Going to try 4 Bugler and an Island somewhere in my list tonight at FNM and tomorrow at a PPTQ. Getting to 4 starts cutting into our "real slots", unsure about just cutting another Phantasmal Image or trying to move a Reflector Mage to the sideboard.
I was reading the Mardu Pyromancer thread today, and man their primer is really really well done. Do you guys think this primer should get updated at some point? It still has Mayor and Collected Company as cards in its banner lol.
Hi all, I haven't been following much Humans discussion because for the last two months or so because I was playing Standard. I see everyone else here likes the Bugler though. Modern PPTQ season is starting and after an underwhelming day 1 of the SCG on Standard on Sat I entered the Modern Classic yesterday with Humans and went 7-2 for 15th.
I am not very good at remembering how matches go even moments after the fact (it is a skill I'm trying to improve on) so I don't have enough to write up a full tournament report but I can try and answer questions. My matchups were:
R1: Esper Control 2-1 1-0-0
R2: Counters Company 2-1 2-0-0
R3: Mardu Pyro 2-1 3-0-0
R4: GW Elves 2-1 4-0-0
R5: Affinity 2-1 5-0-0
R6: Living End 1-2 5-1-0
R7: Hollow One 2-1 6-1-0
R8: G Tron 1-2 6-2-0
R9: Hollow One 2-1 7-2-0
Quick thoughts about the deck and card choices: Militia Bugler is clearly the new hotness, and I like it in the flex spots. Skimming through the past few posts it seems everyone here does to, so I'm not crazy. The card is medium/medium-strong but it will always be medium, as opposed to the other cards we used to run in those spots. I like that the card has a relatively high floor. Restoration Angel for example can be kind of wonky to cast as our deck would love to operate on 3 mana sources and Vial a lot of the time, and against decks where it's blowout potential isn't relevant it's just a flying beater that we may need to tick Vial up to 4 against. I like 2, but I can see going to 3. Unsure what I'd cut, perhaps a Reflector Mage mainboard.
I am in love with Gaddock Teeg. "Meddling Mage naming all their good spells". A friend of mine told me to play 2 but I decided to play 1 Teeg, 1 Kataki. Looking back I would have played 2 this weekend. This card just comes in against a lot of the field running around today, because it just turns off so many decks' payoff cards. Supreme Verdict/Cryptic Command. Collected Company/Chord of Calling. Karn/Ugin. Gifts Ungiven/Past in Flames. It's really not all that awkward to cast in this deck, and it can buy us enough time to close out a game while our opponents win conditions rot in their hand.
Selfless Spirit was another concession to U/W that I felt is also an out to Oblivion Stone (which Gaddock Teeg misses). I like it better than Xathrid Necromancer but I don't really like either. Unsure if it's even worth running wrath specific hate.
Kataki is a card that I am really not sure how to evaluate. The card is only good in one situation, it's in your opener against Affinity. That's what happened yesterday, but I'm not sure if it is good enough elsewhere to keep it in the 75. If I was going to play it I'd probably play 2 because you really need it in your opener against that deck, but 0 may be better than 2. Lantern has been on the downswing for months, and I don't think its that good against KCI but I've never played with it in that matchup so I could be wrong.
Everything else is pretty stock. Deck plays powerful Magic. It's linear and fast enough to win through rough matchups, which is something your deck has to do in Modern. Going to a PPTQ this upcoming weekend and I'll try to write notes to write a better actual report.
Please explain how Keldon Marauders is like an on curve Malcontents? If you got1 drop, 2 drop, Malcontents you're doing 3 damage. Not great, not a line I'd ever want to take, but you're doing 3. If you play Keldon on curve you're getting 1 damage on turn 2 and 1 damage on turn 4. That's only 2. Not to mention it leaves the battlefield so you lose a body.
If you're going to play snip Javelineers mainboard just play Gut Shot. It doesn't cost you mana and it's instant speed and it doesn't take two turns to turn on. If you're opponent goes turn 1 Hierarch you get to Gut Shot it and play your own one drop with Gut Shot. With Javalineer you play your Javalineer (over a 1 drop that's actually good) and your opponent still gets to untap with their Hierarch and gets 3 mana on turn 2. And then, if you happen to untap with your Javelineer on turn 2, you have to tap to use it's ability so you don't even get to push damage through. This deck can't win games taking the first two turns off. And if that one drop is a Champion of the Parish instead of a Noble well now you just can't kill it.
What is with your aversion to actual good cards?
Infraction issued for flaming and censor evasion. -- CavalryWolfPack
I will admit I am thinking from a different perspective, I've moved on from Koth/Skred into a more control type deck with sweepers like Sun/Moon. Skred may be a 1 mana creature removal spell, but to get rid of anything really relevant in the format you need 3-5 Snow-Mountains so it's not really a "1 mana" spell to me and seems really niche.
Chandra's - is nice against a board with 1 creature, but Karn's, with the right support, can create a creature that makes your opponent think twice about attacking (if they have no removal) even with multiple creatures AND he can do it two turns in a row, unlike Chandra who has to wait 2-3 turns to do it again.
With Skred on T1 you're killing most every ramp creature, Champion of the Parish, Vault Skirge/Signal Pest. Turn 2 you can kill the Humans entire disruption package, both Devoted Druid and Vizier, Young Pyro, Bob, Scooze, Tireless Tracker, all of Hollow One's smaller creatures. Aside from insanely strong Hollow One, Eldrazi Tron, and GDS draws Skred matches up fine when played early, you're hitting a lot of X/1s on turn 1, X/1s and X/2s on turn 2, X/3s on turn 3, and if you want to hedge for this matchups specifically I'd add multiple Dismembers into my MB before I'd think about cutting any Skreds. Skred is just very relevant early and scales amazingly into the late game where it becomes 1 mana "kill everything in the format smaller than ulamog". 1 mana to kill a 1-drop on turn 1 is fine. 1 mana to kill a beefy Tarmogoyf or Delve threat or Collonnade later can be game winning.
I don't know why people would think twice attacking into what's likely going to be a 1/1 or a 2/2. If our PWs are threatened enough to minus, they would likely attack us regardless. What artifacts would we need to make concessions to running to make Karn's minus valuable? Would we need to be some type of a Chalice deck? "The right support" makes me feel like we'd be pushing the deck away from the engine that makes it click.
Neither are win more. Koth is our deck's most efficient beatstick, a win condition, and a ramp spell in a pinch all at once. Those are three axes are deck wants to be in and can easily capitalize on. Over the course of playing this deck I've never walked away from an event not thinking Koth was the best (non-Blood Moon) card in the deck.
I'm unsure why we're comparing Karn to Koth when the more applicable comparison is Chandra, Torch. They're both primarily card advantage walkers, but Chandra's ult is a very relevant win condition, and I'm really not sure that I'd rather have Karn's minus to control a board than Chandra's. The play pattern of Play Koth/Chandra -> +1 for Ramp -> 1 Mana removal a creature is something Karn can't emulate.
Wasn't 22 lands with 4 Stormbreath stock? I'm not sure why it's shocking that that type of a mana base worked out lol.
Stormbreath is a great card, I wasn't saying otherwise. I'd run like 6 of that thing if I could get away with it. But good luck killing a Devoted Druid or an Elves player's board with a Stormbreath Dragon.
Canonist has been considered for this deck since the beginning, I think it was in the sideboard of the first 5c Humans list I saw. It's overkill imo.
Riders of Gavony is also "old tech", I think it's fine in a meta where you know you'll be facing a ton of tribal decks. I've been considering it because my local shop has multiple Humans, Elves, and Merfolk players.
There are more impactful 4drops than Oxid Ridge. Resto, Whirler Rogue, PnK, Hostage Taker, Venser.
Pontiff has a similar effect but I don't think one shot +1 effects are good enough. Hell we haven't run Mayor of Avubruk in months because static +1/+1 isn't good enough.
Garrison needs to attack to be good, it's snowbally but it does nothing the turn we cast it.
Venser has been talked about rather recently, I enjoy the card but I'm not sure it's strong enough. Might be stuck as card 61.
Rest of those cards just don't seem like cards I'd be happy enough to cast. Like E-wit is great for rebuying sideboard cards but if the counters company player has already taken a turn off to Qasali Pridemage my Grafdiggers Cage I feel like I've gained enough tempo to close out the game.
Deck isn't exactly solved, but it has had months of pros and pro testing teams trying to break it. New cards aside (I think Bodyguard is intriguing but I'm not one of the people who's been trying to play more 1-drops) I think if it costs less than 3 and is a Human and isn't being talked about there's probably a reason. I've just seen less innovation across the board than 4 months ago, there's probably a reason for it.
Obviously it's meta dependent but my area has a lot of small go-wide decks. Humans, certain Affinity draws, all colors of Elves, Mardu, the fairer draws from Counters Company (and Company decks in general), DnT, Fish. Flamecaller is a sweeper + turning the corner all in one card. The best analog would be playing Koth and -2ing into an Anger or Sweltering Suns, but it doesn't cost you two cards. 6 mana can be late-ish but I think it's fine as a curve topper and you can "ramp" into it a non-trivial percentage of the time with Mind Stone/Koth/Torch of Defiance. After grinding the beatdown player to a halt, this card can just be backbreaking.
Aside from her value as a sweeper, her +1 is a great way to start putting on a ton of pressure after a board clear, left unchecked it's the fastest one card clock our deck can represent. Most of the time when Flamecaller hits we've already grinded our opponent out of a lot of their resources so it's very rarely that both elementals are getting blocked, there aren't many decks (aside from very high roll Collected Companys) that can untap with no board state and few cards in hand and play two creatures large enough to eat the elementals, especially the decks that this card is supposed to be preying upon. And if they're blocking the "free" elementals they aren't blocking Koth mountain or Hazoret or whatever else we have on the battlefield. Her 0 is her worst ability, but in a top deck war turning a land into two cards isn't the worst thing in the world. A lot of time it is less useful than just attacking with 6 power though.
I've never had trouble casting 5 drops in this deck tbh so maybe our experiences just differ. I played either 4 Stormbreath or 3 Stormbreath + 1 Batterskull for the better part of a year on 22 lands. I'm on 23 lands now and still playing 3 Stormbreath plus the 6 drop PW and often feel like I could get away with shaving a land, but I'd rather flood with this deck than lose to screw because we have outlets for the mana in Hazoret, Scrying Sheets, and the cycling rocks.
Pyromaster is a card I've played before, I think it's good if you're really looking for a card to beat x/1s with. Reminds me a lot of Liliana Last Hope in Legacy. There is definitely merit for it's inclusion.
My meta is filled with Elves and Affinity and Mardu Pyro and I've gone up on sweepers with a lot of success. 7 in total across my 75. I'm also playing a 1 of Chandra, Flamecaller main as well. She can clear the board and just start threatening damage v quickly.
I've never had a problem with casting Reclamation Sage when I've needed it, but I haven't crunched the numbers about our landbase. I wouldn't go back to Renegades but I hate Boggles and Blood Moon too much.
The body on Anafenza is insane, I miss playing it lol. Wish I had an excuse to run it tbh. There is a Mono Blue Living End player at my local store pretty regularly. It blocks Hollow One and gets rid of Phoenix and Bloodghast. Maybe I can talk myself into this...
If I was playing with Dismember I'd be bringing it in pretty aggressively, basically any matchup where instant speed removal would matter or where I think I'd be staring across from a fatty I can't swing through. For the former, something like Counters Company or Elves where killing a piece of their combo with the other piece on the stack will give you turns of life to win the game. Infect is another place where I think you could bring it in. In these matchups you really don't care about your life total anyway, so it's really almost just a free removal spell. For the latter, things like Angler decks, random green midrange decks. In these creature matchups you're likely already shaving some of your disruption suite so finding room for Dismember isn't really difficult. Killing their 4/5 Goyf could just let you swing for lethal a turn or two sooner. But if you aren't worried about matchups from either of those categories (I'm particularly not just with the way my local meta is right now) I think you can skip Dismember entirely.
I haven't played with Anafenza in months, unless your local meta is really heavily on Dredge I think that's the first cut.
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@Kineticstasis I think Auriok Champion is one of the best cards in our sb right now. It's our best card vs Burn, and it's also very good vs the BRx decks with piles of removal like Jund and Mardu. I think all three of those matchups are fairly close but Auriok Champion sticking around likely pushes all of them in our favor.
I can't imagine playing Vithian Renegades over Reclamation Sage. There's almost zero downside and you get a sideboard card that can come in against more decks and be useful. It just makes your sideboard better, you can worry less losing to Worship or Blood Moon or Daybreak Coronet. Our mana base can handle 2G, especially with Noble and with Aether Vial. The Human etb triggers aren't very useful, in the matchups where we're bringing in Renegades/Rec Sage we want them to be as disruptive as possible, representing the fastest clock is secondary. It's purely upside in the situations we want it, and it makes our sideboard wider.
With my current 75 I've been cutting 3 Thalia, 2 Meddling Mage to bring in 2 Kataki, 1 Rec Sage, and 2 Staticaster. Shaving Meddling or Freebooter has been a debate for a while, I think Meddling is correct because Freebooter can take Plating and their removal spells, as well as block the flyers in a pinch.
I just feel like the way Affinity wins the game are just too varied for us to successfully play reactively, and we're not really likely to draw into enough damage to kill them before they can clog up the board unless their draw is incredibly bad. Kataki can steal some games on it's own but a lot of time we've just taken a turn not advancing our clock for it to eat a Galv Blast/Dispatch. Staticaster is blanked by Master of Etherium by itself, as well as Steel Overseer on the play. You obviously need it but there are plenty of spots where it's not good. We can't interact with Etched Champion, and if we lack Vial we can't interact with Inkmoth. Gut Shot might be worth testing, or playing more Rec Sages, but at that point I'm wondering if it's worth having that many cards in my SB dedicated for this matchup.
Went 3-1 yesterday. Sole loss was to Affinity. Never have success in that matchup despite how close people claim it is. Saw Kataki+Staticaster+Rec Sage and could not get there g2. Not sure if it's even worth having artifact hate in my SB at this point, could probably use those slots for something else.
Resto seems strong. Going to try it. The one of slots in this deck are weird because they all have very important roles and you can't play all of them. My tech spots have been Malcontents+Whirler Rogue+Venser for the past bit and all three cards have been good for me. Venser would probably be the cut for Resto but having MB outs to random prison cards (Bridge) and time walking people to win through like Supreme Verdict or Scapeshift is powerful.
I feel like Vial on 4 is something you gotta deal with sometimes. When your 4-drops win you the game (which they should if you're reaching to play them) it's really a non-issue.
Someone explain this thread's Deputy of Acquittals fetish with me because that card seems loose. Like when people in this thread were talking about Descendants Path rofl.
Chandra, Torch of Defiance got nerfed, what do you think of it?
Also there can be more planeswalkers now which gives for weight to this aspect
redirecting her + doesn't come up that often to begin with, don't think the nerf is big enough to reconsider her in the deck. card is nutty regardless.
I was reading the Mardu Pyromancer thread today, and man their primer is really really well done. Do you guys think this primer should get updated at some point? It still has Mayor and Collected Company as cards in its banner lol.
My list:
4 Champion of the Parish
1 Kessig Malcontents
4 Kitesail Freebooter
4 Mantis Rider
4 Meddling Mage
2 Militia Bugler
4 Noble Hierarch
3 Phantasmal Image
4 Reflector Mage
4 Thalia's Lieutenant
3 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
4 Aether Vial
Lands (19)
1 Plains
4 Ancient Ziggurat
4 Cavern of Souls
4 Horizon Canopy
2 Seachrome Coast
4 Unclaimed Territory
2 Auriok Champion
2 Izzet Staticaster
2 Reclamation Sage
1 Selfless Spirit
3 Sin Collector
1 Dismember
2 Gut Shot
1 Gaddock Teeg
1 Kataki, War's Wage
I am not very good at remembering how matches go even moments after the fact (it is a skill I'm trying to improve on) so I don't have enough to write up a full tournament report but I can try and answer questions. My matchups were:
R1: Esper Control 2-1 1-0-0
R2: Counters Company 2-1 2-0-0
R3: Mardu Pyro 2-1 3-0-0
R4: GW Elves 2-1 4-0-0
R5: Affinity 2-1 5-0-0
R6: Living End 1-2 5-1-0
R7: Hollow One 2-1 6-1-0
R8: G Tron 1-2 6-2-0
R9: Hollow One 2-1 7-2-0
Quick thoughts about the deck and card choices:
Militia Bugler is clearly the new hotness, and I like it in the flex spots. Skimming through the past few posts it seems everyone here does to, so I'm not crazy. The card is medium/medium-strong but it will always be medium, as opposed to the other cards we used to run in those spots. I like that the card has a relatively high floor. Restoration Angel for example can be kind of wonky to cast as our deck would love to operate on 3 mana sources and Vial a lot of the time, and against decks where it's blowout potential isn't relevant it's just a flying beater that we may need to tick Vial up to 4 against. I like 2, but I can see going to 3. Unsure what I'd cut, perhaps a Reflector Mage mainboard.
I am in love with Gaddock Teeg. "Meddling Mage naming all their good spells". A friend of mine told me to play 2 but I decided to play 1 Teeg, 1 Kataki. Looking back I would have played 2 this weekend. This card just comes in against a lot of the field running around today, because it just turns off so many decks' payoff cards. Supreme Verdict/Cryptic Command. Collected Company/Chord of Calling. Karn/Ugin. Gifts Ungiven/Past in Flames. It's really not all that awkward to cast in this deck, and it can buy us enough time to close out a game while our opponents win conditions rot in their hand.
Selfless Spirit was another concession to U/W that I felt is also an out to Oblivion Stone (which Gaddock Teeg misses). I like it better than Xathrid Necromancer but I don't really like either. Unsure if it's even worth running wrath specific hate.
Kataki is a card that I am really not sure how to evaluate. The card is only good in one situation, it's in your opener against Affinity. That's what happened yesterday, but I'm not sure if it is good enough elsewhere to keep it in the 75. If I was going to play it I'd probably play 2 because you really need it in your opener against that deck, but 0 may be better than 2. Lantern has been on the downswing for months, and I don't think its that good against KCI but I've never played with it in that matchup so I could be wrong.
Everything else is pretty stock. Deck plays powerful Magic. It's linear and fast enough to win through rough matchups, which is something your deck has to do in Modern. Going to a PPTQ this upcoming weekend and I'll try to write notes to write a better actual report.
If you're going to play snip Javelineers mainboard just play Gut Shot. It doesn't cost you mana and it's instant speed and it doesn't take two turns to turn on. If you're opponent goes turn 1 Hierarch you get to Gut Shot it and play your own one drop with Gut Shot. With Javalineer you play your Javalineer (over a 1 drop that's actually good) and your opponent still gets to untap with their Hierarch and gets 3 mana on turn 2. And then, if you happen to untap with your Javelineer on turn 2, you have to tap to use it's ability so you don't even get to push damage through. This deck can't win games taking the first two turns off. And if that one drop is a Champion of the Parish instead of a Noble well now you just can't kill it.
What is with your aversion to actual good cards?
Infraction issued for flaming and censor evasion. -- CavalryWolfPack
With Skred on T1 you're killing most every ramp creature, Champion of the Parish, Vault Skirge/Signal Pest. Turn 2 you can kill the Humans entire disruption package, both Devoted Druid and Vizier, Young Pyro, Bob, Scooze, Tireless Tracker, all of Hollow One's smaller creatures. Aside from insanely strong Hollow One, Eldrazi Tron, and GDS draws Skred matches up fine when played early, you're hitting a lot of X/1s on turn 1, X/1s and X/2s on turn 2, X/3s on turn 3, and if you want to hedge for this matchups specifically I'd add multiple Dismembers into my MB before I'd think about cutting any Skreds. Skred is just very relevant early and scales amazingly into the late game where it becomes 1 mana "kill everything in the format smaller than ulamog". 1 mana to kill a 1-drop on turn 1 is fine. 1 mana to kill a beefy Tarmogoyf or Delve threat or Collonnade later can be game winning.
I don't know why people would think twice attacking into what's likely going to be a 1/1 or a 2/2. If our PWs are threatened enough to minus, they would likely attack us regardless. What artifacts would we need to make concessions to running to make Karn's minus valuable? Would we need to be some type of a Chalice deck? "The right support" makes me feel like we'd be pushing the deck away from the engine that makes it click.
I'm unsure why we're comparing Karn to Koth when the more applicable comparison is Chandra, Torch. They're both primarily card advantage walkers, but Chandra's ult is a very relevant win condition, and I'm really not sure that I'd rather have Karn's minus to control a board than Chandra's. The play pattern of Play Koth/Chandra -> +1 for Ramp -> 1 Mana removal a creature is something Karn can't emulate.
Stormbreath is a great card, I wasn't saying otherwise. I'd run like 6 of that thing if I could get away with it. But good luck killing a Devoted Druid or an Elves player's board with a Stormbreath Dragon.
Canonist has been considered for this deck since the beginning, I think it was in the sideboard of the first 5c Humans list I saw. It's overkill imo.
Riders of Gavony is also "old tech", I think it's fine in a meta where you know you'll be facing a ton of tribal decks. I've been considering it because my local shop has multiple Humans, Elves, and Merfolk players.
There are more impactful 4drops than Oxid Ridge. Resto, Whirler Rogue, PnK, Hostage Taker, Venser.
Pontiff has a similar effect but I don't think one shot +1 effects are good enough. Hell we haven't run Mayor of Avubruk in months because static +1/+1 isn't good enough.
Garrison needs to attack to be good, it's snowbally but it does nothing the turn we cast it.
Venser has been talked about rather recently, I enjoy the card but I'm not sure it's strong enough. Might be stuck as card 61.
Rest of those cards just don't seem like cards I'd be happy enough to cast. Like E-wit is great for rebuying sideboard cards but if the counters company player has already taken a turn off to Qasali Pridemage my Grafdiggers Cage I feel like I've gained enough tempo to close out the game.
Deck isn't exactly solved, but it has had months of pros and pro testing teams trying to break it. New cards aside (I think Bodyguard is intriguing but I'm not one of the people who's been trying to play more 1-drops) I think if it costs less than 3 and is a Human and isn't being talked about there's probably a reason. I've just seen less innovation across the board than 4 months ago, there's probably a reason for it.
Obviously it's meta dependent but my area has a lot of small go-wide decks. Humans, certain Affinity draws, all colors of Elves, Mardu, the fairer draws from Counters Company (and Company decks in general), DnT, Fish. Flamecaller is a sweeper + turning the corner all in one card. The best analog would be playing Koth and -2ing into an Anger or Sweltering Suns, but it doesn't cost you two cards. 6 mana can be late-ish but I think it's fine as a curve topper and you can "ramp" into it a non-trivial percentage of the time with Mind Stone/Koth/Torch of Defiance. After grinding the beatdown player to a halt, this card can just be backbreaking.
Aside from her value as a sweeper, her +1 is a great way to start putting on a ton of pressure after a board clear, left unchecked it's the fastest one card clock our deck can represent. Most of the time when Flamecaller hits we've already grinded our opponent out of a lot of their resources so it's very rarely that both elementals are getting blocked, there aren't many decks (aside from very high roll Collected Companys) that can untap with no board state and few cards in hand and play two creatures large enough to eat the elementals, especially the decks that this card is supposed to be preying upon. And if they're blocking the "free" elementals they aren't blocking Koth mountain or Hazoret or whatever else we have on the battlefield. Her 0 is her worst ability, but in a top deck war turning a land into two cards isn't the worst thing in the world. A lot of time it is less useful than just attacking with 6 power though.
I've never had trouble casting 5 drops in this deck tbh so maybe our experiences just differ. I played either 4 Stormbreath or 3 Stormbreath + 1 Batterskull for the better part of a year on 22 lands. I'm on 23 lands now and still playing 3 Stormbreath plus the 6 drop PW and often feel like I could get away with shaving a land, but I'd rather flood with this deck than lose to screw because we have outlets for the mana in Hazoret, Scrying Sheets, and the cycling rocks.
My meta is filled with Elves and Affinity and Mardu Pyro and I've gone up on sweepers with a lot of success. 7 in total across my 75. I'm also playing a 1 of Chandra, Flamecaller main as well. She can clear the board and just start threatening damage v quickly.
The body on Anafenza is insane, I miss playing it lol. Wish I had an excuse to run it tbh. There is a Mono Blue Living End player at my local store pretty regularly. It blocks Hollow One and gets rid of Phoenix and Bloodghast. Maybe I can talk myself into this...
I haven't played with Anafenza in months, unless your local meta is really heavily on Dredge I think that's the first cut.
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@Kineticstasis I think Auriok Champion is one of the best cards in our sb right now. It's our best card vs Burn, and it's also very good vs the BRx decks with piles of removal like Jund and Mardu. I think all three of those matchups are fairly close but Auriok Champion sticking around likely pushes all of them in our favor.
I can't imagine playing Vithian Renegades over Reclamation Sage. There's almost zero downside and you get a sideboard card that can come in against more decks and be useful. It just makes your sideboard better, you can worry less losing to Worship or Blood Moon or Daybreak Coronet. Our mana base can handle 2G, especially with Noble and with Aether Vial. The Human etb triggers aren't very useful, in the matchups where we're bringing in Renegades/Rec Sage we want them to be as disruptive as possible, representing the fastest clock is secondary. It's purely upside in the situations we want it, and it makes our sideboard wider.
I just feel like the way Affinity wins the game are just too varied for us to successfully play reactively, and we're not really likely to draw into enough damage to kill them before they can clog up the board unless their draw is incredibly bad. Kataki can steal some games on it's own but a lot of time we've just taken a turn not advancing our clock for it to eat a Galv Blast/Dispatch. Staticaster is blanked by Master of Etherium by itself, as well as Steel Overseer on the play. You obviously need it but there are plenty of spots where it's not good. We can't interact with Etched Champion, and if we lack Vial we can't interact with Inkmoth. Gut Shot might be worth testing, or playing more Rec Sages, but at that point I'm wondering if it's worth having that many cards in my SB dedicated for this matchup.
Resto seems strong. Going to try it. The one of slots in this deck are weird because they all have very important roles and you can't play all of them. My tech spots have been Malcontents+Whirler Rogue+Venser for the past bit and all three cards have been good for me. Venser would probably be the cut for Resto but having MB outs to random prison cards (Bridge) and time walking people to win through like Supreme Verdict or Scapeshift is powerful.
I feel like Vial on 4 is something you gotta deal with sometimes. When your 4-drops win you the game (which they should if you're reaching to play them) it's really a non-issue.
Someone explain this thread's Deputy of Acquittals fetish with me because that card seems loose. Like when people in this thread were talking about Descendants Path rofl.
redirecting her + doesn't come up that often to begin with, don't think the nerf is big enough to reconsider her in the deck. card is nutty regardless.