I know removal is pretty much your evasion here, but curious if perhaps folding in some elements that could provide trample or the like might be important? Maybe on the sideboard, especially if you're up against other tokens/aggro?

Relic Seeker might help you dig for the equipment you need. Don't know if you're on budget but Gideon, Ally of Zendikar has a home here.

Militant Inquisitor seems like it could be easily replaced.

+1

Tried Gideon, Ally of Zendikar and he didn't work. He came out too late to pump my Creatures up when they needed it. They were all dead by the time he made his Emblem.

Trying to make a 2/2 Knight was worse as it got overrun and Gideon got killed pretty much right away.

Relic Seeker doesn't give enough value. It is VERY difficult to achieve Renown for it. Equipment here is a nice bonus, but not essential.

Is there Trample available in ? I think that's more of a thing, and I'm not going to change these colours because, as you say, the removal has been making this deck rock.

Radiant Flames and Declaration in Stone are both there to help with boards that go wide. Angelic Purge can take down Enchantments that assist the Opponent with that.

Thanks for your feedback. Which deck(s) did you Playtest against?

Rush of Adrenaline is what sprung to mind but it doesn't fit here, there isn't room for a one-off when you go wide. Same with Uncaged Fury or Magmatic Chasm. Nahiri, the Harbinger also just misses as a possible late game answer as well.

I threw it against Grixis, ramp and mono-red. It stomped mono-red and Grixis (weirdly); had trouble with ramp.

Ramp is my fear for this deck. Thanks for pointing that out.

I will do some more testing against some Ramp decks and see what I can come up with.

I used this shell during the Oath of the Gatewatch season and found Magmatic Chasm really helpful.

I'm still mucking around with the Sideboard and won't really know how to lock that down until I play some matches, and see what my local meta is up to.

Thanks for your thoughts.

With such a low curve, 24 lands seems heavy. Especially with The Knight that can grab you some plains. Iroas's Champion might have a place here? He's also a human for that extra sweet bonus. An equipped double striker would be devastating. Cut two lands for two champions? 22 lands should still be good.

Funnily enough I did consider Iroas's Champion. He is Human and, as you say, Double Strike is nice.

Although I actually do already have that with Needle Spires.

I never rely on the Knights to fetch lands. They are there purely for their First Strike.

Most stuff in this deck provides a nice bonus, rather than essential tech.

I've never been comfortable with less than 24 lands. Except when I'm going very aggro, which this deck isn't.

I will ponder and test some of these ideas.

I second Iroas's Champion. Definitely over Militant Inquisitor. Double strike isn't something you can have too little of, in my humble opinion. Happy testing.

Stubi you have a very aggro based deck and you say your afraid to go with less lands cause your not aggro enough? I am kinda scared to ask what your aggro decks look like then.

I am surprised that you are not contemplating Thalia's Lieutenant. This card screams for your attention since you are human tribal. Not only is it good to start out with quick since it will get big for every creature you cast, but also when played late acts a steroid for all your humans creatures.

I also recommend Iroas's Champion for the deck build as you can't go wrong with a 3 drop 2/2 double strike.

Lastly I think I agree with 24 being too many lands. Its not like you are using fetch stile lands (because the good ones fell out) to help thin your deck to reduce your land draws after you don't need them anymore. After using the play test button a couple of times I had problems drawing too many lands and not enough things to sink the mana into. You may want to consider using Kytheon's Irregulars if you want to keep your mana base so high since he allows you to funnel that mana for defensive and offensive means.

I tested Thalia's Lieutenant extensively but it did not work well. I was as surprised as everyone.

It not having first strike and coming out as a 1/1 was a big deal, even though it buffed my other Humans and got buffed later itself.

In my playtesting I've consistently ended up with 2 lands in my opening hand so I don't know what to tell you. This may appear to be an aggro deck due to the amount of 2 drops, but it actually isn't. It uses removal to control the early game and only starts to get hits in during mid.

I'm currently testing with less lands and Iroas's Champion, as I said above. It will never replace Militant Inquisitor in this deck as that has been playtesting exceptionally well.

The other thing I'm going to try to explain is that, in a deck that has a bit of equipment, extra land helps immensely.

It lets you play and attach equipment much faster.

I understand what you mean about that. The reason why I didn't like the mana setup was because you have only 1 card at the three cost position at 3 copies. everything else in the deck is 2 or less. This means that once you have 5 lands in play you won't really want to draw another land because it will likely not benefit you anymore. If you think the deck plays better with more land, or just what your comfortable with you; then go for it. You just got to do what you need sometimes to make the deck feels comfortable for you sometimes.

As for the 2 drop, I could see why he might not do so well since you only have 17 creatures in your deck.

Thanks for your understanding, razelfark.

I appreciate it.

Y'know tbqh if I was gonna put two extra cards in here they would probably be Fiery Impulse as opposed to Iroas's Champion.

I don't often find myself wishing for another Creature, but I DO find myself wishing for a cheaper Instant.

In all honesty though, the Champion has been testing well.

OK I've now done a lot of testing and here's the score.

The extra lands help this deck in one important way. They turn Needle Spires into a Creature faster.

They also allow equipment to be moved onto Needle Spires, turning it from a 2/1 with Double Strike into a 3/1, 3/2, or even 4/2 with Double Strike, which is quite a big deal.

Take a look at this one that seems to be faster Allies + equipment = aggro (valid post SOI).

Zemi that is faster but has few interrupts.

Mine just kills all its Creatures and then it's dead in the water.

After a whole batch of testing I've relented and put Iroas's Champion in.

Most of the time it either doesn't show up or gets killed right away, but on the odd occasion that it sticks around it does help.

It works well if Needle Spires is a Creature because the Opponent has to deal with two Double Strike Creatures at the same time.

Thanks to those who continually spoke up for it.

Land count has been dropped to 22, and I have added Plains and removed Mountains to weight things more toward

No Thalia's Lieutenant? That's a huge Humans payoff

I love the concept, i'd like to see more aggro equipment deck now that rotation is over. Have you tried reckless bushwacker for the surge make a great tempo swing to gain advantage. Maybe running Makindi patrol (ally viligance). Or the Firemantle Mage(ally Menace).

I don't see anything besides Stoneforge masterworks, that make you want to stay with only humans...

If you ran a few more captain's claws you'd get better consistency with you ally drops and gain that advantage from the ally triggers.

Either way nice deck looks fun.

Todris052 I already addressed that above.

tybot132 Your comment reminds me so much of this cartoon.

You have overlooked True-Faith Censer but you've also underestimated what a big deal it is to have Creatures of a similar type on the field for Stoneforge Masterwork.

The games go long with using Control in the early game, playing Creatures mid game, then receiving buffs in the late game. So the likelihood of seeing Stoneforge Masterwork is very high.

The Creatures you have suggested just don't offer as much value as the ones already being run. With only one equipment attached to a Creature both Weapons Trainer and Stone Haven Outfitter provide buffs to other Creatures, and Militant Inquisitor buffs itself.

You've put too much focus on Allies. This is not an Ally deck. This is a Humans + Equipment deck. The First Strike of both Consul's Lieutenant and Knight of the White Orchid are both big deals.

The Humans aren't here to provide Human-only buffs. They are here because they are just damn good.

Not only that but you say this deck could be more aggro, then suggest a lot of 3 drop Creatures. Not the direction I want to take this in.

Sorry people, after better testing with my partner I've flip flopped back to 24 lands, although have stayed with more Plains.

Less than that leads to mana screw just often enough to lose a significant amount of 1st games.

Especially against decks running Deathmist Raptor + Den Protector + Evolutionary Leap .

You have waaaayyy too many lands, you really on need 20-21. I would definitely cut some and then add a few other creature cards since you seem to be lacking those.

I have already addressed the issue of how many lands I have.

Let me say it again.

A lot of land in the late game lets me turn Needle Spires into a Creature and then equip it, which is a mana-intensive exercise. It requires having seven lands at least available, more if I want to equip it more than once.

I have plenty of Creature cards given that I rely on removal in the early game.

Stasis Snare over Declaration in Stone. one more mana to prevent them from being able to Investigate, and it has flash.

EG_Ace while Stasis Snare is good for being able to be cast at instant speed, aplayer can always destroy it and get their creature back. I know that it is not common since most people don't tend to run anti enchantment cards main board, but I think it might become more of a thing now because of many strong enchantments have come out that people will want to get rid of.

Another reason to use Declaration in Stone is that while your opponent does get to "investigate", he or she only is able to when you kill non-token creatures. What makes this card so great is that if you target a token, you get to exile all forms of the token that share a name and your opponent gets nothing in return. While you might give your opponent clue tokens for targeting non-token creatures, you still have a chance of using one spell to get rid of more then one creature also.

But I do think putting stasis snare in the deck might be a good idea since it can exile at instant speed so you can perform more tricks with your deck. Maybe taking out some Burn from Within or Roast might be a good trade.

In any case, how is True-Faith Censer working for the deck? It seems a little lacking in how it pumps wasn't sure if it was worth playing. Have you considered running Sword of the Animist? This card moves at the same pace for casting as the censer, but will help deck thin you of lands and can help power Burn from Within.

If you're running Declaration in Stone almost purely for Token hate just run Boiling Earth. Not as flexible but fits what your accomplishing better in a sense since it has an awaken proc.