From Noble Hierarch to Snapcaster Mage, there are a lot of powerful Humans in Modern, and Shadows over Innistrad block has done a lot to bolster the tribe. Of particular interest in Modern is Thalia, Heretic Cathar from Eldritch Moon. This powerful hatebear is an absurd mana denial engine against the fetchland decks in the format, and may just give a Humans aggro deck the time it needs to get in the last few points. Let’s take a look at Craig Wescoe’s take on the deck:

Four-Color Humans ? Modern | Craig Wescoe

• Creatures (30)
• 2 Avacyn's Pilgrim
• 2 Jace, Vryn's Prodigy
• 2 Mayor of Avabruck
• 2 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
• 2 Thalia, Heretic Cathar
• 4 Champion of the Parish
• 4 Mantis Rider
• 4 Noble Hierarch
• 4 Reflector Mage
• 4 Thalia's Lieutenant

• Spells (8)
• 4 Collected Company
• 4 Path to Exile

• Lands (22)
• 1 Forest
• 1 Plains
• 1 Breeding Pool
• 1 Gavony Township
• 1 Hallowed Fountain
• 1 Sacred Foundry
• 1 Stomping Ground
• 1 Temple Garden
• 3 Flooded Strand
• 3 Misty Rainforest
• 4 Cavern of Souls
• 4 Windswept Heath

• Sideboard (15)
• 1 Lantern Scout
• 1 Mark of Asylum
• 2 Meddling Mage
• 2 Gideon, Ally of Zendikar
• 2 Rest in Peace
• 2 Spellskite
• 2 Stony Silence
• 3 Stubborn Denial

Buy This Deck

This deck is enormously exciting to me. Champion of the Parish allows you to go big while Mayor of Avabruck enables you to go wide. Thalia's Lieutenant plays both roles, which gives you the flexibility to play around either Anger of the Gods or Path to Exile as appropriate. Even if you fail to play around the right removal spells, you still have access to both Collected Company and Mantis Rider as powerful follow ups that keep the pressure on your opponent.

The real strength of this deck over some other tribal decks is that you have access to powerful card advantage engines and hatebears that are in the tribe. Both versions of Thalia (Thalia, Guardian of Thraben & Thalia, Heretic Cathar) are difficult for many decks in Modern to fight through. The cards are particularly in conjunction with one another, keeping your opponent multiple turns off of casting key sweepers or blockers. Not only that, but even if they can cast a Tarmogoyf or Siege Rhino to get in the way, you have access to Reflector Mage to keep crashing in for damage.

The best part? Even if your opponent manages to bring the game to a screeching halt, you can start grinding out value with Jace, Vryn's Prodigy allowing you to flashback copies of Collected Company and continue building your board presence, while Gavony Township can function as a trump in creature mirrors.

All in all, this is a deck that is capable of some blisteringly fast starts between your various Champion of the Parishes and lords. It’s also capable of playing a longer, more disruptive game with Thalia, Heretic Cathar, Jace, Vryn's Prodigy, and Collected Company. Even if your opponent is able to stall out the ground, you can take to the skies with Mantis Rider or overwhelm them with Gavony Township. There’s a lot of power and flexibility, which is exactly what I’m looking for from a Modern deck.