Back on the tribal train that I enjoy so much, I finally have some real world play to stand behind. Play testing is great, but attending events and playing against real people and their decks is the highlight of playing Magic. While not the most inventive deck, I drafted up this deck and piloted it at my LGS this weekend. Notably I had the opportunity to play with one of my new favorite legends: Kari Zev, Skyship Raider.

Decklist

Creatures

2x Archangel Avacyn



4x Expedition Envoy

4x Hanweir Garrison

3x Kari Zev, Skyship Raider



4x Metallic Mimic

4x Selfless Spirit

4x Thalia’s Lieutenant

3x Thalia, Heretic Cathar

4x Thraben Inspector



Instants

4x Invigorated Rampage



3x Shock

Lands

3x Hanweir Battlements

4x Inspiring Vantage

6x Mountain

8x Plains

Sideboard

1x Blessed Alliance

2x Fragmentize

2x Kari Zev’s Expertise

2x Repel the Abominable

3x Skywhaler’s Shot

3x Stasis Snare

2x Tears of Valakut

Creatures

Expedition Envoy and Thraben Inspector are the one drops of choice. Thraben gives us a redraw, and Envoy gives is an aggressive 2/1 body. The other option would be to use Town Gossipmonger, but the deck does not feature vigilance as a mechanic, so I decided that the 2/1 upfront body is all that the deck wants. While you can not pump the Envoy, the deck prefers to have a creature that is more aggressive and fast as opposed to tapping a creature and missing an attack.

The bulk of the creatures cost two mana, and the deck is very consistent at having action in the first two and three turns because of this. Kari Zev, Skyship Raider is one hell of a card. At base she is a 2 mana ¾ that attacks over two bodies. If Ragavan ever kills another creature you are most likely in a commanding position, and the real beats begin here. Notably Kari Zev is incredible to buff. She is tough and ready to dish out pain. Do not underestimate her.

Metallic Mimic and Selfless Spirit are the most utility oriented creatures. Mimic makes all of your cheap creatures much better. It is fairly vulnerable itself, but when you are buffing the cheap creatures it pays off very quickly. Pulling creatures above the three toughness mark can be significant in many matchups. Selfless Spirit is unfortunately not a human, but the flying, 2 power, indestructible trigger for two mana is really what the deck wants and will save you from most sweepers.

Lastly Thalia’s Lieutenant is a great version of the good old Champion of the Parish. Buff your team and make a large body, the lieutenant will work hard for you. This is the main payoff card for the human tribal synergies, and it delivers.

These two cards almost feel unfair at 3 mana, they are just so powerful that you rarely feel bad for casting them on curve. Hanweir Garrison is the largest payoff for playing tribal humans aside from the Lieutenant. Notably the two play VERY well together, adding Mimic makes some very beefy tokens. On curve Mimic into Garrison makes a ¾ and you attack with a ¾ and two 2/2s. Have you heard of Hero of Bladehold? Allstar mythic finisher? Second we have Thalia. First strike is dumb. Creatures and lands entering tapped for your opponent is dumb. She is a fantastic tool of disruption, and very important for counterplay against other decks.

Avacyn is the last creature, and I can not think of a better red/white angel for our team to follow. She can occasionally wipe our board, but Avacyn flipping is usually a very powerful point in the game, and 6 flying will close a game out fairly quickly.

Instants

Invigorated Rampage is a strong buff spell, and with the two first strike creatures, tokens, and one drops, this card usually reads “Deal 4 damage to the opponent.” While it should come out for control games, it will steal games for you. Shock is the other instant of choice for the mainboard. Early board control against other board focused decks, and it can stop the Saheeli Combo that we must keep in mind while crafting for standard. It can go face, which is why it makes the cut over Galvanic Bombardment. We do not have Incendiary Flow because it is not an instant, which could be a strong sideboard card if the meta deemed it more important for the exile trigger.

Lands

Hanweir Battlements is another card that I am surprised to not see. Flash decks don’t need it because of their reactiveness, but adding 1R to give a creature haste puts a lot of pressure on the opponent, especially when the bulk of the deck costs 2 mana and can then be a hasted threat for 4 total mana. Inspiring Vantage fixes the mana and are great early.

I have gone out of my way to find the basic lands that I am playing, as these arts complement each other quite well. John Avon and Adam Paquette do not disappoint in the art direction department.

Sideboard

Blessed Alliance is a powerful card versus decks that do not want to attack with multiple threats at once. Repel the Abominable is a crazy cool card for the deck and can save you from alpha strike from Saheeli, Pummler beat downs, or Walking Balista shenanigans. It says ALL damage, not combat.

Skywhaler’s Shot kills Mindwrack demons and gearhulks and lets us get some sweet scry action going. Tears of Valakut also kills Mindwrack demons and enemy Avacyns, and can only be inturupted by Spell Queller and Summary Dismissal.

Fragmentize kills smaller artifacts and keeps Colossus, Aetherworks Marvel, and Aetherflux Reservoir decks in check. Kari Zev’s Experise is the other option to beating larger decks as you take their creature and smash accordingly. The free two drop helps as well, as dropping Thalia’s Lieutenant or Invigorated Rampage both bring a beating.

Stasis Snare is the final card in the sideboard, and it fills the position of dealing with large eldrazi if they become relevant, or you are trying to avoid death effects and indestructible.

Important Lookouts

This board centric aggressive deck dislikes Yahenni’s Expertise and other board wipes. Make sure to not over extend against them. Other than that you want to play very aggressively, meaning sometime you have to attack and lose a creature. If it gives you the reach to win the game through Invigorated Rampage, Shock, or from another attack then do so. As far as matchups, GB scales is tough since they are fast like us, but a tad larger. Saheeli Decks are generally shower, and some of the most explosive starts can shut them out before they are able to control the board.

As of writing this I found that a RW Humans list reached 12th place at Star City Games Open Standard Richmond! The list included Always Watching and Town Gossipmongers, showing that they are certainly a powerhouse, but it is very exciting to see other people finding success with the archetype. Here is his list

http://sales.starcitygames.com//deckdatabase/displaydeck.php?DeckID=111254







For more statistics on the deck I have posted, the deck list for Tapped Out may be found here:

http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/25-01-17-rw-humans/



The deck is a ton of fun to play for aggressive players. You almost always have something to do and get to play a fairly interactive game with your opponent. Thanks for reading and send me any reports of success you may find with the deck!