Intro
I have been building a human tribal for the last 1.5 years featuring Alesha. She's not a dedicated human tribal commander per say but the deck worked decently with enough support in humans for ETB value triggers and sacrifice outlets. With Commander 2020 WOTC introduced new Mardu precon featuring not one but two possible human commanders so I started brewing right away to see which would be the best fit for my already existing tribal core.
I found both new commanders (Jirina and T&S) quite underwhelming and thought I would stick with Alesha, adding just some cards from the precon to the mix. However when I started experimenting with T&S just in 99, I concluded I always want this pair to be on the battlefield, so my quest for the new partner deck began.
Philosophy
The deck has several lines of possible wins. First and foremost it is an aggresive midrange deck. You get your value creatures, pump them a possibly swing for leathal. The second strategy is just beats with ever-growing Silvar. It can kill opponents with just two swings if unchecked and it is hard to kill. Both strategies can work as a distraction se you can suceed with the other one.
Humans are most common race in all Magic so we have quite an aresenal to choose from. However WOTC never really gave humans pure tribal synergies apart from 5-7 usable cards so we got a lot of support from the precon actually.
Weaknesses
First of all the deck is pretty weak against flying voltron-ish commanders as you have just one flyer in the whole deck and unless you draw your removal, you can be taken out on commander damage. Flying creatures in general are good against us since we don't have any means to block them and the only way to go is just race them faster.
As the deck is meant for more casual environment, don't expect to win against combos either. Beware of white and blue players who can bounce or exile your Silvar. For those kind of games it's better to go wide. Control decks including white colors can be pretty annoying as they usually pack a lot of board wipes.
Human Synergies
Angel of Glory's Rise
- top reason to even play a human tribal. While non-human, it reanimates all of our dead guys for another round. A must have.
Champion of the Parish
- A Modern staple. Not quite powerful in EDH but for one mana he's a solid beater
Devout Chaplain
- with so many tokens you can make it can deal with some problematic Artifacts and Enchantments
General Kudro of Drannith
- A new addition from Ikoria. A very powerful commander by himself it can turn tokens into removal spells and he's also a very solid grave hate
General's Enforcer
- There are quite a lot legendaries in the deck so it's a a partial boardwipe protection and also more expensive gravehate
Jirina Kudro
- With our partner commanders she can produce quite a lot tokens (usually 2+) and the pump is not insignificant
Thalia's Lieutenant - Yet another Modern staple in Humans deck. Pumps other humans and also himself with each newcomer. Also great target for reccuring with Alesha etc.
Winota, Joiner of Forces
- At first I was bulish on her as there aren't many non-humans in the deck, however when you consider you have one in your command zone and quite few creatures produce non-human soldier (and zombie) tokens, you can get a lot of triggers with her actually. With some setup Winota can snowball the game very quickly.
Xathrid Necromancer
- Very good boardwipe protection who can also turn your devoured humans into zombies. Since some of your pump spells are not directly dependant on human type such as Cathar's Crusade or Shared Animosity, it can help kill your opponents quickly.
Sanctuary Lockdown
– Both Anthem and value engine that can get rid of blockers or disable dangerous wannabe attackers.
Token Makers
There are several reasons to focus on token creation in the deck. First and foremost Silvar wants to eat humans and you don't really want to feed him your value generators. There aren't that many human token generators in the game so this deck tries to maximize on those that are worthy of playing:
Hero of Precinct One
- The deck features enough gold cards to justify plaing this two drop. It comes down early and you have at least one guaranteed trigger with Silvar.
Hanweir Garrison
- Best human generator in the deck. Enough said
Hanweir Militia Captain
- this guy need some work to flip and generate value, but again it comes down early and the value comes without any additional resources in the long run.
Jirina Kudro
- already established, it's a one trick pony but it can generate a lot of value later in the game.
Call the Coppercoats
,
Outlaws' Merriment
and
Increasing Devotion
- The only viable non-creature spells to generate humans. Call can be especially devastating for opponents as it comes down at instant speed for merely 3 mana.
Knight-Captain of Eos
- Apart from token creation, this human provides additional sac engine and most importantly a repeatable fog effect which can protects you form fliers and big tramplers, which is this deck's huge weakness.
Lena, Selfless Champion
,
Hero of Bladehold
,
Captain of the Watch
- while not making humans per say, Soldier tokens are perfect for
Fireflux Squad
,
Winota, Joiner of Forces
and also works well with our other pump engines. Also a ot of your creatures are Soldiers already so Captain even pumps your non-token army.
Anointed Procession
- Since we're producing quite some number of tokens, it is justifiable to add a token doubler with well over 10 cards including one of our partners generating creature tokens.
Value Cards
Alesha, Who Smiles at Death
,
Ravos, Soultender
and
Patriarch's Bidding
- Another way to reanimate our fallen creatures.
Goldnight Commander
- A lot of times goes under radar buth with just few triggers from your token generators it can transform your puny humans into very serious threats.
Mythos of Snapdax
and
Chandra's Ignition
- Helps a great deal to your Voltron strategy where you can sacrifice all humans in responce, keep a huge Silvar and swing for leathal with no creatures on the other side to block your partner.
Tymna the Weaver
- This little vixen can draw you up to three cards a turn and comes down very soon. It puzzles me she's not played more in other T&s Builds.
Shizo, Death's Storehouse
- Why not make your Silvar even harder to block without using a non-land spot in your deck and dilluting your colored mana.
Other Wincons
Shared Animosity
- Ends games swiftly in one or two swings. It's usually better to sandbag it in your hand for the moment you are ready to kill your opponents or at least leave them to die
Embercleave
- With Silvar as a growing threat you'll need trample to get through and double strike also helps to end your opponents rather sooner than later.
Ruinous Ultimatum
- One-sided wipe is usually a death sentence if you have rather large army.
Akroma's Will
- A new addition that can end games with one swing.
Vault of the Archangel
- If you swing with a large army and get everybody lifelink, your opponents will have very hard time catching up while their life diminishes. Again, try to sandbag this card a bit as it causes your opponents to team up.
Notable Omissions
Bastion of Remembrance
- Although very good card in the deck it didn't make it to 98. Might try to fit the card in future updates
Syr Konrad, the Grim
- While solid, the value for 5 mana in this deck was little bit underwheling. There are better decks to utilise the noble Syr.
Thraben Doomsayer
- While human token generator, I find it quite underwhelming and not worth a spot.
Garna, the Bloodflame
- Decent uncommon but holding up 5 mana in Mardu is close to impossible. Haste is nice but not enough for 5 mana.
Dearly Departed
- while very good human synergy, we don't have many ways how to put the spirit into the graveyard reliably without casting it so sadly there is no room for this sweet spirit.
Sol Ring
- very specific for our playgroup. We don't play any broken mana rocks and such
Outro
If you like Mardu, tribal decks and more aggresive, combat-oriented approach to EDH, together with aristocrat subtheme, Trynn & Silvar partnership might be a deck for you. There aren't many commanders made specifically for humans in mind and while you can play your Saskias, Morophons and Kenriths, the satisfaction of the dedicated tribal comes from Commanders made just for them, at least for me it is.
Silvar gives you an interesting twist for what would normally be rather boring aggressive deck. It provides another angle of creating your deck with sacrifice theme along with voltron strategy attached to it. With the new cards from C20 and Ikoria you have some new interesting tools to work with and tune your Mardu partners the way you see fit. I hope this primer helps you to build your own, maybe you find some cards you else wouldn't consider adding and discover more synergies and perhaps add your own and suggest them here for me and other people to see.
