Introduction
This is a generic Humans thread. This covers a range of decks. We don't want to have threads parasitizing each other, so I will defer to and strive to complement more specific threads as they occur.
Humans are aggressive tribal decks that win with synergistic combinations of small creatures. The decks range from more or less mono-white aggressive versions to more midrangy builds that splash for powerful cards in other colors. For example, there is a Naya version that is built around abusing Hanweir Garrison.
This deck is everything that I want to do in magic. It takes a pile of underpowered creatures and works them together to become powerful and explosive. At a local level, I cashed regularly with Bant Humans in DTK-SOI standard and Naya Humans in DTK-EMN through BFZ-AER standard. The most competitive Humans decks have been aggressive and used one to two colors.
This is not an established archetype in this format, so try this if:
You like turning creatures sideways
You like exploiting synergistically powerful cards to kill people with explosive bursts of damage
You have some brewer in you
You don't need to be playing the "best deck" for this particular event
These archetypes are by no means solved. Please help us break it.
History
In early DTK-SOI Standard White Weenie Humans was the de facto aggressive deck while achieving some notable successes. Later in the format a Bant version using Collected Company proved to be a more aggressive and beefier competitor to the non-tribal Bant Company decks.
With the advent of Eldritch Moon, the addition of Spell Queller and Selfless Spirit to the non-tribal Bant Company deck suggested that Bant Humans' glory days were over ... until BBD made it his Standard weapon of choice to smash his way to the World Championship! At less competitive levels there were some interesting Human additions from Eldritch Moon: Hanweir Garrison, Hamlet Captain and Heron's Grace Champion that challenged the manabase.
The arrival of Kaladesh coincides with the departure of many of the low drops that contributed to the aggressive nearly mono-white variants' results. Also rotating were Collected Company and Dromoka's Command, which fueled Bant Humans' success. There are additions with Kaladesh that pull the deck in interesting directions, notably Voltaic Brawler, Oviya Pashiri, Sage Lifecrafter and Cloudblazer.
On October 2 1986, Donovan Lachney piloted W/R Humans to a top 8 appearance in the Indianapolis SCG Open.
At Pro Tour Kaladesh, there were 12 Humans decks entered: 7 W/R, 3 W/G, 1 Mono-White and 1 Naya. Of those, 8 decks made Day 2 (third best conversion rate): 6 W/R, 1 Mono-White and 1 Naya. Five of the W/R decks had 6-7 standard wins: Fabrizio Campanino, Mattia De Colle, Guilherme Merjam, Jon Graham, Takaya Saito. If anybody knows about the contents and what happened to the remaining Human decks that made Day 2, please let me know.
That same weekend the following human decks made top 8 at SCG Regionals: Peter McKinney's Bant Humans, Brian Finlayson-Schueler's Bant Humans, Eric Butruce's W/R Humans, Brandon Nelson's W/R Humans, Nathan Farman's W/R Humans, Matthew Althiser's Bant Humans, Jordan McCutcheon's W/G Humans, Daniel Unger's W/R Humans
With the release of Amonkhet came many interesting Humans, notably Glory-Bound Initiate which pairs exquisitely with Always Watching. Zach Stern took them to fourth place in the first major tournament of the new format, SCCG Open Atlanta on April 30, 2017.
After Pro Tour Amonkhet, Craig Wescoe (who took RW Humans to the Pro Tour, if I recall correctly) proposed a set of decks to attack the Amonkhet metagame that included Mono-White and Bant Humans. Our own patbou has been experiencing some success with the Mono-W list. At an FNM level, I have taken RW Humans to some success, but it feels more lucky than good. Between our members' experience and my own, I wouldn't recommend RW Humans for a PPTQ or GP. Decklists
Amonkhet
Taken from Craig Wescoe's article on Star City Games here
Gryff's Boon on Hanweir Garrison is everything you want it to be. Many spells that allow a surged Bushwhacker with only 3 mana seems important in a 20 land deck.
While this deck went undefeated locally on 10/3/16, it is really unrefined. The mana is bad, particularly to cast Voltaic Brawler on T2. The sideboard is a semi-random assortment of 1 ofs, really just a collection of ideas.
This tested about even with BW Angels and RU Fevered Visions, but folded hard to R/x Copter Madness. Maybe we should all be helping Nevelo brew that ... On the other hand, Harnessed Lightning is much better against Copters than Declaration in Stone, so I would start there. Kill the Copter in response to the piloting so they can't get the attacking loot unless you want to ambush a creature that needs the artifact bonus.
Cards
Core cards are bolded. Core cards only apply to decks with the required mana.
1 Drop Dragonmaster Outcast: Pro - human, powerful in a board stall; Con - slow, fragile. Sideboard option against decks without much removal Thraben Inspector: Pro - cheap, card advantage, decent flicker target; Con - not impactful in a board stall. Town Gossipmonger: Pro - Human, aggressive power; Con - needs other early creatures for maximal effectiveness. Probably better in more aggressive builds. Worth testing.
2 Drop Duskwatch Recruiter: Pro - card advantage, ; Con - expensive card advantage, no human benefits when flipped. Best against control decks for card advantage, but mana savings when flipped can be quite nice. Hamlet Captain: Pro - conditional anthem; Con - doesn't buff self, just a bear without other creatures. Recommendation: This thing doesn't look like much, but it increases damage amazingly. Run 4 Hanweir Militia Captain: Pro - When flipped, it gets huge and spawns creatures that trigger Thalia's Lieutenant; Con - when do we get ahead enough to flip it? conditional. Good in board stalls, recommend at least 2 in 75, but main or side? Lambholt Pacifist: Pro - big, wears a counter really well; Con - sometimes can't attack, no human benefits when flipped. Lone Rider: Pro - Big if flipped; Con - large setup cost means making your build more combo-ish. Reckless Bushwhacker: Pro - anthem effect with a body; Con - not a human, not good without a board and another cheap spell. Strong for aggressive builds. Don't forget the leather jacket. Selfless Spirit: Pro - good protection from R-based sweepers; Con - no human synergy, dies to Liliana. Thalia's Lieutenant: Pro - gets huge, buffs other humans; Con - can just die to Liliana +. Run 4
3 Drop Eldrazi Displacer: Pro - able to interact positively against Spell Queller, reset blockers, blow up tokens, knock counters off creatures, get ETB effects on demand; Con - mana-intensive, no human synergies, requires colorless mana, just a cheap hill giant without targets. Hanweir Garrison: Pro - conditionally powerful, late game can meld for fun and massive damage; Con - forces R (seriously, if you don't value this card, don't run R and have much better mana). Run 4 if you are running R Reflector Mage: Pro - Tremendous tempo swing; Con - mediocre body, not good against noncreature decks. Run 4 if you are running U. Thalia, Heretic Cathar: Pro - good against multicolor and creature decks; Con - dies easily. run 1-2 Tireless Tracker: Pro - card advantage!, can get huge; Con - dies easily, best as a 4-drop. run 3-4 if you are more midrangy and can support G
4 Drop Heron's Grace Champion: Pro - instant speed anthem can tilt combat math, lifelink can swing races, lifelink body continues to affect races; Con - body is not huge for the cost.
5 Drop Archangel Avacyn: Pro - flash, team indestructibility on ETB; Con - can wrath our own board.
Cloudblazer: Pro - Oh my deity, the value! Draw cards, evasive body, lifegain; Con - 5 drop, not much board presence when you are behind. Reality Smasher: Pro - a sudden, hard to remove beating; Con - not human, needs colorless, expensive. Sideboard option for slower builds that can support colorless. Sigarda, Heron's Grace: Pro - hard to kill, can prevent discard burn and Mindslaver-like effects, evasive, makes Humans, which trigger Lieutenant; Con - expensive.
Blossoming Defense: Any combination of blow out your removal spell, buff my guy to win combat or escape damage based sweeper for a single G? Seems good. Fragmentize: Kaladesh filling you with the desire to do some disinventing? Gryff's Boon: Pro - cheap evasion that can recur, good for getting in those last few points of damage; Con - expensive replay from the bin is prone to being blown out. Rush of Adrenaline: Pro - Nice combat trick that allows a surged Bushwhacker with 3 mana; Con - One toughness may not be enough. Renegade Tactics: Pro - cantrip, can allow a safe swing against a single relevant blocker, to blow it out opponent needs to kill their own creature or use up a spell of their own; Con - Doesn't do much against multiple blockers. Declaration in Stone: Pro - can deal with Kalitas and other big creatures efficiently; Con - card disadvantage. Recommend at least 1 in the 75. Always Watching: Pro - another anthem; Con - doesn't help Garrison tokens. Consider for builds that support WW. Eerie Interlude: Pro - potential sweeper protection; Con - expensive, heavily conditional. Stasis Snare: Pro - Unconditional removal that even hits Emrakul; Con - expensive, mana intensive, creature comes back if removed, can lead to blowouts if removed at instant speed. Arlinn Kord: Pro - many helpful abilities; Con - slow, not human. Gideon, Ally of Zendikar: Pro - a real beating, often leaves a token even when removed, can be a permanent anthem; Con - sometimes hard to protect, not very synergistic, hard to cast. Strong sideboard option against control. Tamiyo, Field Researcher: Pro - powerful, can lead to card advantage or tempo swings;Con - 3 colors, may just be a speed bump when we're behind.
Hanweir Battlements: Pro - colorless source, giving haste is great, can meld with Hanweir Garrison; Con - doesn't help fixing. 1-2 recommended if you are using R Westvale Abbey: Pro - colorless source, can make more humans, Ormandahl; Con - doesn't help fixing, benefits are slow and conditional.
Sideboarding
This is just a list of cards that are recommended (or not) in particular matchups. Without knowing your exact deck, I can't recommend numbers
Bant: +Hanweir Militia Captain; +Dragonmaster Outcast; +Sigarda, Heron's Grace; +Thalia, Heretic Cathar; +Heron's Grace Champion; +Archangel Avacyn; -Duskwatch Recruiter; -Hamlet Captain. Interaction to kill Spell Quellers is good. If you can win with early beats, go for it. Otherwise try to go wide and tall. Lifelink can help in the race.
Dredge: +Thalia, +Champion, +Gideon, +Pacifist, +Declaration, -Duskwatch. You are the beatdown. Killing their stuff isn't great when it just comes back. Duskwatch is too slow.
Considering the set of Evolving Wilds, maybe you can even reduce the land count to 22...
Of course, you would splash blue only for Reflector Mage, but that card already proved it's value in the past.
Good point. I have been doing 4C humans, but using the Battlelands, I can't make Brawler work. I need to figure out how to abuse Aether Hub, particularly since it may lead to being able to use my spirit eldrazi .
Excellent! I didn't have an example. I hope you don't mind if I throw your list right into the primer. If you object, I'll remove it. I like the list a lot, particularly the way Lieutenant, Nissa or Gideon help protect the Cultivator from Liliana. 4 Oviya seems interesting, given that she's legendary.
I'll be doing some testing tomorrow, so hopefully I will have something useful to report.
Don't mind at all. Maybe I should have done 3 Oviya and 3 Thraben but I figure 4 of Oviya won't be too much of a problem since she probably won't be on the board long and if so, then you won't need to worry about casting the second since you already have outlet for your mana while you hold onto it.
This is my list im taking to standard on saturday. Dont know were to go with sideboards. 18 cards with ETB triggers. Acrobatic Maneuver with reflector mage / angel of intention / avacyn is just so juicy helps get around spot removal gone for a more mid range tempo build. I want to fit stasis snare in here but im not sure where it goes
86% chance to draw a blue source by turn 3
91% chance to draw a blue source by turn 5
In other news, I took the Naya list from the OP to a Kaladesh standard proxy testing session with the following results:
against artifact reanimator that allowed me to goldfish: I could consistently kill on turn 5
Against a Mardu dwarf vehicle aggro list: Flooded and lost, mana screwed and lost, opponent flooded and won. Basically it felt competitive, easy if we draw Champion
Against Aetherworks Marvel Ramp: Split two games. Hard to tell much, but wanted to be able to interact with the mana dorks.
Bant Good stuff: won two, lost one. basically it came down to the die roll. Couldn't really pressure Gideon through Reflector mages. Seems fairly even
Conclusions: The deck competed effectively when it didn't outclass the opponent. Voltaic Brawler is hard to cast. Harnessed Lightning is great. I want to rework the manabase with Attune and Aether Hub and try 4C. Reflector mage is good.
Is currently the 15 cards I have laid out infront of me for the sideboard
Dispels are prolly a game 3 style of sideboard card
Negate and Revolutionary Rebuff vs Jund Walkers
Planar Ourburst vs the mirror or other mid range creature decks
Stasis Snare seems better vs other gideon decks and avacyn style decks
Fragmentize vs the inevitable artifact deck that someone will turn up with
Gryff's Boon against decks that clog up the ground eg green red energy style decks / sylvan advocate etc
This is my list im taking to standard on saturday. Dont know were to go with sideboards. 18 cards with ETB triggers. Acrobatic Maneuver with reflector mage / angel of intention / avacyn is just so juicy helps get around spot removal gone for a more mid range tempo build. I want to fit stasis snare in here but im not sure where it goes
86% chance to draw a blue source by turn 3
91% chance to draw a blue source by turn 5
I think the mana base is ok for the blue splash
I am adding your list to the primer as I continue cleaning up and making it less Naya-centric. Please let me know if you want it removed.
Spitballing decks here. R/G Human Transformation - should really try to make it RGB delirium, but I'm not a good enough deck builder for that maybe someone else can take a shot or at least improve on this one.
Red offers not only Bushwhacker and Garrison, but also cheap tricks. The only drawback is if this is any better than just regular RW aggro with Dwarves instead?
Red offers not only Bushwhacker and Garrison, but also cheap tricks. The only drawback is if this is any better than just regular RW aggro with Dwarves instead?
This is much better than what I would have done
Reckless Bushwhacker always goads me into building the deck around him and coming up with something like 4x Bomat CourierVillage MessengerExpedition EnvoyInventor's ApprenticeReckless BushwhackerBone SawThalia's Lieutenant at least 2 of Weapons Trainer another piece of equipment like Stoneforge Masterwork then finish off with 2 or 3 of Hanweir Garrison and maybe some 1 drop pump spells if I can make room. My goal is to try and get 3 creatures on the board turns 1&2 and get as much damage from them as possible, then on turn 3 drop another 1 drop creature and the Bushwhacker or Bone Saw Bushwhacker swing and if I didn't hit a Bushwhacker then hopefully at least the Lieutenant and another 1 drop or a piece of equipment and a Weapons Trainer.
Works great game 1, then opponent sideboards all the board wipes, and cheap removal, and games 2 & 3 don't usually go so well.
edit: Although something that might work is if you can find 25 cards that fit into your deck and one like I am tempted to build, then you use the sideboard to transform back and forth between the two.
Played some unsideboarded games vs a friend's prerotation Bant Spirits (including Collected Company). Went 2-1, though admittedly was at 1 life last game staring down a bunch of fliers.
Reckless Bushwhacker always goads me into building the deck around him and coming up with something like 4x Bomat CourierVillage MessengerExpedition EnvoyInventor's ApprenticeReckless BushwhackerBone SawThalia's Lieutenant at least 2 of Weapons Trainer another piece of equipment like Stoneforge Masterwork then finish off with 2 or 3 of Hanweir Garrison and maybe some 1 drop pump spells if I can make room. My goal is to try and get 3 creatures on the board turns 1&2 and get as much damage from them as possible, then on turn 3 drop another 1 drop creature and the Bushwhacker or Bone Saw Bushwhacker swing and if I didn't hit a Bushwhacker then hopefully at least the Lieutenant and another 1 drop or a piece of equipment and a Weapons Trainer.
Works great game 1, then opponent sideboards all the board wipes, and cheap removal, and games 2 & 3 don't usually go so well.
I think if you wanted to do that, you might as well just go RW non-Humans aggro, taking advantage of Toolcraft Exemplar and Bomat Courier and Smuggler's Copter. Those cards fit into a Bushwhacker all-or-nothing strategy better than Human synergy does.
I think if you're building RW Humans, you're already conceding that you're not building the optimal Bushwhacker deck, so you want to play a slower game that can break through defenses and disruption. Bushwhacker is still good later than turn 3. Gryff's Boon on Hanweir Garrison seems really good.
Reckless Bushwhacker always goads me into building the deck around him and coming up with something like 4x Bomat CourierVillage MessengerExpedition EnvoyInventor's ApprenticeReckless BushwhackerBone SawThalia's Lieutenant at least 2 of Weapons Trainer another piece of equipment like Stoneforge Masterwork then finish off with 2 or 3 of Hanweir Garrison and maybe some 1 drop pump spells if I can make room. My goal is to try and get 3 creatures on the board turns 1&2 and get as much damage from them as possible, then on turn 3 drop another 1 drop creature and the Bushwhacker or Bone Saw Bushwhacker swing and if I didn't hit a Bushwhacker then hopefully at least the Lieutenant and another 1 drop or a piece of equipment and a Weapons Trainer.
Works great game 1, then opponent sideboards all the board wipes, and cheap removal, and games 2 & 3 don't usually go so well.
I think if you wanted to do that, you might as well just go RW non-Humans aggro, taking advantage of Toolcraft Exemplar and Bomat Courier and Smuggler's Copter. Those cards fit into a Bushwhacker all-or-nothing strategy better than Human synergy does.
I think if you're building RW Humans, you're already conceding that you're not building the optimal Bushwhacker deck, so you want to play a slower game that can break through defenses and disruption. Bushwhacker is still good later than turn 3. Gryff's Boon on Hanweir Garrison seems really good.
I'm open to other suggestions.
Splash Green and find a place to run 2x Arlinn Kord
Red offers not only Bushwhacker and Garrison, but also cheap tricks. The only drawback is if this is any better than just regular RW aggro with Dwarves instead?
I put one Boros, three Naya and one four-color list in the OP. I could get defensive about your comment about being the "one" to push red. But I'd rather add your list to the OP ahead of the lowly Seth Mansfield's publication.
Your deck seems more fully cooked where his seemed half-baked and I love me some Hanweir Garrison. I did find myself wanting Harnessed Lightning and Hanweir Battlements when I looked at your list. But Harnessed Lightning, surged Reckless Bushwhacker takes 4 mana. Your list seems built to win with only 3 mana and you can't really afford colorless sources. It's great to have more aggressive mages around to complement my midrange herp-derp.
Red offers not only Bushwhacker and Garrison, but also cheap tricks. The only drawback is if this is any better than just regular RW aggro with Dwarves instead?
I put one Boros, three Naya and one four-color list in the OP. I could get defensive about your comment about being the "one" to push red. But I'd rather add your list to the OP ahead of the lowly Seth Mansfield's publication.
Your deck seems more fully cooked where his seemed half-baked and I love me some Hanweir Garrison. I did find myself wanting Harnessed Lightning and Hanweir Battlements when I looked at your list. But Harnessed Lightning, surged Reckless Bushwhacker takes 4 mana. Your list seems built to win with only 3 mana and you can't really afford colorless sources. It's great to have more aggressive mages around to complement my midrange herp-derp.
Welcome to the thread!
The R/G may need some work and I'm sure it can be improved upon, but there is thought behind it and synergy to it. I may need to go 3 Oviya, 3 Stitcher's Craft to increase odds of 1 drop on turn one from 65/75 to 74/80. Potentially replace the Duskwatch Recruiter with a Lambholt Pacifist and/or Tireless Tracker with Emrakul's Evangel. Maybe add some Evolving Wilds then use 1 Ishkanah in place of 1 of the 2 Ulrich. Basically Turn 1 get out a creature or a Stitcher's Graft. Turn 2 hopefully a Voltaic Brawler if not, then your other 2 drop(right now Duskwatch Recruiter but I'm open to suggestions) or harnessed lightning an opponents creature or maybe settle for another 1 drop. Turn 3 you should be able to get or have a token generator onto the board. Nissa can either generate a token or if you have 2 creatures go ahead and put +1/+1 counters on them, not bad if it is Village Messenger and Voltaic Brawler but any 2 pretty much become immune from sweepers. If Oviya was out she can go ahead and create 1. The Graft can go from token to token or be placed on a creature the turn you want to emerge it unless Arlinn is out then you are giving that creature vigilance. Evolution can evolve a 2 drop into Mina and Denn who will give a creature trample each turn. If you have Mina and Denn out and Arlinn you can evolution a 3 drop into Ulrich who becomes a 10/10 Vigilance, Trample, Haste. In any event he greatly pumps any creature you have on the board up. A token can be equipped with Stitcher, then after combat if still on board evolved into a Voltaic Brawler which can then be equipped the next turn. Token generators create 3/4 different types of tokens so if multiple out opponent has to chose which ones to Declaration in Stone. If you go with Emrakul's Evangel it can turn 1/1 tokens into 3/2 tokens and I did place a couple in sideboard. I should probably add at least a couple of Aether Hubs since Mina & Denn can use that as the land that keeps getting bounced each turn which would keep generating energy to feed a brawler or Harnessed Lightning.
Red offers not only Bushwhacker and Garrison, but also cheap tricks. The only drawback is if this is any better than just regular RW aggro with Dwarves instead?
I put one Boros, three Naya and one four-color list in the OP. I could get defensive about your comment about being the "one" to push red. But I'd rather add your list to the OP ahead of the lowly Seth Mansfield's publication.
Your deck seems more fully cooked where his seemed half-baked and I love me some Hanweir Garrison. I did find myself wanting Harnessed Lightning and Hanweir Battlements when I looked at your list. But Harnessed Lightning, surged Reckless Bushwhacker takes 4 mana. Your list seems built to win with only 3 mana and you can't really afford colorless sources. It's great to have more aggressive mages around to complement my midrange herp-derp.
Welcome to the thread!
By "push" I meant promote and/or steer the discussion towards (since the OP no one had discussed the merits of a Boros list), not that I am the first person in the history of the universe to ever think of playing RW Humans. I did notice you mentioned it in the OP. You'll notice my comments on my decklist were a response to the list posted (which really just dips into red for Bushwhacker). I hope you don't feel too defensive / territorial about it.
Yeah, I opted for Galvanic Bombardment over Harnessed Lightning because I'm not using anything with energy and because the extra mana honestly might make a difference. And yeah, ideally I'd love to play Battlements, but a colorless source would force a higher land count, and I'm not sure that's what the deck wants. It's hard enough to build a consistent red-white manabase that can cast red spells early but can also play 2 white 1-drops on turn 2.
If you can think of a way to squeeze in Battlements without messing up the mana, I'd love to see it!
These electronic communications suck at conveying tone. No offense was meant or taken. I was pleased by your submission and delighted by its coherence.
The only way I can see to shoehorn in a Battlements would involve tap lands or an Aether Hub. Both of which would bring risk.
No worries, I completely misread your previous post, I was thinking you were saying that the R/G deck was half/baked. I know it needs improvement, but I thought half-baked was a little harsh. The 5 spot probably needs to be the Verdurous Gearhulk, but I think I was trying too hard to put a human in that spot.
I am running a w/g/r build and Hanweir Garrison is great with Talia's Lieutenant since it spits out human tokens. The Lieutenant and Herons' Grace Champion are fun with Panharmonicon. I also have Lone Rider as his abilities are relevant when pumped up with counters and Eldritch Evolution to dig out my single Odric to share the love with the team.
round 1 was vs a green red energy deck cloudblazer was amazing in this match up kept 1 for 1 trading till I got some bigger stuff out then dropped a cloudblazer and was able to get miles ahead game 2 i got gideon on turn 4 and won the game off gideon attacking and reflector mage
round 2 was vs blue white control he was using eldrazi displacer and reflector mage to keep my board clear i won game 1 on the back of a cloudblazer which he targetting for removal and i cast acrobatic on to draw 3 and gain 2 game 2 he won on the back of 2 blue gearhulks game 3 was a gideon game again had a pefect curve upto turn 4 dropped gideon and opponent scooped
round 3 was vs blue black zombies game 1 he had 3 relentless dead out and i declared them stoned he wasnt up to catch up after that game 2 i brought in gryffs boon ended up getting a flipped militia captain in the air smacking for alot of dmg
round 4 vs mono black eldrazi game 1 he was stuck on only 4 lands he did tks and harsh scrutiny to try and pick apart my hand but i was able to land a avacyn flip it and it won me the game game 2 was an always watching creature beat down thraben inspector etc he eventually cast a kalitias on turn 5 or 6 but i was able to reflector mage it and swing for the win on my turn
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Introduction
This is a generic Humans thread. This covers a range of decks. We don't want to have threads parasitizing each other, so I will defer to and strive to complement more specific threads as they occur.
Humans are aggressive tribal decks that win with synergistic combinations of small creatures. The decks range from more or less mono-white aggressive versions to more midrangy builds that splash for powerful cards in other colors. For example, there is a Naya version that is built around abusing Hanweir Garrison.
This deck is everything that I want to do in magic. It takes a pile of underpowered creatures and works them together to become powerful and explosive. At a local level, I cashed regularly with Bant Humans in DTK-SOI standard and Naya Humans in DTK-EMN through BFZ-AER standard. The most competitive Humans decks have been aggressive and used one to two colors.
This is not an established archetype in this format, so try this if:
History
In early DTK-SOI Standard White Weenie Humans was the de facto aggressive deck while achieving some notable successes. Later in the format a Bant version using Collected Company proved to be a more aggressive and beefier competitor to the non-tribal Bant Company decks.
With the advent of Eldritch Moon, the addition of Spell Queller and Selfless Spirit to the non-tribal Bant Company deck suggested that Bant Humans' glory days were over ... until BBD made it his Standard weapon of choice to smash his way to the World Championship! At less competitive levels there were some interesting Human additions from Eldritch Moon: Hanweir Garrison, Hamlet Captain and Heron's Grace Champion that challenged the manabase.
The arrival of Kaladesh coincides with the departure of many of the low drops that contributed to the aggressive nearly mono-white variants' results. Also rotating were Collected Company and Dromoka's Command, which fueled Bant Humans' success. There are additions with Kaladesh that pull the deck in interesting directions, notably Voltaic Brawler, Oviya Pashiri, Sage Lifecrafter and Cloudblazer.
On October 2 1986, Donovan Lachney piloted W/R Humans to a top 8 appearance in the Indianapolis SCG Open.
At Pro Tour Kaladesh, there were 12 Humans decks entered: 7 W/R, 3 W/G, 1 Mono-White and 1 Naya. Of those, 8 decks made Day 2 (third best conversion rate): 6 W/R, 1 Mono-White and 1 Naya. Five of the W/R decks had 6-7 standard wins: Fabrizio Campanino, Mattia De Colle, Guilherme Merjam, Jon Graham, Takaya Saito. If anybody knows about the contents and what happened to the remaining Human decks that made Day 2, please let me know.
That same weekend the following human decks made top 8 at SCG Regionals: Peter McKinney's Bant Humans, Brian Finlayson-Schueler's Bant Humans, Eric Butruce's W/R Humans, Brandon Nelson's W/R Humans, Nathan Farman's W/R Humans, Matthew Althiser's Bant Humans, Jordan McCutcheon's W/G Humans, Daniel Unger's W/R Humans
With the release of Amonkhet came many interesting Humans, notably Glory-Bound Initiate which pairs exquisitely with Always Watching. Zach Stern took them to fourth place in the first major tournament of the new format, SCCG Open Atlanta on April 30, 2017.
After Pro Tour Amonkhet, Craig Wescoe (who took RW Humans to the Pro Tour, if I recall correctly) proposed a set of decks to attack the Amonkhet metagame that included Mono-White and Bant Humans. Our own patbou has been experiencing some success with the Mono-W list. At an FNM level, I have taken RW Humans to some success, but it feels more lucky than good. Between our members' experience and my own, I wouldn't recommend RW Humans for a PPTQ or GP.
Decklists
Amonkhet
Taken from Craig Wescoe's article on Star City Games here
4 Expedition Envoy
4 Thraben Inspector
4 Town Gossipmonger
4 Glory-Bound Initiate
4 Gust Walker
4 Selfless Spirit
4 Thalia's Lieutenant
15 Plains
4 Sandstone Bridge
Spells (13)
4 Gryff's Boon
4 Heart of Kiran
4 Always Watching
1 Stitcher's Graft
3 Walking Ballista
2 Fragmentize
4 Declaration in Stone
2 Repel the Abominable
2 Fairgrounds Warden
2 Gideon of the Trials
Taken from Craig Wescoe's article on Star City Games here
4 Thraben Inspector
4 Channeler Initiate
4 Glory-Bound Initiate
4 Thalia's Lieutenant
4 Rogue Refiner
4 Tireless Tracker
Lands
4 Aether Hub
4 Botanical Sanctum
4 Fortified Village
3 Lumbering Falls
8 Plains
3 Gryff's Boon
2 Declaration in Stone
4 Negate
2 Metallic Rebuke
2 Always Watching
2 Ceremonious Rejection
1 Gryff's Boon
1 Natural State
2 Declaration in Stone
1 Natural Obsolescence
1 Rishkar, Peema Renegade
2 Gideon, Ally of Zendikar
2 Heron's Grace Champion
2 Sigarda, Heron's Grace
1 Lumbering Falls
4 Thraben Inspector
3 Town Gossipmonger
4 Glory-Bound Initiate
1 Hanweir Militia Captain
4 Honored Crop-Captain
4 Thalia's Lieutenant
4 Hanweir Garrison
3 Glorybringer
4 Always Watching
4 Cast Out
Land
1 Hanweir Battlements
4 Inspiring Vantage
6 Mountain
4 Needle Spires
9 Plains
1 Stone Quarry
1 Release the Gremlins
2 Declaration in Stone
3 Selfless Spirit
2 Bygone Bishop
2 Dusk // Dawn
2 Gideon, Ally of Zendikar
1 Nahiri, the Harbinger
2 Archangel Avacyn
Taken from Todd Steven's article on Star City Games here
4 Expedition Envoy
4 Thraben Inspector
4 Town Gossipmonger
4 Hanweir Militia Captain
4 Thalia's Lieutenant
3 Thalia, Heretic Cathar
22 Plains
Spells (15)
3 Fleetwheel Cruiser
4 Smuggler's Copter
4 Always Watching
4 Declaration in Stone
4 Aerial responder
2 Bygone Bishop
3 Repel the Abominable
3 Gideon, Ally of Zendikar
3 Fragmentize
4 Expedition Envoy
4 Thraben Inspector
4 Thraben Standard Bearer
4 Town Gossipmonger
4 Hanweir Militia Captain
4 Steadfast Cathar
4 Thalia's Lieutenant
2 Thalia, Heretic Cathar
3 Gryff's Boon
4 Declaration in Stone
4 Always Watching
Lands
19 Plains
3 Fragmentize
3 Repel the Abominable
3 Eerie Interlude
3 Collective Effort
3 Stasis Snare
4 Thraben Inspector
4 Hanweir Militia Captain
4 Thalia's Lieutenant
4 Reflector Mage
3 Thalia, Heretic Cathar
1 Angel of Invention
3 Archangel Avacyn
2 Cloudblazer
2 Gideon, Ally of Zendikar
Spells
4 Declaration in Stone
4 Always Watching
2 Acrobatic Maneuver
Land
4 Port Town
4 Prairie Stream
2 Meandering River
1 Westvale Abbey
12 Plains
2 Negate
2 Revolutionary Rebuff
2 Dispel
2 Fragmentize
2 Planar Outburst
3 Stasis Snare
2 Gryff's Boon
4 Hanweir Garrison
4 Inventor's Apprentice
4 Thalia's Lieutenant
4 Thraben Inspector
3 Pia Nalaar
2 Thalia, Heretic Cathar
Planeswalkers (2)
2 Gideon, Ally of Zendikar
Lands (23)
5 Mountain
5 Plains
4 Aether Hub
1 Hanweir Battlements
4 Inspiring Vantage
4 Needle Spires
2 Fleetwheel Cruiser
4 Smuggler's Copter
4 Harnessed Lightning
4 Declaration in Stone
2 Selfless Spirit
2 Always Watching
1 Stasis Snare
2 Blessed Alliance
2 Repel the Abominable
1 Ride Down
1 Savage Alliance
1 Skywhaler's Shot
2 Chandra, Torch of Defiance
1 Fragmentize
4 Expedition Envoy
4 Thraben Inspector
4 Town Gossipmonger
4 Thalia's Lieutenant
4 Hanweir Militia Captain
4 Hanweir Garrison
4 Reckless Bushwhacker
4 Galvanic Bombardment
2 Gryff's Boon
2 Declaration in Stone
4 Always Watching
//Lands: 20
4 Needle Spires
4 Inspiring Vantage
2 Mountain
10 Plains
4 Selfless Spirit
3 Thalia, Heretic Cathar
3 Fragmentize
2 Declaration in Stone
3 Rush of Adrenaline
4 Hanweir Garrison
4 Inventor's Apprentice
1 Pia Nalaar
3 Thalia, Heretic Cathar
4 Thalia's Lieutenant
4 Thraben Inspector
4 Town Gossipmonger
Planeswalker
2 Gideon, Ally of Zendikar
Spell
3 Always Watching
1 Fleetwheel Cruiser
4 Smuggler's Copter
2 Stitcher's Graft
4 Aether Hub
2 Hanweir Battlements
4 Inspiring Vantage
4 Mountain
4 Needle Spires
6 Plains
1 Avacyn's Judgment
1 Collective Effort
1 Declaration in Stone
1 Fairgrounds Warden
1 Fleetwheel Cruiser
1 Gideon, Ally of Zendikar
2 Gryff's Boon
2 Hanweir Militia Captain
1 Incendiary Flow
1 Ride Down
1 Skywhaler's Shot
2 Stasis Snare
Taken from Todd Steven's article on Star City Games here
4 Thraben Inspector
4 Expedition Envoy
4 Lambholt Pacifist
4 Town Gossipmonger
4 Thalia's Lieutenant
3 Thalia, Heretic Cathar
2 Verdurous Gearhulk
4 Always Watching
4 Blossoming Defense
4 Declaration in Stone
Land (23)
4 Fortified Village
4 Canopy Vista
3 Forest
9 Plains
3 Tranquil Expanse
3 Fragmentize
2 Tireless Tracker
3 Repel the Abominable
3 Gideon, Ally of Zendikar
4 Heron's Grace Champion
2 Thraben Inspector
4 Oviya Pashiri, Sage Lifecrafter
3 Duskwatch Recruiter
3 Deathcap Cultivator
2 Hamlet Captain
4 Thalia's Lieutenant
4 Tireless Tracker
2 Heron's Grace Champion
2 Gideon, Ally of Zendikar
2 Nissa, Voice of Zendikar
Instants (8)
4 Blossoming Defense
4 Collective Effort
Land (22)
4 Fortified Village
4 Canopy Vista
8 Forest
6 Plains
4 Selfless Spirit
4 Declaration in Stone
3 Take Down
2 Thraben Inspector
2 Veteran Cathar
4 Village Messenger
2 Oviya Pashiri, Sage Lifecrafter
4 Voltaic Brawler
4 Duskwatch Recruiter
3 Tireless Tracker
3 Hanweir Garrison
2 Ulrich of the Krallenhorde
Non Humans
1 Mina and Denn, Wildborn
2 Nissa, Voice of Zendikar
2 Arlinn Kord
4 Harnessed Lightning
2 Blossoming Defense
Sorceries
3 Eldritch Evolution
Equipment
2 Stitcher's Graft
Land
4 Game Trail
4 Cinder Glade
7 Mountain
7 Forest
2 Pia Nalaar
2 Emrakul's Evangel
4 Collective Defiance
3 Kozilek's Return
3 Appetite for the Unnatural
Taken from Todd Steven's article on Star City Games here
3 Verdurous Gearhulk
1 Heron's Grace Champion
4 Lambholt Pacifist
3 Reflector Mage
4 Thalia's Lieutenant
3 Thraben Inspector
4 Tireless Tracker
1 Thalia, Heretic Cathar
Planeswalkers (4)
4 Tamiyo, Field Researcher
3 Forest
1 Island
6 Plains
4 Aether Hub
4 Botanical Sanctum
2 Canopy Vista
4 Evolving Wilds
2 Prairie Stream
Spells (7)
4 Smuggler's Copter
3 Declaration in Stone
3 Heron's Grace Champion
1 Quarantine Field
1 Appetite for the Unnatural
3 Ceremonious Rejection
2 Negate
1 Summary Dismissal
2 Nissa, Vital Force
2 Fragmentize
6 Plains
4 Fortified Village
4 Port Town
1 Canopy Vista
2 Forest
1 Prairie Stream
2 Lumbering Falls
4 Botanical Sanctum
4 Thraben Inspector
4 Town Gossipmonger // Incited Rabble
2 Oviya Pashiri, Sage Lifecrafter
4 Lambholt Pacifist // Lambholt Butcher
4 Thalia's Lieutenant
2 Thalia, Heretic Cathar
4 Reflector Mage
4 Declaration in Stone
4 Always Watching
2 Tamiyo, Field Researcher
2 Gideon, Ally of Zendikar
4 Grim Flayer
2 Hamlet Captain
4 Heron's Grace Champion
3 Thalia, Heretic Cathar
4 Thalia's Lieutenant
3 Tireless Tracker
4 Town Gossipmonger
Planeswalkers
4 Liliana, the Last Hope
Spells
1 Anguished Unmaking
4 Grasp of Darkness
2 Harsh Scrutiny
2 Aether Hub
4 Blooming Marsh
4 Concealed Courtyard
4 Evolving Wilds
2 Forest
3 Hissing Quagmire
2 Plains
3 Shambling Vent
1 Swamp
2 Anguished Unmaking
2 Declaration in Stone
1 Gideon, Ally of Zendikar
2 Grapple with the Past
1 Lost Legacy
1 Nissa, Vital Force
2 Ruinous Path
4 Transgress the Mind
4 Hanweir Garrison
2 Kambal, Consul of Allocation
2 Thalia, Heretic Cathar
4 Thalia's Lieutenant
4 Thraben Inspector
4 Town Gossipmonger
Planeswalker
4 Gideon, Ally of Zendikar
Spell
1 Always Watching
1 Gryff's Boon
4 Smuggler's Copter
1 Stitcher's Graft
4 Unlicensed Disintegration
4 Concealed Courtyard
4 Evolving Wilds
1 Hanweir Battlements
4 Inspiring Vantage
1 Mountain
3 Needle Spires
4 Plains
3 Shambling Vent
1 Swamp
4 Anguished Unmaking
2 Archangel Avacyn
2 Gryff's Boon
3 Stasis Snare
4 Transgress the Mind
3 Duskwatch Recruiter
2 Hamlet Captain
1 Hanweir Militia Captain
4 Thalia's Lieutenant
4 Voltaic Brawler
4 Hanweir Garrison
2 Thalia, Heretic Cathar
3 Tireless Tracker
2 Heron's Grace Champion
1 Archangel Avacyn
1 Sigarda, Heron's Grace
4 Harnessed Lightning
4 Smuggler's Copter
Lands 25 16W14G14R
4 Canopy Vista
4 Cinder Glade
4 Evolving Wilds
2 Forest
1 Hanweir Battlements
4 Inspiring Vantage
2 Mountain
4 Plains
1 Dragonmaster Outcast
1 Blessed Alliance
1 Hanweir Militia Captain
1 Repel the Abominable
1 Collective Effort
1 Eerie Interlude
2 Stasis Snare
1 Tireless Tracker
1 Arlinn Kord
2 Gideon, Ally of Zendikar
1 Heron's Grace Champion
1 Archangel Avacyn
1 Sigarda, Heron's Grace
This tested about even with BW Angels and RU Fevered Visions, but folded hard to R/x Copter Madness. Maybe we should all be helping Nevelo brew that ... On the other hand, Harnessed Lightning is much better against Copters than Declaration in Stone, so I would start there. Kill the Copter in response to the piloting so they can't get the attacking loot unless you want to ambush a creature that needs the artifact bonus.
4 Thraben Inspector
1 Hanweir Militia Captain
3 Hamlet Captain
4 Duskwatch Recruiter
4 Thalia's Lieutenant
3 Thalia, Heretic Cathar
3 Tireless Tracker
4 Hanweir Garrison
2 Heron's Grace Champion
Spells (9)
3 Ride Down
4 Declaration in Stone
2 Arlinn Kord
1 Mountain
2 Forest
2 Hanweir Battlements
2 Plains
4 Cinder Glade
4 Evolving Wilds
4 Fortified Village
4 Inspiring Vantage
3 Fragmentize
2 Lambholt Pacifist
3 Clip Wings
1 Collective Effort
3 Radiant Flames
1 Heron's Grace Champion
2 Archangel Avacyn
This is a first draft of another way to go with big finishers
2 Thraben Inspector
4 Voltaic Brawler
4 Thalia's Lieutenant
2 Duskwatch Recruiter
4 Hanweir Garrison
3 Tireless Tracker
3 Thalia, Heretic Cathar
3 Gisela, the Broken Blade
2 Heron's Grace Champion
1 Sigarda, Heron's Grace
1 Bruna, the Fading Light
4 Harnessed Lightning
2 Declaration in Stone
Lands (25)
2 Canopy Vista
4 Evolving Wilds
2 Forest
3 Fortified Village
2 Mountain
3 Plains
3 Cinder Glade
4 Inspiring Vantage
1 Hanweir Battlements
1 Aether Hub
1 Thalia's Lancers
1 Nahiri, the Harbinger
2 Chandra, Torch of Defiance
3 Gideon, Ally of Zendikar
3 Radiant Flames
3 Lambholt Pacifist
1 Nissa, Vital Force
1 Chandra, Flamecaller
4 Duskwatch Recruiter
3 Hamlet Captain
1 Hanweir Militia Captain
4 Thalia's Lieutenant
4 Voltaic Brawler
4 Hanweir Garrison
2 Thalia, Heretic Cathar
4 Tireless Tracker
3 Heron's Grace Champion
1 Archangel Avacyn
1 Sigarda, Heron's Grace
4 Harnessed Lightning
Lands 25 16W14G14R
4 Canopy Vista
4 Cinder Glade
4 Evolving Wilds
2 Forest
1 Hanweir Battlements
4 Inspiring Vantage
2 Mountain
4 Plains
1 Dragonmaster Outcast
1 Hanweir Militia Captain
2 Eerie Interlude
1 Smuggler's Copter
2 Collective Effort
2 Stasis Snare
1 Arlinn Kord
2 Gideon, Ally of Zendikar
1 Heron's Grace Champion
1 Archangel Avacyn
1 Sigarda, Heron's Grace
4 Aether Hub
3 Canopy Vista
3 Cinder Glade
3 Prairie Stream
3 Evolving Wilds
3 Forest
3 Plains
1 Island
1 Mountain
Creatures (25)
4 Thraben Inspector
3 Duskwatch Recruiter
2 Hamlet Captain
4 Thalia's Lieutenant
4 Hanweir Garrison
2 Reflector Mage
4 Tireless Tracker
2 Heron's Grace Champion
3 Attune with Aether
4 Harnessed Lightning
2 Tamiyo, Field Researcher
1 Gideon, Ally of Zendikar
1 Declaration in Stone
3 Thalia, Heretic Cathar
2 Sigarda, Heron's Grace
3 Blossoming Defense
3 Fragmentize
1 Skywhaler's Shot
1 Always Watching
1 Ulvenwald Mysteries
1 Hanweir Battlements
Cards
Core cards are bolded. Core cards only apply to decks with the required mana.
1 Drop
Dragonmaster Outcast: Pro - human, powerful in a board stall; Con - slow, fragile. Sideboard option against decks without much removal
Thraben Inspector: Pro - cheap, card advantage, decent flicker target; Con - not impactful in a board stall.
Town Gossipmonger: Pro - Human, aggressive power; Con - needs other early creatures for maximal effectiveness. Probably better in more aggressive builds. Worth testing.
2 Drop
Duskwatch Recruiter: Pro - card advantage, ; Con - expensive card advantage, no human benefits when flipped. Best against control decks for card advantage, but mana savings when flipped can be quite nice.
Hamlet Captain: Pro - conditional anthem; Con - doesn't buff self, just a bear without other creatures. Recommendation: This thing doesn't look like much, but it increases damage amazingly. Run 4
Hanweir Militia Captain: Pro - When flipped, it gets huge and spawns creatures that trigger Thalia's Lieutenant; Con - when do we get ahead enough to flip it? conditional. Good in board stalls, recommend at least 2 in 75, but main or side?
Lambholt Pacifist: Pro - big, wears a counter really well; Con - sometimes can't attack, no human benefits when flipped.
Lone Rider: Pro - Big if flipped; Con - large setup cost means making your build more combo-ish.
Reckless Bushwhacker: Pro - anthem effect with a body; Con - not a human, not good without a board and another cheap spell. Strong for aggressive builds. Don't forget the leather jacket.
Selfless Spirit: Pro - good protection from R-based sweepers; Con - no human synergy, dies to Liliana.
Thalia's Lieutenant: Pro - gets huge, buffs other humans; Con - can just die to Liliana +. Run 4
3 Drop
Eldrazi Displacer: Pro - able to interact positively against Spell Queller, reset blockers, blow up tokens, knock counters off creatures, get ETB effects on demand; Con - mana-intensive, no human synergies, requires colorless mana, just a cheap hill giant without targets.
Hanweir Garrison: Pro - conditionally powerful, late game can meld for fun and massive damage; Con - forces R (seriously, if you don't value this card, don't run R and have much better mana). Run 4 if you are running R
Reflector Mage: Pro - Tremendous tempo swing; Con - mediocre body, not good against noncreature decks. Run 4 if you are running U.
Thalia, Heretic Cathar: Pro - good against multicolor and creature decks; Con - dies easily. run 1-2
Tireless Tracker: Pro - card advantage!, can get huge; Con - dies easily, best as a 4-drop. run 3-4 if you are more midrangy and can support G
4 Drop
Heron's Grace Champion: Pro - instant speed anthem can tilt combat math, lifelink can swing races, lifelink body continues to affect races; Con - body is not huge for the cost.
5 Drop
Archangel Avacyn: Pro - flash, team indestructibility on ETB; Con - can wrath our own board.
Cloudblazer: Pro - Oh my deity, the value! Draw cards, evasive body, lifegain; Con - 5 drop, not much board presence when you are behind.
Reality Smasher: Pro - a sudden, hard to remove beating; Con - not human, needs colorless, expensive. Sideboard option for slower builds that can support colorless.
Sigarda, Heron's Grace: Pro - hard to kill, can prevent discard burn and Mindslaver-like effects, evasive, makes Humans, which trigger Lieutenant; Con - expensive.
Blossoming Defense: Any combination of blow out your removal spell, buff my guy to win combat or escape damage based sweeper for a single G? Seems good.
Fragmentize: Kaladesh filling you with the desire to do some disinventing?
Gryff's Boon: Pro - cheap evasion that can recur, good for getting in those last few points of damage; Con - expensive replay from the bin is prone to being blown out.
Rush of Adrenaline: Pro - Nice combat trick that allows a surged Bushwhacker with 3 mana; Con - One toughness may not be enough.
Renegade Tactics: Pro - cantrip, can allow a safe swing against a single relevant blocker, to blow it out opponent needs to kill their own creature or use up a spell of their own; Con - Doesn't do much against multiple blockers.
Declaration in Stone: Pro - can deal with Kalitas and other big creatures efficiently; Con - card disadvantage. Recommend at least 1 in the 75.
Always Watching: Pro - another anthem; Con - doesn't help Garrison tokens. Consider for builds that support WW.
Eerie Interlude: Pro - potential sweeper protection; Con - expensive, heavily conditional.
Stasis Snare: Pro - Unconditional removal that even hits Emrakul; Con - expensive, mana intensive, creature comes back if removed, can lead to blowouts if removed at instant speed.
Arlinn Kord: Pro - many helpful abilities; Con - slow, not human.
Gideon, Ally of Zendikar: Pro - a real beating, often leaves a token even when removed, can be a permanent anthem; Con - sometimes hard to protect, not very synergistic, hard to cast. Strong sideboard option against control.
Tamiyo, Field Researcher: Pro - powerful, can lead to card advantage or tempo swings;Con - 3 colors, may just be a speed bump when we're behind.
Hanweir Battlements: Pro - colorless source, giving haste is great, can meld with Hanweir Garrison; Con - doesn't help fixing. 1-2 recommended if you are using R
Westvale Abbey: Pro - colorless source, can make more humans, Ormandahl; Con - doesn't help fixing, benefits are slow and conditional.
Sideboarding
This is just a list of cards that are recommended (or not) in particular matchups. Without knowing your exact deck, I can't recommend numbers
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.
Considering the set of Evolving Wilds, maybe you can even reduce the land count to 22...
Of course, you would splash blue only for Reflector Mage, but that card already proved it's value in the past.
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.
2x Thraben Inspector
4x Oviya Pashiri, Sage Lifecrafter
3x Duskwatch Recruiter
3x Deathcap Cultivator
2x Hamlet Captain
4x Thalia's Lieutenant
4x Tireless Tracker
2x Heron's Grace Champion
2x Gideon, Ally of Zendikar
2x Nissa, Voice of Zendikar
Instants (8)
4x Blossoming Defense
4x Collective Effort
Land (22)
4x Fortified Village
4x Canopy Vista
8x Forest
6x Plains
4x Selfless Spirit
4x Declaration in Stone
3x Take Down
2x Thraben Inspector
2x Veteran Cathar
I decided on Selesnya or Dromoka
Excellent! I didn't have an example. I hope you don't mind if I throw your list right into the primer. If you object, I'll remove it. I like the list a lot, particularly the way Lieutenant, Nissa or Gideon help protect the Cultivator from Liliana. 4 Oviya seems interesting, given that she's legendary.
I'll be doing some testing tomorrow, so hopefully I will have something useful to report.
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 Hanweir Militia Captain
4 Thalia's Lieutenant
4 Reflector Mage
3 Thalia, Heretic Cathar
3 Archangel Avacyn
2 Gideon, Ally of Zendikar
1 Angel of Invention
4 Declaration in Stone
4 Always Watching
2 Acrobatic Maneuver
4 Prairie Stream
2 Meandering River
1 Westvale Abbey
12 Plains
This is my list im taking to standard on saturday. Dont know were to go with sideboards. 18 cards with ETB triggers. Acrobatic Maneuver with reflector mage / angel of intention / avacyn is just so juicy helps get around spot removal gone for a more mid range tempo build. I want to fit stasis snare in here but im not sure where it goes
86% chance to draw a blue source by turn 3
91% chance to draw a blue source by turn 5
I think the mana base is ok for the blue splash
Collective Effort
Selfless Spirit
Stasis Snare
Spell Queller
Fragmentize
Fragmentize definitely time to look through my pre-release kits
In other news, I took the Naya list from the OP to a Kaladesh standard proxy testing session with the following results:
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 Revolutionary Rebuff
2 Dispel
2 Fragmentize
2 Planar Outburst
3 Stasis Snare
2 Gryff's Boon
Is currently the 15 cards I have laid out infront of me for the sideboard
Dispels are prolly a game 3 style of sideboard card
Negate and Revolutionary Rebuff vs Jund Walkers
Planar Ourburst vs the mirror or other mid range creature decks
Stasis Snare seems better vs other gideon decks and avacyn style decks
Fragmentize vs the inevitable artifact deck that someone will turn up with
Gryff's Boon against decks that clog up the ground eg green red energy style decks / sylvan advocate etc
I am adding your list to the primer as I continue cleaning up and making it less Naya-centric. Please let me know if you want it removed.
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.
4x Village Messenger
2x Oviya Pashiri, Sage Lifecrafter
4x Voltaic Brawler
4x Duskwatch Recruiter
2x Tireless Tracker
4x Hanweir Garrison
2x Ulrich of the Krallenhorde
Non Humans
1x Mina and Denn, Wildborn
2x Nissa, Voice of Zendikar
2x Arlinn Kord
4x Harnessed Lightning
2x Blossoming Defense
Sorceries
3x Eldritch Evolution
Equipment
2x Stitcher's Graft
Land
4x Game Trail
4x Cinder Glade
7x Mountain
7x Forest
2x Pia Nalaar
2x Emrakul's Evangel
4x Collective Defiance
3x Kozilek's Return
3x Appetite for the Unnatural
So basically look to get Stitcher's Graft onto tokens or low mana cost creatures one last time before they are evolved.
4 Expedition Envoy
4 Thraben Inspector
4 Town Gossipmonger
4 Thalia's Lieutenant
4 Hanweir Militia Captain
4 Hanweir Garrison
4 Reckless Bushwhacker
4 Galvanic Bombardment
2 Gryff's Boon
2 Declaration in Stone
4 Always Watching
//Lands: 20
4 Needle Spires
4 Inspiring Vantage
2 Mountain
10 Plains
4 Selfless Spirit
3 Thalia, Heretic Cathar
3 Fragmentize
2 Declaration in Stone
3 Rush of Adrenaline
Red offers not only Bushwhacker and Garrison, but also cheap tricks. The only drawback is if this is any better than just regular RW aggro with Dwarves instead?
This is much better than what I would have done
Reckless Bushwhacker always goads me into building the deck around him and coming up with something like 4x Bomat Courier Village Messenger Expedition Envoy Inventor's Apprentice Reckless Bushwhacker Bone Saw Thalia's Lieutenant at least 2 of Weapons Trainer another piece of equipment like Stoneforge Masterwork then finish off with 2 or 3 of Hanweir Garrison and maybe some 1 drop pump spells if I can make room. My goal is to try and get 3 creatures on the board turns 1&2 and get as much damage from them as possible, then on turn 3 drop another 1 drop creature and the Bushwhacker or Bone Saw Bushwhacker swing and if I didn't hit a Bushwhacker then hopefully at least the Lieutenant and another 1 drop or a piece of equipment and a Weapons Trainer.
Works great game 1, then opponent sideboards all the board wipes, and cheap removal, and games 2 & 3 don't usually go so well.
edit: Although something that might work is if you can find 25 cards that fit into your deck and one like I am tempted to build, then you use the sideboard to transform back and forth between the two.
4 Thraben Inspector
3 Hamlet Captain
4 Duskwatch Recruiter
4 Thalia's Lieutenant
2 Tireless Tracker
3 Thalia, Heretic Cathar
4 Hanweir Garrison
2 Heron's Grace Champion
Spells (9)
3 Ride Down
4 Declaration in Stone
2 Arlinn Kord
1 Mountain
2 Hanweir Battlements
3 Forest
3 Plains
4 Cinder Glade
4 Evolving Wilds
4 Fortified Village
4 Inspiring Vantage
3 Fragmentize
2 Lambholt Pacifist
3 Clip Wings
1 Collective Effort
3 Radiant Flames
1 Heron's Grace Champion
2 Archangel Avacyn
Modern: R Skred -- WBG Melira Co -- URW Nahiri Control
Legacy: R Mono Red Burn -- UWB Stoneblade
Commander: R Krenko, Mob Boss -- WUBRG Scion of the Ur-Dragon -- WUBRG Maze’s End
Other: R No Rares Red (Standard) -- URC Izzet Tron (Pauper)
I think if you wanted to do that, you might as well just go RW non-Humans aggro, taking advantage of Toolcraft Exemplar and Bomat Courier and Smuggler's Copter. Those cards fit into a Bushwhacker all-or-nothing strategy better than Human synergy does.
I think if you're building RW Humans, you're already conceding that you're not building the optimal Bushwhacker deck, so you want to play a slower game that can break through defenses and disruption. Bushwhacker is still good later than turn 3. Gryff's Boon on Hanweir Garrison seems really good.
I'm open to other suggestions.
Splash Green and find a place to run 2x Arlinn Kord
Your deck seems more fully cooked where his seemed half-baked and I love me some Hanweir Garrison. I did find myself wanting Harnessed Lightning and Hanweir Battlements when I looked at your list. But Harnessed Lightning, surged Reckless Bushwhacker takes 4 mana. Your list seems built to win with only 3 mana and you can't really afford colorless sources. It's great to have more aggressive mages around to complement my midrange herp-derp.
Welcome to the thread!
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.
The R/G may need some work and I'm sure it can be improved upon, but there is thought behind it and synergy to it. I may need to go 3 Oviya, 3 Stitcher's Craft to increase odds of 1 drop on turn one from 65/75 to 74/80. Potentially replace the Duskwatch Recruiter with a Lambholt Pacifist and/or Tireless Tracker with Emrakul's Evangel. Maybe add some Evolving Wilds then use 1 Ishkanah in place of 1 of the 2 Ulrich. Basically Turn 1 get out a creature or a Stitcher's Graft. Turn 2 hopefully a Voltaic Brawler if not, then your other 2 drop(right now Duskwatch Recruiter but I'm open to suggestions) or harnessed lightning an opponents creature or maybe settle for another 1 drop. Turn 3 you should be able to get or have a token generator onto the board. Nissa can either generate a token or if you have 2 creatures go ahead and put +1/+1 counters on them, not bad if it is Village Messenger and Voltaic Brawler but any 2 pretty much become immune from sweepers. If Oviya was out she can go ahead and create 1. The Graft can go from token to token or be placed on a creature the turn you want to emerge it unless Arlinn is out then you are giving that creature vigilance. Evolution can evolve a 2 drop into Mina and Denn who will give a creature trample each turn. If you have Mina and Denn out and Arlinn you can evolution a 3 drop into Ulrich who becomes a 10/10 Vigilance, Trample, Haste. In any event he greatly pumps any creature you have on the board up. A token can be equipped with Stitcher, then after combat if still on board evolved into a Voltaic Brawler which can then be equipped the next turn. Token generators create 3/4 different types of tokens so if multiple out opponent has to chose which ones to Declaration in Stone. If you go with Emrakul's Evangel it can turn 1/1 tokens into 3/2 tokens and I did place a couple in sideboard. I should probably add at least a couple of Aether Hubs since Mina & Denn can use that as the land that keeps getting bounced each turn which would keep generating energy to feed a brawler or Harnessed Lightning.
By "push" I meant promote and/or steer the discussion towards (since the OP no one had discussed the merits of a Boros list), not that I am the first person in the history of the universe to ever think of playing RW Humans. I did notice you mentioned it in the OP. You'll notice my comments on my decklist were a response to the list posted (which really just dips into red for Bushwhacker). I hope you don't feel too defensive / territorial about it.
Yeah, I opted for Galvanic Bombardment over Harnessed Lightning because I'm not using anything with energy and because the extra mana honestly might make a difference. And yeah, ideally I'd love to play Battlements, but a colorless source would force a higher land count, and I'm not sure that's what the deck wants. It's hard enough to build a consistent red-white manabase that can cast red spells early but can also play 2 white 1-drops on turn 2.
If you can think of a way to squeeze in Battlements without messing up the mana, I'd love to see it!
The only way I can see to shoehorn in a Battlements would involve tap lands or an Aether Hub. Both of which would bring risk.
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.
round 1 was vs a green red energy deck cloudblazer was amazing in this match up kept 1 for 1 trading till I got some bigger stuff out then dropped a cloudblazer and was able to get miles ahead game 2 i got gideon on turn 4 and won the game off gideon attacking and reflector mage
round 2 was vs blue white control he was using eldrazi displacer and reflector mage to keep my board clear i won game 1 on the back of a cloudblazer which he targetting for removal and i cast acrobatic on to draw 3 and gain 2 game 2 he won on the back of 2 blue gearhulks game 3 was a gideon game again had a pefect curve upto turn 4 dropped gideon and opponent scooped
round 3 was vs blue black zombies game 1 he had 3 relentless dead out and i declared them stoned he wasnt up to catch up after that game 2 i brought in gryffs boon ended up getting a flipped militia captain in the air smacking for alot of dmg
round 4 vs mono black eldrazi game 1 he was stuck on only 4 lands he did tks and harsh scrutiny to try and pick apart my hand but i was able to land a avacyn flip it and it won me the game game 2 was an always watching creature beat down thraben inspector etc he eventually cast a kalitias on turn 5 or 6 but i was able to reflector mage it and swing for the win on my turn