Ravnica Allegiance will bring some real tools for the current Humans strategy, i.e. Lavinia, Azorius Renegade. But i think lady Judith, the Scourge Diva lends herself more to an all-in aggro strategy.
If one would cut Kitesail Freebooter and Meddling Mage and replace those with Mayor of Avabruck and Judith, the Scourge Diva, the deck would have a plethora of aggressive lords and provide reach and semi-protection vs board wipes. The decks only weakness would be (mass)exile removal which is a weakness in it's current form too, but it would gain points versus "destroy" effects and blockers in combat.
I don't think she will replace Militia Bugler in the current strategy, since digging for answers, while sometimes slow, can be very important.
I'm looking forward to making a very aggressively minded build once the new set drops. Something less focused on counter picking with Kitesail Freebooter and Meddling Mage and moreso looking to present non-stop, resilient pressure. Here's a really rough idea so far:
Currently I'm iffy on Tithe Taker, but protecting our guys during our turn can be fairly impactful, especially if he's an EOT Aether Vial drop. Are there any other 2-drops to consider?
Been playing Humans for a long while and my LGS seems to be catching on the the Arclight Phoenix decks. The Arclight/Titi decks seem great vs humans. Which cards shine and how do we sideboard/beat them? Or is this a matchup deemed unfavourable and unwinable?
I always bring Graddigger's Cage back in, as it's my go to answer vs graveyard decks. It doesn't stop everything, but it sure hoses dredge and phoenix and forces an answer from them.
On the other hand, Thing in the Ice is an absolute pain and it's usually best to not let it enter by either naming it with Meddling Mage which, admiddetly isn't strpng VSbolt heavy decks, or bounce it on sight with Reflector Mage.
Make sure you vial it in on your own turn amd not EOT,
Been playing Humans for a long while and my LGS seems to be catching on the the Arclight Phoenix decks. The Arclight/Titi decks seem great vs humans. Which cards shine and how do we sideboard/beat them? Or is this a matchup deemed unfavourable and unwinable?
Like people have stated that Grafdigger Cages is great there and i´ve been bringing extra copy of Dismember to my sideB.
At first, I wasn't huge on the card because of it's non-interaction with Aether Vial, but the more I think about it, the more I like it. Especially with how many of our 3-drops and sideboard cards are multicolored.
You beat me to it.... but I think this card has potential, as going wide is something we’re not too good at. Plus the added benefits of more humans entering the battlefield with champion of the parish and thalia’s Lieutenant is not something to be sniffed at... will have to see how good it is in testing
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Hero of Precint One seems like a trap. While it has a great effect for both grindy and racing match ups the problem is that triggering it is really hard. Most of my lists only run 3 reflector mages so their are only 11 main deck ways to trigger it. We do get additional multi-colored cards post side board but the aether vial non-bo is real. Not to mention that it playing this really makes me want to run another lord card. Overall I can't see us playing it unless we get a main-deckable multi-colored one or two drop to make triggering it more reliable.
Its really too bad that it wasn't based on a creature etb or something similar.
For the time being, I think I would rather have mayor of avabruck since his token producing ability is much easier to turn on and produces larger tokens.
I've been testing a version like that recently. I'm still not running CoCO since I think it has been show multiple times that Humans isn't a great CoCO deck due to our relative lack of 3 drops and reactive cards. There are actually two decisions here.
1. Do you drop kitesail freebooter to run mayor of avabruck and venser mainboard.
2. Given that do you want to drop your gold mana base for a shockland one to run real sideboard cards.
Now aside from that, I am loving shocklands. They are a bit painful since you basically start each game with ~15 life rather than 20. The upside is that you get to run real side board cards like path, rip and stony silence.
I really love the change though. Game one you get to try to cheese wins with the extra lords and games 2 and 3 you get powerful hate cards to stop your opponent.
what do you think about the possible new acquisitions Lavinia, azorious and hero of precinct.
Lavinia de main could play 3 in substitution of the kitesail, we improve against pairings of Miracles / Cascade / Tron / Mox opal / Pacts / all combo decks accelerate (Nauseam or Storm).
the captain is another matter, it takes bad with the vial but if we raise our multicolored spells to 17 (4x meddling 4x mantis 4x reflector 2x tajic 3x lativia) maybe it's a good idea.
Lavinia has been disucssed a bit and it seems like Gaddock does a better silver-bullet job in a wide metagame, with the only downside of not being a Human.
The captain reminds me of Young Pyromancer, it might have a better home in a deck where most spells are multicolored. Maybe a 5-color aggro, a mix between Humans and Zoo ? In Humans the issue is that it doesn't seem to fix bad MUs, so I don't have high expectations so far. We already kind of go wide, with many non-evasive threats. It might just be a worse Hanweir Garrison.
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Pioneer - A bunch of stuff Modern - Humans Legacy - Grixis Phoenix / Death & Taxes
Was just coming here to post about this! He played the deck in the SCG event on the weekend so there is now a picture of the decklist on his Twitter. Interesting wrinkles include; two Tajic MD, two Venser MD, no Company, and Sb Stonys, RIPs and Paths.
The first thing to note is Dylan was the Humans player on the SCG Tour for a long time, so if he thinks this has potential it probably does. I'm very excited to give this a shot and see how it feels. Also I hate Booter and am currently playing three so any excuse to cut more of them sounds good to me.
Also, with the 2 Tajic that makes 14 multicoloured spells MD in this list, potentially improving Hero of Precinct One a little. Another note on Hero is the GAM Podcast seemed to like it, and said we would 'abo****ely' want it over Mayor in our flex spots.
Personally I'm not a big fan of Venser, Shaper Savant and the second copy of Tajic, Legion's Blade. Also I don't like the Tireless Tracker in the SB. I think she has not enough impact the turn she enters the battlefield and even 20 lands aren't enough to generate value. But that just my two cents.
The manabase looks good and provides 15 white mana sources - should be enough to play your white SB cards.
What I really like is the come back of Mayor of Avabruck. I tried him myself and and he provides a faster clock. Not sure if it's right to replace Kitesail Freebooter with him but I really liked him in the maindeck.
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Modern: 5c Humans//Devoted Company
Legacy: Maverick
Pauper: UB Delver
Personally I'm not a big fan of Venser, Shaper Savant and the second copy of Tajic, Legion's Blade. Also I don't like the Tireless Tracker in the SB. I think she has not enough impact the turn she enters the battlefield and even 20 lands aren't enough to generate value. But that just my two cents.
The manabase looks good and provides 15 white mana sources - should be enough to play your white SB cards.
What I really like is the come back of Mayor of Avabruck. I tried him myself and and he provides a faster clock. Not sure if it's right to replace Kitesail Freebooter with him but I really liked him in the maindeck.
Does he really like tireless tracker that much? It feels bad in a deck that only runs 20 lands and usually wants to close things quickly. I can see it running away with a game but not through any interaction, I would rather have bugler. Liked to see him do well with burn despite the painful manabase.
Ravnica Allegiance will bring some real tools for the current Humans strategy, i.e. Lavinia, Azorius Renegade. But i think lady Judith, the Scourge Diva lends herself more to an all-in aggro strategy.
If one would cut Kitesail Freebooter and Meddling Mage and replace those with Mayor of Avabruck and Judith, the Scourge Diva, the deck would have a plethora of aggressive lords and provide reach and semi-protection vs board wipes. The decks only weakness would be (mass)exile removal which is a weakness in it's current form too, but it would gain points versus "destroy" effects and blockers in combat.
I don't think she will replace Militia Bugler in the current strategy, since digging for answers, while sometimes slow, can be very important.
Modern: WUBRG Humans - GBW Traverse - GWU Knightfall - GRW Bushwhacker Zoo -
4 Champion of the Parish
4 Noble Hierarch
4 Thalia's Lieutenant
4 Mayor of Avabruck
3 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
3 Tithe Taker
4 Phantasmal Image
4 Mantis Rider
4 Reflector Mage
3 Judith, the Scourge Diva
4 Aether Vial
House
4 Ancient Ziggurat
4 Cavern of Souls
4 Horizon Canopy
1 Seachrome Coast
4 Unclaimed Territory
1 Island
1 Plains
Reserve
2 Lavinia, Azorius Renegade
1 Gaddock Teeg
2 Auriok Champion
1 Dismember
2 Izzet Staticaster
2 Sin Collector
2 Knight of Autumn
1 Kessig Malcontents
1 Tajic, Legion's Edge
1 Venser, Shaper Savant
Currently I'm iffy on Tithe Taker, but protecting our guys during our turn can be fairly impactful, especially if he's an EOT Aether Vial drop. Are there any other 2-drops to consider?
Been playing Humans for a long while and my LGS seems to be catching on the the Arclight Phoenix decks. The Arclight/Titi decks seem great vs humans. Which cards shine and how do we sideboard/beat them? Or is this a matchup deemed unfavourable and unwinable?
On the other hand, Thing in the Ice is an absolute pain and it's usually best to not let it enter by either naming it with Meddling Mage which, admiddetly isn't strpng VSbolt heavy decks, or bounce it on sight with Reflector Mage.
Make sure you vial it in on your own turn amd not EOT,
Modern: WUBRG Humans - GBW Traverse - GWU Knightfall - GRW Bushwhacker Zoo -
Like people have stated that Grafdigger Cages is great there and i´ve been bringing extra copy of Dismember to my sideB.
At first, I wasn't huge on the card because of it's non-interaction with Aether Vial, but the more I think about it, the more I like it. Especially with how many of our 3-drops and sideboard cards are multicolored.
Everyone loves an angry mob RWG
Why so Bloo? RU
Its really too bad that it wasn't based on a creature etb or something similar.
For the time being, I think I would rather have mayor of avabruck since his token producing ability is much easier to turn on and produces larger tokens.
while surfing on twitter I saw a tweet by Dylan Hand playing humans on MTGO.
Why I am posting? Because he was playing with shocklands and Path to Exile.
https://twitter.com/IngrathisMTG/status/1083498597746991104
Can't find a decklist but I think the deck is trimmed to bant (splashing red for Mantis Rider) and maybe back to Collected Company+Aether Vial.
What do you think?
Legacy: Maverick
Pauper: UB Delver
1. Do you drop kitesail freebooter to run mayor of avabruck and venser mainboard.
2. Given that do you want to drop your gold mana base for a shockland one to run real sideboard cards.
Now aside from that, I am loving shocklands. They are a bit painful since you basically start each game with ~15 life rather than 20. The upside is that you get to run real side board cards like path, rip and stony silence.
I really love the change though. Game one you get to try to cheese wins with the extra lords and games 2 and 3 you get powerful hate cards to stop your opponent.
what do you think about the possible new acquisitions Lavinia, azorious and hero of precinct.
Lavinia de main could play 3 in substitution of the kitesail, we improve against pairings of Miracles / Cascade / Tron / Mox opal / Pacts / all combo decks accelerate (Nauseam or Storm).
the captain is another matter, it takes bad with the vial but if we raise our multicolored spells to 17 (4x meddling 4x mantis 4x reflector 2x tajic 3x lativia) maybe it's a good idea.
Thanks for read
The captain reminds me of Young Pyromancer, it might have a better home in a deck where most spells are multicolored. Maybe a 5-color aggro, a mix between Humans and Zoo ? In Humans the issue is that it doesn't seem to fix bad MUs, so I don't have high expectations so far. We already kind of go wide, with many non-evasive threats. It might just be a worse Hanweir Garrison.
Was just coming here to post about this! He played the deck in the SCG event on the weekend so there is now a picture of the decklist on his Twitter. Interesting wrinkles include; two Tajic MD, two Venser MD, no Company, and Sb Stonys, RIPs and Paths.
The first thing to note is Dylan was the Humans player on the SCG Tour for a long time, so if he thinks this has potential it probably does. I'm very excited to give this a shot and see how it feels. Also I hate Booter and am currently playing three so any excuse to cut more of them sounds good to me.
Also, with the 2 Tajic that makes 14 multicoloured spells MD in this list, potentially improving Hero of Precinct One a little. Another note on Hero is the GAM Podcast seemed to like it, and said we would 'abo****ely' want it over Mayor in our flex spots.
- 5c Humans.
-
Bant Eldrazi (Record; 217-138)."Never argue with an idiot, they drag you down to their level and beat you with experience" - Mark Twain.
here is the list Dylan Hand played this weekend. He missed day two.
4x Noble Hierarch
4x Champion of the Parish
4x Thalia's Lieutenant
4x Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
4x Meddling Mage
3x Phantasmal Image
2x Mayor of Avabruck
2x Tajic, Legion's Edge
4x Reflector Mage
4x Mantis Rider
2x Venser, Shaper Savant
Lands:
4x Unclaimed Territory
4x Cavern of Souls
4x Horizon Canopy
3x Flooded Strand
1x Windswept Heath
1x Breeding Pool
1x Sacred Foundry
1x Hallowed Fountain
1x Plains
3x Stony Silence
2x Tireless Tracker (not sure if 1 or 2)
2x Knight of Autumn
3x Auriok Champion
3x Path to Exile
2x Gaddock Teeg
Personally I'm not a big fan of Venser, Shaper Savant and the second copy of Tajic, Legion's Blade. Also I don't like the Tireless Tracker in the SB. I think she has not enough impact the turn she enters the battlefield and even 20 lands aren't enough to generate value. But that just my two cents.
The manabase looks good and provides 15 white mana sources - should be enough to play your white SB cards.
What I really like is the come back of Mayor of Avabruck. I tried him myself and and he provides a faster clock. Not sure if it's right to replace Kitesail Freebooter with him but I really liked him in the maindeck.
Legacy: Maverick
Pauper: UB Delver
I've been testing this deck all day long and... :
- I was not a fan of Venser, Shaper Savant too and, while I have to admit he can be useful, I'm still not a fan. He is not strong as Spell Queller and 4 mana felt too much most of the times.
- I like him as a character, but I'm not a fan of mainboard Tajic, Legion's Edge now. I understand Dylan using it expecting a Arclight Phoenix heavy tournament, but Tajic is a sideboard option at most.
- Tireless Tracker is garbage. I would play a hot bant version only for sideboard options and cutting Rest in Peace for Tracker is utterly nonsense.
- I would run 2x of Damping Sphere in the sideboard because Gaddock Teeg and Stony Silence (to stop Oblivion Stone, Expedition Map, Chromatic Sphere and Chromatic Star???) are really not enough against tron.
- I would cut the third copy of Auriok Champion and Stony Silence and 2x of Tireless Tracker to run 2x of Rest in Peace and Damping Sphere.
- I would also cut Tajic, Legion's Edge for a third copy of Mayor of Avabruck and a fourth Phantasmal Image and I would use Militia Bugler rather than Venser, Shaper Savant.
Hope the link works... Jim Davis about the deck Dylan Hand sleeved up!
Legacy: Maverick
Pauper: UB Delver
Venser is a card that works if it costs 3, not 4. Play Design Team will print one someday, I'm a patient guy. I'd take a Karakas variant too.
Imho, Dylan made the deck worse by trying something different. Oh well, sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.
Also, has anyone given any look at Grand Abolisher? With Aether Vial it seems like it can be a decent damper to opposing control and midrange decks.