Humans had success previously in Pioneer due to the raw power of Thalia’s Lieutenant, Reflector Mage, and Collected Company. Andrew Elenbogen, Clay Spicklemire and I won SCG Indy (with me piloting 5-color humans in our Pioneer seat) earlier this year!.
Ultimately 5-color Humans was oppressed by Winota and additionally interaction that was good vs Winota was also great vs Humans. The bannings of Winota and Expressive Iteration along with the printing of Extraction Specialist (which has crazy synergy with Charming Prince) Bant Humans again has the strength to compete in Pioneer.
CARD CHOICES
Let’s talk deck list, many cards are classically powerful and so we are playing a full playset:
CLASSICS:
HOPEFUL INITIATE
Hopeful Initiate is the 1-drop Humans have waited for. It’s a 1-drop with late-game impact, if unanswered it threatens to grow without mana investment. If its controller has spare mana the activated ability is icing on the cake.
THALIA, GUARDIAN OF THRABEN & ADELINE, RESPLENDENT CATHAR
I would love to play 4 copies of both but their legendary drawback is particularly punishing in a deck with four Collected Companies. So 3 copies of each it is, and I would definitely not play less.
CHARMING PRINCE
When I first saw Charming Price I assumed it was too cute and situational to be good. The ‘flicker’ ability is powerful in combination with Reflector Mage and Extraction Specialist, but my mistake was thinking flicker was all Charming Prince was good for.
The Scry 2 ability has been crucial in a deck like this where you really want to hit your 4th land drop on turn 4, but you can’t afford to play enough lands to do so every time without a little help. Decks with a high density of creatures benefit greatly from filtering to help smooth draws and hit land drops at crucial points in a game.
EXTRACTION SPECIALIST
Extraction Specialist, a new printing from Streets of Capenna, adds a totally new dimension to the deck against removal. I main deck three because it’s not ideal against decks not packing a lot of removal such as Mono Green, but I’d always make room for four copies in the 75.
Thalia, Heretic Cathar really excites me as a sideboard option against Mono-green since both parts of its ability are relevant. Even though they play a lot of basic forests, just making Nykthos enter tapped is huge. Thalia slows down the early ramp from Nykthos as well as their combo (casting) Storm the Festival multiple times in a turn to find additional Nykthos. Their creatures entering tapped obviously matters as our whole plan is to tempo them out. I’ve also found it very effective against Abzan Greasefang, a deck that has been putting up solid online results lately.
Toski, Bearer of Secrets seems like a sleeper in the format to me since I haven’t seen anyone playing it in Bant Spirits. You could go as far as to say it’s “for the grindy match ups”. I haven’t made up my mind on exactly what matchups to bring it in against but it’s the best possible card I can imagine against Azorius Control.
Playing Rest in Peace over Unlicensed Hearse may look strange at first, especially when Rest In Peace shuts off our own Extraction specialist. Rest in Peace is just a much more effective card these days, it feels like the format has adapted to how prevalent Unlicensed Hearse is in everyone’s sideboard. Shutting off UR Phoenix’s delves, being effective against BR Sacrifice, and being similarly good vs Greasefang are the main reasons I lean towards Rest in Peace over Hearse.
Elite Spellbinder is an important sideboard card as there are matchups where you need to cut all of your Reflector Mages, leaving your Charming Princes with few ‘flicker’ targets. Against Azorius Control the information gained from peeking at their hand is extremely valuable for seeing counterspells, the Wandering Emperor, and Wraths.
SIDE TANGENT ON WRATHS
With a deck like Bant Humans you’re going to be put in lots of tough situations regarding wraths. The main wraths in Pioneer are Anger of the Gods, Supreme Verdict, and Path of Peril.
I would argue the biggest mistake you can make regarding wraths is playing around them too much and losing to the rest of your opponent’s deck instead. I often see players tempted to play nothing and waste their mana once they already have a couple of creatures in play because further extending into a wrath is scary. Find a way to mitigate a wrath if you can, but don’t just stop spending mana unless you’re very ahead.
Supreme Verdict is the trickiest one to play against, it’s mostly seen in Azorius Control. You need to respect it, but there isn’t all that much you can do. Experiment one is your best tool, get it up to 2 counters ASAP.
Thalia, Guardian of Thraben, Elite Spellbinder, and Reidane, God of the Worthy can help delay, but you will usually still eventually get wrathed. Here is where Extraction Specialist really shines, you can totally rebuild up to three creatures if you have a Charming Prince to bring back and blink the Specialist for a second ETB trigger to bring back another creature. You want to make sure you apply enough pressure early that if they have a wrath you can set up up an Extraction Specialist recovery.
SIDEBOARD GUIDE
VS RAKDOS MIDRANGE
OUT:
THRABEN INSPECTOR
HOPEFUL INITIATE
HOPEFUL INITIATE
IN:
FATEFUL ABSENCE
FATEFUL ABSENCE
EXTRACTION SPECIALIST
VS MONO-GREEN RAMP
OUT:
THRABEN INSPECTOR
CHARMING PRINCE
EXTRACTION SPECIALIST
EXTRACTION SPECIALIST
EXTRACTION SPECIALIST
ADELINE, RESPLENDENT CATHAR
HOPEFUL INITIATE
HOPEFUL INITIATE
IN:
THALIA, HERETIC CATHAR
THALIA, HERETIC CATHAR
ELITE SPELLBINDER
ELITE SPELLBINDER
PORTABLE HOLE
PORTABLE HOLE
PORTABLE HOLE
PORTABLE HOLE
IZZET PHOENIX:
OUT:
THRABEN INSPECTOR
HOPEFUL INITIATE
HOPEFUL INITIATE
HOPEFUL INITIATE
HOPEFUL INITIATE
WEREWOLF PACKLEADER
IN:
REST IN PEACE
REST IN PEACE
PORTABLE HOLE
PORTABLE HOLE
PORTABLE HOLE
PORTABLE HOLE
ABZAN GREASEFANG
OUT:
THRABEN INSPECTOR
CHARMING PRINCE
CHARMING PRINCE
CHARMING PRINCE
EXTRACTION SPECIALIST
EXTRACTION SPECIALIST
EXTRACTION SPECIALIST
REFLECTOR MAGE
IN:
ELITE SPELLBINDER
ELITE SPELLBINDER
THALIA HERETIC CATHAR
THALIA HERETIC CATHAR
REST IN PEACE
REST IN PEACE
FATEFUL ABSENCE
FATEFUL ABSENCE
AZORIUS CONTROL
OUT:
REFLECTOR MAGE
REFLECTOR MAGE
REFLECTOR MAGE
REFLECTOR MAGE
WEREWOLF PACKLEADER
IN:
ELITE SPELLBINDER
ELITE SPELLBINDER
REIDANE, GOD OF THE WORTHY
TOSKI, BEARER OF SECRETS
EXTRACTION SPECIALIST
Thanks for reading! Bant Humans has the tools to have solid play against all of the top decks in Pioneer right now. It is definitely vulnerable to flood and screw issues, so you have to remain mentally tough while piloting it and work through challenging situations as they arise.
