Vote On My Modern Deck For This Weekend!

The SCG Tour stop this weekend is Modern in Charlotte, NC. Modern is currently my favorite format to play because I can play any style of deck I want and do reasonably well if the list is good. You want to bring the best deck that no one is prepared for every weekend. In a format as big as Modern, people don’t have the deck space to fend off everything.

I’ve wanted to play a Humans deck in Modern for a while now. Initial attempts at Mono-White Humans featuring Kytheon, Hero of Akros along with Champion of the Parish and Thalia’s Lieutenant proved to be underpowered. Various multicolored Humans decks have popped up on Magic Online, but they always felt a little gimmicky. After all, if you’re looking for creature synergy in Modern, you can always play Counters Company or Elves to go arbitrarily large with Vizier of Remedies and Devoted Druid.

It looks like Ixalan might’ve given Humans the tools it needs to take it to the next level.

The manabases of Modern Humans has always been finicky. The more powerful Humans are multicolored, and rightly so. You want some degree of interaction with your opponent, since you want always draw Thalia’s Lieutenant to make your creatures huge. Reflector Mage, Sin Collector, Knight of the Reliquary, Mantis Rider, and Anafenza, the Foremost are cards that you could be interested in.

Unclaimed Territory essentially means more copies of Cavern of Souls for the Humans deck. The Five-Color Slivers deck in Modern operates off four Cavern of Souls and four Sliver Hive along with a light fetch/shockland manabase. Humans decks now have access to the same easily castable creatures.

Humans needs a way to interact with the opponent’s hand. Sin Collector was an option before, but the 2/1 body is only so-so and it tends to whiff a lot. Kitesail Freebooter is a full mana cheaper, isn’t as strict on the colors, and hits enchantments, artifacts, and planeswalkers in addition to instants and sorceries.

Being cheaper means it can come down before a sweeper like Pyroclasm or Anger of the Gods. Nabbing an Ensnaring Bridge or Oblivion Stone is pretty nice too. Of course, the opponent gets the card back when Kitesail Freebooter dies, but that’s generally all right. They had to invest a removal spell into your 1/2 flyer before getting back whatever card supposedly wrecks you.

I really like seeing the opponent’s hand without having to dip into cards like Thoughtseize. Much like Tidehollow Sculler, I think Kitesail Freebooter is going to find its way into other Modern decks simply because it’s fairly cheaper interaction that leaves behind a body.

Four-Color Humans

OLIVER_HART (5-0)

Test deck on 10-13-2017

Modern

Creatures (31)

• 4 Noble Hierarch
• 4 Champion of the Parish
• 4 Avacyn's Pilgrim
• 3 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
• 2 Xathrid Necromancer
• 1 Anafenza, the Foremost
• 4 Reflector Mage
• 4 Thalia's Lieutenant
• 1 Thalia, Heretic Cathar
• 4 Kitesail Freebooter

Lands (21)

• 1 Forest
• 1 Plains
• 4 Windswept Heath
• 1 Overgrown Tomb
• 1 Temple Garden
• 1 Hallowed Fountain
• 1 Horizon Canopy
• 1 Misty Rainforest
• 2 Razorverge Thicket
• 4 Cavern of Souls
• 4 Unclaimed Territory

Spells (8)

• 4 Path to Exile
• 4 Collected Company

Sideboard

• 3 Meddling Mage
• 2 Orzhov Pontiff
• 2 Stony Silence
• 2 Rest in Peace
• 2 Sin Collector
• 2 Kambal, Consul of Allocation
• 2 Shapers' Sanctuary

It’s become commonplace for all Modern Humans decks to include Reflector Mage. Grixis Death’s Shadow and Eldrazi Tron have huge creatures like Gurmag Angler and Endbringer that are disastrous to get bounced with a Reflector Mage. It’s often the only maindeck blue card, yet is powerful enough to warrant including. The final dealmaker is that Noble Hierarch taps for blue mana, making access to blue just that much easier.

This list has Anafenza, the Foremost and Xathrid Necromancer as other maindeck black creatures in addition to Kitesail Freebooter. Anafenza is the cleanest fit for the deck to interact with the opponent’s graveyard and to negate “dies triggers” like Voice of Resurgence. Anafenza is huge for her cost and does good work sizing your other creatures appropriately for combat. At worst, you can just put a +1/+1 counter on a tapped Noble Hierarch.

Xathrid Necromancer is the best preemptive answer to sweepers like Pyroclasm, Supreme Verdict, All Is Dust, or Damnation. Doesn’t work against Anger of the Gods, but that’s okay. All combat is now heavily in your favor and Xathrid Necromancer really needs to be dealt with before any other removal spells are pointed at your creatures. Xathrid Necromancer is the find that has exceeded my expectations the most.

The sideboard offers access to more B/W Humans that are more specialized in their purposes.

Sin Collector is better than Kitesail Freebooter against a deck chock-full of instants and sorceries and without much that can block a 2/1 creature. Still, you probably keep in all six creatures and really wreck their hand.

Orzhov Pontiff is incredible in the mirror and against Affinity or Elves. Who knows, some maniac could show up with Infect or Soul Sisters.

Kambal, Consul of Allocation is great against anything with cantrips like Serum Visions and without many creatures. Kambal is probably slightly better than Ethersworn Canonist when you have access to black, but I think it’s close. The drain effect is pretty nice when you’re a beatdown deck.