Shade of Humanity

Modern* Slycne

SCORE: 17 | 32 COMMENTS | 5323 VIEWS | IN 7 FOLDERS Top 8: 01/18


Pre-Gatecrash Comments —Feb. 1, 2013

Just grabbing all the comments from the deck before Gatecrash.

Bababad says... #1

Firstly, Elite Inquisitor over Precinct Captain ...from personal experience. The vigilance more than makes up for itself, he can rape zombies, rape vampires, and having a two drop that has offensive AND defensive capabilities is beautiful...and i have gotten 1 token from 15 different attempts with PC. I'd drop a Kessig Malcontents and a Thalia, Guardian of Thraben for 2x Zealous Conscripts ...rarely run more than two of a legendary. Have you considered Curse of Stalked Prey ? Itll make everything you put on the field a potential fatty and make blocking more difficult for your opponent. Anyways looks fun! +1'd

December 12, 2012 1:53 a.m.

wayngchung says... #2

I think Hellrider would be a way better finisher than Sublime Archangel . With exalted, damage can still be prevented. But swinging with 4 or 5 punks and and autoburning them makes a world of difference. you can swing with a 67/67, but if they got a 1/1 flyer, you just tapped for nothing.

December 12, 2012 2:04 a.m.

Bababad says... #3

I second the Hellrider notion!

December 12, 2012 2:34 a.m.

Slycne says... #4

Bababad: Well I do like the idea of having a 2/2 first striker on defense constantly, and it's not like there isn't a ton of B/R zombies decks around. Precinct Captain probably works better in the slot for G/W since the token can still carry a Rancor , but I'll give Elite Inquisitor some more testing here. 3-ofs for Legendary is generally accepted as the happy middle ground, the math more or less works out that you'll see one but doubles are unlikely. And while I certainly like Zealous Conscripts , I think she's more sideboard since she extends the curve and I want to be sure I'm hitting value when I drop her. Curse of the stalked Prey is interesting, but I think it would detract from the goal here. The decks focus is quick creature aggro, so there's never a good turn to drop that.

wayngchung Yeah, crunching the numbers as well I think you both are right, Hellrider is the way to go. On the perfect draw it's the difference of a swing for 10 or swinging out for 15 and 4 direct. Though I'm mildly concerned with the double red. My ideal 3 drop is Silverblade Paladin , so to curve into Hellrider means my mana needs to fall exactly right.

December 12, 2012 9:25 a.m.

freelancre says... #5

First off, I have a a Boros Human deck as well, and have played it. I saw this deck, and it made me smile. Here's my two cents.

December 12, 2012 10:56 a.m.

Slycne says... #6

freelancre thanks for all the suggestions. I'll certainly take them under consideration and start trying to trade/acquire them.

How effective have you found Rootborn Defenses ? Maybe it's just my local meta but I've seen most decks running equal Terminus along with their Supreme Verdict , so I always feel like I need to throw more gas on the fire rather than try to be defensive against them and sideboard a card that only helps against 1/2 of the sweepers. Or I'll sideboard Nevermore and blank them.

December 12, 2012 11:22 p.m.

freelancre says... #7

At my local meta, Supreme Verdict and other damage-related board wipes are more common than not. So it helps me out personally here.

As for dealing with Terminus and/or Devastation Tide , you can really just use Nevermore . Maybe run 2x Rootborn Defenses and 3x Nevermore ?

December 13, 2012 9:35 a.m.

wayngchung says... #8

I know everyone is freaking out about Doomed Traveler , but I honestly think that Cathedral Sanctifier is a better one drop.

December 16, 2012 8:39 a.m.

JangoMTG says... #9

Personally card:Judge's Familiar is a better 1 drop for me, you get your flier and you push back control type decks one turn with their Farseek 's. A lot of people I play against keep hands with a higher mana cost because they have a farseek in hand. Also paired up with a turn 2 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben It really screws them over.

I myself have a Boros Human deck: Mistress and her Mates. I have yet to find anyone with a similar build to me. I personally use Burning Oil as with these kind of decks you have a lot of mana spare once you have cast your low mana cost creatures, and having the extra pressure of the flashback really hinders the opponent. Also I definitely agree that Hellrider trumps Sublime Archangel , in these kind of decks you want to be swinging with as many as possible, not just one.

December 16, 2012 9:35 a.m.

Slycne says... #10

wayngchung and JangoMTG Well my hope is there will actually be a more clear choice come Gatecrash. Every guild got 1 drops in Return to Ravnica.

My preferred one drop here would actually be War Falcon - I like aggression over lifegain or countering, but this deck doesn't quite run enough Soldiers and Knights.

Cathedral Sanctifier just doesn't seem worth a card for me honestly. Given the plethora of trample Rancor , ways to go to the dome Hellrider and aggressive flyers Falkenrath Aristocrat in standard right now, the card might as well read gain 3 life. She is a human though which is a plus for a few things in this deck.

card:Judge's Familiar might be worth some testing. My initial thoughts for Doomed Traveler was basically he's the best remaining 1 drop human, and some added protection to board wipes.

Burning Oil is something I've certainly considered, it's still on my maybeboard. The value of flashback can't be ignored, but my biggest issue with it is that it doesn't do what I really need which is remove a blocker before blockers are assigned or be able to hit players/planeswalkers.

December 16, 2012 10:52 a.m.

This deck is running to little of mana. It should atleast have 23-24 and the mana base is pretty crappy since no sacred foundry yet. I would try evolving wilds maybe it's slow but it will help you fix your mana problems. Especially now that you're using hellrider but 22 mana is going to have some crapy consistency IMO try adding 3 more caverns most of your creatures are humans and it taps for any color if you're casting the choose type which is nice Anyways +1 this deck looks like a possible hard counter to zombies I'm going to try your version but I'm going to take out Thalia's and add in pro black knights just to deal with zombies

December 16, 2012 7:19 p.m.

And also if zombies can run 3-4 guild gates we can use evolving wilds it's just as slowAnd it's our only way to fix mana problems ATM I would give it a shot I'm going to

December 16, 2012 7:22 p.m.

Slycne says... #13

Bonechamp4lyfe Yeah, the mana count is still being tweaked. I'm just trying to find the absolute edge between being greedy and flooding, it's somewhere between 22-23. Basically I'm trying to get enough playtime with the build to see if I'd rather stall a Hellrider or be a little flooded. Though the deck currently has some outs for excess mana with card:Slayers' Stronghold and Rally the Peasants in essence being multiple spells. I'd probably drop one of the Kessig Malcontents for another land if need be. And yeah, Cavern of Souls is certainly next up on the acquire list.

Well BR Zombies plays 4 gates because card:Geralf's Messenger is just that good, and that annoying to cast. It's also not looking for that quick a kill. It just puts out reliable damage until Falkenrath Aristocrat or Thundermaw Hellkite can mop up.

With regards to casting cost and mana base, one option would be to simply not run a 4CMC drop. The current aggro trend of the 4 CMC finisher might not be needed, just slam Precinct Captain , Searing Spear , Knights of Glory, Gather the Townsfolk back in. Might be worth exploring now that I think about it, at least until Gatecrash.

December 16, 2012 8:04 p.m.

Legendinc says... #14

you need to run Rootborn Defenses in your sideboard. why? because game 2 against control match ups, they're going to add in Supreme Verdict if they haven't already been playing a playset in the main and board wipes absolutely kill aggro decks like this.

December 16, 2012 10 p.m.

Slycne says... #15

Legendinc Well this deck can actually recover quite well from a board wipe, that's one of the design choices. If I don't play into it too much: there's Hellrider , Lightning Mauler which gives any other creature haste as well and card:Slayers' Stronghold.

That's not to say that I should get cocky and not have anything sideboarded in. The big toss up for me is Rootborn Defenses vs Nevermore . Rootborn Defenses crafts a better blow out and might sometimes be a combat trick, but ultimately it only addresses one card, Supreme Verdict. Granted that one card is really nasty for us.

Nevermore seems like a more useful sideboard card at face value, since it can hit more than Supreme Verdict . I haven't seen a Band Control that isn't also running Terminus and it never hurts to be able to just keep naming threats if more Nevermore come out.

December 16, 2012 10:42 p.m.

Jimhawk says... #16

A lot of people are overvaluing Rootborn Defenses with their suggestions. If this deck pushes out a lot of damage early, then you never really have to overextend as long as you have Lightning Mauler + any creature in hand. Let them sweep, then turn the heat right back up with Lightning Mauler + Silverblade Paladin the turn after.

Hellrider is an absolute boss as far as I'm concerned, so I'm glad to see it here. Also, unfortunate as it may be, Doomed Traveler really is the best 1-drop for you after Champion of the Parish that you could be running, just to refute previous commentary. I like War Falcon more in general, but you need to max your human count for Kessig Malcontents and the Traveler is pretty sweet against removal and sweepers.

As for Rally the Peasants , you never want to see more than one in a game; it's dead if you don't have enough creatures, so maxing out on creatures is important. I would go with -2 Rally the Peasants and -1 Elite Inquisitor and replace that with +3 of a creature of your choice. Suggestions are Attended Knight , Azorius Arrester , or Knight of Glory . I didn't include Precinct Captain in that list because it would really put a strain on your mana to have too many WW spells.

December 17, 2012 12:06 a.m.

wayngchung says... #17

hmm. 4x Sacred Foundry will really help you lay those Silverblade Paladin s and Hellrider s.

December 17, 2012 1:38 a.m.

JangoMTG says... #18

Jimhawk I disagree with your thoughts on Rally the Peasants . This card has one me more turn 4 wins than anything else. Also coupled with how many first striking creatures white has at the moment it adds as a nice blocking trick to take out annoyances that are just out of reach of your 2 power guys.

I run four in my deck Mistress and her Mates.

December 17, 2012 6:59 a.m.

Slycne says... #19

wayngchung Yes, I'm eagerly awaiting Gatecrash as I suspect there will be a few choice inclusions for this deck based on the structure that we saw for guilds in Return to Ravnica, in addition to the Sacred Foundry . Also, is it too much to hope for a reprint of Lightning Helix ?

I'll likely have a few more Cavern of Souls by weeks end that will also help immensely, I've actually taking the double color 2-drops out of the line-up for now.

Jimhawk & JangoMTG So I think I'm going to split the difference and run Rally the Peasants as a 3-of. It roughly fits in as a legendary right now, I'd certainly like to see one, but I don't necessarily want to see doubles in my opening hand. I'll give that route some testing and see how I like it.

I think the deck is really coming together well, thanks for all the assistance, comments and suggestions everyone.

December 17, 2012 2:14 p.m.

neek81 says... #20

I think Odric, Master Tactician would rock people's faces especially with Battalion coming up in Gatecrash. Seems like Battalion needs 2 other creatures, and Odric needs three more. Attack with Odric and 3 other Battalion creatures, no one blocks and you win. +1

December 31, 2012 6:51 p.m.

Slycne says... #21

The problem with Odric, Master Tactician is he's just too slow and easy to interfere with for the current meta. Aggro needs to be racing down Supreme Verdict , Thragtusk , etc. So tapping down your 4th turn to not impact the board until the 5th isn't really what you want to be running. For better or worse, we've gotten spoiled on the likes of Hellrider , Sublime Archangel , Riders of Gavony , Falkenrath Aristocrat , etc.

I love the card and its ability though.

January 1, 2013 3:09 a.m.

Takahashiryu says... #22

Would it be possible to trade Rally the Peasants for Sunhome Guildmage ?

What are your opinions about the new Boros Guildmage?

January 8, 2013 11:29 a.m.

Slycne says... #23

If Sunhome Guildmage is ever to see much play in standard aggro an anthem effect on the level of Honor of the Pure would need to be part of Gatecrash. Then I could maybe see it being sideboard tech against control. A 2/2 for 2 isn't going to throw off early attacks much, and if he comes down after a board wipe you might have the mana to keep a presence going between its abilities, the theoretical anthem and likely card:Slayers' Stronghold.

As a mainboard card, at least for me, probably not. I'd rather push my mainboard to kill constantly by Turn 4.

January 8, 2013 8:12 p.m.

Takahashiryu says... #24

Nice, and what about Firemane Avenger ?

I think it suffers the same problem as Odric, Master Tactician , a good card left behind by the power of Hellrider ...

January 9, 2013 5:58 a.m.

Takahashiryu says... #25

BY THE FLAMING HOLY LIGHT OF AURELIA!

Frontline Medic is a war blessing!

January 9, 2013 6:54 a.m.