How to overcome the Humans?
Standard forum
Posted on April 21, 2016, 9:06 p.m. by Kizmetto
Lets talk sideboard. How do we fight the human uprising? There are so many W/X human variants running around now a days.
Radiant Flames comes to mind but surely theres other, better cards out there?
We used to run Boiling Earth for the goblin decks, do you think thats not good enough anymore? (Man humans get big quick from Thalia's Lieutenant so maybe not..
April 21, 2016 9:23 p.m.
Boiling Earth doesn't get there against humans. The reason it was good against goblins is because the goblins were 1/1s and their toughness states that way. The humans are 1/1 and 2/2 and just get bigger. In red Radiant Flames and Kozilek's Return are the best you can do aside from spot removal like Fiery Impulse and Lightning Axe.
BW gives you the access you need to Grasp of Darkness and Silkwrap for spot removal and Languish as your sweeper.
Adding blue gives you access to strong finishers like Dragonlord Ojutai.
April 21, 2016 9:56 p.m.
UpperDeckerTaco says... #5
DON'T FORGET ABOUT Rending Volley against HUMANS. It is an all-star.
April 21, 2016 10:13 p.m.
nobodygaming says... #6
A word of warning, if you don't board wipe efficiently and on curve, even Languish fails to hit half the board against humans. You might nix a weak Lieutenant, but their turn 1 1/2 can be a 4/5 on turn 4. Combination of combat tricks/spot removal might be better. Black -/- effects like Grasp of Darkness might be best in case of a flash-d in Archangel Avacyn Flip ruining you red based board wipe.
So far in my testing, Bant Company has enough high value creatures + Dromoka's Command which is very capable of blowing out W/U builds relying on Always Watching
April 21, 2016 10:14 p.m.
UpperDeckerTaco, I forgot that existed. As a UW not human player I whole-heartedly say fuck that card.
April 21, 2016 10:28 p.m.
nobodygaming says... #9
I fully expect R/B or Jund builds to sideboard a full playset of Rending Volley too. I started playing in Origins and I still forget about great colour hating cards DTK has for sideboard options
April 21, 2016 10:31 p.m.
UpperDeckerTaco says... #10
Self-Inflicted Wound, Ultimate Price, Rending Volley, and Languish are all at a premium right now. They are all great for this current meta as far as removal.
April 21, 2016 10:37 p.m.
Souljacker says... #12
Early removal is key to keep them from building a board presence, and you need to build yours quicker. CoCo with reflector mage is a big swing. Don't forget Planar Outburst.
April 22, 2016 12:47 a.m.
Would Flaying Tendrils be an acceptable sideboard card against Humans? As a three drop I wonder if it's not fast enough but at the same time it would also probably depend on who's playing and drawing first.
April 22, 2016 12:34 p.m.
But I agree with Rending Volley. Personally, I run 3 of them in my sideboard. I find it an instant answer to Archangel Avacyn Flip and Thing in the Ice Flip.
Here's my deck list for everyone's reference: Naya Mid
April 24, 2016 5:41 a.m.
Declaration in Stone Funny how white has the best card in dealing with humans. The clues wouldn't help said player that much and even the great and powerful Archangel Avacyn Flip would be useless against it.
And that is why it's at 15 bucks mid.
Another fun blue card most people don't think about is Send to Sleep. The spell mastery on it is quite brutal.
April 24, 2016 5:47 p.m.
Against mono-
, Displacement Wave for 
= 
will generally reset their board, and let you get a massive (if not game ending) swing through. - And it doesn't care how many +1/+1 counters they have. - This spell also gets rid of Walkers, Clue Tokens, and other possible threats.
They then have to re-cast everything, and often can't do all of it in one turn.
It still requires that you have a good follow up... I like Reflector Mage for this.
Also, if you try it against 
, remember that they may Collected Company right after. - Try to do it when they are tapped out. - If you can get it in right after the CoCo, you've negated most of the advantage... they often can't recast many creatures, and may need to discard some.
April 25, 2016 3:57 p.m. Edited.
nobodygaming says... #19
If you are bouncing everything to their hand on 4 mana, it shouldn't be unusual for the human deck to be on 4-5 land and possibly ramping further with Knight of the White Orchid back in hand. Within 2 turns they can rebuild and possibly have a more dangerous/optimised Thalia's Lieutenant and co.
capriom85 says... #2
Humans will likely be just out of Radiant Flames range by the time you get to a definite 3 color whack, especially if they are on the play.
To pick off the human decks you want access to black: Grasp of Darkness and Languish are the all stars here. A deck that can survive the use of Languish is Esper Dragons and some of the Jund variations may have a good match. BW midrange is decent here as well.
Some other ways to hurt the human decks worth mentioning are: Silkwrap and also Declaration in Stone and Virulent Plague can help against the Secure the Wastes players.
April 21, 2016 9:13 p.m.