JRE47

Looks like fun. My first big question, though: Whip of Erebos? I like the idea, but not sure how you get it into play. Were there some mana sources you left out?

I'd try and make room for another Hada Freeblade. He's pretty key to getting fast starts and you want to increase your chances of starting with him as much as possible.

Asceticism is one of my all-time favorites...good include!

If you can afford it (and I completely understand if you can't), try and shore up your mana a bit. Temple Gardens and Sunpetal Groves would be a huge help towards ensuring you always have the right mana. Perhaps even a Cavern of Souls or two (but probably no more than two with all your non-creature spells) to combat control.

Good start, though! Allies are so much fun, and I really think white and green have the best synergy. +1 from me.

Thank you all for the unexpected flood of reviews! +1 rep points to you all for your ideas and support.

Here's what I've done and what I'm still thinking about....

I bit the bullet and made room for a pair of Mirror Entities by dropping Ondu Cleric. I think you can make up for the loss of the lifegain once Paladin comes online, or with Willing in a pinch. Speaking of which, I dropped a Plains for a Godless Shrine and a Forest for an Overgrown Tomb, so you can trigger both halves of Ready // Willing as needed.

I also reluctantly dropped Turntimber Ranger and added in Garruk, Caller of Beasts in his slot. I like Turntimber a lot, but he probably doesn't do enough work here for the cost. Garruk, Caller of Allies (heheh) does a lot more and can really break the opponent's back even with just one application of his +1 ability. If you're able to get to his ultimate, that's just gravy. :-D

One add that wasn't suggested is a single Doubling Chant. Just read it, look at the number of creatures with multiple copies (several with four-ofs) here, and you'll see why. EtB fun and games galore!

Things I'm still considering:

Aether Vial: Another good suggestion by eljefe, but I'm wondering about how much work it might really do unless I add more card draw.

Mayor of Avabruck: His Human side is sweet, and even his Wolf side still works with the Changelings, and there's nothing at all wrong with spawning a bunch of non-Ally 2/2s. (That's the main reason I liked Turntimber Ranger, after all.) But does he do enough to drop, say, Adaptive Automaton for him?

More card draw: Not sure if it's needed, but another Caller of Beasts and/or Harmonize are what I'm thinking about the most. The addition of Doubling Chant may make this irrelevant, but I'm not sure.

Any further thoughts or comments?

I LOVED Human tribal in Innistrad Standard. SO much fun. Such a great block for tribal lovers like me in general.

I've built a number of Human decks (and have tons of tribal in general if you check my history (http://www.mtgvault.com/jre47/tribal). But I really do need to sit down and work on a dedicated Human tribal deck in Modern. I haven't really done that yet, and need to. I own all the Human staples from Innistrad block already, and those are probably the key. I'll get around to it, probably sooner rather than later.

Thanks!

Lots of people have asked me about that. No real rhyme or reason, I just like 61 cards. *shrug* It's kind of my "thing", I guess. Throws people off when they realize it at FNM or tourneys. Makes them think I got some big trick up my sleave. :-D

When I was a new player, I had a lot of trouble trimming the fat out of decks, and found myself having a really hard time getting down to 60. So I compromised at 61 for my first couple decks. I've never regretted it and haven't seen it to be a problem, so I've just stuck with it all these years. Yeah, I'm a little crazy, but aren't we all who play this game? ;-)

Anyway, thanks for the kind words. I'll check your deck out once I get through all these generous reviews! Love me some Allies. :-)

You know, I actually meant to toss in an Overgrown Tomb and Godless Shrine just in case you were able to use both halves of Ready // Willing and plum forgot. (I have a Standard Selesnya deck that does the same thing and been very happy when I'm able to pull it off.) I'll fix that.

The black Allies are okay (and most ARE Human), but the majority don't work particularly well with this deck's overall strategy, and I'm reluctant to go into a third color and water down my mana too much. (That's why I ended up trimming red in the end, even though they have allies like Akoum Battlesinger and Highland Berserker that would be quite good here.)

I DID release a black/red Ally deck along with this one if you're interested in checking that out, appropriately called the "Dark Human Alliance". (http://www.mtgvault.com/jre47/decks/dark-human-alliance) Same Ally/Human tribal idea, but quite a different take. Again, if interested, let me know what you think.

Thanks for the review! +1 from me back to you. :-)

Guile is one of my favorite tricks. But Cloudshift is here more for those EtB effects than protection (though it can act as either in a pinch...though not ideal due to the loss of counters, yeah). Ready is my primary protection right now. If playtesting shows I need more, than Guile (and others like Gods Willing) are back in the discussion for sure!

I DO need some card draw. Harmonize is a good one...but what about Garruk, Caller of Beasts? A little slower, but probably much more effective with all the cheap creatures here.

Mayor was another one I looked at...a lot of great minds in these reviews! :-P I liked the interaction with Turntimber Ranger when flipped and obviously most every other Ally when Human (and the handful of Changelings at all times!), but as I reduced the number of Turntimbers, I just didn't see enough good if it got flipped to the Werewolf side and stayed there for a while. Maybe I could trim Automaton for it, especially if I up the number of Changelings as others have suggested. Hmmmm....I'll keep it in mind.

Thanks for all the good thoughts!

Yep, another one I thought about. The fact that it doesn't enter play as a creature is unfortunately a killer for me. Other than Path (which I hadn't thought of...good one!), it would really only benefit Harabaz Druid and only GET benefits from Automaton (which may be one of my first cuts if I start making room for other cards). Mutavault is awesome, and rarely a bad idea, but this is one of those cases where I think the benefits don't outweigh the big negative of thinning down the colored mana. It would stink to have a Champion or Freeblade in hand with Mutavault and wishing I had a Plains instead. Been in that kind of scenario too often. :-/

But thanks for the review! +1 for the suggestion.

I took a long, hard look at Entity when putting this together, especially since the majority of creatures here got loaded up with +1/+1 counters and would keep them when boosted from Entity. I'll take a look again, but I liked having the flying Avian Changeling for an evasive attacker or emergency blocker. I'd love to find room for both somehow....

Hadn't really thought about Vial, but that's not at all a bad idea thanks to essentially giving 2/3 CMC Allies flash. I love when creatures act as combat tricks! I'll playtest it and see if the benefits are worth carving out some room.

Thanks!

Great thoughts, but this was striving to be Modern-legal. I may have to look back into Legacy for gems like that, though. There is a LOT of potential there.... you're right, Recoil would just be deliciously cruel.

I've considered Linessa, Zephyr Mage:

Legendary Creature — Human Wizard 3/3, 3U
{X}{U}{U}, {T}: Return target creature with converted mana cost X to its owner's hand.
Grandeur — Discard another card named Linessa, Zephyr Mage: Target player returns a creature he or she controls to its owner's hand, then repeats this process for an artifact, an enchantment, and a land.

Seems pretty good, especially the Grandeur part: potential bounce of FOUR permanents in one pop. But she requires quite a commitment... probably only a full four copies would make her really worth it. Should I try and find room?

Any other suggestions? +1 rep points for any constructive criticism.

All good thoughts, thanks!

I'll see if I can find room for at least one Intuition. Seems like a good way to fetch all my 'Crawlers.

Braids I had considered, but seems quite risky if I can't get (and keep) Gravecrawler on the table. But I'll consider it. (Had been thinking of Anowon for the same purpose...forgot about the cheaper and perhaps better Braids!)

Skullclamp is sadly not legal in Legacy...I'd have to go to Vintage for that, which I'm reluctant to do.

Maybe Marrow-Gnawer as well. Gives Rats fear and also has the awesome "{T}, Sacrifice a Rat: Put X 1/1 black Rat creature tokens onto the battlefield, where X is the number of Rats you control." OUCH.

But I do agree about Slumlord. At least find room for him; I'd probably prioritize him over Marrow-Gnawer if you have to pick just one.

I've been toying with Chandra's Phoenix, probably in place of Reckoner, since I should have little trouble bringing them back with burn if they die. But my current opinion is--believe it or not--that it's just too slow here. The majority of my creatures can hit for at least the 2 Phoenix can on Turn 2, and I'd rather use Turn 3 for burn or enchantments on my existing creatures than "only" getting 2 more in from Phoenix. Even the quick 4 from Skullcleaver seems superior. *shrug* I could probably be persuaded to make the change, though.

Other thing I'm considering is Legion Loyalist. I actually started with him instead of Striking Sliver, but found that I usually preferred the guaranteed first strike from the Sliver, especially if I slapped an enchantment on it. Again, though, I could be persuaded to change my mind if folks think I should swap out Sliver for Loyalist.

Oh, and Seismic Stomp for team swings into a stalled board. Had it in sideboard for a long time, and it eventually dropped out, but I still really like the potential...if I could just find the room.

Any other thoughts?

I've been thinking about finding room for cards like Repeal (XU, Instant, "Return target nonland permanent with converted mana cost X to its owner's hand; draw a card" to the deck. Also toying with more Linessa, since her Grandeur ability is pretty sweet. Thoughts?

Honor of the Pure?

Just at a quick glance, seems to me like you'd want Entomb (nice tutor for Gravecrawler and others) and Geralf's Messenger in there. Lifebane Zombie and Liliana's Reaver are absolute MUST-adds. Probably Vodalian Zombie and/or Zombie Outlander for sideboard, at least. Probably Quest for the Gravelord too...just sick in EDH.

Other options:
- Soulless One! 'nuff said
- Grave Defiler (potentially awesome hand restocking)
- Moan of the Unhallowed and/or Reap the Seagraf
- Forlorn Pseudamma (excellent at least for sideboard thanks to intimidate)
- Ghastly Remains
- Zombie Boa
- Clutch of Undeath
- Cruel Revival
- Feeding Frenzy
- Vile Rebirth

But a very good deck, even without those. +1

Yeah, thought about that and Primeval Bounty, but they didn't make the final cut. I've still got Advocate in mind, though.

Bravo for using Guardians' Pledge. Always thought that trick was badly underrated.

You're quite vulnerable to flying and wipers right now. The former's not as big a deal, but perhaps consider Midnight Haunting or Entreat the Angels in the SB if that's a problem. For the latter, highly recommend Rootborn Defenses. Wipe protection AND proliferate in one neat package. Brave the Elements is great, but not against wipe (or Ratchet Bomb, for that matter). Maybe go 2 of each in main, or lean heavily on Rootborn. More expensive but totally worth it.

Looking good, though! Love decks like this.

Liked the deck so much I went to see what I could do with the idea in Modern:

http://www.mtgvault.com/jre47/decks/modern-rakdos-devotion/

All credit to you, Dan! If anyone bothers to check it out, I pointed them back here.

Maybe a singleton of Exava? Give you another double-devotion booster and another way to get haste out of most of your creatures that don't already have it (Cackler, Flailer, and Cryptborn). One Exava and one Hammer would be a good mix, I think.

Love the idea, though!