Courageous Outrider

Creature — Human Scout

When Courageous Outrider enters the battlefield, look at the top four cards of your library. You may reveal a Human card from among them and put it into your hand. Put the rest on the bottom of your library in any order.

Legality

Format	Legality
1v1 Commander	Legal
Archenemy	Legal
Arena	Legal
Block Constructed	Legal
Canadian Highlander	Legal
Casual	Legal
Commander / EDH	Legal
Commander: Rule 0	Legal
Custom	Legal
Duel Commander	Legal
Gladiator	Legal
Highlander	Legal
Historic	Legal
Legacy	Legal
Leviathan	Legal
Limited	Legal
Modern	Legal
Oathbreaker	Legal
Pioneer	Legal
Planechase	Legal
Quest Magic	Legal
Vanguard	Legal
Vintage	Legal

Discussion (21)

Tzefick on Sword of Life and Limb

3 years ago

I find it a bit amusing how not two months ago there was posted a thread specifically dedicated to brew card ideas for the remaining 3 Swords of X and Y and then this shows up.

DemonDragonJ I would agree that having three abilities would break the pattern.

Personally I think the life gain is already covered by Sword of Light and Shadow and Sword of War and Peace. One static, one dynamic.

There is already token generation with Sword of Body and Mind.

Personally I think the Sword should do something a bit different than that. Please keep in mind that the Swords have generally been designed to be beneficial to most colors and multiple strategies - hence why a Sword like Sword of Body and Mind is generally considered the worst/most niche, closely followed by Sword of War and Peace. The latter because it doesn't affect the board and lifegain is... only relevant in certain situations. If you make a token generator + Populate effect, it works by itself but is generally not useful for many decks.

Take a Sword like Sword of Truth and Justice. It plays well by itself by enabling its own scaling when you have multiple creatures. However you can also utilize the Proliferate on poison counters, -1/-1 counters, planeswalker loyalty counters. It has built-in support for multiple strategies.

A card like Sword of Sinew and Steel is more niche, but it has some very powerful removal effects to compensate. In addition the protections are very on-point in protecting against most targeted removal and all of red's board wipe repertoire.

Tokens for the sake of tokens is often not that impressive. That's why I would suggest to aim for something else than basic token generation.

If you are hellbent on the token generation I would consider granting a different incentive:

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Alternative A Show

"Whenever equipped creature deals combat damage to a player, you may create a 1/1 green saproling creature token. If you do, then create a copy of a token you control. If you don't, create a Treasure token."

Hmm... I checked the wording on Populate, and for some reason WotC opted to make it copy only creature tokens. The word does make more sense to be used in tandem with creatures but this feels like a missed opportunity.

This grants purpose outside token strategies by giving you the option to opt for just a Treasure token and the swing after, if you kept the Treasure token, you can get another with the copy effect. Because there's a condition on getting some of the effects, I think it'll pass the "only allow 2 effects".

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Alternative B Show

"Whenever equipped creature deals combat damage to a player, create a 1/1 green Saproling creature token. Until the beginning of your next turn, the first spell you cast has Convoke."

This effectively grants you a mana dork (with indirect haste) AND it plays well with broad strategies that is not necessarily token strategies. It grants potential chump blockers to certain decks that can double as mana - alas only for the first spell after the trigger. The card could be buffed a bit by granting convoke to the first spell each turn until your next turn - granting you more flexibility and use of its ability.

I don't think it has the same power level as Sword of Feast and Famine but it is somewhat closer to its power level, which I don't think is a bad place for a Sword to be in.

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If we're being honest, most of the swords don't see play and those that do are mostly Sword of Feast and Famine and Sword of Fire and Ice. I've seen a fair bit of Sword of Truth and Justice as well. I think hitting around that spot would be ideal.

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If we aim for something else than basic token generation, we could aim for some tech options.

Delve deeper Show

Scout ahead

Green has the ability to look at what's to come and grab specific cards, with cards like Commune with the Gods, Commune with Nature, Commune with Dinosaurs, and many similar. White has had this effect as well, as seen in Acclaimed Contender, Board the Weatherlight, Courageous Outrider, and Militia Bugler. White's piece is more conditional and limited, whereas green is more flexible.

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Treasure generation

White has had treasure generation through taxing with Smothering Tithe. Green is the ramp color. The Sword could possibly create a treasure token.

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Keyword hoarder

White is usually the keyword hoarder, so what if they started being generous? With the introduction of keyword counters from Ikoria with something like Crystalline Giant, the Sword could have a trigger that spreads its keywords to another creature.

"Whenever equipped creature deals combat damage to a player, if equipped creature has flying, you may put a flying counter on target creature. Do the same for deathtouch, double strike, first strike, hexproof, lifelink, menace, reach, trample, and vigilance. The rest of the ability..."

By itself this doesn't do anything, and usually that would be a deal-breaker as an effect on this card. However I think there are enough Swords that are conditional on something else to get their effect. Usually not something that is particularly difficult to attain. Like Sword of Light and Shadow require a creature card in your graveyard to make use of half its effects.

This ability would also make it stronger in White, as White already has keyword soup creatures where this effect would be very strong, and even more so in Boros. You could use cards with the keywords themselves, equipment or auras that grant it or use buff cards that grant it temporarily. The latter can even be used in tandem with the Sword to permanently grant the equipped creature those keywords.

There are a few evergreen keywords missing, most notably indestructible. But there's also defender (could be used in a Arcades, the Strategist or similar deck to dish out defender counters) and haste (usually wont make a difference after combat step) - yes yes, there's also Flash but who cares when it's on the board. So a way to increase this ability's power could be to include indestructible at the very least.

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Enchantment removal

I went in a big fat circle around this one, as I really don't think enchantment removal should be given on a repeatable colorless source like this. I know Sword of Sinew and Steel does it against artifacts and planeswalkers, and if I'm being frank it would be pretty easy for WotC to throw a Demystify on a Sword and something else and call it a day. However I really hope that wont be the case.

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Brought back

Brought Back but as a delayed trigger without target (to enable that you get back something you lost during combat damage step).

"Whenever equipped creature deals combat damage to a player, at the beginning of your end step you may return a permanent card from your graveyard to the battlefield if it was put there from the battlefield this turn."

It can be utilized much in the same way that Brought Back can. For instance to get back fetching lands or ETB-heavy creatures.

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Land ramp

This one kinda feels like it's impeding on Sword of the Animist's territory, but it is part of green's color pie. It could be differently implemented like:

"Whenever equipped creature deals combat damage to a player, look at the top five cards of your library. You may reveal up to one land card and up to one creature, aura, or equipment card from among them and put them into your hand. You may play an additional land this turn."

This is more a soft-ramp that can fail. Instead of granting additional land drops it could just put a found land onto the field tapped.

"Whenever equipped creature deals combat damage to a player, look at the top five cards of your library. You may reveal a land card from among them and put it onto the battlefield tapped. You may reveal a creature, aura, or equipment card from among them and put it into your hand. Put the rest on the bottom of your library in a random order."

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Anyway, that's at least a little brainstorming on what else those two colors have to offer.

burferking on Moon art cards for Princess …

4 years ago

I made a mistake: I thought Luna's wording said ''play'', but it is ''cast'', so no need to name lands with Moons in them.

Shadows Over Innistrad block: Markov Dreadknight Olivia's Bloodsworn Prophetic Ravings Courageous Outrider Convicted Killer  ^Flip// Branded Howler Voldaren Pariah  ^Flip// Abolisher of Bloodlines Ethereal Guidance Devils' Playground Descend upon the Sinful Long Road Home Humble the Brute Howlpack Resurgence Ghoulsteed Vexing Scuttler Turn Aside Tamiyo, Field Researcher Silverstrike

Tiny Moon: Desperate Sentry

Debatable: Olivia's Dragoon Vildin-Pack Outcast  ^Flip

Only on Transformed side: Moonrise Intruder Flameheart Werewolf Fibrous Entangler Krallenhorde Howler

Podkomorka on Pauper EDH Deck Compendium

4 years ago

Decks added:

• Courageous Outrider
• Gnarlback Rhino

lonesentinel on Pauper EDH Deck Compendium

4 years ago

PDH Hoomans with Courageous Outrider at the helm

Finally done with monowhite PDH self-challenge!

Goretast on Value of Humanity

5 years ago

Tireless Tracker would be a great addition to this deck for card draw and it's human. Mother of Runes is also incredible. Mirari's Wake would also be a great addition for more mana and another anthem effect. Also, Coat of Arms is too powerful to not include. Stoneforge Mystic is also great with your equipment package you included. It's also very tempting to put in a Craterhoof Behemoth for a strong finisher with this build, same with an Akroma's Memorial. Teferi's Protection is also a great utility instant that can save you and let you get that finish push. As to what to cut? I'd say some potential cuts could be Congregate, Soul Warden, Soul's Attendant,Precinct Captain, Courageous Outrider, and Increasing Devotion. You might just have to sacrifice your life gain toolkit for more solid card draw and utility.

Let me know if you have any questions!

TheDuggernaught on

6 years ago

With your limited card pool, I would suggest sticking to mono white weenies. This means cutting your big creatures (I would say anything over 4 cmc), and just sticking with the small creatures that are low to the ground. This strategy utilizes a "go wide" approach where you simply spit out too many creatures for your opponent to block. Things with flying are also very good with this strategy as once your opponent has creatures, they still might have difficulty blocking the ones with flying. The artifacts can also go. Artifacts generally cost a lot of tempo to both play and then equip. It is usually better to just play another creature. I would also consider adding the following cards from your collection: Bygone Bishop, Fiend Hunter, Bonds of Faith (acts as a pump if you need it, or pseudo-removal if you need it), Doomed Traveler, Steadfast Guard, Inspiring Captain, Steadfast Cathar, Kor Scythemaster, Kor Castigator, Mardu Hordechief, Fiend Binder, Elder Cathar, Dauntless Cathar, Cliffside Lookout, Nearheath Chaplain, Courageous Outrider, Sanctifier of Souls, Retreat to Emeria, Chapel Geist, Kor Bladewhirl. Serra Angel can be a good top end finisher. Most things with flying, produce tokens, and/or pump all creatures are good additions to a weenie deck.

I would up your lands count to 22, and I would try to have about seven 1-drops, about fifteen 2-drops, about twelve 3 drops, about five 4/5-drops. 22 lands will mean that you will hit your third land drop on turn 3 90% of the time when you are on the draw, and 85% of the time on the play. I would aim to have about 28-30 creatures creatures, and about 8-10 instants/sorceries/enchantments. This gets you to exactly 60 cards -- which is important. I could get into a lengthy mathematical explanation into why 60 cards is always the best -- but it essentially boils down to increasing the chances of drawing your best cards when you need them. It increases the consistency of the deck.

DubiousDanish on Bant Humans(Needs Help)

6 years ago

Baral, Chief of Compliance: Can help with your control plan, in combination with your counter spells this will generate card advantage.

Channeler Initiate: Can help fix your mana and then become a threat itself.

Courageous Outrider: May be a weak option, but he can help you gain card advantage within your current theme.

Devoted Crop-Mate: If they remove a creature that you would like to have back, he can throw it right back into the fray.

Duskwatch Recruiter  ^Flip: Used heavily in the old Bant humans and also the Aristocrats decks.

Glory-Bound Initiate: A 2 cmc 4/4 Lifelink every other turn could be useful. Even stronger in combination with Always Watching.

Maulfist Revolutionary: It's a human and it bolsters your theme. It can also be used on your Planeswalkers which might be relevant, similar to skyship plunderer.

Renegade Rallier: Another human that can pull your creatures back from the grave.

Rogue Refiner: Kind of off theme because of the energy, but it's a 3 cmc 3/2 that draws you a card. Might be worth consideration...

Tireless Tracker: This card finds it's way into a ton of decks, if nothing else your opponent will respect it enough to use a removal spell on it.

Trueheart Duelist: Kind of a strange option, but it could be a lifesaver against aggro decks.

Unwavering Initiate: This is another fringe option, though a 3/2 Vigilance in theme may make the cut.

Vizier of Deferment: This one seems like it belongs in the deck to me, the versatility is a real bonus. Offensive and defensive uses that assist the growth of Thalia's Lieutenant.

CommanderNeyo on Human EDH

7 years ago

I think Weathered Wayfarer is a good keep because it will ensure you stay up to par with your opponent's mana, but also because you can use it to thin your deck of lands by searching for them and not playing them. Also very useful for searching for lands like Gavony Township (actually that's it, there are surprisingly no other utility lands here).

Cards I would suggest cutting are: Collective Effort, Archetype of Courage, Avacyn's Pilgrim, and Herald of War. Perhaps also Ulvenwald Tracker, since none of your creatures are quite large enough to truly use its ability to its largest extent. Courageous Outrider may be another one, since it is not guaranteed to hit a human. That's pretty much the extent of what I can tell you now, what you need to do is just cut some cards, playtest the deck, and then see which ones are working for you and which ones aren't.