R/W Humans

[thetrueshyguy]

Here's a deck I took down a GPT for Anaheim with. Before AVR, this deck proves that RW Humans is still viable.

Deck
Land (24) Clifftop Retreat x4 Mountain x8 Plains x12 Creatures (26) Champion of the Parish x4 Elite Inquisitor x4 Fiend Hunter x3 Geist-Honoured Monk x2 Hellrider x3 Loyal Cathar x4 Silverchase Fox Slayer of the Wicked x2 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben x3	Non-Creatures (10) Brimstone Volley x4 Devil's Play x3 Geistflame x2 Rally The Peasants	Sideboard (15) Blasphemous Act Geist Flame x2 Graffdigger's Cage x2 Nevermore x2 Purify The Grave x2 Slayer of the Wicked x2 Thraben Heretic x3 Urgent Exorcism

[Fooly Cooly]

Originally Posted by cjwynes

I made the mistake of thinking RW was competitive until I ran into the Jund deck in the 2-mans. Yeah, not so much. Turns out you DO have to play with real cards to win after all. Whenever I go in with RW, suddenly *I* am the idiot with the cheap deck that the guys with real decks prey upon. Not a good place to be.

i dont know how you feel that way, i have a very good match up with jund

[Anrchstpunk1]

Does anybody have any advice for sideboarding? Specifically options for the mirror? Thanks in advance.

[amisare_bewaswerebeen]

I'm having a big problem against the control decks in block (Jund?) They run curse of death's hold, garruk, sorin, etc.

What are the sideboard cards that make sense against this deck? What about strategies to beat them out?

[anakyn]

This is the list I'm trying right now.

Deck
Lands (24) 4 Clifftop retreat 3 Cavern of souls 9 Mountain 8 Plains Creatures (30) 4 Champion of the parish 4 Doomed traveler 3 Thalia, guardian of Thraben 4 Lightning Mauler 3 Elite inquisitor 3 Kessig malcontents 3 Silverblade paladin 2 Fiend hunter 4 Hellrider	Spells (6) 4 Gather the townsfolk 2 Thatcher Revolt	Sideboard 1 Fiend hunter 3 Devout chaplain 3 Riders of gavony 3 Grafdigger's cage 3 Witchbane orb 2 Nevermore

I think AVR has given GREAT cards for this archetype and imho this deck should use even more humans than before: cards like Kessig Malcontents require this approach, and Lightning Mauler / Silverblade Paladin are so broken you should use them anyways.

Another good reason to insist on as many humans as possible is the new land Cavern of souls, which makes them uncounterable.

Only non-human creature is Hellrider, but that's an obvious choice for an aggro-tokens deck.

Sideboard is still a work in progress because I didn't have many chances to test it.
Riders of gavony and Devout chaplain are interesting cards but I don't know if they are efficient enough: especially the Chaplain seems to me a bit too slow and conditional to become truly effective.


Some other explanations:

- why more mountains (9) then plains (8) if we have 8 creatures we absolutely want to play on 1st turn?
Because those creatures are humans, so we can use Cavern of souls as a source, and that means we have a total of 11 sources of we can find at the start of the game. That should be enough.
The other reason is Hellrider requires , and since Cavern can't be used for him, the deck has a total of 13 mana sources cause we absolutely want at least 2 of them on the board on 4th turn.

- why Thatcher Revolt?
I use just 2 of them and I consider this card as a sort of finisher, because if at least 1 Hellrider is in play, it means 6 dmg for 3 mana.
Being human tokens means they can pump the Champion and they can combo with Kessig malcontents, but Champion has a better synergy with Gather the townsfolk (2 mana instead of 3 --> faster pump), and the synergy with Malcontents requires way too mana (6 mana total) to work in this deck.
So they're here only for Hellrider, and without Hellrider I wouldn't play them.


Cards I've tried and then taken out from the deck:
- Angelic overseer: I really love this angel but she required to use more lands --> more lands means less creatures --> not good. I prefer speed over the chance of playing a big creature a turn later.
- Burn at the stake: similar to Overseer, it requires too much mana and I didn't want to cut on creatures to put more lands. It's really mana intensive on red and that's even worse than Overseer. It could be a pretty strong finisher which ends the game itself, but most of the time when we have a lot of creatures on the board Hellrider should be enough to kill the opponent
- Mentor of the meek: just too slow. We simply want to hit hard and fast, and he doesn't help a lot for this kind of plan. Drawing is really good of course, but I prefer a bigger threat over the chance to have 1-2 more cards in hand. I think he's better for decks with less pace and more mana to spend (G/W humans).
- Vexing devil: this was very tricky to decide. Most of the time it's 1 red mana = 4 dmg for opponent, and that's obviously good. But not being human, and the fact most of the time he doesn't stay on board, are big drawbacks for a deck that want a lot of human creatures on the board to use the potential of Kessig Malcontents and Hellrider, or to grow Champion of the parish even bigger.
Another great card that imho suits better in a different kind of deck.

[Ramenth]

Wont your Mauler generally end up paired with something irrelevant and not have the ability to grant haste to what needs it? especially in such a swarmy deck?

[anakyn]

Originally Posted by Ramenth

Wont your Mauler generally end up paired with something irrelevant and not have the ability to grant haste to what needs it? especially in such a swarmy deck?

Well, the deck is build in such a way that nothing can be considered "irrelevant" in my opinion.


Goal is very simple: 20 dmg really fast.

For Mauler, what's important is he doesn't enter the battlefield alone, because that's the only situation when he's useless (but just for that very turn).
If there's simply a Traveler, it means 2 dmg more for 2 mana, which isn't bad.
If there's a Champion, it means 3 dmg more cause he pumps him, and that's even better.

But the really broken mechanic about Mauler is the ability to give haste to anything that enters AFTER him: there are a lot of times when I'm on 3rd turn and my board is nothing fearful (1 traveler + 1 mauler or so), and the second after I'm swinging for 8 cause I've just casted a Silverblade paladin, which gives double strike to Mauler and receives haste from Mauler itself.
That's really a lot of damage, really fast.
Requires the opponent to react or he's dead in a couple of turns. If the turn after I have the Malcontents to cast, it means TEN more dmg and the match could be over on the 4th turn.

The more I look the Mauler the more I like him.
He gives to you so much damage.
He becomes immediately the main target for opponent's removal, and for a 2-mana creature in a deck full of even bigger (Paladin, Hellrider) or even more annoying (Thalia) threats it means a lot.

I used 3 at the beginning because I didn't want they entered the battlefield alone, but since now I've seen that this should happen very rarely and 4 is the right number imho.

I hope they won't ban him like it happened with Lingering souls.

[Ramenth]

If your Mauler is bonded with your Traveler, it cant soulbound with the Paladin. As I understand it based on the text, you can only soulbond if the creature is unbound. Mauler does not, as I understand it, read 'Every card after me gets Haste.'

[Quazaar]

Yep both creatures need to be unpaired to pair them, if you bonded your Mauler to your 1 drop you cant bond it to your 3 drop unless you no longer control your 1 drop.

[alus84]

Hi everybody!
I was looking for deck ideas, and I read this thread.
I'm a little confused about this deck.
As far as I can see, you use mostly white for creatures and red for spells.
Because, let's say it, red creatures aren't so good...
However, every list has 3 Thalia, which doesn't work properly with spells.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but I do not see the speed of the deck,
and having a Thalia in play can slow your burn plan.

I would like to suggest:

Deck
Lands (23) 4 Clifftop Retreat 9 Mountain 10 Plains Creatures (25) 4 Champion of the Parish 4 Stromkirk Noble 4 Lightning Mauler 4 Elite Inquisitor 3 Silverblade Paladin 3 Fiend Hunter 3 Hellrider	Spells (12) 4 Gather the Townsfolk 4 Pillar of Flame 4 Brimstone Volley

If you find that Fiend Hunter is too slow, you can replace it with Loyal Cathar.
However, your only removal will be the burn spells, which sometimes aren't enough.
I think that Instigator Gang is no more viable.
You could replace it with Riders of Gavony as a finisher,
or Angel of Jubilation.
Those cards could replace Hellrider or Paladin in my list.

[truRAR]

Originally Posted by anakyn

But the really broken mechanic about Mauler is the ability to give haste to anything that enters AFTER him: there are a lot of times when I'm on 3rd turn and my board is nothing fearful (1 traveler + 1 mauler or so), and the second after I'm swinging for 8 cause I've just casted a Silverblade paladin, which gives double strike to Mauler and receives haste from Mauler itself.

I hope they won't ban him like it happened with Lingering souls.

He is pretty good... but ban worthy? I dont think so. You probably have seen those deck boxes or sleeves with RTFC on it and that probably should be done here.

Soulbond (You may pair this creature with another unpaired creature when either enter the battlefield. They remained paired for as long as you control both of them.)

That means that he can't be paired to something if he is already paired. So in the scenario of T1 Champion, T2 Mauler (pair with Champion), T3 Silverblade... you could not pair Mauler to Silverblade to give it haste (unless Champion dies), you could not pair Silverblade with Champion to give it Double Strike (unless Mauler dies).

Now, pairing is a MAY ability. In that particular scenario, I would say T1 Champion, T2 Mauler (no pair) swing with Champion for 2, T3 Silverblade (pair with Mauler) swing for 3+2DS+2DS seems pretty good!

I guess I am just not sure that if I conditional Haste is good enough to make the cut in this deck. Possibly if you played Emancipation Angel, Restoration Angel, or Cloudshift where you could control what gets Haste and when (the exile removes the bond)... But then you aren't playing Humans then are you?

[Bastille]

Deck
Lands (23) 4 Clifftop Retreat 9 Mountain 6 Plains 4 Cavern of Souls Creatures (23) 4 Champion of the Parish 4 Elite Inquisitor 3 Lightning Mauler 3 Huntmaster of the Fells 3 Silverblade Paladin 2 Fiend Hunter 4 Hellrider	Spells (14) 2 Rally the Peasants 4 Gather the Townsfolk 4 Pillar of Flame 4 Brimstone Volley

Just an idea to use cavern to splash for huntsmaster as hes pretty bomb and uncounterable. still undecided on the numbers in the middle also Thatcher Revolt might have a place in this deck T5+ thatcher can hurt if you have hellrider, CotP on the board, or rally in yard. just some ideas to play around with

[anakyn]

Guys, of course the Mauler can't give haste to EVERYTHING that comes after him, you're right on this, but have you read my example about the Paladin and the 8 dmg out of nothing? That remains completely real.
You AREN'T OBLIGED to pair the Mauler as soon as he's played, you can simply wait the very next turn to pair him with a Paladin (very likely and very often: it happens to me a lot of times), but also giving haste to a Malcontent or an Inquisitor seems pretty good to me, don't you think?

Oh, and another thing: if you have both Mauler and Paladin on the battlefield and the opponent has a spot removal to play, what do you think he'll remove? Probably the Paladin, right? In that case the next creature you play will get haste again...

Best scenario: 8 dmg out of nothing at 3rd turn paired with Paladin, and if your 1st turn was a Champion your opponent is suddenly below 10 life.
Normal scenario: at 3rd turn you pair him with Malcontents, and it's likely 3 dmg from Malcontent itself, other 5 dmg from Malcontent and Mauler attack, and probably another 1st-turn-casted-creature attacking as well.

In both scenarios, a 4th turn Hellrider can be game over.

I'm not saying that's GUARANTEED damage because obviously the opponent can react, but what I say is this kind of deck has REALLY A LOT of potential damage for a block constructed deck.
He can kill 4th turn also if you are NOT very lucky, and that's nuts in my opinion.
And the main part of this damage comes from Mauler.


However, I've found that 4 Maulers are maybe too many, and I slightly changed my list: now I use 1 less Mauler and 1 more Hunter.
Also, I've included 2 Bonfire of the damned in sideboard, but I'm still not sure about them because of their anti-sinergy with Thalia.


The new list:

Deck
Lands (24) 4 Clifftop retreat 3 Cavern of souls 9 Mountain 8 Plains Creatures (30) 4 Champion of the parish 4 Doomed traveler 3 Thalia, guardian of Thraben 3 Lightning Mauler 3 Elite inquisitor 3 Kessig malcontents 3 Silverblade paladin 3 Fiend hunter 4 Hellrider	Spells (6) 4 Gather the townsfolk 2 Thatcher Revolt	Sideboard 3 Devout chaplain 2 Riders of gavony 3 Grafdigger's cage 3 Witchbane orb 2 Nevermore 2 Bonfire of the damned

And yes, blink abilities works well with Soulbond, but in my opinion they slow the deck too much.
I prefer a more straightforward strategy because I think that's better for block constructed while I would prefer a more control build if I were playing Standard.

So I bet all my fiches with Humans and that's why I play 3 Malcontents.

[anakyn]

Originally Posted by Bastille

Just an idea to use cavern to splash for huntsmaster

That's an attractive idea and Huntmaster is a card I tried to find a place for in this deck, but I think that relying on merely 4 sources is a bit too risky... if you don't find a Cavern all your Huntmasters are dead cards, and this deck has no way to draw neither tutoring for lands.

You should splash more green mana, but that way it can become difficult to find early for Inquisitor/Hunter or for Hellrider.
So at that point you should play more lands --> less threats and less potential damage.


The real problem imho is that in a build, we can use only 1 dual land for , as there are no dual lands for or .
This really hurts, especially in a deck that wants to be very fast and can't spend time fixing his mana.

But I guess a Humans deck can be pretty strong in Standard, right?

[Flaming_Sword]

Originally Posted by anakyn

But I guess a Humans deck can be pretty strong in Standard, right?

Standard has Hero of Bladehold...
No real reason to ever want Huntmaster.

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