I'm using Harsh Mentor in my current list. I have not played affinity with humans yet, but the card has proven to give much needed reach versus affinity in my bushwhacker zoo list and hope for it to do the same here.
It's also usefull versus knighfall/vizier type combo decks.
What are your thoughts on playing RecSage/Pridemage over Renegades/War Priest in the SB? Losing tribal synergy sucks, but I see a lot of Torpor Orb, Blood Moon, Ensnaring Bridge etc in my LGS. is saving the SB space worth losing Human buffs?
A resolved Torpor Orb type effect would be quite difficult if not impossible to get rid of because it blocks the way our creatures deal with artifacts and enchantments (etb).
When resolved, Pridemage is our only option. Unfortunatly it's casting cost won't make it very easy to do so in our tribal.
Better nab it before it's played with freebooter or meddling mage if you suspect anything like it.
I think either running disenchant or Natural state might have to be our answer to torpor orb. Potentially blood moon as well, but we'd either need to float the Mana or have a noble.
The problem is if people play Hushwing gryff or Tocatli honor guard since we have few non-etb ways of dealing with creatures. We also can't freeboot them.
Voltaic Brawler is good, no question. But what do you leave out? There are so many high quality creatures in 5c Humans that it really becomes difficult to cut some to make place for the new ones.
I guess the Mayors are cut. Instead of a low-par lord, you play a decent stand-alone beater.
The other card that offers the same debate is Thalia V2. Many cards can replace her, depending on what MUs you focus on. I like Lyev Skyknight personally, flyers are great overall. At this point, I'm waiting for the metagame to stabilize a bit, and Rivals of Ixalan may help me with those last slots.
2) It seems to be common sense that we are at least 50:50 against Affinity, but in my testing this feels much worse. A turn 2 Etched Champion + Plating is faster than any clock we can provide. Has someone experience with additional Affinity hate in the sideboard, e.g.
Kataki, War's Wage, Harsh Mentor or Lantern Scout?
I'm testing Lantern Scout, it races in certain games, and it overlaps in Merfolk, Elves, Burn, Valakut. Not much experience with it so far, I'll give a feedback later.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Pioneer - A bunch of stuff Modern - Humans Legacy - Grixis Phoenix / Death & Taxes
You can play Stony Silence and Kataki if you want, there are just going to be a number of games where you can't cast them and lose.
There isn't a "right" or "wrong" answer to these questions, to be honest. At least in the sense that, it would take an enormous amount of games to have reliable statistical evidence to show whether you win more or less with a card like Stony Silence in your deck. I think the relevant things you need to consider are (1) how risk averse are you? Are you willing to sacrifice consistency for overall power? (2) what kind of playstyle do you have? Do you prefer to lock people out of games (with cards like Stony Silence) or do you prefer to grind them out with Staticasters and Vithian Renegades? and (3) what is the meta like that you play in? Do you see a lot of Affinity? If so, maybe we want to play the higher power level cards like Stony Silence that are more narrow than a card like Izzet Staticaster.
A lot of people like to say, "oh that's bad," without giving the above questions their due attention. I think this forum is actually pretty good in the sense that people are very open to new ideas.
All of that said, I think Stony Silence is a perfectly reasonable card. I haven't been playing it because I've actually had a lot of success versus Affinity with Izzet Staticasters and Vithian Renegades.
Right now, the things I'm trying versus Jeskai are Lightning Greaves, Thorn of Amethyst, Geist of Saint Traft, and Chalice of the Void. (edit: I should say, I think the match-up is pretty bad for Humans and I'm getting desperate.)
I think Invisible Stalker is a neat idea but a 1/1 body is not enough, especially when we aren't always drawing our lords.
I'm also playing 2 Phantasmal Image, which has been pretty great for me so far. (I'm using the same mana-base).
How are you using the phantasmals? Are they just being used as a wild card in effect? Such as just copying good stuff, such as mantis rider copies 5 & 6, or are you saving them for specific scenarios?
Also how often do you copy your stuff as opposed to your opponents?
Could a card like Mark of Asylum help against Jeskai and Anger decks? At this point I just want a human Selfless Spirit but I doubt they're going to give us that anytime soon.
Asylum, Spirit, Eerie Interlude, Heroic Intervention, even Mana Tithe or weirder cards can help a bit. They're all subpar, exactly like the disenchant effects. Sin Collector is my choice with Vial, and Negate with Coco.
Against wrath effects, there's only 2 things that fix the issue :
- an anti-wrath human in the next sets;
- more high-level standalone or synergistic humans in the next sets (so we don't need to over-extend, or we gain velocity / explosiveness).
To counter Living End, Supreme Verdict, Oblivion Stone, All is Dust altogether, an human with an effect that would exile and put back on the bf at the beginning of the next end step would be the best, like the Interlude's effect. Could be sthg not too pushed like :
exile ~ and up to 2 other cretaures you control : create that many 2/2 pirate creature tokens at eot.
A man can dream.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Pioneer - A bunch of stuff Modern - Humans Legacy - Grixis Phoenix / Death & Taxes
Curious how and when others would board out the Vials, if ever. Thoughts?
[EDIT]: Thalia, Heretic Cathar seems mostly bad except vs. Tron and when you can cast her T2 on the play. Overall I'm not really feeling her in the deck, tbh. On the other hand, I really like Mayor because I want to end games fast and he helps. He is pretty vulnerable though.
For the Affinity match, a T2 Meddling can name Plating or Etched Champion, and Affinity doesn't have a ton of ways to get rid of her. Lyev Skynight would also be very relevant in this match, even for a buffed Ornithopter.
Jeskai is straight-up amazing against Humans, not sure what turns the tide there, but Mark of Asylum seems very good on the play. On the draw it might not be too likely to resolve, especially in a G3-type situation where they saw it in G2.
Saw someone trying hostage taker and thought I'd also give it a go. Arrived today in the post.
Will try a couple in the side and see how it goes. I reckon one is probably correct but two will allow me to see them more frequently in games and get a good read on their effectiveness.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Modern: G Tron, Vannifar, Jund, Druid/Vizier combo, Humans, Eldrazi Stompy (Serum Powder), Amulet, Grishoalbrand, Breach Titan, Turns, Eternal Command, As Foretold Living End, Elves, Cheerios, RUG Scapeshift
One card that hasn't been mentionned is Spellskite. It's castable with any land (even Mutavault) and serves some interesting purposes. Probably a meta call, but I like all those artifact modern-playables in a Vial list (Pithing Needle and Sorcerous Spyglass among them).
On Mutavault, it happened to me to have one with an impossible T2 Noble + Champ, and I never attacked with the land. It's a card that helps VS control and long games, but not in fast games where we use our mana in the 4 first turns for sure. The mana is so constrained that I never managed to pump one with Lieutenant.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Pioneer - A bunch of stuff Modern - Humans Legacy - Grixis Phoenix / Death & Taxes
Jeskai is straight-up amazing against Humans, not sure what turns the tide there, but Mark of Asylum seems very good on the play. On the draw it might not be too likely to resolve, especially in a G3-type situation where they saw it in G2.
I don't agree here. I haven't played alot of games with the vial list, but I beat a friend, who happens to be an experienced Jeskai tempo player, quite a few times yesterday. Cavern and/or Vial are crucial here and make shure to cast Thalia asap. Cage from te side to make snapcasyer chains impossible.
I'd say aggressive mulligans are sometimes needed here.
To quote his words: "Humans is a terrible matchup, you have cards that render 30% of my deck useless and taxes the rest, I can never keep up with your threats."
This is the opposite from what is said here so in reality it should be an even matchup. Maybe because he has a little more keepable hands, i guess the chances are more 40/60.
Jeskai is straight-up amazing against Humans, not sure what turns the tide there, but Mark of Asylum seems very good on the play. On the draw it might not be too likely to resolve, especially in a G3-type situation where they saw it in G2.
I don't agree here. I haven't played alot of games with the vial list, but I beat a friend, who happens to be an experienced Jeskai tempo player, quite a few times yesterday. Cavern and/or Vial are crucial here and make shure to cast Thalia asap. Cage from te side to make snapcasyer chains impossible.
I'd say aggressive mulligans are sometimes needed here.
To quote his words: "Humans is a terrible matchup, you have cards that render 30% of my deck useless and taxes the rest, I can never keep up with your threats."
This is the opposite from what is said here so in reality it should be an even matchup. Maybe because he has a little more keepable hands, i guess the chances are more 40/60.
This is how I felt testing for the rptq as well. Jeskai did awful in my initial tests (I was on humans) and them I played jeskai versus a fellow humans player while prepping and it performed a bit better. He had just picked up humans and I had experience in the match up already. Basically jeskai needs quellers or quite a few removal spells with snaps to win. My tournament record versus it has been positive as well. Feels quite even, but could go much worse if they ever push their board slots to win the match up. Honesty, opposing popular opinion, I do not think Jeskai is a good deck and I'm very surprised by its popularity.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
To post a comment, please login or register a new account.
It's also usefull versus knighfall/vizier type combo decks.
Modern: WUBRG Humans - GBW Traverse - GWU Knightfall - GRW Bushwhacker Zoo -
When resolved, Pridemage is our only option. Unfortunatly it's casting cost won't make it very easy to do so in our tribal.
Better nab it before it's played with freebooter or meddling mage if you suspect anything like it.
Modern: WUBRG Humans - GBW Traverse - GWU Knightfall - GRW Bushwhacker Zoo -
The problem is if people play Hushwing gryff or Tocatli honor guard since we have few non-etb ways of dealing with creatures. We also can't freeboot them.
I guess the Mayors are cut. Instead of a low-par lord, you play a decent stand-alone beater.
The other card that offers the same debate is Thalia V2. Many cards can replace her, depending on what MUs you focus on. I like Lyev Skyknight personally, flyers are great overall. At this point, I'm waiting for the metagame to stabilize a bit, and Rivals of Ixalan may help me with those last slots.
I'm testing Lantern Scout, it races in certain games, and it overlaps in Merfolk, Elves, Burn, Valakut. Not much experience with it so far, I'll give a feedback later.
There isn't a "right" or "wrong" answer to these questions, to be honest. At least in the sense that, it would take an enormous amount of games to have reliable statistical evidence to show whether you win more or less with a card like Stony Silence in your deck. I think the relevant things you need to consider are (1) how risk averse are you? Are you willing to sacrifice consistency for overall power? (2) what kind of playstyle do you have? Do you prefer to lock people out of games (with cards like Stony Silence) or do you prefer to grind them out with Staticasters and Vithian Renegades? and (3) what is the meta like that you play in? Do you see a lot of Affinity? If so, maybe we want to play the higher power level cards like Stony Silence that are more narrow than a card like Izzet Staticaster.
A lot of people like to say, "oh that's bad," without giving the above questions their due attention. I think this forum is actually pretty good in the sense that people are very open to new ideas.
All of that said, I think Stony Silence is a perfectly reasonable card. I haven't been playing it because I've actually had a lot of success versus Affinity with Izzet Staticasters and Vithian Renegades.
Right now, the things I'm trying versus Jeskai are Lightning Greaves, Thorn of Amethyst, Geist of Saint Traft, and Chalice of the Void. (edit: I should say, I think the match-up is pretty bad for Humans and I'm getting desperate.)
I think Invisible Stalker is a neat idea but a 1/1 body is not enough, especially when we aren't always drawing our lords.
I'm also playing 2 Phantasmal Image, which has been pretty great for me so far. (I'm using the same mana-base).
Also how often do you copy your stuff as opposed to your opponents?
Against wrath effects, there's only 2 things that fix the issue :
- an anti-wrath human in the next sets;
- more high-level standalone or synergistic humans in the next sets (so we don't need to over-extend, or we gain velocity / explosiveness).
To counter Living End, Supreme Verdict, Oblivion Stone, All is Dust altogether, an human with an effect that would exile and put back on the bf at the beginning of the next end step would be the best, like the Interlude's effect. Could be sthg not too pushed like :
A man can dream.
[EDIT]: Thalia, Heretic Cathar seems mostly bad except vs. Tron and when you can cast her T2 on the play. Overall I'm not really feeling her in the deck, tbh. On the other hand, I really like Mayor because I want to end games fast and he helps. He is pretty vulnerable though.
For the Affinity match, a T2 Meddling can name Plating or Etched Champion, and Affinity doesn't have a ton of ways to get rid of her. Lyev Skynight would also be very relevant in this match, even for a buffed Ornithopter.
Jeskai is straight-up amazing against Humans, not sure what turns the tide there, but Mark of Asylum seems very good on the play. On the draw it might not be too likely to resolve, especially in a G3-type situation where they saw it in G2.
http://www.mattling.com/2017/11/modern-humans-sideboard-guide.html?m=1
Will try a couple in the side and see how it goes. I reckon one is probably correct but two will allow me to see them more frequently in games and get a good read on their effectiveness.
On Mutavault, it happened to me to have one with an impossible T2 Noble + Champ, and I never attacked with the land. It's a card that helps VS control and long games, but not in fast games where we use our mana in the 4 first turns for sure. The mana is so constrained that I never managed to pump one with Lieutenant.
I don't agree here. I haven't played alot of games with the vial list, but I beat a friend, who happens to be an experienced Jeskai tempo player, quite a few times yesterday. Cavern and/or Vial are crucial here and make shure to cast Thalia asap. Cage from te side to make snapcasyer chains impossible.
I'd say aggressive mulligans are sometimes needed here.
To quote his words: "Humans is a terrible matchup, you have cards that render 30% of my deck useless and taxes the rest, I can never keep up with your threats."
This is the opposite from what is said here so in reality it should be an even matchup. Maybe because he has a little more keepable hands, i guess the chances are more 40/60.
Modern: WUBRG Humans - GBW Traverse - GWU Knightfall - GRW Bushwhacker Zoo -
This is how I felt testing for the rptq as well. Jeskai did awful in my initial tests (I was on humans) and them I played jeskai versus a fellow humans player while prepping and it performed a bit better. He had just picked up humans and I had experience in the match up already. Basically jeskai needs quellers or quite a few removal spells with snaps to win. My tournament record versus it has been positive as well. Feels quite even, but could go much worse if they ever push their board slots to win the match up. Honesty, opposing popular opinion, I do not think Jeskai is a good deck and I'm very surprised by its popularity.