was quick enough (of course depending on the play or draw).
*But I know that I do loose keeps. It's something that I'm trying to work on. I do believe I've gotten better recently. The toughest ones are like with something else like Abzan Counters where I have the Combo, but only 1 land, and the Combo is literally the only way to beat that particular matchup. I have kept those before, especially on the draw.
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Legacy - Sneak Show, BR Reanimator, Miracles, UW Stoneblade
Premodern - Trix, RecSur, Enchantress, Reanimator, Elves https://www.facebook.com/groups/PremodernUSA/ Modern - Neobrand, Hogaak Vine, Elves
Standard - Mono Red (6-2 and 5-3 in 2 McQ)
Draft - (I wish I had more time for limited...)
Commander - Norin the Wary, Grimgrin, Adun Oakenshield (taking forever to build) (dead format for me)
Could Kytheon, out of the SB or in the main deck, be a solution against UW Control? Flip it ASAP, and you have a 4/4 immuned to most of their sweeper...
It won't work. You wouldn't play enough Kytheons in the deck anyway, wouldn't get it in your opener all the time (this is when you have most chances to flip it), and there's a good chance D-Sphere, Cryptic and overall removals prevent Kytheon from doing much. I think the solution is to have Vials and draw well from there.
What’s that thing with Island
It's not worth it outside of an anticipated narrow metagame. Which must be what it happened online. (?)
Tron... Therefore, should we look at more answers in our sideboard?
No. The MU is unfavorable, that's it. I mean, like always, you can prepare for a huge amount of Tron decks at a tournament and put 2 Damping Spheres and 2 Gaddocks in your SB. But a worst MU stays a bad MU no matter what. With decks that I play for a long time, and Humans is one of them, I learn to know when there's no solution and move on with my games. Tron, UW, Mardu, BR aggros prey on Humans, so in my opinion Humans is not the smarter choice for a high-level tournament, but is fine otherwise.
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Pioneer - A bunch of stuff Modern - Humans Legacy - Grixis Phoenix / Death & Taxes
Do you mean that Hollow One (you said BR Aggros) preys on Humans? I found it to be favorable for Humans preboard and very slightly unfavored after board, due to Grim Lavaman and Engineered Explosives (along with some small number of Fatal Push).
How do you guys feel about the Bant Spirits matchup? It's a deck that I want to hedge against somewhat after seeing a bunch at the PPTQ. I was also considering Elves or Bogles.
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Legacy - Sneak Show, BR Reanimator, Miracles, UW Stoneblade
Premodern - Trix, RecSur, Enchantress, Reanimator, Elves https://www.facebook.com/groups/PremodernUSA/ Modern - Neobrand, Hogaak Vine, Elves
Standard - Mono Red (6-2 and 5-3 in 2 McQ)
Draft - (I wish I had more time for limited...)
Commander - Norin the Wary, Grimgrin, Adun Oakenshield (taking forever to build) (dead format for me)
In a world of hardened scales, walking ballista, arcbound ravager and inkmoth nexus, is abzan falconer a viable 2-of?
I don't think so. 3 mana is too much for that, especially given how slow it is. Something I have been contemplating off and on though is Wingcrafter. It provides evasion for various threats (and if that threat dies, you can give evasion to something else), and keeps the mana curve low.
Continuing my quest to try and get the CMC down a little bit more, I've been thinking about this as an option.
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Round 1 vs. Burn. My mull to 6 didn't help me get there. Two 1 drops, Eidolon, double Searing Blaze. Slow, terrible draws by me. GG. In the next game, I keep on 1 land and Vial because I know I have some gas. It is a bit slow, but I get out Noble Hierarch and keep getting a Thalia that gets killed by top decked 1 mana removal, as he was stuck on 2 land and had Boros Charm and Skullcrack in hand. I end up getting there with a late game Auriok Champion. I gain a life and essentially have most odd combinations of cards to win turned off. I keep on Auriok Champion in game 3 with a Phantasmal Image. Double Monastery Swiftspear and Skullcrack take care of the Champion. Maybe I should have not blocked with the Champion, but I was only going to do 1 creature per turn. I stabilize and am within 2 turns of lethal (1 with a Lieutenant draw), but he draws Shard Volley and it's over. 1-2.
Round 2 vs. BridgeVine.In the first game, he has too much gas, looting into Bridge and Vine in the yard and it got worse from there. I scoop with a pretty weak hand. In the next 2 games, I drew all the Champs, Lieutenants, and gas while he floundered about trying to get to the Vengevines or Bridges in the deck. He got a Vine and 3 Bridges, but I just had too many big creatures by then and Auriok Champion pushed me to 23 life, despite missing 3 life gain triggers this game. 2-1.
Round 3 vs. Jeskai. I gave 2 guys a ride. This is one of them. I'm fine with it, but he plays every removal spell that you can within the first 5 turns, including Supreme Verdict, ScM/Supreme Verdict, Wrath of God, and Bolt/Path/Helix. Maybe I named the wrong things with Mages? I scoop late game when I am drawing nothing and he has Teferi now and an active Search for Azcanta. He was at 3 life. In the next game, it is similar, but Thalia, Guardian of Thraben makes it a bit tougher, as he has to Path to Exile twice and Lightning Bolt on turns 2-4 to slow me down in order to Supreme Verdict, then Settle the Wreckage. I play a late game Sin Collector after seeing 7 Instant/Sorcery cards in his graveyard. I know I am not winning this game. I get him to 1 life before the 3rd Lightning Helix pulls him back and then a Search for Azcanta after Supreme Verdict flips and I draw some 1 mana spells (Champ, double Noble Hierarch, double Aether Vial). I actually may consider siding in Gut Shot in the future, as I don't think the opponent suspects this. I'm pretty sure a land can come out as well, but then mulligans with 0 land openers suck as well. Hmmmm. If I am going to be knocked out of a tournament, it better be with poor draws and by someone from my car. 1-2.
Round 4 vs. Affinity. At this point, I'm a bit on tilt. I played Humans because I thought it was consistent. Yet, I am the only one who has mulliganed this tournament, although my BridgeVine opponent did actually draw pretty poorly in the 2nd and 3rd games while I nut drew. He plays a bunch of stuff early and has enough to push through, as my mull to 6 (again) did not produce a single card that could pressure him. He mulled to 6 also; my first opponent to mull today. I always have a problem playing the most inconsistent deck in the room, no matter what I choose. In the next game, I keep with 4 Ancient Ziggurat. My draw steps are 2 Cavern of Souls, Aether Vial, and a 3rd Cavern of Souls and I lose. I may have made a mistake in setting a land to "Human" instead of "Illusion" because I needed Phantasmal Image to copy a 2nd Etched Champion to block his one with Cranial Plating. I had shut down his fliers with Mantis Rider and Kitesail Freebooter, but he drew a 2nd copy of Etched Champion and I couldn't cast the Image in my hand to copy it. I did draw Island, nope, I drew Plains that turn and scooped. 1-2.
Round 5 vs. UR Tempo. This guy is playing a nearly stock Standard UR Tempo list. He also gave my other friend his 2nd loss, knocking him out of contention when my friend mulled to 5, 4, and 5 with Tron. Ugh. He gets there after a mull to 4 cards by me. I mull to 5, but get a Mantis Rider and Image and surprisingly he doesn't have more than a Bolt that was used earlier. In the final game, I get some Lieutenants for my Mantis Rider and my dudes are too big. He tries to burn me out, but missed on 2 draw steps to get a burn spell. It was actually closer than it should have been, but keeping 7 cards is actually pretty good. 2-1.
I go 2-3. I had a friend who played in his 2nd PPTQ ever and got 2nd place with Hollow Bois, losing to Abzan Counters in the finals (another bud). Pretty consistent draws for opponents today. Burn seems like a much more consistent deck than Humans, but then you sometimes see Burn players not draw that final burn spell for lethal when they need it (they draw the other 14 lands or 12 creatures that are left in the deck). Burn is one of those decks where they have been able to put it together against me, but it doesn't happen in each of the remaining rounds. Oh well; may the shuffle gods be better to me tomorrow.
Premodern - Trix, RecSur, Enchantress, Reanimator, Elves https://www.facebook.com/groups/PremodernUSA/
Modern - Neobrand, Hogaak Vine, Elves
Standard - Mono Red (6-2 and 5-3 in 2 McQ)
Draft - (I wish I had more time for limited...)
Commander -
Norin the Wary, Grimgrin, Adun Oakenshield (taking forever to build)(dead format for me)I used to play a mono-W list with Human Knights plus Champion of the Parish. It could beat mono-R, mono-B, and Rakdos lists all day long but it struggled against anything else. Allies is another idea; they can probably get there faster but are even more vulnerable to removal/board wipes.
I'll post the Knights if you like but with Aether Vials, I'm not sure it even qualifies as budget.
Frenzy-Affinity-Ghost Quarter-Rock-Tokens- RGWPhyrexian Zoo- WVial KnightsStandard:
BW Knights(Rotated)Pioneer: RW Knights - BW Rally Zombies - UW Heroes
Commander:WUG
Jenara, Asura of War- WGSigarda, Host of HeronsCasualties of economicsLegacy: Good-night, sweet prince. Mono-R Burn
Mate, I don't want to talk you down on playing humans or sound conddescending. Because it's a great deck and you seem a great player, but you also seem to be all over the place in terms of decks and what to play (and win). I've read and replied to your other topics and threads and my guess is you seem to want to play the opposedly best deck and expect to win with it. I know you know magic so you know that's not the case.
Back to the report. Humans is a deck that requires experience to sequence best, consistent in the sence that it can usually provide a constant flow of treaths to sometimes even overrun the opponents removal, disrupting in the process and win. But, it needs a lot of experience in other decks for the disruption to be most powerfull (i guess you probably got this).
The deck has many faces, and the disruptive part is... well... slow. The other part is highly explosive, but very vulnerable. You need to strike a balance according to matchup and thats where the mulliganning gets hard. Sometimes it just clicks, sometimes it doesn't.
Also keep in mind that most competitive decks have addapted to the supreme reign of humans an control decks these days have dropped coutermagic in favor of removal. Jeskai is just hard
Don't let this pptq stop you from playing the deck! It's great! But the most important factor is that you play what you love.
Modern: WUBRG Humans - GBW Traverse - GWU Knightfall - GRW Bushwhacker Zoo -
Everyone loves an angry mob RWG
Why so Bloo? RU
It seems that I have gotten worse the more Modern I play. Maybe it is not the format where I personally can do better as I play it and many other decks much more. I have come to learn that. I play Combo decks quite often and I am used to tossing hands back much more than my opponent and playing on the draw, but I play decks that I perceive as "consistent" when I'm tired of the 5 card hand grind. I tried Grixis Shadow and I realized that it can be much more inconsistent as Grishoalbrand. I tried Humans now and mulliganed more often than I do with Bogles. Small sample size you know?
There's 2 ways to look at it. I should stick to 1 deck like I have done usually during PPTQ season before. I know many of the players who have won their respective PPTQs and most of them are not regulars with their decks. Many are very new to Modern and I believe that actually helps! I know 2 players who have won that have been on their decks forever and haven't had this type of success before, so I see that. But I also see someone who played his first PPTQ and ended up beating me in Round 1 due to 4 and 5 card hands out of BridgeVine, which admittedly is glass cannon as ****, but he won the freaking thing! It only had 59 players, but still. That was 58 other players that he was "better than that day." So, I personally feel that sooner or later something will click and I will mulligan not quite as much and get there. Until then, I am having fun with the variance and trying to figure out how to beat my opponents with 5-6 card hands. I could go back to Titanshift. I mulliganed almost the same amount as my opponents, but I would like to do it with another deck now, the decks me qualifying with having been Bogles, Bogles, Grishoalbrand, and Titanshift.
Premodern - Trix, RecSur, Enchantress, Reanimator, Elves https://www.facebook.com/groups/PremodernUSA/
Modern - Neobrand, Hogaak Vine, Elves
Standard - Mono Red (6-2 and 5-3 in 2 McQ)
Draft - (I wish I had more time for limited...)
Commander -
Norin the Wary, Grimgrin, Adun Oakenshield (taking forever to build)(dead format for me)Having looked at the deck link you shared, my opponents deck was more of a DredgeVine build - with no Bridges (postie hadn’t delivered them in time!). However, the premise of the deck is pretty similar.
I know you say not to chump with the Champion in the early turns, but facing down 8 damage Turn 2, 8 damage (minimum) Turn 3 and potentially 8-16 damage (depending whether Bloodghast, Amalgam or Gravecrawler make an appearance) Turn 4 means that I would be dead regardless. My only Out would be a reflector Mage and that just isn’t quick enough. I guess in this instance my opponent had the ‘god hsnd’ In the first game and I was always going to struggle to stabilise.
If I play against the Bridge version of the deck I will let you know how I get on - bearing your comments in mind
Everyone loves an angry mob RWG
Why so Bloo? RU
That sounds very much like my old Knight list.
Allies decks are not usually mono-W, at least, I don't think I've ever seen a mono-W list. That said, there certainly are enough W allies, and some of the key allies are W.
Allies may be able to present a faster clock that Knights but Knights have some resiliency that Allies don't. That mostly down to Knight Exemplar.
But perhaps I am deviating to far from the forum topic so I'll just stop typing.
Frenzy-Affinity-Ghost Quarter-Rock-Tokens- RGWPhyrexian Zoo- WVial KnightsStandard:
BW Knights(Rotated)Pioneer: RW Knights - BW Rally Zombies - UW Heroes
Commander:WUG
Jenara, Asura of War- WGSigarda, Host of HeronsCasualties of economicsLegacy: Good-night, sweet prince. Mono-R Burn
I didn't realize that was a card, I'll consider it. Though vial on 1 isn't really where you want to be for a combat trick. Staticcaster might just be the better choice there for a similar effect, despite being much slower.
Let’s talk about G-Tron. We know that this is one of, if not our toughest match up. The decision that Cedric talks about in his article is something most of us have probably come across. I find it interesting that despite Cedric’s decision he still lost. I have found some success trying to disrupt my opponent by naming ancient stirrings or sylvan scrying with Meddling Mage. But, this doesn’t help if they naturally have Tron (and we are blind naming) or if they topdeck their land - which seems to happen more often than I would like! The other difficulty is the amount of answers they have even if we do slow them down, a single oblivion stone or walking ballista are likely to disrupt us before we can close the game out. There is no way that we can hope to lock them out with Meddling Mage, then copied by Phantasmal Image, naming all their answers - This just isn’t going to happen.
Therefore, should we look at more answers in our sideboard? damping sphere is insane and can help a lot! - if landed on turn 2. gadock teeg has also been invaluable for me, but is pretty susceptible to warping wail and spatial contortion, not to mention Oblivion stone. I know we want our sideboard answer ASAP, but my reservations with the former option are that we can’t find this with militia bugler and the chances of topdecking or draw8ng off a horizon canopy are slim. Are we really likely to mulligan to a hand that has it, or hope we draw it? The latter can be found with Bugler, but isn’t a human and therefore can create mana issues... so what’s the next best solution? Do we revisit Thalia, heretic cathar? Again, this can’t be found with Bugler and unlikely we can play it turn 2, but will it provide enough disruption to help us get there...
Has anyone had any experience/success using either techniques Cedric describes, or an alternatives?
I also watched Todd vs Ross on Channel Fireball. Todd seemed to make beating Tron look pretty easy, and he definitely favoured the more disruptive hands. I think this has to be the answer, but trying to achieve the balance seems pretty impossible. I’ve kept disruptive hands, managed to slow the opponent, but then don’t draw the aggressive elements of the deck and just find myself stalling into my opponent finds their answers.
Everyone loves an angry mob RWG
Why so Bloo? RU
All things being equal I'd take Abrupt Decay as it is the more efficient removal in that hand. Between Abrupt Decay and Maelstrom Pulse the opponent can kill your Kitesail Freebooter regardless, so at least try to make it as inefficient for them as possible.
Love him but I'm not sure that four copies is correct. He is powerful but can be slow too. I have been testing 2-3 copies main and I probably like 2 more than 3. I definitely wouldn't be trimming Mantis Rider to fit in copies 3 and 4. If I wanted four I would most likely cut Thalia, Reflector Mage, Meddling Mage, Phantasmal Image in some combination down to 3 copies to get the slots.
I wouldn't even go down to 18 land in this deck. If you want the ability to grind better then I'd look to creatures that enable you to go long against the midrange decks than cutting lands. You can see some of the options I utilize below.
I usually have some number of these at all times in my board:
My "top flex spots" from experience are
Hope that helps
With Freebooter, you should take Abrupt Decay. That way, opponent is left with Maelstrom Pulse, and has to pay 3 mana to get back a spell that is at best a spot removal. Just make sure you don't play same name creatures until Pulse is cast. If you take Maelstrom Pulse instead, opponent can quickly kill the Freebooter with Abrupt Decay, which means they get back a spell that can remove more than one creatures.
I'm not totally convinced Humans need card advantage to win a game. Thus, Militia Bugler is only 2 in my deck, or 3 at worst. Never ever play less than full copy of Mantis Rider. It's your finisher, 95% of the time.
18 lands is not enough. Play 19. The whole community agrees it's the right number. I ran thousands of simulations, and 18 lands is not enough for consistency. You'll mulligan too often, or have trouble finding your 2nd or 3rd land. On the other hand, we *very* rarely flood out. And when we do, Horizon Canopy can be cycled away. (Edit : to make my point more clear, I shall quote myself from next post... With odds so low of having keepable 7, and mulligan being so bad for us (because of synergy), it is suicidal, IMHO, to go below 19 lands. Keepable hands will be even more rare, and you don't want to reduce an already low number).
About the SB, I think Gaddock Teeg has to become a new staple for the time being. UW Control is our new predator, and Gaddock Teeg alone is like a Super Meddling Mage naming Cryptic Command, Terminus, Wrath of God, Supreme Verdict, Jace, Teferi *and* Settle the Wreckage. Unless opponent can remove it with Path to Exile (which we are free to name with Meddling Mage, or exile with Freebooter), we probably have inevitability from there. Gaddock can also prevent Karn and Ugin in Tron matchups.
1st, GP Toronto Sunday Super Series 2016 : Ally Company RWBG
Top 8, PPTQ Shadows over Innistrad : Boros Humans WR.
Use a hypergeometric calculator for your deckbuilding maths,
and use TopDecked to manage your decks and collection on your Apple or Android device.
It's hard to tell because we don't know the hands you mulliganed, but maybe you mulligan too agressively? Combo players often have to mulligan aggressively to have a functionnal hand that can combo off. This trait is often imported to other strategies, but it's a huge mistake to have such an attitude with Humans. One-landers are usually just fine if you have Vial or Hierarch. And 100% lands should be kept if you've already mulliganed down to 6.
Basically, I try to keep any 7 cards that can play 2+ creatures in the first 3 turns. I ran thousands of simulation once, and this "rule" meant that about 75% of all 7 cards hands are good to keep.
You should also know that Humans are *really* bad at mulligans. The odds of having a keepable 6 cards or pretty low (under 50%, if I recall correctly ; *actually 40%, see below*). And the odds of having a keepable 5 cards are abysmal (avoid at all cost mulligan to 4).
Here, I found this old post I wrote about mulligans... I hope it helps :
---------------
18 lands feel very wrong to me. I've done some really serious maths over this, including Monte Carlo simulations of what are keepable hands, and what's not. First, you have to realise that Humans doesn't take mulligans very well. IT IS NOT THE TYPE OF DECK THAT YOU MULLIGAN AGGRESSIVELY WITH. In fact, you should avoid a mulligan with Humans, unless your hand is downright unplayable. By that I mean :
Avoiding mulligan becomes primordial for Humans pilot. With odds so low of having keepable 7, and mulligan being so bad for us (because of synergy), it is suicidal, IMHO, to go below 19 lands. Keepable hands will be even more rare, and you don't want to reduce an already low number (some other decks have keepable 7-cards in the 90% range).
Of course, you still have to mulligan about 25% of the time, so you should work to recognize the unkeepable hands. In my case, I never ever assume top deck will save my starting 7 (but I'll go with that assumption if I mulligan). These cards, by themselves, have to put two Humans in play by the end of turn 3, that's my law. If they can't achieve that, that's probably a mulligan. 4 Mantis Rider, 2 Lieutenant and one land is really bad, even if it's explosive if things go well. Five lands and 2 three-drops is probably bad too. One land, a Vial, and no one-drop is unkeepable IMHO (because the best you can do is play a two-drop from Vial on turn 3, and then you're at the mercy of having the right number of counters on Vial to play the rest). If that fits the definition of mulliganing aggressively, then so be it. In my opinion, it just means that I don't want to be relying on the top deck to have functional hand.
1st, GP Toronto Sunday Super Series 2016 : Ally Company RWBG
Top 8, PPTQ Shadows over Innistrad : Boros Humans WR.
Use a hypergeometric calculator for your deckbuilding maths,
and use TopDecked to manage your decks and collection on your Apple or Android device.
Check my signature for a link to my 4 colors Ally deck. I played it against a number of Tier 1 decks during the holidays (not tournament), and results continue to surprise me. It's aggressive enough to win on turn 3 (usually turn 4), and it can switch strategy post SB (milling out Hollow One out of nowhere thanks to instant speed Allies on turn 3 at the end of opponent's turn, and main phase turn 4). I'll probably soon revive this deck. There's a few combo imprinted in this deck that probably mean it can perform well in the metagame).
1st, GP Toronto Sunday Super Series 2016 : Ally Company RWBG
Top 8, PPTQ Shadows over Innistrad : Boros Humans WR.
Use a hypergeometric calculator for your deckbuilding maths,
and use TopDecked to manage your decks and collection on your Apple or Android device.
Could Kytheon, out of the SB or in the main deck, be a solution against UW Control? Flip it ASAP, and you have a 4/4 immuned to most of their sweeper...
1st, GP Toronto Sunday Super Series 2016 : Ally Company RWBG
Top 8, PPTQ Shadows over Innistrad : Boros Humans WR.
Use a hypergeometric calculator for your deckbuilding maths,
and use TopDecked to manage your decks and collection on your Apple or Android device.
My teammate basically said that you almost never keep if you have no 1 drop (you have 12 of them). I pretty much stick to this, although if I had a bunch of very good 2 drops against the matchup, I'd keep if it was quick enough (of course depending on the play or draw).
*But I know that I do loose keeps. It's something that I'm trying to work on. I do believe I've gotten better recently. The toughest ones are like with something else like Abzan Counters where I have the Combo, but only 1 land, and the Combo is literally the only way to beat that particular matchup. I have kept those before, especially on the draw.
Premodern - Trix, RecSur, Enchantress, Reanimator, Elves https://www.facebook.com/groups/PremodernUSA/
Modern - Neobrand, Hogaak Vine, Elves
Standard - Mono Red (6-2 and 5-3 in 2 McQ)
Draft - (I wish I had more time for limited...)
Commander -
Norin the Wary, Grimgrin, Adun Oakenshield (taking forever to build)(dead format for me)It won't work. You wouldn't play enough Kytheons in the deck anyway, wouldn't get it in your opener all the time (this is when you have most chances to flip it), and there's a good chance D-Sphere, Cryptic and overall removals prevent Kytheon from doing much. I think the solution is to have Vials and draw well from there.
It's not worth it outside of an anticipated narrow metagame. Which must be what it happened online. (?)
No. The MU is unfavorable, that's it. I mean, like always, you can prepare for a huge amount of Tron decks at a tournament and put 2 Damping Spheres and 2 Gaddocks in your SB. But a worst MU stays a bad MU no matter what. With decks that I play for a long time, and Humans is one of them, I learn to know when there's no solution and move on with my games. Tron, UW, Mardu, BR aggros prey on Humans, so in my opinion Humans is not the smarter choice for a high-level tournament, but is fine otherwise.
How do you guys feel about the Bant Spirits matchup? It's a deck that I want to hedge against somewhat after seeing a bunch at the PPTQ. I was also considering Elves or Bogles.
Premodern - Trix, RecSur, Enchantress, Reanimator, Elves https://www.facebook.com/groups/PremodernUSA/
Modern - Neobrand, Hogaak Vine, Elves
Standard - Mono Red (6-2 and 5-3 in 2 McQ)
Draft - (I wish I had more time for limited...)
Commander -
Norin the Wary, Grimgrin, Adun Oakenshield (taking forever to build)(dead format for me)I don't think so. 3 mana is too much for that, especially given how slow it is. Something I have been contemplating off and on though is Wingcrafter. It provides evasion for various threats (and if that threat dies, you can give evasion to something else), and keeps the mana curve low.
Continuing my quest to try and get the CMC down a little bit more, I've been thinking about this as an option.