Pioneer: Collector's Cage Humans - Deck Tech & Sideboard Guide

As players test new Outlaws of Thunder Junction cards, possibilities around existing archetypes and strategies expand and open up the space for innovative proposals.

During the preview season, one of the most talked about cards regarding its potential in aggressive decks was Collector's Cage, whose ability allows cheating on mana costs and gives a new proposal to creature-based strategies in the format - among them, the most popular so far was Humans, where the artifact is easily triggered by the diversity of different powers among its creatures, giving the deck a “combo” where Moonshaker Cavalry works as well as a Craterhoof Behemoth.

In this article, we delve deeper into this new variant of Humans and present a brief Sideboard guide for the main matchups with this deck!

This is the decklist that I have used in both the Pioneer and Explorer with some results, despite the notable disadvantage that Humans seems to suffer against several matchups in the current Metagame.

I believe that the main advantage of this version, where we replaced a Humans staple, Thalia, Guardian of Thraben, with Collector's Cage and a pack of bombs to cast with it, is that we can close games quickly, and even we play (literally) over some of the most troublesome decks in the current Metagame, increasing the pressure we exert on the opponent while demanding more interactions.

Maindeck

Our one-drops.

Dauntless Bodyguard and Recruitment Officer offer protection and resources while their bodies are aggressive enough to initiate pressure against the opponent.

Hopeful Initiate is extremely versatile in offering hate against artifacts or enchantments while growing during the game, being a decent one-drop whose usefulness extends, but is quite conditional in some matchups.

Kytheon, Hero of Akros also serves to pressure the opponent while his activated ability makes him more resilient against removal. His Planeswalker side also makes him a hard to kill threat while also protecting other creatures.

Thalia's Lieutenant and Coppercoat Vanguard offer the main reasons to play Humans: typical synergies to increase pressure against the opponent or even enable an instant win the moment one of them comes into play - Coppercoat Vanguard, in fact, is even more necessary on this list given that we gave up Thalia, Guardian of Thraben to protect our creatures.

Brutal Cathar is a useful mix of threat and removal that interacts with our game plan and the opponent's lack of proactive plays.

Adeline, Resplendent Cathar is another reason to opt for Humans and one of the main ways to continue with the “go wide” proposal of the archetype. It is common for her to be the main target for the opponent's removals, given how much her presence can take over the game.

Our “go big” package.

Collector’s Cage is attractive on its own because it rewards Aggro decks for just sticking with their game plan without major deckbuilding compromises. Having multiple creatures in play isn't difficult for Humans and having three of them have different powers is easy when we have counters and vehicles.

Moonshaker Cavalry is our main payoff and can win the game the moment it comes into play as long as we have a decent number of creatures on the table. Even if the opponent survives the attack after its ETB, a 6/6 with Flying will deal the remaining damage.

Emeria’s Call doubles as a land drop while protecting our creatures and adding eight power to the board. While not as explosive as Moonshaker Cavalry, this spell grants a huge pressure while protects our Humans from removals or sweepers.

Casting Cavalry on Humans is nearly impossible, and if there is a consequence of running it in our list, it is that, sometimes, it comes in our hand instead of at the top to search with Collector’s Cage.

Therefore, Smuggler's Copter joins the list both to increase the number of creatures with different powers that we have in play and to discard copies of Moonshaker Cavalry or Emeria's Call that we draw, in addition to being a 3/3 body with evasion that dodges sweepers.

Our utility lands.

Cavern of Souls is our ideal protection against counterspells and ensures that our most important cards come into play. Mutavault helps with the count of creatures in play, is a human for creatures that care about its type, and also adds pressure against the opponent in Control or attrition matchups.

Eiganjo, Seat of the Empire is a one-of removal that doesn't take non-land slots, but requires concessions to avoid having too many copies in hand.

Castle Ardenvale is a little too greedy for an aggressive list, but it allows Humans to not lose traction in longer games, being especially useful alongside Wedding Announcement or other permanents that increase the power of our creatures.

Sideboard

Our removals.

Get Lost is much more versatile, it works against Planeswalkers and enchantments, and we can cast it on the opponent's turn, but Declaration in Stone is necessary to deal with recurring threats like Arclight Phoenix or with the tokens created by Boros Convoke.

Thalia, Guardian of Thraben sticks to the Sideboard, as we still need an aggressive two-drop against decks aiming to cast multiple spells in one turn, like Izzet Phoenix or Lotus Combo.

Invasion of Gobakhan is one of the best options we have today to deal with removals, combo pieces and other troublesome cards, while we can also use it to increase the power of our creatures and protect them from sweepers.

Requisition Raid is a recent addition from Outlaws of Thunder Junction that allows us to have a more proactive answer against artifacts or enchantments while adding to the power of our creatures.

Rest in Peace is still a need and has worked well against Izzet Phoenix recently, but it can come in against other archetypes that rely on graveyard interactions to function or extract value from their plays.

Wedding Announcement is the famous “attrition card” that we need for longer games. Its inclusion allows us to have greater traction against Midrange and Control without having to give up too much of our game plan.

Rakdos Vampires

IN

OUT

Izzet Phoenix

IN

OUT

Waste Not

IN

OUT

Abzan Amalia

IN

OUT

Azorius Control

IN

OUT

Humans is just one of several strategies aimed at using Collector's Cage to give a “combo” to aggressive decks in the current Metagame, but the feeling I had during many games is that of the concessions made, at least in this version, end up disrupting your strategy in favor of interactions that, while necessary to play “over” some archetypes, still do not do enough to justify a return to the competitive Metagame in a format where life gain and cheap removals are very present.

It's definitely a fun proposition and strong when it works, but it doesn't seem to be what's needed to get Humans back to the top of the competitive scene.

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

Thanks for reading!