Champion of Lambholt is easily one of the most important humans in the deck since humans usually have small bodies so the evasion is going to be crucial to our game plan. Sadly, the humans have no viable lord or anthem effects for us to use so I found myself wanting to play with Cathars' Crusade. It doubles both of our Champion's output and even if it should be destroyed, unlike a traditional lord or anthem effect, any benefits we managed to get out of it are permanent. Some similar cards to use in tandem with the Crusade are: Mikaeus, the Lunarch and Gavony Township.
In my opinion, any deck with access to card draw should probably find room for some. Though I can't speak for anyone else, I know that my least favorite thing about Magic is being in topdeck mode. So having said that, and considering the fact that almost all humans are 2/2 or less then its obvious that Mentor of the Meek fits right in.
Now, at this stage of the deck, a pattern is arising. A lot of our cards trigger when a creature enters the battlefield, so why not use this to create some great synergy? And if synergy is what we're looking for then look no further than Thraben Doomsayer; churning out a human token each turn, we are able to trigger both of our Champion's, Cathars' Crusade, and/or Mentor of the Meek all without having to use any of the creatures we may have in hand. His 'Fateful Hour' ability is narrow and probably won't come into play very often if at all but at least its gravy! Also, as if the Doomsayer wasn't good enough, we can also add Mausoleum Guard for almost equal synergy.Now the deck just needs some finishing touches so we'll add some good stuff, some necessary utility, and some more thematic cards in the form of Silverblade Paladin, Rebuke, and Travel Preparations respectively.
The Paladin and Rebuke need no explanations I'm sure, but Travel Preparations may seem lackluster at first glance, though, I think it is actually great for enabling an alpha strike with Champion of Lambholt and is also good for recharging Mikaeus or even perhaps doing both at the same time.
We'll just add in the rest of our manabase now and we're done, our list looks something like this:
Creature: 24
4 x Champion of Lambholt
4 x Champion of the Parish
3 x Mausoleum Guard
3 x Mentor of the Meek
2 x Mikaeus, the Lunarch
4 x Silverblade Paladin
4 x Thraben Doomsayer
Enchantment: 3
3 x Cathar's Crusade
Instant: 4
4 x Rebuke
Sorcery: 4
4 x Travel Preparations
+ 25 Land
One card I'd love to find room for is Deranged Outcast so I'd have a sac outlet for Mausoleum Guard and could also put the Doomsayer's tokens to even more use. Silverblade Paladin contributes nothing to the theme (other than being human) but I'm reluctant to cut him because he's so good.
Oh well, as with a lot of deck ideas, we usually find ourselves with more ideas than we have room for and either way I think the deck is pretty good as it stands. Though, of course...yada yada... playtesting ... yada yada. ;-)
This concludes our venture into the realm of Innistrad and as we delved into its tribes, I hope it was as enjoyable for you as it was for me.
Remember to leave a comment if you have any suggestions or if perhaps you feel I overlooked a card as I'm very open to different perspectives and ideas.
Thank you for reading, 'till next time.
Hamlet Capatain is awesome in humans. You look a little clogged at the three mana mark, so you could probably cut a couple Doomsayers and maybe two Silverblade Paladins for 4x Hamlet Captain. Or, maybe cut 1x Cathar's Crusade - as awesome as that card is, it's a bit slow for such an aggro-ish deck. I still think it's worth a couple slots, as it gives you more long-game reach if you fail to burn 'em out quickly enough.
ReplyDeleteChampion of Lambholt is probably the best three-drop in the list, so I'd keep her at 4x.
are you actually building these decks IRL? Are you playing them at FNM or casual games? It'd be cool to hear if you have some playtesting to report on how these decks are playing - so far they all look really cool, but I'm pretty much only playing EDH right now... so let us know how these decks actually run, if you get the chance.
Oh, and your curve is low enough, I feel 24x land would be sufficient, so maybe cut 1x land, 1x Cathar's Crusade, 1x Doomsayer, 1x Silverblade Paladin?
DeleteAlso, if you want to go outside the block into the larger Standard pool, Skinshifter is pretty good as a 2x of in Humans.
You're probably right about being clogged at 3cc. Hamlet Captain should be a nice addition to spread the curve out a bit not to mention his pseudo-anthem ability should come in handy. Thanks!
DeleteAs for building them IRL, I plan to but haven't yet.
I'll definitely cut a land; I was stuck at 59 cards for awhile and just added another land until I was ready to edit the list again. One of the Crusades can come out too I guess with Mikaeus and Township also being able to pump all the creatures. I'm reluctant to cut any of the Paladins as I said but I'll follow your advice and see where it takes me.
Thanks for the input! xD
Cool, hope it works out. I understand about the Paladins, as that's one of my (MANY!) favorite cards from AVR, it just seemed the least on-theme for the deck, though he's certainly a powerful addition otherwise. 3x seemed plenty to me, though, just because you don't want to draw him in pairs that often. Yeah, they CAN soulbond each other, but they don't get double-double-strike for doing it! LOL! :)
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