Kessig Malcontents is a powerhouse when i see it. If im playing a deck with minimal control, i'll usually keep it in my hand (i think i run only two, but maybe 3, i switch it up a lot) and he hits the field light a freakin' hurricane. On average, i get away with him landing as the 6th human on the field and it brings the enemy well within striking distance.

I love the card, i think its perfect for a human tribal deck, if you are running humans of any sort, consider splashing red for him. In an aggro deck, with 90% creatures, you need to rely on your creatures being more than just bodies to swing with. Kessig Malcontents is a freaking lava axe for 3 most of the time, not to mention a 3/1 (4/2 with a Mayor of Avabruck  ^Flip ) and sometimes haste or doublestrike if you have Lightning Mauler or Silverblade Paladin respectively.

Do not underestimate the card, however, in my current naya deck, i dont always get the red source. So i run 2. In my boros deck, on my profile, im running 4 with a cloudshift. I mean... 4 mana... hits for 5, cloud him, hits another 5!? Works pretty well for me.

Your Kessig Malcontents is a dead card in hand if you get board wiped constantly, like plenty of control decks do. In your Boros deck, you might want to consider the Fiend Hunter and card:Angel of Glory's Rise interaction so you can constantly pull your dead humans back and trigger tons of ETB effects.

Kessig Malcontents usually comes out against the control decks, no doubts there. However, more decks recently, Ive seen, have been running Terminus and counterspells like Dissipate and Syncopate The last FNM i went to i was prepared to bring in Kessig Cagebreakers only to realize i had only 2 humans in my graveyard of all that i have lost... 6 were exiled and at least 10 at the bottom of my library.

I have yet to play a black control deck, and i imagine in that scenario, card:Angel of Glory's Rise could bring back my army along with a Kessig Malcontents and hit the field like a nuke. Hopefully a Lightning Mauler or two as well, and i could swing in that turn for a potential win from defeat. I like it.

Thank you for the suggestion.

Whudunnit

How has it been at FNM?

on average, i only lose one match to a fluke in mana. If i get going, its hard to beat. So 3-1 average. Top 8 almost every time. People at my shop are aware of my deck now, and try to counter it. So i switched up my deck recently. But i'll be bringing it back soon. X)

Just wondering: why did you take out huntmaster of the fells? I am on a budget, so it would be great if I didnt need them.And what do you do to try to limit the decks with the high removal. Mainly red burn spells. Thanks

Well, im trying to set the deck up to make room for whatever could come out in gatecrash. I'm really leaning towards boros, and, to me at least, Huntmaster of the Fells  ^Flip was a little bit slow for a aggro human deck. Sure, the card is freaking wonderful and does work... But it extends the game, and makes my win-turn later than i'd like it to be.

I was playtesting this deck over and over again, and the 4-5 cards i used to win are mostly Champion of the Parish , Mayor of Avabruck  ^Flip , Thatcher Revolt , Lightning Mauler , and Kessig Malcontents . So i basically wanted to get them out every game asap. I narrowed down the deck to focus on those cards, and took out (no matter how good) the cards that slowed them down. Granted its not flawless yet, as there are a few cards that don't necessarily run as synergistic as i'd like them to, but it is working a lot faster.

I recorded results for 20 games, and this deck, currently (i wont make changes online any further unless i note otherwise) wins on turn 4 35% of the time, turn 5 55% of the time, after turn 5 10% of the time.

Huntmaster of the Fells  ^Flip i believe is a lot better against control decks. If i feel im going to get my field wiped a lot, Huntmaster of the Fells  ^Flip is a good creature to fight solo. I drop one Huntmaster of the Fells  ^Flip , do work with him and the token until the enemy responds to it. Then I'll play the rest of my humans after the fact, when the board state is safer.

If you're on a budget, there are definitely cards that can work the same. However, he is a mythic for a reason. The life gain, the token gain, the damage when he flips, are all really really good. If you're not a human deck that wants to go all in (like I'm trying to test at the moment) then Huntmaster of the Fells  ^Flip is probably a card you need.

card:Cathars' Crusade?

Here is a standard play that i'd like to see more often.

Opening hand: Champion of the Parish , Mayor of Avabruck  ^Flip , Gather the Townsfolk , Lightning Mauler , Sacred Foundry , Rootbound Crag , Clifftop Retreat .

Turn 1: Sacred Foundry , pay 2 life. play Champion of the Parish

Swing: 0

Opponents life: 20

Turn 2: (draw Kessig Malcontents ) Rootbound Crag , play Gather the Townsfolk . put two +1/+1 counters on Champion of the Parish

Swing: 3

Opponents life: 17

Turn 3: (draw Stomping Ground ) Stomping Ground tapped, play Mayor of Avabruck  ^Flip , counter on Champion of the Parish , all humans get +1/+1.

Swing: 5+2+2 = 9

Opponents life: 8

Turn 4: (draw Lightning Mauler ) Clifftop Retreat . At this point, could play Kessig Malcontents , or drop both Lightning Mauler s and pair themselves to give them haste. Its all situational. Lets drop the Lightning Mauler s. 2 +1/+1 counters on Champion of the Parish (up to 5 counters now), pair the Lightning Mauler s

Swing: 7+2+2+1+3+3 = 18

Opponents life: -10

This is the most common solitaire game results ive been able to pull off. However, other decks will be running their own creatures, and removal. So solitaire is never the surefire way to test "winable" games. However, it does help set up what combos you'd like to pull off, and what cards should be played on what turn.

card:Cathars' Crusade is good in a more slow-rolling deck, where you'd like to get the enchantment out before you start dropping all your humans. I'm aiming for a super fast deck to try and bring the enemy down to 0 before he has a change to play the cards to stop me.

For a card:Cathars' Crusade deck, id try to run cards like Thatcher Revolt , Increasing Devotion , Fervor , Midnight Haunting , Geist-Honored Monk

in the control match up, i would like to have Nevermore imo. If you call Geist of Saint Traft or Supreme Verdict well lol.

most games I have played have burned Champion of the Parish turn 1 with Pillar of Flame

Yeah, that's the usual problem, as any problem with aggro decks. However, you should be dishing out enough creatures fast enough where they cant burn all of them.

true, true. the control match up was pretty difficult still though.

I also seem to get beat down by Geist of Saint Traft .

Block it.

This deck doesn't have board wipes unless you wanna run Bonfire of the Damned .

Maybe run Thunderbolt if you wanna kill the Restoration Angel , but this deck is all about the race.

This deck isnt the perfect matchup for every deck out there. There is no single deck that trumps all the others. There are some that do better than most, but in the end it comes down to luck of the draw, and the skill of the player. You need to master your own play style and find a deck that suits you. For me, its this aggro deck, i dont have trouble against decks with Geist of Saint Traft , or other control matchups because i know when to go all in and when to hold back.

You wont have all the answers for every deck out there, just make your deck do what it wants to do and you'll have a positive win-loss ratio.

This deck isnt the perfect matchup for every deck out there. There is no single deck that trumps all the others. There are some that do better than most, but in the end it comes down to luck of the draw, and the skill of the player. You need to master your own play style and find a deck that suits you. For me, its this aggro deck, i dont have trouble against decks with Geist of Saint Traft , or other control matchups because i know when to go all in and when to hold back.

You wont have all the answers for every deck out there, just make your deck do what it wants to do and you'll have a positive win-loss ratio.

The mana base makes the deck right now a little slower and more inconsistent than g/w humans or r/w humans. Can't wait for gatecrash

The mana base makes the deck right now a little slower and more inconsistent than g/w humans or r/w humans. Can't wait for gatecrash

Yeah, Its hard to run a 3 color before the last few guilds are here, that's why in this prototype, i have the gatecrash lands, to try and see how it'll play out. Mana was the only problem i had when playing this deck, when i got the land, it was a steamroll, however, that gotdamnredmana didnt always show up.

If anything, until gatecrash comes out, Selesnya humans is the strongest, most consistent human deck right now, or mono white. But why run mono white when you can run Mayor of Avabruck  ^Flip ?

I would run a two color deck primarily g/w