I will admit that I was pretty bad about following spoilers and newly released M19 cards. After seeing it pop again I do think I saw it at some point during spoiler time, but I wasn't really paying attention or thinking about Modern at the time. My default view for decent-looking white creatures is for Legacy DnT, and Remorseful Cleric was the bigger news there. I have also just been playing a lot of Legacy after the bans to test out the new environment.
After checking recent decklist and seeing all of the successful lists playing at least 3 Buglers, it finally clicked that there was a new card that I really need to be paying attention to. And make no mistake about it: this is the most important card printed for this deck since Unclaimed Territory.
I have played a good amount with Humans, and I have played Legacy Death and Taxes for a long time. I will definitely draw some insights from my DnT experience, which is of course different but has a few important similarities. The really basic, obvious one is that they are both Aether Vial decks, which is of course a huge one. Another similarity that is more subtle is that they are decks with little selection, little card advantage, and a deceptively high number of mana sources. Both decks are at the mercy of their draws, and while drawing 2.5 lands, Vial, and all creatures will run over all sorts of decks, drawing your 5th and 6th land in these decks is problematic. A deck like 19 Mountain mono-red just commits to losing some small number of games to flood, and there isn't much to be done. Decks like Humans and DnT can make some deckbuilding decisions that don't eliminate these problems, but definitely help to mitigate them.
So let's talk about Horizon Canopy. It is easy to look at this as an on-color, untapped dual land that has some moderate upside. In a lot of decks this is correct, but Horizon Canopy is extremely powerful and it can be easy to not realize it is one of the most important cards in the deck. Counting Hierarchs and Vials, the deck has 27 mana sources. Humans needs Vials and Hierarchs for its explosive starts, but at the end of the day a deck with nothing that costs more than 3 doesn't actually want 27 mana sources. Having a land on turns 1 to 3 that turns into gas on turn 4 or 5 is huge boon for this deck.
Another point about Canopy is that Aether Vial decks tend to want value out of their lands because they play more mana than they may otherwise want. Merfolk decks like Mutavault because of tribal synergies, but also as a mana sink. Death and Taxes like Port and Wasteland because they contribute to the mana denial plan, but carry out utility when mana isn't needed or while Vial pumps out dudes. Eldrazi and Taxes decks often play Shambling Vent as a solid body but also as a mana sink.
What does this have to do with Bugler? I am getting there. My point here is that there are distinct weaknesses to having nothing but creatures, Aether Vials, and lands in your deck. Canopy mitigates one, the risk of flooding and very low value of excess lands. Bugler hits two other big ones: card advantage, and selection.
For card advantage, Humans has a limited amount, but all of it a bit conditional. Kitesail Freebooter is the most obvious and is a clean two-for-one if it survives, but it is vulnerable. It can also whiff and loses value later on. Reflector Mage serves as a body and effectively a removal spell, but doesn't always actually represent an extra card of value. This isn't criticizing the card, it more than earns its spot. It of course incredible tempo, which is often game winning. Also, hitting things like Gurmag Angler is close enough to a removal spell, but in a strict sense it doesn't create card advantage. Meddling Mage is another card that - particularly with info on their hard - often represents card advantage of a kind but is still vulnerable to removal and can still whiff.
A Militia Bugler that hits the battlefield is always card advantage, and through Vial and Cavern it is even immune to countermagic a good amount of the time. It is in class of value creatures like Baleful Strix, Shardless Agent, Eternal Witness, and others that are mostly guaranteed to have a positive impact. I'm not a math scientist so I don't have percentages, but with 33 hits in the deck it close to guaranteed to draw you a card. The fact that it is pretty likely to draw you a good card is another big plus. This is an effect that this deck simply did not have before, and it makes a difference. There are games against Bloodbraid Elf or Snapcaster Mage or Kolaghan's Command decks when you get two-for-oned once or twice, draw one too many lands, and just die. You have to rely on your deck just feeding you gas, which is bad spot to be in against card advantage or removal heavy decks. I feel strongly that Bugler is a big boon for Humans against fair decks, and will bring matchup that were slightly unfavored back up to 50/50, and push 50/50 matchups into a favorable range. This kind of staying power is what things like Xathrid Necromancer were for, but this has better stats, an easier mana-cost, and is exceptionally maindeckable.
The fact that this comes with selection is very important, because it is an effect that Humans simply has none of right now. Things like Reflector Mage and Meddling Mage can vary wildly in value based on matchups, and there are times when a topdecked Freebooter does literally nothing but a Lieutenant pushes through lethal. This is a big strength of things like Stoneforge Mystic and Recruiter of the Guard in Legacy DnT, because you can find specific cards in a deck with 11 basic Plains, while that is usually Brainstorm and Ponder's job. Bugler doesn't let you play single bullets or find very specific answers, but it does give you at least some agency over your draw rather than the series of blind draws we generally depend on.
So what does all this mean? If you look at any of the lists from the last SCG Open, it is pretty clear that about 3.5 copies of this card is now stock in Humans. Restoration Angel, Dark Confidant, Kessig Malcontents, anything else that popped up in your flew slots, these slots should almost certainly be Buglers.
Some other cards fluctuate in value. I think Reflector Mage, Meddling Mage, Freebooter, and Phantasmal Image are all candidates to go down to 3, though they all remain reasonable 4-ofs. It would seem that the half dozen or so 'flex slots' we have been filling with all kinds of stuff are basically the 4th copies of a few select cards (including Bugler itself), and maybe 1 or 2 final slots.
Aether Vial gets better. Bugler will be slightly slow and clunky without Vial, which will be the big argument against playing the full four (though I still think 4 is a more than defensible number on raw power). With Vial, you can take more actions per turn even when low on lands, and the draws from Bugler will give you more gas to use your Vials and mana more effectively.
Noble Heirarch gets better for similar reasons, as you have more uses for extra mana in a turn. Previously if you have 5 or 6 mana and draw a single card, you would never actually use it all, but 5 or 6 mana turns even later in the game will be more common.
Your 2-of sideboard bullets get better, as you can dig for them and find them more consistently. In my limited time playing with the card, playing a Bugler and finding a Rec Sage or Sin Collector at an opportune time has felt extremely powerful. These sideboard cards are generally high impact and are themselves clean 2-for-1s, so chaining them together is a lot of value.
Okay this got way longer than I expected, but I wanted to get my thoughts down on paper. I think there are quite a lot of people who just evaluate this at face value, "human, check, good stats, check, good ability, check." This is fine, but if you dig more into the theory side of the deck, like where it gets its power from and some of the weaknesses inherent in creature decks and Aether Vial decks, I really feel that this cards gives it noticeable boosts in certain matchups and represents a unique effect that the deck was lacking previously but is well positioned to make good use of.
Excellent write up and i couldn't agree more with it all. Militia Bugler is the value/filter card this deck wanted and makes the post-board games that much better.
Yeah, that is a fair look at Bugler. On the other hand, card advantage and selection is just good on its face. A few pages back I calculated the odds of hitting with a Bugler at 93% in unfavorable conditions, so a 95% hit rate overall in practice is a pretty good ballpark. I have yet to whiff off of it, personally. I play three, two in the flex slots and the third in place of Phantasmal Image #4.
The selection piece is a big deal, but it must be pointed out that oftentimes we want a Bugler target early, and Bugler does not get targets early--in the timeframe that this deck is operating on, that is. If you're digging for Rec Sage or Kataki on T3 against Affinity, it's already too late, unless maybe you were on the play and landed a T1 Vial. So the dig has to be evaluated somewhat critically.
Xathrid Necromancer is good against sweepers and targeted removal of course, but it can also be very good against aggro, where you can use it lategame for chump blocks, only to then Vial Necromancer in before damage and subsequently crack back with a bunch of 2/2s out of nowhere. I'd really like to run one in the side, but right now I don't feel I have room.
The selection piece is a big deal, but it must be pointed out that oftentimes we want a Bugler target early, and Bugler does not get targets early--in the timeframe that this deck is operating on, that is. If you're digging for Rec Sage or Kataki on T3 against Affinity, it's already too late
But what if you play a manadork on t1? playing a t2 bugler into a t3 Kataki/Rec Sage should be entirely different.
How about adding a 5th manadork (Avacyn's Pilgrim)? I feel like it significantly increases the odds of playing a t2 bugler into a t3 Kataki/Rec Sage, and the good thing is that the decks against which digging for an answer is good are often decks that have few removals for the t1 dork (Affinity, KCI, Tron, other combo decks...)
Been playing 4 of Bugler for a couple weeks now. 4 is making my list feel too clunky, I think 3 might be a better number.
I also think you want to focus on more 2 drops in a Bugler list. It makes your vials better, and the vial curve will generally let you cast Bugler and then vial a 2 drop a turn earlier than you could do the reverse where you vial bugler and cast what you hit.
I've been having good results with Dark Confidant.
Wondering a bit about Warden of the First Tree as part of lowering the curve and adding something of a mana sink in the event you flood.
Even if you flood out, Warden of the First Tree won't do much since it's basically a 1/1 that can be a 3/3 for 3 mana in total.
Similarly, Kytheon, Hero of Akros is a 1-drop that could help against decks you are trying to race, but it's probably not good enough.
I agree that with Bugler, 2-drops are a bit better. Dark Confidant is the best card for this slot, even if I wonder if we really need that kind of effect now that we have Bugler (it's much more the midrange plan than the aggro plan). 1 Mayor of Avabruck is great to have a 5th 'lord' and it improves your board presence immediately, but it trades 1-for-1 with a removal.
I'm still condering the 5th mana dork to make the deck faster esp. after sideboard.
Took the same 75 for another spin last friday.
Things didn't work out so wel this time. It was an evening with many muligans, always on the draw and awfully sloppy play from my side.
I guess things happen.
Went up against Jund and Jeskai control (both 1-2) and had a win VS a monored Norin the Wary deck 1-1-0. Drew game 2 because he was blinking me the whole time to 80+ life trough 3 Auriok Champions vs Norin and a bunch of Goblin Rabblemasters. He has bridges down so we just sat there.
Ended up 2-2 due to a bye.
Even if you flood out, Warden of the First Tree won't do much since it's basically a 1/1 that can be a 3/3 for 3 mana in total.
Similarly, Kytheon, Hero of Akros is a 1-drop that could help against decks you are trying to race, but it's probably not good enough.
I agree that with Bugler, 2-drops are a bit better. Dark Confidant is the best card for this slot, even if I wonder if we really need that kind of effect now that we have Bugler (it's much more the midrange plan than the aggro plan). 1 Mayor of Avabruck is great to have a 5th 'lord' and it improves your board presence immediately, but it trades 1-for-1 with a removal.
I'm still condering the 5th mana dork to make the deck faster esp. after sideboard.
I was thinking more about the 4 mana activation, but you're right that it's still just a 3/3 so that's probably not very good. I'll consider Kytheon. When it comes to Bob I'm running a 2 of right now, but if not for Tron I think I would run Dire Fleet Daredevil in it's place MB.
So, the match ups: Round 1 vs DredgeVine 0-2 Game 1 - Opponent was on the play and started with a faithless looting, putting two vengvine into the graveyard. I played an aether Vial. Turn 2, opponent played x2 insolent neonate and swung for 8 with the vengevines. It all went down hill pretty rapidly from this point.
Sideboard: Out: Meddling Mage and Militia Bugler. In: sin collector and auriok Champion. Took out Meddling because I wasn’t confident on what to name.
Round 2 vs GW Value Town 2-1 Game 1 - this was one of the most ridiculous games of magic I played. Had meddling mages on collected company and path to exile and every time my opponent played a knight of the reliquary I used a reflector Mage. In the end lost out to my opponent gaining too much life and destroying all my lands.
Sideboard: Out: militia bugler and mix of other creatures. In: gut shot, gaddock teeg and Izzet Staticaster.
Game 3 - very close game although I always felt in a strong position with two early aether Vials. I won with a mantis rider off the top and copied with a vialled phantasmal image, after bouncing his last aerial blocker.
Round 3 vs Mardu Pyromancer 2-0 Game 1 - Had an awesome hand and picked my opponents hand apart with kitesail Freebooter and managed to attack for lots of early damage.
Game 2 - this was the by far the most ridiculous game I played all day. Cutting a long story short, my opponent was on 1 life and I was on 65 life thanks to x2 auriok Champion but my opponent had a stack load of white spirit and elemental tokens. In a moment of madness, he killed my mantis riders and swung with all the spirits. I honestly thought it was a trap, but swung in for the win the following turn.
Round 4 vs Grixis Death Shadow 2-0 Game 1 - had a great start picking my opponents hand apart and bounced all his blockers. Quick easy wins and didn’t take any damage in either game.
Sideboard: Out: Thalia’s lieutenant. In: auriok Champion and sin collector.
Game 2 - practically a repeat of game 1, but even quicker thanks to sin collector and my opponent getting stuck on 1 land.
Round 5 vs Hollow One 1-2 Game 1 - opponent managed to play x2 hollow one on his first turn. Couldn’t muster a real response.
Sideboard: Out: Meddling Mage. In: reclamation sage and sin collector.
Game 2 - Had a very aggressive hand, thought I would risk it over a mulligan for a more disruptive hand. Payed off as I quickly had very large creatures and was able to bounce his blockers.
Game 3 - very close game, but my opponent played all 4 burning inquiry, which unfortunately stripped me of all my needed pieces each time. I eventually got overrun with Hollow Ones.
Round 6 vs GW Value Town 2-0
This match was against a friend and it was likely the winner would make Top 8. Just beat two other friends through tiebreaks.
Game 2 - virtually an exact repeat of game 1, but ended a few turns earlier due to a misplay on my friend’s part.
Quarters vs Infect 2-1 Game 1 - I couldn’t find an answer for my opponents blighted agent, so tried to outrage him. Didn’t work!
Sideboard: Out: militia bugler, Meddling Mage. In: gut shot, sin collector
Game 2 - kept a disruptive hand and managed to bounce his creatures before going hard with mantis rider.
Game 3 - Was a very close game, with misplays from both us. Finished with myself on 5 poison, knowing my opponent had a pump spell in hand, but I managed to put him at 1 life, so he couldn’t use his fetchland to pay thalia, guardian of thraben tax. Nail biting end, but boosted my confidence knocking out the top seed.
Semis vs G-Tron 1-2 Game 1 - I basically got Tronned. However, this match involved my favourite play of the event. My opponent cast a ulamog, the infinite gyr and moved to attacks. I vialled in a phantasmal image to block. Then bounced it back to his hand with reflector Mage on my turn - felt good! However the oblivion stone putting a fate counter on it the following turn didn’t feel so good.
Sideboard: Out: militia bugler. In: gaddock teeg and damping sphere.
Game 2 - Some good choices with Meddling Mage and then Gaddock Teeg left me free to follow up with aggressive attacks. Aided by my opponent chaining chromatic star and chromatic sphere looking for answers.
Game 3 - I think a couple of misplays in this game cost me. Tried a similar approach to Game 2, but a spatial contortion, and my misplay with triggers, resulted in my Meddling Mage that was naming oblivion stone dying. This destroyed my board state. Tried to destabilise with a damping sphere followed by a kitesail Freebooter - my opponents hand was karn, the liberated and 3 wurmcoil engine. He only needed one more land before he could play the Engines in consecutive turns, while I topdecked lands. Dissapointing end to the tournament.
Concluding Thoughts
- Dredgevine seemed ridiculously tough. How have others faired against this deck?
- sideboard choices may seem a little strange. Some of them I was unsure of myself. An area of my game I need to improve.
- Need to be more confident when there are lots of spectators.
- Love how the deck cans be über aggressive and disruptive at the same time.
- Try and stay focused so as not to misplay.
Sorry for the long post, but wanted to share some of the days experiences.
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Following the earlier idea, that we want more 2's and fewer 3's with Bugler... any thoughts on Hidden Dragonslayer? It's still in our primary color, and it acts as removal, introduces a source of lifegain, and gives us some options on when to use it. The downside is that it's not the greatest with vial.
For smaller things on the board, maybe leverage Champion/Lieutenant with an Ulvenwald Tracker.
So, the match ups: Round 1 vs DredgeVine 0-2 Game 1 - Opponent was on the play and started with a faithless looting, putting two vengvine into the graveyard. I played an aether Vial. Turn 2, opponent played x2 insolent neonate and swung for 8 with the vengevines. It all went down hill pretty rapidly from this point.
Sideboard: Out: Meddling Mage and Militia Bugler. In: sin collector and auriok Champion. Took out Meddling because I wasn’t confident on what to name.
Round 2 vs GW Value Town 2-1 Game 1 - this was one of the most ridiculous games of magic I played. Had meddling mages on collected company and path to exile and every time my opponent played a knight of the reliquary I used a reflector Mage. In the end lost out to my opponent gaining too much life and destroying all my lands.
Sideboard: Out: militia bugler and mix of other creatures. In: gut shot, gaddock teeg and Izzet Staticaster.
Game 3 - very close game although I always felt in a strong position with two early aether Vials. I won with a mantis rider off the top and copied with a vialled phantasmal image, after bouncing his last aerial blocker.
Round 3 vs Mardu Pyromancer 2-0 Game 1 - Had an awesome hand and picked my opponents hand apart with kitesail Freebooter and managed to attack for lots of early damage.
Game 2 - this was the by far the most ridiculous game I played all day. Cutting a long story short, my opponent was on 1 life and I was on 65 life thanks to x2 auriok Champion but my opponent had a stack load of white spirit and elemental tokens. In a moment of madness, he killed my mantis riders and swung with all the spirits. I honestly thought it was a trap, but swung in for the win the following turn.
Round 4 vs Grixis Death Shadow 2-0 Game 1 - had a great start picking my opponents hand apart and bounced all his blockers. Quick easy wins and didn’t take any damage in either game.
Sideboard: Out: Thalia’s lieutenant. In: auriok Champion and sin collector.
Game 2 - practically a repeat of game 1, but even quicker thanks to sin collector and my opponent getting stuck on 1 land.
Round 5 vs Hollow One 1-2 Game 1 - opponent managed to play x2 hollow one on his first turn. Couldn’t muster a real response.
Sideboard: Out: Meddling Mage. In: reclamation sage and sin collector.
Game 2 - Had a very aggressive hand, thought I would risk it over a mulligan for a more disruptive hand. Payed off as I quickly had very large creatures and was able to bounce his blockers.
Game 3 - very close game, but my opponent played all 4 burning inquiry, which unfortunately stripped me of all my needed pieces each time. I eventually got overrun with Hollow Ones.
Round 6 vs GW Value Town 2-0
This match was against a friend and it was likely the winner would make Top 8. Just beat two other friends through tiebreaks.
Game 2 - virtually an exact repeat of game 1, but ended a few turns earlier due to a misplay on my friend’s part.
Quarters vs Infect 2-1 Game 1 - I couldn’t find an answer for my opponents blighted agent, so tried to outrage him. Didn’t work!
Sideboard: Out: militia bugler, Meddling Mage. In: gut shot, sin collector
Game 2 - kept a disruptive hand and managed to bounce his creatures before going hard with mantis rider.
Game 3 - Was a very close game, with misplays from both us. Finished with myself on 5 poison, knowing my opponent had a pump spell in hand, but I managed to put him at 1 life, so he couldn’t use his fetchland to pay thalia, guardian of thraben tax. Nail biting end, but boosted my confidence knocking out the top seed.
Semis vs G-Tron 1-2 Game 1 - I basically got Tronned. However, this match involved my favourite play of the event. My opponent cast a ulamog, the infinite gyr and moved to attacks. I vialled in a phantasmal image to block. Then bounced it back to his hand with reflector Mage on my turn - felt good! However the oblivion stone putting a fate counter on it the following turn didn’t feel so good.
Sideboard: Out: militia bugler. In: gaddock teeg and damping sphere.
Game 2 - Some good choices with Meddling Mage and then Gaddock Teeg left me free to follow up with aggressive attacks. Aided by my opponent chaining chromatic star and chromatic sphere looking for answers.
Game 3 - I think a couple of misplays in this game cost me. Tried a similar approach to Game 2, but a spatial contortion, and my misplay with triggers, resulted in my Meddling Mage that was naming oblivion stone dying. This destroyed my board state. Tried to destabilise with a damping sphere followed by a kitesail Freebooter - my opponents hand was karn, the liberated and 3 wurmcoil engine. He only needed one more land before he could play the Engines in consecutive turns, while I topdecked lands. Dissapointing end to the tournament.
Concluding Thoughts
- Dredgevine seemed ridiculously tough. How have others faired against this deck?
- sideboard choices may seem a little strange. Some of them I was unsure of myself. An area of my game I need to improve.
- Need to be more confident when there are lots of spectators.
- Love how the deck cans be über aggressive and disruptive at the same time.
- Try and stay focused so as not to misplay.
Sorry for the long post, but wanted to share some of the days experiences.
Great result none the less. Congratulations!
Dredgevine is just an awesome meta choice at the moment since most have lowered the number or even dropped grave hate pieces entirely. The deck has also got some nice tools from Core Set 2019.
Tron is just tough. T3 Tron into Karn is usually game over.
Don't worry about missplays. This can be a thing of the day and happen to anyone. Just make sure you learn from them and recognise the situations and you'll be ok
Ironically, I changed my sideboard the night before. Removing a grafdigger’s cage and adding a second kataki, war’s wage. As I didn’t see Affinity all day it seems a bad decision, but I know if I had kept it I would’ve been paired against Affinity.... Sod’s law and all that.
I know what you mean about Karn. I’m wondering whether double meddling Mage on oblivion stone is the right call. That way the opponent has to remove both if they want to play it, whereas if I have one naming O-Stone and one Karn, then it frees up their removal. Also, if they use Karn to get rid of one, it leaves him slightly more vulnerable to attacks. Thoughts?
I also see there is discussion about additional 1-drops. I’m obviously by no means a pro player, but it really doesn’t feel like the deck needs it. Even with Bugler it feels like it needs more draw....
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I also see there is discussion about additional 1-drops. I’m obviously by no means a pro player, but it really doesn’t feel like the deck needs it. Even with Bugler it feels like it needs more draw....
Yep, I agree after all. 4 Vials 4 Hierarchs 4 Parish is enough. It's just that I feel like Reflector mage is super great against aggro decks but maybe not good enough against Affinity, so I was wondering if the t2 bugler into a t3 high-impact sideboard card was the way to go.
We have to be careful not to overload the mana curve with 3-drops, right?
So far, I like playing 3 Buglers (along with 3 Thalia and 3 RefMage). I prefer not reducing the count of Phantasmal Image because it's a valid target for Bugler's ability, and the only way for Bugler to fetch a « Mantis Rider » (by copying one already on the battlefield).
I didn't had a great night yesterday, losing to Ad Nauseum and never recognizing the deck until opponent played Phyrexian Unlife (note to self : Lotus Bloom is only played in Ad Nauseum). Thus I lost game 1 with Meddling Mage in my hand, uncast the turn before losing because I didn't know what to name with it. Won game 2, but lost game 3 after a serious mistake. Freebooter exiled a removal instead of Combo piece because I had another Freebooter (which was supposed to take care of the combo without fear of the removal). Turns out the removal was Slaughter Pact, and Freebooter was immuned to it anyway (should have read the card more carefully). Freebooter #2 never resolved, thanks to Pact if Negation. Lesson learned.
Also learned to watch out for Anger of the Gods against RG Aggro that plays Baloth post SB...
Well... my losses were both 1-2 (not 0-2), losing to mistakes on game 3. After the tournament was over, I got to play an off the record match against the undefeated winner of the nigh (WB Death & Taxes), and won 2-0. Felt good.
Mike Sigrist wrote an excellent article about the Pro Tour and his deck of choice : Humans. You can read it here.
He played 4 Buglers in the main deck, but according to the article, he would reduce that to 2 or 3 in favor for full play set of Image or RefMage. Seems on point with what I've experienced. Humans don't really want to pause mid game to get an extra card, and would rather play the above mentioned cards right away than a Bugler to hopefully play these a turn later. Makes sense to play Bugler #3 in the SB for the grindy matchups (Jeskai, Mardu and Jund), but we don't see these decks a lot recently. Could help also digging out our precious SB cards...
Mike Sigrist wrote an excellent article about the Pro Tour and his deck of choice : Humans. You can read it here.
He played 4 Buglers in the main deck, but according to the article, he would reduce that to 2 or 3 in favor for full play set of Image or RefMage. Seems on point with what I've experienced. Humans don't really want to pause mid game to get an extra card, and would rather play the above mentioned cards right away than a Bugler to hopefully play these a turn later. Makes sense to play Bugler #3 in the SB for the grindy matchups (Jeskai, Mardu and Jund), but we don't see these decks a lot recently. Could help also digging out our precious SB cards...
That was a good read, I liked hearing a lot of the though process behind the choices. There are 50 some cards which are basically non-negotiable, so it is really easy to get tied up in super small details and things that won't make a huge difference, but it is also possible to get some real edges from the sum of these small details.
Bugler is obviously a good card and a good fit for this deck, and though I think there are metas where you want 4 it will often be a 2 or 3 of. I am fairly confident that going below two is very wrong, but you get into really fuzzy territory for whether 2 or 3 is better. Double Bubler openers without a Vial or Hierarch knock down your speed big time (Realistically, most Bugler hands without Hierarch or Vial are by default pretty slow, just like Recruiter of the Guard in Legacy DnT). Bugler has a respectable body, but it will never be the kind of clock Champion or Mantis Rider can be.
When it first came out I really wanted to get a feel for it so I jammed 4, using all of the flex slots and shifting a Reflector to the board. Afterwards I switched the 4th Bugler and 4th Reflector, bringing him in from the board for the grind or in spots when I had high-impact sideboard cards.
One line I really liked was that Bugler isn't what makes Humans great. I gushed for entirely too long about how good this card is a page or so back, and I still stand by every word I said. This will almost never be your best card in any matchup, but it is very powerful and fills in a few very important slots functionally and deckbuilding wise, even if it is only a 2 or 3 of in the 75. That being said, the things that really make this deck great are the high synergy, speed, and impressive mix of aggression and disruption. It is also easily the best Aether Vial deck in the format, and probably the best Noble Hierarch deck in the format, which is impressive because these are two of the more powerful cards in the pool. I think this is also probably the best Horizon Canopy deck EVER. Getting to play 4 of this land is an amazing boon to the deck, and I would be interested to see if anyone can come up with a deck that uses/used it better.
This definitely seems to be a card where the numbers will fluctuate a lot. If Jund and UWR are all over the place, then I want lots of them. If people are just trying to vomit Vengevines and Hollow Ones onto the table, then he is too slow and you really want those 4 Reflector Mages in the main. My gut for next weekend (Eternal Weekend Yokohama) is to play three main, and am about 50/50 to put the 4th in the board, but its really hard to say confidently what the "right" numbers are.
Although I only played against a couple of Humans' players at 1 PPTQ, this is my 2 cents. (I was BridgeVine)
I don't believe Aether Vial comes out. turn 1 Aether Vial into Champion of the Parish and Thalia's Lieutenant on turn 2 is one of the best ways to stabilize vs. multiple Vengevines. I realize that it does the same thing without Vial by turn 2, but turn 3 is where the Vial difference starts to shine. Kitesail Freebooter doesn't really do much, even if it has evasion. As long as you're not the beatdown, which usually you aren't in the matchup, then it probably goes. I would consider taking out some Buglers because they're slow, but they really shine in the midgame, where you can put away your BridgeVine opponent.
I think the key to the matchup is having a hand with some early plays and some beef, then hoping that they don't nut draw you.
*I know some may be wondering - why is he here? I am most likely running Humans at a PPTQ tomorrow, after seeing my team mate and another friend already win their PPTQs on Humans. There must be some sort of trend, lol.
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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)
Ari Lax wrote a good Premium article about Modern matchups (including Humans) a few weeks ago on SCG. These Premium articles are unlocked after 14 days, so it's free to read now.
Also, Cedric Phillips’ article provides interesting arguments between two different lines of play vs Green Tron : Hierarch + Rider for 4 on turn 2? Or Vial + Meddling Mage and Hierarch on turn 2? I guess this article can trigger a 10+ posts storm here about what's the right line of play... my 2 cents : I would aim for Meddling Mage on T2 to name Sylvan Scrying, hoping to disrupt their whole plan. I've always been in favor of making sure they can't assemble the combo lands. After all, naming any of their threats or sweepers in the blind is a hard to win lottery (name Karn, they'll play Ugin ; name Oblivion Stone and they’ll play Walking Ballista, etc.).
Unless you are running some other manabase, remember that anything that cost white and is not a creature only has 11 mana sources (7 lands and 4 hierarch). If it costs green we are down to only 8 sources, and all of them quite fragile (canopy being cracked for draws and hierarchs might die). I'm not sold on the 6 mana big game hunter with lifelink Hidden Dragonslayer. In the matchups we need lifegain, we have Auriok Champion, and in the matchups we need removal we have Dismember and Reflector Mage. Ulvenwald Tracker costs green to activate which makes it hard to play.
I use a slightly different manabase. But you're right on the green for tracker. What I like about Dragonslayer though is that it doesn't dilute the threat count. The problem I have now that Bugler is in the deck, is that I'm really disliking consistency when I bring in cards like Gut Shot and Dismember. I would much rather find solutions that don't impact consistency. The other thing I'm noticing is that the deck is feeling too clunky with all the 3's between Reflector Mage, Bugler, and Mantis Rider. Dragonslayer represents an opportunity to cut one Mage and have a split card between a 2 drop and a more expensive removal spell pushing the count from 11 3 drops to 10 while also leaving us with a mana sink, which is rare in this list.
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I will admit that I was pretty bad about following spoilers and newly released M19 cards. After seeing it pop again I do think I saw it at some point during spoiler time, but I wasn't really paying attention or thinking about Modern at the time. My default view for decent-looking white creatures is for Legacy DnT, and Remorseful Cleric was the bigger news there. I have also just been playing a lot of Legacy after the bans to test out the new environment.
After checking recent decklist and seeing all of the successful lists playing at least 3 Buglers, it finally clicked that there was a new card that I really need to be paying attention to. And make no mistake about it: this is the most important card printed for this deck since Unclaimed Territory.
I have played a good amount with Humans, and I have played Legacy Death and Taxes for a long time. I will definitely draw some insights from my DnT experience, which is of course different but has a few important similarities. The really basic, obvious one is that they are both Aether Vial decks, which is of course a huge one. Another similarity that is more subtle is that they are decks with little selection, little card advantage, and a deceptively high number of mana sources. Both decks are at the mercy of their draws, and while drawing 2.5 lands, Vial, and all creatures will run over all sorts of decks, drawing your 5th and 6th land in these decks is problematic. A deck like 19 Mountain mono-red just commits to losing some small number of games to flood, and there isn't much to be done. Decks like Humans and DnT can make some deckbuilding decisions that don't eliminate these problems, but definitely help to mitigate them.
So let's talk about Horizon Canopy. It is easy to look at this as an on-color, untapped dual land that has some moderate upside. In a lot of decks this is correct, but Horizon Canopy is extremely powerful and it can be easy to not realize it is one of the most important cards in the deck. Counting Hierarchs and Vials, the deck has 27 mana sources. Humans needs Vials and Hierarchs for its explosive starts, but at the end of the day a deck with nothing that costs more than 3 doesn't actually want 27 mana sources. Having a land on turns 1 to 3 that turns into gas on turn 4 or 5 is huge boon for this deck.
Another point about Canopy is that Aether Vial decks tend to want value out of their lands because they play more mana than they may otherwise want. Merfolk decks like Mutavault because of tribal synergies, but also as a mana sink. Death and Taxes like Port and Wasteland because they contribute to the mana denial plan, but carry out utility when mana isn't needed or while Vial pumps out dudes. Eldrazi and Taxes decks often play Shambling Vent as a solid body but also as a mana sink.
What does this have to do with Bugler? I am getting there. My point here is that there are distinct weaknesses to having nothing but creatures, Aether Vials, and lands in your deck. Canopy mitigates one, the risk of flooding and very low value of excess lands. Bugler hits two other big ones: card advantage, and selection.
For card advantage, Humans has a limited amount, but all of it a bit conditional. Kitesail Freebooter is the most obvious and is a clean two-for-one if it survives, but it is vulnerable. It can also whiff and loses value later on. Reflector Mage serves as a body and effectively a removal spell, but doesn't always actually represent an extra card of value. This isn't criticizing the card, it more than earns its spot. It of course incredible tempo, which is often game winning. Also, hitting things like Gurmag Angler is close enough to a removal spell, but in a strict sense it doesn't create card advantage. Meddling Mage is another card that - particularly with info on their hard - often represents card advantage of a kind but is still vulnerable to removal and can still whiff.
A Militia Bugler that hits the battlefield is always card advantage, and through Vial and Cavern it is even immune to countermagic a good amount of the time. It is in class of value creatures like Baleful Strix, Shardless Agent, Eternal Witness, and others that are mostly guaranteed to have a positive impact. I'm not a math scientist so I don't have percentages, but with 33 hits in the deck it close to guaranteed to draw you a card. The fact that it is pretty likely to draw you a good card is another big plus. This is an effect that this deck simply did not have before, and it makes a difference. There are games against Bloodbraid Elf or Snapcaster Mage or Kolaghan's Command decks when you get two-for-oned once or twice, draw one too many lands, and just die. You have to rely on your deck just feeding you gas, which is bad spot to be in against card advantage or removal heavy decks. I feel strongly that Bugler is a big boon for Humans against fair decks, and will bring matchup that were slightly unfavored back up to 50/50, and push 50/50 matchups into a favorable range. This kind of staying power is what things like Xathrid Necromancer were for, but this has better stats, an easier mana-cost, and is exceptionally maindeckable.
The fact that this comes with selection is very important, because it is an effect that Humans simply has none of right now. Things like Reflector Mage and Meddling Mage can vary wildly in value based on matchups, and there are times when a topdecked Freebooter does literally nothing but a Lieutenant pushes through lethal. This is a big strength of things like Stoneforge Mystic and Recruiter of the Guard in Legacy DnT, because you can find specific cards in a deck with 11 basic Plains, while that is usually Brainstorm and Ponder's job. Bugler doesn't let you play single bullets or find very specific answers, but it does give you at least some agency over your draw rather than the series of blind draws we generally depend on.
So what does all this mean? If you look at any of the lists from the last SCG Open, it is pretty clear that about 3.5 copies of this card is now stock in Humans. Restoration Angel, Dark Confidant, Kessig Malcontents, anything else that popped up in your flew slots, these slots should almost certainly be Buglers.
Some other cards fluctuate in value. I think Reflector Mage, Meddling Mage, Freebooter, and Phantasmal Image are all candidates to go down to 3, though they all remain reasonable 4-ofs. It would seem that the half dozen or so 'flex slots' we have been filling with all kinds of stuff are basically the 4th copies of a few select cards (including Bugler itself), and maybe 1 or 2 final slots.
Aether Vial gets better. Bugler will be slightly slow and clunky without Vial, which will be the big argument against playing the full four (though I still think 4 is a more than defensible number on raw power). With Vial, you can take more actions per turn even when low on lands, and the draws from Bugler will give you more gas to use your Vials and mana more effectively.
Noble Heirarch gets better for similar reasons, as you have more uses for extra mana in a turn. Previously if you have 5 or 6 mana and draw a single card, you would never actually use it all, but 5 or 6 mana turns even later in the game will be more common.
Your 2-of sideboard bullets get better, as you can dig for them and find them more consistently. In my limited time playing with the card, playing a Bugler and finding a Rec Sage or Sin Collector at an opportune time has felt extremely powerful. These sideboard cards are generally high impact and are themselves clean 2-for-1s, so chaining them together is a lot of value.
Okay this got way longer than I expected, but I wanted to get my thoughts down on paper. I think there are quite a lot of people who just evaluate this at face value, "human, check, good stats, check, good ability, check." This is fine, but if you dig more into the theory side of the deck, like where it gets its power from and some of the weaknesses inherent in creature decks and Aether Vial decks, I really feel that this cards gives it noticeable boosts in certain matchups and represents a unique effect that the deck was lacking previously but is well positioned to make good use of.
Militia Bugler is the value/filter card this deck wanted and makes the post-board games that much better.
Modern: WUBRG Humans - GBW Traverse - GWU Knightfall - GRW Bushwhacker Zoo -
The selection piece is a big deal, but it must be pointed out that oftentimes we want a Bugler target early, and Bugler does not get targets early--in the timeframe that this deck is operating on, that is. If you're digging for Rec Sage or Kataki on T3 against Affinity, it's already too late, unless maybe you were on the play and landed a T1 Vial. So the dig has to be evaluated somewhat critically.
Xathrid Necromancer is good against sweepers and targeted removal of course, but it can also be very good against aggro, where you can use it lategame for chump blocks, only to then Vial Necromancer in before damage and subsequently crack back with a bunch of 2/2s out of nowhere. I'd really like to run one in the side, but right now I don't feel I have room.
But what if you play a manadork on t1? playing a t2 bugler into a t3 Kataki/Rec Sage should be entirely different.
How about adding a 5th manadork (Avacyn's Pilgrim)? I feel like it significantly increases the odds of playing a t2 bugler into a t3 Kataki/Rec Sage, and the good thing is that the decks against which digging for an answer is good are often decks that have few removals for the t1 dork (Affinity, KCI, Tron, other combo decks...)
I also think you want to focus on more 2 drops in a Bugler list. It makes your vials better, and the vial curve will generally let you cast Bugler and then vial a 2 drop a turn earlier than you could do the reverse where you vial bugler and cast what you hit.
I've been having good results with Dark Confidant.
Wondering a bit about Warden of the First Tree as part of lowering the curve and adding something of a mana sink in the event you flood.
Similarly, Kytheon, Hero of Akros is a 1-drop that could help against decks you are trying to race, but it's probably not good enough.
I agree that with Bugler, 2-drops are a bit better. Dark Confidant is the best card for this slot, even if I wonder if we really need that kind of effect now that we have Bugler (it's much more the midrange plan than the aggro plan). 1 Mayor of Avabruck is great to have a 5th 'lord' and it improves your board presence immediately, but it trades 1-for-1 with a removal.
I'm still condering the 5th mana dork to make the deck faster esp. after sideboard.
Things didn't work out so wel this time. It was an evening with many muligans, always on the draw and awfully sloppy play from my side.
I guess things happen.
Went up against Jund and Jeskai control (both 1-2) and had a win VS a monored Norin the Wary deck 1-1-0. Drew game 2 because he was blinking me the whole time to 80+ life trough 3 Auriok Champions vs Norin and a bunch of Goblin Rabblemasters. He has bridges down so we just sat there.
Ended up 2-2 due to a bye.
This week another deck
Modern: WUBRG Humans - GBW Traverse - GWU Knightfall - GRW Bushwhacker Zoo -
I was thinking more about the 4 mana activation, but you're right that it's still just a 3/3 so that's probably not very good. I'll consider Kytheon. When it comes to Bob I'm running a 2 of right now, but if not for Tron I think I would run Dire Fleet Daredevil in it's place MB.
Played a pretty stock list, except:
Sideboard:
So, the match ups:
Round 1 vs DredgeVine 0-2
Game 1 - Opponent was on the play and started with a faithless looting, putting two vengvine into the graveyard. I played an aether Vial. Turn 2, opponent played x2 insolent neonate and swung for 8 with the vengevines. It all went down hill pretty rapidly from this point.
Sideboard: Out: Meddling Mage and Militia Bugler. In: sin collector and auriok Champion. Took out Meddling because I wasn’t confident on what to name.
Game 2 - I managed to get a bit more of a stable board with thalia, guardian of thraben and kitesail Freebooter early. However, my opponent played a couple of timely dark blast and lightning axe before pretty much repeating game 1. Not the best start.
Round 2 vs GW Value Town 2-1
Game 1 - this was one of the most ridiculous games of magic I played. Had meddling mages on collected company and path to exile and every time my opponent played a knight of the reliquary I used a reflector Mage. In the end lost out to my opponent gaining too much life and destroying all my lands.
Sideboard: Out: militia bugler and mix of other creatures. In: gut shot, gaddock teeg and Izzet Staticaster.
Game 2 - I got an early lock on collected company and used gut shot on two birds of paradise. Followed swiftly by a few mantis riders won me a quick game.
Game 3 - very close game although I always felt in a strong position with two early aether Vials. I won with a mantis rider off the top and copied with a vialled phantasmal image, after bouncing his last aerial blocker.
Round 3 vs Mardu Pyromancer 2-0
Game 1 - Had an awesome hand and picked my opponents hand apart with kitesail Freebooter and managed to attack for lots of early damage.
Sideboard: Out: reflector Mage, aether Vial. In: Auriok Champion and Izzet Staticaster.
Game 2 - this was the by far the most ridiculous game I played all day. Cutting a long story short, my opponent was on 1 life and I was on 65 life thanks to x2 auriok Champion but my opponent had a stack load of white spirit and elemental tokens. In a moment of madness, he killed my mantis riders and swung with all the spirits. I honestly thought it was a trap, but swung in for the win the following turn.
Round 4 vs Grixis Death Shadow 2-0
Game 1 - had a great start picking my opponents hand apart and bounced all his blockers. Quick easy wins and didn’t take any damage in either game.
Sideboard: Out: Thalia’s lieutenant. In: auriok Champion and sin collector.
Game 2 - practically a repeat of game 1, but even quicker thanks to sin collector and my opponent getting stuck on 1 land.
Round 5 vs Hollow One 1-2
Game 1 - opponent managed to play x2 hollow one on his first turn. Couldn’t muster a real response.
Sideboard: Out: Meddling Mage. In: reclamation sage and sin collector.
Game 2 - Had a very aggressive hand, thought I would risk it over a mulligan for a more disruptive hand. Payed off as I quickly had very large creatures and was able to bounce his blockers.
Game 3 - very close game, but my opponent played all 4 burning inquiry, which unfortunately stripped me of all my needed pieces each time. I eventually got overrun with Hollow Ones.
Round 6 vs GW Value Town 2-0
This match was against a friend and it was likely the winner would make Top 8. Just beat two other friends through tiebreaks.
Game 1 - Close to the god hand, with early aggression, lock on collected company followed by x3 mantis rider.
Sideboard: same as earlier match.
Game 2 - virtually an exact repeat of game 1, but ended a few turns earlier due to a misplay on my friend’s part.
Quarters vs Infect 2-1
Game 1 - I couldn’t find an answer for my opponents blighted agent, so tried to outrage him. Didn’t work!
Sideboard: Out: militia bugler, Meddling Mage. In: gut shot, sin collector
Game 2 - kept a disruptive hand and managed to bounce his creatures before going hard with mantis rider.
Game 3 - Was a very close game, with misplays from both us. Finished with myself on 5 poison, knowing my opponent had a pump spell in hand, but I managed to put him at 1 life, so he couldn’t use his fetchland to pay thalia, guardian of thraben tax. Nail biting end, but boosted my confidence knocking out the top seed.
Semis vs G-Tron 1-2
Game 1 - I basically got Tronned. However, this match involved my favourite play of the event. My opponent cast a ulamog, the infinite gyr and moved to attacks. I vialled in a phantasmal image to block. Then bounced it back to his hand with reflector Mage on my turn - felt good! However the oblivion stone putting a fate counter on it the following turn didn’t feel so good.
Sideboard: Out: militia bugler. In: gaddock teeg and damping sphere.
Game 2 - Some good choices with Meddling Mage and then Gaddock Teeg left me free to follow up with aggressive attacks. Aided by my opponent chaining chromatic star and chromatic sphere looking for answers.
Game 3 - I think a couple of misplays in this game cost me. Tried a similar approach to Game 2, but a spatial contortion, and my misplay with triggers, resulted in my Meddling Mage that was naming oblivion stone dying. This destroyed my board state. Tried to destabilise with a damping sphere followed by a kitesail Freebooter - my opponents hand was karn, the liberated and 3 wurmcoil engine. He only needed one more land before he could play the Engines in consecutive turns, while I topdecked lands. Dissapointing end to the tournament.
Concluding Thoughts
- Dredgevine seemed ridiculously tough. How have others faired against this deck?
- sideboard choices may seem a little strange. Some of them I was unsure of myself. An area of my game I need to improve.
- Need to be more confident when there are lots of spectators.
- Love how the deck cans be über aggressive and disruptive at the same time.
- Try and stay focused so as not to misplay.
Sorry for the long post, but wanted to share some of the days experiences.
Everyone loves an angry mob RWG
Why so Bloo? RU
For smaller things on the board, maybe leverage Champion/Lieutenant with an Ulvenwald Tracker.
Great result none the less. Congratulations!
Dredgevine is just an awesome meta choice at the moment since most have lowered the number or even dropped grave hate pieces entirely. The deck has also got some nice tools from Core Set 2019.
Tron is just tough. T3 Tron into Karn is usually game over.
Don't worry about missplays. This can be a thing of the day and happen to anyone. Just make sure you learn from them and recognise the situations and you'll be ok
Modern: WUBRG Humans - GBW Traverse - GWU Knightfall - GRW Bushwhacker Zoo -
Ironically, I changed my sideboard the night before. Removing a grafdigger’s cage and adding a second kataki, war’s wage. As I didn’t see Affinity all day it seems a bad decision, but I know if I had kept it I would’ve been paired against Affinity.... Sod’s law and all that.
I know what you mean about Karn. I’m wondering whether double meddling Mage on oblivion stone is the right call. That way the opponent has to remove both if they want to play it, whereas if I have one naming O-Stone and one Karn, then it frees up their removal. Also, if they use Karn to get rid of one, it leaves him slightly more vulnerable to attacks. Thoughts?
I also see there is discussion about additional 1-drops. I’m obviously by no means a pro player, but it really doesn’t feel like the deck needs it. Even with Bugler it feels like it needs more draw....
Everyone loves an angry mob RWG
Why so Bloo? RU
Yep, I agree after all. 4 Vials 4 Hierarchs 4 Parish is enough. It's just that I feel like Reflector mage is super great against aggro decks but maybe not good enough against Affinity, so I was wondering if the t2 bugler into a t3 high-impact sideboard card was the way to go.
We have to be careful not to overload the mana curve with 3-drops, right?
So far, I like playing 3 Buglers (along with 3 Thalia and 3 RefMage). I prefer not reducing the count of Phantasmal Image because it's a valid target for Bugler's ability, and the only way for Bugler to fetch a « Mantis Rider » (by copying one already on the battlefield).
I didn't had a great night yesterday, losing to Ad Nauseum and never recognizing the deck until opponent played Phyrexian Unlife (note to self : Lotus Bloom is only played in Ad Nauseum). Thus I lost game 1 with Meddling Mage in my hand, uncast the turn before losing because I didn't know what to name with it. Won game 2, but lost game 3 after a serious mistake. Freebooter exiled a removal instead of Combo piece because I had another Freebooter (which was supposed to take care of the combo without fear of the removal). Turns out the removal was Slaughter Pact, and Freebooter was immuned to it anyway (should have read the card more carefully). Freebooter #2 never resolved, thanks to Pact if Negation. Lesson learned.
Also learned to watch out for Anger of the Gods against RG Aggro that plays Baloth post SB...
Well... my losses were both 1-2 (not 0-2), losing to mistakes on game 3. After the tournament was over, I got to play an off the record match against the undefeated winner of the nigh (WB Death & Taxes), and won 2-0. Felt good.
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.
He played 4 Buglers in the main deck, but according to the article, he would reduce that to 2 or 3 in favor for full play set of Image or RefMage. Seems on point with what I've experienced. Humans don't really want to pause mid game to get an extra card, and would rather play the above mentioned cards right away than a Bugler to hopefully play these a turn later. Makes sense to play Bugler #3 in the SB for the grindy matchups (Jeskai, Mardu and Jund), but we don't see these decks a lot recently. Could help also digging out our precious SB cards...
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.
That was a good read, I liked hearing a lot of the though process behind the choices. There are 50 some cards which are basically non-negotiable, so it is really easy to get tied up in super small details and things that won't make a huge difference, but it is also possible to get some real edges from the sum of these small details.
Bugler is obviously a good card and a good fit for this deck, and though I think there are metas where you want 4 it will often be a 2 or 3 of. I am fairly confident that going below two is very wrong, but you get into really fuzzy territory for whether 2 or 3 is better. Double Bubler openers without a Vial or Hierarch knock down your speed big time (Realistically, most Bugler hands without Hierarch or Vial are by default pretty slow, just like Recruiter of the Guard in Legacy DnT). Bugler has a respectable body, but it will never be the kind of clock Champion or Mantis Rider can be.
When it first came out I really wanted to get a feel for it so I jammed 4, using all of the flex slots and shifting a Reflector to the board. Afterwards I switched the 4th Bugler and 4th Reflector, bringing him in from the board for the grind or in spots when I had high-impact sideboard cards.
One line I really liked was that Bugler isn't what makes Humans great. I gushed for entirely too long about how good this card is a page or so back, and I still stand by every word I said. This will almost never be your best card in any matchup, but it is very powerful and fills in a few very important slots functionally and deckbuilding wise, even if it is only a 2 or 3 of in the 75. That being said, the things that really make this deck great are the high synergy, speed, and impressive mix of aggression and disruption. It is also easily the best Aether Vial deck in the format, and probably the best Noble Hierarch deck in the format, which is impressive because these are two of the more powerful cards in the pool. I think this is also probably the best Horizon Canopy deck EVER. Getting to play 4 of this land is an amazing boon to the deck, and I would be interested to see if anyone can come up with a deck that uses/used it better.
This definitely seems to be a card where the numbers will fluctuate a lot. If Jund and UWR are all over the place, then I want lots of them. If people are just trying to vomit Vengevines and Hollow Ones onto the table, then he is too slow and you really want those 4 Reflector Mages in the main. My gut for next weekend (Eternal Weekend Yokohama) is to play three main, and am about 50/50 to put the 4th in the board, but its really hard to say confidently what the "right" numbers are.
I don't believe Aether Vial comes out. turn 1 Aether Vial into Champion of the Parish and Thalia's Lieutenant on turn 2 is one of the best ways to stabilize vs. multiple Vengevines. I realize that it does the same thing without Vial by turn 2, but turn 3 is where the Vial difference starts to shine. Kitesail Freebooter doesn't really do much, even if it has evasion. As long as you're not the beatdown, which usually you aren't in the matchup, then it probably goes. I would consider taking out some Buglers because they're slow, but they really shine in the midgame, where you can put away your BridgeVine opponent.
I think the key to the matchup is having a hand with some early plays and some beef, then hoping that they don't nut draw you.
*I know some may be wondering - why is he here? I am most likely running Humans at a PPTQ tomorrow, after seeing my team mate and another friend already win their PPTQs on Humans. There must be some sort of trend, lol.
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)Also, Cedric Phillips’ article provides interesting arguments between two different lines of play vs Green Tron : Hierarch + Rider for 4 on turn 2? Or Vial + Meddling Mage and Hierarch on turn 2? I guess this article can trigger a 10+ posts storm here about what's the right line of play... my 2 cents : I would aim for Meddling Mage on T2 to name Sylvan Scrying, hoping to disrupt their whole plan. I've always been in favor of making sure they can't assemble the combo lands. After all, naming any of their threats or sweepers in the blind is a hard to win lottery (name Karn, they'll play Ugin ; name Oblivion Stone and they’ll play Walking Ballista, etc.).
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.
I use a slightly different manabase. But you're right on the green for tracker. What I like about Dragonslayer though is that it doesn't dilute the threat count. The problem I have now that Bugler is in the deck, is that I'm really disliking consistency when I bring in cards like Gut Shot and Dismember. I would much rather find solutions that don't impact consistency. The other thing I'm noticing is that the deck is feeling too clunky with all the 3's between Reflector Mage, Bugler, and Mantis Rider. Dragonslayer represents an opportunity to cut one Mage and have a split card between a 2 drop and a more expensive removal spell pushing the count from 11 3 drops to 10 while also leaving us with a mana sink, which is rare in this list.