[Selesnya] Human Company (Midrange) - New deck for a new standard rotation!

[Bane2k4]

http://deckstats.net/decks/48955/459847--selesnya-human-company-midran/en

Hi folks!

With the release of Shadows Over Innistrad, and the new Standard format rotation, my old deck has almost entirely rotated out, and certainly rotated in terms of what matters (Monastery Swiftspear, Monastery Mentor, Seeker of the Way, Shu Yun, the Silent Tempest, all gone. Mantis Rider and Jeskai Charm, too), so I've been working on a new deck, and it's one that, although I had my eye on it from early in the spoilers, wasn't actually my first choice (that being Esper Control). But given the choices within my local community - a LOT of people are making Esper Control - I decided to go with GW Humans, as the likes of Thalia's Lieutenant and Hanweir Militia Captain/Westvale Cult Leader teaming up with Collected Company sounded not just really strong, but a lot of fun.

I've been playtesting with, and trading around for bits for this deck since Pre-Release weekend, and I have all the pieces for the list as it is now, plus some alternatives used in the several iterations this deck has gone through already. What I'd like is for people to take a look and give me some feedback on my choices - is there anything you would change, and if so, why? Would you tweak numbers? Are there any other creatures you can think of that would suit this deck well/better? What would you say it's weaknesses are, and how can I address them? So on and so forth. Whilst I've aimed to make a competitive deck for my local meta before, and have successfully done so, I'd really like to try and gear up a deck to be competitive to the point I can take it to a GPT, or even a PTQ. Any and all constructive feedback is welcome and appreciated!

The rest of this post is my probably long-winded explanation of the strategy and my choices, so I don't expect everyone to read it. If you do, however, and if I've made an error, or over-looked something, or if you feel I'm over-hyping something, please let me know!

The strategy is fairly straight forward: flood the board with increasingly powerful minions, and swing high or swing wide for game. It focuses a lot more on synergy than combat tricks, with the latter encompassing Eerie Interlude and Collected Company.

Thalia's Lieutenant, Hanweir Milita Captain/Westvale Cult Leader, and Avatar of the Resolute are the main beaters in this deck, being the easiest to make into monstrosities. Although Avatar of the Resolute isn't a human, I think it'd be criminal not to put him in, given how easy it is to spread counters around with Thalia's Lieutenant, the fact that he has trample, and the fact that he has reach for anti-flyer hate (read: Vampires).

Tireless Tracker and Archangel of Tithes can also be used as beaters, but that role is secondary; they're in for their utility. Tireless Tracker gives consistent clues, allowing you to turn un-used mana into card advantage, fleshing out your mid-game curve. Archangel of Tithes is just an all round awkward card for decks to play around, and against red, will almost always force a Lightning Axe if you don't have Always Watching down; Aggro hates her, and any Midrange/Control decks that rely in anyway on blockers hate her.

One of the best things about some of the above cards is that not only do they swing high themselves, but they enable you to swing wide easier as well. The deck naturally swings wide because of the large number of low cost minions making it easy to flood, but Thalia's Lieutenant (and Consul's Lieutenant) make that even more effective; Westvale Cult Leader spits out a token every end step of yours (which simultaneously buffs Thalia's Lieutenant); Archangel of Tithes is increasingly more efficient when attacking with a flooded board.

The one-drop spots were taken by what are, in my opinion, the two best one drop humans in standard by a good margin (the only thing I'd say comes close is Servant of the Scale, but even then...): Kytheon, Hero of Akros, and Thraben Inspector. Thraben Inspector is a solid 1/2 body, has human tribal, and gives a clue that will even out one of your turns later on. Kytheon, Hero of Akros, is a 1 drop 2/1 with no drawback, human tribal, an ability to turn indestructible, flips on an easily fulfilled condition with this deck into a Planeswalker with three strong effects, not least of all being the ability to become a 4/4 indestructible human tribal beatstick. Hell, he even draws removal away from your true beatsticks - literally the only conceivable drawback I can think could be argued is his Legendary typing, but his ease of casting means that I can freely throw him away in combat if needs be, knowing full well I'm likely to (or already have) draw into him again. ...Okay, I'm fanboying a bit, but after him being the most disappointing of the flip walkers so far, I'm excited to find a deck archetype that he slots into so easily.

Westvale Abbey is in there as an alternate win con that is easily enabled by this deck. Hell, it could even be called a combat trick - if you have six mana open, one of them being Westvale Abbey, and the opponent board wipes, you can respond by eating your board and spawning Ormendahl, Profane Prince. It also spits out humans when you're in top deck mode with loads of open mana. It's also really freakin' cool.

Always Watching is the obviously Intangible Virtue 2.0, and because of that, it warrants a spot. It's consistently good across all matchups, though it's not usually a game-winning play, and, as such, is the first thing to be side-boarded for specific matchup tools.

Eerie Interlude is a great combat trick to have in hand. Like Always Watching, it's consistently good in all matchups, allowing you to dodge board wipes , flicker out important creatures that are targeted for removal, flicker out creatures when on the offensive or defensive for more pressure/better trades/cheat blocks, re-trigger a board with a Thalia's Lieutenant or three for a potentially game winning increase in power, and so on. Always Watching should be sided out first, but this is the second target for the sideboard.

Speaking of the sideboard, my choices are based on early testing of an early meta. Dromoka's Command was initially mainboard, but it blows in certain matchups (like Werewolves); it does, however, do strong work in the mirror, and the Vampire matchup, so gets a spot to bring in against them. I almost always run artifact and enchantment hate in my sideboard, and with the numerous strong enchantments, and the likes of Neglected Heirloom, Natural State gets an automatic place. Hallowed Moonlight has been in my sideboard since 4C Rally was a thing, and retains its place because Allies, Elves, and the mirror, all still run Collected Company, and because Zombies are a thing. Aim High gets a spot for the Vampire matchup, as flying can be problematic for this deck. It also can do work in the Werewolf matchup to make better trades, will work against Angels if they ever become a thing, helps even trades against Mono-Red aggro, and so on; choosing whether to sideboard this in requires a judgement call based on your opponents threats. The final sideboard slot goes to Declaration in Stone, which works great in the Zombie matchup (exile their Relentless Dead whenever possible, and cry tears of joy if you manage to hit multiple of them at once), is a solid pick for Werewolves, getting rid of an out of control threat that you can't otherwise deal with, is good against Control that runs either Topplegeist (I both love and loathe this thing), or relies on a beefy win condition like Thing in the Ice, Ormendahl, Profane Prince, or Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet, and will be fantastic against any token spammy deck, should that become a thing.

I think the land choices are pretty straightforward.

Thanks for reading and critiquing folks!