FNM Fun! -Dega Humans

FNM FUN  - by Robert Blum

Hey everyone, welcome to my first article here on the BoltSnapBolt page. My weekly articles are going to focus around some unique and sometimes even off the wall FNM decks and then I'll be asking you guys for your opinions on how to make these decks more competitive in nature. Let me preface this by saying most if these decks won't be my builds however, as one of the more competitive players in my local store I do get asked for my input pretty regularly. I hope you guys enjoy this look into testing some unique builds. So with-out further ado let's take a look at our first deck.

Dega Humans - By Yours Truly

Deck List

4 - Cartel Aristocrat

4 - Syndic of Tithes

4 - Pain Seer

4 - Azorious Arrester

4 - Xanthrid Necromancer

3 - Athreos, God of

3 - Immortal Servitude

2 - Purphoros, God of the Forge

2 - Vizkopa Guildmage

2 - Imposing Soverign

2 - Brave the Elements

1 - Congregate

Land

4 - Godless Shrine

4 - Sacred Foundry

4 - Blood Crypt

4 - Temple of Silence
3 - Temple of triumph
3 - Temple of Mallice
2 - mana confluence

BOARD

4 - Keening Apparition

4 - Mizzium Mortars

3 - Thoughtseize

2 - Deicide

1 - Imposing Soverign

1 - Congregate

So let's start by dissecting the deck - The deck has a couple of different ways to win. Option 1 is to just over run your opponent with creatures quickly. Option 2 is to play the I'm going to milk your life game with Athreos and the aristocrat and if possible have a necromancer out to replace the creature and force decisions to be made. Option three and my favorite option is to combo off necromancer and purphoros triggers or the unexpected immortal servitude with purphoros triggers after your opponent paid 3 life for each guy to hit the bin.

So how did my games and matchups go?

Round 1 - Boros Aggro

My deck just completely out classed in this matchup - my opponent having no idea what I was playing didn't want to get into a creature trading match (which he probably should have) eventually the board state was me with 8 creatures and a purphoros and athreos him with 7 creatures. I finally drew into a necromancer with an aristocrat in play and went off. I sacked 7 of my 8 guys got 7 zombies triggering 14 damage and then returned all 7 guys to my hand as my opponent didn't want to pay the life I played one that turn for another 2 damage sacked it immediately and made another zombie and dealt another 2with the purphoros triggers. He was now at 2 and next turn it was more of the same. Game 2 was just him getting hosed on land 1 land for 6 turns and me burying him in a fast fury of 2/2's

Matches 1-0  Games 2-0

Round 2 - Mono Green Devotion

This was an interesting matchup. The deck did a lot of work and my all star one of really got me there. As we both raced to establish our sides board states I was able to drop a turn two syndic of tithes and start milking life with the extort triggers every turn. I was able to get my opponent down to about 12 when he had a couple of monsters on board - polukranos and arbor colossus plus 2 sylvan caryatids. I had 8 creatures on board (2 being xanthrid necromancer and aristocrat) as he started swinging he picked one off with polukranos leaving me a zombie and i blocked with another and I lost a bunch of life and went down to 14. I had a servitude in hand and a purphoros on board so i figured it's now or never - at the end of my opponents turn I Sacked my other creatures making 3 more zombies and leaving 6 creatures in my graveyard with a 2 casting cost - he took 8 off purphoros triggers and then immoral servitude unearthed another 6 guys for 12 more. My game. Game 2 saw me just run everyone out there and my opponent did the same with all his mana dorks - it was kind of a stale-mate that I knew if i didn't attempt to do something about I would lose. I had boarded in my mortars and was praying to find one to wipe away the blockers when my opponent dropped polukranos killed a dude and then dropped another 4/4 green dude the next turn. I figured i'd take a little damage and see if i could get through. I drew the mortars overloaded it and then decide it was race time I swung back this happened for two turns me at 6 him at 8 and now I needed an answer or I was going to be in blocking mode. I pulled my one of congregate he had 2 creatures on board I had 5 - he swung and I said no blocks before damage I casted congregate gaining 14 life and basically resetting the game - after a couple of attacks from me and dead draws from him we got there!

Matches 2-0 Games 4-0

Round 3 - Green White

Not much to really say here the deck I played against wasn't built optimally and I just totally over powered it. Not to mention hitting all your combo pieces in both games helps!

Matches 3-0  Games 6-0

Round 4 - BW Midrange

This was a terrible matchup for me. All of his removal and thoughtseizes stripped my hand and killed my guys then I got bloodbaron dropped on my face in game one. Game two we boarded in thoughtseizes and mortars - I seized his hand ripping lifebane and then again on turn two ripping heroes downfall - he later cast baron I mortars it and thought i was going to get there only to see three more turns of demon, demon blood baron. Nut draw much. GG

Matches 3-1 Games 6-2

Round 5 - Mono Red Aggro

I kind of feel bad for the kid I played here. Game one he got out fast hitting me with cacklers and phoenix and then a few burn spells and I kept calm played my own creatures swung back and then when i drew congregate I knew I got there. I set up the combo chanced fate he took me to one no burn spell I congregated and gained 20 life as I had 6 creatures he had 4 and then i lit the combo off and purphorosed him to death. Game two went kind of the same way except he never really gained board control - i boarded in a congregate and hit that a bunch of creatures that were white and a brave the elements to sneak through enough damage for the win.

Matches 4-1  Games 8-2

Finished 4-1 good enough for 3rd place at a 26 person FNM.

So let's discuss a few cards...

Purphoros - I have seen similar lists to mine with cheaper creatures and necromancer but never purphoros and I never could put my finger on it - I feel if you are on the sack and make dudes games plan then purphoros is a no brainer nothing like dealing some extra damage every time your zombie comes in. Not to mention as you can see he was a win condition everytime he was played.

Immoral servitude - I have been looking at this card since it's printing and just never had a clear vision on what to do with it. honestly I feel this deck minus Athreos has been sitting in front of us the whole time and no one saw it and it's a shame as I feel earlier on in different meta's It may have been very competitive and we didn't even know it. Back to the card - This card is an all star. It punishes the control deck for sweeping your board you likely get zombies and your creatures back. It also enables your combo with purphoros to be absolutely brutal - sacking 5 guys getting 5 zombies dealing 10 damage and then reanimating those same 5 guys for 10 more damage is just back breaking.

Vizkopa Guildmage - I was on the fence here - my other choice was the new coinsmith from journey but I just liked the ability to milk my opponent for some additional life if i'm sitting on unused mana and I need to give someone life link to finish a game off - I feel the coinsmith would have been great if my creatures went more the direction of spiteful returned and grim guardian and not the humans route.

Syndic of tithes - The last truly unique card in my opinion, but an important one as well. The extort makes it easier to cast dudes and still do damage in stalemates - it also is a great way to gain back some of the life lost to shock lands or confluence which we need to pay for to play things on time not to mention he is another 2 power body and a human.

All in all I was very happy with the deck I personally think Athreos is terrible in the deck and I would really like another Purphoros and even another sack outlet creature - The servitudes were all stars and in this aggro format i really really like congregate as a back up plan.

Some changes I am considering though would be to take the creatures from 2 mana drops to one mana drops to be more aggressive earlier - I feel swinging for an extra 2 on turn two and 3 is kind of a big deal with seeing how the deck can get bogged down a bit. I am hesitant on dropping syndic of tithes though as the extort is so good at times. especially when dropping multiple small creatures. I would love your thoughts so feel free to post below.

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