All budget discussion regarding U/W Humans go in this thread. Budget (this means all kinds of card availability-issues) discussion elsewhere in this subforum is not allowed.
I'm a bit confused about the current popular UW Humans lists. I was brainstorming a list before I came here (and realized that there is already this thread in Standard Competitive). The lists that I see are a good bit different from the one that I brainstormed. So, maybe I just have no good grasp on the metagame (which is very possible, as I haven't played Standard since the rotation), but it would seem to me that the following list would seem rather effective. I have been paying some attention to the Standard meta, in seeing a good amount of BR Vamps, Wold-Run, and Solar Flare, but not nearly as much as I had been before. Well, here's my list that I will be playtesting:
The deck is to work as a tempo-control essentially. I'm not sure if I should really have to explain a good amount of it. The Alabaster Mages give it reach if it needs it, the Stalkers and Delvers give it the fast aggro, with evasion, to put the opponent on a clock. The rest of the deck is designed to limit the opponent's ability to deal with the clock. Note that the Delver still counts as a human even after it transforms.
I can see a few different ways that a sideboard could be created for it. I really like Gideon's Lawkeeper, Flashfreeze, and Celestial Purge in the side, but as always, that really depends on how the deck plays.
I know that this is the budget forum, which is why I specifically posted this here, but I am inclined to think that this could be a competitive deck, despite the budget price (aside from Snapcasters and Seachrome Coast].
I'm a bit confused about the current popular UW Humans lists. I was brainstorming a list before I came here (and realized that there is already this thread in Standard Competitive). The lists that I see are a good bit different from the one that I brainstormed. So, maybe I just have no good grasp on the metagame (which is very possible, as I haven't played Standard since the rotation), but it would seem to me that the following list would seem rather effective. I have been paying some attention to the Standard meta, in seeing a good amount of BR Vamps, Wold-Run, and Solar Flare, but not nearly as much as I had been before. Well, here's my list that I will be playtesting:
The deck is to work as a tempo-control essentially. I'm not sure if I should really have to explain a good amount of it. The Alabaster Mages give it reach if it needs it, the Stalkers and Delvers give it the fast aggro, with evasion, to put the opponent on a clock. The rest of the deck is designed to limit the opponent's ability to deal with the clock. Note that the Delver still counts as a human even after it transforms.
I can see a few different ways that a sideboard could be created for it. I really like Gideon's Lawkeeper, Flashfreeze, and Celestial Purge in the side, but as always, that really depends on how the deck plays.
I know that this is the budget forum, which is why I specifically posted this here, but I am inclined to think that this could be a competitive deck, despite the budget price (aside from Snapcasters and Seachrome Coast].
Invisible Stalker is weak, a very slow clock and he doesn't really get there.
Snapcaster Mage requires you to play too many instants/sorceries for an aggro deck. You want to be playing threats every turn, not poking around in your library looking for them.
Delver of Secrets is okay, but not great. Transforming him is unreliable, if a little bit better with Ponder, but the more creatures you run the worse he gets, and this is a deck that should be running creatures. Delver works better in UR aggro, where those instants and sorceries can deal damage as well. In UW, you either have to play fewer threats to make him effective, or play more threats and make him worse and worse.
Azure Mage wants you to have a lot more mana to burn than an aggro deck should be producing. The card draw isn't worth it.
Alabaster Mage is only okay. His ability needs to eat mana (mana that you should probably be using to play threats, not temporarily get some life gain from your creatures) and the 1-toughness is a problem in a format where Geistflame and Arc Trail are seeing play.
Silver-Inlaid Dagger isn't the worst, but it isn't the best either. You don't have many good creatures to attach it to.
Your deck doesn't run really any creatures that are a win condition on their own. Mirran Crusader and/or Hero of Bladehold should be central in any Humans list since they are powerful enough to take over the game. Champion of the Parish should almost certainly make an appearance.
Finally, I think that any budget build of UW Humans should probably use Wizards' Hold the Line Event Deck as a guide/starting point. It has one-or-two-ofs of a lot of the most important cards in the deck (like Champion of the Parish, Honor of the Pure, and Mirran Crusader) and uses a similar strategy, despite being Mono-W.
UW Humans is an aggro deck at heart, not a control deck, which I think is why your list turned out so differently.
I think you meant to say, "Current UW Human builds are built as aggro decks at heart, ..."
Quote from mel »
Snapcaster Mage requires you to play too many instants/sorceries for an aggro deck. You want to be playing threats every turn, not poking around in your library looking for them.
Again, my list was built as a tempo control deck, not aggro.
Quote from mel »
Invisible Stalker is weak, a very slow clock and he doesn't really get there.
He is a slow clock, but he does quite well in getting there. Since the deck is tempo, he works quite well. I see him as a sort of Standard version of Nimble Mongoose. He is a bit weaker, but this is also a relatively slower meta when compared to Legacy, so this is where I draw the parallel. This is, of course, ignoring the inclusion of Silver-Inlaid Dagger entirely.
Quote from mel »
Delver of Secrets is okay, but not great. Transforming him is unreliable, if a little bit better with Ponder, but the more creatures you run the worse he gets, and this is a deck that should be running creatures. Delver works better in UR aggro, where those instants and sorceries can deal damage as well. In UW, you either have to play fewer threats to make him effective, or play more threats and make him worse and worse.
I can see the hesitation about this card. The reason I like it is that, in this tempo test build, there are a good number of instants and sorceries. Even if you ignore the Ponders, he is still a decent beater and has seemed to prove his reliability so long as you ensure that you build to make the best of him. I can agree that he works better in UR builds and in Legacy Thresh builds, but this doesn't mean that he isn't a decent, if not good-to-great choice in this tempo build.
Quote from mel »
Azure Mage wants you to have a lot more mana to burn than an aggro deck should be producing. The card draw isn't worth it.
Again, not an aggro build, but a tempo build. The reasoning behind her is that she is a cheap creature that can be equipped with the Dagger that can draw cards if need be late game, at instant speed (notice the Negates and Dissipates in the deck).
Quote from mel »
Alabaster Mage is only okay. His ability needs to eat mana (mana that you should probably be using to play threats, not temporarily get some life gain from your creatures) and the 1-toughness is a problem in a format where Geistflame and Arc Trail are seeing play.
This mage is rather good for the deck to give reach in the end. She allows you to race with your Delver and/or Stalker, and her activation is cheap enough to allow you to keep enough mana open for instants on your opponent's turns. There is a good reason why there are only three of her in the deck: she is in there for the late game to help race when you need it. She is a bit weak to the Geistflames and Arc Trails, but again, that's why the countermagic is in there.
Quote from mel »
Silver-Inlaid Dagger isn't the worst, but it isn't the best either. You don't have many good creatures to attach it to.
You do see that every creature in the deck is of the Human subtype? It is cheap, allowing you to play it early or play it with enough countermagic open during the mid-to-late game, and it does quite a number on the power on every creature in the deck.
Quote from mel »
Your deck doesn't run really any creatures that are a win condition on their own. Mirran Crusader and/or Hero of Bladehold should be central in any Humans list since they are powerful enough to take over the game. Champion of the Parish should almost certainly make an appearance.
I do like the Champion, but this is supposed to be the "budget" subforum, so I was trying to be as budget as possible. This is why I stopped at four Seachrome Coast and three Snapcasters. I'm not sure this should even be in this forum because of these seven cards, but I figured that, considering the rest of the deck, this could work in this subforum. I think the Champion would be a great addition, but I'm afraid the Hero would put the cost of the deck over the top. I could also see the Crusader working well, but then, if we also add the Champion, we're pushing the budget on this (not to mention the average casting cost).
Quote from mel »
Finally, I think that any budget build of UW Humans should probably use Wizards' Hold the Line Event Deck as a guide/starting point. It has one-or-two-ofs of a lot of the most important cards in the deck (like Champion of the Parish, Honor of the Pure, and Mirran Crusader) and uses a similar strategy, despite being Mono-W.
I wouldn't say that all budget builds of UW Humans should use the event deck as a starting point. Note that I've made quite a number of card suggestions for this tempo build that make it very different from that list as well as the lists that have been posted so far. I would definitely question the addition of Honor of the Pure, due to over half of the creatures being non-white. I feel that you are going with, "This is how everyone else/so-and-so does it, so this is how it should be done." This sort of thinking does not allow for innovation. I'm not saying that my tempo version is absolutely, definitely going to work, but we won't know until it's been tried and tested. Otherwise we would have no original innovation at all (see: Spread'em).
Quote from mel »
On a budget, blue can add Spectral Flight to fill in for Angelic Destiny, and of course maindeck Mana Leak, since without Angelic Destiny and Geist of Saint Traft which are a two turn clock on their own, protecting your board position from sweepers is even more important.
I'm at a bit of a loss as to where you could seriously suggest Spectral Flight, and in the same post dismiss the Dagger. I know that it and Angelic Destiny are both enchantments, but I wouldn't say that this relation makes it better than the Dagger by any means.
Please don't take this the wrong way. I am open for critique, but I feel as though you ignored where I mention that this build is an idea for a tempo version of UW Humans and simply wanted to point out why each of the cards I suggested for a tempo build were inferior to the cards that are in current aggro builds. It would seem to me that a tempo build would be a bit better than an aggro build, as it would be able to take on the role of either control or aggro at will, which gives it the flexibility that the aggro build doesn't have against multiple different types of decks.
I think you meant to say, "Current UW Human builds are built as aggro decks at heart, ..."
Again, my list was built as a tempo control deck, not aggro.
No, I meant what I said. "UW Humans" does not refer to every deck that happens to be in the colors blue and white and have human-subtype creatures in it. It refers to a relatively specific strategy with a relatively specific core of aggressive creature threats. Your deck is blue and white and has humans, but it isn't the UW Humans that the UW Humans subforum was created for. Your deck isn't a budget version of that deck (the competitive deck) it's a different deck entirely.
He is a slow clock, but he does quite well in getting there. Since the deck is tempo, he works quite well. I see him as a sort of Standard version of Nimble Mongoose. He is a bit weaker, but this is also a relatively slower meta when compared to Legacy, so this is where I draw the parallel. This is, of course, ignoring the inclusion of Silver-Inlaid Dagger entirely.
It isn't ignoring the inclusion of Silver-Inlaid Dagger, it's recognizing that your chances of landing and sticking both Invisible stalker and Silver-Inlaid Dagger for a win every game are relatively slim and you have no other means of pumping him up. People are playing artifact hate right now because Swords/Birthing Pod/Tempered Steel Stuff/Lashwrithe are all still relevant artifact threats. Invisible Stalker sucks if it's not equipped, and with only 4 equips in the deck there's a good chance it won't be. Puresteel Paladin can make semi-decent use of the card due to its high equipment density, but your deck is lucky if it can.
I can see the hesitation about this card. The reason I like it is that, in this tempo test build, there are a good number of instants and sorceries. Even if you ignore the Ponders, he is still a decent beater and has seemed to prove his reliability so long as you ensure that you build to make the best of him. I can agree that he works better in UR builds and in Legacy Thresh builds, but this doesn't mean that he isn't a decent, if not good-to-great choice in this tempo build.
He's okay in your specific build, but I wouldn't advocate going with tempo-control over aggro in building UW Humans, and in an aggro build he's terrible because at most you're running 4-10 instants/sorceries, most of them post-board (mana leaks/dismembers/timely reinforcements/revoke existence).
Again, not an aggro build, but a tempo build. The reasoning behind her is that she is a cheap creature that can be equipped with the Dagger that can draw cards if need be late game, at instant speed (notice the Negates and Dissipates in the deck).
The first part might be relevant if the dagger gave a toughness boost, but none of your creatures can survive being blocked, even with the dagger. You don't run enough creatures to continue to make trades like that.
This mage is rather good for the deck to give reach in the end. She allows you to race with your Delver and/or Stalker, and her activation is cheap enough to allow you to keep enough mana open for instants on your opponent's turns. There is a good reason why there are only three of her in the deck: she is in there for the late game to help race when you need it. She is a bit weak to the Geistflames and Arc Trails, but again, that's why the countermagic is in there.
The activation is somewhat cheap, but I still don't see it, for the most part, as really worthy. This is the only card in your list that I would even consider including in one of the aggro lists, if only because giving Mirran Crusader or one of the other big hitters in the deck lifelink could theoretically help against red decks (if it survives that long) but one toughness is a real problem here.
You do see that every creature in the deck is of the Human subtype? It is cheap, allowing you to play it early or play it with enough countermagic open during the mid-to-late game, and it does quite a number on the power on every creature in the deck.
I see that every creature in the deck is of the Human subtype. I also see that it doesn't boost toughness or give any abilities. I also see that every creature in the deck has 1 toughness, which makes every creature in the deck susceptible to a 3-mana Black Sun's Zenith when you inevitably tap out. Every creature in the deck except for Invisible Stalker is also vulnerable to Arc Trail, Spikeshot Elder, Geistflame, Goblin Arsonist and Gut Shot. Silver-Inlaid Dagger is good on invisible stalker, but you won't keep it equipped to any other creature in the deck for long enough to do anything with it, and since none of them have trample, your opponents (especially wolf run ramp) will gladly block and remove them for you.
I do like the Champion, but this is supposed to be the "budget" subforum, so I was trying to be as budget as possible. This is why I stopped at four Seachrome Coast and three Snapcasters. I'm not sure this should even be in this forum because of these seven cards, but I figured that, considering the rest of the deck, this could work in this subforum. I think the Champion would be a great addition, but I'm afraid the Hero would put the cost of the deck over the top. I could also see the Crusader working well, but then, if we also add the Champion, we're pushing the budget on this (not to mention the average casting cost).
From Star City, you can get 4x Champion of the Parish ($16), 2x Hero of Bladehold (prerelease version) ($20) AND 4x Mirran Crusader ($24) for the price of 2x Snapcaster Mage ($60). For the cost of the third, you can also get 2x Angelic Destiny or 4x Grand Abolisher (~$24). That right there is the meat of a UW Humans Aggro deck, save Geist of Saint Traft, which, while extremely important to the high-level competitiveness of the aggro-based version of the deck, can be left out if you're looking to do well at FNM and replaced with other aggro dudes (like Elite Inquisitor or Accorder Paladin or Fiend Hunter or...) and/or other finishers (Geist-Honored Monk or Angelic Overseer Seem like good choices) depending on your style.
I wouldn't say that all budget builds of UW Humans should use the event deck as a starting point. Note that I've made quite a number of card suggestions for this tempo build that make it very different from that list as well as the lists that have been posted so far. I would definitely question the addition of Honor of the Pure, due to over half of the creatures being non-white. I feel that you are going with, "This is how everyone else/so-and-so does it, so this is how it should be done." This sort of thinking does not allow for innovation. I'm not saying that my tempo version is absolutely, definitely going to work, but we won't know until it's been tried and tested. Otherwise we would have no original innovation at all (see: Spread'em).
That last part was included less for your and more for people coming to this thread wanting to build a UW Humans similar to ones that are performing well at tournaments. For ~$20, (or just looking at the decklist) they get to see a skeleton of a deck that has a very similar overall strategy to the UW Humans decks that this forum was created for. Honor of the Pure especially was not a suggestion for your tempo build but it is at the core of the UW Humans builds that are performing well.
I'm at a bit of a loss as to where you could seriously suggest Spectral Flight, and in the same post dismiss the Dagger. I know that it and Angelic Destiny are both enchantments, but I wouldn't say that this relation makes it better than the Dagger by any means.
Spectral Flight gives flying, which makes a Mirran Crusader pretty close to unblockable in the current Meta (not much in the way of flying creatures), and with a Grand Abolisher in play or Mana Leak in hand (you wait to play it until turn 4, just like Destiny) you can't be easily 2-for-1'ed with it which means he'll be swinging for 8 in the air that turn, 10 in the air with an Honor of the Pure in play.
Please don't take this the wrong way. I am open for critique, but I feel as though you ignored where I mention that this build is an idea for a tempo version of UW Humans and simply wanted to point out why each of the cards I suggested for a tempo build were inferior to the cards that are in current aggro builds. It would seem to me that a tempo build would be a bit better than an aggro build, as it would be able to take on the role of either control or aggro at will, which gives it the flexibility that the aggro build doesn't have against multiple different types of decks.
Red Deck Wins and Wolf Run Ramp are hugely relevant in the current meta, and your entire deck folds to frequently-played red removal and Slagstorm. Slagstorm is difficult for the aggro version to deal with too, but with Honor of the Pure in play, most creatures in a more traditional build stay out of reach of the tail end of Arc Trail and dodge all the one-damage effects completely. The creatures in your build are also so low power that for the most part, red can just ignore Invisible Stalker's 20 turn clock while it swings in with ever-growing Stromkirk Noble and bloodthirsty Stormblood Berserkers, neither of which you can profitably answer.
UB Plays a stronger control game than your build. It runs at least some sacrifice-based creature kill (not even invisible stalker can dodge that) which you won't be able to reliably counter if you are playing threats, and if you aren't playing threats quickly enough, they'll likely survive long enough to resolve a Grave Titan or something similar, and even the tokens the titan produces outclass all the creatures in your deck.
GW Tokens maindecks mass removal and if you counter that, even its early creature drops will either trade with or fly over your threats. They can use midnight haunting after you have tapped out for a think twice at the end of a turn, and if they make it to turn 5 or 6 they'll be able to pump those tokens with Gavony Township putting you on a clock you can neither answer nor ignore.
Your tempo build is just not positioned well against the meta as it stands, every competitive deck has strong answers maindecked against something like your build and most have sideboards that could hurt even worse (ancient grudge, revoke existence, and naturalize all cut your clock pretty hard if they take out your dagger). Where you see "flexibility" I see a deck that loses the best elements of both control and aggro in favor of something that does neither well enough to survive against the considerably more powerful strategies that are flooding the meta right now.
Feeling of dread can get him out of dismember range with 4 mana
The biggest problem is he inverably gets a doom blade to the face.
and he is easily blocked.
I contains a lot of non human flying creatures combined with creature tapping proved powerful in the limited M12 draft I originaly built the decks skeleton in. what happens in contructed?
If you are still running mostly WU, you might want to look at Invisible Stalker. While he doesn't have much in the way of utility otherwise (such as tapping someone down), he has the advantage of being nigh-invulnerable. If you're looking for something to replace the crusader, you want to look for offense, not defense.
It would help to see your whole list, however.
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...but then again, I don't really know what I'm talking about.
For starters I only have 4 mana leaks and I needed them in another deck so I am using Cancel
My deck is Human's and Griffins , griffin rider is human, rather than human and spirit's. Griffins are expensive mana wise although they fit my curve well.
I really need to get my hands on Day of Judgment... it would make the deck really work since I can make things indestructible and I have Roc Egg
It has the taping ability that can really slow down an agro deck (except my green/black infect deck which is packing removal) and it can stop someone swinging with their win con... unless it is dungrove eldar or Invisible stalker.
My deck is most definitely not up to competitive standard currently so I pretty much know that you will point out that it is terrible.
For starters I only have 4 mana leaks and I needed them in another deck so I am using Cancel
My deck is Human's and Griffins , griffin rider is human, rather than human and spirit's. Griffins are expensive mana wise although they fit my curve well.
I really need to get my hands on Day of Judgment... it would make the deck really work since I can make things indestructible and I have Roc Egg
It has the taping ability that can really slow down an agro deck (except my green/black infect deck which is packing removal) and it can stop someone swinging with their win con... unless it is dungrove eldar or Invisible stalker.
First, order more Mana Leaks. Even on a budget, you can probably manage 60 cents. The fact is that Cancel is just not a substitute, particularly in this deck. The mana cost is way off--1BB vs. 1B. Granted, they can't buy their way out of the leak, but trying to swing double blue and double white in a budget deck (so I'm assuming no or few seachrome coasts or glacial fortresss) is going to be tough.
If you are trying to get close to the UW Haunted Humans deck, I'm not sure that Angelic Overseer is a good match. At 3WW, she's pretty pricey, and at 5/3, unless you have a human on the board, she isn't too hard to knock off (although, again, Invisible Stalker can help that a lot).
But we really need to see a deck list before we can talk about much.
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...but then again, I don't really know what I'm talking about.
I have posted up the deck list in the other post now.
as you can see it is very inefficient but actually surprisingly effective opponents rarely have a huge amount of air defence the deck is half flying and I can tap defenders to peck opponents in the face.
I am not really trying to copy the haunted human's deck all the cards in the shown deck lists are more than I want to pay for cards. It is just a U/W humans deck.... kind of. more humans/birds/griffins deck it is based off M12 not inastrad. I am yet to do an innstrad draft.
Can someone give me an estimate on how much this deck costs and what the most expensive cards are?
I ran an estimate on my deck and the deck in question in the worlds...mine (see list in tournament results thread) runs between 250 and 300 where the one in worlds is running between 420 and 450 if you buy every card individually.
I've been looking at U/W Humans for a while, following the threads and all, and I really like the looks of the archetype. It fits my play style well, as I like aggro, but want a bit of control too. I was curious though, is there anything limiting us to humans? The only thing that works off of them is Champion of the Parish, right? Just thinking for budget there might be some cards that, while not optimal in competitive, could be used.
Anyways, I'm thinking I'll build a budget deck before (or if) I go all out. Currently, I'm just looking for something that will stand a chance at FNM. I'm hoping to not sink more than $30 into it. I can reliably get commons and uncommons for 10 cents, but would probably be forced to order the rares online. After studying the decklists here, this is what I'm looking at for now:
Currently it's 3 cards short and sitting at approximately $25, maybe less if I can get the Honor of the Pures and Oblivion Rings from a friend.
Elaboration in Spoiler:
The obvious choices would be to throw in another Champion, but I'm wondering how I can replace a sword. Nim Deathmantle doesn't work, on account of the black zombie part, but what about Mask of Avacyn, Silver-Inlaid Dagger, Bonds of Faith, or even Spirit Mantle? I know everyone here deplores them, but I'm just looking for an alternative that will bide the time until I decide to buy some swords. Plus I like hexproof and evasion.
Also, any suggestion on another win-con? Without Hero of Bladehold, Geist of Saint Traft, or Angelic Destiny, I feel just a bit weak.
Cards you may be Questioning: Elite Vanguard: Just another 1-drop, since I'm not getting all of the Champion of the Parishes. Plus I have at least a dozen of them. Gideon's Lawkeeper: Mostly same as above, but also because I think my list, not being as explosive as others, will need the flexibility he can provide. Alabaster Mage: Again, I know my deck won't be as fast as others, so in a pinch he could be used to help stay alive against RDW/Wolf-Run/Aggro Spectral Flight: Following a suggestion above, it's currently a cheap replacement for Angelic Destiny.
For a Budget I would probably start with the event deck Hold the Line
Gives you some of the main cards in U/W Humans with out the U which you could add as you get more cards. If you got two of the event decks you would have your play sets of everything but Champion of the Parish (x2 only), Geist of Saint Traft, Grand Abolisher, Angelic Destiny, Glacial Fortress, Seachrome Coast, Mana Leak and sideboard cards of your choice. Granted it would take another 200 bucks or so to get to a more traditional build but I think these decks can be a good start. I actually picked up 2 of them on Black Friday at my LGS for $33
Modern GBRJund GBW Junk GBWMelira Pod GB Rock GRTron URStorm UR Delver URTwin RUG Twin UWR Twin UWRKiki Control UWR Control UWR Midrange URWBAffinity GRW Zoo RBurn
I have most of a u/w humans list. I'm just missing the heroes (I have one) and the angelic destinies. Also I only have 2 st trafts. What are some good budget replacements for these cards?
To the OP: You've made one mistake that happens to be same thing I did when starting out... The ratio of creatures to things-that-do-nothing-without-a-creature is too small on the creature side.
Spirit Mantle, Butcher's Cleaver, Cobbled Wings, Sharpened Pitchfork: I would not run more than 4 copies of Auras/Equipment. Also, I happen to think that Cobbled Wings and Spirit Mantle are trash. Consider some mix of Cleaver, Pitchfork, Angelic Destiny, Sword of War and Peace, Sword of Feast and Famine.
True Conviction: how often do you hit your 6th land and have multiple creatures already in play to get the bonus from this? Probably not often, so cut this. Honor of the Pure on the other hand, might be worth adding a 4th copy: it is cheap enough.
Are you trying to stay in the 3 CMC or less category? If no, Hero of Bladehold is a very good card. Keeping the CMC of the deck down is respectable since it allows you to also keep your land count low. Just depends what your goal is here.
i would go with this:
-4 cleaver
-3 cobbled wings
-2 pitchfork
-2 true conviction
-4 spirit mantle
-4 elder cathar
+3 hero of bladehold
+4 mirran crusader
+2 Leonin relic-warder (even if he isnt human, hes still great)
+2 angelic destiny or +2 dismember
+2 sword of war and peace
+1 honor of the pure
+2 oblivion ring
+3 plains
oblivion ring gives you an answer to everything. 4 honor is a must i think in a deck like this. the 3 lands will be needed once you up the curve a bit to include hero and possibly destiny. the hero is a must though. its your best creature. the 2 swords can be feast and famine if you want, but i find war and peace better suited to this deck. dismember gives you a good answer to most creatures that would annoy you like phyrexian crusader or inkmoth. hope this helps you out a bit and good luck
i would go with this:
-4 cleaver
-3 cobbled wings
-2 pitchfork
-2 true conviction
-4 spirit mantle
-4 elder cathar
+3 hero of bladehold
+4 mirran crusader
+2 Leonin relic-warder (even if he isnt human, hes still great)
+2 angelic destiny or +2 dismember
+2 sword of war and peace
+1 honor of the pure
+2 oblivion ring
+3 plains
Good advice. I would also take out 3 Mikaeus, the Lunarch and 4 Elite Inquisitor put in Accorder Paladin and Doomed Traveler.
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Legacy - Sneak Show, BR Reanimator, Miracles, UW Stoneblade
Premodern - Trix, RecSur, Enchantress, Reanimator, Elves https://www.facebook.com/groups/PremodernUSA/ Modern - Neobrand, Hogaak Vine, Elves
Standard - Mono Red (6-2 and 5-3 in 2 McQ)
Draft - (I wish I had more time for limited...)
Commander - Norin the Wary, Grimgrin, Adun Oakenshield (taking forever to build) (dead format for me)
Went 3-0 with this twice and 2-0 once @ my LGS back home.... Earned enough to build the real thing, which is good enough to win at the competitive events at school and on MTGO!
Aside from the geist, I got the entire deck from a dealer's booth ($10 for 4 glacial, $4 for 2 moorland haunt, $6 for 2 champion) and two of the mono-white humans precon from innistrad (which were on sale for $15 each!!!). That totals the cost of the deck to only $50..... really good for something that's competitive nearly anywhere.
If you want the best for ~$150 instead, here's what I had after the first two tournaments: All obtained with winnings from that $50 deck!
Sooo this one is just the precons + $128 in prize money put to good use.
.... honestly, if you want budget Wu humans, you might just consider going mono-white. Just enough blue lands to splash for geist + haunts will run you upwards of $60, then the geists another $60, then the haunts another $10 or so.
If you really insist on the resiliency of a haunt deck, I do have one last recommendation for extreme budget:
This plays a bit like a cross between WU Humans and WU delver, but so does every other true budget deck in this thread.... and this one can be built for around $35. It's always an option.
4 Glacial Fortress
3 Moorland Haunt
2 Plains
9 Island
3 Alabaster Mage
4 Azure Mage
4 Delver of Secrets
3 Snapcaster Mage
4 Negate
4 Dissipate
4 Think Twice
4 Silver-Inlaid Dagger
The deck is to work as a tempo-control essentially. I'm not sure if I should really have to explain a good amount of it. The Alabaster Mages give it reach if it needs it, the Stalkers and Delvers give it the fast aggro, with evasion, to put the opponent on a clock. The rest of the deck is designed to limit the opponent's ability to deal with the clock. Note that the Delver still counts as a human even after it transforms.
I can see a few different ways that a sideboard could be created for it. I really like Gideon's Lawkeeper, Flashfreeze, and Celestial Purge in the side, but as always, that really depends on how the deck plays.
I know that this is the budget forum, which is why I specifically posted this here, but I am inclined to think that this could be a competitive deck, despite the budget price (aside from Snapcasters and Seachrome Coast].
So, opinions?
Lantern Control
(with videos)
Uc Tron
Netdecking explained
Netdecking explained, Part 2
On speculators and counterfeits
On Interaction
Every single competitive deck in existence is designed to limit the opponent's ability to interact in a meaningful way.
Record number of exclamation points on SCG homepage: 71 (6 January, 2018)
"I don't want to believe, I want to know."
-Carl Sagan
UW Humans is an aggro deck at heart, not a control deck, which I think is why your list turned out so differently. Aggro is the stronger, if more obvious choice, given the high availability of strong, low-mana-cost creatures in white (Champion of the Parish, Doomed Traveler, Elite Vanguard, Gideon's Lawkeeper, Elite Inquisitor, Fiend Hunter, Mirran Crusader, Hero of Bladehold...) and Honor of the Pure, Angelic Destiny, and Oblivion Ring. Blue is mostly for Moorland Haunt and Geist of Saint Traft, and in the slightly more control-oriented builds, counterspells. Using blue creatures tends to dillute the effectiveness of Honor of the Pure, which isn't something that you want to do when you want to keep your creatures out of range of a lot of red burn spells and slam in for extra damage here and there. Commentary on your card choices in the spoiler:
Snapcaster Mage requires you to play too many instants/sorceries for an aggro deck. You want to be playing threats every turn, not poking around in your library looking for them.
Delver of Secrets is okay, but not great. Transforming him is unreliable, if a little bit better with Ponder, but the more creatures you run the worse he gets, and this is a deck that should be running creatures. Delver works better in UR aggro, where those instants and sorceries can deal damage as well. In UW, you either have to play fewer threats to make him effective, or play more threats and make him worse and worse.
Azure Mage wants you to have a lot more mana to burn than an aggro deck should be producing. The card draw isn't worth it.
Alabaster Mage is only okay. His ability needs to eat mana (mana that you should probably be using to play threats, not temporarily get some life gain from your creatures) and the 1-toughness is a problem in a format where Geistflame and Arc Trail are seeing play.
Silver-Inlaid Dagger isn't the worst, but it isn't the best either. You don't have many good creatures to attach it to.
Your deck doesn't run really any creatures that are a win condition on their own. Mirran Crusader and/or Hero of Bladehold should be central in any Humans list since they are powerful enough to take over the game. Champion of the Parish should almost certainly make an appearance.
Finally, I think that any budget build of UW Humans should probably use Wizards' Hold the Line Event Deck as a guide/starting point. It has one-or-two-ofs of a lot of the most important cards in the deck (like Champion of the Parish, Honor of the Pure, and Mirran Crusader) and uses a similar strategy, despite being Mono-W.
On a budget, blue can add Spectral Flight to fill in for Angelic Destiny, and of course maindeck Mana Leak, since without Angelic Destiny and Geist of Saint Traft which are a two turn clock on their own, protecting your board position from sweepers is even more important.
My Decks
UW - Geist's Living Relatives - WU
I think you meant to say, "Current UW Human builds are built as aggro decks at heart, ..."
Again, my list was built as a tempo control deck, not aggro.
He is a slow clock, but he does quite well in getting there. Since the deck is tempo, he works quite well. I see him as a sort of Standard version of Nimble Mongoose. He is a bit weaker, but this is also a relatively slower meta when compared to Legacy, so this is where I draw the parallel. This is, of course, ignoring the inclusion of Silver-Inlaid Dagger entirely.
I can see the hesitation about this card. The reason I like it is that, in this tempo test build, there are a good number of instants and sorceries. Even if you ignore the Ponders, he is still a decent beater and has seemed to prove his reliability so long as you ensure that you build to make the best of him. I can agree that he works better in UR builds and in Legacy Thresh builds, but this doesn't mean that he isn't a decent, if not good-to-great choice in this tempo build.
Again, not an aggro build, but a tempo build. The reasoning behind her is that she is a cheap creature that can be equipped with the Dagger that can draw cards if need be late game, at instant speed (notice the Negates and Dissipates in the deck).
This mage is rather good for the deck to give reach in the end. She allows you to race with your Delver and/or Stalker, and her activation is cheap enough to allow you to keep enough mana open for instants on your opponent's turns. There is a good reason why there are only three of her in the deck: she is in there for the late game to help race when you need it. She is a bit weak to the Geistflames and Arc Trails, but again, that's why the countermagic is in there.
You do see that every creature in the deck is of the Human subtype? It is cheap, allowing you to play it early or play it with enough countermagic open during the mid-to-late game, and it does quite a number on the power on every creature in the deck.
I do like the Champion, but this is supposed to be the "budget" subforum, so I was trying to be as budget as possible. This is why I stopped at four Seachrome Coast and three Snapcasters. I'm not sure this should even be in this forum because of these seven cards, but I figured that, considering the rest of the deck, this could work in this subforum. I think the Champion would be a great addition, but I'm afraid the Hero would put the cost of the deck over the top. I could also see the Crusader working well, but then, if we also add the Champion, we're pushing the budget on this (not to mention the average casting cost).
I wouldn't say that all budget builds of UW Humans should use the event deck as a starting point. Note that I've made quite a number of card suggestions for this tempo build that make it very different from that list as well as the lists that have been posted so far. I would definitely question the addition of Honor of the Pure, due to over half of the creatures being non-white. I feel that you are going with, "This is how everyone else/so-and-so does it, so this is how it should be done." This sort of thinking does not allow for innovation. I'm not saying that my tempo version is absolutely, definitely going to work, but we won't know until it's been tried and tested. Otherwise we would have no original innovation at all (see: Spread'em).
I'm at a bit of a loss as to where you could seriously suggest Spectral Flight, and in the same post dismiss the Dagger. I know that it and Angelic Destiny are both enchantments, but I wouldn't say that this relation makes it better than the Dagger by any means.
Please don't take this the wrong way. I am open for critique, but I feel as though you ignored where I mention that this build is an idea for a tempo version of UW Humans and simply wanted to point out why each of the cards I suggested for a tempo build were inferior to the cards that are in current aggro builds. It would seem to me that a tempo build would be a bit better than an aggro build, as it would be able to take on the role of either control or aggro at will, which gives it the flexibility that the aggro build doesn't have against multiple different types of decks.
Lantern Control
(with videos)
Uc Tron
Netdecking explained
Netdecking explained, Part 2
On speculators and counterfeits
On Interaction
Every single competitive deck in existence is designed to limit the opponent's ability to interact in a meaningful way.
Record number of exclamation points on SCG homepage: 71 (6 January, 2018)
"I don't want to believe, I want to know."
-Carl Sagan
No, I meant what I said. "UW Humans" does not refer to every deck that happens to be in the colors blue and white and have human-subtype creatures in it. It refers to a relatively specific strategy with a relatively specific core of aggressive creature threats. Your deck is blue and white and has humans, but it isn't the UW Humans that the UW Humans subforum was created for. Your deck isn't a budget version of that deck (the competitive deck) it's a different deck entirely.
It isn't ignoring the inclusion of Silver-Inlaid Dagger, it's recognizing that your chances of landing and sticking both Invisible stalker and Silver-Inlaid Dagger for a win every game are relatively slim and you have no other means of pumping him up. People are playing artifact hate right now because Swords/Birthing Pod/Tempered Steel Stuff/Lashwrithe are all still relevant artifact threats. Invisible Stalker sucks if it's not equipped, and with only 4 equips in the deck there's a good chance it won't be. Puresteel Paladin can make semi-decent use of the card due to its high equipment density, but your deck is lucky if it can.
He's okay in your specific build, but I wouldn't advocate going with tempo-control over aggro in building UW Humans, and in an aggro build he's terrible because at most you're running 4-10 instants/sorceries, most of them post-board (mana leaks/dismembers/timely reinforcements/revoke existence).
The first part might be relevant if the dagger gave a toughness boost, but none of your creatures can survive being blocked, even with the dagger. You don't run enough creatures to continue to make trades like that.
The activation is somewhat cheap, but I still don't see it, for the most part, as really worthy. This is the only card in your list that I would even consider including in one of the aggro lists, if only because giving Mirran Crusader or one of the other big hitters in the deck lifelink could theoretically help against red decks (if it survives that long) but one toughness is a real problem here.
I see that every creature in the deck is of the Human subtype. I also see that it doesn't boost toughness or give any abilities. I also see that every creature in the deck has 1 toughness, which makes every creature in the deck susceptible to a 3-mana Black Sun's Zenith when you inevitably tap out. Every creature in the deck except for Invisible Stalker is also vulnerable to Arc Trail, Spikeshot Elder, Geistflame, Goblin Arsonist and Gut Shot. Silver-Inlaid Dagger is good on invisible stalker, but you won't keep it equipped to any other creature in the deck for long enough to do anything with it, and since none of them have trample, your opponents (especially wolf run ramp) will gladly block and remove them for you.
From Star City, you can get 4x Champion of the Parish ($16), 2x Hero of Bladehold (prerelease version) ($20) AND 4x Mirran Crusader ($24) for the price of 2x Snapcaster Mage ($60). For the cost of the third, you can also get 2x Angelic Destiny or 4x Grand Abolisher (~$24). That right there is the meat of a UW Humans Aggro deck, save Geist of Saint Traft, which, while extremely important to the high-level competitiveness of the aggro-based version of the deck, can be left out if you're looking to do well at FNM and replaced with other aggro dudes (like Elite Inquisitor or Accorder Paladin or Fiend Hunter or...) and/or other finishers (Geist-Honored Monk or Angelic Overseer Seem like good choices) depending on your style.
That last part was included less for your and more for people coming to this thread wanting to build a UW Humans similar to ones that are performing well at tournaments. For ~$20, (or just looking at the decklist) they get to see a skeleton of a deck that has a very similar overall strategy to the UW Humans decks that this forum was created for. Honor of the Pure especially was not a suggestion for your tempo build but it is at the core of the UW Humans builds that are performing well.
Spectral Flight gives flying, which makes a Mirran Crusader pretty close to unblockable in the current Meta (not much in the way of flying creatures), and with a Grand Abolisher in play or Mana Leak in hand (you wait to play it until turn 4, just like Destiny) you can't be easily 2-for-1'ed with it which means he'll be swinging for 8 in the air that turn, 10 in the air with an Honor of the Pure in play.
Red Deck Wins and Wolf Run Ramp are hugely relevant in the current meta, and your entire deck folds to frequently-played red removal and Slagstorm. Slagstorm is difficult for the aggro version to deal with too, but with Honor of the Pure in play, most creatures in a more traditional build stay out of reach of the tail end of Arc Trail and dodge all the one-damage effects completely. The creatures in your build are also so low power that for the most part, red can just ignore Invisible Stalker's 20 turn clock while it swings in with ever-growing Stromkirk Noble and bloodthirsty Stormblood Berserkers, neither of which you can profitably answer.
UB Plays a stronger control game than your build. It runs at least some sacrifice-based creature kill (not even invisible stalker can dodge that) which you won't be able to reliably counter if you are playing threats, and if you aren't playing threats quickly enough, they'll likely survive long enough to resolve a Grave Titan or something similar, and even the tokens the titan produces outclass all the creatures in your deck.
GW Tokens maindecks mass removal and if you counter that, even its early creature drops will either trade with or fly over your threats. They can use midnight haunting after you have tapped out for a think twice at the end of a turn, and if they make it to turn 5 or 6 they'll be able to pump those tokens with Gavony Township putting you on a clock you can neither answer nor ignore.
Your tempo build is just not positioned well against the meta as it stands, every competitive deck has strong answers maindecked against something like your build and most have sideboards that could hurt even worse (ancient grudge, revoke existence, and naturalize all cut your clock pretty hard if they take out your dagger). Where you see "flexibility" I see a deck that loses the best elements of both control and aggro in favor of something that does neither well enough to survive against the considerably more powerful strategies that are flooding the meta right now.
My Decks
UW - Geist's Living Relatives - WU
Gideon's avenger as a buget alternative to Mirran Cursader?
I have a Gideon's Avenger Deck
lots of tap creatures
Gideon's lawkeeper and Avcayn preist
Feeling of dread can get him out of dismember range with 4 mana
The biggest problem is he inverably gets a doom blade to the face.
and he is easily blocked.
My deck has Frost Titan and Ageis Angel as win con's. So it isn't all about him.
I contains a lot of non human flying creatures combined with creature tapping proved powerful in the limited M12 draft I originaly built the decks skeleton in. what happens in contructed?
Pioneer:UR Pheonix
Modern:U Mono U Tron
EDH
GB Glissa, the traitor: Army of Cans
UW Dragonlord Ojutai: Dragonlord NOjutai
UWGDerevi, Empyrial Tactician "you cannot fight the storm"
R Zirilan of the claw. The solution to every problem is dragons
UB Etrata, the Silencer Cloning assassination
Peasant cube: Cards I own
It would help to see your whole list, however.
4 X gideons Lawkeeper
3 X gideons Avenger
3 X assault Griffin
2 X griffin rider
2 X Aven Fleetwing
2 X Avacynain priest
2 X skywinder drake
2 X Roc egg
1 X archon of justice
1 X aegis angel
1 X frost titan.
13 plains
10 Islands
For starters I only have 4 mana leaks and I needed them in another deck so I am using Cancel
My deck is Human's and Griffins , griffin rider is human, rather than human and spirit's. Griffins are expensive mana wise although they fit my curve well.
I am pretty tempted to trade my Olivia Voldaren for an Angelic Overseer since I don't have a red black deck, worth it?
I really need to get my hands on Day of Judgment... it would make the deck really work since I can make things indestructible and I have Roc Egg
It has the taping ability that can really slow down an agro deck (except my green/black infect deck which is packing removal) and it can stop someone swinging with their win con... unless it is dungrove eldar or Invisible stalker.
Pioneer:UR Pheonix
Modern:U Mono U Tron
EDH
GB Glissa, the traitor: Army of Cans
UW Dragonlord Ojutai: Dragonlord NOjutai
UWGDerevi, Empyrial Tactician "you cannot fight the storm"
R Zirilan of the claw. The solution to every problem is dragons
UB Etrata, the Silencer Cloning assassination
Peasant cube: Cards I own
First, order more Mana Leaks. Even on a budget, you can probably manage 60 cents. The fact is that Cancel is just not a substitute, particularly in this deck. The mana cost is way off--1BB vs. 1B. Granted, they can't buy their way out of the leak, but trying to swing double blue and double white in a budget deck (so I'm assuming no or few seachrome coasts or glacial fortresss) is going to be tough.
If you are trying to get close to the UW Haunted Humans deck, I'm not sure that Angelic Overseer is a good match. At 3WW, she's pretty pricey, and at 5/3, unless you have a human on the board, she isn't too hard to knock off (although, again, Invisible Stalker can help that a lot).
But we really need to see a deck list before we can talk about much.
as you can see it is very inefficient but actually surprisingly effective opponents rarely have a huge amount of air defence the deck is half flying and I can tap defenders to peck opponents in the face.
I am not really trying to copy the haunted human's deck all the cards in the shown deck lists are more than I want to pay for cards. It is just a U/W humans deck.... kind of. more humans/birds/griffins deck it is based off M12 not inastrad. I am yet to do an innstrad draft.
Pioneer:UR Pheonix
Modern:U Mono U Tron
EDH
GB Glissa, the traitor: Army of Cans
UW Dragonlord Ojutai: Dragonlord NOjutai
UWGDerevi, Empyrial Tactician "you cannot fight the storm"
R Zirilan of the claw. The solution to every problem is dragons
UB Etrata, the Silencer Cloning assassination
Peasant cube: Cards I own
From Disappointing Signet Inc.!
Generation 16: First time you see this, change the number up 1 and copy into sig. It's a social experiment.
I ran an estimate on my deck and the deck in question in the worlds...mine (see list in tournament results thread) runs between 250 and 300 where the one in worlds is running between 420 and 450 if you buy every card individually.
UBControl
WR Tempered Steel
MTGO: whaleman
Anyways, I'm thinking I'll build a budget deck before (or if) I go all out. Currently, I'm just looking for something that will stand a chance at FNM. I'm hoping to not sink more than $30 into it. I can reliably get commons and uncommons for 10 cents, but would probably be forced to order the rares online. After studying the decklists here, this is what I'm looking at for now:
2 Champion of the Parish
4 Doomed Traveler
2 Elite Vanguard
2 Gideon's Lawkeeper
4 Accorder Paladin
3 Alabaster Mage
3 Mirran Crusader
4 Honor of the Pure
4 Spectral Flight
3 Oblivion Ring
3 Mana Leak
18 Plains
5 Islands
Currently it's 3 cards short and sitting at approximately $25, maybe less if I can get the Honor of the Pures and Oblivion Rings from a friend.
Elaboration in Spoiler:
The obvious choices would be to throw in another Champion, but I'm wondering how I can replace a sword. Nim Deathmantle doesn't work, on account of the black zombie part, but what about Mask of Avacyn, Silver-Inlaid Dagger, Bonds of Faith, or even Spirit Mantle? I know everyone here deplores them, but I'm just looking for an alternative that will bide the time until I decide to buy some swords. Plus I like hexproof and evasion.
Also, any suggestion on another win-con? Without Hero of Bladehold, Geist of Saint Traft, or Angelic Destiny, I feel just a bit weak.
Cards you may be Questioning:
Elite Vanguard: Just another 1-drop, since I'm not getting all of the Champion of the Parishes. Plus I have at least a dozen of them.
Gideon's Lawkeeper: Mostly same as above, but also because I think my list, not being as explosive as others, will need the flexibility he can provide.
Alabaster Mage: Again, I know my deck won't be as fast as others, so in a pinch he could be used to help stay alive against RDW/Wolf-Run/Aggro
Spectral Flight: Following a suggestion above, it's currently a cheap replacement for Angelic Destiny.
Gives you some of the main cards in U/W Humans with out the U which you could add as you get more cards. If you got two of the event decks you would have your play sets of everything but Champion of the Parish (x2 only), Geist of Saint Traft, Grand Abolisher, Angelic Destiny, Glacial Fortress, Seachrome Coast, Mana Leak and sideboard cards of your choice. Granted it would take another 200 bucks or so to get to a more traditional build but I think these decks can be a good start. I actually picked up 2 of them on Black Friday at my LGS for $33
GBR Jund
GBW Junk
GBW Melira Pod
GB Rock
GR Tron
UR Storm
UR Delver
UR Twin
RUG Twin
UWR Twin
UWR Kiki Control
UWR Control
UWR Midrange
URWB Affinity
GRW Zoo
R Burn
I welcome all critique and suggestions and help. I'd like to keep it MONO white. and, obviously, human oriented.
3 Mikaeus, the Lunarch
4 Fiend Hunter
4 Elder Cathar
4 Elite Inquisitor
4 Champion of the Parish
4 Grand Abolisher
4 Spirit Mantle
3 Honor the Pure
2 True Conviction
Artifacts
4 Butcher's Cleaver
3 Cobbled Wings
2 Sharpened Pitchfork
Suggestions? Thanks, in advance, for all advice!
Budget discussion. Warning issued.
How To Keep Your FOIL Cards From Curling: http://youtu.be/QTmubrS8VnI
The Best Deck Boxes: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uEwgLph_Pjk
The Best Binders: http://youtu.be/H5IauASYWjk
4 Elite Vanguard
3 Gideon's Lawkeeper
4 Elite Inquisitor
4 Accorder Paladin
4 Mirran Crusader
3 Fiend Hunter
1 Hero of Bladehold
3 Oblivion Ring
1 Sword of War and Peace
1 Sword of Feast and Famine
2 Dismember
Spirit Mantle, Butcher's Cleaver, Cobbled Wings, Sharpened Pitchfork: I would not run more than 4 copies of Auras/Equipment. Also, I happen to think that Cobbled Wings and Spirit Mantle are trash. Consider some mix of Cleaver, Pitchfork, Angelic Destiny, Sword of War and Peace, Sword of Feast and Famine.
True Conviction: how often do you hit your 6th land and have multiple creatures already in play to get the bonus from this? Probably not often, so cut this. Honor of the Pure on the other hand, might be worth adding a 4th copy: it is cheap enough.
Are you trying to stay in the 3 CMC or less category? If no, Hero of Bladehold is a very good card. Keeping the CMC of the deck down is respectable since it allows you to also keep your land count low. Just depends what your goal is here.
Elite Vanguard is an OK card. Same for Gideon's Lawkeeper. Leonin Relic-Warder isn't a human, but I'd play it -- perhaps as a 2-of. Not being a human can even be advantage when Stromkirk Noble on your opponent's side.
So summary.. Creature count up, creature enhancers down. A small amount of removal and another land or 3 would be worth a thought, but optional IMO.
i would go with this:
-4 cleaver
-3 cobbled wings
-2 pitchfork
-2 true conviction
-4 spirit mantle
-4 elder cathar
+3 hero of bladehold
+4 mirran crusader
+2 Leonin relic-warder (even if he isnt human, hes still great)
+2 angelic destiny or +2 dismember
+2 sword of war and peace
+1 honor of the pure
+2 oblivion ring
+3 plains
oblivion ring gives you an answer to everything. 4 honor is a must i think in a deck like this. the 3 lands will be needed once you up the curve a bit to include hero and possibly destiny. the hero is a must though. its your best creature. the 2 swords can be feast and famine if you want, but i find war and peace better suited to this deck. dismember gives you a good answer to most creatures that would annoy you like phyrexian crusader or inkmoth. hope this helps you out a bit and good luck
You need 4 Honor of the Pure.
The artifacts are cute but 1-ofs tops.
Use Mirran Crusader and Hero of Bladehold.
Good advice. I would also take out 3 Mikaeus, the Lunarch and 4 Elite Inquisitor put in Accorder Paladin and Doomed Traveler.
Premodern - Trix, RecSur, Enchantress, Reanimator, Elves https://www.facebook.com/groups/PremodernUSA/
Modern - Neobrand, Hogaak Vine, Elves
Standard - Mono Red (6-2 and 5-3 in 2 McQ)
Draft - (I wish I had more time for limited...)
Commander -
Norin the Wary, Grimgrin, Adun Oakenshield (taking forever to build)(dead format for me)4x Accorder Paladin
3x Champion of the Parish
4x Doomed Traveler
2x Elite Inquisitor
2x Fiend Hunter
2x Grand Abolisher
3x Hero of Bladehold
1x Mikaeus, the Lunarch
4x Mirran Crusader
1x Batterskull
Instants
2x Midnight Haunting
Enchantments
4x Honor of the Pure
3x Oblivion Ring
2x Angelic Destiny
Lands
23x Plains
3x Celestial Purge
1x Day of Judgment
2x Leonin Relic-Warder
3x Nevermore
1x Oblivion Ring
3x Surgical Extraction
2x Timely Reinforcements
Thoughts?
4 Doomed Traveler
4 Champion of the Parish
4 Gideon's Lawkeeper
-2cc
4 Honor of the Pure
2 Leonin Relic-Warder
4 Accorder Paladin
4 Mana Leak
1 Geist of St. Traft
4 Mirran Crusader
3 Fiend Hunter
4 Oblivion Ring
5 Island
4 Glacial Fortress
12 Plains
2 Moorland Haunt
1 Fiend Hunter
4 Celestial Purge
2 Flashfreeze
4 Mortarpod
2 Timely Reinforcements
2 Leonin Relic-Warder
Cost:
Geist is optional; I pulled it.
Aside from the geist, I got the entire deck from a dealer's booth ($10 for 4 glacial, $4 for 2 moorland haunt, $6 for 2 champion) and two of the mono-white humans precon from innistrad (which were on sale for $15 each!!!). That totals the cost of the deck to only $50..... really good for something that's competitive nearly anywhere.
If you want the best for ~$150 instead, here's what I had after the first two tournaments: All obtained with winnings from that $50 deck!
4 Seachrome Coast
3 Glacial Fortress
3 Moorland Haunt
1 Island
12 Plains
4 Champion of the Parish
4 Doomed Traveler
4 Gideon's Lawkeeper
4 Accorder Paladin
4 Honor of the Pure
4 Mana Leak
3 Geist of St. Traft
3 Fiend Hunter
4 Oblivion Ring
1 Fiend Hunter
4 Timely Reinforcements
4 Leonin Relic-Warder
2 Celestial Purge
Sooo this one is just the precons + $128 in prize money put to good use.
.... honestly, if you want budget Wu humans, you might just consider going mono-white. Just enough blue lands to splash for geist + haunts will run you upwards of $60, then the geists another $60, then the haunts another $10 or so.
If you really insist on the resiliency of a haunt deck, I do have one last recommendation for extreme budget:
2 Moorland Haunt
8 Plains
8 Island
4 Champion of the Parish
4 Doomed Traveler
4 Delver of Secrets
4 Ponder
4 Vapor Snag
2 Porcelian Legionnaire
4 Honor of the Pure
4 Midnight Haunting
4 Oblivion Ring
This plays a bit like a cross between WU Humans and WU delver, but so does every other true budget deck in this thread.... and this one can be built for around $35. It's always an option.