Well you have Spark Trooper , Boros Reckoner , and Hellrider so why not Legion Loyalist ??

I answer that question in the deck description: the addition of Legion Loyalist effectively makes Champion of the Parish unplayable.

I'm currently in the process of reworking the deck to centralize on the human theme, similar to my previous deck, Knights of the Blood Oath. Current playtesting has proved that the deck's speed is inadequate.

To make a human deck really stupid - Ajani, Caller of the Pride . He can LITERALLY come in and give something flying and doublestrike immediately. It's so incredibly frustrating to play against. Have fun.

I made a deck than ensures a turn four win A LOT of the time, it's here - You Can't Hit Me Back

Some things to note - buffing a doublestriker can be incredibly potent, incredibly quickly.

Evasion can win you the game very quickly. A turn 4 Glaring Spotlight could ensure you get some ridiculous amount of damage through. Even if you attack with just Champion of the Parish and Silverblade Paladin , both doublestrike, that's 8 unblockable damage.

I'm definitely aware of the power level of Ajani, Caller of the Pride , as his effectiveness was made clear in my previous deck. He is now included in the revamped version. I definitely think the synergy of this iteration of the deck is more in tune with my personal play style.

If you want a fast win then why Boros Reckoner and Nearheath Pilgrim ? I'm not sold on the reckoner as a 'quick-win card'. Maybe he's the best out there and I'm being stupid. The pilgrim seems weak and slow.

There are times in a game when your position on the battlefield flows between offense and defense against aggro, midrange, and control decks alike. This is especially true when you're on the draw against an opposing aggro deck. There has to be a way in the deck to recover from a poor board position in the early game or your chances of winning on the draw are reduced significantly, and the whole match is basically determined by a die roll for game one.

In the past, I used an abundance of first strike to deter an opponent's attacks. Now, Boros Reckoner does that job all by himself while Nearheath Pilgrim pads my life total. In addition, both creatures can effortlessly go on the offense and gain value even from death in the combat damage step. Additionally, the combination of the two with Boros Charm results in an infinite life combo, which is never a bad option to have access to while playing cards that are already quite powerful on their own.

Results from SCG Atlanta and from my own playtesting with local players has shown that both Boros Reckoner and Nearheath Pilgrim are absolutely maindeck quality for an aggressive deck.

Well, that's good to know!

How does Boros Reckoner + Nearheath Pilgrim + Boros Charm = infinite life?

An indestructible Boros Reckoner with lifelink that takes any amount of damage can target itself infinitely, looping its ability and gaining you life each time it deals damage. It requires a damage source (for this deck, it is achieved through combat).

People will often be weary of the infinite life combo for Boros Reckoner. Perhaps side 2 of the rally's or 2 of the charms for searing spears to start your own combo without need of the opponent falling into the trap?

weary*

WARY* GDI

How does it make champion unplayable? Turn 1- Champion of the Parish Turn 2- Boros Elite which pumps Champion of the Parish and Legion Loyalist to get in for 3 damage. Turn 3- Silverblade Paladin soulbonded to Champion of the Parish to swing in for 10 damage and all your creatures have first strike and trample meaning if they do block Champion of the Parish your still getting through 6 no matter what since he has double strike and trample.

I think that's still not better than going Champion into double Elite into Paladin.

Champion of the Parish is at his best when maxing on human creatures. Every additional non-human makes him worse and worse. Even just 3 Legion Loyalist puts me at 10 non-humans and 14 humans other than Champ. That means that I will only get to trigger him with 23.3% of the deck. If I see, say, 10 cards, with one of them being Champ, I will likely only trigger him twice. If those three cards are human instead, the odds increase to 28.3% and 2.5 triggers. That may not seem like a huge jump, but it really is.

I'd sideboard some anti-enchants like Erase or maybe better Sundering Growth as for example my deck play against this would ideally use turn 3 Nevermore naming Boros Charm and Supreme Verdict in the next...

Anyway It's pretty solid deck +1 ;)

Why no Assemble the Legion ?

Assemble the legion is slow and bad. You want to be winning by turn 5, not playing a card that takes time to gain effectiveness

You're underestimating the power of Assemble the Legion . It may be slow, but it is far from "bad". Against control, unless they have a Detention Sphere , you win in just a matter of turns.

It's great in the sideboard. You aggro up to turn-5 and if you aren't winning yet, you need to drop something that can go toe-to-toe with control's more potent spells. Because dropping a Champion of the Parish on turn-5 against Esper means nothing.

Perhaps, for future reference, we should evaluate cards as a whole and think about all the match-ups before casually dismissing a potentially powerful card without proof, numbers, or reasoning.

I actually agree with the Assemble the Legion in the sideboard. Control is almost nonexistent in my meta, but UWx Flash is, and they have almost no way of interacting with Assemble the Legion if I sneak it past a counterspell. Definitely in as a two-of. Thanks for the suggestion, and thanks especially to zandl for his sound reasoning.

Anyone playing control will be running Oblivion Ring , or Detention Sphere , or Dissipate and even now with Illness in the Ranks coming out for black, it does not bode well for this. Assemble the Legion is by no means a turn 5 fix. It's by no means a turn 6 fix either. Esper has such a multitude of ways of shutting down Assemble the Legion stupidly quickly, it doesn't even bear thinking about.

If control isn't in the meta then, that's fine but to say it'll turn the tides against Esper is something I disagree with.

From firsthand experience, at FNM last night, it was splittin' wigs against control.

It's all good and well to generalize theories, but seeing the card played and seeing the potential it has made me believer. Think what you will; I'll believe what I know to be true.

I guess that's fair enough. I would just shy away from an easily removable 5-drop that has no impact until the turn after you played it. That's my opinion.

I tend to build a lot of decks and playtest against populate / Selesnya decks because they can be absolutely awful for control to deal with effectively. I know what it's like to go up against something like this and it is scary but it's so addressable.

Not really. If you're playing Aggro, the control player is likely not playing the reactive game (countering, responding), but instead proactive (playing creatures, Lingering Souls ). So counterspells aren't that big of an issue.

Most control decks only run a total of 3 or 4 D-Sphere/O-Ring spells, if that, and they'd be used on problematic creatures as soon as they could be cast.

Illness in the Ranks is good tech against it, but it's dead unless your opponent plays Assemble the Legion . And how many dead cards would you want in your hand if you're control playing against aggro?

I'm just going to leave this. It's a good card but I think it's easily addressable. Zandl's seen it work, so obviously it has merit.