Thatcher Revolt - a very unassuming card that (to me) seems very powerful with the right supporting cast. Hence, the idea for the deck. It has gone through many iterations so far and I feel like I'm finally close to something decent, the problem is the mana.
First off, I'll explain my intent with this deck. Most everything I threw in here is meant to benefit or benefit from Thatcher Revolt. Champion of the Parish seems like the best 1 drop in a deck designed around Thatcher Revolt. Blood Artist is an absolute favorite of mine that also (obviously) benefits from Thatcher Revolt. While it seems inefficient to include Falkenrath Noble, the ability of the Artist/Noble is multiplicative and I want to get as many instances of it on the board as possible (side note: with phantasmal image rotating out, Falkenrath Noble seemed the best way to get as many copies of this ability on the board as possible.
What do I mean by 'multiplicative'? If you have say a champ, 2 spirit tokens, and an artist on the board and they get wiped, that's 4 points of damage to your opponent and 4 life gained for you (8 point life swing). If you add another artist or noble to the board, that's 10 points of damage to your opponent and 10 life gained (20 point life swing) in the event of a board wipe -- and that's not even including any creatures your opponent has on the board. Falkenrath Noble isn't cheap with a cmc of 4 - especially for a deck that is trying to be quick and rocks 23 land - but the ability (in my experience) is really THAT powerful.
The Falkenrath Aristocrat belongs to the "benefits from" category in relation to Thatcher Revolt. It's just a really powerful card - a 4 drop with evasion and haste that gets bigger and indestructible by saccing humans. The Intangible Virtues just help get more mileage out of Thatcher Revolt, plus at 2cmc they fit nicely into my intended aggressive early game curve. They're also awesome when paired with Lingering Souls (which, IMHO, is one of the most powerful cards in the ISD block), and help your tokens survive Curse of Death's Hold (the bane of token decks).
Tragic Slip seems to me to be the best removal spell available to a deck like this right now. It doesn't care what type of creature it targets (black or artifact like Doom Blade and Go for the Throat), it doesn't care if the creature is indestructible, and with a deck that deals with tokens dying (whether chump blocking, Thatcher Revolt tokens dying in your end step, or saccing with Falkenrath Aristocrat) it is extremely efficient in the mana dept at 1 cmc - I can't think of a better spot removal spell for this deck.
I originally had Sorin, Lord of Innistrad in this deck, but Chandra, the Firebrand seems like it would work so much better with all the token generation. Blasphemous Act seems counter-intuitive to a token deck like this but with the Blood Artist and Falkenrath Noble, it becomes a finish -- and it's pretty easy to play it for 1 red mana with all the token generation.
The Gather the Townsfolk I have in here for some humans that stick around for the Falkenrath Aristocrat to feed on, plus they work amazingly well paired w/ Champion of the Parish and Intangible Virtue in the early game aggression dept. And last, I felt Mentor of the Meek had a place in this deck as 2-of only because with all the token generation and every single creature besides the Falkenrath Aristocrat having a power of 2 or less allows mid game card draw to get the land I need or Thatcher Revolt or Blasphemous Act I need to end the game as quick as possible.
Anyway, I need quite a bit of help working the mana in this deck (and also, how to construct the SB) if anyone is willing to give me a few pointers? Thanks in advance!
