@kyle - I am very interested in both what you learn from testing and your tournament report.
I am hoping to do two showdowns myself on the 26th. Currently, I plan to tune up my Naya Humans for one of them.
Craig Wescoe has a Mono-W Humans (splash b for a colorless card) that he calls "The Fastest Deck in Standard." Care to give the other pilots at the Standard Showdown some whiplash?
Edit: Below is where I ended up with on 4C Humans. I went 8-4-4 with it since I got the manabase "working," including multiple punts. I plan to tinker with Naya Humans lists for the next little while, including in the Standard Showdown, but recommend Wyvernslayer's work, as he seems to have been doing better. This list seems good enough to look over anyway, and differs from the previous version only in the sideboard.
Voltaic Brawler's ability is once per turn on your turn. It triggers when you declare it as an attacker. If you choose to spend the energy, it gets +1/+1, otherwise no effect.
I got some testing in with Naya Humans last night against an awkward Esper Control deck. Games 2 and 3 even ended up on the local stream at 1:30 in when the main event didn't fire. I punted by missing some Recruiter activations. Voltaic Brawler looked really good in situations where Hamlet Captain wouldn't have been as good. Eldrazi Displacer + Archangel Avacyn earned their honorary human status.
I guess I'll run my 4C brew back again tonight rather than starting to tinker with Esper Processor Control. @WyvernSlayer - yeah, I remember seeing Mysteries in your recommendations before and making a mental note to try it, so I'll give it a whirl. I also forgot to mention in my sideboard notes (because I used the wrong sideboard list): there is no feeling like Revolutionary Rebuff on Torrential Gearhulk. He was riffling through his graveyard before I got to tell the control player: "nope!"
I hate to be that guy, But you cheated by accident.
Rebuff can not hit gearhulk.
Good catch! That delight became embarrassment and shame when I realized. That slot is now Spell Shrivel. Still great to say no to the no guy, but not worth cheating.
I know it's been almost a week since I said I would report on how I did, so I apologize for the delay. I couldn't make it to FNM last week, which turned out to be alright since apparently nobody else decided to show up either; however, I did make it to the standard showdown on Saturday. I ended up going 3-1 with the 4 color humans list! I'll summarize below.
Round 1: Win 2-0 against America superfriends
So this guy kinda caught me by surprise. I wasn't expecting anything like this, but it turns out that Planeswalkers can't compete with Voltaic Brawler and Hanweir Garrison. Game 1 I started strong with a perfect curve, Attune, into Brawler, then Garrison. Unfortunately, a reflector mage stalled me out. He dropped Jace, bounced a dude, then dropped Nahiri and started exiling my attackers when they tried to take them down. I had to take down 5 walkers before I dropped him with a Lieutenant and Champion combo. Game 2 ended abrubtly with two Lieutenants hitting the board back to back, with Heron's champion as backup.
Round 2: Loss 0-2 against W/B Flash
Not much to say here. I had a pretty good curve, but couldn't find answers for the smuggler's copter and Gideons he kept dropping. He put me down quick both games. It's worth noting I don't have much experience playing against this deck.
Round 3: Win 2-0 against B/G Delirium variant
Both games were finished in just over 10 minutes. This deck was typical derlium, but the guy added in Tree of Perdition and Trisk to try and get a combo kill.
Game 1 was over by turn 5 due to 3 back to back Voltaic Brawlers not being answered. My opponent needed grasp of darkness, but was missing double black mana.
Game 2 was over just as quick due to Hanweir Militia Captain flipping with a veritable army to back her up thanks to Garrison.
Round 4: Win 2-0 against B/W Control
Game 1 I had the element of surprise because he thought I was running an energy combo deck due to my opening hand having a ton of energy drops. Unfornately he was a little mana screwed and neglected to Fumigate on turn 5, leading to a Grace Champion fueled lethal on turn 6.
Game 2 wasn't much of a game. He missed land drops turn 4 and 5 which made him really weak against this deck as he needs to answer most of out early threats to try to stop the steamroll that this becomes.
MVP's of the night were definitely Voltaic Brawler and Tamiyo, who ended up letting me draw 6 cards in a single game to help find the win. I found that if the opponent can't answer Hanweir Garrison, it's usually game over with how the deck works.
Overall, I love the deck, and am running it back this Friday and Saturday. I do need to work on building my sideboard, as I didn't have the cards needed which resulted in using a 6 card board all day.
I know it's long, but let me know what you guys think!
Great work, kyle. I love getting more data on Voltaic Brawler. I can't wait to see what you learn and how you improve the deck when you get more reps in. I'm hoping to get a Showdown in this weekend, and I think I'll rock my Naya list, so still Brawlers, Garrison and Lieutenant. Compared to the 4c, I miss Tamiyo more than Reflector Mage.
Flash is tough. I think Harnessed Lightning and Champion are pretty good in the matchup. Once you build up your sideboard, another trick would be to side out your fourth of creatures. Then you are less likely to be stuck with 2 in hand, but nothing to play because one was Reflected. I liked Cloudblazer against them, as a 5 drop can't be Spell Quellered. Tears of Valakut is also an option. Recruiter and Pacifist put an odd sort of pressure, as they don't want them flipping. Avacyn and Gisela can be painful, too.
Craig Wescoe has a WG Humans list with videos on tcgplayer and, in the Boros Human Burn thread, JoeSchmoe has got some solid results and analysis of a version that harkens back to Donovan Lachney T8 deck from SCG Indianapolis.
Thanks, Hoser!
I did have a question about the whole Revolutionary Rebuff on a Torrential Gearhulk issue. I was just assuming that you were choosing the flashback spell as the target of the rebuff. Is that not possible? Because if so, that still sounds good to me. The only downside is that they get a big blocker. Please correct me if I'm wrong.
Thanks, Hoser!
I did have a question about the whole Revolutionary Rebuff on a Torrential Gearhulk issue. I was just assuming that you were choosing the flashback spell as the target of the rebuff. Is that not possible? Because if so, that still sounds good to me. The only downside is that they get a big blocker. Please correct me if I'm wrong.
I agree. The way I inadvertently cheated was that I tried to counter the Gearhulk and my opponent didn't catch that it was an illegal target either. Hence the switch to Spell Shrivel subsequently.
Went 2-2 in matches last FNM, losing 2-1 to WU flash and 2-1 to a BW list. Mainly I lost due to misplays on my part. Game 3 of the WU flash matchup was insane, where OPP ended up getting 3 Gideon emblems, and casting Briesela twice, after I used Jace to return it to his hand. I ulted Westvale Abbey (Ormendahl, Profane Prince) and the game went to turns, but he ended up taking it with a topdeck Stasis Snare. I did win against WR Vehicles, getting insane opening hands of 2 Hamlet Captains and a Thalia's Lieutenant.
I think for Bant lists at least 4 Tamiyo's is very necessary. If she sticks on the battlefield she wins games, whether through tapping down creatures or utility lands or simply through incredible drawing power. I will continue running this list and see what happens, but I think the limitations on this deck are mainly with my skill level rather than with the decks ability.
Went 2-2 in matches last FNM, losing 2-1 to WU flash and 2-1 to a BW list. Mainly I lost due to misplays on my part. Game 3 of the WU flash matchup was insane, where OPP ended up getting 3 Gideon emblems, and casting Briesela twice, after I used Jace to return it to his hand. I ulted Westvale Abbey (Ormendahl, Profane Prince) and the game went to turns, but he ended up taking it with a topdeck Stasis Snare. I did win against WR Vehicles, getting insane opening hands of 2 Hamlet Captains and a Thalia's Lieutenant.
I think for Bant lists at least 4 Tamiyo's is very necessary. If she sticks on the battlefield she wins games, whether through tapping down creatures or utility lands or simply through incredible drawing power. I will continue running this list and see what happens, but I think the limitations on this deck are mainly with my skill level rather than with the decks ability.
Nice! Thanks for contributing. I like your list a lot. These are not recommendations as much as things I would want to experiment with in your list: Duskwatch Recruiter, Cloudblazer, Avacyn. I quite like Recruiter against Control and UW. I'm looking forward to hearing more.
For matches that look like they will be sweeper-free board stalls I bring in the captains and prototypes for the scroungers. I also bring in a couple keys for constables. The Alms of the Vein replace Declaration in Stone for creature-free opposition, particularly Marvel. Borrowed Grace is for racing combo as well. Bygone Bishop is for grindier matchups where I expect to be forced into blocking (boo!) or at least trading creatures.
The sideboard switch is a little bit budget driven but honestly I think it's better. The current Marvel decks are resilient to one or two discard spells, and for this deck two mana is a significant use of resources. I'd rather just blitz them out by swapping removal for direct damage. Trying to play Gideon on 19 lands post-board as Wescoe does feels super sketchy.
The deck is a ton of fun to play. I blitzed through a friendly standard league on modo and went 4-1. I only lost to the mirror and other than that match I only lost one game overall. Always Watching is a powerhouse and this shell makes great use of it.
ETA: Went 3-2 in another league. I punted a match against pummeler because I forgot about built to smash and went for the chump block on a pummeler instead of the Constable tap when I had lethal the next turn (Constable is the matchup mvp). The other loss was to generic RG energy beats which presents the classic aggro problem of a deck curving out slightly bigger than you do. Not sure what to do about that matchup when they curve into the Hydra.
Humans made a little noise over the weekend. Floyd Combs came in 11th at the SCG Standard Open with Wb Humans. Przemek Knocinski came in 12th at GP Madrid with a similar deck. In Denver, quite a variety of Humans decks made day 2.
At GP Denver, there were apparently 15 Humans lists that made day two: 7 Wb (presumably close to what Craig Wescoe was playing a week ago), 3 WG (presumably at least some close to what Craig Wescoe was playing this week), 2 Mardu (maybe RW with Scrapheap Scrounger, Unlicensed Disintegration and Kambal and Transgress in the sideboard), 2 WU (no idea, but Reflector Mage and Gideon seem likely) 1 RW. Wb Humans was tied for 6-7 as most common archetypes advancing to day 2. Various Humans made up about 9.6% of the Day 2 metagame. Hopefully we get the 9-64th place decklists, as I think Craig Wescoe may have been close to top 8.
Edit:
21st: GW (Wescoe)
29th: Wb
31st: Wb
37th: GW (Black)
50th: RW
61st: Wb
62nd: Wb
63rd: Wu (Calcano)
Humans went from under 10% of the day 2 metagame to 8 of the top 64, 12.5%. We were better than average at converting from day 2 to top 64, so I think it's safe to say that Humans were the breakout deck of the weekend .
Couldn't you explain about sideboarding tactics of Skysovereign, Consul Flagship?
Im'm looking for Humans Standart deck without Smuggler's Copter. This topis is so interesting but it's the only one.
I put together my Naya Humans, but didn't really get it together in time for the Standard Showdowns. Here is what I plan to test this week:
...
Couldn't you explain about sideboarding tactics of Skysovereign, Consul Flagship?
Im'm looking for Humans Standart deck without Smuggler's Copter. This topis is so interesting but it's the only one.
Sure. I've replaced Arlinn Kord with a second Nahiri. Also, I've gone back to Harnessed Lightning instead of the madness package. Against Control, Lightning out, Planeswalkers in. Skysovereign comes in with Nahiri against Control and Artifact decks. Skysovereign is great by itself, and Nahiri -8 can get it, Verdurous Gearhulk, Avacyn, Heron's Grace Champion, depending on the situation.
There are a million great two drops that you could replace Copter with: another Duskwatch Recruiter, Lambholt Pacifist, Selfless Spirit, Hamlet Captain, ... The Copter is flying and loots, but getting pumped by Champion and Lieutenant is huge in this deck. Hamlet Captain with Garrison is amazing. There are so many good cards for this deck.
below is what I took to the Standard Showdown this week. Officially I beat Temur Energy and Colossus before losing to UW Flash. But the Colossus deck flooded and then was mana screwed in our two games, so that was not useful information. I was color screwed in 2 of the 3 games against UW Flash (winning the only one where I got to play), so I think there is not much to tell, except that the mana can just kill you and the flash matchup might be close. The Temur Energy deck was one that had earlier beaten me (when I was playing GB Delirium at a PPTQ) in the hands of a good pilot, so that was a meaningful challenge.
Has anyone here played the GW Humans list from last weekend?
Thoughts?
I played against it with UW Panharmonicon on Wednesday. My only loss. It seemed low to the ground and relentless. Don't use the mtggoldfish Wescoe listing for it (58 cards). The Sam Black listing has the two Sigarda that I think are missing.
i went 3/2 with GW humans on the FNM and 3/0 on stardard *****down, this deck is great, the only modifications to the deck was to run 2 thalias instead of one oviya and one thalia but im thinking on cutting something for the oviya. And I dont have copters so i put hamlet captain who does a good job on upping the clock on the early turns
lost to UB control because i couldnt draw an answer to Kalitas, and lost to RW vehicles.
beat a bant deck, and temur deck, the third win was a drop.
on the showdown, beat BR vampires/vehicles, BW lengendaries and TEmerge again.
thinking on adding always watching or other supporting cards so the deck can be more aggresive, duskwatch recruiter underperformed on those matches. I only could activate him twice in about 15 games
I am hoping to do two showdowns myself on the 26th. Currently, I plan to tune up my Naya Humans for one of them.
RNA Standard: Grixis Midrange, Jund Deathwhirler, Sultai Vannifar
GRN Standard: Red Midrange, Mono-Blue Tempo, Wr Aggro, Gruul Experimental Dinosaurs, Sultai Midrange, Jeskai Midrange
Modern: Bant Spirits
Forcing a single archetype in all formats: too many colors, bad mana.
832ed the SCG open in his Deck of the Day.Edit: Thanks, patbou!
RNA Standard: Grixis Midrange, Jund Deathwhirler, Sultai Vannifar
GRN Standard: Red Midrange, Mono-Blue Tempo, Wr Aggro, Gruul Experimental Dinosaurs, Sultai Midrange, Jeskai Midrange
Modern: Bant Spirits
Forcing a single archetype in all formats: too many colors, bad mana.
Top 32. He didn't Top 8. But that's still quite a feat!
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.
Edit: Below is where I ended up with on 4C Humans. I went 8-4-4 with it since I got the manabase "working," including multiple punts. I plan to tinker with Naya Humans lists for the next little while, including in the Standard Showdown, but recommend Wyvernslayer's work, as he seems to have been doing better. This list seems good enough to look over anyway, and differs from the previous version only in the sideboard.
3 Duskwatch Recruiter
1 Hanweir Militia Captain
4 Thalia's Lieutenant
4 Voltaic Brawler
4 Hanweir Garrison
1 Pia Nalaar
4 Reflector Mage
1 Thalia, Heretic Cathar
2 Tireless Tracker
2 Heron's Grace Champion
1 Cloudblazer
1 Sigarda, Heron's Grace
3 Attune with Aether
4 Harnessed Lightning
2 Tamiyo, Field Researcher
Lands
4 Aether Hub
4 Botanical Sanctum
3 Evolving Wilds
4 Forest
1 Hanweir Battlements
4 Inspiring Vantage
1 Island
1 Mountain
1 Plains
1 Dragonmaster Outcast
2 Fragmentize
1 Selfless Spirit
1 Appetite for the Unnatural
1 Eerie Interlude
2 Spell Shrivel
1 Tireless Tracker
1 Ulvenwald Mysteries
1 Arlinn Kord
2 Heron's Grace Champion
1 Nahiri, the Harbinger
1 Cloudblazer
1 Sigarda, Heron's Grace
1 Skysovereign, Consul Flagship
RNA Standard: Grixis Midrange, Jund Deathwhirler, Sultai Vannifar
GRN Standard: Red Midrange, Mono-Blue Tempo, Wr Aggro, Gruul Experimental Dinosaurs, Sultai Midrange, Jeskai Midrange
Modern: Bant Spirits
Forcing a single archetype in all formats: too many colors, bad mana.
Just a quick ruling question. Is Voltaic Brawler's activated ability redundant, or can I pay any amount of energy and have the +1/+1 stack?
RNA Standard: Grixis Midrange, Jund Deathwhirler, Sultai Vannifar
GRN Standard: Red Midrange, Mono-Blue Tempo, Wr Aggro, Gruul Experimental Dinosaurs, Sultai Midrange, Jeskai Midrange
Modern: Bant Spirits
Forcing a single archetype in all formats: too many colors, bad mana.
3 Duskwatch Recruiter
1 Hanweir Militia Captain
4 Thalia's Lieutenant
4 Voltaic Brawler
1 Eldrazi Displacer
4 Hanweir Garrison
1 Pia Nalaar
1 Thalia, Heretic Cathar
2 Tireless Tracker
2 Heron's Grace Champion
1 Archangel Avacyn
1 Sigarda, Heron's Grace
Spells
1 Lightning Axe
1 Key to the City
4 Smuggler's Copter
4 Fiery Temper
4 Aether Hub
2 Canopy Vista
1 Cinder Glade
4 Evolving Wilds
4 Forest
1 Hanweir Battlements
4 Inspiring Vantage
2 Mountain
2 Plains
1 Wastes
1 Dragonmaster Outcast
1 Fragmentize
1 Lightning Axe
1 Declaration in Stone
1 Selfless Spirit
1 Appetite for the Unnatural
1 Eerie Interlude
1 Stasis Snare
1 Ulvenwald Mysteries
1 Arlinn Kord
1 Chandra, Torch of Defiance
1 Gideon, Ally of Zendikar
1 Heron's Grace Champion
1 Nahiri, the Harbinger
1 Skysovereign, Consul Flagship
Pretty sure I want more: Gideon, Thraben Inspector, Avacyn, Tracker, Sigarda
RNA Standard: Grixis Midrange, Jund Deathwhirler, Sultai Vannifar
GRN Standard: Red Midrange, Mono-Blue Tempo, Wr Aggro, Gruul Experimental Dinosaurs, Sultai Midrange, Jeskai Midrange
Modern: Bant Spirits
Forcing a single archetype in all formats: too many colors, bad mana.
RNA Standard: Grixis Midrange, Jund Deathwhirler, Sultai Vannifar
GRN Standard: Red Midrange, Mono-Blue Tempo, Wr Aggro, Gruul Experimental Dinosaurs, Sultai Midrange, Jeskai Midrange
Modern: Bant Spirits
Forcing a single archetype in all formats: too many colors, bad mana.
Good catch! That delight became embarrassment and shame when I realized. That slot is now Spell Shrivel. Still great to say no to the no guy, but not worth cheating.
RNA Standard: Grixis Midrange, Jund Deathwhirler, Sultai Vannifar
GRN Standard: Red Midrange, Mono-Blue Tempo, Wr Aggro, Gruul Experimental Dinosaurs, Sultai Midrange, Jeskai Midrange
Modern: Bant Spirits
Forcing a single archetype in all formats: too many colors, bad mana.
I know it's been almost a week since I said I would report on how I did, so I apologize for the delay. I couldn't make it to FNM last week, which turned out to be alright since apparently nobody else decided to show up either; however, I did make it to the standard showdown on Saturday. I ended up going 3-1 with the 4 color humans list! I'll summarize below.
Round 1: Win 2-0 against America superfriends
So this guy kinda caught me by surprise. I wasn't expecting anything like this, but it turns out that Planeswalkers can't compete with Voltaic Brawler and Hanweir Garrison. Game 1 I started strong with a perfect curve, Attune, into Brawler, then Garrison. Unfortunately, a reflector mage stalled me out. He dropped Jace, bounced a dude, then dropped Nahiri and started exiling my attackers when they tried to take them down. I had to take down 5 walkers before I dropped him with a Lieutenant and Champion combo. Game 2 ended abrubtly with two Lieutenants hitting the board back to back, with Heron's champion as backup.
Round 2: Loss 0-2 against W/B Flash
Not much to say here. I had a pretty good curve, but couldn't find answers for the smuggler's copter and Gideons he kept dropping. He put me down quick both games. It's worth noting I don't have much experience playing against this deck.
Round 3: Win 2-0 against B/G Delirium variant
Both games were finished in just over 10 minutes. This deck was typical derlium, but the guy added in Tree of Perdition and Trisk to try and get a combo kill.
Game 1 was over by turn 5 due to 3 back to back Voltaic Brawlers not being answered. My opponent needed grasp of darkness, but was missing double black mana.
Game 2 was over just as quick due to Hanweir Militia Captain flipping with a veritable army to back her up thanks to Garrison.
Round 4: Win 2-0 against B/W Control
Game 1 I had the element of surprise because he thought I was running an energy combo deck due to my opening hand having a ton of energy drops. Unfornately he was a little mana screwed and neglected to Fumigate on turn 5, leading to a Grace Champion fueled lethal on turn 6.
Game 2 wasn't much of a game. He missed land drops turn 4 and 5 which made him really weak against this deck as he needs to answer most of out early threats to try to stop the steamroll that this becomes.
MVP's of the night were definitely Voltaic Brawler and Tamiyo, who ended up letting me draw 6 cards in a single game to help find the win. I found that if the opponent can't answer Hanweir Garrison, it's usually game over with how the deck works.
Overall, I love the deck, and am running it back this Friday and Saturday. I do need to work on building my sideboard, as I didn't have the cards needed which resulted in using a 6 card board all day.
I know it's long, but let me know what you guys think!
Flash is tough. I think Harnessed Lightning and Champion are pretty good in the matchup. Once you build up your sideboard, another trick would be to side out your fourth of creatures. Then you are less likely to be stuck with 2 in hand, but nothing to play because one was Reflected. I liked Cloudblazer against them, as a 5 drop can't be Spell Quellered. Tears of Valakut is also an option. Recruiter and Pacifist put an odd sort of pressure, as they don't want them flipping. Avacyn and Gisela can be painful, too.
RNA Standard: Grixis Midrange, Jund Deathwhirler, Sultai Vannifar
GRN Standard: Red Midrange, Mono-Blue Tempo, Wr Aggro, Gruul Experimental Dinosaurs, Sultai Midrange, Jeskai Midrange
Modern: Bant Spirits
Forcing a single archetype in all formats: too many colors, bad mana.
Craig Wescoe has a WG Humans list with videos on tcgplayer and, in the Boros Human Burn thread, JoeSchmoe has got some solid results and analysis of a version that harkens back to Donovan Lachney T8 deck from SCG Indianapolis.
RNA Standard: Grixis Midrange, Jund Deathwhirler, Sultai Vannifar
GRN Standard: Red Midrange, Mono-Blue Tempo, Wr Aggro, Gruul Experimental Dinosaurs, Sultai Midrange, Jeskai Midrange
Modern: Bant Spirits
Forcing a single archetype in all formats: too many colors, bad mana.
I did have a question about the whole Revolutionary Rebuff on a Torrential Gearhulk issue. I was just assuming that you were choosing the flashback spell as the target of the rebuff. Is that not possible? Because if so, that still sounds good to me. The only downside is that they get a big blocker. Please correct me if I'm wrong.
RNA Standard: Grixis Midrange, Jund Deathwhirler, Sultai Vannifar
GRN Standard: Red Midrange, Mono-Blue Tempo, Wr Aggro, Gruul Experimental Dinosaurs, Sultai Midrange, Jeskai Midrange
Modern: Bant Spirits
Forcing a single archetype in all formats: too many colors, bad mana.
2 Botanical Sanctum
4 Evolving Wilds
2 Forest
4 Fortified Village
1 Island
2 Lumbering Falls
4 Plains
4 Prairie Stream
1 Westvale Abbey
Removal
1 Blessed Alliance
2 Declaration in Stone
3 Stasis Snare
2 Gisela, the Broken Blade
2 Hamlet Captain
3 Heron's Grace Champion
4 Reflector Mage
1 Sigarda, Heron's Grace
4 Thalia's Lieutenant
2 Thalia, Heretic Cathar
4 Thraben Inspector
4 Tireless Tracker
Planeswalkers
1 Jace, Unraveler of Secrets
2 Tamiyo, Field Researcher
Utility
1 Ulvenwald Mysteries
2 Blossoming Defense
1 Bruna, the Fading Light
2 Gryff's Boon
1 Linvala, the Preserver
4 Negate
2 Quarantine Field
1 Sigarda, Heron's Grace
2 Thalia's Lancers
Went 2-2 in matches last FNM, losing 2-1 to WU flash and 2-1 to a BW list. Mainly I lost due to misplays on my part. Game 3 of the WU flash matchup was insane, where OPP ended up getting 3 Gideon emblems, and casting Briesela twice, after I used Jace to return it to his hand. I ulted Westvale Abbey (Ormendahl, Profane Prince) and the game went to turns, but he ended up taking it with a topdeck Stasis Snare. I did win against WR Vehicles, getting insane opening hands of 2 Hamlet Captains and a Thalia's Lieutenant.
I think for Bant lists at least 4 Tamiyo's is very necessary. If she sticks on the battlefield she wins games, whether through tapping down creatures or utility lands or simply through incredible drawing power. I will continue running this list and see what happens, but I think the limitations on this deck are mainly with my skill level rather than with the decks ability.
Nice! Thanks for contributing. I like your list a lot. These are not recommendations as much as things I would want to experiment with in your list: Duskwatch Recruiter, Cloudblazer, Avacyn. I quite like Recruiter against Control and UW. I'm looking forward to hearing more.
RNA Standard: Grixis Midrange, Jund Deathwhirler, Sultai Vannifar
GRN Standard: Red Midrange, Mono-Blue Tempo, Wr Aggro, Gruul Experimental Dinosaurs, Sultai Midrange, Jeskai Midrange
Modern: Bant Spirits
Forcing a single archetype in all formats: too many colors, bad mana.
4 Expedition Envoy
4 Scrapheap Scrounger
4 Stern Constable
2 Thalia, Heretic Cathar
4 Thalia's Lieutenant
4 Thraben Inspector
4 Toolcraft Exemplar
4 Town Gossipmonger
4 Always Watching
4 Declaration in Stone
4 Smuggler's Copter
Land [18]
4 Concealed Courtyard
4 Shambling Vents
10 Plains
I did switch up the sideboard. Where Wescoe goes into midrange with Gideon/Selfless Spirit/Transgress, I mostly look to aggro harder:
2 Hanweir Militia Captain
3 Key to the City
4 Alms of the Vein
2 Borrowed Grace
2 Bygone Bishop
For matches that look like they will be sweeper-free board stalls I bring in the captains and prototypes for the scroungers. I also bring in a couple keys for constables. The Alms of the Vein replace Declaration in Stone for creature-free opposition, particularly Marvel. Borrowed Grace is for racing combo as well. Bygone Bishop is for grindier matchups where I expect to be forced into blocking (boo!) or at least trading creatures.
The sideboard switch is a little bit budget driven but honestly I think it's better. The current Marvel decks are resilient to one or two discard spells, and for this deck two mana is a significant use of resources. I'd rather just blitz them out by swapping removal for direct damage. Trying to play Gideon on 19 lands post-board as Wescoe does feels super sketchy.
The deck is a ton of fun to play. I blitzed through a friendly standard league on modo and went 4-1. I only lost to the mirror and other than that match I only lost one game overall. Always Watching is a powerhouse and this shell makes great use of it.
ETA: Went 3-2 in another league. I punted a match against pummeler because I forgot about built to smash and went for the chump block on a pummeler instead of the Constable tap when I had lethal the next turn (Constable is the matchup mvp). The other loss was to generic RG energy beats which presents the classic aggro problem of a deck curving out slightly bigger than you do. Not sure what to do about that matchup when they curve into the Hydra.
At GP Denver, there were apparently 15 Humans lists that made day two: 7 Wb (presumably close to what Craig Wescoe was playing a week ago), 3 WG (presumably at least some close to what Craig Wescoe was playing this week), 2 Mardu (maybe RW with Scrapheap Scrounger, Unlicensed Disintegration and Kambal and Transgress in the sideboard), 2 WU (no idea, but Reflector Mage and Gideon seem likely) 1 RW. Wb Humans was tied for 6-7 as most common archetypes advancing to day 2. Various Humans made up about 9.6% of the Day 2 metagame.
Hopefully we get the 9-64th place decklists, as I think Craig Wescoe may have been close to top 8.Edit:
21st: GW (Wescoe)
29th: Wb
31st: Wb
37th: GW (Black)
50th: RW
61st: Wb
62nd: Wb
63rd: Wu (Calcano)
Humans went from under 10% of the day 2 metagame to 8 of the top 64, 12.5%. We were better than average at converting from day 2 to top 64, so I think it's safe to say that Humans were the breakout deck of the weekend .
RNA Standard: Grixis Midrange, Jund Deathwhirler, Sultai Vannifar
GRN Standard: Red Midrange, Mono-Blue Tempo, Wr Aggro, Gruul Experimental Dinosaurs, Sultai Midrange, Jeskai Midrange
Modern: Bant Spirits
Forcing a single archetype in all formats: too many colors, bad mana.
Couldn't you explain about sideboarding tactics of Skysovereign, Consul Flagship?
Im'm looking for Humans Standart deck without Smuggler's Copter. This topis is so interesting but it's the only one.
There are a million great two drops that you could replace Copter with: another Duskwatch Recruiter, Lambholt Pacifist, Selfless Spirit, Hamlet Captain, ... The Copter is flying and loots, but getting pumped by Champion and Lieutenant is huge in this deck. Hamlet Captain with Garrison is amazing. There are so many good cards for this deck.
below is what I took to the Standard Showdown this week. Officially I beat Temur Energy and Colossus before losing to UW Flash. But the Colossus deck flooded and then was mana screwed in our two games, so that was not useful information. I was color screwed in 2 of the 3 games against UW Flash (winning the only one where I got to play), so I think there is not much to tell, except that the mana can just kill you and the flash matchup might be close. The Temur Energy deck was one that had earlier beaten me (when I was playing GB Delirium at a PPTQ) in the hands of a good pilot, so that was a meaningful challenge.
3 Duskwatch Recruiter
1 Hanweir Militia Captain
4 Thalia's Lieutenant
4 Voltaic Brawler
1 Eldrazi Displacer
4 Hanweir Garrison
1 Pia Nalaar
1 Thalia, Heretic Cathar
2 Tireless Tracker
2 Heron's Grace Champion
1 Archangel Avacyn
1 Sigarda, Heron's Grace
1 Verdurous Gearhulk
3 Harnessed Lightning
4 Smuggler's Copter
2 Stasis Snare
Lands
4 Aether Hub
2 Canopy Vista
1 Cinder Glade
4 Evolving Wilds
4 Forest
1 Hanweir Battlements
4 Inspiring Vantage
2 Mountain
2 Plains
1 Wastes
1 Dragonmaster Outcast
1 Fragmentize
2 Declaration in Stone
1 Selfless Spirit
1 Appetite for the Unnatural
1 Eerie Interlude
1 Ulvenwald Mysteries
1 Chandra, Torch of Defiance
2 Gideon, Ally of Zendikar
1 Heron's Grace Champion
2 Nahiri, the Harbinger
1 Skysovereign, Consul Flagship
RNA Standard: Grixis Midrange, Jund Deathwhirler, Sultai Vannifar
GRN Standard: Red Midrange, Mono-Blue Tempo, Wr Aggro, Gruul Experimental Dinosaurs, Sultai Midrange, Jeskai Midrange
Modern: Bant Spirits
Forcing a single archetype in all formats: too many colors, bad mana.
Thoughts?
Edit: Another article by Wescoe on GW Humans, inc sideboarding
RNA Standard: Grixis Midrange, Jund Deathwhirler, Sultai Vannifar
GRN Standard: Red Midrange, Mono-Blue Tempo, Wr Aggro, Gruul Experimental Dinosaurs, Sultai Midrange, Jeskai Midrange
Modern: Bant Spirits
Forcing a single archetype in all formats: too many colors, bad mana.
lost to UB control because i couldnt draw an answer to Kalitas, and lost to RW vehicles.
beat a bant deck, and temur deck, the third win was a drop.
on the showdown, beat BR vampires/vehicles, BW lengendaries and TEmerge again.
thinking on adding always watching or other supporting cards so the deck can be more aggresive, duskwatch recruiter underperformed on those matches. I only could activate him twice in about 15 games
RNA Standard: Grixis Midrange, Jund Deathwhirler, Sultai Vannifar
GRN Standard: Red Midrange, Mono-Blue Tempo, Wr Aggro, Gruul Experimental Dinosaurs, Sultai Midrange, Jeskai Midrange
Modern: Bant Spirits
Forcing a single archetype in all formats: too many colors, bad mana.
Is that G/W Humans deck better than your 4c Humans or Naya Humans Deck?