Pioneer: Azorius Humans - Deck Tech & Sideboard Guide

After the August 26 bans that removed Sorin, Imperious Bloodlord and Amalia Benavides Aguirre from the format, Pioneer is beginning to experience a return to normalcy with macro-archetype diversity. It is still uncertain whether this state will last, or if we will see another dominant deck in the coming weeks, but in this period between Challenges and banlist, we finally see the return of “go wide” Aggro, such as Boros Convoke and our highlight of this article, Azorius Humans.

Humans is a deck that spent most of its time in Pioneer as a consistent Mono White that punished spell-based lists and even big mana with its mix of disruption and speed. Interestingly, the splash for now doesn't come from a human, but from perhaps the best creature copycat ever released in Pioneer history - Mockingbird - which allows for more explosive turns with Thalia's Lieutenant.

This is the main list I've been using in Pioneer Leagues and also in Explorer, the format's version in Magic Arena.

I still have doubts about some of the numbers in this list and the effectiveness of some cards. Reflector Mage is another way to take advantage of Mockingbird and is relatively well positioned currently, but it could lose ground if Planeswalkers and other permanents take over the Metagame. The same goes for Spell Pierce in the Sideboard and even for Hopeful Initiate in the unlikely event that Fable of the Mirror-Breaker and other enchantments are not as impactful today or require an even faster answer with Cathar Commando or Loran of the Third Path.

In a broad Metagame and still without much definition of the best decks outside of those that survived (aka. Izzet Phoenix), I believe this list is a good starting point and adjustments can be made as Pioneer stabilizes, perhaps even with more blue humans like Malevolent Hermit or Dennick, Pious Apprentice.

I also confess that I'm tempted to play with a version of Human Soldiers to take advantage of Harbin, Vanguard Aviator or even resort to Knight-Errant of Eos in this current version to have more gas, but both are experimental concepts and I haven't tested them yet to say that they are good proposals - if the results please me, expect a guide soon.

Maindeck

Our one-drops.

Recruitment Officer offers us a good mana sink in longer games and a decent body in the early game, and complements Hopeful Initiate to give it the first +1/+1 counter. It is also complemented by Dauntless Bodyguard, which can protect one of our most important creatures (usually a Thalia, Guardian of Thraben or Brutal Cathar).

Kytheon, Hero of Akros is a one-of for attrition games, it also works as an early-game drop, it protects itself well from removal and its Planeswalker side can be a headache in longer matchups.

Thalia, Guardian of Thraben is the most important card in the deck. She holds an opponent’s turn on its own, punishes removals, sweepers, cantrips and basically demands an immediate answer if your list has plenty of spells and her body also helps in games against Aggro.

Coppercoat Vanguard protects our creatures, boosts the power of our humans, and is a decent two-drop, complementing Thalia’s Lieutenant in increasing the pressure on the board and often finishing the game in two or three turns.

Reflector Mage and Brutal Cathar are our board interaction and tempo plays. There are lists that prefer a 4-2 split between one of them, but 3-3 seems ideal in an open Metagame since there are creatures we don’t want to bounce (think of Niv-to-Light or the entire Enigmatic Fires) while other decks answer Brutal Cathar easily.

We have a lot of ETBs in this list. Consequently, reusing them is a good way to keep the game flowing, and Mockingbird does just that by copying any of our Humans. Ideally, it will always be Thalia’s Lieutenant, but Reflector Mage, Brutal Cathar and even Coppercoat Vanguard are other options, and if the game goes on for a while, we can even copy our opponent’s Sheoldred, the Apocalypse.

Parting Gust is a mix of blink and unconditional removal. The token it puts into play is irrelevant against an army of Humans and certainly less threatening than most creatures in Pioneer today.

Our lands will always be prioritized as those that come into play untapped. Each player has their own preference for numbers, but I like 4 shock lands, 4 fast lands and a 3-3, 3-2 or 2-2 split between Hengegate Pathway and Adarkar Wastes.

The exact amount depends on your utility lands. Since we have Parting Gust with cost in the maindeck, we run less Cavern of Souls, but if we remove it, we can reduce one Pathway by another copy of it if we want - which I don't recommend in the current Metagame because of our Sideboard.

Mutavault and Eiganjo, Seat of the Empire have the same function here as they do in Mono White: increase our pressure, give us more resilience against sweepers or interact with the opponent's board.

Sideboard

Wedding Announcement is still the best attrition tool we have for Humans. Three tokens and/or three draws and a Glorious Anthem is enough to keep us in the game for longer and turn any topdeck into a threat.

Get Lost answers a lot of things in Pioneer today and is the best removal has, so it's a frequent side-in against a dozen archetypes and our main board interaction.

Portable Hole is best against Aggro and when we want to deal with Witch's Oven and other artifacts. A 3-3 split between them seems ideal today, but the numbers may change as the Metagame develops.

Spell Pierce is another blue splash motivator and holds a dozen or so troublesome spells, the main ones being cheap turn 3 sweepers like Path of Peril and Anger of the Gods, but it also solves a cheap Izzet Phoenix removal that it leaves for your turn, or makes it even harder to cast cards like Fable of the Mirror-Breaker against Thalia, Guardian of Thraben.

Rest in Peace is our standard answer to Izzet Phoenix, the Greasefang, Okiba Boss lists that have been returning to the format, and also the Ygra, Eater of All and Cauldron Familiar combo that appears quite frequently in Leagues or ranked matches.

Izzet Phoenix

IN

OUT

Mono Green Devotion

IN

OUT

Rakdos Midrange

IN

OUT

You can keep Reflector Mage and swap another card if you prefer more interaction, but I don't like the idea of ​​reusing Bloodtithe Harvester ETBs or giving people space to cast the Bonecrusher Giant adventure a second time. It's good against the Fable of the Mirror-Breaker token and common "walls" against Humans, such as Sheoldred, the Apocalypse or Archfiend of the Dross.

Azorius Control

IN

OUT

Gruul Prowess

IN

OUT

That's all for today!

If you have any questions or suggestions, feel free to leave a comment!

Thanks for reading!